Back To Work!

Both Mr. Moon and I slept very, very well last night and we woke up feeling pretty energetic and ready to GET TO IT! His first priority was that starter for the generator and he did indeed get it where it's supposed to go and all hooked up the way it's supposed to be and now it runs like a fine diesel truck engine and as long as a tree doesn't fall on our house we'll be fine during hurricane season. 
Hopefully. 

I did a load of laundry including my bedspread quilt which Jack had obviously napped on a lot, and a tablecloth and some other things and hauled them out to the line and hung them out in that baking sun. By ten o'clock it was already hot enough to make me sweat, just pinning those things up. But oh, it made me so happy to dry them outside. 

My main goal for the day was to get the beans picked. But before I did that I needed to do a few other things, including going to the post office to collect the mail. 
We have a new post mistress and her name is Keisha. She is about as different from the one we did have as a person could be. The lady who just left told me she was leaving before we took off on our trip. I had been leery of her at first as she never wore anything resembling a USPS uniform at all, and bedroom slippers may have been involved, and she has a lot of tattoos, including neck tattoos but she turned out to be a very good post mistress, going out of her way to help when she could. She told me she was going to be working only at the Monticello PO and it was an advancement so I'm glad for her. The Lloyd post office is only open in the mornings and it's sort of a forgotten land in the vast postal service. But Keisha was wearing the full regalia, looking fine and professional, hair done, and long, long fingernails that came to a rather scary point at the ends painted a vibrant yellow. 
She went and fetched a package that had come for me and said, "What a pretty box!" and I looked at it and knew immediately who it had come from. Linda Sue, the sender of treasures! And inside that pretty box, I found treasures indeed including this lovely perfect little piece of art that she made. 

I walked with the lovely through the house to try and find where she wanted to be and I don't think I've found it yet so I set her with a group of dolls that Linda Sue  has sent me so that she could soak up that good Linda Sue energy and love and know that she is in a safe and loving place. 

Plus there is a nurse on duty so all is very well. 

There were other delights in the box including yet another piece of bark cloth which I love and adore and I believe I'm going to put that on the little dresser that serves as my night stand. 

So that was a really nice surprise but oh my goodness it was time to get out and pick those beans! I knew that many of them were going to be too big to cook normally as they would be tough but I think I'll be able to shell them. 
Y'all. It was hot. Hell hot. Satan's balls hot. I picked my regular picking basket full, came in and dumped all of those in a very large canvas shopping bag, swigged some water, splashed cold water on my face, and went back out. I picked another basket full and put those in my big white plastic bowl that I use for so many things. I think it came from the Dollar Store and I sure have gotten my bang for the buck on that kitchen tool. And THEN, I picked another basket full. 
Also a few cucumbers, an eggplant, and some cherry tomatoes. Mr. Moon also picked cherry tomatoes. 

Here is what is in my kitchen right now.

I am completely overwhelmed. I have no idea what to do with all those beans. I'm not sure I could even give them away due to their post-mature state. I simply did not have the energy left after the picking in the heat to do another thing with them. I suppose I should at least put them in the refrigerator if I can find room for them. The cherry tomatoes will be used in a pasta dish I'm making tonight. Or at least some of them. 

I did three more loads of laundry although I did not hang it outside. I dried those and folded them and put them away and then got the things off the line and all of that is where it belongs now. I also gave all the plants a good watering. I don't care how often Mark did it, it still needed doing. I think the plant that is happiest in this heat and its place in the full afternoon sun is my sea grape. Do y'all remember when I collected a bunch of sea grape pits when I was last in Roseland? I think that was two years ago. I planted every one of them eventually, and out of all of them, I got one plant that survived. I love that plant like I gave birth to it. 
Okay. Almost.

I still don't have a great deal of faith that it will continue to thrive but it sure is loving this heat and is putting out new leaves. It needs a bigger pot and more dirt and it probably needs a completely different sort of dirt. Sea grapes grow in a mixture of soil and sand and I have no sand. I suppose I could find some. Anyway, I'm proud of that thing. Along with my Roseland mango tree that I started from a pit, they are little living pieces of my childhood and they mean a lot to me.

So that's been my first day back home and I feel like I got some things done. I just went into the kitchen, looked at the beans and realized there is no way on earth I can fit those things into the refrigerator. I suppose I could take them to the refrigerator in the garage but I have used up every one of my heat units today and that's not happening. I sort of have to go to town tomorrow to do a little shopping and I need more canning jars so that I can do something with the beans anyway. And let's be honest- the world will not come to an end if some of those beans just get thrown into the compost pile. Of course that might result in the biggest bean patch in the world if those things started sprouting. 

Ay-yi-yi. 

I better go start cooking up cherry tomatoes. There will be more tomorrow.

Love...Ms. Moon

P.S. The zinnias are coming along too.