Not A Bad Day At All

This house is about six houses down from where I live. No one's lived in it since I moved here twenty years ago and the deterioration of it has proceeded slowly over that time. But then the roof began to peel away and that is generally the end of a house. Since then, the decaying process has accelerated and now windows are falling out and it has taken on a bit of a slant, the bones of the house slowly shifting and losing their integrity not unlike what happens to us humans as we age. It's not so bad yet but I have a feeling that even if someone wanted to restore the house it would be more of a challenge than most people would want to take on. Once water starts getting in, the damage is inevitable. 

I took another walk today and I have decided that the key to motivating myself is to dump the all or nothing attitude. If I tell myself that all I'm going to do is walk two miles, that sounds less challenging than the way I've always done it which is to push and push and push myself to try and constantly increase my milage. Especially in this heat. But two miles is doable and I usually end up walking a bit farther than that. I consider it a bonus, not a goal. My goal is simply to get up and out and move for awhile and be grateful that I can. So I walked west toward Harvey's and then turned around and passed our house again and went on to the downtown Lloyd route, which includes Main Street which looks like this. 

Hey! At least it's paved! The fally-down house is on the right although you can't see it in this shot. 

Another bonus of only walking two miles or so is that I can do the whole thing without having to stop to pee. Mostly. Today I just couldn't. Well, I probably could have but I would have been so miserable. So I darted down the little path near the big Baptist church where I sometimes stop and where I had one of the most absurd and hilarious experiences of my life. You can read about that HERE if you'd care to. The path today was as grown-over as it was almost a year ago when I wrote that post, once again looking as if no one ever went down it. This time, however, I made sure there was no trail cam in sight before I ducked down into the weeds. However, because I did stop there, I saw these. 

Elderberries! I know that elderberries are prized for their supposed health benefits and can also be used for pies and jams. I have never used them in my cooking although they did look fairly luscious hanging there from those rhubarb-red stems. At least I know where they are in case I would like to try. 
And I turned around to find another sort of berry.

These are immature beauty berries and many of you have heard me talk about them for years. They seem late in ripening this year but I could be wrong. They, too, can be used to make jams and jellies and one year I actually used some for that purpose. 
The results were fairly unimpressive. But the color of the jam was gorgeous, just as the color of the berries are when they ripen. They are a sort of mauve that just pleases me immensely. 

I stopped at the Post Office on my way home and Keisha was there and another postal clerk who seemed to be mentoring her about how to do certain things. There were fewer offending materials on the work counter today and they had all been pushed up into a few piles. I did not say a word. I have not heard back from the USPS since the second email I got from them saying that they'd gotten my e-mail and would be getting back to me ASAP. But anyway, here's a thing about me- I think I have a bit of Prosopagnosia which is commonly known as face-blindness. I am not one of those people who would not recognize her husband if she met him on the street BUT a lot of my ability to differentiate one person from another is based on hair (color and style) and body type. Style of dress can be a clue too. So. The woman who was helping Keisha today is not the same woman I talked to the other day...I THINK! This woman, the woman today, has neck tattoos which is a pretty darn handy ID'er. Right? And I've always liked her and she has always been very helpful. But was that the clerk I saw two days ago? The one I almost got into a fight with? 
I DON'T FUCKING KNOW! 

Oh Jesus. I feel so stupid. 
Anyway, I asked again about anyone finding a walking stick and no, no one had, but I should perhaps look in the PO dumpster? I did that and it was not there. 

Dammit. 

When I started writing this post, the sky was mostly blue with a few puffy white clouds, la-la-la, and then suddenly, a giant boom of thunder sounded and now it is pouring rain with more thunder and forks of lightening. I am not shocked. Again- this is Florida. 

Mr. Moon is again off to the coast for early-morning fishing. Maurice is far more worried than I am. I have no idea why she worries so much when he's gone. I'm the one who feeds her. I suppose it's possible that she really loves him. I think I am going to make a tofu and vegetable stir fry for myself. That sounds good to me. I found out that the fish I used to make the dip was a combination of grouper, snapper, and cobia and I highly recommend that mixture. It has only gotten better today. 

I did the hem on my silk dress. 

But I decided that I am going to take it to the seamstress, to get it altered as to size. It is too beautiful a garment for me to mess around with and fuck it up. Debby, from Life's Funny Like That , said in a comment yesterday that if I loved the dress that much, it deserves to be taken to the seamstress. 
She is completely right. And so I shall. 

Oh my goodness. We've gotten so much rain the past hour that we have standing water in the back yard, side yard, and front yard. 

And having said that, the rain has slackened and the birds are talking about it in no uncertain terms. 

I love where I live. 

Love...Ms. Moon