A Visit

 Two puppies and their parents came over today for a visit and it was so nice to see them. Vergil's truck needed brake work and Glen has all the equipment and stuff so out Vergil came while Jessie was with the boys at a birthday party and then she came out and brought them. She went into the Glen Den to check on those guys after they'd been here for awhile and found them like this. They were watching the FSU-Georgia Tech game on the TV because they'll watch anything on the TV. The big guys had planned to watch it after the brake work and so it was on. For some damn reason, the game was held in Dublin, Ireland which was the most interesting thing about it to me. I watched zero minutes of it. 

Jessie and I went to the Hilltop to get lunches for all of us and that was fun. The Hilltop is always a trip with all of the different types of people there to buy food and the people who work there. It's pretty much a microcosm of this country and I love the people-watching aspect of it. The food's pretty good too. I mean- for a tiny little place in the middle of just about nowhere that only has food to-go. As I have so often pointed out, the variety and choice are fairly amazing for such a small kitchen. Today we got three shrimp po'boys, ten hot wings, ten mild wings, an order of chicken strips and fries, sides of potato salad, onion rings, and fried okra. And they serve it up pretty fast. 

While everyone was here, Glen got out some pictures that had been in the possession of a relative who died fairly recently. There were pictures of Glen's people from way, way back. And school pictures of him as a little guy. We could see both August and Levon in those as well as in some of the other relatives, his nephews mostly. There were also pictures of our children playing with their Tennessee step-cousins and sitting on the laps of Glen's parents. After we'd looked at all of those, Glen got out his collection of the newspapers that had pictures of him from when he was playing ball. It's so funny to me that basketball was such a huge part of his life for years and I never got to see him play once. 
I had to take a picture of this.

He's number 33. Look at that glorious man! 
The caption says, BATTLE UNDER THE BOARD- The fight for a rebound in a basketball game can be rough, as this scene from Saturday's Auburn-Tennessee game at Memorial Coliseum shows. AU's Glen Moon (33) nudges the face of Tennessee's Wayn Tomlinson (51) as the ball bounces off the backboard. Tennessee's Doug Ashworth (43) also leaves the floor while Eddie Johnson of Auburn (left) watches. 
Photo by Kennard Halacker.

I love the phrase, "...nudges the face of Tennessee's Wayn Tomlinson."

Anyone who thinks that basketball is a non-contact sport is simply wrong. Basketball can beat up a body. Both of his knees were wrapped because he'd had surgery on both of them earlier in his college career. I cannot help but wonder if some of the neurological problems he has now stem from those years of pushing his body to its limits and beyond. 

Which he still does. 

His first wife was with him in the glory days. They married very young and she was the one who got to move to Europe with him when he played pro ball there. In some ways, I wish I'd been the one with him then but in other ways, I know it never could have happened. Marrying an athlete was simply outside of my reality. Hell, dating an athlete was outside of my reality. And I have much to thank her for. They moved to Tallahassee so that she could attend the dance program at FSU and one thing led to another and when she wanted to move to New York City to try and start a career, that country boy said, "Ummm. Don't think so," and they got quite amicably divorced and he was there, ripe for the picking when I met him, wanting children and before I knew it, he had moved in with me, bringing his first-marriage casual china and a dog named Honeybun. 
And the rest is history. 

He overcame my aversion to jocks with the same ferocity he fought for the ball on the court. 

And thank god he did. 

It seems to me that these days August and Levon do not have a lot of use for me. I am sort of like a very well-known and comfortable piece of furniture. There if you need me, not worth a great deal of thought if you don't. Unless of course, treats are involved. And I did bake a lovely cinnamon-sugar crusted banana bread before they got here which interested them a great deal. Also, Levon wanted to make a bracelet. He's been wearing the necklace he made at my house a long time ago and wanted a bracelet to go with it. That, I could help him with. We got out the beads and the elastic cording and all I did was cut and tie the elastic for him. He chose and strung the beads. Here's a picture I got as they were leaving. 

Stylin', for sure. 

I wanted to read them a book and they picked out a weird and horrible children's book called "Love You Forever" 

which, despite the weirdness and horribleness of it, always makes me cry. I told them that no, I was not going to read it to them for that very reason but they insisted and I'd probably read them the Bible if that's what they wanted and so of course I did. 

They watched me closely to see the exact moment I began to cry. 
"I can see tears!" August said, as the inevitable began to happen. They were fascinated by the fact that I had said I was going to cry and then I did. 

Cruel, cruel children. 
But I think it touched them too. 

I'm making my favorite Creamy Cashew Butternut Squash Soup tonight in hopes that it will help reverse some of the unhealthiness of our Hilltop lunch and also because dammit, I am not going to let my one butternut squash that ripened and one of the two acorn squashes that ripened go to waste. I always use more than one type of squash and a sweet potato in it. And it is so good. I've got dough rising to make naan too. This will only take me about two hours to make. My poor husband. 

And so now I really must run and get this supper started. I have made the dough, as I said, and partially cooked the squashes so that I can easily peel them. Still, it will take forever. 

See you tomorrow.

Love...Ms. Moon