Not The Most Cheerful Post But The Reality Of Things Today

This is the house a few doors down from us that over the past twenty years I have watched deteriorate until now I doubt it would be possible to bring it back without investing far more money into it than would be worth it. Its lines are still relatively straight but the roof has peeled back, leaving gaping holes and once the roof is gone, it's over. 

A few years ago before the roof really started going, it looked as if someone was doing some work on it but that didn't last long and since then it has remained untouched although I think the "No Trespassing" signs may be new. There's one to the right of the front door which has obviously been there for a long time but the bright orange and black ones have only recently appeared. There is always a sadness attached to a house which has been abandoned, let go, left to ruin. I can't help but think of the people who lived in these old houses, the families and their births and deaths, the gatherings of neighbors and friends, the meals prepared and eaten in them, the dreams dreamed, the hopes sustained or finally let go of, the laughter, the sorrows. And so few clues left behind to reveal any of this to us now. 

The walls remain silent even as they fall. 

I took a walk today. I have decided that although exercise of all types seems to send the kidney stone into action mode, I simply cannot let that rule my life. 
I say this as if I was the least bit brave when it comes to the FKS. I'm not. I admit it. But I am going to try and risk it. 

The purple and the golden wildflowers are blooming now. Fall is the time here for the colors of royalty. 

Blue mist flower. I, however, see more lavender, more in the purple range than blue. Perhaps a periwinkle blue, a periwinkle purple. Maybe I am seeing the color through lavender-colored eye glasses. Can you see the young pine tree there? 

Swamp sunflowers. I love that name. These do grow in the lower areas by the road. Not IN the ditch, but beside it. 

And of course- 

Goldenrod. Which is not what makes us sneeze. That would be the ragweed. I am not bothered in any case. When I was young I had so many allergies but I seem to have outgrown them as I've aged. I used to get hay fever so bad I lived on Benadryl throughout the summer months. I was well into my thirties when I noticed that my annual bouts of it had not appeared. That was a summer I was spending on St. George Island and there were far fewer plants, especially in the area I was living in, than anywhere else I'd ever lived. And since then- I have rarely been affected. 

While I was walking I saw Harvey coming towards me pushing his walker and when he was still a long way off he moved off the sidewalk, crossed the road and onto a driveway that leads into a sort of compound of pre-manufactured homes where I am pretty sure a family group lives. This is not uncommon around here. Families who have been on the same land for many years sometimes choose to continue living near each other on that land. I think it's rather beautiful. Anyway, Harvey left his walker on the drive and took a plastic bag which had been on the seat, which I assume had something in it, to one of the houses on the property. I passed before I could see if anyone came to the door or if he had even knocked on the door. 

But I knew that he wasn't home and I thought to myself that I could take a picture of his yard, his place knowing that he wasn't there and I did. I took two pictures but it occurred to me that if I felt I couldn't grab an image of where he lives if I knew he was there, I should not be posting pictures I took when I knew he wasn't. 
I will show you this one small slice of his lot and yes, I'm a hypocrite, but the cross on the pile of siding or roofing is one that he has had standing for almost the entire time I've been walking that stretch of road. 

The fact that it's laying there is so worrisome. As I said recently, it looks like he has given up. But I don't know. I don't pretend to begin to understand how he thinks or what he thinks. I just know that he is a neighbor and has been nothing but kind to me when I pass, giving me his hands-in-the-air blessing or greeting, unless he is not feeling like acknowledging my presence at all in which case he ignores me. 

My walk was uneventful. I went to the Post Office, collected our mail and then came home. But I did see something that is my official notification of fall. 

Way up in the trees which grow in a deep green arc across the sidewalk from the yard of my next door neighbors, the sasanqua variety of camellias is just beginning to bloom. The sasanquas are the first of the camellias to flower and soon all of the branches will be filled with these beauties and the sidewalk below them will be a carpet of pink. 

I suppose I should be bored by now, or at least less impressed with the same signs of the passing of seasons but I am not. They are a reassurance of the continuity of life on earth as I know it and as such, they are a comfort and a beauty to be noticed and appreciated as they appear. 

Mr. Moon has made it home safely. He is sitting in his recliner, shelling peas as we speak. He has performed his husbandly duties in the making of martinis (and what were YOU thinking?) and of course there are clean sheets on the bed although I think they were hardly in need of washing. Still, clean sheets are a luxury and as such, worth going to the small effort it takes to wash and dry and put them back on the bed. 

We have had a sadness in our family today. Lily and Lauren's sweet girl Chloe, a dog Lauren rescued years ago and who was diagnosed with cancer a few months ago, died last night. Lauren had decided that as long as she was eating and not in pain or uncomfortable, they would let her go on as she was. Last night she showed signs of not being able to get comfortable though, and then began having obvious trouble breathing. They decided to take her to the emergency vet to see if there was something simple to be done or, to have the vet end her suffering if it was that time. 
Before they'd even gotten to the main road though, Chloe left on her own. I am glad that Lauren did not have to say the words that no pet owner wants to say about their beloved dog or cat. I saw Chloe yesterday when I picked up the kids at Lily and Lauren's house and she seemed fine then so I know she did not spend much time suffering. 
A blessing. 
Chloe was Lauren's baby in the way that our pets can be. As Hank said on the group text, "Animals can give us so many wonderful moments and then one of the worst moments."

So we are all loving Lauren at the moment and Lily and the children too because of course Chloe was a sort of sibling in their household. A constant presence. A part of the whole whom they had loved. 

Such a pretty girl. 

On we go. 

Happy Friday, y'all. 

Love...Ms. Moon