Back To Town And Home Again

That's what the sky looked like today when I was driving home on the interstate. Lovely, right? Well, it was at that second. It's been one of those changeable days when the sky can turn from black to blue and back to black in seconds. Go into a store, do your shopping, come back out to an entirely different day. This morning the sun was shining so brightly that I pulled the shade on the back porch and literally within minutes, the sky had darkened, it was pouring rain, and blowing too. I mean- like a storm! And then...blue again. 
It's all part of the cold snap we're about to get. The temperature is already a lot lower than it was this morning and it will get lower still through the night. Nothing that would impress any of you strong and mighty humans of the north but it's enough to make us wimpy Floridians worry about our plants and dig out our wool socks. 
My plants are all wrapped including the new limequat and little tiny olive tree. The front porch plants are covered, too. 
Here's what the sky looked like just a few minutes ago as the sun was setting.

It was startlingly red. 

Jessie and the boys were feeling better today. No one's run a fever in a few days. August is still coughing and congested but that's how he is. Poor lad. Vergil, however, has finally come down with it, whatever it is. He got tested for flu and Covid and was not positive for either but he's miserable, as was the rest of the family when they were in the midst of it. I think we are all hoping that his strong and seemingly  invulnerable immune system would prevent him from getting sick but sadly, it did not. 

However the boys were getting cabin fever and Jessie needed a few things at Costco and I was coming into town so I met them there. 

Who doesn't want to have a home sauna experience? 

This is Levon and that is how he chose to dress although I thought it was chilly enough to wear jeans, a long-sleeved shirt, and a sweater. And socks. With MY Crocs. He did not choose the mask but his mother did. 

I felt like I hadn't seen them in months although I saw them on Christmas Day which was less than a week ago, even if it was a very short visit from a distance. Despite my overwhelming happiness at seeing them, they were as casual and as disinterested in my presence as they always are. Well, sort of. I told them that when I don't get to see them for awhile, my kisses get so backed up that I just have to kiss Boppy all the time and he says, "You need to see your grandchildren. I can't take all these kisses." 
That last part is not entirely true. 
They may or may not have chuckled a little at this joke. Hard to tell with them wearing masks. 

But they were sweet and well-behaved and Jessie bought them both a slice of pizza even though they'd had lunch. They were, as young boys almost always are, starving. And they need to bulk back up after being sick of course.

For some reason I needed about forty thousand dollars worth of food (approximately five bags full) at Publix and so I traveled on up the road to get that done. I think I finally figured out why I feel the shelves always have to be full, the refrigerator and pantry too. 
When I was a very little girl, possibly four, my mother had to go to the hospital for some reason I have forgotten if I ever knew. My worthless old drunk daddy was of no use at all and a woman was hired (probably by his family) to come and stay with my brother and me. A point was reached where the only food in the house was potatoes. I remember this so distinctly. And the woman who was taking care of us begged me to let her take us to her house where there was food. I would not go. I was too afraid my mother would not be able to find us when she got out of the hospital if we were at that lady's house. I doubt she had a car and quite possibly, no one in her family had a car. Of course there was no grocery delivery and I'm sure no one had left her any money to pay for food if there had been. And so that precious woman did everything she could with potatoes. I do remember potato soup. I believe there was milk because in those days, that WAS delivered to houses, straight from the dairy. 
I suppose my father was off on a tear, which often happened. He'd disappear into the dark and dank drinking spots in Chattanooga, only to return when he needed...something. I don't know what. Not to see us, I'm sure. 
The amazing thing is, I still love potatoes and a good potato soup is one of the best things on earth. I wish I could go back in time and thank that woman. All I know about her was that she was Black. 

So perhaps that's why I feel the need to make sure we always have plenty of food in case something happens. I suppose I am not unlike a prepper but on a much smaller scale. The main difference is that I am not preparing for the rapture or any of that bullshit, just the vague possibility of being abandoned by everyone, left with nothing but potatoes. 
Which I know is not going to happen. As I always say, logic has nothing to do with it. 

Tomorrow I'm off to the dermatologist's office. They did not ask for any pre-check in so I suppose I'll have to answer the questions they have before the appointment. Some of you were not sure whether to believe me when I said that one of the questions for the urologist's office was, "Do you ever wet your pants?" and I will swear with my hand on my heart that yes, it was. It asked something like, "Do you ever experience urinary incontinence? (Wetting your pants.)"

I will not go into detail here but I will say that sometimes a kidney stone does get in a position which can cause that situation to happen. 
Oh, the indignities of being a human. 

But tomorrow is the dermatologist and all I'll have to do there is strip naked and the doctor is a woman and I doubt that will bother me at all. I'm weird. It's not the outside of me being examined by a doctor that causes anxiety, it's more the inside. All of the secrets to be found in the blood, most specifically but also x-rays and scans and so forth. 
Perhaps one day I'll figure out why this is such a problem for me, just like I've figured out why I want to always have enough food on hand.

Or not. 

Oh! Look what's blooming.

My plant ID calls it a "Chinese Sacred Lily" and it is of the narcissus family which shall come as no surprise to anyone.
That is a cheerful thing, isn't it? I hope those pretty flowers survive the freeze if we do indeed have one. 

Carry on. 

Love...Ms. Moon