Back To The Reality Of North Florida As Opposed To The Florida We Just Left

 I snapped that picture this morning just as we were leaving. We'd packed and honestly, Glen had loaded everything into the truck and I'd tidied up as much as I could without actually, you know- cleaning. 
I love that little kitchen so much with its view of the pool and the river too, it's pink vintage stove, its terrazzo floors, the so very cool Melamine dishes with their crazy pinks and greens, their space-age shapes. 
"Good-bye," I said, and before I got in the truck I patted and kissed one of the lions on the head and promised to be back soon. 
His only reaction was to stand as still as a statue and spit water out of his mouth. But that is his job. 
On our way down the sand road from Glenn and Scott's house, I spied Brad whom we had not seen (but heard) since that first night. Glen stopped the truck and we watched as he spread his fantastic feathers and did a 180, displaying them to us and I am convinced he was saying good-bye. 

And then we drove home and as always, by the time we were about two hours from Lloyd I thought I would lose my mind if I had to sit in that seat for ten more minutes but there's so little mind left to lose that I survived, relatively intact. I read "The Yearling" out loud for about six hours and that is the truth. I have no idea how many times I've read this book since the first time I read it when I was probably 12. Maybe 11. I know I've already read it once out loud on other trips but Glen loves it too. There is fishing and hunting in it. Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings worked as hard as a man, drank as hard as a man, and hunted and fished with the men. Her descriptions of Florida back about the time this house was built are unparalleled in my opinion. Of course Marjorie wasn't alive at that time but she knew Florida and the scrub and river and vegetation and animals about as well as anyone, I think. And her love for it was profound. 
The older I get, the more I recognize and appreciate her knowledge, her love for the state she moved to as an adult and adopted as her very own. And I have to give her credit for her characters who are unforgettable, human, and more real than some people I've met. Her dialogue is fantastic, which makes the book such a joy to read out loud.

And here's our Lloyd garden, so very different than from where we just left.

We did a quick tour of the garden before we unloaded the truck. Everything seems to be fine. We've had enough rain here to keep things going. I'll get more involved in it tomorrow. 

I've unpacked nothing but the kitchen stuff which was a lot. We're both exhausted. I have started supper which so far is a pot of last year's canned green beans with some baby potatoes in it. 

And that's the report. 
Boud- your package came! I am charmed and so delighted. Thank you! 
Maurice has been extremely stand-offish but just a second ago she jumped up here on my table and asked for a head rub which I gave her. When I had the audacity to try and scratch her a little bit down by her tail, she got into attack position and I jerked my hand back. 
My reflexes are still sharp!

I will say that sleeping in our own bed tonight will be lovely. 
And I will be adjusting back to North Florida which is so very, very different from from the middle east coast of Florida. 
But I know that the sun is still setting over the Sebastian River and we can go back and walk out on the dock to watch it, hoping to see dolphins, and mullet jumping, maybe tarpon, fishing boats coming in and heading for home, osprey, pelicans, knowing that manatee may be there too. 
What a lucky woman I am to be able to have these different worlds to live in. 
I would say back to real life but that other life with the lions, the dock, the hibiscus, the dolphins, are every bit as real as this one. 
And I will always know that. 

Love...Ms. Moon