Stepping Back Into Normalcy

I took this picture last night to send to Glen. I mean, cliched as it is, Maurice is sort of our beloved child. 
Beloved child who needs a good exorcism now and then. 
"Go sit on Daddy's lap," I tell her when she tries to settle in front of my keyboard and I'm trying to type blind over her body. 
"Mommy'll give you your treat," Glen says to her when she meows in the kitchen. 
I knew this day would come. 

Speaking of Mr. Moon, he'll be home late tonight. They spent last night in Springfield, Missouri which is 822 miles from Tallahassee.  
I begged that man not to do drives that long but he claims that his friend Jim is the pilot and as such, he has no control over the situation.
Jim may be the pilot and he may be determined to drive from fucking North Dakota up by the Canadian border to back here in two days but if Glen put his foot down (and I do not mean on the gas pedal) he'd probably have taken it a little easier. Which all boils down to- does Mr. Moon listen to me? 
No. He does not. 
Oh, he probably listens but then he does what he wants to. 
Yes. I feel a little pissy about this. 

Today's been okay. The cat and I did not get up until late and it has been a beautiful day. I haven't done much although I did work on another bird. I haven't felt too bad but not great either. I know I could have slept most of the day but I seem to have some sort of mental block about that. My skin hurts (does yours do that when you're a little sick?) and my eyes feel funky. My arm still hurts but it will for a few days at least. I'm hoping to be back to normal, other than the arm, by tomorrow. 

It's been another day of not speaking directly to another human. You know, sometimes it worries me that I am so content with that. I mostly just don't feel the need. Last night I got a call from Levon/August (they share a phone) but it cut off before I could answer it so I called them back. Levon said, "It was a butt dial. I'm sorry."
I said, "Do you think you can get another lunch with another butt-dial?"
Both boys said that yes, they thought maybe they chould. 
"Well that's not going to happen," I said. And then we had a little chat which was nice. So I did talk to them yesterday. In fact, I talked to the HVAC guy yesterday too, and several people at Publix. So see? I've not been completely cut off from other humans. And I've had some good text exchanges with a few lovely people. 
I just really don't get lonely. 

So yes, I decided to get to work on bird number...three? Four? I found a bird-making video that did not look too hard which sort of made things a little clearer about how to shape a bird from a lump of clay. I did not follow it exactly because it was what I would call a "cutsie" bird and I wanted, if not a crow, then at least something that looked like it might actually perch on some magnolia leaves. 
I worked on that bird for about two and a half hours and I will admit, I got frustrated. I also pulled up a fine picture of a real crow from the internet and kept checking that to try and make my bird more of a corvid but finally gave up on that and decided that if it even reasonably resembled a bird, any bird, I would be happy. I probably spent at least an hour and a half on just the wings and the eyes and I am not really happy with either but I am hoping that after firing and sanding and glaze-painting, it will be...another useless object but one that I don't hate. The bird is definitely NOT a crow but it is a bird. And I did not throw the damn thing across the porch which I thought about doing several times. I hope the scoring and slip application I did will hold the bird firmly to the leaves. The leaves had dried out more than would have been an optimal for that to be guaranteed to work. I had wrapped them securely in plastic but that only works for so long. But I scored and I slipped well. 
I did my best. Or at least the best I could at this point in time. And I learned a few things, one of which is that I need a few better tools. My tool collection is pathetic. Still, fingers are my favorite tool. 

I wasn't going to even take a picture of it but I just did and here it is.

Thank all of you who have made suggestions. I used a little bit of all of them and I'm sure I will again at some point. 
However. Please, I beg of you, do not tell me that this one looks like a cross between a weasel and a possum. 
Here's a weasel. 

Here's a possum. 

I can see what my anonymous critic was saying but really, that was not helpful in the least. I KNEW it was all wonky. That much I did understand. And there was a period of time today when I was working on the new bird that I decided the beak looked more like a porpoise snout than a bird beak but I think I sort of fixed that. It also went through a stage wherein the eyes looked more like the eyes on a dinosaur than on a bird but hey! At least those two things are related, right? 

And in news that is actually important, it turns out that Elon Musk did indeed slow down Starlink to Ukraine in order to render their drones essentially useless. He has blamed Trump and the US military while Trump, of course, has denied any responsibility. 
Look. Hilary Clinton warned us ten years ago that Trump was Putin's bitch and every day it is more and more apparent that was the absolute truth. 
Well, she didn't use the word "bitch," at least in public, but she did use the word "puppet." 

Dear god, let this nightmare come to an end. Or at least come to the very real and legitimate and undeniable beginning to the end. 
Actually, I think that may be exactly what is happening.

Vote. Vote, vote, vote. When Mr. Moon gets back, we'll be heading over to Monticello to early-vote and I have never in my life been more convinced of the importance of that one small act. 

It will be interesting to have my husband home. Interesting and of course good. It always takes me a day or two to readjust to having him back. There will be more noise, more activity, more laundry, more consideration of someone else's needs. 
I suppose, as always, I will readjust. 
The hugs alone will be worth it. 

Off to go cook some more tofu. Last night was salmon and it was so good. 

As is my life. 

Love...Ms. Moon