Liz Is Back In Town!

(This post has been edited and corrected as to facts about Aunt Sue Hero HERE.)

Well, dang. Liz Sparks, who is back from her world travels, asked me if I'd like to meet up and go up to Metcalfe in Georgia to eat lunch at Mary's. 
Well of course I would. It was way past time for us to get together and catch up on each other's lives although her life in the past three months has contained more adventures and roads and mountains and rivers and hiking trails and cool people and miles than my entire life probably has so her stories are far better than mine which really does not matter in the least. When she got here, I noticed the big black brace she was wearing on one of her legs and that she was definitely favoring the leg. I remembered from her blog that she'd badly twisted her ankle on a hike and I assumed that was what was going on but she said that no, she'd healed up from that but this injury was in the same ankle and all she'd done was to roll her foot off her flipflop and BOOM! Start back at the beginning. She even managed to tear off a tiny bit of bone in this accident. 
They didn't cast her but she has to wear the leg brace all the time that she's on her feet. ALL the time. As in, if she gets up to pee in the night she has to put it on to get to the bathroom which is about eight feet away. 
She's handling it well but Liz is not a lady who is good at sitting, and too much walking around is simply too much. She knows she has to let it heal but she is not loving that. At all. She is not a complainer though.

So anyway, we drove up to Metcalfe, looking forward to some of Mary's soul food. If you want to read about another trip she and I took up there you can go HERE that I wrote six years ago. I have no idea how many trips we've made to Mary's kitchen and no idea how many times I've written about it but I'm sure the answer to both is many. 
Unfortunately, when we pulled into the parking lot which is a bit of space under some trees, we realized there was no one else there and there was a sign on the door. I got out of the car and read it and yes, they were closed today. No reason given. Just that they were. 
Sigh. 
So we got back on the road to drive to Monticello which is a very cool drive through miles of woods and a very few houses and/or driveways. At one point, the road turns from asphalt to dirt, nice red Georgia clay dirt, bordered on both sides by trees and I was happy just to drive slowly and take it all in while we talked. It's sort of crazy to me that we can drive from Lloyd to Metcalfe to Monticello on a fairly direct route. As I have often mentioned, I have no sense of direction whatsoever but Liz does and thank goodness or I'd probably still be out there on some cow path, weeping and trying to get Google Maps to work which they wouldn't because we were on the back end of nowhere. 
We saw one other car on that whole part of the drive. 
We ate lunch at the Mexican restaurant and as always, it was quite decent. We did not visit any of the refillerys or cute and clever shops but we did go to Wag the Dog because that's a must. Liz found a nice skirt and I didn't find anything I wanted but my thrifting luck has been so good lately that I can't complain. 
And besides that, there was something on the counter up by the cash register that made the whole effort worthwhile. 

What is this, you may ask? 
Well, my loves, this is a Joy for All Companion Pet Cat in the Silver with White Mitts color style, according to Google Lens. 
It is an interactive robotic and therapeutic companion pet. The lady behind the counter showed me how it worked. You simply touch and pet and stroke the cat and it will do things like licking its paw or purring or meowing or rolling on its back or doing other things that cats do. 
I will be honest. It was a little freaky. But you know what? It was also extremely cool. These were created for people with Alzheimers or people who need a companion and are not able to keep a pet. I have no idea about the effectiveness of the robotic pets but I have a feeling they could be a comfort. How many of the older ladies in nursing homes hold a baby doll in their arms for hours every day? 
As I always say, I will be one of those women. I mean, I already have the dolls...

And it was a very soft cat and had no claws. I checked. 

And so that's what I did today. I got out of the house and into the world with Liz Sparks and it was good. Liz and I definitely have that sort of relationship where there is no lag time when it comes to getting back together. 
As we all know, those relationships are real and they are rare and as I grow older and evermore apt to, well, isolate myself, they are very important. With Liz I feel completely comfortable. I don't think there is anything either one of us could say that would shock the other. We've been through it all together. 
Well. Not really. Not yet. But I don't want to dwell on that. 

Mr. Moon just sent me this picture.

He has a very good eye.

One more thing I want to discuss. This.

This is Aunt Sue, aka Sue Hrib who showed up at a Trump rally in Syracuse and showed the world what a woman with absolutely no fucks left to give can and will do. 
She immediately became a media hero. I've looked her up and she is a major business woman in Atlanta who is the owner and founder of BIATCH Tequila which was launched under her company, Boss Babes Brands, Inc. 
Completely woman owned, woman run. The tequila itself is made in El Arenal, Jalisco, Mexico by a woman-run, family owned distillery and the master distiller is a woman along with her daughters. 

I cannot possibly express how I feel about this woman and the action she took. Let's put her face on Mt. Rushmore. 
She is an inspiration and she is a hero. 
Finally, someone raised her middle fingers and shouted FUCK YOU! to all of the attendees at a Trump rally. 
And of course it was a woman. Women keep more anger and frustration and rage inside of us than even we ourselves often recognize. The power of even one woman who unleashes all of that is earth-shattering. 
And history-making. 

That's all I have to say.

Love...Ms. Moon
 

P.S. 
Steve Reed- I'll post sea grape pictures tomorrow. I know you're just dying to see them. And honestly, I am proud to show them.