I Swear I Am Not Being Just A Whiney Baby

Another baby pumpkin. 

I woke up in the predawn this morning to the sound of rain and I figured there would be no walk today. About that time Maurice came in, announcing herself with her cry that usually means she has hunted and killed and that I'd find a nice tasty tidbit somewhere she'd left me. Then she jumped up on the bed and did her little circling of my head and body thing before she settled down in the nest of my crooked legs and went to sleep. 
And of course I went back to sleep too. There is hardly anything in the world cozier than being in bed with a cat with the sound of rain outside the window. 

However, by the time I got up, the only sign it had rained at all was all the water in the garden cart and the sparkle of wet leaves. The rain came and the rain left. 

Getting out of bed this morning I had a realization and a revelation and it was not a good one at all. What I realized was that the main reason I have not been walking isn't necessarily the heat or the time it takes or the effort it takes or anything like that at all. 

It's because when I walk regularly, my hips, my knee, my lower back, and my right leg all hurt. I was going to doctors thirty years ago for hip pain which they never found the cause of and yes, I was a regular walker then. I was such a regular, long-time walker that I just thought I had something wrong with my hips because they always hurt. I did notice that if I could not or did not walk for a period of time, I wasn't in pain. But I sort of always just accepted that one came with the other, pain came with walking, and that was that. Walking was (is) good for me. It's so good for my cardiovascular system. It's good for preventing osteoporosis, it's good for my strength and stamina. It's good for my mental health. All of those things, right? Plus more. 
And although I kind of realized it caused me pain, I figured that the benefits outweighed the fact that I hurt most of the time. I was used to it. This is simply the way I was. 
Am. 
As I got out of bed this morning, that familiar stiffness and discomfort was there. This was not the sort of pain you're in when you first start an exercise routine. This was...that old thing again. 

I walked anyway. I enjoyed the walk. It doesn't really hurt when I walk. I am not in great discomfort and the effort is not a big deal. I feel fairly strong when I walk. I like feeling that way. I stopped and talked to Mr. Abraham who lives near the fally-down house and who actually lived in it many, many years ago. He is 92 years old. 
Ever since I've lived here, I've seen him parked in his blue truck at the end of Main Street, the street he lives on, where it joins Highway 59. He sits and I guess he watches. This is not an unusual thing here in the south although usually the sitting and watching happens from a front porch. There is very little traffic on Main Street though, and so I guess he prefers the activity from where he parks his truck to the activity from his front yard. 
It has taken Abe all these years to feel comfortable talking with me, I think. I have always waved and said, "Hi!" as I passed and he has returned my wave with a brief one of his own, never really even making eye contact with me. 
One day, however, I believe I initiated conversation with him and he was obviously not enthusiastic about talking to me but he did tell me that he didn't like the fact that I walked a path that went through the woods. He was worried about bears and also about...well, men. I think. I thanked him and told him I'd never felt threatened at all walking that route and he just said something like, "Well. Okay."
He is a private person. 
But in the last few years he has warmed to me. One day I stopped on my walk when he was working in the yard across the street from his house where his sister Liola used to live and we talked for a very long time. He told me about the work he'd done and an accident he'd had which ended his career. I think he managed construction projects. He told me his wife had died and he told me that he had children. I asked a lot of questions because I am nosy and also, curious. 
He was a little looser that day. He told me not to stop walking because if I did, I might not be able to start again. I have never forgotten that. 
And in our encounter today, he was so very friendly. He felt like an old pal to me. We laughed and talked about not being able to tolerate the heat in our older age and how both of us were outside people who love working in our yards, our gardens. Of course he asked me how I'd been doing and he asked why I hadn't been walking. I gave him the same answer I gave the other guy on Tuesday which was that I am a lazy slob. 
I enjoyed that conversation more than I can say. I felt so very, very comfortable with him because I think he feels comfortable with me. 
And if I don't walk, I won't have these encounters. I won't feel strong and able. I won't see the ditch ferns and ditch lilies, the morning glories and the wild azaleas. I won't pass the house with the palm trees, the yards with crepe myrtle and azaleas and camellias. I don't get waves and hellos if I'm not walking. 
But. 
I do not like this pain. Since I lost weight my joints have felt so much better. I won't say I leap out of bed or out of chairs, but it's no problem at all and it doesn't hurt. 
It doesn't hurt.
Or it hasn't hurt up until yesterday. 
And on top of all of that, I've had a return of the pain I associate with damn kidney stones which have been quiet and well-behaved for months. It's a sort of pukey pain. That's the only way I can describe it and I do not like it. 
So what do I do? I'm not going to use a treadmill. Trust me. 
For years and years I did stretches and yoga to try and alleviate the hip and leg and knee pain. I got quite bendy in yoga and enjoyed it but it did nothing to help with that pain nor did the stretches. I went to a chiropractor. Or, several to be exact. That did little to nothing to help me. 
I'm not going to take up swimming laps. Perhaps bicycling would be a good substitute. Maybe. 
I don't know. I do know I cried when I told Glen about all this when he got home this afternoon. 

And that's my story today. 

I got the peas I picked the past few days shelled, combined them with peas I'd already shelled that were in the refrigerator, and blanched them and put them in freezer bags. They have joined their pea sisters and brothers in the garage freezer, all labeled and tidy. 

I watched a few episodes of The Bear. 

I made another bread dough and this time I'll be lining the baking vessel with parchment paper. 

And I picked a few of the last zinnias. 

And a phlox.

Oh, how I will miss their cheerful faces. 

The crows have just shown up. They are dining very late today. I wonder where they were earlier. Perhaps they had a family counseling appointment. Or they went to a crow movie. Or maybe their truck had a flat tire. Who knows? 
Not me. 
As usual. 

Love...Ms. Moon

I Did It Again

Walking day 2. 
My route this morning was simply up the sidewalk to the county line and back. That's a two mile walk. It's not a lot but it ain't nothing, either. I did that route because I wanted to get a closer look at a yard that's just before the county line. This yard has intrigued me for all these twenty years because of the amount of trash in the yard. I simply could not understand how one small patch of ground could be so completely and utterly filled with every sort of trash you could imagine. Like...how did they even arrange it so that it was so dense while being so spread out? I can't even begin to describe the types of things that were lying in that yard. Just unbelievable amounts of detritus ranging from machine parts to old plumbing parts to buckets of something to bags of who-knows-what? 
But I'd noticed, driving by in the last few months, that at least half of the yard looks to have been somewhat cleaned up by someone. The house itself shouts poverty and I am honestly not judging here. I've seriously just been so curious about it. I've never once seen a person in the yard. 
Walking by it today, I saw that yes, there is at least 75% less trash but the weeds and grass have grown up to great heights. Still...I can't help but wonder what the motivation was to get started with that project. They may have been ordered by the county to do it if the one adjoining neighbor had complained about rats or something. 
Who knows? 
Not me. 
One more Lloyd mystery. 
And here's another. 

That is Harvey's property. That's what it has looked like since Harvey got put in jail last winter and I still do not know why. 
Except that it's not exactly what it's looked like since then. Can you make out what looks like an arrangement of outdoor furniture in front of the trailer?

Now that is new. 
And look at it- I mean, someone took the time to place it all as carefully as you might place it on your own patio.
And still no sign of Harvey. 
I have absolutely no idea what's going on there. 
I know people have often dropped off things at Harvey's place that he could possibly sell but not one thing since he's been incarcerated. 

Yes. Lloyd is a curious and interesting place. 
At least to me. 

After my walk I did a few things around here and then met Jessie and Lily and all five of my grandchildren at the Wacissa and it was just a very, very sweet time. The temperature under the shade of the cypress tree where we set up camp was pretty perfect, especially with the breeze blowing off the river. All of the kids, except for Owen, spent almost the entire time in the water doing kid water things. Jessie had brought the two little kayaks which all the Weatherford/Moon kids used and then the other kids who were there all got turns paddling in them. It's that sort of place. 

It was blissful. I only totally immersed once which is unusual but I was so comfortable, sitting in my chair in the shade, enjoying the breeze and the conversation with Lily and Jessie and Owen that I simply did not feel the need. We took picnic foods and enjoyed those but the kids didn't really even want to waste the time. They were just way too happy in that cold, cold water. 

I stayed for a few hours and then started getting itchy to get home and finish up my cleaning the refrigerator and freezer project. The kids all gave me freezing cold hugs and Owen hauled all of my things up to my car for me. He's such a dear and loving grandson. 

I did indeed get the freezer completely unloaded, cleaned, and reorganized. I discovered I have far more frozen corn and spinach than I had realized. I carried all of my blanched, bagged, and frozen field peas out to the garage freezer which made a lot more room. That felt good. 
Then I hauled all the garbage from yesterday's refrigerator clean-out to the trash place and folded a bunch of laundry and I feel quite satisfied with myself. 
Cleaning toilets may have been involved too. 
Ooh Mary! You go girl! 

And now I want to show you this.

Can you see the label? Can you see the beautiful embroidery? 

That, my darlings, is a Johnny Was tee-shirt that Lily found at a Goodwill and bought for six dollars. And you know what? I don't think it had even ever been worn or washed. New, that shirt new would have sold for over a hundred dollars. And she found it on the rack outside the dressing room where people put what they've tried on and didn't want. 

I have now given it its first wash and I can foresee wearing this beautiful thing for the rest of my life. It's not just a garment. It is a work of art. 

The thrift store gods and goddesses were smiling on both Lily and her mama when she found that. I can hardly believe it. 

Mr. Moon is still at the cabin. He was going to come home today but when he got up there last night he discovered the mower had a flat tire and he spent most of the day getting two new tires. By the time he got back to the place and started mowing, it began to rain. 

So I'll see him tomorrow. 

My plan for tomorrow is to try and get at least a few more things on my list checked off, the number one priority being the shelling, blanching, and freezing of the peas. Yay! More The Bear!
Guilt free. 

What a good day it's been. I hope yours has been too. 

Love...Ms. Moon

Back Out On The Street

 

I'm sure some of you have noticed that I have not been taking my usual walks for a long, long time and I really haven't been able to figure out why. I have either been a runner or a walker most of my adult life. That's just what I did. And I was faithful about it. When the children were really young and couldn't be left alone, I'd get up before the rest of the household, get dressed, put on my shoes, and walk out the door. Often in the dark. I'd get in my miles, come home, drink coffee, and then start the rest of my day when the kids and the man got up. I look back on that now and wonder how I did it. 
I do remember that in those days, naps were the what gave me life and there were many mornings when the promise of getting back in bed for a nap later in the day was the only thing that got me out of bed. 
When we moved here, twenty two years ago, I figured out routes to take in the woods and on the highway, down country roads, and just around Lloyd. For awhile I was walking a road that I had to drive to and park to access. I was doing pretty good milage then, four or five miles a day at my most dedicated. 
And then, for whatever reason, I just started slacking off. The heat got to be too much and I stubbornly refused to get up early and get out there quickly. I just had too much to do in the mornings! Most of which involved reading blogs, commenting, and reading other things online and then doing a crossword. And of course I had to eat breakfast and finally I'd put on my sports bra and shorts and T-shirt by which time it was already at least 85 degrees if not in the 90's. In the summers, at least. 
And then there was the kidney stone which prevented me from walking for awhile and then...
Oh, who knows? 
I just could not force myself to get out and walk. 

But last night, for no apparent reason, I decided that it would be a good thing for me in so many ways to get up and stop fucking around and put those shoes on and just walk out the door. 
Just walk out the door. 
Simplest thing in the world. 
And the bizarre thing is- I did it. 
I didn't walk very far but I spent about forty minutes doing it and I wasn't just strolling. I wasn't speed-walking by any means, but there was no lallygagging. 
And I really enjoyed it. There wasn't anything new going on that I could see but every season brings different blooms and the sky changes minute by minute. I've been missing that sort of thing, that subtle and undramatic cycle of everything around us that is only truly noticeable when you're on foot. 
It wasn't noticeably different than when I walked before, as in I didn't feel that I was completely out of shape, although I probably am. This evening, though, I will admit to being tireder than usual but I also did a tiny, tiny bit of garden work in the heat when I got home and then I cleaned the refrigerator which, if you do it properly, requires some physical effort. So there's that too. I am not a completely inactive being but I would like to become more active once again. 

Those morning glories up top there are growing in my neighbor Carol's yard and you can see the blurry pink of the crepe myrtle behind it. These two blooms are some of the things I've missed the most. The blue of the morning glories is simply...a glory. Isn't it? 

Does that not look as if it's emitting its own light? A tiny sun, glowing through its own celestial blue sky. 

I passed the fally-down house which, oh my Lord, finally, after all these years of watching as it has grown closer and closer to becoming one with the earth, is just about there. 
I did not see Abe but right about where he lives I crossed paths with a neighbor I see walking past the house sometimes. 
He greeted me and said, "Haven't seen you out in a long time. Where you been?"
"I've just been a lazy slob," I told him. "But I want to start walking again."
He nodded and told me that he, too, has not been very faithful about it but wants to get back into the habit. And then he asked me how I've been, but not in a polite-conversation way. In a I'd-truly-like-to-know-way. Like he's been concerned. I told him that I was good, really good and asked him how he's been. He told me that he's been good too. 
"All right," I said. "Let's do this thing! Let's get out here and walk!" 
He agreed that was a good idea and then he went on his way and I went on mine. I do not know this man's name nor does he know mine but there is a connection here. There just is. 
I was a little way farther down the road when a car passed me and honked, and a guy I didn't recognize waved his arm out of his window. I think it was probably another neighbor who knows me from all those years of walking. 
Those two encounters made me feel so good. I am sure that when we first moved here I was looked at askance. Lloyd is not exactly filled with what you might call truly health-conscious people. Listen- people used to stop their vehicles and ask me quite sincerely if I needed a ride. 
But that was a long time ago. They are used to me now and have noted my absence. This is a comfort to me. 
Now. Will I get up and walk tomorrow? I surely hope so.

I made another list when I got home. It has six things on it and I only managed to get one half of one thing done. The item was "Clean refrigerator and freezer."
The refrigerator was a fucking mess. Just nasty. I mean, I doubt the health department would shut me down but it was truly overdue for a cleaning and that I did. This involves taking out all the food, throwing away anything that needs throwing away, pulling out all the shelves and drawers, washing them and drying them, putting them back in the refrigerator, and then putting all the food back on the shelves and in the drawers. 
At one point I told Glen that from here on out, whenever the refrigerator needs cleaning, we just need to buy a new one. 
"Good idea," he said. 
He didn't mean it. 

By the time I'd done all of that, I had a lot of garbage due to the things I'd thrown away and although I thought I really should take it to the dump, I just didn't have the energy. It's bagged and ready to go tomorrow. 
I was also going to clean the freezer and although the most stubborn part of me insisted that I finish the job, achieve my goal, the human 72-year old woman part of me insisted that nah, that too would wait. 
And it will. 

Mr. Moon has driven up to the cabin. Tom's final illness and death and the aftermath of that has kept him here, dealing with all the things that have needed dealing with. There is a lot more to do but as with the garbage and the freezer, it will all still be here when he gets back. He's just going to mow and do a little relaxing. I hope that involves fishing because I know he needs some of that. 
It's odd, not having him here. He'll be back tomorrow so it's not going to be a prolonged situation. 

And tomorrow I plan on going to the river with Lily and her babies and Jessie and her babies. We are going to picnic. I am looking forward to this with all my heart. 

You know I had to take a picture of my refrigerator. Here it is. 

Yes. Yes. I am a bit of a food hoarder. And yes, yes. I am the condiment queen. And I don't even use the salad dressings except for once in a blue moon. 

Sigh.

For your viewing pleasure. Should you need a little joy in your life.

Love...Ms. Moon

Still Obsessed With Food. Obviously

Last night's supper. I think this is becoming a feature here at Bless Our Hearts. I see that my placement was poor when it came to the avocados and eggs. 
Presentation has never been my strong suit. 
But it sure was good. 
On the other hand...let us discuss the bread I tried to make. I mean, I did make it but there were problems. 
I've been getting a lot of recipes on social media for recipes with cottage cheese in them and the purpose of cottage cheese in food is to up the protein in them. You know how it is- every few years we're told there are certain nutrients that are truly the important ones and right now, the trendy winners are protein and fiber. 
Am I right? 
Well, I don't really worry about not getting enough protein but I thought I'd give the cottage cheese in a baked good a try and so I made up a bread dough with bread flour, yeast, ground flax seeds (fiber!), old-fashioned oatmeal, and cottage cheese. Oh, and honey. I made the dough in the food processor where I make a lot of my bread dough, especially things like pizza crusts and focaccia. 
I processed all of this until it was a good consistency and then I kneaded it by hand a few times and set it to rise. It was a lovely dough. Quite punchy and so forth. It rose nicely, I gave it a second rise. Again, good rising, and then I baked it in a Le Creuset pot which I'd sprayed with some avocado spray. I put it in a hot oven and it looked great. It rose a bit more in the heat of the oven and browned well. When it came time for me to check it for doneness, I tried to do what I always do which is to take the loaf from whatever I'm baking it in and tap the bottom. If it sounds hollow- it's done. If it doesn't, it ain't.
However. There was no easy removal of this loaf. It had stuck to the sides and bottom of this pan with a crust at least a third of an inch thick. It took a knife, a spatula, and a lot of work to get that thing out of there and I ended up putting it back in the oven on a piece of aluminum foil because it was obviously not going to do well if I put it back in the pan. 
Well, I didn't bake it long enough. That was one problem, the other problem being the extremely rough exteriors of the bread. 
However, the parts that did get baked were lovely and delicious and I am going to try this again but I will be using a different baking vessel. 

Oh well. La-di-dah. 

I ended up going to town today to meet up with Jessie and the boyos for lunch and a Costco shopping. We asked Lily if she could go on her break but that wasn't happening until 2:00 so she told us to go on without her. The boys chose Chow Time, of course, and as always, it was NOT BAD! At all. I had boiled shrimp, some hot and sour soup, a few green beans and some cabbage, a piece of baked salmon, a bite or two of chicken and the same of beef. With a little rice. 
It was perfect! 

And then on to Costco. Now y'all- I don't think I'd left Lloyd in at least three or four days so Costco was a bit of a neuro-blast for me. So much going on there. And, two very energetic boys who bounced about like Energizer Bunnies. At one point, they begged Jessie to let them sample the Liquid Death drink. Liquid Death is an energy drink and Jessie and I both said, "NO!" at the same time. They were cool with that. They were actually very good little guys and entertained me well. I tried to get them to pose in front of a Halloween decoration which was a dracula-looking guy who moved and made scary noises. 
Here's what happened. 

That just about says it all. And we need to get Levon on the stage. Immediately. He is such a natural born performer and entertainer. 
And check this out.

I don't even know what to say. He really is going to be taller than me before I know it. 

All right. Here's a picture of their Boppy when he was probably about the same age as August. I'd say ten or eleven. Or maybe even twelve. 

I believe we can safely surmise that Levon and August are direct descendants of Glen Moon. 

By the way, Glen hates that picture so don't tell him I posted it. I love it.

And so it goes and so it went today. 

Here's the last picture.

The Seminole Pumpkin vines that are taking over our universe here in Lloyd. See that tendril on the left side there? It's heading right towards a boat parked in the yard and obviously, by tomorrow the vines are going to be climbing Tom's Subaru and will also be on and in the boat. I have got to cut it back. Again. Despite its obvious inability to know when to stop growing, I am not finding many pumpkins. I think perhaps we're not getting the number of pollinators we usually do. I'm not seeing much action on the basils, either, but I keep telling myself that they're not really putting out that many blooms yet. 
The pumpkins, however, are. 
I hope I'm wrong. I really, really do. 

Meanwhile...

Love...Ms. Moon

Uh...Well, It's Sunday

Here we have the what-did-Ms. Moon-make-for-supper-last-night feature. I am proud of this one. I made the pizza from the crust up and it has a bunch of our peppers, both bell and clown, sliced very thinly, onions, mushrooms, some of our tomatoes, black olives and the proper cheeses. We ate it with little dribbles of pesto on top that I made yesterday from some of the basil crop. 
Was it good? 
Oh yeah. 
I was so afraid when I started taking Zepbound that I would lose my interest in cooking and in food in general but that has not turned out to be true. It was at first, a little bit anyway. Not anymore though. I just eat less of foods I still love to make and eat. 
Dreams CAN come true. 

Another day of rain here in Lloyd and in the entire area for that matter. Another day of being relatively inert which does not suit me well. Of course I could have spent it doing something like scrubbing mildew off walls but where's the fun in that, I ask you? I worked on my puzzle some which led me to a bit of despair in that this is going to take me forever. My brain just does not function visually and spatially the way it should in order to do jigsaw puzzles. So why do them? 
Well, good question. I get very caught up in them. Time passes in a different manner. I can sit down, begin to concentrate, and before I know it, an hour has passed in which time I've probably found five pieces to fit in.
Sigh.
Perhaps I feel like this is good for my brain. Sometimes I feel like all of that advice about doing crosswords and things like that to prevent dementia is a bunch of malarky. 
Now there's a word you don't hear very often these days. But it's a good one. 
Really, though, who cares if it takes me a year to finish this puzzle? Or a year and a half? Or whatever. There are no jigsaw puzzle police who are going to come and arrest me if I can't finish it in the approved amount of time. I have no teacher grading me. So I'll just enjoy it as it goes. Especially on my new puzzle board which continues to delight me. 

So, one of my dear and darling nursing school ladies sent us all a picture that had been taken twenty years ago when we'd all gotten together at Weeki Wachee Springs with our children. My kids were already grown but theirs were all still young things. But the picture made me laugh. 

Look at what I was wearing. Cargo pants and a black tank top. 
Here's what I was wearing when I got the picture. 

I do believe that in the picture from 20 years ago, I was wearing women's linen cargo pants, not men's cotton cargo pants. 
Whatever. 

And for fun, here's a picture of all the kids together. 

Actually, one or two are missing there, including May who had also come with us. Lily and Jason were newly married, I think. 
Here's what Hank remembers from that trip in response to Jessie saying she had no memory of it: Really? We all went down and stayed at the motel right across from weeki wachee. I think we also ate supper in a restaurant next to a monkey island. 
Yes. Exactly. And this makes me feel better because the kids are always talking about things from their childhoods and I'm like, What? Are you sure that happened?

Anyway, we four ladies are planning our this-year trip. We can't afford to waste a year these days. Not with time flying the way it does and the fact that we all realize we do not have all the time left in the world. 

So that was a fun little skip down memory lane. 

Here's something I've been meaning to show you for awhile. 

That's a red emerald philodendron, I think. I made a cutting of one I had and rooted it and then stuck it in that very, very small pot. 

I may have fertilized it once. I water it when I remember. And look at that dang thing! I bet if I stretched it out it would be over ten feet long. And here's the thing- the plant I made the cutting off of is on the porch, getting a little more light, but not too much light, in a pot far more appropriate as to size and it looks like death hungover. 

What can I say? 

That's about it from me today. 

Oh! I haven't shared a picture of everyone's favorite (increasingly) insane orange cat recently so here's one for you.

For the first time in weeks she came and slept with me last night and was still there when I got up. She stayed right there for hours and who could blame her? 

Oh, the Weatherfords made it home last night! Hurray! And they've had a good rainy day to get things done inside which no doubt needed doing. 

I myself will try to do something more interesting tomorrow. 
No promises, though. 

Love...Ms. Moon

Time, Space, Crows, And Human Life On Earth

Eventually the crows are going to let me get close enough to take a decent picture. I think this one is the one I call The Scout. He's the largest and always seems to be the one who does the reconnaissance missions. I could be wrong. It's not really that easy to identify crows. Or at least for me. 
They fly about over the tree stumps where I put their mealworms every morning and if that doesn't work, they caw at me, or as I say,  yell at me. They may even land and search around to see if by any chance I have fed them and they've just missed it. 
I go out with my little container of mealworms and whistle the same whistle that I used to use on my cats. Maurice doesn't need that whistle. She's generally either in the house, on the back porch, or right outside, defending her territory from her doppelgänger and the pretty black cat that shows up now and then.
By the time I've put food on all six of the Bradford Pear Tree stump tables, they're on the branches nearest the cafe and urging me to hurry up and get back in the house so they can eat in peace. I still have not received one tiny shiny thing, not so much as a shred of aluminum foil, and I may never get anything at all. 
It's cool. I just like looking at them. They're so interesting. 

It's rained most of the day which has been lovely. It cooled way down and after I got caught in the rain while I was in the garden and stayed there until I'd finished what I was doing, thus getting rather wet, I was actually cold and had to put a sweater on. I've still got it on. But hey! It's 87 degrees on the back porch where I am. 
Brrr...
I love it. 

I've been mostly lazy and yes, giving myself grace about it. I finished up a few French knots on a patch I'd sewn on a linen shirt that I've been patching and doing visible mending on for probably three years. On and off. 
Mostly off. 
And I realized- I was done! 

I got this shirt years and years ago at a Goodwill and it was my faithful companion until the fabric on the yoke became as thin as a spider web. I mostly used it as a bathing suit cover-up or something to put on when the temperatures dip into the high 80's. Like now. 
So it's in the wash and will be ready to go back into service. 
After I finished that, I started back to hemming my cheesecloth rags. I've been ignoring that project for awhile and we are in dire need of more of them. 
DIRE, I tell you! 
While I did these things, I watched more of The Bear, of course. I am falling in love with some of the characters, as one does as they develop. I remember texting Hank once when I was watching Reservation Dogs to tell him that I loved Willie Jack so much it made my heart hurt. 
He understood. 
Actually, all of those characters made my heart hurt with love but Willie Jack the most. 
The main character of The Bear is played by Jeremy Allen White and he has the kind of beauty that can only be seen after awhile. Do you know what I mean? If you just saw the guy buying a bag of potato chips and a six-pack of beer, you'd think, "He's rather odd-looking." He is not what we would call traditionally handsome. He's no Brad Pitt. He's no George Clooney, but he has...something. 
Many woman are like this too. You have to really shed your notions of beauty and see that there is far more to it than what we see on the surface. 
Beauty is NOT skin deep and Brad Pitt will never be as beautiful as Keith Richards is at the age of 82. 

That is not what I planned to write about. As usual. 

Glen spent a lot of the day being annoyed with himself for spending too much time in his chair. "It's killing me!" he says. 
"Hmmmm..." I say. 
I think a day of rest may be a damn good thing for him but I understand. Neither one of us is really made for sitting all day long. 
He got out of his chair though to work on the lamp he brought home the other day. 

Now that is a good-looking man. Beautiful in all the ways. 

We need to get some new glass shades as two of the ones on it were broken. They are easily found although right now we are throwing around the idea of getting green ones or pink ones. 
We shall see.

Here she is, naked and unadorned. 

The Weatherfords are on their way home. They didn't leave North Carolina until around noon so it's going to be a very long day and part of a night. I can't believe they'll be back in Florida. That must be such a difficult transition. The North Carolina mountains to North Florida. From living in a small camper to living in a regular sized house. From having the mountains as your backyard to having a...backyard...as your backyard. From having a mother/grandmother, sister/aunt, brother-in-law/uncle, and cousins as your only neighbors to having people who, although they may be very nice people, are not related to you at all for neighbors. 
Well. In some ways, it's pretty darn cool to be exposed to both worlds, to get to know all the different family members so well. 

And school will soon begin again. August (and Maggie) will be in their last year of elementary school. I cannot believe this and yet, it is true. Levon, the baby of the family (haha!) will be in third grade. Owen is a Junior in high school? I think. And Gibson is a freshman in high school, marching in the band. 
How did all of this happen? 

It's life. Just life. Why we are so amazed at how fast the years fly by is a mystery to me, just as why we are so mystified and shocked when death occurs. Or when we know we're getting near that inevitable portal into such a change of energy. Change or exchange? 
We just don't know, do we? 

It's all pretty much a fancy dance. Just as you learn the steps to one phase of the dance, the music changes and there we are. 
Or here we are. 
As Karen said, we are wisest to just roll with whatever is happening. Kids growing up, us growing older and then old. 
Life. There is no stopping it. Until it stops. 
That's pretty much it, I think, summed up in a few short words. 
Meanwhile, the planet keeps on circling the sun, the galaxies and stars keep on moving and whirling and traveling and dancing their own fancy dances. 
Isn't it amazing? 
I think so.

Love...Ms. Moon 

Just A Little Bit

 

I only took one photo today and it's not exactly artistic or pretty or funny or anything like that so I decided to go check out my blog post from a year ago and I discovered I'd taken a picture of another over-the-top crazy lamp. I had been shopping at an absurd antique mall and that was one of the absurd antique items they had for sale there. 
It's rather amusing to me that exactly a year ago I posted a picture of another lamp made in some time frame where too much was just enough. 
I did not make up that phrase. Bill Wharton, aka The Sauce Boss, did. Do a blog search for him if you want to know more. 
Anyway, it must be the season of the lamp. 

I don't have anything of importance to discuss this evening, or get off my chest or just generally write about in order to get some clarity on how I feel about something. I was going to make a quick-quick run to Publix and come back to get some more yard work done or something in the productive vein but I guess I did all I needed to of that yesterday. I did go to Publix but it took me awhile. I needed more than I thought I did or actually, once I got there I thought I needed more than I had written down on my list. 

When I got home and had put all the groceries away I sat my ass down on the couch with a basketful of field peas and made myself happy by shelling them and watching another episode and a half of "The Bear." The more I watch this show, the more I like it and I am already suffering from pre-grief about how I will feel when I've watched it all. Knowing me, I may just watch it again. How many times did I watch "Reservation Dogs?" And the one picture I took today? 

I used this along with some smoked turkey when I cooked my pinto beans today. 
It was righteous. So were the okra and tomatoes. The cornbread too. 

Happy Friday, ya'll. 

Love...Ms. Moon