Bungling On

The Great North Florida Ice Storm of 2020

I have been terrible lately at answering comments. I have a lot on my mind but that's really no excuse. I'll try to do better. 

It did freeze last night as you can see in the picture above. That's from where I left the garden sprinkler dripping. Not very impressive, is it? Truthfully, it's rare to see ice in the wild here in North Florida. The odds of seeing a bear are probably greater. 

I saw No Man Lord this morning, hoofing it down the sidewalk towards the convenience store so he made it through the night. I threw up a hand as I passed him on my way to the dump. He waved back. 

I spent half the day in town today. I decided that I HAD to have some cotton wool to crochet some potholders with. 

I know- truly a necessity. I've been using potholders that my mother-in-law crocheted since at least before 1991 because that's the year she died and they're starting to get holes in them and holes will NOT do in potholders especially if you're dealing with balls-of-Satan levels of heated cast iron. And yes, I know you can buy perfectly good potholders but why give up a chance to sit on my butt and watch TV? I am terrible at crocheting. I can't control tension. Same for knitting. I just don't have the knack. But I suppose I may be able to manage a potholder or two. 

I also wanted to get picture frames for Mr. Moon's grandparent's photos. So I went to Michael's where I got both the cotton and the frames. Then I went to Old Navy because it's right there and I wanted some socks. They didn't have any socks that I liked but I did get a dress on the sale rack that's soft and cozy and will be a good winter house-dress with leggings. Last week in my closet I found two pairs of leggings that I'd bought last winter and never opened so I'm good there. They, too, are soft and warm. I also got Magnolia a dress for about six dollars. It's black and sophisticated with a cowl neck and it's as soft as my dress. All she needs is a pearl necklace and she could dine at Tiffany's. 

I did grocery shopping and was incredibly proud of myself for getting everything on my list and a few things not on the list that I needed but had forgotten to write down. The proudest moment of my day, however, came when I remembered to put "cough syrup" on the list. Mr. Moon had asked me to buy some last night when we got in bed and although I said I would, I had very real doubts that I'd remember. But I did. Call Ripley's. 

He's under the weather and that's all there is to it. Vergil, too, is now sick with something that sounds horrible. He had severe stomach issues and then a horrible headache and couldn't do anything but sleep. Poor man. 

2020 isn't turning out to be the best year so far. It just isn't. The freaking Republican party has overtaken the US government and used the Constitution as toilet paper to wipe their entitled asses on. Where do we go from here? Who sues them? I don't think the founders envisioned this sort of mass treason. I feel completely hopeless. 

There's nothing more I can say about that. 

I'm in such despair that I've made the most god-awful comfort food dinner you can imagine. The ingredients are as follows: 

Ground beef (or my case, ground venison)

Lipton's Onion Soup Mix

Tomato sauce

Flour

Water

Macaroni

Cheese

I believe you can discern what this 1970's era casserole will taste like. I'll try to balance it out with a salad from the garden but that's sort of like getting the double blue cheese burger with fries and a Diet Coke. 

I'm not even fooling myself. 

Oh well. 

Hank posted a thing on FB today that is very interesting and also, fun. If you text to the number 57251 and write in the text the words "Send me" followed by a simple keyword or color, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art will send you an artwork to represent that. 

It works. 

I just sent in the word, "Florida" and got this back. 

"Bill Maris, 'Paul Rudoph, Milam Residence, Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, 1962, 1962"

Pretty cool, huh? 

Go have some fun with it. 

Levon is getting a haircut tomorrow at 10:15. I'll be there, good Lord willin' and the creek don't rise. There will be pictures of my littlest man growing up in the space of a few minutes. 

Sob. 

Mr. Moon just asked what we're having for supper and I showed him the casserole in its lovely Le Creuset baking dish with the cheese all melted on it and said, "I made it just for you. I know it's your favorite." 

He looked at it and perked right up. 

"That just might really BE my favorite," he said. 

I know my man. 

Maurice is not impressed. 

It's so warm in my house. I am still thrilled about that. 

Take care. 

Love...Ms. Moon

It Was The Best Dream

I woke up this morning and did not even want to get out of bed where it was warm and safe and where Jack was firmly positioned next to my hip. Although I knew that it was a possibility that the heating crew would be here today I didn't put any stock in that idea. I thought that tomorrow would probably be more likely, even Wednesday.
But. I got a text from my husband saying that they would indeed be here between 9:00 and 9:30 which was plenty of reason to get up and get to it and so I did.
And the men showed up before 9:30 and I offered to make them coffee or bake them a cake or, well, anything.
Turns out the only thing they needed was for me to show them the vents where nothing came through and where the breaker panel is and so forth which I gladly did.
I sewed all day and the dress is done but for the hem but it looks so godawful on me I may end up wadding it up and throwing it in the trash.
It's not the dress's fault. I'll leave it at that.

Anyway, as I sewed men crawled underneath my house and rehung some ductwork that yes, critters have torn up, and took things apart and put things together and put the old unit on the truck (buh-bye,  you POS!) and put the new one in its place higher off the ground and hooked up stuff and did whatever sort of thing it is that these magicians do and the owner of the company came by and we chatted for awhile. He's a very sweet man and we've known him forever and he's been going through things that would probably kill me but he seems to be doing it with grace and fortitude.
I do not know how.
And finally a new thermostat was installed and the men cleaned up all their tools and stuff and drove away and it's warm in my house.

I am so grateful. So, so very grateful.

And that's why I didn't make it to the Junior Museum but a lot of the rest of the family did and Rachel sent some pictures. Here are two of my favorites.

I'm sorry I missed that but it is what it is. 

Of course the boys were out of school today because it's Martin Luther King Day and there have been so many tributes to him on Facebook, or at least my little corner of it, and I'm glad of that. But they also make me sad because I don't think Dr. King would be so very happy with what's happening now in this country. Perhaps if he had lived we would be in a better place but the fact is, his dream is still just a dream for so many people. 

Still, I refuse to believe that his life was for naught. The dream he dared to dream infused so many with hope and with determination, gave courage to those who believed in that dream. And there has been change, of course there has but it's been so slow and we are so far from a full realization of true equality for all. 

Let's face it- little children are still judged for the color of their skin, not to mention their parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts, and cousins. And their older brothers with far too frequently mortal results. 

Okay, okay. I know that you know. I know we all know. But I'll never forget the day Dr. King was assassinated. And then, less than two months later Robert Kennedy was shot and killed. I believe that those two events along with the assassination of President Kennedy truly influenced the way I came to see this country. Not as a place where freedom rings but as a place where shots ring out to silence the voices of those who dare speak out against hate and intolerance. 

Meanwhile, here I am, a very white woman living in a very racially mixed community in a house that might well have been built by the ancestors of some of my neighbors and I am fortunate in all regards, especially as to creature comfort, to the security of having a solid and warm house to shelter me as I sleep. 

I wonder how No Man Lord is doing tonight in his RV with the blue tarp for a roof. 

Probably not so well. 

Stay warm,  y'all. 

Love...Ms. Moon

The setting sun has laid a pink stripe across the sky as if a giant child had dipped her hand in paint and swiped it across the darkening gray. It's very quiet in Lloyd tonight, I hear only traffic now and then and the lonely cry of some bird, settling into its roost.

The temperature is dropping and I have my space heaters and gas logs at the ready. I've covered up my porch plants and have brought a few inside but I'm worried that the wrapped ones may not survive tonight's light freeze and then two nights down into the twenties. The camellias which are already open will be frozen for sure but the buds will be fine, I think.
And I have discovered over the years that many of my potted plants may look dead after such weather but if I cut them back and am patient, they may well shoot forth green growth again in the spring.

This morning when it was still warmish, Jessie brought the boys over and I made pancakes and we read books and August got to watch some TV. Vergil and Glen left early for the island and we women are workin'-man widows tonight. I just got a text saying that they've gotten power to the pump and are trying to prime it right now. Getting water back on is a major priority, of course. We don't drink that water but we use to wash dishes and our bodies and hands. And to flush the toilet with. Running water if a mighty fine thing, isn't it?

Both of the boys were wearing overalls when they got here. August was wearing the old green ones that had belonged to May when she was a little girl that I have been decorating in my hippie, funky fashion.

I love doing that so much. It's such a simple and fun thing to do. I almost feel like a child with the absolute freedom of choosing stitches and colors and beads. But a child who gets to use a needle and sharp scissors. 

Here's Levon wearing his undecorated overalls riding the horse in the library. 

As you can see, my Christmas tree is still inside but that turns out to be a good thing. 

The pink pants I made for Levon just did not do. The pattern called for a knit- something that would stretch- and I, in my usual slap-dash fashion thought I could adapt it for a non-stretchy fabric and it turned out that no, I could not. 

Or at least I did not. 

But I so wanted to make him a pair of pants so I rustled around in the fabric dresser and found some old cloth that I had used in a quilt sometime back that is as nubby as a chenille bedspread and so soft that you know it's made out of a not-found-in-nature material but Levon said he liked it okay despite the fact that it was green, not pink, and like I said- nubby. 

So here he is in his bedspread pants. 

They're either the tackiest thing I've ever seen or the cutest. I'm not sure which. But I managed to whip them up in about forty-five minutes. I'll tell you the truth- I couldn't make a pair of pants without a pattern if my life depended on it but with a pattern for kid pants, it's the simplest thing in the world to do. I am not a natural seamstress in the least. I need a pattern. Luckily, they still make them. 

After Jessie and the boys left I felt not really sad and not really lonely but definitely glad that I'd had such cheerful visitors for part of the day. One of the books that August really wanted me to read was The Jolly Christmas Postman. He claims that this is his favorite book ever in his life. Of course I read it to him and it's full of really bad jokes and when I say bad I mean just completely silly but they make him laugh and he always says, "That's a good one!" which makes me laugh. Often Levon will repeat, "That's a good one!" after his brother says it and then he laughs too although I am sure that he has no clue as to the supposed humor to be found. 

Anyway, I tidied up a bit and did some laundry and then I ironed the flannel I bought to make my dress and I laid it all out and pinned the pattern pieces on and cut it out. I ran a bobbin of the thread I'll be using and now everything is ready for me to start sewing. I was thinking I'd do that tomorrow, shutting myself into the dining room where I have my sewing machine set up and which has one of the gas log fireplaces in it but Lily has texted to see if we all want to go to the Jr. Museum, braving the cold. 

That could be fun too. 

We shall see. 

Meanwhile I just have to finish up this Sunday, put it in an envelope and slide it under the boss's door, clock out and go to bed. 

I sure hope Jack wants to sleep with me tonight. I'm going to need all the warmth I can get and he's a comfort, for sure.

Here's a picture I just got from Dog Island. 

That's Florida, y'all.  

Love...Ms. Moon

Love The One You're With

My old man's got way too much on his plate right now. Some of it business, some of it not. Quite frankly, I'm not sure how he holds everything together. And he puts his heart into everything so that nothing he does is by rote or without thought.
The other day I was looking at him and it struck me so damn hard how lucky we are. So very few people make it to a long marriage and that's okay but there's something to be said for having a companion for twenty, thirty or more years. There's a tenderness that can grow after the younger, sometimes more turbulent years. A respect develops, for certain. A deep wonder when something new is revealed about someone you've loved for decades. The fear of losing someone to another person or of them simply falling out of love with you is replaced by the the sure knowledge that one of you will go before the other which makes the time go way too swiftly, which makes the heart fill far more frequently when you ponder what that person means to you and how much of your life is consumed and defined by the fact that you spend it with him. Or her.

When you have a child you have an immediate and overwhelming sense of the need to protect that baby, to keep it alive and as healthy and robust as possible. When you're in love with someone for many years into older age, that same sense of wanting to protect and ensure the safety of your love becomes more and more intense as time goes by.
Well, at least this is true for me.
And when things are hard for your love, you ache for them. You want to smooth it away. You want them to be...happy.

I guess that's as good a definition of love as any.

And Mr. Moon will be fine. He and Vergil are heading back over to the island tomorrow. They're going to spend the night so they're packing food and provisions as if they were going to be camping which in a way, they will be. I'm glad they're going. On Dog Island there is not much you can do about the world beyond that beautiful bay. It's over there, you're on the island and you are forced by circumstance to be more mindful of exactly what is in front of you, whatever it is you're dealing with. That will be good for him.

Meanwhile today I worked outside some, pruning my roses probably at the exact wrong time but as I told my husband, I have no idea what I'm doing but whatever I do the roses never seem to die so who cares? I also kneeled in the dirt and did some weeding and the weeding I did under one of those roses led to an epiphany. There's a sort of stinging nettle plant that grows in the yard and is profuse under that rose. I hate it. Even when I wear gloves and long pants, it can somehow make its way through to my skin and after the original lit-on-fire feeling, it itches and burns and now this evening even hours after exposure, one of my knees is buzzing with it. For a long time last year I had a horrible pain in that same knee when I'd put weight on it and now I'm wondering if that nettle isn't like the red coral I inadvertently sat on once while putting on my fins in Cozumel and which itched and tormented me for a good six months. Could the microscopic toxic hairs of the nettle plant stay underneath the skin for that long?
Who knows?
I've googled this horror of a plant and I believe it's name is Urtica Chamaedryoides. Also known as "Fireweed" which is just about right.
Funny that I described the initial sting as feeling like being "lit on fire".

I started and almost finished a pair of pants for Levon. Jessie told me yesterday that it's a fight every day when he gets dressed because he wants to wear a certain pair of pink pajama pants but they're shorts. Which is fine in summer but it's about to get cold again. So I got out an old pattern of Maggie's and whipped up a pair of dark pink flannel pants. I hope they fit him. I hope he likes them enough to wear them because they will keep his little legs warm.
I'll finish them when I have the actual boy around to make sure the elastic in the waist is the right length and to see how long to hem the legs.

Some camellias I picked today.

I have identified that camellia on the left which I love so much as a Dr. Tinsely variety. A rather pragmatic name for such an ethereal flower.

I don't know the names of these but they are quite large and have bigger leaves. Each of the blossoms is heavy and dense, despite their delicate appearance. 

These are my musings tonight. 

Let's love each other. Let's take care of each other. Honestly, we're all we have. 

Love...Ms. Moon

Everything Including The Kitchen Sink

That's a tiny white violet (a joyful oxymoron, I think) growing in my yard today. I love that picture. If you expand it you can see the tiny little hairs (what is their real name?) on the lip petals leading into the sweet center.
I'll just leave that right there.
Sometimes the iPhone shocks me with its ability to take pictures. This one was snapped on my way to the clothesline to send to a friend who lives where it's snowing and I wanted to share that little bit of a different sort of landscape with her.

This morning I felt the need to hang laundry on the line and make a soup and a loaf of bread. I like to start my sourdough the night before but sometimes I just don't realize that I'm going to want bread until the morning I want it and I have found that actually, with a little light coddling and warmth it can work out fine. It's in its rising bowl now and my cast iron dutch oven is in the oven, getting hot as the balls of Satan.

So I started the bread and I started garbanzo beans and I washed sheets and towels and I hung those on the line. I hurried with these things because I wanted to meet Jessie in town at Costco and she was on a schedule because she had to pick up August from his little school at one.
I did meet them and we did a quick shop unhindered, sadly, by the presence of any samples which is always vastly disappointing.
Really, Costco?
Levon wanted to walk and he wanted to also hold his mama's hand so I pushed the cart and he held on to that with one hand and to his mother with the other and it worked out fine. After we checked out we both drove to Jessie's house and Jessie unloaded her car and then took off to pick up August while Levon played outside with me watching him. It was a practically perfect day, not hot, not cold, blue and cloudless, far less humid than it has been.

He has his own agenda, his own routine. First he needed to ride the tricycle a little ways and then he raked some grass clippings and put them in the dump truck. 

Then he needed to go back inside to retrieve his front-end loader or whatever it is, to attend to his next task which was obviously very important. This is what it looked like. 

Jessie and August got back and we were planning on going to lunch but August said he didn't want to go and Levon definitely did not want to leave the yard. In fact, when his mother brought him in to get ready he cried and cried and said he wanted to go outside and she very patiently sat by him and said, "I know. You want to go outside but not now. You need to eat your lunch."

"No! No lunch!"

And so forth. Finally, she let him get his front-end loader (or whatever it is) and wash that in the sink while he washed his hands and he was happy. 

We had already figured out that going out to lunch was probably not going to happen and suddenly, Levon needed pasta in the worst way. August was already happily eating boiled peanuts. 

He's good at shelling them with his clever beautiful hands. 

And so I took my leave after good-bye kisses. August said that he wanted me to stay overnight and I said that if it got too cold in my house I just might. 

By this point it was 2:00 and I was hungry as hell and I needed to get home and finish my chores but dammit! I wanted to go to Joann's. And so I did. I found a pattern and looked for some corduroy but they had no corduroy. Now if you want fleece with some sort of sports logo on it, you are in big luck at Joann's. But corduroy, not so much. I finally went down the flannel aisle and found a bolt of cozy dark teal blue that will do nicely. It seems to me that the work force of Joann's has changed considerably. The older ladies wearing aprons have been replaced by a more alternative and much younger staff. The girl who cut my flannel had green hair and completely drawn on eyebrows and several fetching face piercings. I wanted to tell her that she was very pretty (and she was) but I worried that she would think I was weird. The guy at check-out was young and had long hair and when I said that I had no coupons he said, "Oh, honey, don't you worry! I'm gonna take care of you today!" He rang me up and then scanned the coupon codes that would work best and saved me some dollars. I thanked him profusely and then drove quick, quick across the street to Whole Foods where I bought a head of cabbage for my soup and a take-away container of sushi because I was starving. 

Well. Haha. Not really. Not even close. But I was hungry. 

I ate my sushi on the way home and was so glad when I got back in my own yard in Lloyd again. 

I unloaded my Costco stuff, my Joann's stuff, and my head of cabbage and then took the laundry off the line, folded the towels and made up the bed. I started cooking the beans again, turned the heating pad on under the bread dough, decided that the beans had to go into the pressure cooker if they were to be edible tonight, got that going, tidied up the kitchen, started the dishwasher, peeled, sliced and diced the rest of the things for the soup which I simmered in the broth from last night's chicken.

Mr. Moon came home and we caught up while I put the soup together. 

I got it ready in time for him to have a cup of it before he had to leave to go to a basketball game of Owen's. I'm being my typical self and not attending although I have to admit that I feel great guilt about this. 

I just can't face more people-time. 

And since I started writing this, this has happened. 

Pretty nice, I'd say. 

And before I leave, let me give you these that I stole from Facebook. 

Owen and Gibson both got awards today for grades and other fine things. 

How much is Owen looking like his mama? How beautiful is my Gibson? 

I'm proud of those boys. So very, very proud. 

Happy Friday, y'all. 

Love...Ms. Moon

Remember When They Called Ronald Reagan The Teflon President? Hahahahahahahahahaha!

So a new heater is ordered. It should be in and installed by...(now's a good time to look at that forecast)... Monday maybe or more likely Tuesday.
Wouldn't you know it. If this forecast is correct we'll be having the lowest temperatures we've had in at least a couple of years on Monday and Tuesday!
Of course.
Well, what are you going to do? Won't it be swell when we have a new unit and I won't have to bitch about being afraid of dying from either sweltering heat or freezing cold?
What will I ever find to talk about?
I'm sure I'll find something.

From what I can ascertain via the news, at least two new things have come to light that could be grounds for at least one more impeachment. I'm sure you've heard about these things. Will it matter? I doubt it. Look- I don't even understand how this impeachment trial works but with Mitch McConnell in charge I don't think there's going to be much fairness or justice involved.
And so The Orange Intestinal Blockage will remain in office and I have to tell you that I have absolutely no confidence that he will get voted out of office this year between the racist idiots whom I had no idea lived in such numbers among us and the fact that Putin really enjoys having his hand up the Treasonous One's ass.

Ay-yi.

Had so much on my mind today that I was capable of nothing but the basics. I took a walk, I cleaned out the poop in the hen house. I picked up downed branches. I watered the porch plants. I did laundry. I actually for the first time ever cleaned the outside of the garbage can in the kitchen. I ironed and ironed and ironed.
Hey! The new (last) season of Grace and Frankie is streaming now!
I know! So exciting.
(Eye roll.) (Sort of.) (It's the little things.) (How can two women over the age of eighty not have a wrinkle between them?) (Don't answer that. I know.)

I've made up a pan of chicken enchiladas which are ready to go in the oven. I've stayed upright today although the gravity of earth and everything else kept trying to pull me down. I guess that's something to be proud of.

It's raining. A little bit. It's still warm. It's going to be cold. I need a new project.
Maybe I'll go to Joanne's tomorrow and buy a pattern and some cloth. I think I'm going to start saying "cloth" instead of "fabric." It sounds more honest.
We wear clothing, not fabricking.

Yeah. I'm a little crazy tonight.

Love...Ms. Moon

This Is Life

Lily and Jessie and Lauren and I along with the three little cousins made the drive to Monticello today for our favorite story hour. I absolutely love it more than anything. It is truly the essence of sweetness and simplicity and books are involved and crafts and the beautiful little children. Today there were only five kids including our three but that was just perfect in a way. They all sat quietly and attentively and listened to the sweet stories and sang the sweet songs and chimed in with comments when they felt the need which was perfectly fine. Levon, who was not sad in the picture above, but attentive, announced that he has two dogs. Or maybe it was four cats. I can't remember. See those two books he has? He had checked them out a few weeks ago and I returned them last week and that little guy searched through the books in two different rooms until he found them again.
The arts project today involved paint and a bunny stencil and Levon insisted on keeping the same color paint and not sharing it for his entire project. It was a sort of pinky-beige. That kid loves pink. Pink, pink, pink.
Speaking of pink.

Here's the pink princess herself. Check out the shoes. These are all clothes that were handed down to her and of course she loves them. She was giving us a little concert and I wish I'd gotten a video when she just couldn't contain herself and got up and started dancing. Those dance classes are paying off! She was improvising dances like crazy and she can kick as high as her head! 

I don't know why but I didn't get one picture of August today but he was as fine as ever. He is in love with the computers in the kid room where he plays games like "name the body part." Jessie and I agreed that it was a pretty difficult game and that although we surely learned all of those body parts in nursing school we forgot a lot of them as soon as we'd taken the test. 

Mr. Terez and Ms. Courtney were as gracious and attentive as ever. Ms. Courtney says that her little boy loves pink too and that actually, at the moment, he has pink hair. 

We just feel so at home in the Monticello library and once again, I found a fairly new book to check out. Elizabeth Gilbert's City of Girls. I never really thought much about Elizabeth Gilbert's writing until I read The Signature of All Things which blew me away. So we'll see what I think about this one. Last night I finished the Alexandra Fuller book I checked out a week ago (Travel Light, Move Fast) and it was a hard one. As I read it, I kept thinking that it was somehow different than her regular writing. That something was off, amiss, not quite there. 

When I got to the almost-end, I realized why and I'll not share that here. If you want to take that journey you don't need me to explain things. It was powerful in its own way. It shook me. 

But. Back to today. And fun. 

We went to the Rev, of course, and the kids played with the blocks and we all got delicious lunches. I got a salad with everything from greens to almonds to sunflower seeds to tomatoes to chicken in it. It was so good. 

And then we went our separate ways. Lily and Lauren took me home but before we left the parking lot at the restaurant, I kissed the little boys goodbye and Levon told me that he was a green back-hoe, no, no, he was a YELLOW backhoe and I tasted his backhoe toes and then I had to sample August's Brazil nut toes. I told him that he doesn't have cashew nut toes anymore because his toes are so big now. He liked that. He loves the idea of getting bigger. On Sunday morning when I was serving up breakfast, I told him that I was not going to give him a kid's plate but instead, a regular grown-up plate because he was getting so big that he needed a lot of pancakes. He told his Boppy about this and was very excited. "Guess what? I'm getting a grown-up plate because I am so HUGE now!"

He is certainly huge in my heart. 

Almost as soon as I got home I left again. I was already in my town clothes including a bra-like garment and I needed gas from Costco and groceries from Publix. I am so very, very proud of myself in that I forgot my list and yet managed to get everything on it. Well, okay. That's a lie. I forgot one thing. No Big Deal. I sometimes forget something when I HAVE my list so I was doing quite well. 

So it's been a full day. Mr. Moon's at a basketball game and the house is quiet. The chickens are up, Maurice is on the table here on the porch with me, grooming herself. 

There's a whole lot going on in the world. Hell, there's a whole lot going on here, some of which I'm not really at liberty to talk about yet. 

But I suppose that truly, all I can say is that life really is what happens while you're busy making other plans (thank you, dear John Lennon) and thank heavens for libraries and books and people who care about children and for our imaginations which allow us to be yellow back-hoes or to believe that we are HUGE and for being able to dance and kick and tap and twirl, for delicious foods and for being able to laugh and mostly of course, for love. 

I think that'll do it for tonight. 

Yours truly...Ms. Moon