Things Worthy Of Worship

Sorry that picture's so dark but when I took it, it had just rained and the sky was gray and what I was trying to show was how full the camellia bushes are with flowers and flowers-to-be. It's almost like they're trying to make up for their late blooming. 
"Hurry, hurry!" I can hear them say. "We have to get this done before it gets hot! Come on team! Give it your all! We can do this!"

I thought we were going to get rain on and off all day. I was hoping for that. We can't seem to catch up and the garden needs a good soaking, not to mention all the other plants and trees. It was raining when I woke up around six this morning (which is not when I got up, of course) and it rained until about ten-thirty, I think, but it wasn't much in the way of quantity, according to my ever-trusty rain gauge which is the garden cart. The weather widget on the phone said it would begin raining again around two and I believed it. I put the four ferns that hang on the front porch but which have been here on the back porch since the hard freezes we had, out on the back steps to get a good shower of sweet rain water. 
And there they sit, dry as they were when I put them out.

But look at this.

That's what my favorite camellias looked like when I took their picture right after it quit raining. Again, I am a bit astounded at the iPhone's capability. 
I am hoping that the photo will slake the thirst for spring that all of you who are still surrounded by cold and snow are feeling. At least a little bit. 

After I realized the odds of it raining again were pretty slim, I decided to do some yard work. I noticed yesterday on my front-yard survey that there were many downed branches and limbs as a result of all the strong, breezy, sometimes downright windy days we've been having. So I emptied out the pitiful bit of water from the garden cart and started in on picking up what the wind had pruned for us and that of course led to me pulling up various thorn vines including dewberries which grow like crazy in this yard but never make fruit because there's not enough sun. There are also at least ten different invasive species but I wasn't really concentrating on those today. I didn't have my trowel or the old canning kettle I use to throw my weeds in and yet I had to pull a few things and found myself on my knees, pulling things by hand. The area around the magnificent live oak in the front yard is one big nursery for invasive plants and I did want to get some of that pulled up and picked up, along with all the tiny twigs and larger downed detritus. I wish I could give you a scale of how big around this beautiful old tree is. 

That's looking up from my height and although it doesn't really accurately represent the girth or the height of the tree, here's a picture of my hand on the thick bark of the right side there.

Blurry. Sorry. 
Unfortunately, the tree is being tormented by more vines, some of them as big around as my wrist. I spent some time trying to pull what I could but it felt rather pointless. 

This dead branch, caught up in a tangle of smaller vines, is driving me crazy. 

The idea of bringing it down has become an almost inappropriate compulsion. It's too high for me to grab and although I can get hold of some of the vines it's entangled in, they're stronger than I am and the branch remains where it is, taunting me. I am going to get some help with this project and that's all there is to it. I feel like this ancient tree has every right to live as long as it possibly can and those vines will eventually choke it to death. Even if I do nothing to help it, it will no doubt outlive me, but wouldn't it be wonderful if it could live long enough for my great-grandchildren to look at and be astounded? And their children too? 
These trees can live to be five hundred years old. I would not be surprised to discover that this one is at least three hundred years old. It is a living, silent witness and testament to the passage of time, the history of this place, drawing life up from its roots, giving life in its branches to an entire ecosystem of fungi, ferns, mosses, insects, birds, squirrels, and probably microbes I know nothing about. 
I really do see this tree and all the other ancient oaks as sacred beings, or at least sacred in the way I would define it. 

Tomorrow I believe I am going to get to work on clearing out some of the plants from around it. I know I worked on that project last year some but did not make much progress. I remember specifically digging and pulling the plants which do not please me or promote any sort of native life as far as I can tell, listening to a Mormon Stories podcast wherein a woman, a devout polygamy denier, gave her rhymes and reasons for absolutely knowing in her soul that Joseph Smith would never, ever, have had sex with a fourteen year old girl whom he claimed that his god had commanded him to take as a wife. 
Some things never change. 

Worship trees, not people. That's my feeling about it. 

The sun has set but there's still enough light to see blue in the highest part of the sky. Puffy clouds that look not unlike my dumplings are slowly, slowly moving past. So slowly that you almost can't see their movement. The birds have sung their last evening songs, the trees against the western sky's last rosy light are a stark black relief of shapes and angles. It's so beautiful. I am so grateful to live here with these trees, this sky, this life. It has been such a privilege to live here in this house, in this spot for twenty-three years. And I never, ever forget that or take it for granted. 

I have talked to Mr. Moon twice today. Once from a pond where he was fishing off a dock and once from the enormous sports center or whatever it's called where his great-niece is playing volleyball in national tournaments. There are literally thousands of girls there. Glen tells me how huge the tournament venue is and my mind will just not receive and hold that information. 
How in the world did he and I decide we'd match up just fine in marriage? 
I have no idea but I'm glad we did. 

Clean sheets. Myself-made martini. Leftover risotto from last night for my supper. And yes. It is so good. I forgot the asparagus but it does have four types of greens in it along with onions and garlic and fresh tomatoes and sun-dried tomatoes and a little bit of parmesan and a little bit of feta. Which is plenty good enough. 

Happy Friday, ya'll. 

Love...Ms. Moon

Information You Have No Need For

When I did my trash and post office run today, I discovered that the little black shoes I saw last week are still there although someone had picked them up off the floor underneath the counter (but still visible) where I had put them, and placed them back on the counter. 
Gosh they look sad, don't they? 
I wonder how long they'll sit there before someone throws them out. 
For any of you who may not be familiar with the Lloyd Post Office, here's a picture. 

It's an old train depot, built in 1858, which makes it a year older than this house and it's really pretty cool. The lobby of the post office is in what used to be the waiting area and the window where you buy stamps and take your packages and get your packages from the post person was originally where you bought your ticket. Only about half of the depot is used for the post office and the rest is sort of just there and holds some train memorabilia if I remember correctly from the one and only open house of the Gulf Winds Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society holds every year that I have attended. This year, it's going to be on Saturday. 
Here's the flyer.

There appears to be one major change in the even this year. Instead of grilling and offering hotdogs to the public, there will be pulled pork sandwiches! 
Now that's enough to get people off their asses and down to the PO to check out the artifacts. I doubt I'll go although if the pulled pork is decent, I'll be missing out. 

Here are a few more pictures I took at the post office while I was there. 

You can bet the ranch I won't be attending the tent revival although who wouldn't be tempted? I've seen a million of them on film but never witnessed one in person. Tempting but no. I'd probably misbehave and get thrown out which would make Baby Jesus sad. Now Liz Sparks would attend that in a hot second. I bet you anything she's been to at least one tent revival because she says YES to life in all its aspects.
Well, almost all. She's not insane.

I took this picture because the notice about placing children on the counters cracks me up. The phrase "place children" is just so...well...perfect?

But I had never really thought twice about that message board below it and its "Marks and Brands" heading. But what are Marks and Brands? I googled. And what I discovered is that Marks and Brands are indeed, the markings and brands put on cattle to identify them. And yes, cattle are still branded. 
Now Jefferson County was once and still is a pretty big cattle area. So that board was absolutely used by cattle ranchers as a place to post their marks and their brands so their cattle could be identified. 
Find a bull you don't recognize in with your cows? Check the mark or the brand, figure out which ranch he's from, and let the owner know where his bull has disappeared to. 

I've had a good day. I spent the entire afternoon in the garden. I pulled up dozens of cherry laurel sprouts which were lining the north side of the fence. Those GeeDee things would have grown into a cherry laurel forest by the end of summer if I hadn't. Glen cuts the ones that sprout in the yard when he mows but he can't get this close to the fence and if he just used the weed whacker, they would have said, "Thanks for the trim!" and shot up even higher. Luckily they aren't that hard to pull, being rooted only a few inches into the ground. I also trimmed the three rose bushes in and beside the garden and weeded out around them. Every year when I do this (generally twice), I feel like apologizing to the plants because I have no idea what I'm going. All I know is that I haven't killed them yet. I was so very, very careful to avoid getting my skin ripped by the thorns and for once, not a drop of blood was spilled. 
I planted the two Early Girl tomato seedlings that Jessie gave me in growing bags and gave them a good watering. It's supposed to start raining sometime in the wee hours here but if it doesn't, I'll turn on the sprinklers tomorrow. Despite my lack of overwhelming interest in getting things in the ground this year, peas, potatoes, and now two tomatoes have been planted and the dirt is ready to receive what we put into it. 

So all of that felt good and tomorrow I plan on doing more work outside if it isn't raining. I want to get some things done in the front yard as it looks a mess and it is a mess. I went out there this morning to survey the situation and I discovered that the trillium is looking more beautiful than ever. 

I don't know squat about trillium but that looks like pretty healthy trillium to me. 

And here's a bud on the wild azalea I planted years ago by the fence in the front yard. 

I think my iPhone deserves some praise for that one. 

It's very quiet here tonight. I'm going to make risotto. I haven't done that in a long time. I believe it will have greens from the garden, shrimp, onions, and sun dried tomatoes in it. Oh! And quite possibly some asparagus. 

Sounds good to me. 

Be well. 

Ms. Moon

My Mind Was Blown

Pottery was laid back as hell today. People are trying to tie up the loose ends of their projects to get them into the kiln since next week is this session's last class. We'll start again in a few weeks and we can often pick things up from the studio even if we don't have a class but the ideal situation is to have everything at least READY and on the shelf waiting for firing so starting a new project isn't really practical. 

What I did today was to put my fish dish on the wrong shelf which Jessie corrected for me (sigh) and to start a new fish spoon rest for Darling Billy's new kitchen. So yes, I started a project but hopefully, I'll get it fired, collect it while we're on break, and glaze that at home to take in to do the final firing when class starts again. 
Got that? 
And oh yeah, I finished doing the glaze painting on that wretched flower bowl and as so often happens, the more I tried to fix it, the worse I made things. I hope I don't hate it so much that it only represents a huge waste of time and energy, clay and glaze, when it comes out of the kiln. That, too, went on the ready-to-be-fired shelf. 

One of the best things about pottery class is seeing what other people are doing. Jessie's bowls and mugs are really becoming quite professional looking, beautiful and graceful, her glazing unique in both color and technique.
Another woman in our class is making a lot of different things on the wheel and they are all good but what she makes that charms my heart are tiny little urn-vases with the most perfect shapes and perfect handles. 
Our dear Lizzie's bowls are becoming more and more exquisite. She would pooh-pooh me if she heard me say that but it's true. One of her sons is an actual professional potter so she denigrates her own work to an unnecessary degree if you ask me. 
And another true joy in class is looking at the shelf of finished projects that have come out of the kiln and are waiting to be collected by the artists who made them and I do not use the term "artist" lightly. We stand in that little closet-sized area and ooh and ah and say, "Look at THAT!" and "I love it!" and are amazed at the diverse variation of things people make with clay and color. It's pretty enlightening as to how we are all inspired to create different things. 

Lily did not come to lunch with us today, nor did Lauren or Xena. Lily needed a nap. What mother of three who works full time DOESN'T need a nap? So Jessie and I did the thing we've been talking about doing for awhile now which was to...drumroll please...GO TO THE MALL!
We even ate our lunch there but I assure you we did not eat the food from Chik-Fil-A (never!) or Sbarros or the Cajun Cafe, but instead from a newish place which is local, serving Mexican food. Not Tex-Mex, although you could get a few things there which would qualify. We split some very fine fajitas and beans and rice and Jessie got half an ear of elote corn which looked like heaven on a stick. 
It was odd being in the mall. When my kids were little, I spent a lot of time there as I said a few days ago. It was an outing, free if you didn't buy anything, and close to the house. Of course we almost always bought something but never very much. And we could always get a snack or lunch. 
So almost every single square foot of the mall held a memory for me. I told Jessie the story of how when she was a mere tiny bebe, I was nursing her in the atrium area in a very, very discrete way, when a security guard who was about sixteen years old came up to me and said, "M'am. Are you breastfeeding?"
I mean- if he had to ask...
I was asked to please only nurse my baby in a more appropriate place like...a restroom. 
Bite me.
Long story short, a local journalist heard about the incident, called me and interviewed me. She wrote a piece about it in the paper when the paper was still a thing, and the mall manager ended up apologizing. 
It's so funny that this happened with Jessie instead of any of the other children whom I also nursed wherever and whenever they were hungry, because she is now acting as the lactation nurse on the mommy-baby floor when she is working. And she is damn good at helping mamas feed their newborns. 
Life is sometimes strange, isn't it? 

After lunch, we went to Dillards, the big department store, and I learned two things which rather blew my mind. One more than the other. 
The first which was not crazy insane, was that this year's clothing styles appear to be fairly hideous. Remember last week when I was bitching about the prairie-fairy dresses at Marshall's and how cheap they looked? 
Well guess what? 
You can also buy prairie-fairy dresses made by high-end clothing companies which look just as cheap. And shoddy. And they are NOT cheap. Or at least even vaguely inexpensive. Another trend seems to be dresses that resemble what fifty's housewives might have worn. 
Calling all tradwives!
Except for the fact that they, too, looked cheap and shoddy. 
I mean...just awful. Pathetic. Surprisingly ugly. Unflattering to anyone's body. Neither graceful or fun. 
Just plain hideous. And so many of the fabrics they were made of were simply unwearable. 

So that was one thing. 
The other, which was astronomically more shocking to me was the discovery that shoes hardly resemble any shoes I've ever seen before. It's like shoe designers have decided to just ignore any and all shoe design requirements and/or restrictions as to materials, shapes, or considerations about how the human foot is actually constructed. I have never seen anything as gaudy as the shoes I saw today. And not just one or two brands. I mean- ALL the brands. Here are a few pictures I took. 

This picture does not give you even the slightest idea of how blinging these shoes were. As in- they would light up a red carpet on their own. Golden beams were sparking from them. 

Pearls, anyone? Pearls are big this year, it seems. As are high, high platforms and chunky as hell heels. 

These are a little hard to see and I should have taken a picture of them with less background noise going on. But, but...it's like your great Aunt Helen's entire costume jewelry collection had been affixed to a boot-like footwear item. 

And finally these. 

Again with the gold and the iPhone's inability to capture the true drama of the glitter and gleam. And I am sorry. They are just plain ugly. In my opinion, of course. 

Honestly, ya'll. I had no idea. None whatsoever. How could I have missed this entire shift in shoe design? 
I'll tell you how- I don't read Vogue magazine anymore. If I did, I would not be so taken unawares. I miss those Vogue editions that were as thick as telephone books with all of their art photo ads and scratch and sniff perfumes. 
And let me ask you a question- are we supposed to wear these jewelry collection shoes with the prairie dresses? 
I do not think so. 
Oh god I hope not. 

Well. I didn't buy a thing, as you can imagine. Jessie bought a few very basic things like a pair of linen shorts, a T-shirt, and a sweater. She also bought a pair of boots but they were on such deep sale that it would have been a sin not to buy them. They are sturdy, handsome, and practical. They will be a nice change for her from her Crocs. 

Meanwhile, I'll still be wearing my Crocs, thank you very much.

What a day. 
What. A. Day.

Oh- they still have Cinnabon at the mall. I knew you'd be curious. And they still smell really, really good. 
Some things never change. For which I give thanks.

Love...Ms. Moon

I Talk Too Much

Yesterday when I was rearranging plants in order to 

1. Get them all safely inside again, and 
2. Clear off the dining room table so we could eat our supper, 

I moved that Swiss cheese plant which I guess is more formally known as a monstera Adansonii, into the guest bedroom. There is no way it's going to stay there because it won't get nearly enough light but when I walked through that room this morning I liked the way the leaves looked against the light. I'd draped that particular tendril over the curtain rod just to get it up off the floor. Those dang plants can sure  snake across distances if you turn your back for a few minutes. 

I did exactly two things today. One was a major pain in the ass and caused me great agita and one was simply a pleasure.
The pain in the ass thing was a continuation of the banking problem I've been having since when...last November? I think so. I was trying to pay the balance due for my credit card which we use due to the cash back factor online from another account and I've been attempting to get the card's balance paid with a transfer of funds so I don't have to go through the hassle of it and it's seemed to have been an impossible task even though Glen, in the exact situation but with a different account, got his transfers automatically approved. 
So, okay. I figured at least I can just pay online with the card from the other account like EVERY OTHER BUSINESS IN THE WORLD MANAGES TO HAVE A VERY SUCCESSFUL PROCEDURE FOR, instead of taking my Wilma Flintstone check to the bank to pay the balance. It is not easy chiseling out that check every month from a big ol' rock and filling it out with another chisel, not to mention hauling it to the bank to stand in line and hand it over. 
But even this alternative, by which I mean paying online with my debit card from the other account, required me to follow many steps and these required me to know my user names and passwords for both accounts and the phone number on file for me to get texts verifying shit was actually Glen's phone so I had to figure that out and also...oh, fuck it. Who cares? 
Well, I did. 
I had to make several phone calls and I have to say that I was shocked, SHOCKED I TELL YOU at how helpful Michele was at one of the banking institutions and also that another woman at the other banking institution was also knowledgable and patient when I had to call them. 
But here's the kicker- turns out that the process for the funds to be directly moved from Account A to Account B has indeed been approved and unless everyone is lying to me, I had just spent about two and a half hours trying to accomplish something which was already in place. 

And y'all. I'm not going to lie. This stuff has never been exactly easy for me, but the older I get, the less I'm able to simply trip the light fantastic (or "Trip the Light Fandango" if you are referring to the song performed by Procol Harum in 1967) through the processes required to get done what I need and want to get done. And I'm sure I'm not the only older person who experiences this. But look- we weren't issued a smart phone the second they'd made sure we were breathing after birth and besides that, yes, goddammit, some of us have brains that are a little bit glitchy. 
To say the least.
And I know that when the tech person is verifying that you are who you say you are and you have to give your date of birth, they hear something like 1954, they are thinking, Fucking A. Here we go. I need a gummy.

Anyway, that is enough of that. 

The other thing I did today was to get my fish dish glaze-painted so I can take it into pottery tomorrow for firing. And I probably spent more time doing that than I did dealing with financial institutions and passwords and verifications and Michele but it was a very different experience. Pleasant as could be and the time passed as if I was in a dream. I listened to my audio book ("Don't Let Him In" by Lisa Jewell) and I Stroke-and-Coated with my new glazes, my new brushes, and I was a happy, contented woman. 

I am so interested to see how it turns out. 

So yes, tomorrow is pottery and I hope that Jessie is up for it, knowing that she's going to a nine o'clock basketball game with her daddy tonight. That is late for both of them. 
I plan on finishing up the glazing of my flower bowl and probably starting a new fish spoon rest for Billy. We only have two more classes this session but you can go back and get the things you've made that hadn't gone into the kiln before the last class. 

Tomorrow, Mr. Moon is heading to Orlando to hang out with his sister and go to all the volleyball tournaments that his sister's granddaughter is in. 
A week's worth of volleyball tournaments. 

Although I can't even imagine such a thing, I'm sure they will all enjoy themselves and it is a beautiful thing for him to get to spend time with his sister and some of the family on her side. Glen is taking his fishing gear in order to find ponds he can drop a hook in. 
I am always invited to these events but at this point in our lives, everyone knows I am not a team player in any sense of the word. I bet they call me Uncle Glen's crazy wife. 
Which is fine by me. Speak the truth and shame the devil. 

Oh hell. I was going to discuss how I make chicken and dumplings but this has already gone on too long. I did a little blog search and I have already written about how I made my chicken and dumplings in 2011. You can find that post HERE. I no longer include the step wherein I thicken the broth before I put the dumplings in. I have found that the flour in the dumplings somehow magically makes as much gravy as it needs. Another important thing to remember is that you need to use a pot as wide in circumference as possible in order to get the most dumplings in. The pot I use is one I don't think I use for any other purpose. One more change in how I make this dish today is that I do not use packaged chicken broth. I use water and Better Than Bouillon chicken broth but I still use the soy sauce (or coconut aminos or whatever), the same spices, and hot sauce. 

Look- cooking is like dancing. You learn the steps and then you just use them as a template for however your very own soul feels like flying. 

At least that's what I think. 

Love...Ms. Moon

Just for fun. 
And to remind us all that nothing sounds like a Hammond B3 with a Leslie speaker. 

MM

This Is Us

 Christmas/Easter cactus which I thought was on its way out (and it may be) blooming in the morning sun. 
I mean...those blooms are like neon. They shout at me. 
"Hello! Hello! We are here!"
And I whisper back, "Oh. You most definitely are."

Glen asked Owen and Gibson to come over this evening to help him install some cabinets in the garage. Maggie wanted to come too. 
Dinner, of course, would be involved.
So they are all here and I, being an idiot, told Maggie when she called to ask if Xena-Marge could come too, "Of course!"
Haha!
You haven't lived until a puppy the size of an adult Labrador has gotten itself wedged behind a love seat in the library trying to get away from an insane spitting cat hiding under a table. What fun! I could NOT coax or pull that poor dog out and I surely was not going to come anywhere near touching Maurice. 
I may have a death wish but I do not wish to die by cat attack. 

Bless Maggie. She got the dog out from behind the couch and has taken her into the Glen Den. I've got a giant pot of chicken stew simmering and am about to make dumplings. The kiddos say they are excited. 

I brought in the porch plants I'd taken outside except for three extra-large ones that I have just covered up. I'm going to be pissed as hell (at myself) if they die in this freeze after having them safely inside until just a few weeks ago. 

And it has been a good day. I met Jessie in town as we both needed to do Costco and Publix and of course we had to get lunch. Her best friend from way, way back is newly pregnant for the first time which has Jessie all aflutter. The friend lives an ocean and a continent away and Jessie plans to go be with her when she has the baby if she can. And of course all of this led us to discussing childbirth and nursing and babies and doctors and midwives and all the stuff we love to talk about. And then we stopped by Lily's work to visit with her and do the shopping we needed to do there. 

******************

Supper was good. Perhaps the best chicken and dumplings I ever made. No one complained. Many subjects were discussed at the table and it was just pretty sweet. 

Owen cleared the table and got the bowls and spoons put into the dishwasher. And I made everyone pose for a hallway selfie that Mr. Moon took. 

Maggie will be taller than me in a nap's worth of time. 

I can't believe how fast they're growing, how incredibly smart they are, how kind they are, how they listen, and how gracefully they show their love. 

And then Owen drove them home! 

As I have said so many times, I am the luckiest woman in the world. And I damn well know it. 

Azaleas. 

We shall see how they look tomorrow. 
There will be burrowing under the duck tonight. 

Love...Ms. Moon

Gathering Ye Camellias While I May

Here we have today's beauty offering. I am wondering what tomorrow night's freeze is going to do to the blooming camellias and their buds. 

And the azaleas. I definitely need to get in there and tidy things up. Not a great example of an azalea but the sweet little raggedy thing is doing its best in the midst of such chaos. 

The sky was winter blue again today. I suppose we get skies as blue in the summer but I think perhaps the much lower humidity in the winter sharpens the color. Not so much water to filter what we see when we look up. I swear, sometimes in summer it's so humid that as Liz Sparks says, you need a snorkel.  

I've been cheerful all day. And once again, for no apparent reason. Yes, it's been clear and cloudless and cool which is very nice, although I've had horrible, terrible times, emotion-wise, on just such days. But I've felt rather light-hearted and happily made our biscuits and eggs and grits and bacon this morning. And speaking of cooking, the soup and naan I made last night were perfection. Have I posted the recipe for that soup? The New York Times could probably sue me if I did but I doubt they'd bother. Their legal department is probably busy fighting the lawsuit that good old You-Hurt-My-Feelings Trump Baby brought against them for defamation. He wants 15 billion dollars. 
Who doesn't want 15 billion dollars? 
What more does this man have to do before someone has the guts, gall, and balls to start proceedings to invoke the twenty-fifth amendment on his ass? Just today it has been reported that he stated the US is sending a "great hospital boat to Greenland to take care of the many people who are sick," which is just a complete fabrication in every detail. 
Not only that, the real sick person called into a C-SPAN show, identified himself as "John Barron" which is a pseudonym he has used before, saying he was a Republican from Virginia to bitch about the "worst decision" the Supreme Court has ever made to deny him the right to demand tariffs. He didn't even attempt to change his voice. 
Now. If this is an AI situation, I apologize. 
If not- TWENTY-FIFTH AMENDMENT! 
Okay, even if not, TWENTY-FIFTH AMENDMENT! 

Every day I think "this has gone too far for someone not to do something" and every day no one does something and he just gets worse and worse and more and more insane. 

Let's talk about other things. 
Like...purple violets which I discovered today are indeed blooming in the yard.

Can you see them? 
So of course I made a few tiny flower arrangements which I have been doing since I was a child. 

Those are a few of the bottles I've found on this property. 

I did more garden weeding today and not much else. I didn't even do any pottery glaze painting. When I was in the garden I noticed that the sugar snaps peas Glen planted a few days are coming up. Just barely, but they are. 

Again, I hope they survive the freeze.

Mostly I've simply enjoyed my decent mood, my sweet husband, and the beautiful day. 
Ain't nothing wrong with that. 

A tiger, stalking through the violets. I will be sad when she loses that luxe winter coat of hers. And not just because there will be cat hair everywhere. Although yes, that too. 

Another shot of the flowers. 

I am glad to have gotten such sweet proofs of life today and to be able to post them here, even if there are probably hundreds before this post, of the seemingly same things. 

Dang. I should go bungee jumping or something to give myself something to write about that I've never written about before. 
Okay. Let's face it. THAT will never happen. Not in this lifetime or any other that this soul is involved in. Evolved in? 
Probably DEvolved in. I might come back as a housefly or something and that would be cool because at least I would know what it's like to have wings. 

Love...Ms. Moon

 

Just Little Things

Here's a another variety of camellia opening up. The blossom on that one is usually HUGE but this year they are not. I am sure there is a biological explanation for the smaller size of the flowers this year which has something to do with not enough rain and too much cold. 
Possibly.
The azaleas are beginning to color up in my yard. I have been seeing them blooming all over the place on my drives into town. Last year, as I recall, they had the most prolific output of any year I can remember. They were nothing short of glorious. 
We, however, got almost none because Mr. Moon decided to prune our bushes when it was really too late. He never believes me when I tell him he's doing that. But this last year he left them alone and I hope this freeze we're supposed to be getting on Tuesday doesn't nip 'em all in the bud. As Barney Fife used to say. "Nip it, Andy. Just nip it!"
Y'all remember that? 

I swear to you, this is going to be a very short post. I want to make the creamy cashew butternut squash soup I love so much for our supper and that takes some time. I don't have a butternut squash so will be using an acorn squash and sweet potatoes and that works perfectly. I also want to make some naan bread and that's time consuming too. 

It was another beautiful day and I weeded some in the garden and am starting to feel a little more excited to start planting. The potatoes from last year I planted a week or so ago have, bizarrely, started coming up. 

Look at that pretty little potato plant. I love its green sandy face. I'm sort of shocked they're coming up at all. The potatoes I planted looked like something that came out of Miss Havisham's pantry. 
Life does want to live though, doesn't it? 

I started glaze-painting my silly fish dish. I immediately discovered that using brushes that don't come from those beat-up jars in the studio results in a much easier application. I know I must have known this but stubbornly didn't buy my own. I think I haven't been taking myself seriously in this regard but once I ordered all those sweet little bottles of Stroke and Coat glaze, I figured I might as well get some better brushes. 

I enjoy this so much, even as I despair at my clumsy hands, my rough and uneven fish. 
Well. La-di-fucking-dah. I am having fun. 

Glen's spent all day long clearing the vines and trees from that area between our yard and the church. It's a horrible task. You think you've got an armful of trunk and branches and vines freed up and ready to load into the trailer, only to find that no, there are still vines connected to all the others not yet pulled or else you're standing on one of them or else...well. I wouldn't want to do it. Frankly he hasn't wanted to do it either which is why that part of the yard has been a mess for many months. I admire him for returning to the task and his persistence in getting it done. 
Which he will eventually. 

And that's all I think I'm going to discuss tonight. It's time to get in that kitchen and cook things. But before I go, I'm going to give you a link to a post I wrote eight years ago about the first time August spent the night. I came across it looking for something else and oh, my heart and soul! Of course no one needs to go back and read it but it is a post that is perfectly precious. I have forgotten so many things! 
And this is perhaps why I blog. Not just because I HAVE to write, but because in these ridiculous numbers of posts, I have captured the biggest events of this family and some of the tiniest details, too. 
And if any of my grandchildren want to ever know what they were like as little's, being born and growing up, they can come here. 
I suppose I should be more serious about backing things up, shouldn't I? 

Eh. Maybe tomorrow. 

Love...Ms. Moon