Back To School, Back To Sanity. Mostly

It was freaking hot today. And yes, cars get really hot sitting in parking lots. However, when I got in that car after it had been sitting in a parking lot, it was registering 99 degrees. It was 100 after I'd driven it about six miles down the road. 
Of course these days, a hundred degrees F is becoming normal for many areas of the world which no one ever would have imagined even ten years ago. 
Except the environmental scientists. They knew what was coming.

This morning I was in a low place when I got up. Again, I do not know why. I was so teary and getting these back-to-school photos only made me tearier.

Maggie was going for a sort of school-uniform/anime look. 
Success! 

August and Levon- this year's hug photo. 

I mentioned how much I loved these pictures of them hugging every year and Jessie sent this. 

That was five years ago when August was starting kindergarten. Levon was a baby! And August was barely much past the baby stage. 

My heart. 

So August is going into fifth grade this year, as is Maggie, and Levon is going into the third grade. All of this just seems completely impossible. 

By this time, I was ready to text Jessie and Lily and bow out of the pedicure situation but I knew damn well that seeing them was exactly what I needed to do. Forget my toes, my heart needed some tending. 
So I met them at the salon and yes, they cheered me right up. I dumped all my woes out as soon as I got there and they just listened and nodded and said things like, "That's hard," and I started feeling better immediately. 
And then I picked out the nail polish color I wanted and things got better from there. 

Pictures! 

These were both quick-quick point and shoots and I did not even notice until Jessie pointed it out that there was an almost-naked Ryan Reynolds on the screen on the wall. Lily hadn't noticed it either but it does look as if she HAS and is getting some enjoyment out of it. 

We talked about more and more stuff and my technician pretended he was using Harry Potter type magic to make the chair I was sitting in come closer or farther away from him so he could work on my feet more easily. He had a button which was pretty obvious but he was getting a kick out of it. He also said I had long legs which Jessie and Lily refused to believe, which is natural, seeing as how their legs are about fifty feet long but I pointed out to them that for my height (which is becoming less and less every day), my legs ARE pretty long. I am extremely short-waisted. 
The guy also said, as he painted my toenails red, the color I had chosen, that I now had sexy toes. 
"Something about me needs to be sexy," I said. This, too, amused my children. 
Jesus, kids! 
Here's a picture of my sexy toes. 

The ant bites and veins are especially fetching, are they not? 

Lily had errands to run afterwards and leftovers to eat at home but Jessie and I went a few doors down to the noodle place. I like this noodle place but the portions are HUGE. I got a dish called Japchae which is basically stir-fried noodles made with sweet potato starch which somehow magically turn into a sort of clear, stretchy, chewy noodle, with vegetables and chicken. I ate until I could eat no more because it was delicious and brought home enough for at least two more lunches. 

Jessie is working tonight, her first shift after getting back from North Carolina, and she needed to get home and take a nap. I drove to the pharmacy where my hormones were ready for pick-up and then came on back to Lloyd. This evening I feel far less like jumping off a bridge and thank goodness. 
Glen just got back from Tom's where he and Jim spent the day going through more things and packing some of them up. Some of the things will go to Goodwill or Oak Tree, or some place like that, some will go to the dump, and a few pieces of artwork that could possibly be worth anything of value are going to someone who can appraise them. 
This is going on forever, not unlike how long it took for Glen to talk Tom into buying the tiny house after a tree fell on his fifty-year old trailer and then doing all the work of getting it there, hooking it up to water and electricity, and moving Tom into it. 
Am I being a little, um, less than graceful about all of this? 
You bet! 
In fact, Mr. Moon seems to be more cheerful about all of this than I am. Let's face it- he's just a better human being. I have no hesitation in saying that, either. He just is. 

A few garden pictures. 

The tabasco peppers are still putting forth beautifully. I need to make more pepper sauce. 

Bee on basil bloom! 
Lucky shot. Look at its eye! 

Another photo of the basil flowers. This is the African basil. I think. It's one of those basils. 
If I were a bee, I'd be making love to those blooms all day long. Such seductive colors and tendrils and delineated come-hither features. Who could resist? I am still so very, very desirous of tasting honey made from the nectar of basil flowers. I haven't figured out how that's going to happen though. I'll let you know if I do.

Thunder is rolling and lightning is cracking right now. Whether or not we get any rain is still...up in the air. 
Jeez. I am so sorry. 
But really, I do so hope it does. 

And that's my life in Lloyd tonight. 

Love...Ms. Moon

There's A Learning Curve, Obviously

I'm not there yet on the new iPhone camera. Parts of this pumpkin blossom are quite nice but other parts are not in focus. 
I keep having this problem. I need to read some more, watch some videos, learn some more. 

This isn't bad but it doesn't scream MAGNIFICENT to me. 

Meanwhile, here's our biggest pumpkin. 

The bee balm is beginning to bloom. (Unintended alliteration.) 

Not there. Getting close. No pun intended. 

Last night when I was taking the first pictures, I captured something that really sort of blew me away and it's the camera's capability when it comes to telephoto shots. 
The sun was going down and was shining bits of golden light here and there. 

You can see three of them here if you look closely. I focused in and look what I got.

That is not bad detail for being so far away. 

So yes, I am going to have fun with this thing and still find myself shocked at the fact that I enjoy taking pictures so much. I never, ever would have discovered that without this blog or iPhones which make it easy to get at least decent pictures, if not superb ones. 

My anxiety seems to have settled in. I find myself anxious about the silliest, tiniest, little things I need to deal with. Things on the internet, as I said yesterday, things I need to get in the mail. Picking the last of the peas so as not to waste them. Getting the garden cleared for the fall planting. Not having spent enough time with my grandchildren this summer. Not having spent enough time with all my children this summer. 
Wondering if I'll ever feel that same sort of contented happiness I was feeling when we got back from North Carolina. 
And none of this is life-threatening or even necessarily true. And that, of course, makes no difference at all in how I feel. 

I did get a few things accomplished yesterday and today and transferring the data to my new phone was a big one although it turned out to be incredibly simple. 

I have a terrible neurosis about returning things and mailing things in general and I wanted to get my old phone on its way to AT&T according to instructions which involved nothing more than erasing the data on it, getting it packaged in the same box my new phone came in, and printing out the label I'd been sent. Glen did that part for me and I did the rest which, again, was nothing. NOTHING! And then all I needed to do was take it to the Fed Ex place which is about five hundred yards (if that) from where Lily works. 
I managed to do that and I got my things in the mail I needed to send off and I got to visit Lily at work which is always a joy. 
I have to stop here and brag for a moment. She got an evaluation at work recently and got a perfect which she rather modestly said she'd never even heard of happening. 
I am not surprised. 
I wanted to go by Oak Tree and check out the treasures there just for fun and also because I needed to get out of the house. Jim, Tom's friend, is back and he and Glen are hard at it. So I went by there and found not one thing I wanted or needed. By then I was so hungry and took myself to get some shrimp tacos and THEN I had to go to the dreaded, horrible Walmart to get a new phone case. 
It wasn't that bad, really. The phone cases are locked up and there are so many to choose from as to brand and color and design and blah, blah, blah. I spent a lot of time just looking without asking for help to unlock them so that I could examine at least the boxes more closely and I finally did that. I realized at one point that there were at least three different sources of speakers, all blasting different things from TV shows to stereos and it was hard to think, much less think logically. When the lady unlocked the first display of them I just reached for the Apple case and after discussing it with the her and she said she had no idea if they were any good, I chose it. Life is too short for this fucking around, trying to make a decision based on quick internet searches and absolutely nothing else of substance. I got a screen protector too, paid for them, and left the store. At least with an Apple case, I knew it would fit properly and besides that, it was packaged as artfully and simply and easy to open as all Apple products are. This is not nothing. It cost more than the cheapest cases, and less than the most expensive. 
And so that is done. 
On to the library to drop off books and then to Publix to pick up a prescription and get groceries. 
We are indeed having scallops again tonight. Last night's chili was very good and Glen and Jim finished it up today for lunch. 

So. I can still get things mailed off. I can still go visit my daughter at work. I can still do my shopping. I can still make our meals. I can still keep plants alive. (Mostly.) I can still laugh and I can still cry and not let it overtake me. I can still survive Walmart. I can still have a perfectly normal conversation with another person in Publix. 
I'm okay. Anxiety passes. 

And in the entire scheme of things, this bout of it is not so bad. Not so bad at all. 

Tomorrow? A pedicure with Lily and Jessie! The kids start back to school and mamas need to do something to note that day. It's a big one. And they have invited me. I haven't gotten a pedicure since Lily and I got one probably back in June. 

We'll get there. 

Love...Ms. Moon

Waiting, Wondering, And Philosophizing

I think it is possible that the crows have brought us a little acknowledgment of the mealworms. I found these two bits of what look possibly like peppers from the garden in the center of one of the stumps where I feed them everyday. At first I thought they might be parts of the beautiful magnolia seeds that pop from the cones they make and that would have made sense, seeing as how a branch of the magnolia tree is right above the stump but that is definitely not what this is. The seeds of the magnolia are hard and waxy. And then I thought maybe it was something that had been in the poop of a bird, possibly a crow, but there was no poop. Just those bits of what I truly think are peppers with little pepper-looking seeds in them. 
Maybe. Maybe not. Either way it is curious. How would a pepper have gotten from the garden to that stump? 

I spent the day staying right here at home, waiting for the delivery of my new iPhone. We had been told it would arrive either today or tomorrow and I was almost certain it wouldn't show up until tomorrow or...who knows? 
But by golly, it's here and I think I've almost transferred all my data from the iPhone Air to this one. Well, a lot of it anyway. I swear to you- if this is true, it is far easier to transfer the data off one iPhone to another than it is to clean out a closet and a hell of a lot less effort. Here are the directions on how to set up the new device which came with the phone:

Turn it on and follow the on-screen steps.

I remember when I got my first Apple product, which was a desktop computer, it came with no directions whatsoever. I had no clue about anything having to do with a computer. None. And this was a very long time ago. I bought a copy of "Macs For Dummies" and that is how I learned. And learn I did. I will never entirely forget the thrill of getting that first admittedly-not-Apple's-finest-moment-in-computers (the Performa model- anyone remember those?) and learning how to get online with the telephone connection, all the beeps and brrrs and whirrs. Sometimes it took forever and of course if you were online, no one could call your house. 

Gather 'round children and let old MerMer tell you about the olden days. 

So I stayed here, waiting for this delivery because it had to be signed for. I worked in the bed beside the house for about an hour, pulling chenille plant, border grass, and crocosmia and that was all I could manage of that but I am making progress. I put all the CD's that I'd bagged up and put in the trunk of my car and then taken out of the trunk of my car when y'all convinced me not to get rid of all that music, back into the drawers from which they had come. This is one of those things that took almost no time whatsoever but which I had been putting off for weeks. I melted the glacier which had formed in the ice maker in the refrigerator door which has needed doing for weeks. It is now working fine. A hair dryer, a screwdriver, a knife, and a stepladder were all involved. I did a few online things that I've also been putting off. And I ironed some while I watched another episode of The Bear. I love the way different characters get their own episodes. That makes for a truly deeper understanding of them and it feels respectful to them and to the story. There is, I suppose, a main character but the entire series is not entirely based on him. 

Last night's scallops were so damn good I think I might repeat that menu again tomorrow. Why not? It was so simple, and so very perfect. The main thing about cooking scallops is to not overcook them or they will become chewy and dry. Somehow I managed to get them just right. 
Tonight I've got a pot of beef, bean, and sweet potato chili going. Not really a hot-weather food and if we didn't have air-conditioning I would definitely not be making it nor would we be eating it. 

I really wish I had something more interesting to talk about this evening but I don't. I had hoped that the transfer of data would be complete by now so that I could hopefully take a few pictures and post them here this evening. I'm just a little child who wants to play with the toys she got for her birthday. 

It is so bizarre to think of how much these devices have changed my life. All of our lives, really, and yours too if you're here reading this. There are many things about the technology which are disturbing and dangerously addictive and the rapid proliferation of AI scares me to death. Used in some contexts, it is amazing and helpful and I think will lead us to finding cures for many diseases which have baffled us forever. In other contexts, it is blurring the line between reality and not-reality and that is what scares me. Trump has already almost completely done away with the borders of truth and lies and so many people believe not only what they hear but what they see, quite plainly, right there in front of their eyes on their phones, on their tablets, on their laptops and it's getting harder and harder to tell the difference between what is truly a recording of an event and what has been AI generated. 
Will reality cease to be of importance? Will truth become so nebulous that that it loses its meaning? 

I try to step back and take a breath. The first people to build, contain, and control a fire had no idea what that would mean to the rest of humanity in the eternal forever. Some of it so very amazingly good and yet, it came with the possibility of it being used as a completely destructive and ultimately uncontrollable power.

I'll stop now. 

Love...Ms. Moon

P.S. Boy, am I going to have fun with this. 

I Can't Even Title This

The pine cone lilies are shooting up their stalks and the "cones" are forming nicely. The little buds you see there are the actual blooms, the flowers. In the next few weeks the bracts, the cones, will turn from green to scarlet. I honestly did not know what a bract was until I just looked it up. They are specialized leaves which sit below a flower, a flower cluster, or a stem. They come in all shapes and sizes. An artichoke, the part we eat, is a bract. 
Seventy-two years old and I did not know this most basic of botanical facts. 

I did know that these lilies are part of the ginger family. I have never used their roots for culinary purposes but I just read that they can be, although their taste is more pungent and bitter than the kind we buy in the store. Still, I might try it sometime. 
I have never been a forager but I admire those who have the knowledge, eye, and skill to practice that art. The only thing I can really say I've ever picked from the wild to ingest with the exception of berries are mushrooms of the psilocybin variety and that I have indeed done. Luckily, they are easy to identify and since they grow out of cow shit, or at least the ones in Florida do, there's that as an identifier too. 
I often wonder who the first person was in Central Florida who introduced us to these mushrooms. All I know is that suddenly, there were...mushrooms. We did not call them "shrooms" and we didn't call them "magic" mushrooms as far as I can remember. Cow pastures were everywhere in Central Florida where I was living then as they are in most of the state. Before long, everyone was out gathering the mushrooms. The authorities (to be respectful) took awhile to catch up on what was happening and for awhile, it was pretty darn easy to hop a fence and gather them. I think for some time they weren't even illegal because they had not been classified as a drug yet. 
Oh, the good old days. 
I've written about my first experience with mushrooms before (what have I NOT written about at this point?) and you can find one of those posts here. 
There's a lot I could say about the powerful and often incredibly healing experience of ingesting psychedelic substances but Michael Pollan, a very fine author and journalist wrote what I consider to be one of the best books on the subject and that book is entitled How To Change Your Mind.
I have written about that, too, of course, and recommend it highly if the subject interests you. 

Dear god, how did I get here? 
From pinecone lilies to psilocybin mushrooms and beyond. 
My mind is a wandering, wondering fool of a mind. 

I took a mostly restful day today. Being as it is Sunday, Mr. Moon and I had our regular date-day which basically means we both took it easy and loved on each other a lot. It seems silly to schedule a day for such sweet attentions but just because you have an empty nest, it does not mean you take the time to focus on your love. We become complacent about such things sometimes, taking each other for granted, not stopping to truly appreciate each other. And forgetting to tell each other how much the other means to us. 
Kisses don't hurt either. 
Mr. Moon spent most of the day shucking scallops. I am not kidding you. And yes, that can be a part of date day. 

As I said in a response to a comment on yesterday's post, when you figure in the effort it takes to find and collect these delicacies (and that's the fun and easy part), the gas for the boat, and mostly the hours and hours of shucking required, it makes whatever they charge for them a bargain. 
But as with the garden and the food we eat from it, there is another kind of reward to the whole thing and that is what makes it all worthwhile. Tonight I'll be simply sautéing some of them with butter, garlic, and a little bit of lemon juice and serving them over pasta, and making a salad. A shallot might be involved if I get all crazy with it or maybe I'll just go as basic as I can and let the scallops be the stars and supporting cast of the meal. The salad will be utterly simple too. I might toast some of the bread I made a few days ago, trying to recreate and improve on the bread I made before with the oats, the flax seed, the cottage cheese, etc. It turned out pretty nicely if you don't mind a heartier texture to your bread which I do not. 
And that will be that. 
Here are some roses.

They are putting forth another bloom. These old heirlooms never quit. Not entirely. The late-ish summer garden is not as exciting as the spring or even fall garden with their quick promises of what's to come but even as some things brown and become brittle, other things continue to produce, albeit in a far less dramatic way. Mr. Moon keeps telling me that we can still plant okra and tomatoes and I'm fine with that. Let's do it! But today when he told me we could plant one more crop of green beans I vehemently said, "No!" I love my green beans and I was so grateful for them but I have picked and cooked and processed all I care to pick, cook, or process until next year. 
I think he was a little shocked at my immediate response but I am quite certain of how I feel about this. I have plenty of canned green beans and pickled green beans to last us and other family members until the next planting. 
Thank you, but no. 
Sometimes too much is just enough but sometimes too much is just too much. 

Would you look at this? 

Five pounds of scallops according to my granddaddy's scale if you figure in the weight of the bowl. And that scale may be old as hell but it is still pretty accurate. 

I guess I better go cook some scallops. 

Love...Ms. Moon

Let's All Go Scalloping! Or Not

 

Mr. Moon took the Weatherfords out scalloping today. We have a scallop season here and a certain amount of them can be taken per person or per boat. I don't know. These are the small bay scallops, not the large sea scallops but they taste very much the same only sweeter and more tender. Here's what they look like underwater. 

As I always say, they have Paul Newman eyes. And lots of them. 
As you probably know by now, Glen Moon loves to get food from the woods and the seas and the rivers and the lakes and scalloping is a once a year opportunity to gather those sweet little delicacies. After a quick blog search I see that I've written many, many posts about scalloping, all of which have mentioned the Paul Newman thing and if you'd like to know any more about how one goes about scalloping, just do a blog search of your own and you will be taken to a wide variety of those posts. 
I was invited to join the group today but I stayed home. There's no covering on that boat and I was just not in the mood to bake in the sun all day. Of course I would have spent a lot of time in the water, too, but I decided it would be just fine for them to have a Boppy day doing a Boppy activity on Boppy's boat. With Boppy. 
They had a good day, actually getting quite a few scallops. Here are some pictures. 

It looks to me like everyone had a good time and Jessie reports that they did and that the boys loved it. 
I think it is so fabulous that those little guys get to experience and do the same things their daddy did when he was a boy and the same things their mama did when she was a girl. 
So it was a very fine day for them. I know Mr. Moon was so happy to be able to take them. 

Meanwhile, back here at the ranch, I basically attempted to succumb to heat stroke by working in the garden but I could not go one more day without doing something about the mess it was in. I cleared a good strip where the zinnias and peas were. The zinnias are done, the peas as well. 

Instead of gathering and keeping the heads of the spent zinnias for seeds, I just pinched and rolled them between my fingers and spread them on the dirt in hopes that they'll be back next year. 
I am lazy. 
Actually, no I am not. But why not skip a few steps and let next year's plants come up on their own? I scattered some in the kitchen garden too. 

All I could handle outside was about two hours and that was plenty for me. I didn't even wait until I started feeling weird this time. There's plenty more weeding and clearing to do but at least I've made a start. I need more mulching material. I'll have to consult with the mulch guy on that one. 
When I came in and cooled off, I watched a few more episodes of "The Bear" while I hemmed a few more sweat rags I make from laundered cheesecloth. Those things are great. Such a very simple thing which serves such a utilitarian purpose. 

I've been a little down today. A little anxious. I don't want to feel this way. I really don't. I would so much rather feel the way I've been feeling the last few weeks which is pretty darn content and even happy but I no more know how to make that happen than I know how I've somehow let the anxiety back in. I certainly don't go to bed and turn out the light and think to myself, "Gee. I believe that tomorrow I'd like to wake up a little depressed and worried."
I probably should have gone scalloping. 

So anyway, here's a pretty funny picture of what's going on with my hair. I lost quite a bit of it when my weight loss was at its most dramatic and now it seems to be trying to grow back which is pretty darn thoughtful of it. 
However. 

And yes, those are my gardening-without-gloves fingernails. 
Do you see the little wisps of gray hair? They're about, what? four inches long now? And that is happening all over my head. 
Dear god, I am going to have my granny's hair. 
La-di-dah. 
La. Dee. Fucking Dah. 

The sooner I have all white hair, the happier I'll be. 

And look how freaking curly it is!

What did Mary Englebreit say? 

Life's too mysterious to take too serious. 

Amen. 

Love...Ms. Moon
 

More Examples Of How Easy Technology Makes Our Lives Today.

I found this cicada on the floor of the back porch this morning. It was lying on its back and I figured it was dead. I bent and picked it up and it moved a little so no, it still had life in it. I took it outside and put it on a plant. I fear it was at the tail end of its life though. 

I didn't walk this morning. I decided to ponder this situation some more. Thank all of you for your suggestions. The ones that could pertain to me are being pondered. The main thing I'm worried about is the possibility that my walking can cause the kidney stones to move into the ureter. I do not want that to happen at all.
No. 
Please.
No. 

So when I start to feel that specific feeling, I get very worried and very wary. I don't LIKE or enjoy limping but it's not scary. Kidney stones are. 

Not only did I not walk this morning, I also did almost nothing else except sit with Mr. Moon while he spent about two hours on speaker phone with the Costco AT&T helpline to try and get this phone trade done so I can take decent pictures again. And, if all goes as planned and the universe approves, I should be getting my new iPhone 17 Pro on Monday or Tuesday. 
I really can't tell you how excited I am. 
Glen dealt with the two different women and one man he spoke with with far more grace and patience than I ever could have. And persistence, which is really the key. The customer service representatives were very, very responsive, patient, courteous, and willing to give him all the time necessary to get this done. 
Which did not make it effortless or even especially easy but it surely helped. 
And it turns out that yes, the trade-in will not result in a huge up-charge on our monthly bill. In fact, it's quite reasonable. And the phone cell service and our internet which they provide both here and up on Lake Seminole, seem very reliable and problem-free. 
So it's all good, although I hate that phrase because nothing is ever ALL good but in this case, it's as good as it can get, I think. 

After it was all over Glen told me that this is exactly the same thing he's been doing for the past few weeks, dealing with Tom's finances and his trust. Talking to people far away and trying to do, technology-wise, everything that needs doing. And being put on hold. As we all know, this can be so fucking frustrating. At one point today, I wanted to throw my phone across the room. I did not. 
When I asked him later what he wanted for supper tonight he said, "Seventeen martinis."
That will not be happening but I know what he means. 

And then I went to town and did a tiny bit of shopping at both Costco and Publix. I wore my new beautiful shirt and here is a picture. 

I'm also wearing the black linen skirt I got at Target. It's a wrap skirt with a nice pocket and I am very glad to have it. The pocket is cleverly placed and I'm not sure that would be easy to do on a wrap skirt. Target and Walmart both seem to be quite aware that women want pockets and unlike expensive brands, they don't seem to be quite as concerned with the "line" of the garment. I understand both perspectives and each has validity. 

I feel like it's my birthday or Christmas all over again, reading about the iPhone 17 pro. The way Apple describes it reassures me that along with all of the other new technology on any and all iPhones, it is far above and beyond anything I'd ever understand, need, or use, and isn't that just a comfort and a thrill? It's like owning a Maserati when the only place you ever need to drive is the two miles to Publix. 
Go ahead and judge me. I am giving myself grace. There's not that much about the newest technology on offer that I care about at all but there is a sort of magic to me about having all of this possibility and power in my pocket and if I can take a decent macro shot with one hand, sign me the hell up. 

And honestly, I think that's all I have to discuss today. Well, that and the fact that our fearless leader got a new toupee. That's about as far into politics as I can go right now. I am not proud of that. At all. 
I am, however, definitely considering ordering this T-shirt. 

Is this not perfect for me? 
Perhaps for you, too. 
Here's the website. 

Clean sheets, a martini, and wishes for a happy Friday, y'all. 

Love...Ms. Moon

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