Chat, Chat, Chat...Feminism!!!

Child, I am tired. 
It's been a pretty full day. First I had to thoroughly analyze a dream I had last night. Don't worry, I am not about to relate it here. Or anywhere. It had a lot of my common dream themes but took them to far greater heights than ever before. It was like, "What the fuck, brain? Is this how I really feel?" 
Interesting, to say the least. 
So I got ready to go to the dentist office which mostly involved dressing in town clothes, flossing and brushing my teeth, making Mr. Moon some breakfast burritos, and most importantly- controlling my anxiety. 
Of course everything went fine. I take excellent care of my teeth and gums and was blessed with good dental genes. Well, except for my two front crooked teeth but that's cosmetic, not structural. 
My dental hygienist and I chatted a lot as we always do. We are very, very different in many ways but we avoid those areas of conversation and talk about the many things we have in common like being married for a long time, having children and grandchildren, getting older, etc. When my teeth were all clean the dentist came in to poke around as he does and I do like him. He's my age and has recently sold the practice but he's still there working every day and probably will be for awhile. He's grown his hair out which I really like. Seems to me that he's enjoying his life and he's a good dentist and I hope he doesn't leave anytime soon. 
When it was all over and I had my little goodie bag of floss and toothpaste and a new toothbrush I told my hygienist that I'd really enjoyed catching up with her and that it had been my biggest social event since the last time I saw her. 
I was not lying, either. 

Then on to Costco and Publix. I saw Brenda, she of the mermaid eye-shadow and that's always nice. I didn't need much at all but I figured I'd get my weekly supply of cherry tomatoes and cucumbers, apples, bananas, and M&M's. (BOGO!) 

Got home, put everything away, ate a late lunch and then started in on tonight's supper. I bought a nice fat eggplant last week and hadn't used it yet so I made an eggplant parmesan. I hope it's good. I sliced the eggplant and dipped the pieces in milk and egg and then panko and baked them on the convection setting and they crisped and browned beautifully in just a few minutes. I made a sauce with squash in it and I grated cheese and put it all together and then cleaned up the kitchen which was a huge mess at that point but most of my work is done for tonight. 
And I'm afraid that I've spent way too much time on my bum foot. It hurts worse tonight than it did when I woke up and I'm not happy about that. 

So. I just listened to Ali Wong's book, "Dear Girls" and I want to say that I very much enjoyed it. Have you ever seen any of her stand-up  performances on Netflix? Let me just say that if you don't like dirty comedy (or "blue" comedy, as they say), please don't watch it. The woman gives no fucks about being ladylike in the least. "Pussy" is one of her favorite words and she is not discussing cats. But. She has worked her ass off in a very tough business for many years, has a successful marriage and partnership with a loving husband, and has two daughters. 
AND, she had one of the most bizarre and interesting ayahuasca experiences I've ever heard. 

Interestingly, after I finished the book I listened to some more of the "Breaking Down Patriarchy" podcast which is about the farthest thing from an Ali Wong performance and/or book there could possibly be and as I listened to how women's sexuality, appetites, and rights to own their own lives and bodies have been controlled by men via religions and governments for thousands of years, I thought about Wong and how she has somehow transcended all of that to be a strong and capable woman, determined to define her own terms when it has come to her career, her life, and her relationships. 

Interesting, to say the least. 

If you're interested, you can access her stand-up specials on Netflix or alternately, on Youtube. Her book can be found anywhere books are sold, of course, and at the library, both in audible and readable versions. "Breaking Down Patriarchy" is available, as they say, wherever you access your podcasts. 

I do so love living in a world where I can listen and watch and learn  from women of many different beliefs, backgrounds, upbringings, and world views.

I better go put that eggplant in the oven. 

Love...Ms. Moon

Flowers And Spinach And Stuff

 There you go. That's some lovely yellow jessimine (not jasmine) growing on a fence post. It's also called Carolina jessimine and is the state flower of South Carolina. (Hey Jennifer!) 
I did take a walk this morning. I took some eggs down to No Man Lord's and although I saw him and waved at him, he just went on in his RV and I left the eggs on a chair in his yard. I always figure that if I leave them there, I've done my job. Pinot was sitting in a different chair in another part of yard and he did acknowledge me and we exchanged greetings. I walked on down the road to El Rancho and saw the great, black cattle in the woods, far back from the fence. They had some sort of huge, heavy machinery on a truck trailer that it looked like they were preparing to use. Levon could have told me exactly what it was. 

The house that burned down now has its own RV in the yard. Now when I call these things RV's, I do not mean to say that they are anything that you would or even could take camping, much less glamping. They look like they were abandoned at the Done Forever RV graveyard and left to rot. The one in No Man Lord's yard doesn't even have a functioning roof unless he just likes the look of blue tarps. The one in the burned out yard looks slightly better but I sure wouldn't want to live in it. 
Buddha is still keeping watch out front. 

While I was walking I noticed that my left foot was hurting but it's been sort of doing that for awhile now. I figured it would stop once I quit walking but it has not and now I'm limping around and wincing. It's the heel area and I've done a quick perusal of the symptoms on the internet and it could be one of a hundred things. The feet are complicated bits of miraculous machinery and it's amazing that we get as much milage out of them as we do. (Haha.)
Whatever.
I have to go to the dentist tomorrow so I won't be taking a walk anyway.

Ms. Martha's mother-in-law's house has a bunch of violets blooming in the front yard. I plucked a few and brought them home and put them in a little bottle. 

Isn't that just the sweetest? I think I found that bottle in the yard here but I could be wrong. It almost reminds me of an ink bottle. Anyway, I love it. 

My hens are still blessing me with their abundance. Their favorite place to lay right now is in a nest they've made on the floor of the hen house. They keep it tidy and neat and free of poop. 

I found four more eggs in different places and I haven't even checked to see if Violet laid an egg in the fern pot on the front porch which is what she's been doing. 

The mulberries have changed overnight into this. 

A week ago the tree had barely, barely started to push green out of its little branch wombs. And look there- beginning berries. I want to tell the tree to slow down, honey, but it wouldn't do any good. It's like watching your baby girl put lipstick on for the first time. Wait! I'm not ready!

Spring is just going to happen and that's all there is to it. And it was hot today. When I got back from my walk I turned my turbo-industrial-strength-porch-fan on me but in the last hour it's started really raining and the temperature has dropped eight degrees. The next few days are going to be a little cooler and I sure hope I can take advantage of that and get some more yard work done. 

I suppose I've been in a better mood today. I can focus on the pain in my foot instead of my old lady moods. I sat on the couch and embroidered and watched a few episodes of Call the Midwife which was heaven for me. I swear to god- those midwives and nuns and nun-midwives sure can solve a lot of serious problems in forty-five minutes. I've started my supper which is going to involve YET ANOTHER skillet spanakopita. I have to look up that word every single time I write it. We're sort of addicted to that stuff. 

That's the spinach, leeks, and garlic part done. Now I just add the eggs, cheeses, spices, lemon juice and so forth and then make a pie out of it with phyllo and bake it. 

I guess I've squeezed all the words out of this day as best I could, not unlike I squeezed the steamed spinach before I put it in with the leeks. 

I hope y'all have had a decent Monday. Wish me luck at the dentist. 
Oh Lord. 

I'm sure it'll be fine. I'm only getting my teeth cleaned. But you know me- I'm still stressing out. 

Love...Ms. Moon 

Neither Genteel Nor Gentle

Last night, for no discernible reason, a curtain of sadness descended over me and I just went to bed. I read for several hours and slept and woke up in the same mood. Just...eh. No explanation, no changes, no nothing, everything same-same but a deep melancholy had taken hold and everything today has made me at once deeply sad and also angry. Aging and slowing down, the realization that there are things I never will do before I die, the deaths of people I've loved whom I always thought I'd see again, the news, the contemplation of the willful ignorance of certain people, the stupid book I was listening to, the springing up of invasive plants, my inability to get motivated, to try new things...
On and on and on and on and yet, at the same time, nothing at all. These thoughts weren't causing my sadness or my anger, they were simply part of it; things floating by that my brain grabbed onto to feed on as it ruminated like a great, unhappy shark, hidden in the shadows of the deep sea. 

I made the Sunday biscuits and they baked wonderfully in the new oven, the grits were perfect, completely unscorched on the extra-low burner. None of this cheered me. Mr. Moon wanted to go to town to a nursery to buy tomato plants and a few other things and asked me if I wanted to go and I just looked up from the crossword I was doing and shook my head. 

I managed to go out to the garden and plant another row of arugula, hoping to get at least a little more time with fresh greens for salad. I still have plenty of beautiful chard and spinach, lettuces and kale, but the arugula is bolting and I can't bear the thought of not having it. No harm in trying to plant more. I dug up many patches of the damn fireweed coming up by the garden gate, wearing long yellow rubber gloves. I hate that shit with a passionate heat like the burning surface of the sun. I put all of the pulled-up plants in an old potting soil bag that will go to the dump. 
And then because why not? I got out my pruners and worked in the front yard, trimming back the dead firespike, pulling random baby oak sproutlings, and then moving on to the sagos. 
Ay-yi-yi. 

That was over an hour ago. 

Now it looks like this. 

It itches like a motherfucker. Yes, yes, YES! I should have worn long sleeves. 

And I've only done half of the damn things and haven't yet started on the date palms. At least I can do those with the long loppers. 

I saw Miss Annie (one of the barred rocks) trying to kill Fancy Pants today. They were seriously going at it, jumping and flapping up into the air like two cocks in a pit fight. Fancy Pants' days may be measured around here. He has bloodied one of the gray hens' heads with his beak because he's so small that when he mounts her, he has a hard time staying balanced on her back and has to hold on. It's not unusual for roosters to cause hens to have bare places on their wings where they perch with their talons but this is cruel. I have long since lost my need for every chicken to live and roosters especially are a dime a dozen, even pretty fancy ones. We shall see what happens. I now know, though, that Annie will cut a bitch. 

Mr. Moon planted his three Cherokee Purple tomatoes and reports that the gnats and ants tormented him. We have already seen mosquitoes. The ants are coming out in force and I poured boiling water on a swarming bunch of large fire ants coming up between some steps. I have no Buddha in my soul today. These, however, are the type of ants that could literally kill a child if they covered him or her and while Buddha left his wife and son to go sit under the Bodhi tree, I feel certain that the mother of his baby had to deal with any and all of the myriad of threats that may have come her child's way with whatever resources she had. There are people who claim to be able to politely and successfully ask bothersome insects to please relocate their hives and homes but I am not one of them. 

I guess I am just Mean Ms. Moon today and that's how it is sometimes. I am quite aware that this meanness comes from pain and although I do not know the source of it (and usually, I do have a clue), I am sure that I will just ride it out and figure it out and work it out. 
Eventually. 
Meanwhile, red ants and sagos and fireweed and fancy roosters need to watch their step. 

Let it be known and so be it. 

Love...Ms. Shark-Heart

A Sweet And Drowsy Day

There's Liberace, a very fine rooster. Not as fine as Elvis but there will never be another Elvis. Still, Liberace watches over the ladies with unflagging devotion, is, for a rooster, a gentle lover, and tolerates Fancy Pants whereas some roosters with less self-confidence, would not. 

So all that stuff I was going to do today?
I didn't. I've been a lazy ass and I don't care. I've washed and hung the covers that I used for the plants this winter. Tablecloths with holes and mildew stains, old sheets, a few blankets. I was a bit worried that I would inadvertently wash a lizard or little frog but I shook them out before I washed them. One tree frog did jump on me when I brought them into the house yesterday and a tree frog landing on your bare arms feels exactly like you'd think it would. Rather damp and cold. That wasn't the only encounter I had yesterday with something I brought in accidentally. Last night, as we were blissfully stretched out in our clean and crisp sheets with Maurice on a pillow between us and as I turned to put the light out, something lit up my arm and before I realized what it was, I had grabbed the sheet and got another electric shock on my finger. It was a wasp that I suppose had come in from the line although it could have found its way from somewhere in the house. Bugs do get in and this time of year we frequently find wasps sluggishly making their way across a floor or up a wall. Where they come from is a mystery to us but I may bring them in with the plants. 
Who knows?
But once again- way too much nature. Just talking about those stings makes the little hairs on my arms stand up. Thankfully, I don't have an allergy to them but it's not a pleasant experience. 

Here are the mulberries forming leaves and berries. I hope it's a nice crop this year. If it is, I may make some jam or at least some pies. And the kids love to just stand under the branches and pick them and eat them. They are luscious and turn your mouth purple. When I was a child in Roseland, a neighbor had a tree in his yard and didn't seem to mind if we children ate our fill of the berries. They were a huge treat to us. Candy and sweets were not nearly as available to us as they seem to be now. A lot of the families couldn't afford even the pennies it cost to buy Tootsie Rolls or jawbreakers, much less the ingredients for cookies and cakes. But there were the mulberries, the turpentine mangoes that grew randomly about, the citrus trees and guava trees. Not so bad, really. 

It's beautiful here in North Florida right now. There's no denying it. Everything is swelling and budding. I can already feel the resulting pollen in the back of my throat, a sort of burning discomfort, and soon it will be covering our cars and waterways, the ground, everything. You can't live in a place as green as we do without the pollen. People will be complaining on Facebook as they do every year. The complaints are as predictable as the pollen itself and some people truly are allergic and suffer greatly. We hope for rain to wash it all away and it is a relief when that happens. Some folks claim that eating local honey will help with the allergies but that's not true. Finding the honey made out of the nectar and pollen of the specific plants that we react to is a shot in the dark. There are probably hundreds of species contributing to the situation. 

But I do approve of local honey and why we do not keep bees, I do not know. 

I have accomplished nothing today. I haven't spoken to a soul except for my husband and our conversations have been sweet. I was going to make a gumbo out of shrimp and some leftover crab I have and am even boiling their shells for stock but then I realized that what I really want to make is a shrimp and crab salad. I had picked a huge bunch of salad greens, some for a friend of ours, and that would be the most delicious and sensible thing to make. And so I will. 

I suppose I'm letting spring be the busy thing today and I've simply laid back and contentedly let it go about its busy-ness. 

How are you? Is spring making an appearance where you are? 

I've droned on long enough. I believe I'll go see if there are any carrots worth picking in the garden. I think there are. 

Love...Ms. Moon

Domesticity

It was foggy this morning when I got up but by the time I hung the second load of clothes on the line, the sun had burned it all off and was shining prettily. Not sure that we haven't just skipped spring here and are diving headfirst directly into summer.
Nah. That's not true. It didn't get over eighty here today. 

So remember that thing that Lon said about being satisfied with getting one thing accomplished in a day? Well I got two things accomplished today and I feel downright sassy about it. I finally got the hen house depooped and put fresh hay down for the girlies and their gentlemen friends and I attacked the front porch where the plants have been all grouped up against the wall so that I could cover them when we have freezes. It was a damn mess. And if we get another freeze I'm going to throw up my hands in despair and kick my own ass for rushing it. 
But it sure does feel good. 
I had to move things around and deciding which plant goes where is 95% of the battle. And none of these are small plants. I just slide them and even that isn't easy. I cut a lot of things back and did some trimming. I'd bought a farm-sized jug of Miracle Gro at the Costco a few weeks ago and I gave them all a good sprinkle with that and then I watered them. I moved my banyan tree out of the house and repotted it and got it situated. I'm not sure that some things are going to come back. A few begonias (which I have to keep up off the porch floor because the chickens love to eat them) and my ferns all look horrible. Mr. Moon moved my Norfolk Island Pine off the porch and into the yard. I'm going to plant it in the ground. I bought it when it was tiny to use as a Christmas tree and I did use it for that purpose for years but now it's too big and heavy to move around easily and I don't especially want a potted Norfolk Island Pine. If it grows, it grows, if it doesn't- oh well. I bought another tiny one last year and it's still alive. 

Here's what the porch looks like from the east end of it. 

Some of the pots that appear empty really aren't and I'm just going to wait and see if life springs forth from the dead-looking roots. 

Here's what the west end of the porch looks like with the sun lowering behind it. 

Can you see the azaleas coming out? 

I don't really have everything where I want it but some of those pots are too heavy to even drag from one end of the porch to another. Mr. Moon would move them for me but he doesn't really need to be lifting that sort of weight either. 

So I did all that, and tomorrow I might continue on with more work in the front yard, trimming and pruning and pulling weeds. The sago palms need a lot of attention. It's a literal pain to trim those because they're extremely stickery and their little needles contain a sort of toxin so that's a job that must be done carefully. It's always fun to watch their new yearly growth appear. The firespike needs trimming badly. The black sticks that were last year's beautiful leaves and blossoms have to go. And I should probably trim a little bit on the Canary Island date palms and if I do, I will surely complain here as I do every year about them and their horrible fronds made of needles even sharper and more toxic than the sagos. 

I have put my first loaf of sourdough in the new oven and I am, as I texted to a friend, inappropriately excited about this. 

It's a funky loaf and I'm not sure what I did to make it so. Each time I make sourdough, it turns out differently. I guess this one just got away from me on the rising. I'm sure that Paul Hollywood could tell me and he'd take a vicious pleasure in doing so but I would be so enchanted by those blue eyes of his that I wouldn't mind at all. 

The laundry has been folded and put away, the bed is made up with those nice line-dried sheets. I am tired but in a good way. My ribs ache a bit where I broke them but not very much. I imagine they will remind me of their presence for the rest of my life. I doubt I will ever forget that fall I took, the way I immediately knew that I'd done something rather serious to my body, the way the ribs felt...crunchy? I still don't understand how they knitted themselves back together and when they ache it's mostly that I think about- how in the world does the body heal itself from such a rude and sudden insult? 

A Friday night. My husband needs to come on into the house. He's been working on a car's brakes all day long. "I don't know why I get so tired," he told me earlier.

"Haha!" I said. "I do." 

But he needs to stop and make us martinis. It's that time again. And I will make him supper. 

Happy Friday, y'all. 

Love...Ms. Moon

Nature

 Let's see...what were my goals for today? 
Oh yeah. Figuring out who my eye doctor is and cleaning the hen house. 
Nope and nope. 
Instead, Jessie and the boys came over and we mostly played. And read some books. And ate our lunch. And Jessie and I talked and gossiped. 
Thank the lord above for the opportunity to talk and gossip to another woman. 
The boys weren't too wild although they didn't want to stop jumping on the bed in the guest room. No big deal. August and I read some books and he was generous with kisses and pats which is unusual for him. I probably got more kisses from that boy today than I usually get in six weeks. I enjoy talking to August a lot. He's a very engaged conversationalist. Today I asked him what his favorite bird was and he said "hummingbirds" because they are so fast. Also, he said, "Peregrine Falcons because they're the fastest bird of all." Swiftness is important to both August and Levon who will, at any random moment say, "Look how fast I am!" and then take off running. Levon demonstrated his abilities today and then told me that he had rocket blasters on his back and also, flames. I agreed that he did. 
Jessie told me another great story about something August said. They were at the Jr. Museum a few days ago and having a little snack on a bench when a man came right up to them, maskless, of course, and said something about what fine young men they were and that he sure hoped she was raising them to love God and Jesus. After he left, August turned to his mother and said, "I guess he's a Christian."

So all of that was fun and when they left I just didn't have enough energy to care about either the eye doctor or the hen house. I've been sluggish the past few days and I don't know why I have. I got stuff done around here that I needed to do but not much extra. I did make a very cool discovery in my front yard. 

That, my friends, is a native red buckeye. They grow around here in the woods and I bought one at a nursery some years ago and planted it by my swing porch. This one has grown up from a runner root, I think, and it is just as pretty to me as a spotted pup, as one of Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings' characters might have said. When I saw it I thought to myself, "That can't be." But I knew it was and I did a double-check with my PlantSnap app and sure enough, it's a beautiful little buckeye. And now that I know that it's there I can keep it semi-cleared out around it and make sure it gets enough water. It won't get much sun but they can do okay in that situation. It's mama/daddy tree hasn't bloomed or leafed yet which I find quite interesting. It will, though. It will. 

In the fauna department, as opposed to the flora, Rainbow Cloud, the lizard that Maggie caught and insisted on keeping, is a source of entertainment for Mr. Moon and me. Lily has made him a beautiful lizardarium with wood and rocks and dirt and plants that would be a

pretty thing all on its own and there are lights to be trained on it for heat. It's not always easy to find Mr. Rainbow (who is an Eastern fence lizard) in his fancy condo but eventually, we always can. 

He has a gorgeous bright blue belly which indicates his maleness. To be honest, I've never really noticed one in the wild and once again- here I am finding out about something that has lived right beside me for most of my life which I was blithely blind to. Their camo is terrific, I will say in my defense. On pine bark they are almost impossible to see. Lily also brought over his "cricket friends" as she called them, which is what he eats. Mr. Moon and I just gave him one but he didn't even seem to notice. I imagine that he'll figure it out. 

Lily and Lauren and the kids have made it to North Carolina to their cabin and I can't wait to get pictures. I hope they have a wonderful time. They need a good adventure with nothing but fun. 

I have been wearing a dress all day. A sleeveless dress. And have been barefoot. Our temperatures are creeping up into the low eighties and I expect the wisteria to start swelling any day now like my own knuckle joints. It is still coolish at night. I am going to miss these beautiful mild days. 

Life goes on and so do the seasons. 

Love...Ms. Moon

She Shopped

I can and do assure you that this will not become a blog which is entirely centered on pictures of things cooking on my new stove. But I took that picture this morning when I set my pinto beans on the burner because, well- I could. I made Mr. Moon's favorite breakfast of egg burritos while the beans came to a low boil and then I shut them off for a little while and went about the business of laundry and hanging it out on the line and getting ready to go to town. Partway through all of that I put the beans back on, thinking I would let them simmer on the extra-low simmer burner while I was in town but by the time I checked them before I left, they were already soft. So I just turned them off. I could not believe it because I've never cooked pinto beans in less than five or six hours except in a pressure cooker and it was just a regular old package of Publix pinto beans but there you go. This whole star burner thing is not just something that looks cool. It cooks much more efficiently, the flame going to all parts of the bottom of the pan and so I am finding that I can cook at a lower temperature and yet still cook things faster. 

I am learning.

I stopped by Hank's and Rachel's when I went to town to give them some eggs. To be truthful, I forced eggs on them. They already had eggs. I give eggs to everyone. After a short chat there, I drove to...Goodwill.

Please don't give me grief about going to Goodwill. I know they are crooks and thieves and take advantage of their workers. I am not a saint. I just wanted to go shopping and it was right down the street and so I did. 
Goodwill has not changed in a year. Smells the same, looks the same. There were hardly any people in the store. More workers than customers. I looked through the kitchen wares, the house stuff, saw one small chest that I liked but it was already sold. Then I proceeded to the dress racks and it was abysmal. Polyester, polyester, polyester, polyester.
And more polyester.
I did find one linen dress with pockets that will do for a house dress if it fits on my burgeoning body. I also found a pair of overalls that I would not wear if they were the last overalls on earth.
Well. If they were the last overalls on earth, I might wear them. They had huge red and white stripes and some sort of patch of blue with stars on it. 
Beyond hideous. And possibly even illegal or at least unconstitutional. 

I found no cashmere and nothing even close. Well, there was one sweater that claimed to have a "cashmere feel" but they lied and it was 100% acrylic. 
Still, it was something to be out in public like that, doing something so familiar. The faint drone of people talking from a distance was soothing and the man who checked me out would suddenly laugh for no apparent reason but that was not unpleasant. It was a jovial chuckle, not a horrible frightening clown laugh. I told myself that he is probably in on the cosmic joke of it all and I think that is possible. 

Then I was on to Publix and then Costco and by the time I got home it was past 4:30 which really put a crimp in my regular rut/routine. I flew about, bringing groceries in, putting things away, starting the dishwasher, bringing the beans back to a simmer, rushing out to the garden to cut greens to cook, to the line to get the clothes in, to the henhouse to get the eggs. I put the laundry away and washed and cut the greens and got them to cooking with bacon and tomatoes and onions and various vinegars and a little bit of soy sauce. 
I can get a lot done in a little time if I really want to. The joy, however, of this past year is that I have had little need to rush like that. I don't like rushing. I like taking time to check the progress of the budding mulberries, the spirea, the Japanese magnolia. It has been so warm here today that I am certain even the most reluctant of bloomers are having to reconsider their sloth. Sap is flowing and the birds are calling everything to come out and play from dawn to dark. There is no stopping it. 
And quite frankly, all of this is far more fascinating to me than thrift-store shopping. It is good to be reminded. 

So that was my big exciting day. 

I did want to report that yesterday I got a phone call from my Trumper neighbor with whom I'd had a very vocal disagreement a few weeks ago. She was calling to ask if I'd seen her cat which disappeared the other night and I had not. We spoke pleasantly. I asked her how she and her husband were feeling, if they were recovering from covid. She said that it's slow, but every day is a little better. We discussed Jack a bit, as he used to go over to her house now and then for some canned cat food and a good fur brushing. She really does love animals. And all of that was fine and I was feeling good about the conversation- we are neighbors. We very much need to be on decent terms, especially out here in Lloyd where a neighbor's help can mean so much when it's needed. 
But then she brought up Texas and blamed all of the power problems on "green energy" and turbines that had to be winterized and weren't, never acknowledging that Republican deregulation had caused these problems. It's so obvious that if there is not a Democrat to blame, then it surely must be some liberal plot like "green energy" which is the demon in the scenario to these Fox people. Their powers of rationalization are truly magnificent. I tried to talk to her a little bit about it but I didn't have the energy nor the desire. I finally gently ended it with wishing her and her husband the best and hopes that they are truly well and healthy soon. 
And I do wish that. 
And I'm glad she called. I hope her cat comes home. His name is Baby and he means a lot to her. I understand that too. 

I have my greens on the extra-low simmer in which the burner goes off and on intermittently to keep the temperature low, low, low and it is a wonder to me to see them still simmering even when the flame is off. The beans are cooking down gently to a nice gravy and I'll cook a little pot of rice and bake a cornbread in a little while. 
I'm tired. It's been a long day. I think my goals for tomorrow are simply to clean out the hen house and try to figure out what my eye doctor's name is. I desperately need a new prescription and new glasses. That doesn't sound like a big deal but for those of us with these weird medical neuroses, it is. I have promised myself that all I have to do tomorrow is to figure out who the doctor is and maybe on Friday or maybe even next week I will actually call and make an appointment. 
Baby steps. 

I'll try to catch up on some comment answering. The last two days have been a bit frenetic for me. Please be well and know that I am grateful for each one of you. 

Love...Ms. Moon