Friday, June 17, 2011

Mellow As A Smiling Sunflower



Do you see that picture of the smiling sunflower? Of course you do. That was done by an artist named Frank Baisden who taught art to my Uncle Jimmy when he was a boy on Lookout Mountain, Tennessee and whom I knew in Roseland, Florida, when I was a little girl. That picture has hung in my mother's house as long as I can remember and now it is hanging above her bed in her room at Westminster Oaks.
I love that picture and my mother does too and she has it, right there with her, along with her desk, her dressers, her cedar chest, her clothes and everything else she needs. Yesterday a man who works at WO came and hung her pictures and she couldn't stop talking about him and what an artist he is, picking the perfect places for her pictures, hanging them with utmost care and attention to detail.
She's still happy.
When I left her today, after her interview with the nurse, she was so excited because a man she knew from back when he was a boy in Winter Haven was about to come and play music on her floor.
"He won't remember who I am," she said.
"Oh, but he will!" I told her. And I bet he will.
It's like a little omen-for-good that he was coming to play. I remember when Mother tutored his brother back in Winter Haven, my brother Chuck just a baby and lying in a bouncy seat on the table as Mother instructed him in math.

(We interrupt our regularly scheduled program to tell you that the wind is whipping the trees into a frenzy and the light has turned eerie and the national weather service says this:

At 709 PM EDT... the National Weather Service has detected strong
thunderstorms along a line extending from 29 miles west of Valdosta
to 29 miles southeast of Marianna... moving southeast at 15 mph.

Winds 40 to 50 mph are expected with these storms. Small hail is also
possible.

I have shut up the chickens and found my headlight-flashlight because I have no doubt we shall lose our power before this night is over.)

Anyway, to continue our story, the man who was coming to play music is the ex-husband of my ex-husband's wife. Got that? And both of the brothers are just as sweet as any man you would ever want to meet and isn't it funny that Jon was playing on Mother's floor at three-thirty this afternoon?
Well. I think so.
And sometimes I just think we create our own reality and I am making every bit of this shit up.

I got a call late this afternoon from the younger man who came over to fix my internet today. "What did you say that site was where your blog is?" he asked me. "We want to see it."
I directed him to it and said, "I have to tell you, I curse in my blog."
"Well, that's okay. I curse too."
"I look like a nice old lady," I said. "But really, I'm evil."
"Oh, I doubt that," he said.

He has no idea.

But wasn't that sweet? I hope he does come here and see him and his daddy and read the nice things I wrote about him.

I haven't cleaned a damn thing today except for a chicken waterer but I'm not worried about it. I did go out and pick twelve pounds of beans and tomatoes and eggplant and a pepper. I could have picked at least five more pounds of tomatoes but I was already horrified by the number of ripe tomatoes I did pick and I didn't even touch the cucumbers. The Kentucky Wonders seem to be having a second bloom going on.

Here's Dolly, checking out the bag of goodies:

You can see Buster's feet in there too. That dog would rather eat green beans than good beef but they make him throw up so I'd just as soon avoid feeding him any.

So it's been a good day. Mr. Moon called to report the only thing they've caught was sea bass except for one giant red snapper which a barracuda got to right as they got him to the boat. DAMN! He sounded so tired, but so good. I'm glad he's out there on the island, fishing with other men. He's getting those Manly Ya-Ya's out, which is so important. Plus, I'd really like some fresh fish. And maybe I'll make him paint my toenails when he gets back in order to calm down the testosteronic powers. We shall see.

I'm going to go make my supper and then I'm going to start working on those peas. I'm pretty excited about both of those prospects. I can't find my big metal pan but I'll find something else that'll work as well. Or almost as well. I do love the sound of those peas hitting the metal. Ping, ping, ping! the sound of vegetable protein. Comforting. Soothing. Reassuring.

I feel reassured today. That what I am doing in this life of mine is not so bad. For all my faults and all my crazies, things at this very moment are damn well okay.

And the wind is still whipping and the birds are twittering and the electricity is still on and oh my god, will it please rain? The air is cooler, and I beg it to do as Mr. Moon says they say in Tennessee which is, "If you're gonna come on, then COME ON!"

Here's the view from Mama's window:

Her African violets, the little rose I brought her, Hank's blue glass fisherman's float he gave her.
I hope she's watching the storm come in and seeing the trees toss and turn and that she feels cozy and good.

The rain is starting to patter.

Sleep well, y'all. Be at peace. Be at peace.

P.S. Just as I started to edit this, the power went out. I knew it. Well, life in Lloyd. You live with this many trees, you're going to have to pay the price.
But it's raining. It's really raining. And I have my head-lantern flashlight.
All will be well. I swear.

P.P.S. I ate a most perfect supper of left-over-left-over green beans and potatoes heated up on the gas stove and a cut-up tomato and cold chicken and read via lamp light as I ate it and it was cool on the porch, the rain drizzling down, and I thought that okay, I'd just go to bed early and read with my little reading light and just as I was ready to go and so this, the electricity came on again.

Oh my, I sighed. I was so ready for bed and coziness, electricity out and an entire day ahead of me tomorrow, stretching forward like a perfect calm sea.
And you know what? I think I am going to do that anyway. Get in bed and read as long as I want to and let the peas wait and the house wait and be cozy and go to sleep when I am ready.

Oh yes.
Oh my.

What heaven.

16 comments:

  1. "I feel reassured today. That what I am doing in this life of mine is not so bad. For all my faults and all my crazies, things at this very moment are damn well okay."

    These moments are so rare, aren't they, but how wonderful that they happen to us.

    PS I like how you're able to shut up your chooks ;-) My girls won't stop talking, even when it's 10pm at night and the frost is falling. What on earth do they talk about? Ah yes, that'd be it, wouldn't it, the falling frost.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Dear Mary, how lovely, you are doing exactly what I wanted you to.

    Sorry to keep quoting you but this cracked me up "And sometimes I just think we create our own reality and I am making every bit of this shit up.

    I got a call late this afternoon from the younger man who came over to fix my internet today. "What did you say that site was where your blog is?" he asked me. "We want to see it."
    I directed him to it and said, "I have to tell you, I curse in my blog."
    "Well, that's okay. I curse too."
    "I look like a nice old lady," I said. "But really, I'm evil."
    "Oh, I doubt that," he said.

    He has no idea."

    You are brilliant.

    I've never seen Dolly before! Is she a spaniel? And your vegetables look amazing!

    I love you very much, have a wonderful night xx

    ReplyDelete
  3. I can't believe you spoke of Kentucky wonders, and didn't even mention me ;)

    Your mama's room looks wonderful and I hope she is so happy.

    ReplyDelete
  4. So glad your Mama's happy, and you too. I love me a good storm, (and I'm glad someone else's dog has the bulima (pronounced, btw, BULL-ih-ma). Mr. Bill, my beagle/? has to be physically restrained from eating my tomatoes, beans, zucchini, etc. Because we all know the results.)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Nigel- Yes. They are SO rare. And that makes them precious. My chickens go quiet at night. Yours don't? Well, I love their hen talk.

    Christina- Dolly is 1/4 Yorkie and 3/4 poodle, as is Buster, her sibling. Dolly is a soprano and sings beautifully. Do you want her?
    And I am having a wonderful night and am about to go to bed. Heaven!
    Love you.

    SJ- I know. I goofed. YOU are my Kentucky Wonder.

    Sara- Too true. Damn dog vomit. Ick.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Wow! You grew up with John Copps? *You just can't make this shit up!) He used to sing the cigarette song to Flo and I in hopes we would someday hear it and magically quit! Or maybe it was just a joke, I don't know. But he is dear.

    I'm so glad your mom is still happy! I have high hopes that now that she is there, she will feel so much better. She may have been feeling depressed in her house because she was a bit isolated with not really being able to drive and such... now she can hang with people whenever she wants, and get rides from the house mobile!

    Hope you have yourself a cozy dozy night.
    xo

    ReplyDelete
  7. Nice bag o' veggies.

    How grand your life is, Mz Moon....

    ReplyDelete
  8. Glad you got some rain, glad you are safe, and glad your Mama is in a great place. Take care dear friend and have a lovely weekend.

    ReplyDelete
  9. This is it - we can always just turn the lights off :)

    Your veg basket looked so pretty - was a the giant purple thing a bean pod?

    ReplyDelete
  10. "The ex-husband of your ex-husband's wife," - sounds like kin to me!
    You need to print business cards:

    Mary Moon
    Actor, Author, Philosopher
    www.blessourhearts.net

    superimposed over a picture of the chickens

    ReplyDelete
  11. A- Sometimes, for a few moments at least...

    Ms. Fleur- Yep. I've known Jon and David forever. And kinder men you'll never meet. I think you're right about Mother.

    Akannie- I really do think maybe I make this shit up.

    Mr. Shife- And same to you, dear friend.

    Elizabeth- Sweet dreams.

    Jo- No. It is a Japanese eggplant. Isn't it beautiful?

    Lucy- That's the sweetest thing! Maybe I WILL!

    ReplyDelete
  12. After my ex-husband got remarried many years ago, my friends started referring to his new wife as my wife-in-law. This was because they happened to live a block away from me and my kids were little and they would walk back and forth between our houses. I didn't think it was funny at the time, but now it seems hilarious to me. They have since moved across town, which is a good thing.

    ReplyDelete
  13. So glad that your mother is happy and that you are going to read and enjoy the rain. It is good to relax,

    ReplyDelete
  14. We have trees, but power lines are put under the ground mostly, so no power outages.

    Bed and book - I'm considering it.

    ReplyDelete

Tell me, sweeties. Tell me what you think.