Monday, July 25, 2016

Eternal Mysteries And Other Stuff, Plus, "Mission To Murder" Would Make A Great Book Title

Guess what I realized today?
I know both a brain surgeon AND a rocket scientist.
Does that make me any smarter?
No. No it does not. But oh, how I wish!

I mopped my kitchen floor and the floor of the bathroom which adjoins the kitchen. Also, the laundry "room" (written with great irony). Do I feel better?
Sure.
Sure.
Sure I do.

I talked to my neighbor. She vows and declares that Dot-Dot the killer dog is safely chained and fenced and penned and so forth. That she has let her chickens run the past few days. I didn't let mine out while I was in town but opened the door when I got back after closing the gate to the driveway which I never do. Not that the closed gate and gappy fence on this property would keep out a dog on a mission to murder but it might slow him down. And there's also the possibility that there are two other dogs in Lloyd that are loose and killing chickens. Fuck if I know but it sure is nice to see my babies out in the yard, pecking and scratching. The surviving Barred Rock and two banties wouldn't even LEAVE the coop for a long time. I am pretty sure that the Barred Rock is a rooster. He's growing tail feathers and the beginnings of a drape.

Lily and the children ended up running errands with me today. Lily even drove me. And we met up with Hank at El Patron for a lunch and it was fine.
Here. I got to kiss the baby.


And squish her up. Isn't she gorgeous? Owen has lost a top tooth and he's mighty proud of that. He pulled it himself, which is what he does. The big guy tooth is already coming in and it looks huge, as the adult teeth do when they grow in. I looked at his hands today and he's just getting so big. They are not baby hands at all anymore. They are boy hands. I just got a text from Lily saying that he tried to run away this afternoon because she made him practice reading. School is starting in three weeks, which is impossible to believe. I asked Lily if he'd packed his leftover chicken wings from lunch and a change of underwear.
Haven't heard back on that one yet.

We had a new waiter at the El Patron today. His name was Mannie and we approve. He laughed at our jokes and brought us extra salsa.
"It's like you know us," said Lily.
Gibson greeted him by saying, "Sir! I want cheese sticks!"
I liked the "Sir" part.

I picked the few okra that were ready today.


Aren't the red ones pretty? The garden is just so depressing. Something (a blight?) has killed all the tomatoes, the beans have aphids. The sweet potatoes are still alive though and I've never grown those before so I need to do some research to see when to pull them. I think they have to stay in the ground until first frost. Or that may just be true for more northern latitudes.
I'll look it up. It sure would be nice to get some.
It's time to start thinking about the fall and winter garden which is always a cheerful thing to do.

A rainstorm has suddenly come upon us. It's pouring from the sky, great sheets of water slapping the ground. What a blessing! The air temperature has dropped dramatically but in the time it's taken me to write this and go start some zipper cream peas, the rain has just about passed and what will remain is the moisture-saturated air, the humidity which shall torment us again tomorrow. I swear- this is just a hard time of year and it always is. I have a bug bite of mysterious origin on one foot which is itching like fire, a trail of blood from some wound I got going down my leg and a fierce rash under my left bosom. This is the way of it. I do not think that earth is our native planet sometimes. The allergies, the fungi which plague our skin, the way gravity bends our bones and stretches our joints as we age. Where, oh where did our alien foremothers come from who combined their DNA with that of the early primates?
I do not know.
Or perhaps we should just regrow our gills and return to the ocean.
It's all a mystery to me. The beauty and the beast of it all.

Perhaps if I were a brain surgeon or a rocket scientist, I would have more answers but I am not and I do not but the air smells delicious and my peas are simmering and my floor, for this second, is clean.

Love...Ms. Moon





13 comments:

  1. He ran away? I love it! Every kid needs to run away at least once and "then they'll be sorry". I ran away when I was 6 and I got as far as the front of the house. My brother came out and said that mom was making strawberry Quik. Ah, but the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. It is one of my favourite memories of my mom.

    And look at Magnolia! I wish I could squish her myself. Look at those elbows and wrists. Very kissable.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yep. He didn't get very far. Strawberry Quik! Oh god! I remember that nasty shit. Do they still make it?
      Magnolia is a kiss goddess. A baby kiss goddess. I swear.

      Delete
  2. Oh... I love your Native Planet theory. Huh.

    Would you try some Bragg's Cider Vinegar on the rash and the bugbite? It's my go-to cure-all; sore throats, bug bites, veruccas, heat rash...

    I wish I had some disposable income - I would hop on a plane just to smoosh that baby's sweet cheeks.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Uh, I put cortisone cream on the boob rash and let the bug bite die on its own. I'm sorry.
      It would be worth it to fly from Ireland to Florida just to kiss Magnolia and squish her up. Especially if you threw in a trip to the river.

      Delete
    2. Sigh. I nearly would if I could. The heat and the bugs might kill me, of course.

      Delete
  3. I tried to run away when I was little, and my mom packed me a sandwich and underwear in my suitcase (bc of course I was wearing my wedding dress, made by grandma). Good times!

    ReplyDelete
  4. You know way more about gardening than I do, but I grew sweet potatoes last year and they thrived. First, do you know to eat the leaves? THEY ARE THE BEST. It's the national dish of Liberia and I dream of how people make it there. Yum.

    Second, my very own Ziggy Stardust is happy to lend you a paw with digging them up when they're ready. Shortly after I got her, she dug them up all on her own. When I disregarded her wisdom and waited until I was less busy, they had rotted.

    I don't think that you have to wait until a frost, because that could be years down this way, but October would have been good for me.

    Also, running away is the best. I was about four and got on a trike and apparently made it pretty far. I guess I've just been peddling on that tricycle ever since ...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I need to look up recipes for sweet potato leaves. There's so much in this world I do not know.
      We used to live next door to the biggest yellow lab I've ever seen. He loved to dig and would sometimes help us when we were trying to create a drain field. That dog could damn well dig.
      And why am I totally not surprised that you ran away as a child? Hmmmm....

      Delete
  5. I ran away from home one day when I was eight years old. Being the youngest, I decided my large pack of elder siblings were bossing me around far too much. So I packed a lunch and hit the road. The family cat followed me into the woods where we hung out together for the whole day. Me and the cat turned up around dinner time. Mom looked at me and said "Oh good, dinner is ready. Go wash your hands" No one went looking for me, no one really missed me. Those were the days. No cops called. No panic. An assumption that I would turn up eventually. It was such a different world back then. Learned a good hard lesson on that one too. I was loved, glad you're back, but don't push your luck. X

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Great story! Yes. I think parents gave their kids more credit for having some sense and ability to take care of themselves in those days. I love the fact that the cat hung out with you all day. That's so funny. Cats worry more about their humans than we give them credit for.

      Delete
  6. ah, new format. I'm thinking of doing that. I might be more inclined to reply now and then. it's a harsh world out there in some ways. lots of predators.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Those just strike me as the sweetest words "Lily and the children", they just grabbed my heart.
    I remember when Lily didn't have any children. A long time ago, but it doesn't really feel like that.

    ReplyDelete

Tell me, sweeties. Tell me what you think.