The Man Is Coming Home

Look very carefully at that picture. Do you know what it is? It looks a bit like a snake, a bit like a lizard but it is neither. It is a skink.
I never would have seen it but Jessie did. It was hanging out in the sun right by her parked car at the Wacissa. These things make me feel weird in my stomach in a way that even snakes don't. There are many varieties and they come in lots of colors including my favorite which is the blue-tailed skink and the one which is my least favorite which has bright scarlet markings around its mouth, making it look for all the world as if it had just dined on something very, very bloody.
Yikes!
But they are part of our landscape and although they mostly stay hidden, sometimes I'll see one on a fence of even on the railing of the back deck. And of course, we let them be.

I finally asked Mr. Moon when he was going to be coming home when I talked to him last night and it turns out that he'll be getting in around four this morning. Long story but it involves taking his friend to the airport to fly home to Canada.

So I suppose that I woke up this morning feeling as if I should get something done around here besides sewing projects and whatever else the hell I've been doing which I have no idea what that's been. I took a short walk and had a list half a mile long of things I wanted to get accomplished today but Jessie called and said maybe they'd come out after the little hike they'd been on if that was okay and I said, "Yes! Let's go to the river!" I texted Lily and she had things she had to do and couldn't make it but Jessie and her boys came and we made sandwiches and put on our bathing costumes and then drove the few miles to the beautiful Wacissa. There was hardly anyone there and we had a sweet time. August and I let the tiny fishes nibble our toes and we paddled about and cooled off and Levon splashed and played with sand and grinned his big ol' goofy Levon grin. That child just seems so happy.

And he has no reason not to be. His needs and wants are attended to every minute of the day and night and he has a brudder to watch and look up to and baby-play with. 

We ate our absolutely delicious sandwiches of cheese and avocado and tomato and pickles on dark seedy bread with Duke's mayonnaise. Sometimes a certain food is exactly perfect and today was one of those days. 

August and I kept up a running conversation and I answered a lot of "why" questions including, "Why you share your chips with me?" 

"Because I love you," I told him. 

He's going through a thing where he wants to take things home with him. I remember Owen and Gibson doing this. 

Oh wait. They're still going through it. 

"Can I take this book to my home?"

"Yes. Yes you may."

"Can I take these chips to my home?"

"Yes. Yes you may."

Etc. 

The kid cracks me up. When he got to my house before we went to the river he said, "You need clean up this porch. It has chicken poop."

He is right. 

Anyway, after our river adventure I decided to just go for it and get everything done I'd planned to do today. 

And I did! 

Amazing how fast dreaded tasks can be accomplished when one just puts their mind to it. 

I took trash and I tidied up. I did some laundry and washed some rugs. I de-pooped the hen house and put fresh straw in the nesting boxes. I swept and mopped the kitchen and adjoining laundry "area" and bathroom. 

Then I picked the few remaining field peas and some more okra and after I got everything arranged back in the kitchen on the clean, dry floor I sat and shelled a bag full of the peas I've picked over the past week and watched some more "Destination Unknown" episodes. 

So. Practically perfect day. 

And sometime in the deepest darkest part of the night, a very large and beloved man will be getting into bed beside me. 

Ah. I'm a lucky woman. With a clean kitchen floor. 

Life is good. 

Love...Ms. Moon