Saturday, August 4, 2018

Today's Post Brought To You By A Cranky Old Woman


I decided I'd get a little work done outside today and I did.
"Little" being the operative word here.
But Lord, it's so hot. And the bugs.
I know, I know. Your eyes are glazing over.
You've heard this before.

But anyway, I did manage to pick up some downed branches. Not the one that fell from the enormous oak tree in the picture above, though.


It doesn't look that big in the photo but if you look carefully, you can see that the weight of it took down a corner of the chain link fence as if it were chicken wire. 



I also pulled a few of the thousands of invasive plants which I used to think were a type of wild gladiolas but which are not but which ARE invasive as hell and have taken over parts of my yard.
A fool's errand that. 
Just like trying to pull the stupid horrible invasive glory bower which I also pulled a few of. I used to really try to get these things out of the yard and boy! You should see the area of the yard where I dumped the goddamned ones I pulled up. It's like a grove of the fucking things. 
Sigh. 
The whole time I was doing all of this I was getting punctured by mosquitoes like a seamstresses'  pincushion and a few yellow flies joined in just for fun. 
Since all of that had been so delightful and rewarding I decided to try and weed a little bit of the garden which was in shade. That was equally amusing and by the time I came into the house and took my shower and ate my late lunch, I decided a nap was in order. 
So I slept for an obscene amount of time and woke up to discover that no, no household fairy had snuck in to finish my laundry or unload my dishwasher or make the cake I was planning on making for a party that's going to be here tomorrow. 
Damn household fairies. 

I'm just cranky. 

But yes, there's going to be a party. Our Taylor, our Tay-Tay, our darling girl, is leaving soon for Houston where her boyfriend has a job. This is huge news and none of us have actually taken it in. Taylor and Paul are getting married as well and tomorrow's little gathering is a potluck just to say "good-bye" and "good-luck" and "we love you" and "congratulations" and "how in hell are we going to live without you?" 

Oh Lord. Change is hard. 

Jessie reports that they made it to Black Mountain. Of course Levon started running a fever yesterday and is a little sickish. You can't possibly go on a trip with children unless one of them comes down with something. This is just the way it is. 


The pine cone lilies have magically sent up their strange and wonderful cones. It's also known as pine cone ginger or shampoo lily. When the cone matures and turns scarlet, it can be squeezed and the liquid from it is supposedly a very fine substitute for shampoo. Ellen, do you have these? If not, I should send you some bulbs this winter.

And now I need to get in there and do what the household fairy did not do and also make some supper. It ain't gonna be as good as last night's snapper, I'll tell you that. 

In other big and important news Mr. Moon has installed all of the lights in his new bathroom which now makes it the room with the most lights in the entire house. He also purchased a toilet today. 
It's all coming together. 

Pictures soon.

Love...Ms. Moon


18 comments:

  1. Mr moon needs an HGTV show. Your garden is so lush and green. Sorry about the mosquitos but it looks like a piece of heaven from here. What different world we live in. I too worked a bit today but it involved taking my computer to a cafe and tapping away while sipping coffee and people watching a bit. Your work seems so much more worthy. Enjoy your party planning. I look forward to pictures!

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    1. And to me, YOUR work seems so much more worthy! This piece of earth would just keep on growing if I weren't around and it would be all right. I mean- no human being on earth can claim that he or she did anything to nurture that oak tree. But you are taking facts and thoughts and spinning them into a story. To me, that is amazing.
      And supposedly, Hank is doing all of the party planning.

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  2. no, I don't have any of those pine cone lilies and I would love for you to send me some. and I know what you mean about the kitchen fairies or elves...they never show up! Just a word of caution, Mr Moon may not be all too happy with all that light in the bathroom once he gets a gander in the mirror. at least that was my experience when we bought this house. I say all bathrooms should have dim light. weather wise it wasn't too miserable here today.

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    1. I will, Ellen. And your rose is growing nicely and has an actual rose on it right now! It really has made itself right at home here.
      And Mr. Moon has dimmer switches for his lights. He's smart.
      I myself use a small, old lamp for lighting in my bathroom. I agree with you entirely about dim light.

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  3. Are your yellow flies the same thing as our doctor flies? These guys are sneaky and you don't feel them until they are finishing up their bloodsucking feast. Then they burn and itch and hurt. Regardless, you have my sympathy on the bites.

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    1. I just looked up doctor flies and YES! They are! The damn evil bastards from hell.

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    2. Doctor flies is a very nice name for them. Unless you really fear and loathe the doctor, of course.

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  4. Our dishwasher has been broken for a couple months and that is making me cranky. Dishes just never end. If I didn’t give a fuck about the environment I would buy paper plates. But I have too many fucks to give about fucking everything so I won’t.

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    1. Are paper plates worse than all of the water that dishwashers use?
      I don't know. It seems to me these days that there are no clean-cut answers to what is best for the environment.
      However, what is best for ME is a functioning dishwasher. After not having one for many, many years I am completely in love with mine.

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    2. Apparently dishwashers use less water than hand washing dishes, so take comfort from that. I personally adore having a dish washer, it saves us such misery and mounds of stinky plates, stagnant water...

      I just bought a dryer on sale... we've had one for the last year, but it's ancient, insanely loud and destroys clothes. So we bit the bullet. Brings me no joy, but I can't face another Irish winter with no way to dry things.

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  5. When I first read this I thought Taylor was Rachel and Rachel was moving and my heart went out to Hank. I’m glad I got that wrong even though your good friend Taylor will be moving. I am impressed at how working in the garden grounds you and brings you peace, even with those nasty biting bugs. You are very creative every day. It’s great to read of your daily goings on!

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    1. Taylor was Hank's girlfriend many years ago and their friendship has only strengthened through the years. And she is a part of our family and always will be but she has this new life ahead of her and we're so proud of her and her Paul.

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  6. Pin cone lily- curious!! Never heard of such a thing, was pretty sure you stuck some kleenex on a real pine cone, as I look at your photos before i start reading text. That branch is a monster! I can not imagine how anyone could get that out of there. Monster removal service? or wait until the next flood?

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    1. Oh, Mr. Moon will crank his chain saw and cut that limb up and haul it out of there. As to the fence- well- we shall see what happens there.
      Aren't those lilies amazing?

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  7. I'm reading a book right now by Alice Hoffman called Turtle Moon set in Verity Florida. Love the book, I've read it a few times already but now I think of you as I'm reading it too.

    And I'm cranky as hell right now too. Life is just hard right now and I want it to be easier. I know it's not the way it works but wouldn't that be nice?

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    1. I've read that book twice myself! It's one of her best in my opinion.
      Yeah- why in hell does life have to be so hard? Should we all just be Zen-like and acknowledge that it's all about suffering and get on with it? I don't know. I don't fucking know.

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  8. We used to have pine cone lilies in our backyard in Pasco County. I never knew that about shampoo, though. Bizarre! What are the plants that you thought were wild gladiolas but aren't? It's hard not to feel challenged at the height of a Florida summer.

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Tell me, sweeties. Tell me what you think.