Monday, May 18, 2020

The Joy Of Seeing Our Grandchildren


Jessie texted this morning to ask if she and the boys could come out. The guys putting the new AC and heating system in their house still had not finished up and she needed to get the boys out of there while the men were working.
To her text I answered, "Please come."
I needed to see those boys. With all my heart.

And it was what is now a typical visit although I let them come into the house for just a little while. Where there were cookies.
What good timing on the cookies!
Boppy was happy to share.

We went outside and Levon carried the baby carriage with the baby elephant that Rachel gave us in it. He was so happy to play with his old toys.


Later he brought out the bulldozer and played with that too. Jessie had brought their lunch and we sat outside and chatted while we ate. They told us all about the beach that they went to yesterday. Our beaches are open again and the one that Jessie and Vergil took the boys to is more of a lagoon situation and there were only two more families there and they were all hundreds of yards apart. They had splashed in the tidal pools and found crabs and minnows and jellyfish. They had gotten naked. Well, the little boys did. Both of them were as golden as gingerbread today. I wanted to take a bite out of them. 

Mr. Moon let them play in the garage a little with his supervision. They love the garage with all of the man toys in it. Is that sexist? Oh well. Their grandfather showed them how to use a jack and August managed to get the rear-end of the four-wheeler off the ground!


It was an impressive feat. 

Before learning to use the jack though, August had grabbed the trowel and begun digging for treasures. 


He found so much good stuff! Half a coffee cup, half of the lid to a candy bowl, and an intact possible cold cream jar. Among other things. He gives me the sharp glass to keep. He's smart. 
He's so smart. So is Levon. 
Jessie told us that August has been asking her to text me to ask if when the corona virus is over I can bake him a little cake and he can come over and spend the night and we can eat the cake. 
I want that so much it breaks my heart right open. How I want him to sleep on the foam mat by our bed with Zippy the old chimp and the soft blanket over them both, books spread all around. And Levon is getting old enough to spend the night too. And I want Owen and Gibson and Maggie to be able to come over and have a slumber party with purple cows and perhaps homemade pizza. I want to hug them and cuddle them and kiss them and this wanting is visceral and it is painful. 

Another part of our new life-in-the-time-of-corona ritual is that when they are in their seats and Mama is getting everything rounded up to go, I read them a book. Today I read them about a pirate's Christmas Eve and I gave it my all with the accent and the gruff voice and all the rolled R's in the Arrrrghs. Instead of Santa, Sir Pegleg comes on a sleigh from the briny deep pulled by seahorses, two of which are named Jolly and Roger. It was so much fun. And then, instead of kisses they got two more cookies to eat on the way home and I even sent home some of last night's soup which turned out to be quite good. 
I was talking to Lis today and we agreed that there is no pasta as comforting as macaroni which is what I put in the soup. No other shape of pasta does the job of soothing us like macaroni does and I hope that it works for Jessie's little family too. 

After they left I cleaned up the kitchen and was so, so tired. Well, probably much sadder than I was tired and I laid down on the bed and slept for a little while. When I got up I felt better, still sad but less crazy and Glen and I went out and picked green beans for our supper and arugula and squash too. We'll have our first batch of green beans tonight, small and tender. 


The tomatoes are looking beautiful and I can't wait for them to ripen. Here's a large one. 


If I can get one tomato pie out of our garden this year, I will be happy. 

And all day I've been fooling with a loaf of sourdough. I'm using a different recipe and today I even sinned against god, man, and yeast by doing part of the kneading in the food processor and damn, if that bread doesn't look amazing. 


The dough was like silk. 

I've got chicken marinating and I've made a tapenade to go with it along with a little arugula salad. I'll cook the green beans as simply as possible. I'll make a little rice. It will be a feast. 

I hear that The Orange Intestine is taking Hydroxychloroquine but I'd bet you anything that his doctors are giving him a placebo. Let's see how many people die now from trying that particular preventative measure on their own. 
I try to end each post with some sort of positive note but for today, I just can't. 
We are living in fucked-up times and we are living in scary times. Not just because of the global pandemic but because of...well, you know. 

Meanwhile, we here in Lloyd are keeping to ourselves, mostly. Our chickens amuse us and keep us entertained. Our family is strong and Hank is still doing well. Our garden calls us to be outside and do that which feels absolutely right. We have so much to be thankful for and if we sometimes feel crazy, well, we have to just realize that these are crazy times and to not feel crazy would be a sort of insanity on its own. 

We shall prevail. 

Love...Ms. Moon

10 comments:

  1. fucked up times for sure and yet, you manage to live the most beautiful life there in your Mer world. So good to see the little boys again in your care with cookies and jacks and dirt and treasure. Made my day! They look like sunshine! Your bread looks amazing! I made a cake- I ate the whole thing! Now off to make bread but not as lovely as yours- builders bread is what I make, meaning one could build a compound with it! I do not have your finesse. LOVE, stay well

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  2. I hear you about the craziness. I hope you are right about prevailing.

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  3. And look at those brown and beautiful little boys!

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  4. So glad you got to spend quality time with the Boys and that they got to spend time at the Beach too, it's so hard on the Younger Children to understand all of this and all the distancing and separating from people.

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  5. I'm glad you got to see your grandsons. Boys are different than girls. My grandson is obsessed with lights and nuts and bolts, he always notices them and won't leave them alone. It's in their genes? Who knows.

    Your garden harvest looks amazing and I'm glad you guys are still staying safe. Take care my friend.

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  6. glad you got some grandkid time. and now I want to dig at your house. that fucking lump of slime in the White House always has to be right. even when proven wrong, he has to be right. is he really taking it? who knows but if a doctor is giving it to him that doctor should lose his license. or be given a medal if Trump has a heart attack.

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  7. You're so lucky to live near beautiful beaches. I loved it when my kids were little and they would run around brown as buttons having the time of their lives at the fishing hole we used to camp at every second weekend. They made friends there and they were out playing all day. Happy days right!

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  8. I think Trump must have a financial interest in hydroxychloroquine. It's the only thing that explains his relentless promotion of that particular drug in the face of every opposing indication of modern science.

    I'm glad you got to visit with the boys and it sounds like it was a good visit, despite the distancing. They even got to come inside! They'll be staying with you again before you know it.

    I'm still amazed that metal detector guy didn't find anything in your yard, given that there are coffee cups and other objects still buried out there. I wonder if his detector was broken?!

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  9. "When the corona virus is over..." breaks my heart too. I wonder what they understand, and how they will remember this time.

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  10. My thoughts exactly as to the the chance that it is a placebo being given to Trump.

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