Tuesday, January 12, 2021

Grandchild Therapy



Jessie brought me the prettiest little maiden hair fern today. She'd been to the nursery yesterday and knowing how much I love them, she got me one. For a little while, I joined a Facebook group for people in Tallahassee who like to grow plants but I had to leave the group when it became apparent to me that there are many, many people in Tallahassee who have become insanely obsessed with plants and although there's nothing wrong with that, I just couldn't deal. I've got all the plants anyone could ever need and if there were a Plant Protective Services I would probably be reported for the amount of neglect around here when it comes to mine. And yet, somehow I've got plants older than some of my children. But I will admit that walking through the greenhouse section of a local nursery sends chills up my spine as I see beauties that I don't have. And I have been wanting another maiden hair fern. The darn chickens ate my last one. They love them as much as I do. I will keep this one out of their reach. 

Guess what Mr. Moon just unloaded into the garage? 
MY NEW STOVE! 
It wasn't scheduled to arrive until March so this is quite a surprise. We have to get things ready before it can be installed. A new backsplash is required, and also a new range hood which has not arrived yet. And when all of that is in place, a guy from the gas company is going to have to come and put it in for us, hook it up properly, and make sure it's all working. 
I'm pretty excited. 
One of the things I'm most looking forward to is having oven shelves that will actually slide and are heavy duty enough to support things like baking stones and cast iron dutch ovens. Because my racks don't slide anymore, I end up burning myself trying to get heavy things in and out of the oven. I am wearing two bandaids as we speak that are covering burns I got in just that way. Levon noticed them today and asked me why they were there and I told him. Later on, when we were getting lunch ready, I'd put a bowl in the microwave and when I took it out, it was hotter than I'd expected and I said, "Ow! That's hot!" Levon, who was leaving the kitchen at the moment for something more fun than eating leftovers said, "Get another bandaid," in the most casual way imaginable. Like, "Well, there you go. You know what to do by now."

Today's visit was preceded by a warning that there would be no TV at all. Just forget the TV. When they got here, Mr. Moon was watching the online bidding at an auto auction to see what price a vehicle he'd thought about buying ended up being. The boys were fascinated by the auctioneer, his rolling, staccato announcing of the bids. So they did get that screen time. We played matching game and I showed August how his name-blanket was coming along. He did not appear to be that impressed. Levon asked to see the fabric with the heavy equipment on it that I'd bought for him and I showed it to him again. He is so in love with it. We talked about making pillows with it for him. He liked that idea. 
"Yes!" he said. "Make pillows so that I can lay on them and 'joy them." 
Meaning "enjoy" I'm fairly sure and it charmed my heart. 

We read some books and August and I got to have a nice little chat about this and that while Boppy and Jessie and Levon were out unloading the trailer in preparation for the hauling of the stove. Before Jessie and the boys left, August wanted to show me the "circus tricks" that he and his mother have been doing. Here are a few of them. 





We have to get that boy in a gymnastics class as soon as it's safe. 
Levon did a trick too.


It was so good to have the light and energy of those boys and their mama here on another chilly, pewter day. The sky is just so gray and heavy that it's getting harder and harder to imagine sunshine. 

Tomorrow I'm going to town to shop for supplies. I'm wondering if I should buy a giant bag of rice and pounds and pounds of beans. Are we about to have a civil war? I can't even bring myself to talk about any of it today. There's nothing new I can add to the conversation, there is no unique perspective that I can offer. We can all read the news, see the videos, parse the information available. 
Meanwhile, I'm going to go peel shrimp and get through the remaining hours until I can sleep again. My dreams have been, even for me, wildly entertaining, sometimes disturbing, deeply meaningful, often troubling, and generally explainable. 
Pandemic dreams with a side order of terror. And yet- I still yearn for sleep. At least I can wake up from that. 

Love...Ms. Moon

27 comments:

  1. SO excited that your new stove came, even if some additional steps will be required prior to installation! Woohoo! maidenhair ferns.......lordy. When I was in my 20's and living in my 110 year old house (at the time) I grew maidenhair ferns and piggyback plants with wild abandon and they were lush and lovely. Have tried both many, many times over the years....and just can't seem to get them to thrive for me now, as they did then. Oh well. and the rest..... lordy....... I just hope we can all thrive in our own bubbles of sanity....until the *other* insanity hopefully may end soon.
    Susan M

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    1. Maidenhair ferns can be a little picky, a little delicate, which their name suggests. Maybe the light in your other house was JUST right. I think light has more to do with plants thriving than anything else.
      Yes. Let's do what we can to stay sane.

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  2. I’m afraid...very very afraid. A nut in Illinois was arrested today for making a call (not sure to whom) saying ‘if you think Joe Biden is going to put his hand on that Bible and walk into the White House on January 20th, you’re out of your fucking mind.’ I’m seriously fearful for Joe and for our country.

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    1. Jesus Christ. Do these people think they can just get away with this shit? Why not? Trump has for four years.

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  3. What a lovely visit from the grands! I love that Levon said, “get another bandaid!”
    Debbie

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  4. We are so innocent. God look out for Biden and Harris.

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  5. beans are always a good idea and maybe a case of powdered spring water...I don[t know, Seems we are always on the edge.
    I agree about dream time, - slumber land is the best land at the moment, funner than reality or am i a butterfly dreaming?

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    1. I did buy some beans today but not pounds.
      And it seems like we're always on the edge because WE ARE.
      Sweet dreams. That's the best we can hope for daily, I think.

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  6. Love those circus tricks! That would be enough to brighten any gray day. Keep dreaming, Dear Ms Moon. x0x0 N2

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    1. Pretty impressive, huh?
      Thanks, dear Ms. N2.

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  7. I love the boys and their circus tricks. I had a maidenhair fern many years ago, they are beautiful, but I seem to remember they need a fairly damp atmosphere to thrive. My house is full of plants too. All windowsills and surfaces are covered!
    Biden and Harris need to have a permanent bullet proof case surrounding them . It is all very worrying.
    ps I love the pot...is it a green pig?

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    1. Yes. That is a little piggie pot. Jessie gave it to me for Christmas. It's adorable.
      I imagine there may well be a bulletproof screen around them. I sure would want one at all times.

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  8. The main question of the day is not the dangerous idiocy shown by Trump's ragbag army of malcontents but how on earth that heavy oven will be moved from the garage into the kitchen. Surely Mr Moon is not that strong?

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    1. It IS a heavy oven. Over six hundred pounds. This is NOT a toy oven. Mr. Moon does have a dolly (hand truck?) but he's already figuring out how to get the help he needs to get the darn thing into the house and in the kitchen. He'll figure it out if he has to rent a crane. Which he would love to do, by the way.

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  9. I have a nice pot of maidenhair. it's inside right now though on warmer days I'll take it out for a good watering. Fun day with Jessie and the boys and yay new stove.

    Trump's little army may try something again but this time they will be met with force. they were all brave and tough when they knew that the police and National Guard had been suppressed. we'll see what happens when they are met with a fully armed National Guard that is already stationed inside the Capitol. hopefully all the state capitols will also be as prepared.

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    1. I'm pretty darn excited about this new stove. Hell, I'm excited about the fern.
      Your last paragraph actually and truly made me feel better. Thank you, Ellen.

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  10. I laughed at your comment about the plant group. Some people get SO into things. I am more of a dilettante, I guess, not too deeply into any one thing. I'm not in any gardening groups and the photography people make me nuts sometimes. I'm like, "Can we just go take pictures?"

    Gymnastics would be great for those kids! It looks like they're naturals.

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    1. Oh my god! Some of these people are basing their lives and living arrangements on their pots of plants. I guess it's harmless. There are a lot worse obsessions to have. But some of these plants cost a lot of money.
      I'm with you on the "Can we just go take pictures?" thing.
      I completely understand.
      And yes, August especially is a graceful little sprite. Levon's body seems more suitable for digging.

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  11. I am no good with plants. I admit that the lovely succulents on the shelf in my kitchen sitting in their colorful pastel McCoy pots are all plastic! I tried real ones and killed them all. I think the fake ones look great! :)
    Those are fabulous circus tricks and I am VERY impressed!

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    1. Haha! That's a great solution to the plant problem!

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  12. I received a voucher to spend at the local garden centre as a Christmas present but I'm holding off on spending it as I think the money would be better spent on seedlings. But I know what you mean about walking round the bigger garden centres. Just heavenly. And how lovely to get your new oven early. I've had mine about 4 weeks now and the racks come out on retractable (telescopic? I can't speak English any more) rails and they are wonderful!

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    1. Well, seedlings are wonderful but maybe you'll use some of the voucher on a little present for yourself. Something that makes you happy.
      I can't wait to get the new oven in the house!
      Don't worry. I can't speak English anymore either and I know no other languages so I'm pretty well fucked.

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  13. I must have missed the post about the stove because I'm wondering what type you got and how exciting and I can't wait to see it! I'm sorry that it's been so gray there -- our winter has been sublime despite the fact that now 1 out of 3 people in Los Angeles has Covid.

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Tell me, sweeties. Tell me what you think.