Wednesday, January 27, 2021

Watch Out For Slothy! And So Much More

 


Jessie sent this around the in the group text this morning. She told us that August said that Slothy did his hair in the night. Slothy, as you may recall, is a stuffed sloth and sleeps with August every night. More pictures started going around of others with bedhair, saying that Slothy had obviously visited them in the night as well. 
I am so grateful that we can communicate via these group texts. So silly sometimes and sweet at other times, or both at the same time. We pass on information and ask questions. We send pictures of particularly satisfying meals and of flowers and plants. It's a beautiful way to chat with each other while we can't meet for lunches or gatherings. 

One of the things I sent this morning was about a warning I got in an e-mail concerning dangerous thunderstorms heading our way. Before we knew it though, we were all getting possible tornado alerts. And it started pouring down rain. Hard and in buckets. 


Before the rain came it got preternaturally still and the sky was thick dark gray, almost black. Eerie. The chickens grew silent and disappeared. It rained so hard and so fast that the dirt couldn't absorb it and the cars had water up to the rims in the yard. 
And then, it all calmed down. No tornado here. I see that there was one that touched down at the airport in Tallahassee but no major damage was reported. Good. Soon the rain stopped entirely and the chickens came back out from wherever they'd been huddling and resumed their normal activities and little songs and scratched about to see what the water had brought up. 

I did a few plant things. I trimmed back some of the freeze damage on the porch plants and repotted one plant that has been growing in a ridiculously bad situation- a pot that didn't fit it and had roots bared to the elements. The plant has scale on it too, so I stuck it in a different, bigger pot, buried the roots and cut it back severely. Hopefully it will now be healthy enough to fight the scale. I need to get some Miracle Gro plant food for all of my potted plants. Some of them just look so pathetic after their winter outside, even though I did cover them. We've gotten some mighty cold temperatures for here. And knowing that we sometimes have some of our most severe freezes in March, I'm not putting all the plants back in place and bringing in their covers yet. No way. And even as I speak, I can feel the temperature moving slowly down the thermometer. Supposed to get down into the low forties tonight, low thirties tomorrow night. I am not complaining. I am loving these cooler days and nights. I am really starting to understand why older Floridians want to buy places in North Carolina or even further north to move to in summer. Just as the folks up north want to snowbird-it down here in the winter when they get older, we want to migrate to cooler temperatures during the months when the temperatures range from the high eighties to the low hundreds and the mosquitoes and deer flies and no-see-ums keep us inside in the air conditioning. I think we feel more discomfort in extreme weather as we age. At least that's what I've felt and observed. 

Fascinating, right? I should just rename this blog How It Is For Old People. 
Well, not quite yet. 

I listened to a new interview on Mormon Stories podcast today and the guest intrigued me. Her name is Amy McPhie Allebest and she has a podcast of her own called Breaking Down Patriarchy. In her introduction on her website she says this:

"On this podcast when we say "Breaking Down Patriarchy," we mean it in both senses of the word. We mean we want to "break it down" as in understand it. We want to study Patriarchy as deeply as we can so that we can see the roots of this system, and understand how things have come to be the way they are today. And we're not going to lie, we also mean we want to "break down Patriarchy" in terms of dismantling it."

The podcast is "an essential texts book club" wherein she and different readers take on books to read and then discuss. The books are, yes, about Patriarchy (a bit different from "the" Patriarchy) and feminism, and her readers are friends, scholars, her daughters. People from different backgrounds and with different perspectives. I think I'm going to give it a listen. Just hearing the interview she did today gave me some insights that sparked new awareness in me that I really should have known before. That I should have learned before. 
Well. Just a thing I'm thinking about. 

Here are today's camellia pictures. 




One of the best things I ever did was to plant all these beauties. Not only are they gorgeous, they're one of the few things in this yard that are not invasive. 
Live and learn. 

Love...Ms. Moon

23 comments:

  1. Your camellias, as always, are perfection.

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    1. They are beautiful. One of the most beautiful flowers in the world, I think.

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  2. That was some serious rain. I would have enjoyed watching that come down.

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  3. Oh hot diggity Mary you really made me laugh with your How It Is For Old People line. XO

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    1. Heh-heh.
      Someone needs to tell the young'uns what it's like.

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  4. That podcast sounds interesting, your flowers are beautiful and August makes me smile. Since the pandemic, I have descended into permanent bed hair as no-one is cutting it and I look a bit like an old lady with wild hair.

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  5. I just love your camellias. I never realized the different colors! Patriarchy. We've been discussing that quite a bit in my theology class.

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    1. This woman was raised Mormon so she's had a LONG way to go in her studies. I value her insights.

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  6. patriarchy's genesis is in the one male god that came with invaders from the steppes and forcing him on all the goddess cultures.

    I do love your camellias.

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  7. Those camellias are lovely. Do you know if I can grow them in the midwest? Have I asked you already? - I forget.
    Glad you are safe from the storm.
    August is a cutie! I gave myself a "covid haircut" last week so now my hair is 1 inch all over and I did not expect it to be this short! Luckily, nobody cares and I am getting used to the style! I am old people!

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    1. I don't think that camellias grow in the midwest. You'd do best to call some local nurseries. They might!
      One inch all over! I think that sounds awesome!

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  8. It's definitely too early to be done with winter, but it's nice to work on the plants and realize that spring really isn't THAT far away. I'm doing the same here.

    Slothy seems to visit Dave fairly frequently, but strangely, he leaves me alone. :)

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    1. Azaleas are just starting to bud up.
      Nope. Slothy never does your hair, does he?

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  9. I love it when there is torrential rain. Not when there is flooding of course, but torrential rain so amazing. And I like the sound of that podcast about breaking down patriarchy. It sounds just up my street!

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    1. Give it a listen! I really liked the woman's viewpoints and she is obviously very intelligent.

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  10. Your camellias are gorgeous!
    I, too, am an old lady ... it happens the longer you live ... you get OLD!!! LOL

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  11. I looked out for the fiesta pitcher when you mentioned camellias. How lovely they are.

    And I like your old people meme! Bit premature, though.

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    1. Yes, well, when you were sixty-five you probably felt the same way. But I do recognize that I hopefully have some years left.

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  12. I can't wait to listen to this podcast. Thank you for recommending it.

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Tell me, sweeties. Tell me what you think.