Monday, July 26, 2021

Time To Lounge About


 Here's my goofy cat with war wounds. She and Jack have been tearing it up lately. Don't ask me why they hate each other so much. It's probably because Maurice doesn't want to share the house or humans with another cat and I'm sure Jack feels the same. 
This is never going to end, there will never be a detente. They are who they are and this house ain't big enough for both of them. I can imagine them strapping on holstered guns and standing at either end of a dusty western street at high noon, wearing Stetsons, ready to shoot it out for who shall be the baddest ass of this old house in Lloyd.

I have a fertile imagination.

Well, I finally spent some time outside. Most of the day I was in the garden weeding. Don't ask me why I did that. Now I am exhausted and already sore. But it felt pretty good, to tell you the truth. I sweated through my clothes and when I came in and undressed for a much-needed shower, I had green beans in my pockets and felt like a real woman. 
Now who's the bad ass? 

One of the things that made those hours in the sun on my knees almost enjoyable is that I am listening to Colson Whitehead's The Underground Railroad. 
Holy shit, y'all. This is a good book. 
Mr. Moon and I had started watching the series on Amazon Prime but we didn't finish it and I'm not sure why. I think in way the series was too confusing. A real train? A real train under the ground? Excuse me? And the scene shifting was stressful as we tried to keep up with what was going on. But the book flows and blooms so organically and I am constantly hearing sentences and phrases that I wish to remember (but of course won't) and I am in awe of Whitehead's talent and ability to illuminate with words the many, many-headed Hydra which the owning of human beings was and is. He does not preach. He does not need to because his story has power enough. I think the only other book of his I've read is The Nickel Boys which I read after listening to an interview of him about it and which is a fictionalized version of the former Dozier School for Boys which was located quite near here and which was, in it's way, as horror-full as slavery, albeit for a much shorter time. One cannot say that one "enjoys" reading a book like The Nickel Boys because of those horrors but I wish we had a word that implies the attentive appreciation we can feel while reading a book like that without the implication of feeling any enjoyment about the subject, the situations. 
Do we? Let me know if you can think of one. 

All right. This is not a book review. This is merely a report on my experience of listening to an amazing book as I went about my day. I have no patience anymore with books that cannot capture me whether they are of the too frivolous type or the type that takes itself way too seriously in the name of literature (pronounced with a pronounced poncy English accent). 

One last note- it is Mick Jagger's 78th birthday today. Here is one of my favorite pictures of what we call The Glimmer Twins and what I call beautiful old men. 


Gold rings, on ya, Mick. 

Love...Ms. Moon

35 comments:

  1. Gorgeous oh yes gorgeous old men, got me by the heart and soul. Got me by my racing corpuscles.
    Good job in the garden, I feel one thousand years old and you are ten years old.
    This is how you move and how I don't. How gratifying, beans in your pocket in a work drenched frock.

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    1. They're like beautiful old trees- the wrinkles are the rings that indicate the living they've done, the strength they still have.
      And please- let me say this- the way I feel right now after that day in the garden is NOT the way a ten-year old would feel. Oh. My. God. I've been in the kitchen making supper moaning out loud.

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  2. Mick is eleven days older than me - i never knew that!

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  3. And I'm older than Mick. That pleases me!
    How I wish those cats didn't fight, or one of them at lease would win and settle it.

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    1. Mick's still a young'un. Right?
      I'm with you on the cats. I am afraid that a pecking order will never be established between those two. They are both convinced they are alphas.

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  4. Now I'm puzzling over the word that would describe your needs there. Hm. I bet there's a great long German word for it. I'd suggest attentive absorption. Or something.

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    1. Yes! That's good. Attentive absorption. Or even amazed absorption. Thank you.

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  5. Colson Whitehead is such a good writer. I loved both of those books also. And I could not watch the Amazon series after one episode.
    Hope you are not too sore tomorrow.

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    1. He really is a good writer. I'm just constantly being blown away.
      Not very sore at all today, surprisingly!

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  6. Mick Jagger has a "pronounced poncy English accent" but I do not have such an accent. My accent is pure Yorkshire but passed through the sieve of education. Good Literature with a capital "L" should always be worth its salt. Peel away the surrounding plaudits and commentary and what remains should be writing that has real quality and the power to grip readers. However, be wary of "literature" when it is said in a "pronounced poncy American accent".

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    1. Oh, my, Mr. P! I think perhaps you have taken what I have said far too personally. Or something like that.
      What WOULD a pony American accent sound like? I do not think there is one. We don't have royalty to teach us!

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  7. That is a Joyful pix of a couple of Cool Old Men. We just got a new Kitten for Princess T, his name is Eli and he's full of piss and vinegar but a very well behaved little Boy actually since he responds to commands very well already. We didn't think we'd get another Fur Baby after losing Miss Priss last November, but it was time.

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    1. Well, a cat that responds to commands is a rare cat indeed! It can feel like we're trying to "replace" a pet but that's not it at all. We loved the one we lost so much that we know we need another. I think it's a beautiful tribute.

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  8. I, too, love Colson Whitehead's books. He's incredible, really, his range and sense of humor and gravitas. He's got it all going on. I heard him read in person several years ago, and he was incredibly personable and funny. Sigh.

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    1. I'd love to hear him speak. His interview on Fresh Air is one that I still remember distinct parts of.

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  9. I love the idea of a feline showdown/shoot out at high noon! 😄

    I haven't read this book but heard it was really good. Maybe it good book club selection?

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    1. I think it would make an excellent book club read. I would love to reread it and then discuss it with others.

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  10. I've enjoyed other books that you've recommended so I will look that one up too. And you have a very Gary Larsen-esque sense of humour - I can just see the cats having a face-off at the OK Corrall too!

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    1. I, too, thought of Gary Larsen when I imagined that scene. He was the best with cats, wasn't he?

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  11. why are scraggly old men with wrinkles and canyons celebrated while scraggly old women with wrinkles and canyons are not. well, some of us celebrate those women being as how we are those women, but society does not for the most part.

    oh I have so much weeding to do but I have a deadline coming up and want to create as much as I can until then. then I can slow down. and maybe get some weeding done.

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    1. Well, you know, a whole lot of people make fun of the Stones for still taking the stage in their older years. There are so many jokes. But as I always say, the Stones have never looked like they were "supposed to." I think that society can be hard on men who at one point in their lives represented sheer youth. But you are absolutely correct- it's much harder for women.
      Trust me- I have a ton of weeding I should be doing in the rest of the yard. Things are getting away from me as we speak with all this rain.

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  12. I haven't read anything by Colson Whitehead and I really should. One of these days. I should read a lot of things.

    Glad you got some "satisfaction" in the garden!

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    1. I believe you'd love this book, Steve. It's powerful and hard to put down. Just beautifully written.
      And I did indeed get satisfaction in the garden.

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  13. Thank you for the recommendation! I’m know just what you mean by reading great lines that we want to remember and forgetting them. I only remember two from my last read, but I can’t wait to use them: “ Your crazy is starting to show. You might want to tuck it back in.” , “That boy has too many yards between the goalposts “. I’m easily amused. They truly are beautiful old men.
    Xoxo
    Barbara

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    1. Those are great! What book are they from?

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    2. A cozy mystery by Denise Swanson. Not very mysterious but lots of good lines like those.

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  14. I like seeing that pic of the old Stones! Makes me feel better about being old!
    I will put that book on my reading list! Thanks for the recommendation!
    Stay cool!

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  15. Go put your feet up and cool off for a bit...Thanks for the reading recommendation.

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    1. I did eventually put my feet up after supper. What a relief!

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  16. Maurice is a beautiful girl...

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    1. She is a sweet and very angry and confused kitty. And I think she carries the fear from her childhood with her.

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Tell me, sweeties. Tell me what you think.