Reflecting, Musing, Pondering

Today my husband changed from his carpenter hat and into his mechanic hat. I had to take this picture of him in the garage. He is so happy. He is a man of so many talents. 

Lis and I had planned to go to Costco today for her to buy a membership and I, trying to get the kids together before Jessie leaves for NC on Saturday, wanted us all, or as many as possible, to have lunch in town. I thought that Jessie and May and August and Levon and Lily and her three would be able to make it and plans were unfolded and after everyone but Lily and her crew had gotten to the restaurant, we realized that she had thought we meant tomorrow and could not make it today. 
Sigh. 
But we had a good time anyway. 

No. August has not taken to sucking his thumb. He is trying to be a butthead and ruin the picture. Or be funny. Or something. As you can see, Levon is mystified. Oh, August! I told him that I was going to miss him so much when he's in North Carolina but that it will make my heart happy to think of him running up and down the mountain, playing with his cousins and visiting with his grandmother. 
"You're going to be there for a week," he said, as if pointing out the obvious. 
Oh well. That will make it all better. 

He also asked me to order him a hamburger sandwich. 
Hamburger sandwich? Really? Who is this child? What ancient old man is he the reincarnation of? Levon asked for macaroni and please. He found this very amusing. 
I will tell you that when Lis and I got to the restaurant, August voluntarily hugged us both which is pretty huge for that boy. And melted his Mer's heart even more. 

Lis and I did go to Costco and she joined up. I bought a new blender. Of course there are about ten different parts to it and I just can't bring myself to try and read about it all right now. Everything feels a bit daunting to me this evening. I've had a few gentle epiphanies and am pondering them, as I do. One would think that by the age of almost-68, a woman (or a man, for that matter) might have most things figured out, at least as applies to themselves and their ways of being. On the way home, Lis wanted to go by a much-beloved place out in the country to buy their famous sausage

and as we drove down the canopy roads, shaded and green, so many emotions rose up within me. I was grateful to be with Lis because I could talk to her and listen to what she had to say. She is wise. 

We are going to meet up one last time before they leave tomorrow at the Mexican restaurant in Monticello. Two outings in one day! 
Call Ripley's. 

It's hot. It's summer. But at least we've had good rains and it's not yet dusty and dry. I picked two eatin' sized green beans off the vines a little while ago and I reckon that by the weekend, we'll have plenty to make for a meal. They will be so good with the potatoes that we grew. 

Lily and I are talking about meeting up at the Wacissa tomorrow and that sounds like a sort of glory-heaven. It is a comfort to me, just knowing that the cold spring-fed river is there, a few miles down the road and going there and cooling off in it, sitting in the shade of the big cypress right by the water and talking to a daughter or two, watching grandchildren playing and splashing and swimming is glory-heaven fulfilled. It is no wonder that so many Christians believe that to be born again requires a complete dunking into a river. I have experienced that rebirth myself so many times in so many different bodies of water, some holding fresh water, some holding salt. It is not exactly the sort of rebirth that churches preach about but one that works for me whether in the presence of trees or of waves or of cement lions, spouting water from the four corners of a pool while huge stalks of bamboo knock gently together in the breeze like celestial wind chimes while the San Sebastian River flows gently in its gentle silty way from Atlantic to inland, from inland to Atlantic as the white egrets fly over, headed to their roosting tree. 

Sacred, all. No blood of any lamb whatsoever need be involved. 

Love...Ms. Moon

A Simple Day

 There is no way to justify my laundry-on-the-line photos except to say, as I have so many times before, that sight is like strings of prayer flags for me. The holy household trinity of air, sun, and water made visible in purpose in my own life. 

I decided to get out into the garden this morning to weed and tidy up a bit which I did. I pulled the spent pea vines and the two last chard plants and weeded around the cucumbers and the squash which once again, is not producing anything. The cucumbers are so disappointing this year! They are just sitting there, small bonsai plants that do bloom but with so little growth, so few baby cukes to show. I pitchforked some of the composting and composted chicken-shit hay into my garden cart and laid some of that down beside them as mulch and as fertilizer. It cannot hurt them. I weeded around some other areas and took this what-was-I-thinking photo of a few fine-looking green tomatoes. 

I can only plead guilty of being practically in a state of heat exhaustion by then. Sweat soaked my clothes and dripped off my head and finally I decided that enough was enough and came in and ate a late lunch. 

Last night was so precious. I had the best time. I think we all did. Lis and I laughed so hard at one point that I thought we'd fall out of our chairs. I love the way the four of us are together. We are like an old married couple, but an old married foursome instead. Not in any sort of kinky sense at all (trust me) but in the way that we understand each other and feel so safe around each other. We have our jokes and our shorthand, our memories of the best times and of hard times, of many meals together, many experiences together, much sweetness. 

The funny thing is how much Lis and Glen are alike and how much Lon and I are alike which I guess goes a long way in explaining why we get along so well as friends. Not in every way, of course, but in spirits. Lis and Mr. Moon are the adventurous ones, the ones who long to travel and do new things while Lon and I are the homebodies, the ones mostly content in the spaces where we live. 
Anyway, it was a lovely evening. 

After I had my lunch this afternoon I decided to go lay down on my bed and rest my heat-exhausted body. Which I did. It was heaven. I read some from my pile of New Yorkers which never gets smaller, and Jack came to cuddle with me. After awhile, the words I was reading made less and less sense and I put down my magazine and closed my eyes. Jack, who had been getting scritches as I read, was not well-pleased and tapped my hand with his paw, as he does, when he wants more but he settled down and we fell asleep. I woke up to a huge boom of thunder, shot out of the bed and rushed outside to get my laundry in. By the time I'd gotten most of it, it was already wet enough again to need to go in the dryer and I didn't even take it all down- it was raining so hard that I just figured it wasn't worth it. As I hurried back to the house with my basket of very damp laundry, I realized it was not only pouring rain but also hailing. We do not get hail that often and this was small but it was hail. Any type of ice that falls from the sky here is an event. 

It's not raining now but thunder is still rumbling off in the distance and I am grateful for the amount we got. The garden was as dry as a desert, even though we got so much rain last week. 

Oh! Over the last few days, I have listened to this book. 

Those of you who have read A Man Called Ove know how intricately and beautifully the author, Fredrik Backman, can weave a story. He is one of the best sorts of writers, the kind whom you can let lead you through the world they have created with perfect trust. 
I wished it had not ended but it ended well. And endings, I think, are the hardest thing to write. 

Well, that's my take on life today.

Love...Ms. Moon

Look At That Man!

 

While I have been significantly lazy today, Mr. Moon has almost finished the deck. He has worked so hard on it. It's made not of wood but that compressed recycled stuff that will supposedly last forever. I sure hope so. He really does not need to do that again. 

I'm here to tell you that I won't really be here tonight because Lon and Lis are coming for supper and I'll be busy in the kitchen and socializing and stuff like that. 
I'm so excited. 
I've got bread in the oven and I'm going to roast a little chicken and I have potatoes and carrots from the garden. I went out to pull the rest of those and had no idea that so many were still lurking underground. 

Okay, it's not that many but I honestly thought there were about three. Don't ask me why. I'm not very observant. 

So that's it from me this evening. All is well and there will be martinis and the men will discuss radiators and radial saws and radial tires (I'm making this up- I have no idea what they'll discuss) and Lis and I will giggle like Betty and Wilma because that's what we do. 
I am not making that up. 

Love...Ms. Moon

P.S. As of today, I have been writing this blog for fifteen years and one week which makes a total of 9,093 posts I've written but who's counting? Well, Blogger, for one. 
Thanks for being here, y'all. I could probably do it without you but it sure would be lonely. Not to mention pointless. 
I kiss every one of you. 

Blah, Blah, Blah Part 10,000

Here are Darla, Violet, and the not-so-little ones. They've lost their complete adorableness but isn't that the way of all things that grow from babies to adults? I'm sure I was a great deal cuter as an infant than I am now, for instance. 

Dang. What a day. 
I did a bunch of laundry, hung it on the line. I spent long spells of time trying to decide where porch items should be placed. Some of them I cannot lift myself and that is the most frustrating thing. I want so badly to get things back in order but I am just not strong enough to do it by myself. Mr. Moon and Lon were here today but they were working so diligently on the deck that I couldn't ask them to stop and help me. It'll all get done. Just not today. But I'm getting there. 

In good news, I'm gathering things for Mr. Moon to take to the dump. A glass topped table and four iron chairs that I never should have bought in the first place. The chairs' upholstery has mildewed and it's all just a mess. I suppose I could try and reupholster them but I don't like them enough to bother. I'm throwing away a small wooden table that I painted a mermaid on a long time ago which proved beyond doubt that I should not be given paint, and some other crap that I know no one wants. I need to replace two wicker tables and I will. Both of them are chipping and coming unraveled and they have lived their lives. Gives me a good reason to go thrift shopping. 

After I'd finally admitted to myself that there was no more I could do in the way of the porches, I decided to go pick some eggplants I knew were in the garden. One little bush was so full of them that it is falling over. They're small eggplants, but should be good. 

That's an egg for scale. Which is appropriate, is it not? I will say it's a rather large egg but still- as I said- small eggplants. 

I did some weeding, too, and after a short amount of time spent doing that I said, "Enough! Enough! Enough!" and it was. I was dripping sweat. 

I got the clothes off the line, folded them, put them away. And now it's time to start the second shift- making supper. 

Have you ever seen a garlic blossom? They are quite lovely. 

And here's a carrot bloom. 

I'd love a bouquet with either of those. 

As for more traditional flowers-

Lace Cap Hydrangea

And whatever that one's called. Pink. Yeah, that's it. A pink hydrangea. 

So there you have it. That's what I did today. 

I'm feeling a mixture of satisfaction, frustration, and exhaustion. But still, I feel so lucky to have these porches, this house, and garden to tend to as best I am able, even now. 

Time to slice eggplants. 

Love...Ms. Moon

I Am So Lucky

 I asked August where he got that coolio shirt today. He said, "From Mr. Coolio." 
He's a sassy child, that one. 

I spent the afternoon with him and his brother at their house and although I know that Jessie and Vergil would really appreciate it if I took those guys to the park to get some ya-ya's out, I just can't deal with the heat. So we stayed inside for the most part, reading books (Captain Underpants is very popular with August right now), playing games, and watching nature videos about octopuses and other amazing creatures. The regular. The usual. Which of course is the best. Today's special treat was Healthy Choice fudge bars. I'd bought a box of them at Costco before I got there and gave them both one and then Vergil came out of his work space and his eyes lit up and I offered him one too. Mr. Moon and I have been eating one every evening almost after supper. It's sort of like a treat and it's cold and it's chocolate. Ish.

So yeah, before I got to the Weatherfords I did my Publix and Costco shopping, rushing, rushing, trying to get to Jessie's house on time. But it all worked out. After I left the boys, I went and picked up some things from Lowe's that Mr. Moon needed. Trust me when I say that I no more wanted to do that than I wanted to go to a Guns and Roses Tribute show which is to say- oh god, oh god, oh god, oh god. But it was okay. Glen had told me just to ask for Walter at the Pro Desk. Who knew Lowe's had a Pro Desk? Mr. Moon, that's who. 
Walter was lovely and even toted the things out to my car and they weren't heavy or bulky. I could have done it. So overall, it was not a bad experience.
I had a dream the other night that I had gotten a job at Costco. This is new territory for me and Dreamworld. It was sort of fun, that job. Mostly because all of the employees were awesome and I'm sure that's where the dream came from- there ARE indeed Costco employees who seem like people I would not mind hanging out with. In my dream, they let the workers go to whatever department they wanted to work in for the day which was also pretty cool. Unfortunately, they did not allow the new hires to use a scanner gun but I understood that I needed to get my bonafides before I was trusted with something like that. It was an odd dream, to say the least, but not unpleasant. 

Mr. Moon has spent weeks working on the deck between the house and the old kitchen and it is coming along. It is hard work. That man! Tomorrow Lon is going to come over and help him which is so tremendous. I mean- that's a friend! But today he worked by himself and now he's had a shower and he's made us martinis and I am so very glad to be home. The spray washers came back and redid some areas that they felt were not quite up to their standards. I surely hadn't noticed anything. The whiteness of it all sort of freaks me out. Even when we moved in here, it wasn't this pristine by any means. Glen is shocked. He just told me that he had no idea it would clean up this well. I just think about the places on the back door into the hallway that I have tried over the years to clean with all sorts of alchemic formulas only to fail- the dark stains of my hands and the hands of so many others along with the black dirt of Lloyd never got anywhere NEAR pristine. 
Whoo boy. They call them professionals for a reason, I guess. 

Tomorrow I will try and get my house back together again. This could take awhile. 

Meanwhile, this is making my heart so happy. 

The beautiful old boys have arrived in Madrid for their sixtieth anniversary tour of Europe. I wish Charley Watts was with them but I know he is in spirit. He is part of every song they play. 

Let's take a moment to ponder the magnificence of this achievement. I can't wait to see some of the concert footage. I assure you that it will be something fine. 

Happy Friday, y'all. 

Love...Ms. Moon

Staying Busy

This is what today has looked like. Rain on and off, and trucks in the yard with spray-washing equipment. It has been a good distraction for me, staying busy with mopping up water that got in through doors and washing the towels I used to mop with. 

The day started out with me talking to the guy who owns the spray washing business in the backyard and in the time it took for yellow flies to make my foot like like this

I had learned all about this three daughters including the complex disabilities of his oldest daughter, seen a video of her (she's adorable and smart as a whip), heard about his mother's illness and her last moments. Also, the rotten luck he's had this year with equipment breaking down. It wasn't the kind of conversation you can say, "Oh, excuse me but I think I need to go inside because insects are possibly killing me." 
You know? 
What a sweet guy. I'm so glad we hired him. Here's his employee, spraying our back porch. 

And oh my god- the difference it has made. It's rather unbelievable. Here are some before and after pictures. 

The guy did the table for me too. It needed it. 

It really is shocking how gorgeous it all looks. Yes, it needs painting. Some woodwork is required. But I swear to you- it is one thousand percent better. 

I washed my porch hanging stuff. 

I even did the best I could with the faded old Senora and her hombrecito and they are all hanging back up. 

It is good. 

I still have a lot to put back like all the front porch plants which have gotten a lovely watering from the sky today. I'm going to town tomorrow to do some shopping and take care of August and Levon so it won't get done then but I'll have the weekend to take care of it. I sort of want to drive down to the FDG site to see what that looks like after today's rain. Yesterday it looked like this:

You see that little lake out front? I sent the picture to the guy I talked to in the Jefferson County health department environmental office and asked if they were building a holding pond there, right in front of the building because it sure did look like it. 
For all I know, they are. 
And guess what response I got? 
Right- none. 

Okay. So I did. I drove down there. The little pond out front looks about the same only more so. However, I drove around to the other side of the lot (it's still raining which is why I drove, and also, I am lazy) and this is what it looked like there. 

Can you believe that shit?

Anyway, my house looks lovely. 

And I have field peas simmering on the stove and all of my babies are safe and well. 

Love...Ms. Moon

Fuck This Shit

Lis and I met in Monticello today and went to the antique store we like. I spied this little pre-Easy Bake oven and showed it to Lis. 

"Take a picture of that," she said, "And put it on the blog."
She is the boss of me. This is well-established and I agreed with her about this. The toys of yesteryear. 
"You guess that thing got hot?" I asked her. 
We laughed. 
Oh, the things we used to let children play with! Ovens made of tin that plugged into an electric socket. BB Guns that could shoot an eye out. Lawn darts that could and did pierce skulls and kill children, chemistry sets that contained uranium- look it up! We gave children pocket knives and woodburning kits. I burned myself badly on one of those things. 
All kinds of things that were considered fine for children to play with are now illegal and we shake our heads in wonder- what were people thinking? 

And yet. 
And yet. An eighteen year old high school drop out can legally purchase a rifle capable of killing at least twenty-one people in a very short amount of time in a school after he shot his grandmother in the face. 
The state of Texas, like the state of Florida, can somehow manage to legislate against a woman's personal control of her body and make it practically illegal to be a gay kid but they sure as fuck can't do a thing about gun control because that's an American Freedom. 
Unlike a woman's right to choose. 
Unlike our right to speak out. 
Unlike the right of children to learn the actual truth of our history as a nation, as a state. 
It's not only our right to carry a weapon whose sole purpose is to kill other human beings but our sacred right, guaranteed by the Second Amendment, written when a gun was a musket that at best could probably kill one human every fifteen minutes.  
Children. That guy killed nineteen children. In elementary school. Children like Maggie and August, and Gibson. I didn't mention Levon and Owen because Levon's in preschool and Owen's in middle school and these were elementary kids who were slaughtered. And more wounded. And all traumatized for life. 
And two teachers. 
You know. Of course you know. The whole world knows. 
You know else what the whole world knows? That America has shit for brains and guns for dicks. That Americans are insane and governed not by men and women who care about the lives of their children, their fellow citizens, but about what the NRA can give them in the form of funding and political support. 
And they are right. 

I see that Beto O'Rourke interrupted a press conference in Uvalde, Texas today which, until yesterday's slaughter was best known as the hometown of Matthew McConaughey, where he confronted Governor Abbott saying, "This is all on you." And then, "You're doing nothing. You're all doing nothing."
He was escorted out of the building and Abbot said, "It's God that heals a community." 
Among other bullshit. 
The mayor of Uvalde, Don McLaughlin ordered O'Rourke out of the building and called him a "Sick son of a bitch who would come to a deal like this to make a political issue."
This is not a political issue. This is a public health and safety issue. This is a moral issue. This is an issue that the so-called religious right should be speaking up about with vehement fervor to protect the children but no, they're too fucking busy trying to defend the rights of an embryo to care about the children who are here and who suffer and bleed when they are shot by an AR-15 "type" of rifle. And leave behind families who will never, ever cease grieving. 

That's really all I have to say tonight. 

I'm done. I'm really, really done. 

The Real Day

 Remember this from last year? I think it was last year. 
Oh, May-May! As Rachel said somewhere today, May is the middle word in A-May-Zing. 
So true. 
I've thought about her all day long. She was born just as dawn broke a few miles down the road from here in a 10 by 50 foot trailer. I was attended by two midwives and two friends. My husband was there. One of the midwives had had to drive back into town to deliver another baby in the wee hours but she made it back in time. I had started labor before that mama, but I am a slow baby-haver. 
And it was a glorious and happy time and I was twenty-three years old and felt like I could have run a marathon after the birth, but instead her dad and Hank and I all piled into the car and headed to town to take her to the doctor to make sure all was well and when we came home I guess I rested awhile and then I made our supper. 
And I think I sat up most of the night, holding that darling baby and studying her face- who are you, my little girl? Who are you?
May. She was May. 

Oh, my children's birthdays mean a lot to me. The memories are intense, my gratitude always overflowing for having such healthy, fine babies who have become such remarkable and precious grown-up humans. 

***************

Lon and Lis are in town! They are house/dog/cow sitting at Lon's sister's house a few miles north of Monticello. They came over around noon and we got some good chatting in and Lis and I have almost broken the seal on catching up, but oh, there is so much more of that to do. We plan on meeting tomorrow in Monticello for some lunch and thrift store shopping and antique shopping and neither of us needs one darn thing but we shall have so much fun, looking at all of the things we do not need. 

In more big and exciting news, although nothing to compare to getting to spend time with Lon and Lis, the man came today to fix my oven. He brought TWO igniters and left one here with us. He showed Mr. Moon how to install it, should it come to that. He's practically becoming a member of the family. Luckily, he's a pleasant fellow. So I'll be making pizza tonight. I could have made it in the Easy Bake but would have had to bake separate, small pizzas. I could have done it! I did use the dehydrate function on it this afternoon to dry some cherry tomatoes to use on the pizza. 

I have pizza dough proofing in it now. I know I'm repeating myself but that little gadget has come in most handy. 

And on top of everything, we are getting our house spray-washed! The whole thing! You have no idea how excited I am about this. Mr. Moon is not as excited as I am, knowing that this could perhaps lead to painting the whole house (which it desperately needs) but I'm not pushing any agendas here. Of course everything has to be taken off the porches and walls of the porches, including the back screened porch which is where I basically live when I'm not outside, cooking, or asleep. I cleaned off the kitchen porch and started in on the back porch and helped my husband with the plants on the front porch. I have SO MANY PLANTS! And I also have an embarrassing amount of stuff on the back porch that honestly, I need to do what I said and Gird My Loins and throw away. But what will the children think if the faded Spanish dancer lady with the fan and the little man with a mustache in her arms disappears? 

Will it even be Mer's house? There are things I'll take down and wash and put back up but there are also plenty of things that it would not hurt me to get rid of. Most of them came from Goodwill to begin with and most of those are not even worth giving back to Goodwill. 
I think back to that little trailer where I lived with a husband and two children all those years ago and I swear to you- I could almost still name every bit of furniture and the things we had in there. It was not much. A big green, ugly recliner patched with duct tape, an armchair, a table and three chairs that I'd acquired when I moved into an apartment once that a former tenant had left, a cradle, a double bed, a crib mattress on the floor for Hank with books and toys in his tiny room, shelves made of boards and bricks for plants, books, and the stereo, the dresser I'd grown up with which had pride of place in the living room. That was about it. 

Whoo boy. Things have changed. And yet, I was happy in that little space for awhile. It had a bathroom, it had electricity. It had a kitchen sink with running water. It was cozy. 

Memories, memories. And we're still making them. 

Here's a picture that I love of May, six years ago on her birthday holding little Magnolia June. 

That girl. That woman. That beautiful, shining woman- that's who that little baby I held in my arms in that tiny trailer the night she was born was. 

A-May-Zing. 

Love...Ms. Moon

Happy Almost Birthday, May!

Here's what the two little families looked like this morning eating their scratch corn. The moms do hang out fairly close together for long periods of time. I can see them all now, scratching in the magnolia leaves. They are definitely growing out some tail feathers, some wings. After all this time I am still very tentative about trying to figure out roosters from hens at such a young stage. I am really hoping that we don't have more than one rooster. Two at the most. But they are what they are, even if I can't tell at this point. 

Tomorrow is May's birthday! And today, I met up with her and with Billy for pedicures and lunch. It was so much fun. 

I had not seen Billy in forever. 
"What's it been?" I asked him. "Since 1973?"
"I think so," he said. 
"I'd just graduated high school," I said. Which is true. 

"Me too!" he said, which is not true. "It was an important period of our lives!" 
Whenever Billy and I see each other I feel as if it's an important period of our lives. Or mine at least. So there is that. 
May got bright red toenails, Billy got neon pink, and I got mermaid/witchy green. I loved my nail tech guy. His name was Tommy. After he painted my nails he said, "You want some bling?" 
"What? Who me? Bling?" 
I first said no and then I said, "Oh, what the hell," and this is what they looked like. 

You can't really tell but they are glittery. You will note I'm wearing my "good" formal Croc flip-flops. Not the ones that I wear around here, but only for going-to-town. 
I'm a high-class girl.
Of course I messed up one of my toenails. Please don't tell Tommy. He was so careful to get my shoes on my feet without smudging. I really don't deserve Tommy, obviously. 

We went to a place for lunch where I'd never been and Michael joined us. It's a Mexican place right next to Joann's Fabrics and I've wondered about it for a long time. It was really good! But oh my god. There was a situation. 
We were eating outside, all just chatting away when suddenly Billy pushed his chair back and made a little eek sound and then said, "Spider!" and although I am not afraid of spiders, I have to tell you that this was one of the biggest spiders I've ever seen and probably would have had a small heart attack if it had jumped onto my own personal person. It was as big around as a large tangerine. At least. It was a daunting spider. 
The poor creature crawled over to the table next to us where a group of about six women was eating. They freaked out. One of them thought it was a fake spider until she saw it moving. The staff was alerted and no one knew quite what to do until one of the ladies at the table actually smashed the thing on their table which made me feel sick. I mean- you just don't smash things that big. You call wildlife control officers or you trap them and put them in some bushes or something. 
I should have done that. But I didn't. 
And then it took the server about ten minutes to clean up the crime scene and I'm sure she won't forget that experience for awhile. 

But overall, it was a very delightful lunch. 

When we all went our separate ways, I decided to go to Tuesday Morning to shop for a mattress pad which was fine except that I had forgotten to give May her pie which I had carefully tucked into a thermal bag with a bag of ice in it. She had to come back for me in the store! How could I have forgotten the pie?
Because I forget EVERYTHING these days. It's a wonder and a miracle I remembered to make it and bring it. So I got her pie for her and then returned to the store and bought the mattress pad and came home and put it on the bed and that's been just about my whole day. I have no idea why but it wore me out. 
Lunch and a pedicure with people I love more than life itself. So very, very exhausting. 

It rained here this morning for about an hour and a half and it poured down. The kind of rain that pounds the earth. I drove by the FDG on my way home from town and although the building is going up, there is still standing water in the front south-west corner. My across-the-street neighbor called me and she, like me, had gotten massively discouraged in the last few weeks but she's back on it now. She's talking about getting a stop order on construction but I just don't think that's going to happen. I don't think that either the Dollar General company or Jefferson county gives a damn about putting a sewer system in muck in a community where many, many people have well water. So what? Who cares? Two batty women. We call people, they listen, they promise to check the situation out. They apparently never do. 

And so it goes. 

In a lighter and happier note, August had his kindergarten graduation today. It was held in the classroom, very small, and only parents and siblings were invited. 

Here are some pictures. 

Jessie said it was very sweet. The kids did a little dance to a song from Toy Story and they all got awards. 

A big day for our August. And his family, too. 

Why do they have to grow up so fast? 
Because they do, I suppose. And we just have to accept that. 

I better go make our supper. 

Love...Ms. Moon

Questions. I Have Questions

It's been one of those days. 
A but-first day. 
I had two things I wanted to accomplish today. Clean the hen house and make May a key lime pie for her birthday which is on Tuesday but I will be seeing her tomorrow.
Simple. Simple as...pie. Right?
Actually, yes, but I didn't get around to those two things until after three o'clock this afternoon. First I had to spend a lot of time reading blogs and the newspaper online and catching up on Facebook and then I made our Sunday breakfast which is always so big and so late that no lunch is required. Next came the Sunday crossword which took awhile. And then Wordle which today did not take much time at all. 
And THEN, I began to casually do this and that with the idea that I was headed to the main events (hen house/pie) but of course one thing led to another which eventually led to that mess of old plastic containers you see on the floor in the picture. 
It started like this- Mr. Moon is going back to the gym and I offered to start making him smoothies for his breakfast that he can drink on the way to his work-out. So I needed to put the ice-cream maker somewhere so that the blender could go back on the counter. First thing I did was look in my antique Hoosier cabinet where I thought the blender base was. 
It wasn't. 
Other stuff was though and there wasn't enough room to put the ice cream maker in there. 
So then I decided I could probably make room in the pantry for the ice cream machine. And honey- that was a big ol' can of worms to open up because there is already so much crap in there, some of it that I do not WANT in there but it's in there because where else would it go? Things like extension cords and lightbulbs and various sorts of packing and duct tape and batteries and cleaning rags and cleaning products like furniture wax and leather cleaner. Sort of the hugest junk drawer you've ever seen. Also giant pots that there's no room for in my cabinets. The canning kettle, the wok, the pot that I can cook a twenty-pound turkey carcass in. Spare rolls of paper towels. Canning supplies of all sorts. Potatoes, onions, canned goods, the liquor, nuts, cereals, and on and on and on. So I played Tetris with all of that for awhile, shifting things from here to there, trying to not only make more room but also to make things more efficient- easier to get to the things I use the most. You know. 
Eventually, I settled on this arrangement. 

Even as we speak, though, I am thinking that I can get some of that shit into a different cabinet in the kitchen because I was also inspired by the fact that I still had not found the blender, to go through the stuff in there and weed out things I never use and never will use. How many damn broiler trays does one woman need? I never use one and had three. Also the old, battered cookie sheets that I'd been using since the first batch of chocolate chip cookies I ever baked at the age of eight and which I have finally replaced with some decent ones which I keep in the pantry. (See above.) I once gave Mr. Moon some baskets to use for grilling vegetables and I don't think he has ever used any of them so out they went. Also some high-falutin' plastic box device for coating fish with flour and crumbs and cornmeal along with whatever else you want to coat. Used it once. Determined that a paper bag or a plate works just as well if not better. Those are all stacked up and going to either Goodwill or the dump where I will put them on the side of the waste container for people to pick through and take if they want. 

Still, I had not found the blender. 
I remembered where the blender jar was and got that out. It was in my cabinet where I keep glasses and crockery and pitchers and all that stuff. And yes, it was there. The base was not. 
But while I was looking I decided to get rid of a few more things that were just taking up space like a vegetable chopper I never use, a few old thermal cups that have been happily replaced by Yeti's. They have been added to the dump pile. 
Maybe I had put the blender base in the cabinet where I keep leftover containers? I hate getting down on my knees to go through that detritus but I did it. And I raked everything out of there and that's what you see in the first picture. I decided that keeping dozens of old sour cream containers in my kitchen was not going to save the planet and so I trashed about half of those and rearranged everything. 

By then it was after three o'clock and I still had not found the blender base and had not made the pie or cleaned the hen house. 
I went out and got the roost all in order and came in, washed up, and made the pie at which point, I was about done for the day. 

I am afraid that Mr. Moon is not going to get a smoothie any day soon. Even he has looked through everything and can't find it. It has to be in that kitchen somewhere. It absolutely has to be. Where else would it be? 
Sigh. 

Anyway, can we talk about this for a second?

I posted this video on FB with this comment:

You know what I love about this? The fact that the driver did not even hesitate. He heard what he heard, he confirmed it, he told the woman to get out of his car. All of us should be practicing this sort of anti-racism so clearly and succinctly.

I got some "likes" and "loves" but I also got comments from two different people who absolutely disagreed with the way the Lyft driver had handled the situation. Their basic thoughts were that this sort of reaction from the driver was not going to help anything but in fact would only make the racist people in the video more apt to dig in their heels. That the better way to handle it would be to start a dialogue in a way that might actually change hearts and minds. MLK was invoked. Maybe I'm just old and really cranky and have no tolerance anymore for bigoted behavior in my presence but my thought is that it's not the driver's place to try and change that which will not be changed in the space of a Lyft ride but that it is absolutely his right to refuse to put up with that shit which, even if it does nothing to change a heart or a mind will in fact inform those people that just because someone is white, it does not mean they share racist views and that spouting such views is, indeed, inappropriate. But I am open to the idea that I could be wrong.

Give me your honest opinion. I am not looking to be vindicated in my opinion, just curious as to how and why another form of response would have been more effective. A sort of "what would you do?"

Meanwhile, if you have any idea where I might have put my blender base, please let me know. Also, there is absolutely no doubt that I need to throw a whole lot of stuff away. It is loin-girding time for sure.

Love...Ms. Moon

Culture!

The dance recital was terrific! What a production! There's Maggie after the last number, getting an award for being part of all three of the recitals of the company since it began. She did so well in her two numbers. Especially the tap one. She is five years younger than some of the kids in her class and she pulled it off with sass. 
Gibson amazed me. He is the only boy in his class and so he was sort of the star of their piece and he was terrific! He has come so far in two years. I was truly, truly impressed. 

The recital was held in the auditorium of a community college, same place as last year. It's way on the opposite side of town from where I live and where Lily lives and wouldn't you know, the second I got to Lily's to pick them all up, it began to pour rain. I hate driving in the rain but I managed to get us there safely and on time. 
Phew! 
The auditorium was packed and that was only one of the three shows. I cannot imagine the work and money that went into that affair, from costumes to sound system. Of course the parents bear the burden of all the costs in the end but there were plenty, I would think, to share. And everyone is so proud of their child or children and it means a lot to the kids as well as the parents and grandparents and siblings so...

It works out.
There were the usual moments. The one that breaks your heart when a little child is frozen with stage fright, unable to do so much as one plie. The one where there's one kid who obviously adores being onstage and has that extra zzhuz that captures everyone's heart and attention. The tiny dancers who all look at their teacher in the wings, following her movements and being so adorable you can hardly bear the sweetness. The final number was a sort of mix-tape of music and was performed by many kids and I loved it. The children were allowed to wear whatever rock T-shirts they wanted and I spied three Rolling Stones shirts which made my heart happy. I wanted to be onstage with them, dancing the way I used to dance, free and unafraid, as happy as I could ever be. 
One of the things I do like about this dance company is that no one seems to be preaching the sylph-like body form that dancers so often feel they need to conform to. There were STRONG girls on that stage, as graceful as any swan could be. Maybe fewer eating disorders will come from that school. I hope so. 

So that was a fun afternoon, except for the rain part. I am happy we got the rain. I just did not like driving in it. 

Here's a picture that Lily took on the way home. I am not sure that Maggie was actually asleep but she may have been. 

My babies. 
I say that a lot, don't I?

So that's the story from here. I got a few things done before I left the house but there is more to do- most importantly, getting the clean sheets back on the bed. There was no way I was going to go eight days without washing sheets. And making supper. We're going to eat some of our potatoes and I'm going to air fry some green tomatoes. I am hoping they turn out well. I really have enjoyed that little appliance. The green beans have started blooming so we will be eating them soon and the tomatoes look to be bountiful which is why I felt I could spare a couple of green ones. 

One never knows how a garden will turn out. 
Or anything else, either. Not in this life. Not really. 

We hope for the best. 

Love...Ms. Moon