Friday, January 20, 2023

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This is one (actually two- you can see parts of another behind it) of the possibly four azalea blossoms I have blooming in the yard at the moment. It's one of the older varieties and I wonder how long it's been growing in this yard. I have many, many other azaleas growing in another part of the yard but I'll be shocked if I get one flower off of them this spring. Their buds were frozen brown. I'm also beginning to wonder if any of my camellias will re-bud. The bushes should be covered with flowers at this point but I do not see a single bloom. It's funny how hardy some plants are, and yet delicate at the same time, at least when it comes to sudden and dramatic temperature variations. 

I've been feeling a little cruddy today. I may have a very watered-down version of what August has had for the past week or so. I had told Jessie that I would be surprised if I didn't get it. Last week when I was taking care of him, he and I were reading a book or watching a video or something where his face was right up in mine and he was coughing a lot and then of course, there were the kisses on the lips but I'm not about to discourage that. I'm not coughing or very congested, I just feel sort of spacy and tired and my head feels like it might be made of cement. But I managed to go to town and get my shopping done so I'm not too bad off. And I got the sheets washed and hung on the line but that's always a pleasure to me, especially in the sort of weather we've been having lately. We're supposed to get rain tomorrow and that will be fine with me. The tiny arugula would probably like some rain water. 

I don't have much to talk about today. Nothing hugely significant happened or even vaguely significant that I know of. The biggest news around here is the egg Moana laid us yesterday and yes, we're still pretty excited about that. 

I've been having a lot of dreams lately about living on the ocean. Well, not ON the ocean, but beside it. It's been my dream my entire life to have a house on the sea, any sea really, and I guess the Dog Island house was truly that for awhile, even though our place was on the bay. It was beautiful and I'm sure it still is. There is always a perfect view of the sunset there and the stillness and quiet is very hard to find anywhere else in Florida these days. 




At least on the water. And we got a lot of use out of that house. Glen and I spent many days there, just the two of us, and there were lots of very fine times with some or all of the children. Hank and his friends used to go out there every year. 
I would see houses go unused for months and years at a time on the island and even had friends who, at one time, had spent weeks on end there but who gradually stopped coming. I couldn't understand that. But eventually, I figured it out- it's not an easy place to visit because of having to take everything you need on a boat, from drinking water and toilet paper to washing machines and couches if yours need replacing. 
We never did replace the couch. 
Mr. Moon starting doing some much needed work on it this year but that sort of ground to a halt. One can only imagine the difficulty of taking building materials and tools and all that such projects require over by boat. For any of you who do not know, Dog Island is a small barrier island off the coast not too far from here. There is no bridge to it and the only access is by boat or small plane. 
Very small plane. 

Anyway, although Dog Island does come around now and then in my dream rotation, it is never a very pleasant dream. But here I am at the moment, feeling nostalgic about it. 
Nostalgia seems to be a big theme in my life right now. I miss places. I miss beaches and rivers and forests and jungles. I miss the lights of Cozumel downtown at night and I miss the moon rising over Tulum. I miss faces from beloveds who are gone, to musicians who have been such an important part of my life, and the faces of my babies who now wear grown-up faces. I miss the faces of the little children in Cozumel, dressed up for Sunday night in the Zocalo and the faces of their Mayan parents, like royalty sculpted in stelea in the ruins, pushing strollers and holding ice cream as they stroll around the plaza at night. 

I know. I know. It's the age, it's the time, it's the raw awareness of the passing of that time, of the advancing of that age. 




Well. You know what day it is- the day for clean sheets and martinis. 

Happy Friday, y'all. 

Love...Ms. Moon

29 comments:

  1. Nostalgia is a bittersweet emotion. We can never return to those times and they always seem more golden as the years advance.
    That is a glorious photo of the two of you. I hope it has pride of place somewhere.

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    1. SO bittersweet, thinking of the past.
      I really should get that photo printed.

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  2. goodness, your last 3 posts have all caused me to tear up......... both sad AND good at the same time. Yes....I have felt nostalgic lately as well....and hubby too. Reminiscing......and *missing*..and we have talked about it alot. Hope you feel better soon! I caught hubby's cold, so he is getting better......I am just getting started on it.....but....we will both muddle through and survive. Happy Martini Friday.....and that photo of you and Mr Moon is sublime. Caused yet another few tears here!
    Susan M

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    1. I guess at our age, reminiscing is natural. "Remember when we...?"
      I'm sorry you got the cold but it's fairly inevitable, isn't it?
      Is it good or bad that I have made you cry? You are so sweet-hearted, Susan.

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  3. Lovely quiet post and picture. You do know how to allow feelings.

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    1. Sometimes they come on so strongly I cannot NOT allow them.

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  4. I love that photo of the two of you. As you say, it is the time and the age for nostalgia and a friend died; we can't help but look back at our own lives.
    Sending hugs Mary.

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    1. Thank you, dear Pixie-Lady. Yes. Friends dying can definitely trigger a fairly massive reaction. It's so obvious and yet, profound too.

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  5. I would love to spend a week on Dog Island with all my basic necessities - preferably not in the hurricane season. I am surprised that small planes can land there but I just checked out Google Maps and saw the Nils Pehrson Airfield.

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    1. I think you would love Dog Island, Mr. P. You could spend your days walking all the way around it. There are swamps, pine forests, beaches, and palmetto scrub land. Lots of birds. Have you watched an osprey dive for fish? Or an eagle. It is something.
      Yes. Vergil's stepfather is a pilot and he landed at that airstrip once. He and Vergil's mama flew down from North Carolina.

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  6. Dog island sounds pretty ideal depending on how far the boat trip is - Water would probably be the biggest challenge, but I can see why you love it and why the reluctance to give up on it. I don[t know, we are letting things go , our lives becoming smaller but more manageable. I get pangs when I think of selling the office/property. It is so beautiful, the yard is a garden and a park, the house is solid- built in the late 1800's like your house, not as charming but lovely . Friends leaving forever is the hardest. The photo of you two is delicious!

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    1. It is not that far by boat, really. Sometimes though, if the weather is bad, it can take awhile. But it's usually a one-beer affair.
      I wish you could move into that old house! Is that an impossible thing to do?
      Friends leaving forever, no matter how often it happens, is somehow still so shocking, isn't it?

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  7. A cold is a bummer, but at least it's a quiet time to lean back and be nostalgic.

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    1. I think I was false-alarmed. Perhaps I was merely suffering from emotional exhaustion and too much crying.

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  8. Many people round here bought chalets in the mountains to go skiing, but over time they got fed up of always skiing in the same place and then they got fed up of having to do two lots of housework, so I guess I understand why some of those houses stand empty! I hope you are feeling better now and like the others, I just love that photo of you and your honey!

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    1. I read about The Very Wealthy who have houses all over the world and that just sounds dreadful to me. I suppose they can afford to keep every house completely stocked with their needs and desires and don't have to actually pack too much but still. Not the sort of life for me.

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  9. I've tried to stop the passing of time but to no avail. I'm now a crone...dangit.
    Love the beach photo!
    hugs
    Donna

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    1. You ain't the only crone, Donna. I have embraces that identity.

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  10. I'll never tire of your blog. Ever. I'm so damn busy currently and can't read each day; so I end up reading 4-5 days at a time. But I miss the daily interaction, commenting, etc. I love every flower and plant picture you post. And cats. And baby dolls. And chickens. And eggs of all sizes. And love. I got such a nice healthy dose of that this morning as I read over the last week's posts. Thank you as always for being here and doing this.

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    1. Oh Jill. I appreciate you SO much. You have been here for so long and have written miles of comments and I have appreciated every one of them. You are precious.

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  11. My best friend for over 58 years and I met for lunch yesterday and were talking about this. How did we get to be these two old ladies! Now we discuss heart disease and doctors' appointments. Back in the day we'd be gabbing about hot guys or singing and dancing to our favorite music!!??

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    1. It's a long, slow slide into older age, isn't it? And it happens when we aren't looking! So odd.
      (I still like to talk about hot guys though.)

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  12. I love that last picture.

    I watched My Octopus Teacher on Netflix the other day and that underwater world was so alien and so beautiful and it popped into my head that I will never see this world, and that there are lots of breathtakingly beautiful places in this world that I will never set eyes on. I had a good cry on that one. I went out to the kitchen and prepared a turkey for supper, puttering about and chiding myself for being an idiot, that no one gets to see everything there is to see, do everything there is to do, know everything there is to know. That's kind of the same as nostalgia but completely different. The longing is the same though.

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    1. Oh, Debby. I get that so completely. Yes. You reach an age where we realize there are things undone that we never will get to in this lifetime. And that is a stark realization. You shouldn't chide yourself for feeling the way you feel about it. It's a very real thing. I suppose we could call it the regret of things not done.
      Isn't that a beautiful documentary? I have watched it several times.

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  13. I always wanted to live on a property with live water, a river or creek. Not gonna happen this lifetime. We looked at a house with a live creek when we were hunting for a new place but the house was too small and the property was almost completely wooded and full of poison ivy and a little farther away from family than we wanted. I wonder how I ended up in a flat rural county surrounded by corn and cotton fields and this will be it. No mountains or forests or creeks or oceans, just flat empty land as far as the eye can see. Well, I know how I ended up here. Wanted to be close to my sister and she was here. If only she and her husband had settled elsewhere. I don't even feel like traveling much anymore. Would love to go to Cozumel one more time or some other foreign beautiful spot but don't currently see it in my future.

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    1. Oh, me too, Ellen! A river or a creek would be lovely. Maybe that's why I love Roseland so much- the place we stay is on the river. It's not the prettiest river in the world but it's MY river. And there's always a sunset and lots of nature going on. When I lived in Winter Haven, almost everyone there lived on a lake and we did too, but across the street. It's the City of a Hundred Lakes. And that was nice but it wasn't moving water.
      We had a pool once and I have to tell you, I even enjoyed that. There's something about water, isn't there?

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  14. Perhaps you're mentally gearing up for another visit to Dog Island when the weather gets warmer. Having a place like that in Florida is so special! I'm sure it is a huge pain to get everything out there, but still. What a treasure. (As you know!)

    Hope you don't get sick. And that's a bummer about the flower buds. I always thought camellias were frost-tolerant, but maybe just the plants and not the flowers themselves. Ours doesn't bloom until May or so!

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    1. Maybe you're right about the trip to Dog Island but I think that Glen and Chip have the house sort of torn up as part of the repair process. It's overwhelming. I would like to go back though.
      I just went out to more carefully check out the camellias and the buds all look pretty brown and dead but I did find one tiny pink perfection. I'll post a picture in this evening's post.

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  15. That beach kiss must bring back some wonderful memories. I'll match your ocean living dream with my own. There's just something so soothing about watching waves and breathing salty air.

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Tell me, sweeties. Tell me what you think.