Oh, how I do love our blogging community! Yesterday when I posted about the owl who was making a call that sounded almost as if it was being breathed in, instead of being breathed out, dear Jennifer at Sparrow Tree Journal, suggested that I do an online search for the call of the juvenile barred owl because they had one in their yard that was making what might be the same call.
And so I did and she was right!
And so I did and she was right!
It is the sound of a baby owl who wants mama or daddy to bring her food or come keep her company in a scary situation. And that is what is going on in my back yard.
It's been a long day. I have finally copped to the fact that we are leaving for North Carolina in five days. FIVE DAYS! Mark, my darling almost-son and excellent house-sitter will be here for four of the eight days we'll be gone, Hank and Rachel will be here on two weekend days and for the other days I may ask a neighbor to come in and feed Maurice and Jack or, I may just leave them a ton of food and water. It would only be two nights. We are so invested in the mental health and happiness of our animals that the thought of my cats roaming the house and searching the yard for us is just awful but they wouldn't die. They might get extremely enraged at us for leaving them alone and poop and pee all over the house. That I could definitely see. I'll probably ask a neighbor. But I better get on it.
When I washed our sheets today I washed the ones on the guest room bed too, and that's as far as I've gone in that direction except to stock up on toilet paper. And cat food. I have not begun to pack but today I reassured myself thinking that if all I took was some underwear, a bathing suit, two dresses, and two pairs of overalls and shirts to go with them, that would be enough. The house where we'll be staying has not only a washer and dryer but a dang crick out back that I could beat my clothes on the rocks in if I had to.
When I washed our sheets today I washed the ones on the guest room bed too, and that's as far as I've gone in that direction except to stock up on toilet paper. And cat food. I have not begun to pack but today I reassured myself thinking that if all I took was some underwear, a bathing suit, two dresses, and two pairs of overalls and shirts to go with them, that would be enough. The house where we'll be staying has not only a washer and dryer but a dang crick out back that I could beat my clothes on the rocks in if I had to.
It's all the other stuff, really, that gets a little weird. Do I take games for the children? Do I take books for them? I know I'll be taking my best knives and probably things like balsamic vinegar and olive oil, and self-rising flour for dumplings. I will be going to a grocery store. Probably far more than once. One never knows what supplies will be in these rental houses. There will be cookware but is it going to be the nasty kind with nonstick surfaces that are chipping off? Will there be parchment paper, aluminum foil, and all of those other things that we take for granted in our own kitchen?
Whatever. The store will have everything. I do love a good Ingles which is the grocery store most prevalent in NC although Publix is there now too.
We won't starve.
But I might should take an iron skillet or two.
So I was in a bit of a whirlwind this morning, mostly in my mind, about what I needed to do before we leave and getting the laundry done and so forth when Mr. Moon asked me if I'd like to go somewhere to eat lunch with him for a little date. He is fishing again tomorrow and just left a little while ago and I think he might have been feeling a tiny bit guilty, although I hope not. At first I felt like I was too bitchy and emotional today to ensure a good time if we did go off together but then I said, "Oh, let's go," and we did. We went to Monticello and had chicken salad salads and then we went to Wag The Dog and I think I did very well there today when it comes to locating treasures.
I like to take pictures on that kitchen counter because it's black and the lighting isn't bad. Sorry about the coffee makers and food processor. That lamp cost me ten dollars. I do not like the shade but will find another eventually and I think the lamp itself is very sweet. The four martini glasses are nice and heavy and as Mr. Moon said, "Big!" and I said, "Well, that would be one reason not to buy them," but I couldn't pass them up. The little white bowl and its lid are also very heavy and I'm not sure what I'm going to do with them. Perhaps I should use them for Mr. Moon's turbinado sugar that he loves in his coffee. We've been using an old Tupperware container which works quite well but the old, white bowl would be more esthetically pleasing. And then we have the two old medicine bottles that will make lovely bud vases for $1.50 apiece. The bowl was a buck.
God, I love Wag.
So I felt as if the shopping gods had shined upon me and we even went into an antique store and although they had some very lovely and unique pieces, I was content with what I already had in the trunk of the car.
In fact, I have a sudden and very real urge to start purging. I look around and I see clutter everywhere and I am OVER it! I know, I KNOW! I say that after I just bought more shit that I don't need. But I have already put some things in a box that I will probably be taking to Wag the Dog for them to resell. Their money goes to the animal shelter in Monticello which isn't the worst thing a thrift store could support. Not the best, but not the worst.
This will be an ongoing project.
I never did get back to work on my pockets except to get the pocket I do not like unsewn from the dress and to pick out a piece of fabric that I already had to make another. I am thinking I will just make one pocket in the dress as I don't have much of that material and if it's a good pocket, I'll only need the one. Two pockets are better than one but one will do. That I will work on tomorrow. I am going to go slowly and carefully, and I am going to baste.
I got a text from Jessie today wherein she reported a conversation that August had with one of his cousins.
Cousin: "After I've cleaned up, can we get in your bed and draw?"
Cousin: "After I've cleaned up, can we get in your bed and draw?"
August: "Anything for my true love."
Oh my god. Does that not sound like something Alfalfa would have said to Darla in the Little Rascals?
I showed the message to Mr. Moon and we agreed that August will eventually figure out that it's best not to fall in love with a first cousin but he's young and at this point, Levon still doesn't understand why he can't marry his mother.
Oh, the sweet innocence of a child's love. It's just so precious.
And if I were in a different mood, I might go off on a rant about how the sexual abusers of children destroy that innocence along with their trust in others and in themselves which will affect them for the rest of their lives but I'm not there tonight. I do not have the energy. I have been emotional today. Not horribly so, but enough that thinking about yesterday when I took Magnolia home and both Gibson and Owen came to the kitchen and hugged me up and Gibson said, "You're strong, Mer!" and I said, "You're strong, Gibson!" and Owen is taller than me and so kind to me and they both hug me without being asked, but initiate it themselves that yes, it made me cry.
Oh well. I am just a weepy woman and that's all there is to it. Before Maggie left yesterday she was playing with Lincoln Logs, creating her own universe as she does, and I told her that it makes me so happy to see her playing with them and that I have toys here that I am going to need to pass on to someone else because all of my grandchildren are getting too old to play with them. Not the Lincoln Logs, but other things. Things that I can remember baby Owen playing with. I teared up then and Maggie said, "It's okay, Mer. I'm still young. I can play with those things."
All right! Time to quit being so soppy and make myself a martini. I am saving the new glasses for when Mr. Moon is home but the old glasses do very well. One of the main things I need to figure out before we leave is- what book am I going to read out loud on our journey?
I have to tell you that even though I am having anxiety about leaving and being away from home, I am also a little thrilled at the prospect of a road trip with my sweetheart. He made our reservation for our first night on the road in Athens, Georgia at the Graduate Hotel where we have stayed many times. I'm sure he'd love to try a new place but as I told him, just walking into that lobby makes me feel like I'm home. Books and old typewriters everywhere. I can get my yearly supply of a small but adequate tube of Malin+Goetz vitamin b5 body moisture from their proffered toiletries. The same branded body wash, shampoo, and conditioner are pumped from containers in the shower and this may be the standard way to do things in hotels these days, but to this old country gal who don't get out much, these things are almost magical.
I have to tell you that even though I am having anxiety about leaving and being away from home, I am also a little thrilled at the prospect of a road trip with my sweetheart. He made our reservation for our first night on the road in Athens, Georgia at the Graduate Hotel where we have stayed many times. I'm sure he'd love to try a new place but as I told him, just walking into that lobby makes me feel like I'm home. Books and old typewriters everywhere. I can get my yearly supply of a small but adequate tube of Malin+Goetz vitamin b5 body moisture from their proffered toiletries. The same branded body wash, shampoo, and conditioner are pumped from containers in the shower and this may be the standard way to do things in hotels these days, but to this old country gal who don't get out much, these things are almost magical.
Here's a decorating feature in the Graduate's lobby.
If I had a card catalog, it would hold orchids, too.
ReplyDeleteI think the white bowl will be perfect for Mr. Moon's sugar!
I've already put the sugar in it. I do love that plain, white utilitarian bowl. But you know how much I love bowls.
Deletefirst of all big martini glasses are the reason to buy them! second, you have five days, what's the rush. third, that little white covered dish is way better than a tupperware container. and jfc, I've forgotten how to spell, or type at the very least. I'M ASHAMED TO TELL YOU HOW MANY MISTAKES I HAD TO CORRECT IN THIS SHORT LITTLE COMMENT. and I'm not correcting the caps lock. wtf is wrong with me.
ReplyDeleteWell I do not know what the fuck is wrong with you but whatever it is, it's wrong with me too.
DeleteDear Mary, dear dear Mary. For some odd reason I cried all over this post, the nostalgia, the sweetness, the grandchildren who are funny and kind and the road trip with the one you love, I dunno, it hit me smack in the emo- and then you spelled creek the right way with the correct pronunciation and I got a homesick feeling and a yearning. Life, more of it please.
ReplyDeleteI am sorry I made you cry but if you needed to cry and what I wrote gave you that opportunity, then I am glad. You are so very dear to me.
DeleteNice shopping! And yes to declutterimg if you start with things you don't love a lot. My neighbor came over to let me have some baby cucumbers and let me know she's off tomorrow for a few days to see her brother and wife in -- North Carolina!
ReplyDeleteNorth Carolina is a very popular place to spend summers! It is a beautiful state, honestly. Have you ever been there?
DeleteYou're right about starting with things I don't love a lot. Yes! I've put a few more things in the pile today and actually took a few things to the dump.
I've only driven through it, to be honest. On the way to Florida!
DeleteI LOVE that card catalogue! All those tiny drawers, so perfect for storing packets of seeds or the many small sewing/knitting items that get lost in big baskets. Recipe cards! so many uses.
ReplyDeleteI understand stressing about what to take but in the end it will be fine with what you pack.
Never apologise for the things on your kitchen bench, that kitchen is your life and your love and it should always be the way you want it and we don't mind at all seeing coffee makers and other stuffs.
I have a fairly large kitchen but the counter space is fairly limited and I have a lot of things I use all the time in that kitchen. I always wonder about the kitchens you see in home magazines- where in the world do they put the things they cook with? Perhaps they don't cook or maybe they just cart everything out of the room for the pictures. They are not very convincing to me.
DeleteI think they cook next door.
DeleteI love that card catalogue too. I saw one in a VERY OLD apothecary in Cuba and just fell in love with it! Mind you, you did make me laugh. Come home from Wag with a bunch of stuff in the trunk and then realize you need to start decluttering! Been there, done that, got the T-shirt!
ReplyDeleteYes- but my stuff from WAG is stuff I will use! Theoretically. I did need another lamp. I do not like overhead lighting at all and there isn't much of it in this house anyway. The bowl is already in use and the bud vase bottles won't take up much room.
DeleteAnd I've made room in the glass front cabinet in the kitchen for the martini glasses and I am absolutely going to get rid of some of the stuff in there.
DeleteWell, you HAVE to stay in a place with a card catalog! Holy cow! We kept a much smaller portion of ours and use it as a cabinet for student supplies like pencils and index cards.
ReplyDeleteThere's nothing wrong with trading old clutter for new clutter! That's life with "stuff," is it not? We all do it. I think you did great at "Wag" and I'd definitely have bought those martini glasses myself.
We went through some of the same questions about what to bring before going to the beach. You never know what a rental house will have and what it won't. We wound up just using all their kitchen stuff and it was fine, even if the knives were dull.
Where do you suppose all the old hundreds of thousands of card catalogs have gone? There were so many in use not that long ago.
DeleteYou'd like these martini glasses, Steve. They are pretty swell.
I hear you on the kitchens in rentals and I would not really care either except that I'll probably be making quite a few meals. Chicken and dumplings for sure. Pancakes will be involved!
I'm glad we were able to figure out the owl mystery! I've started whistling to ours when we're out walking at night and we pass the stand of trees where he/she lives. I'm sure it recognizes us now.
ReplyDeleteYou're going to have so much fun in North Carolina! And a road trip with your sweetheart sounds pretty good, too. All of your grandchildren seem to be growing up to be loving and affectionate people. I guess they couldn't be otherwise, surrounded as they are by so much family love!
My granddaddy used to talk to the owl in his yard every night. The owl would perch in a chinaberry tree right outside his front porch. I remember that so clearly.
DeleteYes. We always have a good time in NC.
And having a loving family is the very best part of my life. For sure.
Sounds like your mind is going a hundred miles an hour as you get ready for your trip but that is normal as there is SO much to think about!
ReplyDeleteYes, your grandchildren are loving because you all give them so much love, Mary Moon! Sweet!
Well, my mind may be going a hundred miles an hour but my body is not nearly up to speed!
DeleteYes, the kids in this family are sincerely doted upon. And they know it!
I would love to go thrift shopping with you..I have many tiny thrift shop vases and medicine bottles for buds or sweet little bouquets! About your rented house- can you email the owners and ask what’s in the house? And use the washing machine, will you!😄Or ask your grands to do the beating of your laundry, they’d probably get a kick out of it! Good luck with your dress pocket(s)- it’s the kind of thing I always think I’ll do but rarely get around to… Hope you enjoyed your martini last night! Hugs from Rigmor (currently in northern Norway)
ReplyDeleteOh, Rigmor! I will use the washing machine! I promise.
DeleteI'll make do with whatever is in the kitchen along with my own knives and perhaps my biggest skillet. All of these houses have the basics.
I did indeed enjoy my martini(s)! Thank you. Hugs back to you in Northern Norway.
I can't bring myself to pack until I've been able to get a great deal of anxiety out of the fact that I haven't packed yet. It never fails. I think about how I should he packing for days and days. Then throw it all together in a half hour and call it good. I plan while I'm thinking. And write lists. And gah it is annoying as fuck but I'm not going to change. I have to travel for work Monday and have only thought repeatedly but no packing action has yet occurred. I'm looking forward to your trip to NC!
ReplyDeleteYesterday I heard a woman in an antique store tell the person she was with that she really needed to do her taxes (I think). It was weighing on her. The person she was with said, "I don't understand why that's always so hard for you." She said, "Because I HATE it. I HATE it! I'd rather clean bathrooms!"
DeleteBoy could I relate to that.