Housekeeping Of One Sort And Another And Also: Spiders Ahead!

Well, today was quite a contrast to yesterday. Mr. Moon got up in the wee hours to go fishing and so I've been alone all day which has been fine. You know me. Miss Never Lonely. 

Mostly.

And I had a fairly productive day but before we get into that fascinating topic, I'd like to get some housekeeping out of the way. First off, the house. The House on 98. The House With All The Stuff! As I think I mentioned in a comment or something, Mr. Moon and I have just not discussed it for a few days. I was doing my thinking and processing and I had no idea what he was doing and so yesterday, at our festive and delicious Mexican lunch, I asked him what his latest thoughts on the house were. Turns out that he's decided not to make an offer and even told his realtor buddy that. 

Say what? 

"Ummm," I said, "I think maybe you should have told me that."

"I thought I did," he said. 

"Nope, pretty sure you didn't." 

"Oh, I'm sorry." 

And that was that. In his defense, he's been making lists of things he wants to get done around here and they range from getting rid of some of the vehicles he owns to finding someone to do some work on this house, starting with getting a new roof. 
Whoa! So once he'd made his decision about the house, he just moved on to the next thing. 

Another thing I'd like to clear up is what I referred to as my acting a few posts ago. Please! I was never famous or did anything but community theater except for being in a few short films made by a local young film maker named FC Rabbath.

This is what the Opera House looks like. 

Somehow, a long time ago, I got up the courage to go audition for a play there. Jessie went with me (she was still in high school) and we both got roles, hers one of the leads! And during that experience, I got to meet some of the most wonderful people who became beloved friends. I have written so much about that time and those people. I was lucky enough to be part of that group and community and it was one of the best parts of my life. I was in a lot of plays. I was not exactly young, but I could still play young and oh- I can hardly think about those times without crying. 
I'm not doing it anymore. Out of the core group of people that I most loved and bonded with, three died in a relatively short time and I...just...couldn't anymore. My heart hurt too much every time I walked into that beautiful old building which held so many beautiful and tender and hysterical memories for me. And like I said the other day, my ability to memorize scripts was never that great and there's no way I could do it now. 

Anyway, if anyone is interested, you can do a search on the blog up there on the top left for "Monticello opera house" and you'll get a ton of hits. Same for Fred Rabbath. Or FC Rabbath. Or Freddy Rabbath. 

It was a glorious time for me. The performances were never the main thing in my mind. It was the rehearsals, the working together to bring a script to life in all dimensions. It was the joy, the fun, the playing. 
I still can't really believe I did it and I am so glad I did. 

So. That's another item explained and cleared up. 

Let's see- what else? 

One thing I did want to mention was what Ellen said in a comment on the post I did about how whoever had decorated the House on 98 never met a wall or surface she did not want to cover. What Ellen said was something like, "Woman, have you never looked at your house?" 

And by god I have been pondering that ever since. 

Of course she is right! I have shit everywhere. I simply cannot deny that although I am not one to put pillows and shams and different layers of comforters on all the beds. But I guess that because the shit I put on my walls and on my surfaces is mostly thrift store stuff or even stuff that I've found at the dump (and I am not ashamed of that- some of it is great stuff) and things the children have made or drawn and all of it is something that means something to me, it did not occur to me that I have basically done the same thing. And we will not even begin to discuss the Glen Den which holds the taxidermied remains of many creatures and also some antique firearms and also pictures of fish and, oh hell, I don't know. However, I claim no responsibility for any of that. 

Once, my dear friend Colin who was one of my beloveds at the Opera House, described the decor of a house in Monticello that had been converted to a B&B. He said, "It looks like a doily factory exploded in there." 

And the House on 98 looked like a beach decor factory had exploded in there. 

And to be honest, my house looks like a junk store exploded in it. And also to be honest, when I die, if we still own this house, my kids can just come in with a few commercially-sized boxes of garbage bags and start filling them up with all this shit and then take them to the trash station which is conveniently just about a block and a half away. 

But I guess the bottom line is, as it generally is- who am I to judge? 

And also, I am casting a more discerning eye to my walls and surfaces and am slowly trying to gird my loins to reducing some of the clutter. 

So. Thank you, Ellen! 

I did take the trash today and there were a few things in it that I truly do not even begin to need that no one needs. At all. So that was a small start. I also have a pile going where I am putting things to donate. 

It was so hot and humid that every time I went outside felt like I was taking a little sip of hell and so I only did the things that I felt compelled to do. I swept the front porch and the swing porch. And oh- look at this pretty lady. 

It is a good year for golden orb weavers. I have an entire community of them in front of the front porch.

Organic mosquito netting! And the sun was just hitting it right for all of that to show up. 

It rained a little and I got a picture of this beauty and her bejeweled web. 

I picked the field peas and the twenty minutes that that took me was somewhat torturous. It was right after it rained which you would have thought would make things cooler but instead, it just made things more humid, the very earth steaming. 

And then, for whatever bizarre reason, I realized that today had to be the day for my bi-annual kitchen floor mopping. Okay, I mop that floor more than twice a year. Maybe five times a year. But it was filthy. So I moved everything out of the kitchen that can be moved and then swept twice and then mopped twice. I should have mopped three times but didn't. 

And that's been about it. I shelled the few peas I picked while watching TV. The garden has really gone to hell and we need to just go ahead and pull everything and clear it out. I noticed some potatoes coming up from the rows where we harvested months ago. I guess we missed some. And the sweet potatoes are still kicking ass and taking names. 

Lily got her babies back today from their California trip. They flew all night and were exhausted and she said they've had a most heavenly day of doing nothing and relaxing. She sent this picture. 

Look at that angel baby back with her mama. 

And Jessie and Vergil are packing up and will be returning to Tallahassee tomorrow. 

Mr. Moon decided to come on home tonight and he'll be here soon. All is well. 

Love...Ms. Moon