Well, I have made a veggie tray leftovers soup with venison today and I was so happy to have it bubbling away on the stove. In a little while I'll cut up the rest of the pot roast and vegetables I cooked a few days ago to add to it all. I think it will be very, very good. And there will be way too much.
Turning leftovers into more leftovers! You know that's what I'm best at. I would say it's my "souper power" but I hate puns with a passion.
It's been a very calm and peaceful day here in Lloyd. I only left the property to take the trash and the only speaking I've done is to Jack and Maurice and to Mr. Moon and that was on the phone. They had a long day of fishing and still have to clean the boat and the fish and do all of the things that good fisherpeople do when they return to shore and he said he may just spend the night there and get up early and come home. I would like it if he did because I hate the thought of him driving home in the dark when I know he had a very full day that started before dawn. And the soup will be better tomorrow anyway.
So I've just noodled around here all day, doing a little of this and a little of that and it's cool enough that the rackety air conditioner hasn't even turned itself on once, I think. The house cools down so much at night now that if I keep the doors shut it stays cool most of the day.
I planned on getting some work done in the yard and I somehow busied myself until after three but I did get out there and do a little bit. The area that's been calling me the hardest is out front by the sidewalk where an ugly jungle of invasive plants has taken over including the crocosmia and border grass. I cannot believe that people buy these plants in nurseries while I am constantly pulling and burning them.
Here's the area I am talking about.
And it is not easy to dig up that stuff. I have talked about this so many times. The crocosmia makes hundreds of bulbs per square foot. And they have roots. You can pull the plants easily but that leaves the bulbs and roots in the ground. The border grass has a root system like netting. Strong netting. I have to get in there with my fingers and pull like hell. I'm sure you could shovel it but that is not in the least bit pleasant for me. There are other plants involved in this hellhound landscape but those two are the most prevalent.
Now it could just be that Harvey does not like me. I've considered that possibility too and it makes sense. What reason would he have to like me? We don't really talk much, if ever. When I see him on his property where he is so exposed to everyone going down the road because he doesn't have a real house, he may give me his signature greeting which is to throw his arms up in the air or he may completely ignore me. I respect that. He is a man of many moods, I think. Last week when Jessie and I were going to Monticello with the boys and she had pulled up to the road from the driveway to see if anyone was coming, Harvey had just passed the house and suddenly, he began to dance.
"Why is he dancing?" asked August.
"Because that's what he does sometimes," I said. And that is true.
So. When I was walking and he was coming towards me and veered off the sidewalk with the lawn mower, I said, "You don't have to do that."
He mumbled something and then I asked him if he had just been mowing that big field and the church yard just down the way.
"I been helping," he said. "A few of us did that."
"Well it looks great!" I told him. And it did. "That was so good of you to do that. I appreciate that."
I was knocked back. I think I said, "Thank you."
I did say something along the lines of, "Well, you don't have to move off the sidewalk for me. I won't hurt you."
Which now that I think about it was probably not the thing I should have said because I am a white woman and history has shown that one white woman, even an old one, can indeed hurt a Black man.
There was a woman, probably in her forties, speaking to the post mistress through the little window that was originally the ticket-seller's window when the building was a train station. Now it's where you buy your stamps or give the post mistress a package to send or whatever.
The first thing I heard was the customer and she said, "Now. I know that some people have said that he had an affair."
Okay. Okay. This is so good. I am assuming that she's speaking of a church leader and that by saying "he feeds me" she means spiritually. I continue to pretend to sort my four pieces of mail.
"But I have to say," she contined, "And I ask god all the time, God, help me not to judge! and I really don't but his wife! I mean, she gets up there and she is praying and singing and speaking in tongues and the way she looks..."
A pause.
"And she was a mess for awhile but she's been saved and is back in the church." (I think she was referring to the daughter and all I could think was, "Girl, run! It's not too late!")
And I had sorted those four pieces of mail five times at least and it would have been weird for me to stay any longer so I had to leave but my GOD, I wanted to hear more. I desperately wanted to hear more.
I haven't stopped thinking about that all week.
I wish I at least knew what church she was talking about because maybe I would like to visit there one Sunday, knowing what I do from that short little bit of eavesdropping, about the pastor, his wife, and their daughter.
I live for shit like that.
And am I judging?
You bet!
I'm judging this to be fascinating.
you managed alot today, tho you may not feel like you did! Work in the garden is never done....EVER, I had a distant neighbor come today to *see* what we need done here..... like.....everything? LOL. He is a master gardener and has helped us in the past...so...like hiring a housekeeper.....neighbor will start coming once a month .....a tiny step an hour at a time will help. Sad to think of the engrained behavior of Mr No Man Lord.....but I get it. Just too sad that this is still very real....... I'm glad he spoke with you. And Post Office gossip is the BEST! LOL
ReplyDeleteSusan M
PS that soup is going to be *killer* as we say here! YES! I'd make cornbread to go with it and be the happiest person in the world
DeleteSusan M
I love that you have someone coming to help with your yard! I need that too.
DeleteNo cornbread tonight but a new loaf of sourdough.
OMG ... I am just laughing my ass off! Do find out who is cheating on whom and, for God's sake, let us know!
ReplyDeleteI so want to. But I'm not sure how I'd figure it out.
DeleteI was in Louisiana once and stopped at a gas station to get directions. The first service person I encountered was a black man, and I introduced myself as a lost northerner and asked directions. He didn't answer and looked around in a panic. Then a white man came on the double from the station, dismissed the black man and asked what I wanted. I told him and he answered my question. Not until I was back in the car did I realize what had just happened. What a damn shame.
ReplyDeleteYeah. I can definitely see that happening. Probably not today but some years ago- definitely. And you know what's funny? I feel safer with older Black men than I do with older white men. Always have.
DeleteYou might start visiting churches close to you and go out in an ever widening circle until you find a preacher's wife with inappropriate clothes. If you could just find out who she is and what church is nearby... Good luck!
ReplyDeleteNah. That would involve going to church. And there are about ten thousand churches in this area of every size and description. There's one right next door to me!
DeleteI find this interesting about many, many Christian women who will piously say that they ask God to help them not to judge, but then they dash headlong right into judging someone and sharing that judgement with every person they can. My mother in law was a minister's wife, and she was a hard working soul, but whenever she gossiped (and boy did she gossip), she'd always lower her voice as if God might not hear her if she spoke quietly. I've never understood that.
ReplyDeleteI never realized that Old Man Lord was black, and I sure do think that explains a great deal. I am glad that you said that he didn't have to move off the sidewalk. I'm willing to bet that no white woman has ever told him that before.
No Man Lord! That's what I call him. He had that written on a big sign on a cross in his yard a long time ago. I wonder if he gossips.
DeleteBut yes- I hear you. I frankly have nothing against gossip. I think it's one of the spices of life. BUT, to do it in an ugly, self righteous way annoys me to death. And if you have to lower your voice to do it, then whatever you're saying is mean.
Oooh. No Man Lord. My fingers dance on ahead of my brain most times. I guess that I just assumed that all gossip is mean. I might be wrong about that too.
DeleteYour listening to that dialogue and wondering what the rest of the story is reminds me of characters in Barbara Pym. Some of them do take it further, too! Pym is said to have been a bit of a stalker in real life, do curious about other people.
ReplyDeleteI don't think I could be called a stalker but if someone's having a great conversation that piques my interest, I am definitely going to listen. That happens rarely. Mostly people just talk about the weather and health problems.
DeleteNo, you're definitely not a stalker, just interested in people. You could have whipped out your phone and been fake texting while listening, too. Or so they tell me..
DeleteYour blog is better than the soaps my grandmother and her sisters watched...I've always believed real life is better than fiction.
ReplyDeleteWell I can tell you that real life is stranger than fiction. And often more interesting.
DeleteI think we need you to develop an overwhelming urge to find god and check out all the churches in your area. You owe it to your readers. Who appreciate you! What a lovely thing for Old Man Lord to say to you. And what a lovely thing you said to him.
ReplyDeleteI also need your soup in my life.
That would be a good plan if I could stand to go to church. Of any kind. I would go once to a church that handled snakes, just to see. I'd probably leave early though.
DeleteNo Man Lord seems to have changed his opinion of me lately. No idea why.
I know this is absolutely the wrong thing to say, but when it comes to stuff like crocosmia, I'd be poisoning that whole bed and doing it again whenever new shoots came up until there were none left.
ReplyDeleteI'm very pleased you had a little conversation with Harvey and why wouldn't he like you? You're a nice person.
I hate eavesdropping and having to leave without knowing the rest of the story.
Well, it would take a lot of poison with all of those bulbs. You can dig up about a handful of dirt and it'll have five or six bulbs in it, some of them re-sprouting already. It's insane.
DeleteI had another little conversation with Harvey today!
I agree about the eavesdropping.
Boiling hot salt water might do it. Very salty water.
ReplyDeleteI don't think it would kill those bulbs and also, might prevent something I DO want to grow there to grow.
Delete37paddington: I think you’ve got it exactly right about the moving off the sidewalk bit though his instinct for self preservation saddens me. You’re right too that those times are not behind us. And I’m judging that lady at the post office hard for giving the philandering pastor a pass and zeroing in on his wife and kid. I chortled at you sorting your four pieces of mail.
ReplyDeleteAnd none of those pieces of mail were anything but junk! Ha!
DeleteYes. I am certain that Harvey was deeply engrained with that sort of raising. "Don't look at a white woman, don't talk to a white woman, don't get NEAR a white woman." I bet you anything he heard that more than once growing up. I think that things are changing even though they have not changed enough. Even here in the south. And I know it's not just the south. I see those videos of white women freaking out if a Black man is even parked on the street NEAR their house. What the hell is wrong with people?
Wow, Lloyd is a regular little Peyton Place isn't it! But you're right about the pastor not getting the blame while the wife's attire is most likely the reason for his affair! Patriarchy is well ingrained in some isn't it!
ReplyDeleteWhat place ISN'T a Peyton Place? I have a feeling that many, many churches have similar stories. I was wondering if the wife wasn't trying to look younger to maybe keep her preacher man at home. That would be a possibility. And sad, too.
DeleteI did think your post sounded like a made-for-tv movie, Mary! So many interesting encounters and the intrigue of the post office lady's gossip!
ReplyDeleteYour soup looks delicious!
"Life in Lloyd". But there's no storyline. Just events. Interesting events, for sure.
DeleteThat soup is so good.
I should be out there turning dirt and planting seeds as it's supposed to rain today but I've already had my shower and we have a meeting with our financial advisor this morning. I'd rather it rain than not. I can plant later.
ReplyDeletei pull the crocosmia too but I'm to blame since I planted it but thick or not they won't stand up so that when the few that bloom do bloom they lean way over or on the ground. not sure what border grass is. you don't mean nutgrass do you?
I'd rather turn dirt than go an appointment with a financial advisor. Sometimes you don't get a choice though.
DeleteBorder grass isn't nutgrass. It's Mondo Grass, aka Monkey grass. Have you heard of that? And actually, the type we have in this yard is mostly dwarf Mondo which has a much slimmer blade.
Crocosmia can bite my ass.
Oh, I would have found some other reason to hang around in the Post Office and listen to the rest of that drama! If my shoes were tied, I'd untie them and tie them again -- maybe two or three times! LOL
ReplyDeleteI feel like you JUST pulled all that crocosmia. How does it grow back so fast? I wonder if you could just rototill that whole area. And maybe you could put down a layer of that weed-proofing fabric, and then put dirt on top of that and plant a million ferns? Might be expensive, but it might solve the problem.
I think Old Man Lord has a lot going on in his head at any given time, and there's not always room for others in there.
Oh, man. I should have thought of the shoe-tying thing. Damn.
DeleteThere is no way to pull ALL the crocosmia. I have it everywhere, Steve. It just spreads and spreads. It's like a plague. I guess maybe the weed proof fabric idea might work but I sort of have my doubts.
And I believe you are exactly right about Harvey. His mind is a place I cannot imagine.