I Hope I Made You Laugh

I invited whatever Weatherfords could make it for breakfast today. It would be more accurately called brunch or second breakfast as we didn't sit down until about eleven. Vergil had some Ultimate Frisbee stuff going on but Jessie and the boys came out. It was the usual- pancakes and bacon and eggs. I tried making sourdough pancakes and they were not very pleasing to me although everyone else said they were fine. I mean- you could put syrup and butter on cardboard and it would fine. I did make some banana pancakes the way Granny Matthews used to make them. I am thinking now she must have had some Cuban influence in her cooking because she used a lot of guava and bananas and other tropical fruits. But her banana pancakes were made by slicing bananas, laying several slices in a circular shape in the skillet in which butter had been melted, sprinkling them lightly with brown sugar, and then pouring enough pancake batter over the bananas to hold them all together, letting it brown on the bottom, flipping the pancake, and letting that side brown. 
Now that is good. The bananas cook to almost translucence and are so sweet that you need no syrup at all. 

While we were eating, August told me that he had invented a segment of time. "Oh really?" I said. "What is it?"
"A banana second. It's a billionth of a nanosecond." 
I wrote it down to make sure I got it right. 

And then Levon, a few minutes later, pointed out a salient feature of the winged mermaid that I have flying above the table on the back porch, which is her breasts. 

I was not kidding when I said that I do love whimsical things hanging from ceilings. 

Anyway, Levon said that the mermaid had "Mama Makers." 

"What?" we all asked.

"Mama Makers!" he said. 
We all agreed that this was quite true and from here on out, I believe we should refer to bosoms as exactly that. 

So they were entertaining as usual and even let me read them part of a Richard Scarry book on the swing porch. It's the swing porch because it has a porch swing on it. Here's one of the doors from which you can access this porch.

That's in the guest room. You can also enter or exit it from steps on the front of it, or through a door that leads off my bathroom. 
We have so many doors, due to the fact that this house has been added on to and added on to and...added on to...over the years. That window you see through the door is in the Glen Den. It's sort of confusing, even to me and I've lived here twenty years. 

Then the boys played some Wii and Jessie did some studying for a neonatal resuscitation class she's taking and I worked on a crossword but mostly we watched the many, many birds come and go from the feeders and of course chatting. At one point, I told her about the campaign signs we'd seen over in Wakulla County when we went over there on Friday. I have no idea what office the person was running for but his last name was "Tooten". 

Because no one ever outgrows fart jokes, Jessie and I laughed and laughed about that. Then I told her what I'd said to Mr. Moon when we were driving past the signs which was, "That's so sad. I know that kid got teased unmercifully." To which I added, "Can you imagine if his best friend was named 'Putin'? People would be saying, 'Oh god. Here comes Tooten and Putin again.'"

This made Jessie and me laugh so hard that when I could get my breath I said, "Do you suppose that anyone's ever died laughing?"
"Sure," she said. 

"I mean, died FROM laughing," I said. "Not like died laughing because they were laughing and then an anvil fell on them."
At that point, I completely lost my shit. It was like if you were in church and had one of those horrible and inappropriate compulsions to laugh and actually let it out, it would have been this intense. 
Know what I mean?
I was crying. I was choking. 

And then it was time for Jessie and the boys to pack it all up and go on home and so they did. It had been so good for my soul to see them and to have that laugh with Jessie. The rest of the afternoon has been sweet and I'm about to make the man some air-fried chicken wings and oyster stew. What a great supper! 
Uh-huh. 
It is Super Bowl Sunday, right? 
I told Jessie I had no idea who was playing. She said that Taylor Swift's boyfriend was playing. "I know that," I said. I don't live under a rock. "But what team does he play on?" 

And she told me because she'd just discussed this with her dad but she couldn't remember the other team and now I can't remember what team that Taylor Swift guy is playing for either. I barely know who Taylor Swift is but I could identify her in a line-up and I hear that she really is amazing. 

Today's camellias. 

I am so glad I planted those things. 

Love...Ms. Moon