Monday, April 22, 2024

Another Day In Paradise, Part Twenty-Seven Hundred And Eight


 I laughed like a drunk chimpanzee when I saw this on Jeff Tiedrich's "Everyone's Entitled To My Own Opinion" substack post today. I learned about Tiedrich from Ellen at Stuff From Ellen's Head. I read Tiedrich everyday and there is no one in the world better at coming up with profane paragraph-long descriptions of Donald Trump. 

It's been a slow day here for me. I spent a great deal of time this morning re-wrapping Lis's birthday present to mail. The woman from whom I bought the gift on e-bay gift-wrapped it for me and I, thinking we would be taking it with us to give to Lis personally, unwisely unwrapped the mailing wrapping because I could have just slapped some new address information on it and sent it like that but no, I had to see the gift wrap and it was so sweet and pretty. 
I have said it before and I will say it again- I am the world's worst wrapper. Not just of gifts but of anything. It took me forever to wrap that box this morning. I'd gone to Publix on Saturday specifically to get two brown bags to use and I got those and scissors and tape and packing tape out this morning and proceeded to do a terrible job of covering the box and, hoping to somehow disguise my ineptitude, I started cutting up one of my old Virgin of Guadalupe calendars and taping those to the top and sides of the box and so now the whole thing is covered in a layer of packing tape, looks like it was mailed from the Vatican, and will probably need a scalpel of some sort to get it open. 
Oh well. 
And of course the post mistress said absolutely nothing about my box decorations, just asked me if it contained anything perishable or potentially dangerous or hazardous, told me how much I owed her, and gave me my receipt and the slip with the shipping number on it. 

And then, because it has been such a beautiful and cool day, I took a walk. 


That is the midpoint of my walk when I go to the county line and back. Those trees knock me out every time. I never get tired of seeing them, never lose my appreciation for their beauty. Unfortunately, the house and yard you can see on your left is the place where there is so much trash strewed around that it's always been a mystery to me how it manages to get so spread about. They also keep some hens and a rooster in a tiny net-tent sort of thing that is barely big enough for the chooks to stand up in, much less move about and that always hurts my heart. 
There may be good reasons that these people live like this but it is a curiosity to me. The contrast between those graceful, spreading trees and what lies below and beside them is so stark. 

I just lost about five paragraphs of what I was writing. Now how in hell does this happen? I have no idea and yet, somehow it does. I was talking about a book that I started listening to a few days ago whose main character was so completely unlikeable that I just could not get very far into it and sent it back through the cybersphere to Hoopla. 
Now I am listening to a book that I found via a New Yorker (or was it a NYT's?) article about the funniest American novels. It's another book by Percival Everett- I Am Not Sidney Poitier. I had written down the titles of some of the books in the article that sounded as if I would like them, and this was one of them. I am not sure if it's one of the funniest books I've ever read, but I am certainly enjoying it. I am so glad that I have finally discovered Mr. Everett's work. It is filled with absurdity and beautifully written. I highly recommend it. 

The rest of my day was mostly spent outside doing more yard work. It is so easy to be overwhelmed by the amount of it that needs to be done. But I was cheered by the presence of Maurice who came out to be with me, making her purpose quite clear instead of pretending otherwise. 



Oh, our crazy sweet girl. 

My husband has been at work over at Lily's new house since before I got up this morning. 
Sigh.
He is so determined to get everything done that he can to make that new house a sweet home for our baby and her babies. 

He is such a good man and a good daddy. We talked on the phone this morning and he made me laugh so much. As I told Jessie a little later, "Your father is a character." 
And he is. 
He is a character of good character. Hard to beat that. 

Love...Ms. Moon


39 comments:

  1. Maybe Trump's leaking pecker is why Melania doesn't love him any more - that is if she ever did. Certainly their marital relationship must be very different from the one you share with Glen. I love that avenue of trees and the gorgeous North Florida light - in spite of what I might see up ahead.

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    1. You know damn well Melania never loved that man. And now I'm sure she loathes him. God knows what it is that makes her stay in the marriage but we can be sure it's not love.
      The light is so beautiful here now.

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  2. I always enjoy your walks.

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  3. Lovely trees, and what a devoted father Mr Moon is. I can't even imagine a parent caring that much, that not being my experience. But how wonderful for that daughter.
    You are still not showing up in my feed. I deleted and reentered and it's not working. So I go back to the loooong blog list and get in from there. Determined.

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    1. I know what you mean, Liz. I never had a father at all, really, and my mother...well. Sometimes I think that if I never did but one right thing in my life it was to give my children a father like Glen.
      Am I back in your feed yet?

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    2. I'm tracking you down to get in! It's ok.

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  4. 'Characters of good character' seems to be a family trait!

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    1. Well, we are all characters. I think we all have pretty good characters too.

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  5. Oh I love that a character of good character…me with a few tears

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  6. What a load walk believe those beautiful trees! I also get very overwhelmed with all the chores I need/want to get done in spring, but somehow it all works out ok in the end! I don’t have a cat to keep me company though.. Mr. Moon is so sweet to help out so much at your daughter’s house, she’s so lucky ❤️ Xo, Rigmor

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    1. What a ‘lovely’ walk is what I meant it to read!😅

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    2. That is definitely the prettiest, shadiest part of that walk. It's a nice thing to see in the middle of it.
      My children are so very lucky to have the daddy they do.

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  7. As with Boud, you're not showing up in my fed either. This has happened with other bloggers here and there and usually sorts itself out. Mr. Moon has a great height advantage with painting the upper reaches. He needs a shorter helper for the lower reaches. No, no, I don't mean you! I was thinking Owen.

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    1. He actually has someone painting with him. An old friend. But it's hard on Glen's legs. He is so tired when he gets home.

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  8. And now - you're back! In my fed, that is.

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  9. Those trees are beautiful and so nicely shaped.
    My first thought when I saw the MSNBC banner was "buy the man a pack of Depends".

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  10. You two are perfect parents and grandparents.
    Those trees are beautiful.

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    1. We are both so far from perfect but we do try.

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  11. I might rival you in the "bad at wrapping" department. Do you ever cut wrapping paper and it comes up "just a little short" at one end, so you end up needing to find something that covers about half an inch of the gift. Drives me bonkers - but I do it every time!

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    1. Oh, all the time! I have no spatial perspective and am too lazy to measure.

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  12. That MSNBC banner almost made me spit my morning coffee out! Haha!! And then when you described your package as looking like it was "sent from the Vatican" I laughed again. You are also a character, Mary Moon! The best kind of character!

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    1. I sort of thought that line about the Vatican was funny too.

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  13. My writing thumbs have worn out, so just quickly t9 say the walk is glorious, your family is wonderful (and you), and Giant Cheetoh’s minimal brains will leak out.

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    1. I would love to see that man's brains just melt out of his ears. Or ass. Either one.

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  14. Mary and Treaders, I hold the record for the World's Worst Wrapper! I am even ugly at Tissue Paper in Pretty Bag Wrapping....I'm serious, not delirious.
    Patricia

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    1. Girl, me too! I can fuck up a gift bag and tissue paper!

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  15. I just can't keep up with my garden this year. The grass and weeds are taking over my flower beds and I probably have to hire someone to come and fix it all up for me. The idea is just daunting to me for a reason I can't figure out but I have to talk to some of my neighbors to see who they use and get on with it. Why do I make it so hard for myself?!
    Your trees are lovely to see and you and Mr. Moon are both wonderful characters! :)

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  16. Lily is so fortunate to have BOTH of you in her life! (As I'm sure she knows!)

    I often see people with trash and whatnot in their yards and I wonder what the heck they're thinking. I guess many people just do not care what their yard looks like, or whether their chickens can stand up.

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    1. It's weird, you know. I don't understand. Messiness to that degree would make me insane. I just wonder what it looks like inside the house but I really do not want to know.

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  17. Maurice reminds me of Bagheera, a softy, wrapped up in a cactus wrapping.
    The trees on your walk are beautiful. I walked at the dog park yesterday and we've had a lot of wind, a lot of trees had been blown over, shallow roots.
    Lily is lucky to have Mr. Moon painting her house. It's so much easier when the house is empty.

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    1. Perfect description of a cat like the ones we have.
      I've seen some downed trees too but I think these got uprooted because the ground was so wet.
      It is easier to paint when the house is empty.

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  18. yeah, that made me laugh too. Tiedrich often makes me laugh and he's always so on point.

    I would have just put the wrapped gift in another box and taped it shut. but then I have a multitude of different size boxes around here. I know what you mean about the yard work being overwhelming. my own yard is overwhelming and now I have the yard across the street to manage too.

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    1. Yeah. I don't have a lot of boxes around the house. So I did it this way. Your way would have been way better.
      Thanks for turning me on to Tiedrich. I look forward to reading him every day.
      It makes me feel a little better, knowing that you get overwhelmed too.

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  19. I used to work in a dairy factory and wrapped forty pound blocks of cheese every day for several years. Package wrapping is easy after all that practise.

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Tell me, sweeties. Tell me what you think.