Almost Home

We said good-bye today to the sweetest rental house imaginable, Jessie and Vergil driving back to Black Mountain and Glen and I to Athens, Georgia. We had such a good time in that little house this year. Actually, it's not such a little house, and does not feel crowded at all with two children and four adults. As I say, it has everything we need, including space. And of course, that creek beside it that sings its own chuckling song all day and all night, lulling and laughing, telling the story of water over rocks, rushing down mountains. 

Yesterday was a big day for all of us. The men and boys went off to hike and fish and the ladies to get pedicures and shop and lunch and be self-indulgent. Vergil took some wonderful pictures of their adventure. 

Not to be outdone, Jessie and I soaked our feet in some sort of bizarre "detoxifying" gel which I will never do again but oh well- that, too, was a sort of adventure.

It was weird, y'all. But the leg massage I got was helpful. I have had a wonky and painful knee for a couple of weeks now which has made it hard to hike or go up or down steps. This is my left knee which just goes out at times. It's been doing it for many years. Usually I can attribute it to something but this time I merely woke up one morning, got out of bed and realized I could not put any weight at all on the knee. After a few minutes of standing upright, the pain eased and all was well and I've just been vaguely curious to experience the comings and goings of the whole situation but in the last few days, it has reached the point where I can't really trust it. It's not that bad, really, but forget hiking. 

After lunch Jessie and I went shopping in some fancy places and I finally bought myself a real and true splatter screen at Williams and Sonoma. The one I had Glen bring home from Dog Island proved to be useless in that it kept catching fire due to the decades of gunk around the edges that I could not scrub away. 
Sigh.
But now I have a really beautiful one. 

After the boys' long day in the mountains, they were wild children, flinging themselves about the house and making the sounds that wild children make. Jessie channeled some of it by helping them brush their teeth.

They finally settled down and went to sleep and after the grown-ups ate our supper, we all got to bed a little early because we knew we had to get up and pack and put the house back to rights. The hostess of this particular house does not ask the guests to do anything except perhaps start the dishwasher but of course Jessie and I are not that sort of women and we stripped beds and washed towels and made sure the kitchen was as tidy as it could be and we all pitched in and got the cars loaded. 

It was a bittersweet good-bye. We'll be seeing them again in a little over a month so it's not a huge deal. Plus, I know that those boys are having one big joyful moment after another on the mountain with their cousins and other grandparents. 

Now Glen and I are in Athens, Georgia where we are staying at the place we always seem to end up in which is fine with me because I love it. They have changed the name this year but very little else.

This carpet in the lobby is new and old and new and I love it.

We ate supper at the place we love.

It is funky and fancy and pretty and they do southern cuisine very well, not making it so haute that it destroys the roots of what makes it good to begin with. It's respectful.

And now we're back in the room, tired but content. Tomorrow we'll be heading back to Lloyd and I will be so very, very glad to be home in my own house, my own kitchen, my own bed. I miss my porches, my garden, my cats, although not in that order. 
Of course it's hot as balls everywhere in the south now and probably where you are too. It's supposed to be 99 degrees as a high for the next four days at home. I wonder if my garden is baked beyond repair. 
We shall see. 

This trip has been great but it is time to tend to my home again which is how I tend to my soul when you get right down to it.

Love...Ms. Moon