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That's the old shed that was built to house the well pump. The pump is not in working order but it's still there and Glen's talking about getting it fixed so we can use that water for the garden. We could definitely use it for our house purposes too, and for drinking, but we're big ol' hotshots hooked up to city water now. Of course the shed is filled with junk we'll probably never use again and should definitely throw out. One of these days...
Meanwhile, the phlox are decorating the exterior in their fine and cheerful manner. 

So. What does one do when one is leaving town for a week or so in two days? Organize and pack, you say? Tie up your loose ends? 

Of course not! One cans all the beans in the house! 

I decided to do quarts today because when we have big family dinners, that will be more appropriate to have on hand. 

I did a lot of other stuff too. I got Mark's bed all ready for him and did some laundry and I filled up the pill containers I need to take with me and I put all the potatoes that were on a sheet on the guest room floor into bags and put those in the pantry. I gave Jack his pill. 
And there was this.

I ironed shirts and dresses. And watched "Call the Midwife" as I did so. How many thousand years has that show been on? It's still so great. I love how it deals with so many difficult subjects like infidelity, alcoholism, interracial couples, domestic abuse, poverty, autism, sex work, abortion, incest, homosexuality, racism, rape, death, and adoption, always with realistic and accurate scenes of births regularly portrayed, and let us not forget- nuns! The best nuns ever are on that show. And those women do not age! It can be a bit treacly at times, but then it'll turn around and bite you on the butt with reality. 

I hope the show stays on for another thousand years. Watching it makes ironing fun. 
You can quote me on that. 

All right. Those of you who have been here forever (and thank-you from the bottom of my heart) probably remember when I was acting in plays in Monticello. That was one of the best times of my life. And one of the main reasons was this man. 

Jack Williams. 
And he was just as dear and loving and smart as that picture makes him look. Some years ago, his true love, his wife Jan, died not so long after they finally got together and I just found out a few days ago that Jack has died too. Jan and Jack got married in my back yard

in 2011 and it was an almost perfect day. I say "almost" because our dear friend in crime and in life, Colin, had recently passed away. 
So many people from that group have died. My heart breaks every time I think of them. I loved them all so. 

I wrote a very long post in 2010 about Jack and Jan's love affair. 
Nobody needs to go back and read that but I just want to say for the record that it's there and I wrote it with all of the tenderness of my heart, and all of the truth in my soul. 

And now Jack is gone. So many people have said, "Well, he and Jan are together again," and I kind of wish I believed that. I don't really understand though, why that would matter. They were together here. In their real living-on-earth lives. They didn't have nearly enough time together but in the time they did have, I doubt they wasted a single moment of the joy they had in being together, finally and at last. 

That's it from me today.

Love...Ms. Moon