Day One-Half Of Solo Time

Glen made it to Dallas where he met up with his sister, Brenda. She lives in Texas and drove from her place to pick him up at the airport and they'll fly to Las Vegas tomorrow. Isn't Brenda beautiful? She is an amazing woman. Some of you may remember that when she was young, she played on an all-woman's basketball team that toured the country called The All American Redheads. This was a huge big deal. They were even enshrined in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2012. Brenda was there. 
I have heard Glen say that really, she was the best basketball player in the family. Of course, when they were playing, women's basketball teams were virtually nonexistent and so while Glen got a full ride scholarship at Auburn University, Brenda had no such opportunity but she did have the opportunity to play with the Red Heads which was a completely different and absolutely as valuable, if not more so, education. 

Here's a retrospective video about the team and Brenda is in it.

She was and is an extraordinary woman and it is her granddaughter who is playing in a national volleyball tournament in Las Vegas this week. She and Glen are very close and I know they're going to have a great week of fun. 

And by the way- have you noticed that Lily is Brenda II? 
Both of Brenda's kids are boys and they favor their Uncle Glen so it all works out. 

While he's gone, Glen wanted to lend a car to a friend of his whose car was in an accident and it's taken so long for repairs that the insurance has quit paying for a rental and so we dropped off his car at her and her husband's house on our way to the airport and we stopped for lunch too. Then off to the airport we went and he unloaded his suitcases and I kissed him good-bye and that is the last I will see of him for NINE DAYS! 
Phew. 

It's funny how I don't even have the slightest bit of FOMO about this. But it's really all for the best that I don't go. If I'm not there, Glen doesn't have to worry about my anxieties or needs or big liberal atheist mouth. He can just be with his family and enjoy the time. I do enjoy listening to the family stories and memories. They're all part of what and who made my husband the man I love. But I think we'll all be happier if I just stay here and live my little Lloyd life. 

I stopped by Publix on my way home and bought a few things to cook for myself. When people hear that I'm going to be on my own for nine days they're like, "Oh, and you won't have to cook for anybody!" and I'm like, "Uh, I love to cook and I will cook for myself." I truly do not understand people who can eat a bowl of cereal for dinner and be happy with that. Sad to say, I guess that cooking and eating are one of my main forms of creative outlet and entertainment.

I haven't done much since I got home this afternoon. Made up the bed with clean sheets, took the trash, stopped by the post office, swept the kitchen, cleaned my kitchen sinks. Stuff like that. Same things I'd be doing if Mr. Moon was here. I finished listening to North Woods by Daniel Mason and I hated for it to end. What a satisfying book. The author has written other books and I will look for those too. He is also a physician. What IS it with doctors who can also write gorgeous books? Abraham Verghese, for example. 

One of the hottest sex scenes I've read in a long time was in Mason's book and it was between two wood beetles and he used the correct scientific terms for all of the parts that were used in the act. 
You gotta be good to figure out how to do that. 

And he is. 

Okay. Here's some pictures. 

What in the world? you may ask. Although it looks like Vergil, August, and Levon have discovered a portal into the red clay underworld of North Carolina, it is actually part of the septic tank system that they've just installed on their mountain property.

I have a picture on the range hood above my stove that Levon drew when we were visiting and were at a restaurant and he was bored. I handed him my little notebook and a pen and asked him to draw me a picture. 

That is Coober, Levon's own personal best stuffed animal friend. I always thought it was "Cooper" but I was wrong. I like Coober even more. Whenever I look at that picture with all the hearts, MY heart misses all of them so. 

That's a Japanese glorybower which is growing in my front yard and although it is closely related to the regular glorybower I have and hate all over this yard, this one does not seem to be nearly as invasive. I say that and I hope it's true and that whoever owns this property after us doesn't end up hating me as much as I hate whoever planted that other variety in the yard because yes, yes, yes. I planted the red one on purpose. 

Can you feel the heat? That's my fig tree from which I got ZERO figs this year. None. Nada. Zip. Too much heat, squirrels, birds...I don't know. I feel like I'll never get to make fig preserves again and I do love them. 

And for right now, here's where Chimp is and what he's wearing. 

Just as I put some of my favorite things in my bathroom, I also put some in my laundry room. I mean- the folding table is a thing of beauty on its own! I spend a lot of time in the laundry room and I walk through it at least twenty times a day, getting from our room and my bathroom to the back porch or to the guest room and vice versa. 

And it has such a nice window. I think that Chimp is happy there. 

I guess that's it. I haven't decided what the menu will be tonight. Glen and Brenda are eating at an Argentinean restaurant in Dallas where the menu is mostly MEAT. I told him that I might just buy myself a steak and cook it to eat while he's having a meat fest. And I did buy a steak today. But I also bought tofu because I love tofu and I'm thinking a nice tofu and vegetable curry with rice might be what I actually want. Of course it won't be an authentic curry but good enough for my uneducated palate. 

I'm leaning towards the tofu. There are also left-over white chicken enchiladas with mango/peach salsa and some pasta with a tomato and spinach sauce. I will not starve nor will I eat cereal.

Maurice seems to have come to terms with her father-human being gone. It's 92 degrees on that back porch. 

Time for a martini. I do believe I'll go shake one up. 

Happy Friday, y'all. 

Love...Ms. Moon