Maybe I Should Be A Life Coach. My Mantra Would Be- Fuck It! Also, Back-To-School Photos

I had noticed that the butterfly ginger was blooming a few days ago and then, as I am wont to do these days, instantly forgot. This morning though, I was determined to get a few more branches and sticks to the burn pile and as I was loading some downed pecan branches in the backyard, I remembered the ginger lilies and found them and cut two branches. They smell so good. I picked some zinnias to go into a vase with them and although I did not take the time or care to really make a balanced arrangement, it is still colorful, cheerful, and sweetly scented and that is good enough. 

I didn't overdo it in the yard. I was probably only out there for about thirty minutes or so but it felt good to get a little of Debby's detritus cleared. There is much more to be done but as we recover it's going to be done slowly. And we won't even talk about the heat which is, to put it mildly, oppressive. It's almost six o'clock in the evening and it's 93 here with 99% humidity. The tallest trees in the yard look to me as if they are having to use all of their energy and will to stand erect, as if acting only under orders of a screaming sergeant at boot camp. 

I am probably just projecting. 

Today was the first day of school for my babies. Due to having a fever and a cough (it's not covid!), August could not go but he was there for first day pictures. 

And Magnolia, Gibson, and Owen all had to pose for their parents too. 

This year Lily has a child in elementary school, middle school, and high school. Hoo boy. That's a lot. 

I did a quick run to town this afternoon to take Hank to a doctor's appointment. I was going to drop him off and go to the library for books but on my way to the library I remembered that it was Monday and THE LIBRARY IS CLOSED ON MONDAY! I seem to need to be reminded of this weekly. Why? For one thing, not having a job or a schedule, "Monday" is just a rather vague concept to me. And I have no idea about any other reason other than I just forget. And I was really excited to find some new books. I'm down to rereading an old Larry McMurtry that I never liked that much to begin with. I think it is one of the books he wrote after he had heart surgery which led to a period of deep depression. He did not stop writing, but it was not a time of his best writing. I am sure I could go peruse the shelves in my own library and find another book I've already read but probably forgotten most of and perhaps I'll do that. It's just that I always seem to go back to McMurtry when my life is in turmoil or unsettled. I suppose I could use these opportunities to read Proust (which would definitely be for the first time) or something else timeless and classic but I doubt that would fill my particular need. Or perhaps it's time to return to Keith Richards' "Life." The book that started it all for me when it comes to that particular Rolling Stone. Maybe a shot of the immortal Keith is what I need. 
Or maybe I need to go back to the library when it's open. I will admit that I tried, I tried, to read the newest Zadie Smith book but after getting over halfway though it, I just could not go on. 
I did not care. I did not care about the characters and I did not care about the story. I am too old to force myself through books that mean nothing to me. I am sure they mean something to the author and mean something to other readers but if I am not one of those, I let that book go. I used to feel like it was my duty to finish all the books that I started because the author had worked so hard on them and had such dreams for them and who was I to so casually toss those books aside? I no longer feel that way. 

I am under no obligation to read any book that does not bring me some enjoyment. I'm just not. It's not unlike refusing to go to gatherings where I would be expected to make small talk with people I neither know nor really care to know. 

I'm just not going to do it. Life is short so read the good things, wear the comfortable things, eat the things that bring you pleasure and sustenance, and love the people worth loving. 

That's all I've got tonight.

Love...Ms. Moon