Tales Of The City, Or, Village, Actually

This is what the swampy area on the west side of Highway 59 which is really the main route through Lloyd looks like right now. 59 is the road the semis take to get from Highway 27 to Interstate 10. I live a block away from 59 and this verdant, as yet untamed piece of land is probably a third of a mile from my house, if that. All the rain we've been getting has definitely encouraged all types of green growth. 

I took a walk today. I have got to start exercising. I need to walk, I need to do some weight work, and I need to do a few exercises and yoga poses to strengthen these old bones. 

I believe I may have said this before. 

Anyway, the walk I took wasn't very long. Two miles, more or less, first almost to Harvey's on the street I live on, turned around, came back, and walked through Lloyd and back home. 
Here are a few things I saw today. 

That chair sign has been in this yard since 2020, I think. It appeared after the murder of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis. Today, however, it looked like it had been set up in such a way that it is easier to see. Say what you will about Lloyd, that sign still stands.
Of course everyone who walks down the sidewalk in front of the house and yard where it lives, is Black except me. Just about. Come to think about it, I don't know that I've ever seen another white person walking for exercise in Lloyd. When I first moved here 21 years ago and began walking the streets and roads, people would literally stop their cars or trucks and ask me if I needed a ride. 
By now everyone knows me, probably as the crazy white woman who walks. I get a lot of waves but that's probably mostly because we are a waving community. 

The fally down house. It's hard to tell but it is growing ever closer to being completely on the ground. The doorways that used to be tall enough for a person to walk through are now only a few feet high. It is a slow, slow process, but the end of the story is inevitable. I am a little surprised that it hasn't been completely overtaken by jungle. There's another old house nearby, empty and deserted, and you can't even see the house now unless you're really looking and can make out a small part of the roof. 

Looks like the house that was redone and put on the market has sold. I have no idea who bought it but I hope they're good people. I hope they are kind to Abraham who lives next door. I don't think he makes friends easy, though. I know it's taken me all these years to get to the point that he'll wave and talk to me if he sees me. I cherish those conversations. He has lived in Lloyd a long, long time, and he has seen some things. I actually saw him in his yard today but he was using a weed whacker and was very concentrated on his task and was wearing ear protection. I don't think he saw me. I did not interrupt his work. 

I stopped by the post office and gathered my mail, then walked on home. This is standing at the side of Highway 59 on the same plot of land as the P.O.

It's been there for a month or two. Perhaps longer. I have no idea as to what or who it memorializes or what symbology is going on there. Another mystery of Lloyd. 

I went to town after I'd cooled down from my walk. I met Jessie at Costco and we did our shopping. She had to get home in order to pick up the boys after their first day of school, so I went on to Publix by myself. I got what I needed to get there, including some things for the cabin like a new toilet bowl brush, cling wrap, a dish scrubber, stainless steel cleaner, and cleaner for the stove top. I am realizing that I am going to need so many things like kitchen utensils. Have I already said this? But spatulas and knives and wooden spoons and a wire whisk, cheese grater, a zest and ginger root grater, a vegetable peeler, a garlic press, and definitely more pots and pans. I also need a vessel of some sort to put my cooking utensils in because of course I do. I suppose I'll need measuring cups and measuring spoons, serving spoons, and tongs. 
Oh god. It is so overwhelming. I do NOT want to just go to Target to get all of these things. Ideally, I can find a lot of them in thrift stores but of course I am picky, too, and do not want shoddy tools. I am exhausted thinking about this. 

Well. I don't have to do it right away. The house doesn't even have flooring yet. And the downstairs bathroom is waiting for a complete remodel. All that's in there now is a toilet and a sink and the sink is in a horrible cabinet which also must go. I'm pretty sure the toilet is absolutely fine though. 

Glen spent all day dealing with those damn grape vines which had fallen with the tree. This seems to be more of a job than the actual tree removal was. I told him again today that I wished he'd hired someone to do that for him. 
"Oh, I'd never hire someone to do a little job like that," he said. 
Exactly what he always says about these things. 

So of course he's very tired and worn-out and I better go make us some supper. Tonight we'll be having leftover garlicky chicken with lemons and anchovies and before you tell me how much you hate anchovies, let me just say that you've never had anchovies like this because if you had, you would not say that. 

Have you ever tried this stuff?

I never had until I cooked some Rachel had left when she and Hank were housesitting once. I love it. So I believe I'll make some of that, too. There will be vegetables. 

Oh. You know how I'm always going on about Georgia Thumpers? This one was posing on my car hood when I went outside to take my cloth bags to the car after I'd put away my groceries. 

As much as I detest these things because of their proclivity to eat everything in my garden, I can't help but admit they are quite interesting to look at and definitely have their own style. 
That guy is at least three inches long. 
They really do look like something out of a nightmare or a fever dream or an unexplored jungle. But no, they're just grasshoppers, doing their hoppy thing. Do you think that one is giving me a dirty look? I believe it may be. It needn't worry. I really could not bring myself to smash something that large. I just can not do it. 

And so it goes. 

Love...Ms. Moon