It Was Worth Getting Up Before The Sun Came Up

It took me two and a half hours to do the dark green, light blue, and pink scales near Dotty Frances' tail and to start lining the parts of the fins. And add a little bit to her face. 
Two and one-half hours. 
And I wasn't stopping for coffee breaks, either. Oh well. I am going to work on it here at home some more because if I don't, that poor thing won't be fired by the end of this session. 
Pottery seemed rather light-hearted today while at the same time, everyone was busy. Most of us were doing something with glaze. 
Glazing, I guess we would call it. Lizzie was painting her little doggies and cats and snakes. Now THAT is fussy work. I should have gotten a picture. Her hand is far steadier than mine.
Jessie was working on glazing and painting a planter pot she's made for August's birthday which is coming up quick, quick. He has a fern he's been growing on his window sill but it needs a bigger pot and so his talented mama has made him one. She painted a dragon on it which is a copy of a dragon in a series of books that August loves. I believe the dragon's name is "Skywing." She was overwhelmed when she first sat down with her glazes and brushes and the picture she wanted to follow. 
"I can't do this," she said. This is not something I usually hear Jessie say. 
Lizzie and I told her that of course she could and so she began and by the end of class, here's what she and the little pot looked like.

Here's a closer look. 

She painted August's name inside and also Happy Birthday! 
I think that boy is going to be thrilled. 

We were all fairly industrious and I saw a lot of good work being done. 
Gentleman Caller™came in just before class was over. I made Lizzie and him pose for a picture. 

Now is that an adorable couple or what? Lizzie won't be in class next week as she is taking one of her daughters to Belize to celebrate milestone birthdays for both of them. I have to say that Lizzie is a far better mother in many ways than I am. Grandmother too, to tell you the truth. 
Oh well. We get the mother we get. Some kids get a Lizzie, some get a Mary. 

After class, we met Lily for lunch at the former Japanica! now Kyoto. Jessie and Lily got sushi and I got a Bento box with tofu. Of course. And it was good. 

Dammit, right after we got there, Lily said something that made me laugh so hard and I swore to myself that I'd remember it but of course I do not. I'm pathetic. Anyway, I remembered to take their picture. 

Am I a lucky mama or what? 

I have recently learned a new term which I adore. I got it from Elizabeth Aquino's Substack. At least I think I did. The term is "search it up," which takes the place of "look it up" or "google it" because those are now insufficient in a world where there are many, many online sources in which to gather information about whatever you may be wondering about. 
But I simply the love the sound of it and how it so accurately describes what we do now when we are looking for answers to all of our questions. 
Search it up! 

And today I learned a new one. It's the slang word "delulu." Jessie told me this one. Miriam Webster tells us what it means and its derivation HERE. 
It's pretty self-explanatory as of course it comes from the word "delusional" but gosh. How can you not love delulu? 
Are you delulu? Wake up! 
Now will I start using these? 
I shouldn't. When older people use popular slang, I am always reminded of the pastors of churches where guitars were used instead of organs who said things like, "Our god is a GROOVY god. He is a FAR-OUT god." 
Know what I mean? 
Just...no. 
But I hate being cheated out of the opportunity to call someone (including myself) delulu or to tell someone to search it up.
I know I'm old and I would never try to make myself seem cool here in my old age but gee-whiz, Beaver! 
You know what I mean? You get me, man? 

Well, we shall see what happens here. 

Meanwhile, I'm going to go cook some grouper and some sort of vegetable matter. We could have leftover collard greens but despite those hours of simmering, they were tough as old shoelaces. What a disappointment that was. 
However, the beans with smoked turkey were fantastic. So was the cornbread. 
I do have some store-bought okra but I'm thinking I'd like to make a gumbo with that. 
Oh gosh. So many culinary problems. 

Better get to it.

Love...Ms. Moon