Chopping And Stirring And Washing And Baking. My Almost Perfect Day

Last night's pizza party and sleep-over was excellent! Maggie helped me in the kitchen and we ended up making four separate not-tiny pizzas. In the picture above, as you can see, she is eating black olives which I had placed on each of her fingers.
"This is the mommy, this is the daddy, this is the sister, this is the brother, and this is the baby," she said and then she proceeded to chomp them all up.
She was surprisingly good at helping to roll and stretch the pizza dough. We are not experts but we got the job done. First we pounded the dough with our fists and then we rolled and then we stretched.

She was really good at helping put the toppings on too, from cheese to pineapple. I was seriously impressed.
I wish I had taken pictures of those pretty pizzas but I didn't. Everyone was hungry and I had to get them in the oven. When they came out, Owen cut them all up for me and he did a great job with that.

And then we ate. Everyone was quite pleased with their own personal choices.

Next up- bath time! Owen showered by himself in Boppy's shower because he's like a man now but Gibson and Maggie wanted to take their bath in my tub which is quite large and deep. Gibson wanted me to be the beauty parlor lady which is something I've been doing since my own kids were little. I adopt a (terrible) English accent and pretend to be not myself and I swear that the children sort of forget that I'm actually someone they know. They'll tell the beauty-parlor lady things that they would never tell Mer. Or, Mom, going back in history.
Last night Gibson told me, as I scrubbed his head and told him in my different voice that he had such "lovely, thick hair" that he is in love with a little girl named Aida but that he's not sure that she loves him too. But he's making her paper hearts.
As the beauty-parlor lady I counseled him to be very sweet to her and yes, give her the hearts, and see what happened.
Maggie didn't care at all about the beauty parlor lady and she didn't want her hair washed but she did play with the ducks and had a good time getting clean.

Then pajamas and purple cows and figuring out sleeping arrangements. Gibson and Maggie shared the bed and Owen slept on the floor on the fold-out mattress. Once we got the pillows and blankets and covers all figured out we read about six books although Owen fell asleep before we were finished and Gibson was nodding at the end of Banjo Granny, the last book. Kisses, tucking in, etc., etc.
Maggie kept telling me she was sleepy but I had my doubts. I told her that I'd be taking a shower which would require me to walk through their room. She said, "When I see you, I'll probably say, 'What do you think you're doing?'"
And then she asked if she watch me take a shower and I told her that I like my privacy when I shower and she understood. It did take a little while to settle her down but it wasn't a huge production and soon she too was fast asleep.
So I got an actual nine hours of sleep before all three of them appeared in my doorway this morning like three little bears and I said, "Come get in this bed and cuddle me!" and they did for a minute and then went to find Boppy who'd already gotten up.
I got up and realized how much easier it was to be cheerful about making breakfast when I was fully rested.
We had our traditional sweet potato and banana pancakes with bacon.

Maggie wanted to sit in "Levon's" high chair and so she did. I thought her new black dress looked lovely on her but the boys said she looked like she was going to a funeral. "No," I told them. "She is elegant!" She likes it.

Soon enough Mama came to get them and I got the house back in order and the kitchen cleaned up and got a call from my across-the-street neighbor. Her husband had rotator cuff surgery on Thursday and yesterday SHE tripped and fell and broke her elbow! 

Are you kidding me? 

So I promised her some food and Jessie texted me that now she feels like she is getting sick and so I made a huge pot of venison and vegetable soup and two loaves of very pretty bread. 

I would love to bring all of Jessie's family here to tend to but I guess I don't need the flu. Somehow I feel as if I've had everything and am immune to it all but I know that's probably not true. Mr. Moon dropped off her soup and bread on his way to a basketball game and I took the neighbors' supper over. 

So between all of the soup making and bread baking and laundry-doing and whatever else it was I was doing today, I never did take a nap but didn't feel as if I really needed one. 

And honestly, this is the sort of day that soothes my soul although knowing that Jessie's whole family is sick is not soul-soothing at all. But I had fun with three of my grands and I got to brush and braid Owen's hair which is so much like his mama's hair although hers was never as long as his is. I got to have good chats with Gibson and sweet times with Maggie and I never had to put on my stern voice to get her to stay in bed. 

It's going to get cold again tonight and I have heat and food to eat and people to love and care for. 

I listened to some of the orange intestinal blockage's lawyer's testimony and it was fucking pathetic. Basically all they have is bullshit lies about procedural issues. Honestly- even if no more witnesses or documents are allowed in the trial (what a travesty of justice), Americans are watching this and we can't all be idiots. 

Of course that's what I thought before the election too, and see how that's turned out. 

Well, we shall see, right? November will truly tell the tale. 

I think I'll go heat up some pizza. 

Love...Ms. Moon

Spend The Night Time Is Here

The gang is all here, the pizza dough is rising.
Owen wants bacon and pepperoni, Gibson wants cheese and Maggie wants olives. Boppy likes ham and black olives and pineapple.
Mer likes whatever is left but I did get some spinach to put on one.
I have stocked up on lime sherbet, grape juice and ginger ale for the traditional spend-the-night dessert we call a Purple Cow. It's sort of like Methodist Punch but we don't serve it in a punch bowl although WE COULD!

We haven't quite figured out the sleeping arrangements. Maggie, not unlike her mother when she was a small child, doesn't like to go to sleep until well into the night and the last time she stayed here she ended up sleeping with Owen and Gibson in their bed which led to Owen saying the next morning, "I didn't sleep LIKE a baby, I slept ON a baby."
I know she really wants to sleep with me but there is no bed in the world big enough for Magnolia, Boppy, and Mer. She's made out of velcro when it comes to sleeping and I'm just too old to be clung to throughout an entire night. Yes, it sounds delightful but trust me- it's not so much.
Perhaps one of the boys will sleep on the fold out bed that August sleeps on and Maggie can sleep on the big bed with one of her brothers.

I did take a nap today and I feel certain I'll be taking one tomorrow too.

It's almost dark and the birds are tweeting themselves to sleep. This morning a giant Pileated Woodpecker was looking for his breakfast in one of the Bradford pears outside the porch. He was glorious but I could not get a picture without disturbing him into flight. The camellias seem undaunted by our recent weather.

Another beautiful Dr. Tinsley. 

Miss Curly Pie wants to have a conversation with me so I suppose I better go. 

I wish all of us sweet dreams and peaceful sleep. 

Happy Friday, y'all. 

Love...Ms. Moon

Anti-Gratitude Post (i.e. Bitch, Bitch, Bitch)

That was Maurice last night being finger-fed whipped cream from Mr. Moon's dessert. She loves sweet dairy products like flavored yogurt but she won't touch milk or plain yogurt or cottage cheese. She'll eat any brand or flavor of dry cat food I buy but turns up her nose at organic roast chicken or venison, raw or cooked. However, she loves deli turkey. 

Wherever it is that she first got her start in life must have been somewhat humble. Jack's pretty much the same way although he doesn't even like sweet dairy products. Mostly he just wants cat food. Whatever's on sale is fine with him. 

I've been in a bad mood all day long despite that fact that some overalls I ordered got here today and they fit me and I sort of love them. When I'm in a bad mood I figure I might as well do some cleaning so that's what I did today. I scrubbed the kitchen bathroom and rearranged stuff on top of the kitchen hutch and on what should be the place where I roll out pastry but in all actuality has become the place where everything from vases to liquor to plastic mermaids get stashed. 

(And this is the tidied-up version.)

This put me in despair. 

Why do I have all this shit? 

Not the liquor. 

I have spent half my life buying things at thrift stores that not only do I never use but which do not begin to strike any damn joy in my heart. I am getting rid of a few things and wish I could just take a hammer to the rest of it. The cabinets over that place where everything gets stashed are all arranged rather precariously and sometimes when I open a door to it something gets out of balance, causing platters to push forward and things to get knocked over where they land on the marble and instead of weeping I just laugh with delight. 

GONE! 

I do have some bowls that I love but I love bowls. And I love some of my vases too and I use my vases and when I say "vases" I include in that all the different things I put flowers in ranging from pitchers to silver coffee servers to little bottles to real vases. But dear GOD, the vast majority of the stuff doesn't get used from one end of the year to the next. I used to have big dinners here but lately Lily's taken over that role and so my gravy boat, my platters, my serving bowls with lids, my relish trays- there is no need for them in my life. 

We won't even discuss the punchbowl. 

What? Do I look like a lady who serves punch? 

Anyway, whatever. Just one more thing to be pissed off about and I can only blame myself. 

But like I said, I got rid of a few things (or at least they've made it to the car to be taken...somewhere) and I rearranged some stuff and I beat myself up and swept and I mopped and I washed rugs. 

Who cares? 

No one cares. 

No one. 

Here's some good news- after looking at that picture I have decided to get rid of the old Faux Fiesta Ware platters. I went through a phase of liking that stuff but I'm long over it. When they had to stop making the great colors of the originals because of the high lead content, it just wasn't the same. 

Sigh...

We're supposed to start getting rain tonight with chances of it continuing throughout tomorrow. That's fine with me. My hips are telling me that it's going to rain. 

Pain. Rain pain. A fairly reliable weather forecaster which only the injured and elderly have access to. Or olderly, as I say. And trust me- by the time we're olderly or elderly, we are all the injured. 

Vergil and Mr. Moon are both feeling better although honestly, I can tell that Glen's not feeling great. He went to work but he probably shouldn't have. But now August is sick. 

Good god. 

Let's see. What else can I bitch about? 

I'd say the impeachment trial but that goes without saying. 

Adam Shiff, however, is awesome. 

Here's a picture Lily just sent me of Magnolia and her grandfather at a basketball game of Owen's. 

Nothing to complain about there. 

And Maggie and her brothers are coming over tomorrow to spend the night. I asked if they wanted pizza and the response was yes but the kind I make. 

Myself. 

And you know I will. 

I better get my bitchy achy ass off this chair and go make some supper for that handsome guy in the picture above. He'll be home soon. 

Love...Ms. Moon

I Love That Big Boy

This morning I felt almost merry as I bustled about getting ready to go to town. I had convinced Mr. Moon to stay home today and I made him a nice bowl of oatmeal and I let the chickens out and fed them their scratch. I got dressed and got in the car and took off. When I got to Jessie's I helped get the boys in their shoes and jackets and buckled into their car seats and off we went to see Melissa. Levon seemed neither excited nor worried about getting his hair cut. He's a fairly pragmatic little guy for the most part, not unlike his brother and his dad. When we got to Melissa's shop August said, "I know this place. I can see how it looks inside, too."
"I bet you can!" I told him. And we tromped in to be greeted by the beautiful and lovely Melissa. She trimmed Jessie's hair first and then they discussed what Jessie wanted Levon's hair to look like. Melissa, who is so wise in the ways of children, asked which part was the most important because if a little one starts crying in her chair she says, "That's that!" and sends them off because she refuses to traumatize the child. Jessie said that the bangs were probably most important and Levon sat on Jessie's lap and accepted the cape being put around him. It was the same cape that Owen used to wear when Melissa cut his hair.

Both boys were given lolly pops and the hair cut became a group effort. I just sat and watched and took pictures. The little guy didn't seem a bit worried about the process. He let Melissa do her thing and if there were an award for a stylist getting a child's hair cut in a short amount of time, she would win it. 

Snip, snip. Reassurances. Praise from all of us. Lolly pop rinsed off in the shampoo sink. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Here's what Levon looked like when it was at the mullet stage. 

We considered leaving it like that. 

"I do love a mullet!" said Melissa. She's from Alabama. We discussed Joe Dirt. She continued to snip and then she did a little buzzing which made the boy laugh and then, TA-DA! It was done. 

He's still our Levon but he's a much more mature Levon. Don't you think? 

Again, he was neither impressed nor worried, just accepting his new hairstyle and still enjoying his lolly pop. The brush on his neck with powder did make him giggle. 

Once again, Melissa worked her magic and we love her. 

Off we went to Midtown Pies to see May, meet Lily and Maggie, and have lunch. 

We had delicious salads and pizza and Maggie played with the salt and pepper and cheese shakers again and May changed the channel on the TV to something for kids at August's request. 

He was in heaven. 

It got very busy just as we were finishing our lunches and we waved our good-byes and kisses to May. And then the children posed for me at my request. 

"Cheese, cheese, cheese!" they are chanting.

My beautiful babies. 

When we were eating I was looking at Maggie and I told her mama, "You know, sometimes she reminds me of Madonna." So many of her expressions are very strike-a-posable. That girl's going to be something. That girl is already something. 

She hugged August and he hugged her back when we split up in the parking lot. And when we got to Jessie's and she dropped me off at my car before taking the boys to a playground to try and wear them out for a nap, I kissed them and told them I loved them. 

"Love you!" said Levon. 

"I love you, big boy, "I said. 

"I love you, big boy!" he said back to me. 

Who would have thought that being called big boy would ever be something that could please me so much? 

Who would ever have thought that watching my fifth grandchild get his first real haircut could move me so much? 

Yes. I did tear up today and Jessie laughed and told the story about how I cried once when she was little and was just getting so good at roller blading. 

"You're growing up too fast!" she claimed I said as I was crying. 

I'm sure she's got the story right. I'm also sure that children do grow up too fast in the eyes of their parents and grandparents. 

That's life. 

It was a good day. 

Love...Ms. Moon

Bungling On

The Great North Florida Ice Storm of 2020

I have been terrible lately at answering comments. I have a lot on my mind but that's really no excuse. I'll try to do better. 

It did freeze last night as you can see in the picture above. That's from where I left the garden sprinkler dripping. Not very impressive, is it? Truthfully, it's rare to see ice in the wild here in North Florida. The odds of seeing a bear are probably greater. 

I saw No Man Lord this morning, hoofing it down the sidewalk towards the convenience store so he made it through the night. I threw up a hand as I passed him on my way to the dump. He waved back. 

I spent half the day in town today. I decided that I HAD to have some cotton wool to crochet some potholders with. 

I know- truly a necessity. I've been using potholders that my mother-in-law crocheted since at least before 1991 because that's the year she died and they're starting to get holes in them and holes will NOT do in potholders especially if you're dealing with balls-of-Satan levels of heated cast iron. And yes, I know you can buy perfectly good potholders but why give up a chance to sit on my butt and watch TV? I am terrible at crocheting. I can't control tension. Same for knitting. I just don't have the knack. But I suppose I may be able to manage a potholder or two. 

I also wanted to get picture frames for Mr. Moon's grandparent's photos. So I went to Michael's where I got both the cotton and the frames. Then I went to Old Navy because it's right there and I wanted some socks. They didn't have any socks that I liked but I did get a dress on the sale rack that's soft and cozy and will be a good winter house-dress with leggings. Last week in my closet I found two pairs of leggings that I'd bought last winter and never opened so I'm good there. They, too, are soft and warm. I also got Magnolia a dress for about six dollars. It's black and sophisticated with a cowl neck and it's as soft as my dress. All she needs is a pearl necklace and she could dine at Tiffany's. 

I did grocery shopping and was incredibly proud of myself for getting everything on my list and a few things not on the list that I needed but had forgotten to write down. The proudest moment of my day, however, came when I remembered to put "cough syrup" on the list. Mr. Moon had asked me to buy some last night when we got in bed and although I said I would, I had very real doubts that I'd remember. But I did. Call Ripley's. 

He's under the weather and that's all there is to it. Vergil, too, is now sick with something that sounds horrible. He had severe stomach issues and then a horrible headache and couldn't do anything but sleep. Poor man. 

2020 isn't turning out to be the best year so far. It just isn't. The freaking Republican party has overtaken the US government and used the Constitution as toilet paper to wipe their entitled asses on. Where do we go from here? Who sues them? I don't think the founders envisioned this sort of mass treason. I feel completely hopeless. 

There's nothing more I can say about that. 

I'm in such despair that I've made the most god-awful comfort food dinner you can imagine. The ingredients are as follows: 

Ground beef (or my case, ground venison)

Lipton's Onion Soup Mix

Tomato sauce

Flour

Water

Macaroni

Cheese

I believe you can discern what this 1970's era casserole will taste like. I'll try to balance it out with a salad from the garden but that's sort of like getting the double blue cheese burger with fries and a Diet Coke. 

I'm not even fooling myself. 

Oh well. 

Hank posted a thing on FB today that is very interesting and also, fun. If you text to the number 57251 and write in the text the words "Send me" followed by a simple keyword or color, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art will send you an artwork to represent that. 

It works. 

I just sent in the word, "Florida" and got this back. 

"Bill Maris, 'Paul Rudoph, Milam Residence, Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, 1962, 1962"

Pretty cool, huh? 

Go have some fun with it. 

Levon is getting a haircut tomorrow at 10:15. I'll be there, good Lord willin' and the creek don't rise. There will be pictures of my littlest man growing up in the space of a few minutes. 

Sob. 

Mr. Moon just asked what we're having for supper and I showed him the casserole in its lovely Le Creuset baking dish with the cheese all melted on it and said, "I made it just for you. I know it's your favorite." 

He looked at it and perked right up. 

"That just might really BE my favorite," he said. 

I know my man. 

Maurice is not impressed. 

It's so warm in my house. I am still thrilled about that. 

Take care. 

Love...Ms. Moon

It Was The Best Dream

I woke up this morning and did not even want to get out of bed where it was warm and safe and where Jack was firmly positioned next to my hip. Although I knew that it was a possibility that the heating crew would be here today I didn't put any stock in that idea. I thought that tomorrow would probably be more likely, even Wednesday.
But. I got a text from my husband saying that they would indeed be here between 9:00 and 9:30 which was plenty of reason to get up and get to it and so I did.
And the men showed up before 9:30 and I offered to make them coffee or bake them a cake or, well, anything.
Turns out the only thing they needed was for me to show them the vents where nothing came through and where the breaker panel is and so forth which I gladly did.
I sewed all day and the dress is done but for the hem but it looks so godawful on me I may end up wadding it up and throwing it in the trash.
It's not the dress's fault. I'll leave it at that.

Anyway, as I sewed men crawled underneath my house and rehung some ductwork that yes, critters have torn up, and took things apart and put things together and put the old unit on the truck (buh-bye,  you POS!) and put the new one in its place higher off the ground and hooked up stuff and did whatever sort of thing it is that these magicians do and the owner of the company came by and we chatted for awhile. He's a very sweet man and we've known him forever and he's been going through things that would probably kill me but he seems to be doing it with grace and fortitude.
I do not know how.
And finally a new thermostat was installed and the men cleaned up all their tools and stuff and drove away and it's warm in my house.

I am so grateful. So, so very grateful.

And that's why I didn't make it to the Junior Museum but a lot of the rest of the family did and Rachel sent some pictures. Here are two of my favorites.

I'm sorry I missed that but it is what it is. 

Of course the boys were out of school today because it's Martin Luther King Day and there have been so many tributes to him on Facebook, or at least my little corner of it, and I'm glad of that. But they also make me sad because I don't think Dr. King would be so very happy with what's happening now in this country. Perhaps if he had lived we would be in a better place but the fact is, his dream is still just a dream for so many people. 

Still, I refuse to believe that his life was for naught. The dream he dared to dream infused so many with hope and with determination, gave courage to those who believed in that dream. And there has been change, of course there has but it's been so slow and we are so far from a full realization of true equality for all. 

Let's face it- little children are still judged for the color of their skin, not to mention their parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts, and cousins. And their older brothers with far too frequently mortal results. 

Okay, okay. I know that you know. I know we all know. But I'll never forget the day Dr. King was assassinated. And then, less than two months later Robert Kennedy was shot and killed. I believe that those two events along with the assassination of President Kennedy truly influenced the way I came to see this country. Not as a place where freedom rings but as a place where shots ring out to silence the voices of those who dare speak out against hate and intolerance. 

Meanwhile, here I am, a very white woman living in a very racially mixed community in a house that might well have been built by the ancestors of some of my neighbors and I am fortunate in all regards, especially as to creature comfort, to the security of having a solid and warm house to shelter me as I sleep. 

I wonder how No Man Lord is doing tonight in his RV with the blue tarp for a roof. 

Probably not so well. 

Stay warm,  y'all. 

Love...Ms. Moon

The setting sun has laid a pink stripe across the sky as if a giant child had dipped her hand in paint and swiped it across the darkening gray. It's very quiet in Lloyd tonight, I hear only traffic now and then and the lonely cry of some bird, settling into its roost.

The temperature is dropping and I have my space heaters and gas logs at the ready. I've covered up my porch plants and have brought a few inside but I'm worried that the wrapped ones may not survive tonight's light freeze and then two nights down into the twenties. The camellias which are already open will be frozen for sure but the buds will be fine, I think.
And I have discovered over the years that many of my potted plants may look dead after such weather but if I cut them back and am patient, they may well shoot forth green growth again in the spring.

This morning when it was still warmish, Jessie brought the boys over and I made pancakes and we read books and August got to watch some TV. Vergil and Glen left early for the island and we women are workin'-man widows tonight. I just got a text saying that they've gotten power to the pump and are trying to prime it right now. Getting water back on is a major priority, of course. We don't drink that water but we use to wash dishes and our bodies and hands. And to flush the toilet with. Running water if a mighty fine thing, isn't it?

Both of the boys were wearing overalls when they got here. August was wearing the old green ones that had belonged to May when she was a little girl that I have been decorating in my hippie, funky fashion.

I love doing that so much. It's such a simple and fun thing to do. I almost feel like a child with the absolute freedom of choosing stitches and colors and beads. But a child who gets to use a needle and sharp scissors. 

Here's Levon wearing his undecorated overalls riding the horse in the library. 

As you can see, my Christmas tree is still inside but that turns out to be a good thing. 

The pink pants I made for Levon just did not do. The pattern called for a knit- something that would stretch- and I, in my usual slap-dash fashion thought I could adapt it for a non-stretchy fabric and it turned out that no, I could not. 

Or at least I did not. 

But I so wanted to make him a pair of pants so I rustled around in the fabric dresser and found some old cloth that I had used in a quilt sometime back that is as nubby as a chenille bedspread and so soft that you know it's made out of a not-found-in-nature material but Levon said he liked it okay despite the fact that it was green, not pink, and like I said- nubby. 

So here he is in his bedspread pants. 

They're either the tackiest thing I've ever seen or the cutest. I'm not sure which. But I managed to whip them up in about forty-five minutes. I'll tell you the truth- I couldn't make a pair of pants without a pattern if my life depended on it but with a pattern for kid pants, it's the simplest thing in the world to do. I am not a natural seamstress in the least. I need a pattern. Luckily, they still make them. 

After Jessie and the boys left I felt not really sad and not really lonely but definitely glad that I'd had such cheerful visitors for part of the day. One of the books that August really wanted me to read was The Jolly Christmas Postman. He claims that this is his favorite book ever in his life. Of course I read it to him and it's full of really bad jokes and when I say bad I mean just completely silly but they make him laugh and he always says, "That's a good one!" which makes me laugh. Often Levon will repeat, "That's a good one!" after his brother says it and then he laughs too although I am sure that he has no clue as to the supposed humor to be found. 

Anyway, I tidied up a bit and did some laundry and then I ironed the flannel I bought to make my dress and I laid it all out and pinned the pattern pieces on and cut it out. I ran a bobbin of the thread I'll be using and now everything is ready for me to start sewing. I was thinking I'd do that tomorrow, shutting myself into the dining room where I have my sewing machine set up and which has one of the gas log fireplaces in it but Lily has texted to see if we all want to go to the Jr. Museum, braving the cold. 

That could be fun too. 

We shall see. 

Meanwhile I just have to finish up this Sunday, put it in an envelope and slide it under the boss's door, clock out and go to bed. 

I sure hope Jack wants to sleep with me tonight. I'm going to need all the warmth I can get and he's a comfort, for sure.

Here's a picture I just got from Dog Island. 

That's Florida, y'all.  

Love...Ms. Moon

Love The One You're With

My old man's got way too much on his plate right now. Some of it business, some of it not. Quite frankly, I'm not sure how he holds everything together. And he puts his heart into everything so that nothing he does is by rote or without thought.
The other day I was looking at him and it struck me so damn hard how lucky we are. So very few people make it to a long marriage and that's okay but there's something to be said for having a companion for twenty, thirty or more years. There's a tenderness that can grow after the younger, sometimes more turbulent years. A respect develops, for certain. A deep wonder when something new is revealed about someone you've loved for decades. The fear of losing someone to another person or of them simply falling out of love with you is replaced by the the sure knowledge that one of you will go before the other which makes the time go way too swiftly, which makes the heart fill far more frequently when you ponder what that person means to you and how much of your life is consumed and defined by the fact that you spend it with him. Or her.

When you have a child you have an immediate and overwhelming sense of the need to protect that baby, to keep it alive and as healthy and robust as possible. When you're in love with someone for many years into older age, that same sense of wanting to protect and ensure the safety of your love becomes more and more intense as time goes by.
Well, at least this is true for me.
And when things are hard for your love, you ache for them. You want to smooth it away. You want them to be...happy.

I guess that's as good a definition of love as any.

And Mr. Moon will be fine. He and Vergil are heading back over to the island tomorrow. They're going to spend the night so they're packing food and provisions as if they were going to be camping which in a way, they will be. I'm glad they're going. On Dog Island there is not much you can do about the world beyond that beautiful bay. It's over there, you're on the island and you are forced by circumstance to be more mindful of exactly what is in front of you, whatever it is you're dealing with. That will be good for him.

Meanwhile today I worked outside some, pruning my roses probably at the exact wrong time but as I told my husband, I have no idea what I'm doing but whatever I do the roses never seem to die so who cares? I also kneeled in the dirt and did some weeding and the weeding I did under one of those roses led to an epiphany. There's a sort of stinging nettle plant that grows in the yard and is profuse under that rose. I hate it. Even when I wear gloves and long pants, it can somehow make its way through to my skin and after the original lit-on-fire feeling, it itches and burns and now this evening even hours after exposure, one of my knees is buzzing with it. For a long time last year I had a horrible pain in that same knee when I'd put weight on it and now I'm wondering if that nettle isn't like the red coral I inadvertently sat on once while putting on my fins in Cozumel and which itched and tormented me for a good six months. Could the microscopic toxic hairs of the nettle plant stay underneath the skin for that long?
Who knows?
I've googled this horror of a plant and I believe it's name is Urtica Chamaedryoides. Also known as "Fireweed" which is just about right.
Funny that I described the initial sting as feeling like being "lit on fire".

I started and almost finished a pair of pants for Levon. Jessie told me yesterday that it's a fight every day when he gets dressed because he wants to wear a certain pair of pink pajama pants but they're shorts. Which is fine in summer but it's about to get cold again. So I got out an old pattern of Maggie's and whipped up a pair of dark pink flannel pants. I hope they fit him. I hope he likes them enough to wear them because they will keep his little legs warm.
I'll finish them when I have the actual boy around to make sure the elastic in the waist is the right length and to see how long to hem the legs.

Some camellias I picked today.

I have identified that camellia on the left which I love so much as a Dr. Tinsely variety. A rather pragmatic name for such an ethereal flower.

I don't know the names of these but they are quite large and have bigger leaves. Each of the blossoms is heavy and dense, despite their delicate appearance. 

These are my musings tonight. 

Let's love each other. Let's take care of each other. Honestly, we're all we have. 

Love...Ms. Moon

Everything Including The Kitchen Sink

That's a tiny white violet (a joyful oxymoron, I think) growing in my yard today. I love that picture. If you expand it you can see the tiny little hairs (what is their real name?) on the lip petals leading into the sweet center.
I'll just leave that right there.
Sometimes the iPhone shocks me with its ability to take pictures. This one was snapped on my way to the clothesline to send to a friend who lives where it's snowing and I wanted to share that little bit of a different sort of landscape with her.

This morning I felt the need to hang laundry on the line and make a soup and a loaf of bread. I like to start my sourdough the night before but sometimes I just don't realize that I'm going to want bread until the morning I want it and I have found that actually, with a little light coddling and warmth it can work out fine. It's in its rising bowl now and my cast iron dutch oven is in the oven, getting hot as the balls of Satan.

So I started the bread and I started garbanzo beans and I washed sheets and towels and I hung those on the line. I hurried with these things because I wanted to meet Jessie in town at Costco and she was on a schedule because she had to pick up August from his little school at one.
I did meet them and we did a quick shop unhindered, sadly, by the presence of any samples which is always vastly disappointing.
Really, Costco?
Levon wanted to walk and he wanted to also hold his mama's hand so I pushed the cart and he held on to that with one hand and to his mother with the other and it worked out fine. After we checked out we both drove to Jessie's house and Jessie unloaded her car and then took off to pick up August while Levon played outside with me watching him. It was a practically perfect day, not hot, not cold, blue and cloudless, far less humid than it has been.

He has his own agenda, his own routine. First he needed to ride the tricycle a little ways and then he raked some grass clippings and put them in the dump truck. 

Then he needed to go back inside to retrieve his front-end loader or whatever it is, to attend to his next task which was obviously very important. This is what it looked like. 

Jessie and August got back and we were planning on going to lunch but August said he didn't want to go and Levon definitely did not want to leave the yard. In fact, when his mother brought him in to get ready he cried and cried and said he wanted to go outside and she very patiently sat by him and said, "I know. You want to go outside but not now. You need to eat your lunch."

"No! No lunch!"

And so forth. Finally, she let him get his front-end loader (or whatever it is) and wash that in the sink while he washed his hands and he was happy. 

We had already figured out that going out to lunch was probably not going to happen and suddenly, Levon needed pasta in the worst way. August was already happily eating boiled peanuts. 

He's good at shelling them with his clever beautiful hands. 

And so I took my leave after good-bye kisses. August said that he wanted me to stay overnight and I said that if it got too cold in my house I just might. 

By this point it was 2:00 and I was hungry as hell and I needed to get home and finish my chores but dammit! I wanted to go to Joann's. And so I did. I found a pattern and looked for some corduroy but they had no corduroy. Now if you want fleece with some sort of sports logo on it, you are in big luck at Joann's. But corduroy, not so much. I finally went down the flannel aisle and found a bolt of cozy dark teal blue that will do nicely. It seems to me that the work force of Joann's has changed considerably. The older ladies wearing aprons have been replaced by a more alternative and much younger staff. The girl who cut my flannel had green hair and completely drawn on eyebrows and several fetching face piercings. I wanted to tell her that she was very pretty (and she was) but I worried that she would think I was weird. The guy at check-out was young and had long hair and when I said that I had no coupons he said, "Oh, honey, don't you worry! I'm gonna take care of you today!" He rang me up and then scanned the coupon codes that would work best and saved me some dollars. I thanked him profusely and then drove quick, quick across the street to Whole Foods where I bought a head of cabbage for my soup and a take-away container of sushi because I was starving. 

Well. Haha. Not really. Not even close. But I was hungry. 

I ate my sushi on the way home and was so glad when I got back in my own yard in Lloyd again. 

I unloaded my Costco stuff, my Joann's stuff, and my head of cabbage and then took the laundry off the line, folded the towels and made up the bed. I started cooking the beans again, turned the heating pad on under the bread dough, decided that the beans had to go into the pressure cooker if they were to be edible tonight, got that going, tidied up the kitchen, started the dishwasher, peeled, sliced and diced the rest of the things for the soup which I simmered in the broth from last night's chicken.

Mr. Moon came home and we caught up while I put the soup together. 

I got it ready in time for him to have a cup of it before he had to leave to go to a basketball game of Owen's. I'm being my typical self and not attending although I have to admit that I feel great guilt about this. 

I just can't face more people-time. 

And since I started writing this, this has happened. 

Pretty nice, I'd say. 

And before I leave, let me give you these that I stole from Facebook. 

Owen and Gibson both got awards today for grades and other fine things. 

How much is Owen looking like his mama? How beautiful is my Gibson? 

I'm proud of those boys. So very, very proud. 

Happy Friday, y'all. 

Love...Ms. Moon

Remember When They Called Ronald Reagan The Teflon President? Hahahahahahahahahaha!

So a new heater is ordered. It should be in and installed by...(now's a good time to look at that forecast)... Monday maybe or more likely Tuesday.
Wouldn't you know it. If this forecast is correct we'll be having the lowest temperatures we've had in at least a couple of years on Monday and Tuesday!
Of course.
Well, what are you going to do? Won't it be swell when we have a new unit and I won't have to bitch about being afraid of dying from either sweltering heat or freezing cold?
What will I ever find to talk about?
I'm sure I'll find something.

From what I can ascertain via the news, at least two new things have come to light that could be grounds for at least one more impeachment. I'm sure you've heard about these things. Will it matter? I doubt it. Look- I don't even understand how this impeachment trial works but with Mitch McConnell in charge I don't think there's going to be much fairness or justice involved.
And so The Orange Intestinal Blockage will remain in office and I have to tell you that I have absolutely no confidence that he will get voted out of office this year between the racist idiots whom I had no idea lived in such numbers among us and the fact that Putin really enjoys having his hand up the Treasonous One's ass.

Ay-yi.

Had so much on my mind today that I was capable of nothing but the basics. I took a walk, I cleaned out the poop in the hen house. I picked up downed branches. I watered the porch plants. I did laundry. I actually for the first time ever cleaned the outside of the garbage can in the kitchen. I ironed and ironed and ironed.
Hey! The new (last) season of Grace and Frankie is streaming now!
I know! So exciting.
(Eye roll.) (Sort of.) (It's the little things.) (How can two women over the age of eighty not have a wrinkle between them?) (Don't answer that. I know.)

I've made up a pan of chicken enchiladas which are ready to go in the oven. I've stayed upright today although the gravity of earth and everything else kept trying to pull me down. I guess that's something to be proud of.

It's raining. A little bit. It's still warm. It's going to be cold. I need a new project.
Maybe I'll go to Joanne's tomorrow and buy a pattern and some cloth. I think I'm going to start saying "cloth" instead of "fabric." It sounds more honest.
We wear clothing, not fabricking.

Yeah. I'm a little crazy tonight.

Love...Ms. Moon

This Is Life

Lily and Jessie and Lauren and I along with the three little cousins made the drive to Monticello today for our favorite story hour. I absolutely love it more than anything. It is truly the essence of sweetness and simplicity and books are involved and crafts and the beautiful little children. Today there were only five kids including our three but that was just perfect in a way. They all sat quietly and attentively and listened to the sweet stories and sang the sweet songs and chimed in with comments when they felt the need which was perfectly fine. Levon, who was not sad in the picture above, but attentive, announced that he has two dogs. Or maybe it was four cats. I can't remember. See those two books he has? He had checked them out a few weeks ago and I returned them last week and that little guy searched through the books in two different rooms until he found them again.
The arts project today involved paint and a bunny stencil and Levon insisted on keeping the same color paint and not sharing it for his entire project. It was a sort of pinky-beige. That kid loves pink. Pink, pink, pink.
Speaking of pink.

Here's the pink princess herself. Check out the shoes. These are all clothes that were handed down to her and of course she loves them. She was giving us a little concert and I wish I'd gotten a video when she just couldn't contain herself and got up and started dancing. Those dance classes are paying off! She was improvising dances like crazy and she can kick as high as her head! 

I don't know why but I didn't get one picture of August today but he was as fine as ever. He is in love with the computers in the kid room where he plays games like "name the body part." Jessie and I agreed that it was a pretty difficult game and that although we surely learned all of those body parts in nursing school we forgot a lot of them as soon as we'd taken the test. 

Mr. Terez and Ms. Courtney were as gracious and attentive as ever. Ms. Courtney says that her little boy loves pink too and that actually, at the moment, he has pink hair. 

We just feel so at home in the Monticello library and once again, I found a fairly new book to check out. Elizabeth Gilbert's City of Girls. I never really thought much about Elizabeth Gilbert's writing until I read The Signature of All Things which blew me away. So we'll see what I think about this one. Last night I finished the Alexandra Fuller book I checked out a week ago (Travel Light, Move Fast) and it was a hard one. As I read it, I kept thinking that it was somehow different than her regular writing. That something was off, amiss, not quite there. 

When I got to the almost-end, I realized why and I'll not share that here. If you want to take that journey you don't need me to explain things. It was powerful in its own way. It shook me. 

But. Back to today. And fun. 

We went to the Rev, of course, and the kids played with the blocks and we all got delicious lunches. I got a salad with everything from greens to almonds to sunflower seeds to tomatoes to chicken in it. It was so good. 

And then we went our separate ways. Lily and Lauren took me home but before we left the parking lot at the restaurant, I kissed the little boys goodbye and Levon told me that he was a green back-hoe, no, no, he was a YELLOW backhoe and I tasted his backhoe toes and then I had to sample August's Brazil nut toes. I told him that he doesn't have cashew nut toes anymore because his toes are so big now. He liked that. He loves the idea of getting bigger. On Sunday morning when I was serving up breakfast, I told him that I was not going to give him a kid's plate but instead, a regular grown-up plate because he was getting so big that he needed a lot of pancakes. He told his Boppy about this and was very excited. "Guess what? I'm getting a grown-up plate because I am so HUGE now!"

He is certainly huge in my heart. 

Almost as soon as I got home I left again. I was already in my town clothes including a bra-like garment and I needed gas from Costco and groceries from Publix. I am so very, very proud of myself in that I forgot my list and yet managed to get everything on it. Well, okay. That's a lie. I forgot one thing. No Big Deal. I sometimes forget something when I HAVE my list so I was doing quite well. 

So it's been a full day. Mr. Moon's at a basketball game and the house is quiet. The chickens are up, Maurice is on the table here on the porch with me, grooming herself. 

There's a whole lot going on in the world. Hell, there's a whole lot going on here, some of which I'm not really at liberty to talk about yet. 

But I suppose that truly, all I can say is that life really is what happens while you're busy making other plans (thank you, dear John Lennon) and thank heavens for libraries and books and people who care about children and for our imaginations which allow us to be yellow back-hoes or to believe that we are HUGE and for being able to dance and kick and tap and twirl, for delicious foods and for being able to laugh and mostly of course, for love. 

I think that'll do it for tonight. 

Yours truly...Ms. Moon

Sunset Over The Garden Time

That was what the sky looked like a few minutes ago when I got home from taking Owen and Gibson back to their house. On my way to the hen house to shut the door, I looked up and saw that sky, those bony-fingered pecan branches stretched out against it. It's not the sunset over the Caribbean or even Dog Island but it's a sunset and it has its own delicate beauty.
It is the quiet time of day.
It's been preternaturally warm here. Not hot but I think it did get up to eighty which is quite warm enough. It's disconcerting. It's supposed to get back down into the thirties in a week but until then, we're experiencing a sort of sultry pre-spring. I imagine that things will truly start to bud and then get nipped but this does happen. The camellias will go on, undisturbed. The garden will be fine.

Mr. Moon picked up Owen and Gibson at the bus stop this afternoon because we wanted them over for a visit. He left his office early and ran a few errands and then picked them up. Surprise! I am sure they were disappointed that it wasn't me because I take them to the Bad Girls Get Saved By Jesus thrift store to treasure hunt for toys when I pick them up but whatever.
Owen and I made popcorn and we all sat around the kitchen island and ate and talked. I'm so proud of those boys. They are thoughtful and they are loving and they are smart. They walked through our bedroom to go look at Boppy's new sink (he got a sink!) and on the way back through the house Gibson shouted, "Family cuddle!" and we all laid down on the most comfortable bed in the world and had a good hugfest and cuddle. And then it was time to play Wii with Boppy and that's what they did while I made a pot of chili for supper.

I drove them home around 5:30 and today's open-ended question from Owen was, "Mer, what did you think, what did you feel like when you moved into your house?"
This is like the third or fourth time he's done this- asked questions which draw me out and I think it's highly unusual for a ten-year old to do this.
And by the way, I told him I'd been too happy for words. That this was my dream house. That I felt like I got to live in a museum house and make it a home.
"Like at the Junior Museum!" he said.
"Exactly."
He knows how much I love that old farm house there.
"It is an awesome house," he said. I agreed.

I cleaned and dusted a little more today. I finally got around to the hallway altar which was littered with dried flower petals and covered in dust. I tenderly cleaned the Virgin of Guadalupe who lives there and washed the glass on all the pictures.

I picked two pink perfections and put them in a vase and even glued a piece of turtle shell that had chipped off in a fall. All of that feels good. Sometimes in life there are so many things that you can't control and I suppose it's nice to do things that you can. 

I believe tomorrow that Lily and Jessie and I and the three youngest grands are going to make our trek to Monticello to attend toddler story and art hour at the library where we'll see Ms. Courtney and Mr. Terez and the three little mice who live there as well as the other children and mamas and grandmamas who show up. As we all know, this is one of my favorite things in the world to do. 

I'll be reporting in. 

Oh! Here's the new sink! Isn't it nice?

Running water and everything. I have the most amazing husband. 

Feeling very tender and open to it all tonight. May there be peace for us all. 

Love...Ms. Moon

Just A Little Chat

Jack found his happy place this morning on the porch in the box my shoes came in. I like the way his colors match the box's colors and the upside down advice to embrace his journey. I think that Jack does embrace the journey quite frankly. The journey generally being from our bed to the kitchen to outside to sit in the sun to back into the kitchen and then to bed again. He doesn't really travel very far, that one.
He knows what he likes.
He embraces that. No shame in his game.

I did take a walk this morning, just down the sidewalk to the county line but it was nice.

Can you see the robins? A flock of them were in the trees above that puddle and they were flying down and enjoying bathing in it, so many at a time. I could only get close enough to take this not-very good picture and my presence disturbed all but these brave souls. It was such a cheerful sight, despite the gray sky. 

As was this.

A beautiful redbud in a neighbor's yard. 

It's really far more stunning than the camera captured. 

When I was on my last quarter mile I crossed paths with a local guy whose name is Pinot. I am not making this up. His brother's name is Mango. I believe I have mentioned them before. Pinot was carrying a plastic bag and a machete. I greeted him and he greeted me and I said, "What are you going to chop?" motioning to the machete. 

He explained that he was going down to No Man Lord's place to help him with some things. He didn't call him No Man Lord. He called him "the guy with the cross in his yard." Of course I knew exactly who he was talking about. Turns out that No Man Lord's name is actually Harvey. I should have already known that but did not. 

Anyway, Pinot and I talked for a few minutes. It turns out that he's the same exact age I am. Also that his wife just recently passed away. Also that when he was a little boy, his mama used to iron for Miss Posy Taylor who lived in the house next door to where I live now and that he, Pinot, had rubbed the irons on the cement walk to the steps to smooth their surfaces. These were the sorts of irons that you had to heat next to a fire or on a stove. Miss Posy Taylor worked as a nurse or something and she had lots of white uniforms. I've also heard that someone used to work as a dentist from that house but I do not think it was Miss Posy Taylor. 

I wish I had more answers about these things. 

Anyway, it was a nice chat and he took off for Harvey's and I took off for home. 

I did a few unlikely things around home today including...dusting. 

Don't get excited. I didn't dust very much. I've been thinking lately that I should take a week or so (or a month or so) and tackle each room in my house, one at a time. Do true, real cleaning in each. Windows, baseboards, walls, window sills, ceiling fans, curtains, floors, furniture, closets, etc., etc. 

The very thought of this however makes me want to die. As much as I know it needs it and as much as I know how happy I would be with the results, it just seems like way too daunting of a task. A task that I know I can do but a task that I truly do not want to do. 

I shall ponder this for awhile. Meanwhile, today I did what I did and that was enough. 

In the early afternoon a guy who owns a heat and air company came over, as scheduled by Mr. Moon to check out our heating and air needs. He looked at the unit. He came in the house and measured the intake thingee. He also measured and took note of each air vent which was a fairly traumatic situation for me as they are on the floors which are...well, very dusty in some cases. But he was polite and professional and although he may have been thinking that I am a slut of a housekeeper, he did not say so out loud. Of course. He looked under the house. He did math on a piece of paper with a pen. I was impressed. 

So that process is underway. Of course we no more need a heater right now than we need a llama in the kitchen. It's very warm and very humid and I expect the azaleas to start popping out any moment. 

I'm pretty sure that August and Levon had a much more exciting day than I did. As proof, I offer you these pictures that Jessie sent me. 

This was happening right in front of their house today. Can you imagine Levon's excitement? It's like Keith Richards showed up on my front porch, asked if he could plug in his amp, settled into one of the rocking chairs and started playing. Yes. That exciting. 

And then they all went out for a bit of boating on the Wakulla River. I think it was the Wakulla River. 

Look at that boy! Do you think his papa is proud? 

And August. I wonder what he and Vergil were looking at. It must have been amusing. 

I love how Vergil takes advantage of the trails and rivers around here, sharing them with his boys. They are learning so much about the parts of North Florida that so many of us really don't bother to take advantage of. I am guilty of that myself, feeling that going to Wakulla Springs and taking the jungle boat cruise and then dining in the lodge there is seeing the real Florida. Which it is, in a way. But not in this way. A way in which you actually have to hike and row and paddle to access. 

Lucky, lucky boys. They will be far better and healthier humans for it. And isn't that the goal of it all? 

I think so.

Love from Lloyd...Ms. Moon