Probably Too Much Over-Thinking

That fancy beauty is a Gulf Fritillary and there are many of them around at this time of year. It is heartening to see them. I liked the way this one looked on the rather peachy-colored zinnia, so many different shades of orange in there. I took that picture when I took the compost out and went into the garden to pick the few cherry tomatoes still fruiting. The summer garden is just about done for the year. It's too hot, I think, for much to be happening there. But the zinnias are happy and that's another thing I love about them. Despite the horrible heat and the fact that they haven't gotten much water lately, they continue to grow and bloom with cheerful faces that offer themselves to the butterflies. 

I almost hate to cut them and bring them in but I leave plenty for the pollinators.

Maybe one of these summers I'll plant the entire summer garden in nothing but zinnias. It'll be like a field of sunflowers, only in all the colors. I could fill the house with them, every room! Zinnias in every vase and vessel. I think that's something I need to ponder. 

I did mostly catch-up things here today. I washed a lot of laundry and of course our sheets were involved in that. I could not bring myself to hang them outside. It is that hot. Which is terribly ironic, isn't it? I will try to do better. There is just no sense in heating up the house with the dryer to avoid a few minutes of sweating under the clothesline. I also watered all of the porch plants and the potted plants in the back yard that needed some water love. 

I knew I needed to make a shopping run and so I did that although I had to force myself to put on a bra again and go out in public. I made the mistake of going to T.J. Maxx and that's a long story which involves purses because you know me and purses. The last two purses I bought have been disappointments to me. One of them I do like very much but it is not a backpack bag and it seems to me that I have become a backpack bag woman, monogamous in my love. The backpack bag I bought last is entirely suitable in all ways except for the straps which are not fastened at the top like most backpack straps, but go freely through metal rings which means that every time you put the bag on, you have to adjust the straps and get them even and it's a pain in the ass. I thought I'd get used to it, but I haven't and don't think I can. 
Design flaw, for sure. 

I love the purse that Jessie got back in May for her birthday and so I looked those up online and by golly, the same purse purchased at TJ Maxx for around seventy dollars or less can only be acquired everywhere else I've seen for about a hundred dollars more than that. Good Lord! I tried TJ Maxx online but they had none of those, of course. So I decided to stop by the store when I was in Tallahassee and there were none there either. Nor were there any other purses I liked. At all. 
I am picky. 
But after I carefully examined each and every purse, I felt the irrational need to walk around the store and don't ask me why. I don't need a damn thing. Turns out I didn't want a damn thing either. 

Trader Joe's is right next to TJ Maxx which I just realized share a set of initials. How funny! I bought artichokes and a very limp-looking basil plant as mine is dead, dead, dead, murdered by heat, and some blue cheese and bananas. Then on to Costco where I bought lemons and some of their delicious parmesan and rosemary bread, and then on to Publix where I picked up a prescription and got a few other things we needed like milk. I also returned a library book. 
Isn't this fascinating? Are you on the edge of your seat yet? 
I doubt it. 

I wanted basil because Vergil's mother gave us the most gorgeous tomato from her garden. One of her first of the year. And I wanted to honor it with a Caprese salad. It's far too beautiful to just chunk up in a salad. Mr. Moon was going to use it this morning to make a toasted cheese and tomato sandwich but I would not let him. Far too plebeian a use for this tomato which is going to be the very best tomato of the season, I know without a doubt. 

The picture below is of a Japanese glory bower that I have growing in the front yard beside a giant oak. 

When my next door neighbor moved to California, years ago, and no one was living in the house, I went over and dug up a few of those plants from her yard and transplanted them to mine. The regular glory bower is one of the banes of my life, as it is invasive like so many other things in this yard and when I realized that I had added a different sort of glory bower to the mix, I wondered what in hell I had done. But this variety seems to be far less prone to spreading. I hope that is true. I should probably pull it anyway but for right this second, I am loving it. It is a glorious plant and that bloom is probably two feet in length.

And so that is that. My Friday. I feel as if I've accomplished enough to accept my right to air and salt. You may laugh but this is a big thing to me. To feel as if I have a right to be here. I have to tell you that when I was at TJ Maxx, looking at shoes, I thought to myself, "Woman, you should be shopping for shoes for people who cannot afford them. What a ridiculous waste of time you're spending."

We humans are the top-dog invasive species, aren't we? Sometimes we're so pretty and even glorious that it almost justifies our existence here. 

But I don't know. I don't know shit. 

Happy Friday, y'all! 

Love...Ms. Moon

Long Catch-Up

Well, here we are, home again in Lloyd and I am glad to be back in my funky old house with its porch spiders and and our own bed although to be honest, the bed we slept in in the house in North Carolina was absolutely fine. I felt so at home in that house. I truly could have moved right in and been happy. Not only was it fitted out with every sweet touch you can imagine, but it also had that creek that chuckled and whispered as it ran over the rocks, a sweet, soothing sound at every hour of the day and the night. 

But you know- home is home. And you also know how much I love my home. EVEN THOUGH...

My god, it is hot. It wasn't very cool in North Carolina, either, but it wasn't hot like this. The weather widget says it "feels" like 103 but I do realize that there are plenty of places right now where it is actually 103 and probably feels like 129.

I could go into a long tirade about how much we've fucked up our planet but I don't have the energy and you already know all about it. I suppose this is one of the those times you just have to say, "We aren't going to make it, are we?"

No, darling, we are not. 

But we drove through so much green today. Green woods and green forests, green trees jungling the banks of rivers and of lakes. And many, many miles of agricultural green and I am aware that that is not the sort of green that will save the planet, even though it feeds us and clothes us. 

We had such a good trip. Here are a few pictures from our last night. The boys were so tired and so wired and everything they did was hysterical to them and of course we could not help laughing with them. 

It was a fine supper. Vergil grilled some brats made from a cousin's own home-raised pig and Jessie and I made a huge salad with everything in it and I made a salad dressing that Mr. Moon asked me to remember how to make which of course will never happen but I think I can probably sort of recreate it. It was somewhat ranch-like. 

The adults all hot-tubbed for a little while after the boys finally got to sleep but we were in bed by 10:30, knowing we had to get up early-ish to pack up, restore the house to order, and leave. 

Now I have to add something here. When you rent a vacation property from Airbnb, there is always a long list of things you need to do before you leave. They always include things like, start the dishwasher, empty all trash, strip all beds and take sheets to the laundry area. Start a load of towels. Make sure kitchen is in order. 
And more and so much more. I could not find that list in this house. Finally, on Tuesday, when we were really facing the fact that we weren't going to be living there permanently, I looked on the Airbnb app for possible instructions from our host and it said something like, "We do not expect our guests to do chores before they leave. Please just have another cup of coffee while enjoying the creek instead."

WHAT?

The woman who was our host had been the most responsive and the sweetest of all the hosts I've ever experienced. When we needed a propane tank for grilling, her husband delivered it within an hour. She answered every message I sent her in minutes. By the end of our stay, she and I were practically writing love letters to each other. And it turns out that he husband knows Vergil's stepfather and yes, it is a small world. 

So when we got up yesterday morning we did not feel quite the pressure we usually do on those check-out days, but because our host had been so damn sweet we wanted to leave the place as tidy and spotless as we could. And we did. And towels were washing and the dishwasher was running and all the garbage was bagged and all of the toys and books and games were put up and the kitchen counters cleaned. I left her a jar of my fig preserves and a love thank-you note on the dining room table. 

Sigh. 

It was hard to say goodbye to those boys and their mama and daddy but they'll be home soon. And we had disrupted their lives enough. I think the thing I will remember the most about this trip (besides the cat museum, of course) is the night I was feeling the worst with whatever I had and was in bed, reading. The boys came in the room, walked over to me, and August said, "Are you better yet?" 
"No," I said. "But I will be."

And then they both made sounds of disgust not unlike Napoleon Dynamite when he was overtaken by the complete idiocy of those around him, as if I was purposefully being sick and wimpy and no fun at all. 

So yesterday's drive was another one of our drives where we seem to get caught in some sort of back-roads matrix where time and miles lose all of their meaning. We didn't even really stop much! But we finally made it to our destination which was Oconee, Georgia where we had reserved a room at a place called The Oconee Lodge. The reviews for the place had not been great. Many of them spoke of an "odor" in the lobby area. Also, the ice machine on the third floor didn't work. And no one seemed to care very much about the guests. There was also one about how the food at the breakfast bar was okay but that the French toast sticks had not been cooked properly and then went on to instruct us all on how to cook French toast sticks by arranging them in the pan just so. 
I always take negative reviews with a grain of salt, knowing that mostly only the unhappy people bother to post them but when we walked into the lobby to discover not an odor but a STINK, I sort of had to rethink that. Was it sewage? Gas? Was the place going to explode? 

Whatever. We'd already paid and the room didn't stink and it was adequate and the best part was that it was on a lake and after we hauled all of our shit up to the room we made a drink and went down to sit outside where this was what it looked like. 

Not so bad. 

And then, hungry and frazzled and looking pretty rough but too tired to change clothes and gussy up, we drove to a restaurant that the desk clerk had recommended and oh, y'all. It was the best. 

And our server, Johnny, was the best part of all. Just the sweetest man. Before long, Glen and I were sharing that seat instead of sitting across from each other and also sharing a barbecue shrimp appetizer, a spinach salad, and a steak. We felt like teenagers on a happy date. We got a strawberry shortcake to take back to the room and Johnny asked if we had anything to eat it with. We thought about that. No, no we did not. No spoons or forks at all so he suggested that if we wanted to take a souvenir spoon with us, he would not tell anyone. 

And we did although I felt guilty. I will cherish that spoon for a long time. 

When we left, he told us that he hoped that when he is our age, he is loving life the way we do, which was sort of weird and sort of wonderful. We took it in the wonderful way. 

The shortcake was delicious. Real shortcake, fresh sliced strawberries, and whipped cream that never saw a can. And we slept like rocks. 

We never got to test the French toast strips for ourselves as it turns out that the hot breakfast is only served on weekends. We looked at the offerings of most-likely stale bagels, microwavable Jimmy Dean sausage breakfast sandwiches and plastic containers of cereal and said, "Uh. No."

And then, as with all good travelers in the south must do, we broke our fast here. 

And then we drove through all those forests and woods and fields and went through intersections that could have been the original crossroad where Robert Johnson made his deal with the devil. So many beautiful old houses, some not much more than skeletons of themselves, others maintained or restored, all with their own grace. 

And now we're home where it is hot, as I have said. Both Maurice and Jack seem to be happy we're back. The strangest thing has happened. We've had Jack for I don't know how many years and up until just a few months ago I'd never really heard his voice but suddenly, he is giving us a few very quiet meows, and he gave us some of those today. Maurice let me pat her without trying to take off my hand and they both begged for Temptations. Which of course I happily gave them. 

Hank and Rachel and Mark left the house in such good condition. There is much to do around here though, of course. Mostly outside. I took the compost out and gave the garden a quick once-over and Lord, it needs some care. Amazing what can happen to a garden in one week. I've unpacked everything but my clothes and in my case, that is the least of it. I've put away the make-up and jewelry I wore one night (the night we went out for supper in Athens) and my chargers and power strip, my books and New Yorker magazines of which I read exactly ZERO articles. I did finish a library book and then read this which I truly enjoyed.

May lent it to me a good while ago. I'd never started it but once I did, I could not stop reading. It was a great comfort when I was sick. 

All right. That's my report. Of course there is much more but this is already too long. I'd like to mention that we had supper one evening with Vergil's mama and stepfather and that was very sweet. Also, that August is playing chess now and played with his Boppy a few times. And that Glen and I have only gotten through about half of "Crazy In Alabama" and I had forgotten what a good book that is. It is about far more than a woman carrying her husband's head around in a Tupperware container. Far more. 

And that truly, it was a wonderful trip and I will mention once again how much Mr. Moon and I made each other laugh. Oh, how delicate and intricate is the dance of long-time love. The steps are slowly and sometimes painfully learned but well worth the learning as the result is more sweet and tender than anything you can imagine when you are young and falling in love. 
I do not know much but I do know this. 

Love...Ms. Moon 

Proof Of Life

I am quite alive and well. I've just been busy doing things like taking little hikes to see waterfalls. And making pancakes. 

But today we're packing up and heading home. We'll break it up into two days as we did on our way here so we'll be home tomorrow night. 

It's been a wonderful trip. Even getting sick wasn't that bad. I just slept a lot. 

See you again soon from Lloyd where I see the temperatures are reaching the high nineties. 

Love...Ms. Moon

Not So Bad

 

I just can't believe I'm sick. This is ridiculous. I am feeling better today but still did some sleeping and have a little fever. I took a covid test and it is not that. I imagine I'll be almost well by tomorrow. And honestly, as much as I hate being sick away from home, this is such a cozy and comforting place that I feel quite at home and it is not so bad. Not so bad at all. I have everything I need but I have to admit that I feel useless. 

The boys have been loving the hot tub. They've been in and out of it constantly. Boppy and Mama enjoy it too. 

And of course, the boys have been enjoying the creek, hopping from rock to rock like mountain goats. 

So all is well, really, and I'm definitely not complaining. 
Life is funny, isn't it? 

Love...Ms. Moon

Sigh

August is fine and Levon is fine and the creek and the hot tub have been enjoyed and it has been so very, very good to see them and their parents. 

We haven't done much except to enjoy this lovely house and each other. 

I keep finding more and more to love about the house. The owner has truly gone way out of her way to make sure her guests have everything they could possibly need.

HOWEVER, it would appear that I am sick and possibly Mr. Moon is coming down with whatever it is too. I've slept a good part of today and have zero energy. I can't even remember the last time I went to sleep in the daytime. And I have a little fever so, here we are, in this piece of heaven, feeling not great. The two days we were on the road I felt sort of achy and that's where Glen is with it now. And of course I'm worried that we'll pass this whatever-it-is to the family. 

That would be ironic. 

Hopefully, whatever this is will pass quickly.

Meanwhile, if you're going to be sick, you might as well be sick in heaven.

Love...Ms. Moon

I Now Have A New Definition Of The Word Weird

I have just about died and gone to heaven. 

More about that later. 

And really, this post is mostly going to be pictures with explanation and some discussion. 

First off, I give you this.

That's what it looks like when you're just approaching the Great Smokey Mountains from the south. I snapped that through the windshield and somehow completely lucked out when it came to the sky. And, well, everything. 

But before we really get into the transcendental gorgeousness of North Carolina I must inform you that many years ago Mr. Moon and I stopped at a giant antique store AND cat museum somewhere between Asheville and Athens. We spent quite a while looking at the antiques but never made it to the cat museum and I've always regretted that. We were discussing that on our drive today and I googled it and damn, if it wasn't about sixteen miles from where we were. 

So. We had to go. 

It's changed locations and is no longer by an antique store but is free-standing and by golly, we found it and we stopped. 

We went through that door, paid our ten bucks, and I will never be quite the same. 

I felt as if we had entered an alternative world which I had no idea existed. The first thing we encountered was the man who runs the museum, who OWNS the museum. He is quite old. He sat on a couch. He barked at us. "Where you are from?" and many other questions that I cannot remember because I was completely traumatized. 

Finally, we got away from that scary web and began to explore The American Museum Of The House Cat. 

Look. I'm not even going to try to explain. 

There is no way I COULD explain. 

These pictures only barely skim the smallest bit of the surface of the deep unfathomable weirdness going on there. 

And after about half an hour I said, "I gotta get out of here."

Not only was my mind completely fried but I was having some weird allergic reaction and my eyeballs were burning. 
Although that could simply have been from what they were looking at. 

Okay. Two more. 

And then we left and went to lunch in a completely tourist destination small town where a train pulled up just as we were about to go into a restaurant and many people departed the train including boy and girl scouts and started spreading out to go into the restaurants and twee shops and after the American Museum of House Cats, that was NOTHING! 

All right. 

That is enough of all of that. 

We've made it to our destination in Old Fort, North Carolina where we are staying and the house is pretty much my dream house. It's very old and gorgeously restored and has everything I could possibly imagine wanting INCLUDING A KITCHEN AID MIXER. And the creek. 

Our room. 

I told Mr. Moon to buy me this house right now. He laughed. 

He laughed! 

What is wrong that this man? 

The one thing this house does not have in it at this point is anyone from Jessie's family because wouldn't you know it- August has strep again. We'll going to wait until tomorrow when he's been on antibiotics for a day and I guess that's okay although I did cry when Jessie told me she thought that was best and I agreed with her. 

Fucking strep. 

Meanwhile, Mr. Moon and I are enjoying the peace and quiet here, the sweet sound of the creek rushing over rocks, and the promise of seeing those sweethearts tomorrow. 

Love from the beautiful and bizarre state of North Carolina...Ms. Moon

On The Road. Day One Of Our Journey

First thing this morning Jessie sent out a group text that Vergil was in horrible abdominal pain and that his mom was taking him to an ER while Jessie stayed with the boys. They suspected appendicitis. It was not appendicitis. 
It was most likely a kidney stone that he probably passed while he was on morphine which, as Rachel pointed out, is the best way to pass a kidney stone. 

He is home and in no pain now and there is no sign of any stones in the scans. 
Phew. 

But what a way to start a journey to North Carolina and a little bit too familiar...

I had the deepest, deepest sympathy for him. 

I took this picture of a house across from the Three Squares Diner in Cairo, Georgia where Mr. Moon and I ate our breakfast this morning. It was a very Waffle House type of joint and the breakfast was good. Is there anything about being on the road better than eating breakfasts that you would normally never eat? 
Hash browns. How I love you. 

This is just a short one to tell you that we made it to our today's destination- Athens, Georgia, where we have checked in to the hotel with the card catalog and orchids in the the lobby. Here are some pictures of our room. 

My bra is off, we are having a drink, and have the AC set at "frigid."

God. It is hot in Georgia. Every bit as hot as Florida. 

We passed so many beautiful fields of cotton, mostly, and some corn and probably peanuts (Mr. P!), pine trees, oak trees, sycamore trees, miles and miles of pecan trees, all the trees. We drove over beautiful creeks and rivers and went through towns that were stellar examples of the history of the south, including the poverty of some and the riches of others. We did not get fussy a bit, I did not have hysterics, we turned what probably should have been a four hour drive into an eight hour drive, we stopped for barbecue for lunch and our server reminded me of a young Dolly Parton. Her voice was angelic. Fried green tomatoes were involved. 

This was in the uni-sex bathroom. 

Well. Bless its heart. 

We have laughed a LOT. 

All is well. 

Love...Ms. Moon

Getting Ready

 

Gawd. It's been another day. As you can see, Mr. Moon spent hours in the heat with his chain saw, cutting up that giant limb and the many smaller branches coming off of it. He loaded it all up on the truck and hauled it all to the burn pile. It made two separate loads. And then the man cut the grass. I don't know how he did it. I would die out there. I think that not only did these things need doing but also, he may have been making a point and I'm not quite sure what that was but we did have a little tiff today and perhaps he was trying to file down the rough edges before we left. 

One might think that Mr. Moon and I never argue and we don't argue very much. The older you get, the more you realize that there's not a whole lot worth arguing about, and besides that, neither one of us is very confrontational. In at least 95 percent of any disagreements we may have, I have learned to say, "Honey, I think you're probably right about that," because what does it matter who's right or wrong if it's not a big thing? But big things do come along at times. 

The thing that's come along now is a pretty big thing and would definitely affect our future. I'm not going to be specific because at this point, it's just a glimmer of a possibility on the horizon. A sort of possible "what if"? There are so many factors involved.
And because I am so set in my ways and so stubborn about certain things and so worried about making the right choices, I am not jumping on the bandwagon. In fact, when the idea came up originally I was like, "No. No thank you. Not what I want to do at all."
And at that point, it didn't seem feasible anyway, but then all of a sudden it appears to be far more feasible and he's perked back up about it again and I will be honest- my feelings are hurt because I said I am not interested in the project and that appears to make very little difference to him. And of course his feelings are hurt because he looks at things completely differently than I do and sees sides of things that are either not that important to me or I don't quite grasp. 
I guess. 

Anyway, blah, blah, blah, and we sort of spit and hissed at each other for a few moments and then we both backed up and calmed down and licked our paws and he cut up a tree-sized tree limb and mowed the yard and I canned some green beans and packed a bunch of stuff. We do not like being angry at each other. It's just the worst feeling. 

And everything is fine now and there is no way to know if this is even a possibility. That poor man. I have fought him on so much that turned out to be fine. And incredibly smart, to be honest. 

I think we're about ready to go except for putting things in the cooler that we want to take like fish and field peas for tasty meals. I've got all my medications arranged and in their container and our supplements. I've shined my silver bracelets which I may wear exactly once. I packed my make-up which I never use anymore but I may get inspired. Also two pairs of overalls and a few shirts and my underwear. I'm using such a tiny suitcase (it's a carry-on size) and it's not even fully full and so of course I'm wondering what I'm forgetting. I've got the books packed and my New Yorker magazines that I am woefully behind on. I'll get all my chargers and my MacBook packed in the morning along with my pillows. 
Ms. Moon does not travel without her pillows. That is all there is to that. 
I've watered all the porch plants and the house plants and texted Hank, Rachel, and Mark about the details. Mark said, "I love ya and I will be fine with whatever is there. I'll probably clean something momma so don't be mad lol".
I answered, "Oh, if you insist, Mark." 

And that's about it, I think. I'm not freaking out nearly as much as I usually do and that's probably because we've done this so many times before. The cats, however, are freaking out and know that we're about to leave, probably because of the suitcases. Maurice did not go to sit in Mr. Moon's lap this morning and one of them pooped in the shower off the kitchen yesterday. Neither one of them has come to hang out with me on the porch this evening. 
I imagine they'll live. 

I sure hope so.

And that is that. I will probably not be posting nearly as regularly as I generally do but will try to post pictures and a few words here and there. As to commenting on blogs- most likely I'll not be doing that. Like with the cats, I'm sure everyone will live. 

Photos of the Great Smokey Mountains to come. And, oh you know- maybe a shot of a grandchild here or there. 

Love...Ms. Moon

Merrily We Roll Along

 So this morning I was sitting on the back porch, reading blogs and so forth and Mr. Moon was in town and it was raining a little and suddenly I heard a cracking noise. 
Now. I know what that is. I've lived here long enough. It is the sound of a tree letting go a part of itself. The question always is- how big a part, and also- where is it going to land? 

I heard another crack. 
"That doesn't sound too big," I thought. 

And then came the "whoosh" of leaves falling through other leaves and then a thud and a bounce as a pretty durn big limb detached itself from a Bradford pear tree right beside the back porch. Some of the smaller limbs attached to the main limb even landed on the porch steps. 

We're talking maybe ten feet away from where I was sitting. 
Ooh boy. 

I went out to check the damage and miraculously, it did not take down the wisteria arbor or even the ferns I have hanging on it. It did not smash the air conditioner which is about the same distance away from it as I was. It did no damage at all except to flatten my beautiful ginger that I have growing in a pot that was on the steps. Hopefully, it will pop back up. I've moved it and the sprouts do not look broken, just bent. We shall see. 
We were incredibly lucky. 

So that's how the day started out. 

I have gotten some things done. I got my suitcase down and started rolling up my dresses and putting them in there. I picked up yet another dress I'd ordered off of eBay from the post office. I swear- this will be the last dress I get this summer. 
Unless I see another one I really like, of course. 

I took library books back and did a quick Costco trip, mainly for liquor because it's expensive in North Carolina. I got some gin for Jessie and Vergil and some Tito's for us and a bottle of something I'm not going to name because it's for someone that Jessie is going to give it to and although I doubt she reads my blog, on the off chance that she reads today, I don't want to ruin the surprise. If it is a surprise. I also got Mark some frozen pizzas for him to make easy meals of. 

And then I went to Publix where I got more easy-meal stuff to leave and cherries and grapes for us to take on our trip. Now let me stop here for a second. Something has happened to my taste buds when it comes to grapes. I just can't stand them anymore. Have any of y'all experienced something like that? 
I got Mr. Moon's favorite pita chips and I got some rice cakes because as you know, one must snack on the road. It is imperative. I'd rather eat Cheez Its and potato chips than rice cakes because I'm a human being but I'm already round enough. I bought laundry detergent so that there will be plenty for Mark and Rachel and Hank to do laundry if they want. I got two boxes of animal crackers to take to the boys because I had to. 
I asked Jessie to please ask the guys what they would like Mer to bring from her house. 
Levon said, "The TV" and August asked for the game "Life". 
Probably neither are going to get their wish. My version of Life is so old and it drives me crazy because of how long it takes to set up although that very fact pleases Mr. Engineer, Jr. 

Then I came home and sorted everything out, putting things we're taking in two different bags. One for when we get there and one for in the car. There will be so much more packed tomorrow. 

I started a focaccia and sliced tomatoes and they are salted and resting, draining, between two dish towels on the counter to go on the focaccia. Then I did some more laundry and a lot more ironing. 

And I am tired. Just pure-T tired. 

I did pick out a book to read to Mr. Moon on the road. I think we're going to go with Mark Childress' book, Crazy in Alabama which I read a very long time ago and enjoyed. They made a movie of it with Melanie Griffith in it in 1999 and I think it did well. The other book I was considering is Tara Westover's Educated which is an amazing book but a bit heavy for a road trip. My husband would probably rather listen to a book about a woman who has her husband's head in a Tupperware lettuce keeper than a book about child abuse, child sexual abuse, and many other horrific things in that vein. Crazy in Alabama does involve domestic abuse and racism in the south so it's not all fun murders and the startling ability of Tupperware to preserve a human head. 

But anyway, that little but very important detail has been taken care of. 

Time to go figure out whether I want to put mozzarella on the focaccia or just serve it topped with a nice green salad with vinaigrette dressing and goat cheese. 

I'm thinking goat cheese. 

Love y'all dearly...Ms. Moon

This Is What's Happening In My Neck Of The Woods

This always happens just as we're about to leave for North Carolina. I had not planned on picking the garden today but when I took the compost out I saw a few million green beans which I would have sworn were done, and some tomatoes and peppers and so forth so I got my basket and trotted out to the garden. It was cloudy when I started but the sun came out after I'd been picking for a few minutes and I swear it felt like someone had turned the broiler element on over me. It was wickedly intense. 

However, I survived. 

That whole basket is filled with green beans underneath the other vegetables you see there. And there are plenty more peppers and the field peas are ripening up. That's what you see over there on the left behind the banana pepper and next to the jalapeño. 

And who knows what this is?

If you guessed it's my volunteer sweet potato vines, you are right! They are taking over the garden but that's okay. I can cut them back. 

I've taken a few steps in the getting-ready-to-travel process today. I did laundry and some ironing. I put the sewing machine away. I filled up a large SMTWTFS pill container with our supplements. And...eh. I don't know. Not much. I thought about it a lot. I'm still thinking about it. Does that count?

Another thing I did was to take this video to send to Hank, Rachel, and Mark who will be house-sitters.

 

The video makes me laugh so much that I thought it might make you laugh too. It's the Mr. and Ms. Moon show! Also- isn't he darling? I only wish I hadn't quit filming before he said, "CUT!"

Let's see. What else is going on? Mr. Moon started a trip itinerary for us. This, too, made me laugh. It started out, "Leave house," and went on to "Take unknown road to Miccosukee and Thomasville." I am thinking we might reach our first night's destination of Athens, Georgia by 8:00 p.m. This is an approximately 265 mile journey. I recall that last year, we were going to take an alternative route to Thomasville and realized within twenty minutes of leaving the house that we'd already made a wrong turn. I am sure that this theme will be repeated on this trip. It seems to me that we were constantly having to pull over to consult our phones, our maps, and the car's GPS to figure out where in hell we were and where in hell we should be. We passed every Dollar General from here to Black Mountain, North Carolina. I swear. At one point I believe I was actually hysterical. You know- laughing and crying at the same time? Yeah. I did that. Also, my elderly phone quit working properly and I had to figure out work-arounds but before I did, I had a major anxiety attack. Ah-lah. It all worked out. And I have a new phone this year. And Mr. Moon has updated the GPS app on his car. So all should be well, right?

Oh god. I hope so. 

And as long as we can keep laughing, all will be very, very well. 

One more thing. When I read the paper today and saw this in the comics section, it touched my heart so deeply. 

I hope you can read it. If you can't, go HERE. 

That pretty much sums up my philosophy and how I try to live. 

Love...Ms. Moon