We Live, We Lunch, We Love

That is what Levon looked like last night at supper. I love the soft, sweet innocence in that face, the Dennis the Menace hair sticking out the back of his head. 
Now here's what he looked like this morning for picture day at school. 

A young James Dean wearing a bead necklace. He's even posing. And August is August- his dear good self, absolutely unconcerned about his hair or what he's wearing. Levon insisted he needed to wear the same thing this year as he did last year for pictures. The contrast between the two of them is so stark and yet, they are best buds. They are brothers.

This happened yesterday in the car on the way home with them:

Somehow, the subject of heaven came up. August went into a long explanation for his brother about what heaven is. It went something like, "In the afterlife, after you die, you stand in a long, long line of all the people who died and when you get to the front, one one side is god and heaven and heaven is really nice and you can stay there forever and on the other side is hell and it's all red and black and the devil is there. So either god tells you you can go to heaven or the devil tells you you have to go to hell."

And I was wondering where in the world that child heard that. I mean- he's never been to church. They don't exactly talk about theology in their house and as far as I know, they don't discuss it in school either. But what I said was, "So, August, you know that's just a story, right?"

And he said, "Yes!"
"Do you know why they made it up?" I asked him. 
"So people will act good," he said. 

Oh. My. God. 

A nine-year old has it figured out. 

Those are some swell kids. 

As a lady-who-lunches, I felt compelled to do so again today. Actually, Candie was here to clean so I wanted to get out of the house and had a few errands to run in town. Jessie texted and asked if I'd like to meet her for lunch and of course I did. She sent out a group invite and Lily could go on her break if we ate somewhere close to her Publix and then I talked to Mr. Moon who had just had a successful meeting with the people who are going to rent some units at Moon Plaza for a thrift store. This will be in aid of the hospice organization here and we feel very good about renting to them. Glen had worked on the contract for weeks and they were all meeting to iron out the tiny details and it had gone successfully and we should be signing tomorrow. So I asked him to join us for lunch too and we all met at the Cuban restaurant that we like so much. 
We talked and we talked and we talked. We covered a lot of ground. I love that! Jessie told us that Vergil is amazed at how much the property on Black Mountain has changed. Rocks as big as houses that are in different places, revealed like never before. Fewer trees but more light. And so forth. Can you imagine? The landscape of his birth and young life has changed so much. But some of it sounds...okay. 

Sort of a radical rearrangement of the furniture? 

Milton is still making its way to Florida. The wind speeds have gone up and come down and gone back up again. If I am reading the National Hurricane Center's advisory correctly it's gone back up to a Category 5 storm and we went over all of that yesterday. Still, they are predicting it to weaken somewhat before it hits land which will probably be sometime late Wednesday or early Thursday. Many, many people are evacuating and there are evacuation orders for a lot of counties and areas. I made the mistake of getting on the interstate today to get to town which is west of here and the traffic was intense with people getting the hell out of Milton's way. At some points people were only able to go about 30 mph, and then it would speed up again, only to slow down again. I saw several cars on the side of the road. No one is ever really prepared to pack up a vehicle with the things they absolutely cannot lose, their families, and their pets, and to flee from a storm. Gas runs low and then goes out at stations on the way. Rooms are almost impossible to get. And what if you just do not have the damn money? What if you're disabled? What if you have no car? 
I remember after Katrina when people kept asking, "Why didn't everyone evacuate?" 
This seems like a reasonable question but the fact of the matter is, they did not give enough warning in that case and also, there are so many, many people in New Orleans and that area who did not have cars, who lived (and still live) in substandard housing, and most folks thought the levees would hold, I guess. 

I'm just doom-blogging day after day, aren't I? I'm sorry. This is what's on my mind. I want to say thank you so much to all of you who have reached out to check on us, to say, "Be safe," to say, "We are thinking of you." People I have not heard from in years. And I am so grateful to be able to tell them that in this case, we seem to be out of the path of danger but thank-you, thank-you, thank-you. 

I believe I have caught up on replying to comments for Sunday and Monday's posts. Having the boys here last night sort of cut back my blogging time. But we really did have a good time with them. They liked their chicken and dumplings and loved their brown cows made with Neapolitan ice cream. Or as I always call it- Choc/Van/Straw. Mr. Moon supervised their showers and by the time their mother got here to pick them up, they were clean and ready for bed. She ate a bowl of chicken and dumplings too, having eaten only a granola bar and a yogurt during her 12-hour shift. Hospitals are severely understaffed these days and it is frustrating as hell. Trying to give the type of care she has been trained to do and wants to do is almost impossible due to the number of patients each nurse is responsible for. 

But that's a whole other subject. 

Here's the seemingly requisite daily picture of Maurice hanging out in a place she never felt safe enough to do while her dear brother Jack was around. 

I honestly think she finds the places to snooze which show her at her best as to color and pattern. 

Off to make supper. 

Love...Ms. Moon

No Title

 

We have two fine boys here right now. Mr. Moon did indeed get up at 5:00 a.m. to go be with them when their mother went to work. Jessie had everything set up and all he had to do was oversee their breakfast and getting dressed and then he took them to school. By the time I got up he'd already accomplished all of that and had a workout. 
And gone to Costco to get gas. The lines were long. People are scared to death of this storm as well they should be. We should be. A lot of folks are evacuating from the west coast of Florida and probably central Florida. Milton is, right now, a category 5 storm which is the highest category there is. It means that the storm has sustained winds of 157 miles per hour or more. 
That is terrifying. 
There is a lot of belief from those who know that before the storm slams into Florida it's going to get back down to a Cat 3 which is still ridiculously horrifying. There are factors that affect these storms including wind sheer, the temperature of the air and water and all sorts of things I know nothing about but at this moment, all of the forecasts agree that there will be some weakening. They also agree that the storm's power will not much affect us here in the Big Bend and panhandle area of the state but I do believe that most of us are still going to be watching things closely. 

Here's the last map Nucatola posted.

Wind speed- 180 mph. 
That is outrageous. 

To all of you who live down in the area where Milton is predicted to hit I say- leave if you can. Think about moving to a shelter before the storm gets there if you can't. 

Know that we are holding you in our hearts. 

In other storm-related news, by this morning when Vergil talked to Mr. Moon, he'd gotten to the mountain, they'd hauled the generator up to their land with a tractor, and had it hooked up to Vergil's sister's house so they have water, at least. This is all very good news. 

Nothing much else to report. I've had a lot of anxiety today. Hurricane season is not a time of peace, especially this year and it's working on me. I told Glen that I felt like if you lit a match near me, I'd go up in flames. Just- that close to the edge. But I'm not OVER the edge and I plan to stay safely on this side of it. I've got my big pot boiling away with chicken thighs, carrots, onion, celery, mushrooms, and green beans and will make the dumplings when the chicken is cooked and taken from the bones. Cooking and doing things like laundry and gardening are, for me, some of the best anti-anxiety remedies there are. I did some stitching today too and that is also helpful. So is being with our beautiful boys. I took them to Publix with me after I picked them up at school and they were so good. We got to see Aunt Lily who gave each of them a beaded bracelet which she makes and keeps for the kids who come into the liquor store with their adult.

And so it goes. And so it is. October 7, 2024, in the year of the hurricanes. 

Love...Ms. Moon

Who Knows? Not Me (That's The Fourth Time Now I've Said That Today And Which Is The Credo Of The Church Of The Batshit Crazy)

Here we have burn pile number two. This one was created when the guys cut down the Bradford pears. Somehow they managed to burn every bit of those trees up except for a very few small pieces. That fire burned for days and days. Everything you see on it now is from the last few storms we had. Branches to limbs to twigs. And all the stuff in between. Also, some bamboo and wisteria and thorn vines. And rose glory bower. To the left of that pile is the bamboo jungle and to the right are the trees that line the railroad track. When I tell you that we are very, very close to the railroad track what I mean is- we are almost right on top of it. The old building you see in the back is possibly an old barn or...we don't quite know. But there it is. 

It's raining pretty good right now, cooling things off. I pulled up my big girl panties this afternoon and went out with the idea of finishing up the side yard on the east side of the house and also the back yard closest to the house. I got the side yard done and trimmed some wisteria while I was at it. I had to keep telling myself, "This is not what you're out here for." It's weird. One thing just leads to another and before you know it, you’re  exhausted and soaking wet from sweat and you still aren't haven't accomplished your intended goal.  
Also? Can we talk about mosquitoes? Of course we have mosquitoes. We live in Florida and hell, we live virtually on the back of a swamp but I have never seen mosquitoes quite this bad. There are actual clouds of them. I sprayed with the Real Man Jungle mosquito spray with DEET in it and that barely kept them from attacking. I still got bit a lot. 
Glen cleaned up most of the back yard that I was going to do although I did manage to fill up the garden cart with some branches that had fallen in the old kitchen garden and the camellia bed which are adjacent to each other. I also trimmed a sago back and honestly, I want it gone. It is of no use to anyone or any thing in this world that I can see.

So we did what we could. Glen also planted onions so he was the real hero today. 

It's raining right now. It's been gray and drizzly all day long but this is real rain. I doubt it's related to Milton but who knows? Not me. (That's the third time I've said that today.) Milton is now officially a hurricane and it's supposedly going to hit Florida on Wednesday down on the west coast further south as yes, a Cat 3. Rob Nucatola is making no promises. He's also not joking around. Anyone who denies that climate change is real at this point is a Grade A, Number 1 asshole. 
Oh. What did Donald say about it recently? "It's a hoax."
That's right. 
Yes, we've always had hurricanes. Yes, some of them have been very, very big and strong and bad and destructive. But the increase in the number of them and the increase in the size and strength of them is non-debatable. 

Speaking of which, Vergil left Tallahassee at 5:30 this morning to get up to Black Mountain. I really have no idea how he's going to get the generator and supplies up to their property but he'll figure it out. I hear that they're doing okay with food and that one of their biggest problems right now is people hiking up there to check on them and then having to be shown the way down because they get lost. I assume that GPS is a little iffy up there right now. From what I've seen and heard online, they are so very lucky to still have their homes and enough food. I'm not sure where they're getting their water but it would appear that they have plenty. 

Jessie is working a 12 hour shift tomorrow so Saint Mr. Moon is going to be at their house at 6:00 a.m. because Jess has to leave at 6:15. He'll get the boys fed and ready for school and take them. He says he'll just pretend he's going hunting which also requires a very early start. I'm going to pick the guys up from school and bring them back here to play, eat dinner, take a bath and get their pajamas on so their exhausted mother can come and pick them up after work. I told Jessie to please ask the boys what they wanted me to make them for supper and they want chicken and dumplings although that's what they had for August's birthday dinner a week ago. They do love chicken and dumplings. 

All right- here's a question that I'm going to ask simply for my own entertainment. If you came to my house for dinner, what would you want me to cook? The menu ranges from garden vegetables to venison or fish that Mr. Moon brought home, to clam spaghetti, to shrimp salad, to pinto beans and cornbread, to gumbo, to creamy curried cashew butternut and sweet potato soup, to egg rolls to...chicken and dumplings. 
And so much more. 
I'm just curious. 

And please know that this does not mean I'm inviting you over for dinner. You have to know what a recluse I am by now. 

I know you're getting tired of pictures like this one.

However, I am still enjoying the fact that Maurice is feeling comfortable and safe enough these days to hang out on our bed. Although she is not really a new cat, she is definitely a happier cat. 

Love...Ms. Moon

Girl Reading Book At Hilltop

Last night I got a text from this one asking if I wanted to go to the Hilltop tomorrow with her family after they picked up Owen from work. And Boppy could come too, if he wanted to. 
"Of course!" I texted back. And so we did. Gibson wasn't there because he had a birthday party movie to go to but the rest of their family was there including Lauren and also, Hank and Rachel made an appearance. 

Maggie looked so darling. You probably can't see it but her make-up is on point and includes glitter. The clip-on earrings slay me and her hair is perfection. Her mama did that for her. She is getting her money's worth from those silver shoes and if I were her, I would wear them every day I could still fit into them. And the dress! It's a dream! I am thinking that I might get her to do my make-up for the wedding. 

The Hilltop was great, as always. I took a few pictures.

There's been a baby boom amongst the employees in the last few years. And if you look closely, you can see the lady behind the counter is wearing her baby as she works. He's actually more toddler than baby and he's sleeping. 

And here's a picture I always mean to take when we're there but never do. 

That's southern heaven right there, y'all. You've got your pineapple banana cake, chocolate cream cake, red velvet cake, carrot cake, cheese cake with many different toppings, and all the salads. 
Potato salad, macaroni salad, tuna salad, chicken salad, krab salad...

Don't forget your deviled eggs or smoked pimento cheese.  
Can you believe I have never once had one of their desserts? What is wrong with me? 

I got a barbecued pulled pork sandwich with a side order of fried okra. The pork was so-so but that okra was gourmet. We ate outside under the awning thing at picnic tables and thankfully, it wasn't too horribly hot and the mosquitos left us alone. 
So that was a very good time and I'm glad Maggie invited us. 

Besides that, Mr. Moon and I did hardly anything today. It's just so unbearable, working outside. The temperature has dropped some but it's so humid. I went outside before we went to lunch to simply water the porch plants and repot my growing mango plants 

and that was all it took to be soaked in sweat. But don't those baby mangoes look good? I've got another one too but it's not nearly as far along as those two are. I surely hope that they survive the move. You can see how nicely my sea grape is coming along too. It probably needs a bigger pot and more dirt. 

But the message here is that it's just too dreadful to work outside. Sometimes I feel like I can tolerate it and I do. I just accept the sweating and get on with it for as long as I can tolerate it. Other times, I just can't. Both Glen and I were having one of those other times today. And we didn't. 

I stitched one patch onto the overalls I'm mending for Mr. Moon and pinned on another. The stitching I did was mostly just basting to keep the patch in place. 

Yes, I am using a pair of his old hunting britches to make my patches with. They are beyond repair in certain areas but still strong in others. This is definitely going to be visible mending and I should study that more so I actually have an idea of what I'm doing but fuck it. There are indeed beautiful online images of some of the different types of techniques but from what I understand, the aim of visible mending is to use your own imagination and whatever skill level you have to patch and mend in such a way that the result represents you in the finished result. 

This patch is not going to be very artistic, if at all, because of the difficulty of getting a needle through that tough fabric, especially in the seam areas. So if I get it done and it holds well, I'll be happy. I will definitely be using a thimble. 

Now. I am loathe to report this but...

Fuckity fuck, fuck, fuck. 

The last thing that part of Florida needs is another hurricane. And of course, it might head more northwest because hurricanes do what the hell they want to do. I'm waiting for Rob Nucatola's take on the situation tomorrow as he has a little more time to study and ponder the factors that determine how strong a storm may get and where it may go. But that's the National Hurricane Center's report and they are very Just The Facts, M'am about it all. 

And that's all I need to say about that right now.

I've had no news from Black Mountain today. Jessie's at work and she's the one I hear from about all of that. I assume that Vergil is still planning to head up tomorrow. I sure hope the generator he ordered has shown up. 

Due to another televised FSU game this evening, Mr. Moon will be eating hot wings again which he got from the Hilltop as a take-away. At this point, FSU's season is so dismal that hot wings are the only thing that make watching the games enjoyable, I think. 
I really don't know shit about FSU's season except that they seem to keep losing and you have no idea how impossible it is around here to not be aware of that. 
So instead of making supper, I'll be cutting up carrots and celery and peppers and stuff to go with the wings and I'll be eating leftovers by myself which is fine. I am always invited to go sit in the Glen Den and join Mr. Moon and our neighbor to watch the game and eat bar food but the chances of that happening are less than none. Perhaps I shall do some more patch work. 

Oh wait. Just saw this.

ROB NUCATOLA

deptnrooSst61uia2111570561t0m46m874um0h8um7f0f3605504f5f2981  · 

Remember, we look at the whole cone and not just the center where the icon is.

We will see more tomorrow and know even more on Monday.

There’s a boundary that’s going to make it very very very hard to become an issue for much of OUR area. But that cone is a little too close for our SE areas for Wednesday

I’ll have more tomorrow and a full update on Monday.

Seriously? A Cat 3?

And keep in mind that hurricane season does not end until the end of November.

Why do I feel as if this is a particularly Florida post? All I need is a damn alligator eating a dog story and a recipe for shrimp and grits, and key lime pie and that's all we'll need.

Anyway.

Love...Ms. Moon

Congratulations Are In Order! And Other Things, Of Course

Guess who got their marriage license today? 
That's right! Rachel and Hank! How darling are those two loveys? This wedding is going to be so damn fabulous. I am going to get all the pictures I can and of course, I'll get people's permission before I post them because I'm thoughtful like that but I really can't wait to share the joy and celebration of these two beloveds.
Isn't it funny how when our kids are born we have certain ideas about how their lives may go? We know that we can't really predict their futures but we certainly hope certain things for them. I guess for me, my hopes involved my children being happy and by that, I knew even then that their happiness might not look like my idea of happiness but my idea had nothing to do with anything. And if you had told me when Hank was born the path that his life would take to come to this moment in time when he has found his true love and is about to marry her, I would have been completely gobsmacked. 
Say what? 
And yet, he IS happy and he makes Rachel happy and the way Hank has lived his life is so genuine and so uniquely his own and the way he has been a touchstone for so many people and an inspiration for even more folks makes me not only incredibly proud to be his mother but also, so appreciative of how his life has changed and opened and enlarged my life in so many beautiful ways. And has since the second he came into being and when I say that, I mean as soon as I even suspected I was pregnant with him. 
"All I want is for you to be happy." I can hear my mother saying that to me, I can hear millions of mothers saying that to their children and I know they meant it and mean it but the caveat in those few words is that they want their children to be happy in the way they themselves think they should be happy. And as we know, those are often two very different things. To me, it was far more interesting to watch and see the roads my children took (and are still taking) to achieve happiness than to try and lay down a path for them that I feel is the right one. I have no idea what the right path for myself is- how in the world would I know what the right path for my children is?

My goodness. Where did all of this come from? Who knows? I guess that sometimes I just get off on a tangent that leads to a place I obviously feel the need to discuss. 

I should probably rename this blog "Stream of Consciousness" but "Blessourhearts" it has always been and "Blessourhearts" it will always be. 

Bringing it all down to earth, I will tell you that I haven't accomplished much today at all. Why do I always feel the need to "accomplish"? I have no idea but I think that many of us do. And what do we mean by that word? And why in hell do we think that our "accomplishments" have any effect on the universe at all? Whether or not I pick up branches in the yard really does not amount to a particle of cosmic dust in the grand scheme of things. I found some turnip seeds from last year and planted a row of those. I had forgotten turnips when I ordered my seeds. I did some more thinning and weeding and realized that my lettuces were not coming up or if they had, something had eaten them. So again I found some seeds from last year and replanted a row of those. I think I may end up having to do a quite a bit of replanting of certain things and that's all on me- I probably didn't water enough which you wouldn't really think would be a problem when you've gone though a hurricane in the last week. And yet other things are merrily being all green and fine. I had thought I'd do some more yard work after my gardening but I decided that no, I did not want to and beside that, those branches and weeds and invasive plants will all be there tomorrow too. I started mending a huge tear in a pair of Mr. Moon's overalls. He wore that part of them completely out. It's going to require some thought and effort to mend this rip. Also a very large patch to cover all the worn-thin fabric in the area. 

But of course there are clean sheets on the bed. Is it Friday? Yes. Yes it is. 

And I will report that Vergil's mother posted a video that I saw yesterday but which was even more terrifying on a bigger format on Facebook. She wrote that their family has been on that mountain for so long that the stories of the great flood of 1916 have been passed down through the generations. And this flood was even worse. She reports they are okay and working hard to put things back together. I have no doubt they are.

I can't believe how much can change in one week's time. 

Martini time. 

Fall rose.

Happy Friday, y'all. 

Love...Ms. Moon

The Tiger Has Not Really Changed Her Stripes

Okay. I was wrong. I do not have a new cat. Maurice has gotten into fights with stray cats twice in as many days, both times at night. When we woke up to hear her screaming two nights ago my first thought was, "Maybe Jack's back!" 
But no. 
She was protecting her territory, I guess. And not only that...

Just a few minutes ago she came over to me asking for me to pet her and I did and then she grabbed my wrist and bit it.
So no. I lied I do not have a new cat, I have the same old crazy cat who is just more relaxed in her surroundings now and is learning new ways to boss us around. 

Hank and Rachel are doing their wedding as simply as possible and one of the things they sent out a request for is clear flower vases for the tables, and platters to set cookies out on. Rachel wants a cookie table with lots of different types of cookies and there will be containers for people to take some home with them. I think this is very sweet. 
So anyway, Jessie and I thought we'd go to Wag the Dog in Monticello today and have lunch too. The boys were out of school and so they could come along with us. Boppy ended up joining us for lunch and then he had other things to take care of. I got some sweet pictures from lunch. 

We were at the Rev and ate outside. It was nice and breezy and cool. In this picture, we are waiting for food and playing Twenty One Questions. August had selected the thing we were trying to identify and is holding his fingers up to keep track of the number of questions that have been asked. We figured out that it was an animal and it was bigger than a house cat and it was domesticated although he was a little iffy about what domesticated meant. It wasn't a dog, it wasn't a cow, it wasn't a pet monkey.
It was a human. 
We gave him a round of applause for that. 

The Rev has recently put in a small pool table, a fooz-ball game, and a air hockey game. The boys were so happy. 

The food was great. 
We do eat lunches out a lot, don't we? 
That and going to Publix and Costco are pretty much my social life. 

Then Jessie and the boys and I went to Wag and I found some clear vases and two platters that were quite reasonable and the boys looked and looked for something worthy of buying but the only thing they found was a fidget spinner. Do you remember fidget spinners? They were a thing some years ago and every kid had one and a few adults too. Levon wanted the one they found today. August found a few things he sort of wanted but not enough to fight his mama when she said, "I don't think I'm going to be buying that today." 
She didn't find anything to buy either but I was happy to find the wedding things. 

Jessie had some pictures that Vergil's mother had finally been able to send him and they are...unbelievable. The trees down, the rocks in the wrong places, the mudslides. It's a lot. But again, they are safe and they will be fine. It's going to take a lot of work to restore and repair but they will do it.

I've done very little of any use to man nor woman nor beast today although I did do a little ironing but mostly because I wanted to start watching the Netflix documentary film, Will & Harper. 

And I did. I have not talked to any of my trans-beloveds about this doc yet and so I can't speak to what any of them think or what ANY trans person would think about it. Will Ferrell's journeys with Harper Steele are just that- their journey together across the country and their journey together as they reconnect as Harper and Will. Just as Will Ferrell is a unique cis-gendered male, Harper is a unique trans woman. But of course, this story will have elements in it that apply to many, many people as they experience what it's like to present as the gender they've always been but have been unable to show, and people who have known and loved these people for many years, often never knowing their true identity. 

I'm not that far into it yet but already I've seen some things that I can relate to deeply. And I have to say that both Will Ferrell and Harper Steele are doing a service in making and releasing this film in these times of such rabid trans discrimination. For that, I thank them. 

I will still never think that Elf is a good movie though, no matter what. 

And yet, I will admit that perhaps there are many people who will watch this documentary simply out of their adoration of Will Ferrell who absolutely can be one of the funniest people on earth in my opinion. Just definitely not in Elf. 

Going to go cook some fish. My Lord but this week has flown by. 

Love...Ms. Moon

I Still Have A Little Life Left In Me

Let's start out with Mountain Family news. I actually got a text from Vergil's mama early this morning answering one I'd sent her a few days ago. She said things are a mess but the family is coming together in "heavy camping mode," working it out. And work it out they will. As I wrote her back, their strength and resourcefulness is humbling. 

Vergil has located and bought a generator that he can take up there and he'll be leaving here on Sunday. He has a lot of electrical engineering skills and so will be able to help the family get one of the houses hooked up. I know he feels so much better now that he has a plan. He had actually scheduled a sailing trip with some old friends for two weeks starting on Sunday so he already has the time off. Going to Black Mountain will not be a pleasure trip for him but I know Vergil and there is nowhere he would rather be right now than up on his beloved mountain helping his family. 
From the videos I've been watching, people are coming together to help in all of the Helene-affected areas from the west coast of Florida to Tennessee. Roads into the flooded out places are being restored as quickly as possible but there is no doubt in my mind that things are going to be nowhere near "normal" for years to come. If ever. 
I keep thinking of the town of Old Fort which is where we rented the same house for two summers. That house had more love and consideration put into it than any place I've ever stayed, from the stuffed animals and books in the children's room to the Kitchen Aid in the kitchen, just in case you need to whip some cream or make some bread. Beautiful antiques, thoughtful touches everywhere and I'm not talking about signs that say things like "Love Makes A House A Home" from the Big Lots store, either. 
From what I hear, Old Fort is just wiped off the map. And I'm sure, because I stayed in that house and met the landlady and noticed and appreciated all the love she'd put into the house, I am focusing my thoughts there and up on Black Mountain where my son-in-law was born and raised by his amazing family. 
These two things make it all so real and I grieve for all the losses.

***********

I actually got outside and did some work today. I thinned arugula in the garden and did some weeding. I am the world's worst thinner of baby plants. I admit this every year and every year I swear that I am going to be RUTHLESS when it comes to making room for the plants as they grow and every year I do not. 
I guess some is better than none.

After lunch I went back out and finished the branch clean-up in the front yard and moved to the side yard between us and our next door neighbors. I got way too involved in that and started doing things like pulling thorn vines down from trees and bamboo. Those vines are so wicked that as I think I've said before, a good self-flagellating Christian martyr would pay a lot of money for a few yards of these things. But there is something so satisfying about pulling and tugging and getting those things out of the trees they're entangled in. It makes me feel strong and capable of doing crazy things. And then I cut those vines up and put them in the yard cart and haul them to the burn pile. I even broke a very sturdy bamboo with my pulling of vines in it today. I cut the pieces of that up too, and to the burn pile it went. Now none of that is going to do any good. The vines will grow back as fast as bamboo does. And all the while I was working in that area, I was seeing all the damn stinking rose glory bower and I say "stinking" because it does smell nasty and is taking over my entire yard. 
As are the pinecone lilies. 

You probably can't see what's going on here but that's part of the old kitchen yard area and the pinecone lilies are thick and bountiful and also knocking over the fence but it's rotted anyway so I can't really blame the lilies. If you look closely at the foreground, you can see some more rose glory bower plants.

This is my life. Bountiful in all ways, some more appreciated than others. 

Here's a mushroom I found in the garden when I was on my knees. 

I know nothing about mushroom identification unless we're talking psilocybin, but I think it's a bolete of some sort. Those spongy gills (are they gills?) knock me out. 

Time to make supper. Clam spaghetti tonight. Easy and a favorite of Mr. Moon's. Oh! I forgot to discuss last night's debate! We only watched until a little after ten as I was just too tired and still needed to clean the kitchen before bed so I missed what I hear was Tim Walz's shining moments when he was discussing January 6. What I saw was very civil and what I learned is that Vance can lie with the slimy best of them. He is not stupid though, which makes him a more formidable opponent. I thought the moderators did a decent job and my favorite quote that I heard was the one where Vance was trying to make the pro-lifers happy without completely pissing off the pro-choice voters by saying that it's up to the states to decide on the abortion issue and Walz replying that a woman's health should not depend on geography. Speak it, Coach! Say amen! 

Anyway, here we are. 

Love...Ms. Moon

These Are The Times That Try My Soul

This picture came up in my iPhone photos memory yesterday and I had to send it to Jessie. That is little Levon when he was probably still in his fa-fa stage. Remember his fa-fa? That's what he called a shovel and he carried his plastic fa-fa with him everywhere like some children would carry a blanket or a stuffed animal. 

Isn't he a beautiful child? He looks so much like his mother at that age in this picture. She, too, was a little sprite, a tiny thing. I carried her in a side sling until she was at least two.

The thing I remember most about that day is that as tiny as he was, he INSISTED on pushing that child-cart around the nursery we were in and by god, the kid knew what he was doing. He didn't run into a thing or tump it over or hit anyone with it. He just drove it around as if he'd been doing the grocery shopping for thirty or forty years. I remember what he's wearing there too. The sort of tunic-top he has on is one of the dresses I made for August when he got so sad about me making dresses for Maggie and not for him. He loved his dresses. And Levon had no problem with them either. My darling boys. All of them. And my darling grandgirl, Maggie. 

I met Jessie for lunch today. We went to Japanica! which had signs up informing us that they're about to close for renovations and will hopefully reopen in early 2025 under a new name and with new menu options but with the same beloved crew.
Hmmmmm...
The place has been looking a bit dowdy lately and the number of customers seems to have dropped drastically. But I tell you- I could not love their green curry tofu Bento box lunch any more than I do. I never get tired of it and will miss it when they're closed for renovations and I hope that "closed for renovations" isn't code for "you ain't never eating here no more."

We went to Costco but neither of us needed much. We were in and out of there in less than twenty minutes which is sort of a record. It takes at least five minutes just to walk from the produce section to the cleaning products section. As we made our way through the store where shelves were piled wide and high with goods, and refrigerator cases were stocked with meat and cheese and fish and all the foods in the world you might want, I thought about how people are standing in line for hours and hours to get into a grocery store to buy whatever they can that's edible, I suppose. I felt at once guilty and grateful and overwhelmed and offended and amazed at what we take for granted until one thing happens- one thing- and our whole world stands on its head and everything we took for granted is gone. 

Vergil's family seems to be doing well. They can get up and down the mountain now although I think it's pretty perilous and it is a long hike. Of course even the youngest child in the family probably has more lung capacity and stronger legs than all of us Florida people put together excluding Vergil himself, and possibly Jessie, August, and Levon. Vergil has figured out how to get a generator up there so they can pump water which is the first concern. It turns out that Jessie and Vergil's RV that they keep parked there for their summer stays is bizarrely seemingly untouched and the generator could be put there to pump water from their well and take hot showers with the generator powered hot-water heater. I have still been obsessively watching videos from the affected areas and they are heartbreaking. 

Of course Trump is using the grief and loss and tragedy for campaign purposes, claiming that the federal government is doing nothing to help the areas hit so hard and that Biden isn't even responding to calls from governors. He was in Valdosta, Georgia, which is right up the road from here, to deliver these lies. The governor there immediately responded saying that this was not true at all, he'd been in touch with Joe Biden who was doing everything he could to get help to those who need it. And that is a Republican governor. 

I think this picture says it all. 

He's making a SPEECH at a PODIUM behind a...what is that fake wall thing? A symbol of rebuilding? A replica of the wall he's going to continue building on the border with Mexico if he's re-elected? The strength of his campaign? 

Dear god let it stop. 

I'm going to watch the debate tonight with Tim Walz and JD Vance. As I told Glen, I need to have a scale to base my hatred of Vance on. 

That's all for tonight except that I did buy a new broom today which is pretty exciting. 

Actually no. No it is not. Not even with the beautiful red dustpan it came with. Even I am not that old. 

Love...Ms. Moon