Duck Decoys, Deer Heads, John Lennon, And Clothespin Bags. What Do These Things Have In Common?

I promised yesterday to try and do something interesting today. That picture may be a clue to you that I did not. However, Maurice has recently started lounging like that, holding her own paw, as it were, and although I think it's darling, I also find it a little bizarre. Do all cats do this? Is she so hungry for affection that she holds her own hand? If so, why won't she let us love on her a little without stabbing us with tooth or claw? 

I'm not even going to try and pretend anything with any element of excitement happened in my immediate vicinity today. Nor did I go out and create any. I just stayed here and did regular boring stuff and it felt like a very nice day. Mr. Moon and I made each other laugh when he called this morning. First off, I said to him, "Do you know where the loppers are?"
And he answered, "I seem to remember seeing them on the porch."

So I looked straight ahead of me at the end of the porch I face when I'm on my laptop and was staring right at them. And I'd put them there, too. 
So we two old people just laughed and laughed. Because that's how it goes these days in our old people lives. 
Then we got to talking about the log cabin (every time I say "log cabin" I think of Lincoln Logs so it's okay if you do too) and I suggested something I thought of the other day which was that he could move some of his many collectible (to him and him only) treasures he has squished into the shelves on either side of the fireplace in the Glen Den to the shelves in the loft over at the fish camp. These are things like beer glasses he got when he was playing ball overseas and antique fishing lures and all kinds of stuff that I never, ever clean because it's HIS stuff and I'm not messing with that sort of fussy, dusty stuff. 
I fear I may be destroying my reputation as the best wife in the world here. Oh well. I have other attributes. 
So he agreed that it might be a good idea to take some of those things over there and then he said, "What I'm really interested in right now is duck decoys." 
And I started laughing. At first I didn't want him to know how hysterical I found the idea of him collecting duck decoys and displaying them in his own personal log cabin was so I tried to hide it but then the idea of that whole situation overcame me and I couldn't hide my laughter any more and I said, "Honey. Just how much do you NOT want me to come stay there with you?" And he started laughing too.

How in the world did the two of us ever, ever get together, much less stay married for forty years and if not always in utter and complete bliss, at least in a kind and loving and often romantic way? 
I do not know, I do not know. I don't know shit. 

Yet here we are. 

Good Lord. I haven't even talked about my yard work yet! 
I had to wait until it was over 90 degrees to get out there and work because that is the shortest way for me to satisfy my need to suffer. I mean, if I did yard work when it was cool, it would mostly just be a joy and that's not suffering. 
I can't believe I wasn't raised Catholic. 
So if sweating does rid the body of toxins, I have a very, very pure body right now. 
By the way, it doesn't. 
I found bamboo. I kicked bamboo, I dug bamboo, I lopped bamboo. 
I found a culm that was too big around for me to do anything with so it remains where it is, shooting up to the sky as if it wanted to poke it in the eye. 
And when I'd done that and hauled a bunch of bamboo to Burn Pile #2, not to be confused with Burn Pile #1, I started doing a little clearing of the old kitchen garden area which is so bad I am too ashamed to even take a picture of it to show you. There is every type of invasive plant in there that we have in this yard with the possible exception of crocosmia and why that hasn't happened yet, I do not know. There is also a whole bunch of phlox that I planted but it all looks funky right now, probably with something like powdery mildew although I've looked that up and it doesn't seem to be an exact match for what's going on. The (literally) stinking Glory Bower is celebrating its obvious victory over me and my puny attempts to eradicate it. Virginia Creeper is much in evidence along with dewberries and other plants that I have no idea as to identity and don't care. I really should have Glen help me just clear that area and make a lovely little herb and flower bed there. 
Dang, I need some goats. 
And when I had worked some on that and had soaked through my underwear, shirt, and hat, I lopped off all the yellow fronds of a sago palm by the camellia bed and swore a silent promise to that bed to get in there soon and clear some things out and trim some things up. 

So that's been my big day. 
Oh. Here's something. 

One of the aloe vera is in bloom and if you can make out the blurry stuff going on behind that bloom, you might see about a hundred more aloe vera along with some dewberry vines. 
One day I am going to dig that whole area up and I will probably need a medic to stitch me up when I'm done. Both the aloe vera and the dewberry have vicious, vicious thorns, the aloe vera especially. Its edges are as sharp and serrated as a shark's teeth while my skin is as thin and easily pierced as tissue paper. 

Since I have so few pictures today, I took some of the art on the east side of my laundry room. I have posted many pictures of the other end of the room. It has plants and wood and fabric fish and a beautiful picture that Lily made me and a beautiful girl in a shell that Linda Sue made me and all of that is on or over the folding table. 
However, a new display has been developing over the washing machine and it brings me much joy. 

The whole thing started when Linda Sue sent me that darling little clothespin bag made to look like a child's outfit. 

I hung it where you now see John Lennon which my darling friends Beth and John got me in NYC. 

I am definitely not a matchy-matchy person when it comes to colors in my decor. (Haha!) However, the shades of blue and red in both of those things were too good not to show in proximity to each other. And then I remembered the apron.

Well. That certainly had to go in there somewhere. 
And finally, the hand stitched hankies or whatever they are that Liz Sparks gave me long ago absolutely had to be included.

Please enlarge them and look at what incredible folk art they are. Of course I had to frame them. And again- all the right colors. 

This little corner gives me so much pleasure every day because as you can imagine, I not only spend a lot of time IN the laundry room, I also walk through it many, many times a day. To get to our bedroom and my bathroom from the kitchen or dining room or Glen Den or library, you have to pass through it. 

Honestly, I probably should not be laughing at Mr. Moon for wanting to collect duck decoys to decorate his new house with. We love what we love. 

Ms. Moon

Sometimes You're Just Tired

The confederate jasmine is having its way with our olfactory receptors right now. I wonder if there's a new, more PC (or dare I say...woke?) name for this plant, which, when it flowers is nothing less than an assault on our noses. The blossoms have a deeply sweet and somehow pungent scent that travels for yards and yards, especially when the sun is warming them. They are lovely little white pinwheels, interesting in design. 

But they can become overwhelming, both in scent and in their growth. And yes, they are one more plant which grows completely out of control here if not pruned regularly. The vine can pull over chain link fences. 

Mr. Moon kissed me goodbye this morning sometime before six. I know he was excited to get on the road and head on up to Nashville which is where he grew up. I told him what I always tell him when he goes on these trips- "Be safe, be careful, come home to me, I love you."

That says it all. 
And then I add, "Let me know when you get there." And off he goes into the inky darkness, his cookies and roasted peanuts by his side, his thermos of coffee, hot and sugared in the cup holder. 
And I fall back asleep. 
I slept so hard this morning that I didn't wake up until 10:00. I have no idea how that happened. Maurice was right there with me, looking mildly annoyed when I got up and flung the covers back as if I could regain some of today's time that I'd spent dreaming away. And boy, did I have a dream! Sometimes I'm almost proud of my brain for coming up with the epic stories it spins while I'm asleep. This one had almost all the cliches of my life I generally dream about except that for once, I was not responsible for a child or a pet or any other being. Instead, I was the one seeking help. I was at FSU, where I did attend nursing school, and I was supposed to be taking classes with my old friends with whom I truly had been very close to but in this dream I decided that really, I was too old to start anything new and so I tried to leave campus but I could not find my way out. I somehow got myself into buildings whose hallways and stairs and rooms went on forever and I could not find the exits to the outside. There were so many characters in this dream who tried to help me. This was a completely different element in my dream world. But no one really seemed to be able to help and when I did finally get outside, I couldn't find where I'd parked my car and no one could help me there either, although many tried. And of course I lost my purse which had my phone in it. 
It is possible that the shooting which happened there week before last influenced this dream. I do not deny that possibility. 

When I finally woke up I was so grateful. Usually when I have dreams like this, I realize I'm dreaming and that fact incorporates into the dream and it helps but in this case, I had no clue that I wasn't actually living the experience so I was also exhausted and bewildered. I found that I'd missed a call from Glen who likes to call and check on me when he knows I'll be up although of course I wasn't up this morning. He ended up texting Jessie so she was worried too and I'm surprised they didn't arrange a wellness check on me. 

Good Lord! 

And I did absolutely nothing for most of the day except feed myself and Maurice and turn the water on in the garden. I read some of a New Yorker and watched far too many reels on FaceBook and read all the blogs I read and commented on those. I did a crossword online. I think perhaps I was just detoxing from from the past week. There has been some unusual stress and strain and busy-ness too. Later on in the afternoon, I decided to check off one of the things I wanted to do while Glen was gone and I did. I cleaned my bathroom and his and dusted the furniture in the bedroom and swept those three rooms, even taking up the big rug in my bathroom and washing it. Did I mop? Come on. I am not insane. 
I really hate housecleaning. The only joy I get from it is the satisfaction I feel when it's done. 

And now I don't have to think about any of that for a little while. 

When I was shaking out rugs I saw this in the front yard.

Do you see it? No one has kicked bamboo since the kids did it last Sunday and it's not done with its annual attempt to take over the world. I kicked that one over and a few others but I really need to do a real search and destroy tomorrow. 

When I went out to turn the sprinklers off in the garden, I could not help but do a little walk-around. Ask anyone who loves to do a vegetable garden and they will tell you that there is a real satisfaction in taking at least one daily stroll around it to see what is coming along, changing, blooming, growing. I am proud of the arugula I planted a few weeks ago. It's ready for me to start using bits of in salad. 

The bare spot is where fire ants came to live after I planted. Those fucking fuckers. They've moved on now, probably to the okra. While weeding yesterday I came across quite a few. And they are called fire ants for a reason.

Glen has made it to Nashville and I believe he is a very happy guy. I'm glad he has these friends. It says a lot when someone can sustain relationships for half a century or more. 

I'll try to do something interesting tomorrow. 

Love...Ms. Moon

Could There Be A More Ms. Moon Post?

 
I stayed home in Lloyd today and am the better for it. I got a few things done and didn't feel the pressure of having to rush to meet any schedules. A bit of heaven, that. 

I hung laundry on the line for the first time in a while. It's hot here during the days now, up into the eighties, close to ninety. Somewhere around thirty degrees C. But it's still not wicked humid and we've had a nice breeze today so the sheets and tablecloths I hung up got dry very quickly. I wonder what in the world it is that is so damn pleasing to me about drying laundry on a line outside?

It is pragmatic art in motion, an ever-changing prayer flag flying under sky and trees with birds above. 

I got out to the garden before the temperatures reached flesh-cooking levels. I wanted to finish up some weeding and spread a little more leaf mulch. I cannot say it too often- Glen has truly, truly made the garden a thing of beauty this year. 

A

That's some healthy looking yellow squash in the foreground with tomatoes and marigolds and potatoes over to the upper right. You can see the green beans climbing the fence. I am expecting blooms any day now. 

Here are some baby tomatoes that are looking good. We have quite a few of those. The peppers and eggplants are coming right along, my zinnias are going to be a merry jumble of color if they keep doing what they are doing, and the okra is coming up. 

If only the garden could always be so filled with hope and promise. We know damn well that in a month, the bugs will be tormenting the plants and us, too, when we go out to work in it. Different bugs but still. The heat will be intolerable. Viruses and fungus are apt to be taking over what the insects don't. But sometimes we get lucky and the tomatoes have a good year and the squash gives us enough for me to make squash soup which is far more delicious than you would believe, and squash croquettes, and squash and onions, and fried squash. I'm talking the yellow crookneck summer squash which has a soft skin, unlike acorn or butternut varieties. And of course there are always the rattlesnake beans but I habitually worry that we will have an off year or that they have given me all the magic I deserve but this is just the way I think, and not necessarily reality. 

I put the new tablecloth on my back porch table and I am so thrilled with it. 

It is perfect. There's something so satisfying about finding a true treasure at a thrift store. Of course, one woman's treasure is another woman's, "Would you look at this hideous thing, Joyce?"
Which is good. If everyone had the same taste, it would be impossible to find the stuff that makes our own hearts happy. And the best part is, you often had no idea you needed something like I needed that tablecloth until you see it. 
"Here I am!" it says. "Take me home. I am yours."
And the price tag says, "$4.99." 

Here's one more thing I did today:

I made Mr. Moon a batch of the life-sustaining cookies that he takes with him on his trips away. Oatmeal, raisin, chocolate chip, pecan. Which means, of course, he is leaving early tomorrow to drive to Nashville to hang out with his good buddies to fish and hang out and maybe play golf and eat the shrimp and oysters he's taking up there and probably meat. 

Bourbon will be involved.

He's only going to be gone for a few days but I really must make my trip to the grocery store for salmon, tofu, and baby peas. 

Right now I am sipping a martini and about to go cook our supper. Line-dried sheets on the bed, sweetness with my husband, a new tablecloth on my table, baby tomatoes in my garden. 

For this very moment, all is quite well. 

Happy Friday, y'all. 

Love...Ms. Moon

Buying Things That Have Been Gently Used

Well, my friends, today we bought a dock. 
And a log cabin came with it! 
As Jesus said, "It is done."

He may or may not have said It's a Wonderful Life but I suppose it's possible. That was a picture I took today from the Goodwill art bin when we were doing a little post-dock buying celebration. 
Perfect, right? 
I did not buy Jesus. I feel certain you are not surprised. 

So yes. We drove to the closing at an attorney's office where we realized that today is Take Your Kids To Work Day in Leon County and the bizarre thing about this is that when we went to the closing to sell the Dog Island house, it was also Take Your Kids To Work Day. 
Life is not only wonderful (theoretically), it is also serendipitous and full of coincidence. 
Our realtor who has been infinitely patient and kind and helpful brought us a little gift basket with householdy things in it which I found to be so heartwarming. My favorite things in the basket are a set of dishtowels. I am a fool for dishtowels. 

And the whole thing took about twenty minutes and then we walked out, the owners of a house on a very large lake in Georgia. If you missed the pictures on the realty site before and want to see them, you can find them HERE. Please bear in mind that those pictures were VERY professionally taken. I'm not saying that it's not a lovely house, I'm just saying that things are not always quite as they seem, especially as applies to the kitchen which appears to be about four times bigger in the photos than it is in the realm of reality. 
Ah well. There truly is a LOT of wood in the house and I do love wood and the back porch is as charming as it appears and there definitely is new wood on the dock. 

 
I was not exactly oozing with joy and excitement at the closing. Look- I did the best I could and I am here for the ride, here for this next chapter, here for however things unfold. My heart will thaw. 

After the signing, we talked about eating lunch but it was a little early so we stopped at a Goodwill. I do believe my husband was trying to charm me. He knows how much I love thrift shopping. And I did find something nice. 

No. It's not a pillow. That's a folded up tablecloth, just out of the dryer. The label has been removed but I'm sure it's an April Cornell product which means that it's of good quality and very nice colors. I love it. I can use it here on my table on the back porch and eventually, when we get a table for the cabin, I might take it over there. 
It's a start, right? 

And then we went to the Hospice re-sell store in Moon Plaza where Jessie met up with us and I found a silk scarf that I absolutely had to buy although I have no idea what I'll do with it. 

The print is unlike anything I'd usually find attractive but the colors are so deep and intense and that monkey is such a super hero and the crocodile is so sneaky and, well, it demanded to be bought. I also got a 1000 piece jigsaw that could well be the thing I "do" at the cabin for a year. Or more. I'm a very slow jigsawer.

Calming and almost meditative, isn't it? 
It could almost be the visual equivalent of smoking meth. 

But today wasn't all about buying a dock and a tablecloth and a silk jungle scarf. No! It was also about noodles! 
How many times have I eaten lunch out this week? Three you say? You are right! And now I have yet another cuisine's worth of leftovers in the refrigerator. Jessie and I got some sort of dish with sweet potato glass noodles (Japchae?) which was delicious and we had a lot of fun trying to eat the clear noodles which were as stretchy as elastic, with our chopsticks. We managed. 

And now, although I probably shouldn't say it, the thing I did today which feels almost the most momentous, was to give the kitchen floor a very good sweeping and then two moppings. 
My god, it needed it. So much. 

And now my kitchen smells like Fabuloso and white vinegar which is what home and goodness smell like to me and I am happy. 

I guess it's been a big day. 

And we shall go on from here. 

Love...Ms. Moon

Always Older, Never Wiser

This is the coil vase Lily's been making, partly at home, partly in class. And isn't it beautiful? After it's glazed it's going to be the prettiest vase ever. 
Class was fine today except that for me it was yet another opportunity to feel unskilled, ignorant, and frustrated. I did not have on my happy face. I finished cutting out leaves for the wind chime I have in mind but I'm not even sure that I have time left in the class to get them glazed and fired. We're going to give class a rest this summer and get back into it in the fall. Lily wants to be able to do fun summer things with her kids on her days off, and Jessie and Vergil will be heading to the hills before we know it. Glen and I have already booked the house I love so much near their property where we have stayed three summers in a row, I think. I was very worried that the house had been destroyed by Helene. A creek runs beside it and after seeing all of the pictures of houses being taken right off the banks by what had been gentle, chuckling creeks which turned into wide, raging rivers, I was so afraid it, too, had been taken. The photos that came back from Old Fort, which is the nearest little town, showed almost complete destruction. Roads destroyed, buildings swept away. But I've been in touch with our wonderful landlady up there and the house is fine. They had a lot of erosion but that should be dealt with by the time we're going up to North Carolina. 

Well, that was a rather untidy segue. 

So yes, class was fine and then we met Lis at what USED to be Japanica(!). I don't know if you remember but sometime last fall it closed for "remodeling" which in restaurant-speak, generally means, "You've seen the last of us."

But no, no, no! They actually did remodel, removing the hibachi area, and opening up the space with new tables and chairs and all around decor. 
It is fancy-looking! And beautiful. And they changed the name from Japanica to Kyoto. 

Here's a picture I took as we were leaving.

The decorations are quite whimsical, all of them bright and colorful. The entire method of taking orders has changed and there is even a robot server although it didn't seem to be in use very much. The real servers did a great job.

It was so very, very good to see Lis. And Lauren joined us too so it was a merry chattery group. Everyone ordered sushi but me. I got the tofu curry bento box which is what I always got at the old Japanica and I have to say I did not enjoy it as much as the ones I've gotten in the past. But it was good and I brought home leftovers to join the Greek food I brought home yesterday. There is an international cuisine lunch in my future here soon. 

Jessie gave Lis two of the mugs she's made this year which are adorable. Lis couldn't believe she made them. And I gave her the pillow that called to me yesterday, asking me to please take it to Lis. The only problem was that it wasn't a long enough visit and Lis had to get to the old Capitol downtown where she was taking her cards and artwork to the gift shop there to be sold. You can only imagine how few artists and venders can get their wares into that gift shop so it is a huge honor for her to have her work there. 
Oh Lis. She has so very, very many talents. 

And the opportunity to see her was far more delicious than any meal could have been. 

For a little while last night and this morning, it looked like the house signing might not happen tomorrow due to an attorney SNAFU but that all got straightened out today, much to Mr. Moon's relief. 
He is so ready. I go up and down in my feelings about it all and I wish with all of my heart that I was far more excited than I am. 
If there was ever an example of yucking someone's yum, this is it. And I am very much the yucker in this case. 

I've got to try harder to let him feel that I am supporting him in this because it is so important to him. I know that many of my feelings are irrational and fear-based and all kinds of negative shit. Oh, if only we could run our hearts and minds through a power wash that would blast away all the ancient, dirty cobwebs preventing the light from shining through the windows of our souls. 

I will ponder this. 

Love...Ms. Moon

Almost More Excitement Than The Law Allows

Today was the day I finally got the scan for my kidney stone and I really don't think it's going to show a damn thing that's useful. I believe it just moves around in there at will, sometimes leaving me completely pain-free and sometimes causing disturbing and uncomfortable symptoms. But at least I did it and I managed to get to the hospital, find a parking space in the hospital lot, find where I was supposed to go to check in, get the scan, and successfully find my car when it was all over. 
They have their system together at the hospital when it comes to things like this. You self-check in at a portal, sit down and someone will call your name and you go into their office and sign some documents saying you won't sue the hospital if they kill you and they put your patient bracelet on you and a volunteer escorts you to the room you'll be waiting in until someone else escorts you to the treatment room. The scan itself took about five minutes, tops. Then another person escorts you back to where the elevators are that will lead to the atrium which leads to the parking garage...

Phew. 

I did a little shopping in town while I was there. I went to World Market for a bar of the soap that Mr. Moon likes, which was introduced to him by May a couple of Christmases ago. It is called "Man Soap" and I love the way it smells. Glen does too. While I was there I picked up a little gift for Lis whom I will see tomorrow. She has an errand in Tallahassee so is driving over for a "hit and run" as she calls it. She's going to meet Lily and Jessie and me for lunch after pottery. Her birthday is on Friday so I wanted to get her a little something-something. 

I ate lunch at the Pitaria because suddenly I was starving. (Yeah, right.) I got the veggie platter as always because I always do and here's what it looked like. 

It's a very decent veggie platter although there's another Mediterranean restaurant down the street that has a better one. But the Pitaria was closer so...

I enjoyed that one a lot and brought home some leftovers too. 

I stopped at a Goodwill on my way home and got two soft short-sleeved T-shirts. I was down to three of those which is rather unbelievable. 

And then I drove home on a road I've never taken before that I can recall which is really weird. The sheriff I was talking to the other day told me that it's the road he'd use to get to Tallahassee if he lived in Lloyd. It branches directly off from the road I live on, and cuts straight through woods and cow pastures to a main highway to town. I did not see one other car on it which is what the sheriff had said- no one uses it. 

So that was pretty exciting, as I am sure you can imagine. 

I haven't done one thing that was of any interest to anyone in the world besides all of that. I mean, after going to the hospital to get a CT scan, everything else is bound to pale in comparison. 
Am I right? 

Pottery tomorrow and on Thursday we buy the log cabin. I don't even know where to start when it comes to getting stuff for that house. I looked around at Goodwill but they didn't have anything I'd want to carry over there. And besides that, the floors are going to be done, things are going to be changed in the kitchen, and one of the bathrooms has to be ripped out and replaced. So it's not time yet to start buying toilet bowl cleaner and frying pans. 
Oh god. 
I really hope that this doesn't turn out to be my season of discontent. Or despair. 

I'm trying. I am really, really trying. It may be a long strange trip though. Y'all coming with me? 
I hope so.

Love...Ms. Moon

The Kind Of Day I Needed

I went for a walk today and got some decent milage in although I did some stopping for sure. For example- I had to stop to take that picture of the fally-down house which, as you can see, is quite near to being completely collapsed. 

I have such a tender fondness for that old house. The fact that it's standing at all is a testament to whoever built it and whatever kind of wood it's built of. I can't even imagine the number of hurricanes and other storms it has survived. 
Here's what the house looked like sixteen years ago.

Honestly I had forgotten how straight and true it stood at the time. And peeling tatters of wallpaper still graced the walls then. I have written about it many times but I think the first post I ever did about the house is HERE. 

The longest stop I made today was just a few yards down the road from the old shack where Mr. Abraham, as I call him, although I think most people call him Abe, was crossing the road with a wheelbarrow and a rake to work on the lot he owns there. Mr. Abraham and I had never really had a conversation of any length until a few years ago when they were building the Dollar General which is on property adjoining the lot he was about to go tend to when I saw him today. And on that day when we first talked, I asked him so many questions about what living in Lloyd was like when he was a boy. He was born and raised here and he's about to turn 91 next month so he's seen some changes. He hasn't spent his whole life here. He moved away after he got married and had children and he had jobs in some sort of construction planning I think, in other parts of Florida and maybe Georgia. I can't remember. 
But I really enjoyed that conversation and I think he is very shy. I learned that day that he and his wife (now deceased) had actually lived in the now falling down house when they were first married. 

But it's been a while since we really talked and so today when my path intersected with his and he stopped and said "hello" to me I was a little surprised and very happy. 
We discussed how both of us have the same hobby which is taking care of our yards. The lot that his house is actually on, across the street from the property he was about to rake, is so very tidy and he pointed out a magnolia tree that he'd planted. He told me that when he and his wife first moved into that house, he'd bought a new plant just about every time he went to town. So we definitely have that in common. He is very proud of the fact that at almost 91, he can still get out there and make his property pretty. Hell, I'm proud of myself for doing the little bit I do in my yard and I'm only seventy. I told him that if he runs out of things to take care of in his yard, he is welcome to come down to my place and pull a few weeds.
"I had a feeling that's what you were going to say," he said. 

I enjoyed that chat and when we finally really meant it when we said, "Well, it's been nice to see you!" and both of us shut up, I continued my walk down the road and just a little distance from his house I saw this.

It was in front of the house that was deserted for so long until recently when crews came in and restored it and cleaned up the yard and so forth. 

I had posted a picture of it a few weeks ago. Or was it months? Whatever. 
The "For Sale" sign gave me the courage to go up the steps to the porch and peek in the windows. I was surprised at how nice it looks. 

Although...beige. 
No thank you. 
Of course as soon as I got home, I searched for it online and the link is HERE if you're curious. 

And so it goes. A day in Lloyd where I did Lloyd stuff. I worked in the garden a little, I watered my porch plants with the new hose Mr. Moon got me which you know darn well was pretty exciting. 

For me. 
Laundry, laundry, laundry. 
No naps. 
Tomorrow I will get my CT scan, finally, for the kidney stone. It's at the hospital radiology department which involves PARKING at the hospital and being IN the hospital and I'd rather mow a golf course with a paring knife but it'll finally be done. I am absolutely certain the scan won't show anything that we didn't already know so I'm back to the place where I'm asking myself why in the world I'm even doing this. 

Definitely time for me to make supper. Tonight we are having the always-delicious and also exotic recipe from my childhood which is pineapple chicken. It was about the best thing my mother ever made and it never disappoints. 

One last thing. How in the hell did it happen that one of the very last things Pope Francis did before he died was to speak with JD Vance? 

All I can think is that if there IS a god, they sure do have a viciously cruel sense of humor. 

Love...Ms. Moon