Sunday, August 2, 2009

Chickens, Iguanas and Lots and Lots of Laundry

Now how do I do this? I certainly don't intend to write a forty-page blog with pictures and stories of every moment of our trip.

"Here's where Ms. Moon has her face pressed to the window of the airplane, her shoulders shaking with sobs as she catches the first glimpse of her beloved Cozumel..."



"Here's the restaurant where Mr. and Ms. Moon always take their first supper and where the waiter greeted them with the words, "Welcome home."



And here's....

Nah. That would be boring as hell.
So I don't really know how to do it. How to relate pictures and words and integrate them into my life here back home but I guess I'll start out by saying today is a slow one. I feel almost as if I am withdrawing from a drug. My brain isn't fuzzy, exactly, but I'm not quite here, although in some ways, I am certainly here.

The schedule today called for laundry (ten days, ten GLORIOUS days of doing no laundry whatsoever will catch up to you, believe me) and also, for mixing the chickens. The babies weren't exactly busting out of their little nursery pen, but sort of so today was the day.

I took cut-up watermelon out to the pen and sweet-talked the hens while Mr. Moon put the babies out, one by one and yes, there were problems. The big gals wanted to show the little kids who the bosses were and that meant some swelling up and chasing and bowing up and bumping of chests and even pecking at a head or two, but we were right there to diffuse things and overall, it went well. No blood, no foul, and we are keeping our eyes on them right now.
It does seem quite obvious that Henry is a rooster and he did a fine job of protecting his flock of eight. He counted coupe (no pun intended and not even noticed until about my third read-through on this) on an aggressive Miss Bob and seemed as shocked as she was when he actually found himself with one of her feathers in his beak.
A storm came in and Mr. Moon and I sat in the coop with them as the rain beat down on the tin roof and everyone seemed fine. I felt completely content to sit and watch them as they huddled up together in two different groups, occasionally picking a vermin of some sort off another chick, grooming themselves and just generally watching the rain fall.

And so what I've done mostly today is watch the chickens, do laundry and talk to my children.

I had no chickens in Mexico to tend, of course, but there were iguanas. I do love the iguanas. There was one at the state park which was so big it was almost ridiculous. I'm sure he has attained his size from the eating of nachos and tacos. I saw him casually stroll up to a tourist and say, "Hey, you gonna eat that plate of food because really? I'd like it." And then the tourist gave him the food and everyone stood around and took pictures, including us and I thought for sure he was going to put his paw out and demand pesos for the pictures but he didn't. We'd all have paid if he had because he was that big and that imposing. Here he is:


Of course you don't have to tend iguanas unless you're like that guy who had a pet one right near where we parked our scooter when we went to town every day. That was a fine iguana who allowed himself to be stroked which I enjoyed doing, believe me.
I don't have his picture. Sorry.

But there are iguanas all over the island. We drove in one afternoon to the place we were staying to see two of them resting on a grate thing by the driveway. Here's the bigger one's picture:


As you can see, he is a fine iguana but no freak of nature. I love how they look at you. They don't have a huge vocabulary, as far as I can tell, and it mostly consists of the words, "Fuck off!" in Iguanaese. At least that's what it seems like they're saying to me.

I also didn't have a garden to tend in Mexico but there were plenty of beautiful gardens and plants to admire and I sure did. Here are a few bananas growing in the gardens of Cozumel Caribe, where we stayed:


We went to a park where they have a little replica of a Mayan home and garden and I loved that garden even though there wasn't squat growing in the beds. This is what it looked like:

I was enchanted and felt right at home and could easily imagine my own little place in the jungle with my own little garden with tomatoes and peppers and cilantro and perhaps even corn. Why not? And chickens. Of course chickens. I wonder if iguanas eat chickens. I'll bet they eat fried chickens, given the chance, even though I think most of their diet is based on fruit and insects. I'm pretty sure that iguana in the park would eat a fried chicken. All. By. Himself.

I was hunting today in my garden to see if I had any watermelons growing off the impressive vine which has showed no signs of producing fruit at all when all of a sudden, right in the middle of the words, "Nope, no watermelons yet," I had to alter that sentence to add, "Except for this fifteen pounder right here."
Yeah. There it was. A big ol' watermelon and Mr. Moon and I thumped it and pronounced it almost ready although of course, we're as clueless as anyone when it comes to actually being able to test for a ripe melon and you just hate to fuck it up when you grew it and it might be the only one the garden produces. We're going to let it sit for a few days.

I have flowers blooming that I didn't have when I left and the crazy pinecone lillies are making their crazy pinecones and all the begonias are alive and so are the front porch plants. My kids did a great job of keeping things alive. I'm impressed.

I'm also impressed with the heat and humidity here at home. It was hot in Cozumel, do not get me wrong. But there was always a breeze. Those Mexicans know how to build things to create a breeze. There's no breeze in Lloyd today and although it cooled off a little bit when it rained, it's now more of a sauna than it was before. Mr. Moon's been working all day, cleaning up the truck that our son-in-law is about to take possession of. He wants it to be nice, not only for Jason but because our grandson is going to be riding in it. That's Mr. Moon. I miss him today. We've not been this far apart for so long a time in days and days. We're within earshot of each other but that's not as close as we have been recently and I suppose that's "real" life.

And we've jumped back in to real life, chickens and laundry and cars and all. Lily and Jason are moving this week and so is Jessie so there's that. And life goes on. It went on while we were gone without us and now we're back and we need to participate. And we want to. It's good to get my feet back in the black dirt of Lloyd, to appreciate ancient oaks and and to admire the clean floors of my beautiful house.

But I tell you what- it's way past siesta time and my body knows it. Lie down, it says. Close your eyes knowing that the water is right outside the window and will be there when you get up. Where's your husband? Make him lie down next to you. Take a little sleep in the middle of the day. It's good for you.

Well. Not going to happen.

And here we are and I've wandered and I've muddled through this like a time-traveler, a demented woman with her feet in one place, her head in another, her heart in all sorts of places.
I'm exhausted.

Let's all rest now.
Or at least have a cup of coffee.

15 comments:

  1. Ms. Moon!!!
    I am honored to be the first to say...
    WELCOME HOME!!! FUCKIN A!!!

    My eyes welled up and my nose stung when I read
    "...her face pressed to the window of the airplane, her shoulders shaking with sobs as she catches the first glimpse of her beloved Cozumel..."
    oh, there I go again...

    I'm so happy you got back to your beloved Cozumel

    Glad you're home
    I missed you too

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank-you, Michelle. It was amazing. Everything I needed, everything I wanted. I AM the luckiest woman in the world. And I damn well know it, too.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I'm so happy you had another wonderful trip, but I'm also so glad you're home! I've missed you!

    ReplyDelete
  4. That Senor Iguana is FREAKING impressive. Good dialog for him.

    I like that picture of the Mayan huts. I wouldn't mind living in one , especially if you and Dad were there to take care of me. I could help sweep our dirt floors, mash corn meal into tortillas, and tend to our Mayan chickens, oh and help Daddy spear-fish. So can we possibly do that? Great! Thanks.

    Love you Mama, and I'm so glad you're back!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Rachel- Thank you. It was marvelous and now I'm home and catching up on everything. Slowly. Because life- well, she just goes on.

    HoneyLuna- I have more pictures. Of the huts and the place where you grind the corn and the fire where you cook it. We could do that, right? I love you so much.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I'm happy you had such a wonderful time!

    ReplyDelete
  7. perhaps it is the flighty, untethered artist in me, but i hesitste to say i'm glad you're home; i love that you were in dreamland, and given the choice i would see us all in nirvana.

    that being said, there was definitely a small hole in my daily joy while you were away...almost as if i'd forgotten something somewhere.

    i also sense that you'd be hard pressed to decide between cozumel, or lloyd, as the place of your dreams.

    quite the blessed dilemma!

    ReplyDelete
  8. I need a pet that personifies "fuck you" so eloquently; he could "say" it for me so that I come across as less abrasive. Sigh...so glad you are home, and oyu trip? Magical.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hey MM,

    I liked the part about the waiter.

    I can relate to being buried in laundry! You know you are welcome to pack some up and drop it off here to make it go faster. I know you won't, but you can. You really can. I haven't called cuz I don't want to overstimulate you! I always trip hangovers and suspect that others do also.

    Ah, I think I was an Iguana in my last life. It sure would explain a lot. Great post! See ya soon.

    ReplyDelete
  10. That Iguana looks mean as hell! I think it is saying fuck off.

    It's great to have you back Ms Moon, though I am sure it's bitter sweet for you.

    I'm glad to hear the chickens are doing well.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Welcome home! So glad to hear that the fowl didn't foul eachother when they met. Better get that rooster out of the coup soon, unless you want more chickens vs. eggs!

    ReplyDelete
  12. I love EE-juan-ahs!

    And I love you, too! Welcome back.

    SB

    ReplyDelete
  13. Welcome Home, Mrs. M. Been missing you. Lots.

    ReplyDelete
  14. I have some catching up to do and will read all of your posts tomorrow!

    ReplyDelete

Tell me, sweeties. Tell me what you think.