Month: July 2023

Good Company

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I have not painted a single thing, this past week-nor cleaned any place out.  I did pull grass daily and every other day, I hung clothes on the line.  This week was filled with visits with loved ones. 
I was in Elizabeth City until Friday.  The little girls and I did all sorts of things.  Lyla helped with chores and little Brynn is very eager to do what she can.  We made a dessert together-old fashion banana pudding-and told our stories, but more than anything else, there was “Biscuit”, that adorable beagle puppy. 
He occupied a good deal of our time.  We were  outside a lot, but the heat was just awful.  When Biscuit was tired of playing and had “done puppy business” we went in.  He is likely to steal whatever any one left unattended.  It can be a shoe or a stuffed toy-anything he can carry.  He dashes off , madly and I had to hide my amusement at the sight of it.  Brynn was especially cute holding  that puppy -and Lyla is so motherly tending to him.  I felt so privileged to witness the first days with Biscuit and the little girls.  I wondered how many secrets he would know, as the seasons passed, how many heartbreaks he would heal . . . and what lessons would he teach.  Dogs do all of those things. 
Not long after I came back to Bonnet Street, Mama and I went to see cousin Chris and wife Aino. They have a lovely piece of rural property, very private .  There is an old barn, a new shed and a patch of woods . . . and a small lumber yard.  I fell in love with the place . Aino showed me her flowers and herbs.  We had a delightful time and left with fresh corn. 
Sister Delores and niece  Dana came a day or so later .   We celebrated with a country supper of fried chicken, summer squash, fried green tomatoes and a peach cobbler.  One of the “twin cousins” stopped by and joined us.    It was a happy time. 
The next day, I gathered with friends-two friends that have  shared life with me for thirty years!    We had a breakfast at  Janets’home and toured her splendid gardens Later, we were siting on the banks of a creek talking like only old friends can, and on a whim, decided to visit some thrift stores.  We loaded up and off we went.  I finally found a cake plate cover . I had needed one for a year or more-and Janet and Rae found some things too.  We are all thrifty by nature, so it was the perfect outing.  
On Sunday, the kids came home.  I was up early, preparing  for a “Sunday dinner”.  The dishes reflected the season-there was corn, cucumber salad,  and slaw from a fresh cabbage.  I also made macaroni and cheese and an ice cream pie.  Mama made iced tea to complete a traditional summer meal. No one left hungry or complaining.  It was a relaxed and happy time.  I do cherish such occasions.
  On Monday, I left for Raleigh.  I had four days there and goodness, it was another happy time.  Little Ryan is still quite small for his age, but as agile as can be.  His imagination has been allowed to flourish and so he pretends a lot of things.  He is a good brother and Banks, at eight months now, adores him.  Banks looks like a little doll and is trying to walk.  He pulls up on whatever is available.  He has a toy that he can walk behind as he pushes  it along.  Sydneys’ mom came over for a visit and together we tended to the children, while Sydney ran errands.  We are a good team, we agreed.   
I arrived  back at the rabbitpatch on Thursday evening. The old crepe myrtle eas blooming- and so was the young one that I discovered last year. The flowers are showy and fragrant.   They boast until frost and who could blame them?  The thorned vines on the fence took full advantage of my absence-and grass grew, where it ought not to. At least, all of the flowers and bushes were alive and well.  Mama and I went to visit Aunt Christine and Uncle Gene, a few days later  I am blessed-so many folks to love and to be loved by.  We looked at old pictures, that Mama had found. That was fun and how good to see pictures of my great,great grandparents.-and their siblings.  It was a nice visit. Second cousins were there-and a baby third cousin.
I can scarce take in the state of the world these days.  In general, society is different now and  have unfamiliar ways to me.  There may be an abundance of knowledge, but there is a lack wisdom.  It is a somber affair  just to read the news. 
Under such circumstances,  it is especially fine to be in “good company”.  It is pleasant to have  conversations with substance.   . .and to celebrate such things as a babys’ first steps.  All of the angry noise of the world hushes in the moments spent on the banks of a  a creek or in a friendly home.  Not once did anyone use an app to answer a question, instead we talked to one another., with lilting voices and expression.  I am not against technology, but it has replaced a lot of  things, that if we don’t make an effort ,  are just lost. 
I remember asking the elders how to make a certain dish.  I can still hear their voices, explaining the procedures, telling me who had taught them and which uncle loved it.  Likewise, children were not treated like a science project  for nobody looked at charts about development, instead we asked an experienced aunt . . .and babies were held,  not carried around in a plastic contraption to be set in a floor while the adults talked. 
Rest assured, that I enjoy the many benefits of a life lived today . . but oh, how it restores my spirit  to be with loved ones that remember, as I do . . .  a different way.

 

 

These Days at the Rabbitpatch

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I have been as busy as any “Honeybee” ever dared to be, since my last entry.  I have painted a large cabinet, several flower pots, framed flowers and leaves, I had pressed, last year and  did two paintings that turned out awful   . .still, I learned something from   my ill attempts, so I do not consider it was  a waste of time. 
The clothesline has had linens and soft, dresses on it most days and summer squash  has been celebrated several times. 
I had a visit with one of my dearest friends, one morning.  That was a lovely time. A friendship that spans thirty years is like a rare pearl . . .the size of the moon.  How blessed I am to have met her, when we were both young mothers.  Now, we are grandmothers.  I can always depend on intelligent discussions when we talk, yet when I kissed the first  flower of the season, from my grandmothers’ bulbs, on our departing stroll, around the yard and she didn’t bat an eye. . . we have never “put on airs”. 
 I have increased my strolls around the rosewood cottage.  The yard is really like a garden, theses days.  I walk at first light when the world is mostly silent.  Sometimes, I see the rabbit family nibbling on the fresh fruit and vegetable scraps that I leave out for them.  When they are finished, they hop merrily, down the middle of the street, “headed home”.  I chuckle every time.  During the day, I walk several times, stopping to pull grass or dead head spent blooms.    At dark,  I go out to say good night and send good night wishes to the world, I include the robins, cardinals, doves and squirrels that call this place home, too.  A streetlight was out last week, and I was sorry when it got fixed, for I was able the “dog stars”.  I wish street lights were the motion sensor kind . .but, at least now, I know where the dog stars shine. 
I day dream a lot.   . . intentionally.  I pretend all sorts of things, Some are ridiculous notions, others are “wishful thinking” Sometimes, I sit and “wonder” about a subject. (This often leads to a “study”, afterwards. )  .I take no shame in this delightful habit. . .after all, I kiss flowers. 
I do have some sensible hours . . ..l Have been going over the “shoestring budget”.  hence, I have returned to making everything I can.  I have a good supply of cleaning concoctions in labeled jars, accomplished one afternoon.  The collection is actually pretty to look upon and the smells are wonderful.  I felt so pleased . 
Just recently, it has become hot, on Bonnet Street, though we are not suffering  that dreadful  heat that I heard about in the news.
Oddly, my autumn joy  flowers are blooming and so are the chrysanthemums!  Everything is thirsty and so I spend hours carrying small buckets of water to each flower and bush.  I do not find this yard to be too small, these days.
 I have taken to cooking in the early morning.  Yesterday, I baked bread and oatmeal cookies, long before  dawn .  This practice, preserves a bit of  coolness and the air conditioner can use the assistance.  Box fans drone  through out the cottage, as well.  In the ladder hours of the afternoon, the heat is stifling, muggy and hateful.  Since I am not cooking, I read-or paint  I am reading a series called “The Cottage Tales”.  They are  based on the life of Beatrix Potter.  Of course the characters are rabbits and kittens and mice.  Their accounts are quite accurate , however, when it comes to “Miss Potters’  goings and comings”.   The books are well written, too. I am on a mission to surround myself with beauty and simple pleasures-and these books serve that purpose. 
I am back to reading works by Thoreau, in small doses ,for he makes me think deeply. 
Sometimes . . .all of these efforts work together and I feel almost  unscathed and delightfully, untethered. 
A few days ago, I was working in the yard.  Someone , stopped by and said “I am just so sorry”.  I said “about what?”.  She said “That you lost your job.”  “Oh yes!   I had forgotten.” I said  I laughed about that. 
Then again, on some days, I wake up in a state of bewilderment that losing my job DID happen.  I fall in that binding snare, “how in the world, will I make it financially?” . . the thing tightens.  Can a person survive on social security, alone?  My meager savings are pitiful.  Surely, I will never get hired any where. . .By now that snare, that was in plain sight,  is  very tight and So I escape . . . 
and go to visit with the pale blooms of the autumn joy.   . .that suprised me with flowers in June . . . against the odds.  God does not seem to   care about “the odds I start thinking,. . .and sometimes things happen “out of season   The beauty of this truth filled my heart. Maybe, out of season is just right timing . . .
My little grand daughters got a puppy a few days ago.  Lyla has been asking for a beagle for two years.  She would name  him “Biscuit”.  At long last, it has happened! Biscuit is adorable.  I hope to meet him this week. 
Baby Banks is crawling now and Ryan can sing “Jesus loves me” with accurate pitch- and change octaves!  So all of my grand darlings are doing well. . . . and actually, I am too.  

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