Murgatroyd

I discovered I did not spell this word or name correctly. I formerly spelled it murgatrode. The word became famous with Hanna Barbara's character Snagglepuss, a discriminating opera buff of the comic model. Snagglepuss would say, "Heavens to Murgatroyd" which is a variant to "Heavens to Betsy".




Murgatroyd is also a woman's name that was derived from a surname. It is related to name Margaret. I think naming your daughter Murgatroyd is up there with the poem by Shel Silverstein of "A boy named Sue" which was made famous by Johnny Cash.

Lean In

I never read the book by Cheryl Sandberg of Facebook. There is a bit of me that feels a bit of irritation with a book like this. I can see someone reading the book who needs help searching for words of wisdom.  The other part is that no matter how wealthy Sandberg is; she does not not have everything. No one has everything. The synopsis did look like a wealth of information for the upwardly mobile career woman.

There is a piece of me that has witnessed people with clout assume they were as brilliant as the attention of the captive audience they had. Privilege is only felt by someone once they lose it or been a member of that captive audience. The novels and stories this line of thought could generate.

When I was younger, I was ambitious. The problem was. I did not have a specific goal in mind. The one thing I did learn along the way was there were a lot of opportunities that I did not take serious. I'm sure some would have been big duds. One was the invite to help a little theatre build sets. Like most of my life, I worked a lot and I passed the opportunity in that I wanted more leisure free time. Looking back, I would have met some interesting people and been introduced to writing earlier.

You do have to make time for what is important which is my version of leaning in. I keep a stack of books close to my chair. I've learned to turn the television off. A lot of what I do is what I have to do. This is the story of my life. I made most decisions by what needed to happen.

I make time for what is important.

And apparently it is yard work and flower beds that are important. Setting the timer on the stove when you are cooking is important too. How else do you stop scrolling for dog jokes on Facebook.

Kerchief

Well I'm discovering not having a set theme is not a good idea. I thought I would be able to think up a jillion things to write. And I do, just not on the right day. For K, I discover the letter is the fifth least used letter in the English language.

But prowling through nouns that begin with K, I see Kerchief. People have been wearing Kerchiefs better known as bandanas as face masks to mitigate covid 19.

Then there is kaboom. Storms rolled through last night. An apple tree split  in half. That is Pinky surveying the damage. Blight affects European grapes, pears, apples, and quinces. Quince trees are affected so badly that no one grows them. This tree was affected by blight. I plan to leave it in place this summer. The wild animals enjoy the fruit.

I had a wee damage to my siding.

JuJu

JuJu is a West African magic in which objects are believed to have special powers.

Sometimes, I would like to have a bit of magic. Well a few billion or even a few million dollars would also work. My thoughts are to have all that excess milk of farmers processed and given to all families with children and adults who cannot afford milk.

I went to my sister's house to help her a bit and bring prepared food for her to eat. I planted a tomato plant, did laundry, washed and retrieved containers for the next round of food. After visiting, I took her recyclables and mine to Happy Hour Service Center. There was a lot of small cardboard and waste that had blown behind the recycling center and one of the buildings. What was going to be a short few things turned into about an hour picking up the waste. Like so much in GA, they are shut down and a skeleton crew is managing the recycling.

Toward the end, a truck comes with cardboard and styrofoam that they have to throw away. I took the styrofoam from the gentleman to take home and toss in my garbage. His granddaughter proceeds to lecture me that I got too close to him and he was a senior citizen. She was right. I smiled and told her I was a senior too. What I felt like saying was I told you that the styrofoam is trash. Why couldn't you take it home and put it in your garbage. When I got home, it filled my garbage cart. I guess that is why. lol  I could tell he was a bit put out with his grandaughter.

But we did get within 4-5 feet of each other when he handed me the piece. And you know, I am tired of this social distancing. I did not know I was such a talker to strangers. I had pre-ordered sandwiches from Jersey Mike's. As I paid for my sandwiches, I felt a bit normal for once. I talked to the woman who normally cuts my brother's and my hair outside of the shop. My last stop was at the grocers to get a gallon of milk and some creamer. I left with about $85 of merchandise. In the rural area I live, there is not as much Covid as other areas. We are all wearing masks.

When I got home, I sprayed the car with lysol spray. I washed my hands well and delivered sandwiches. I watched television and a woman had contracted Covid from the woman who delivered groceries to her house one time. I thought about the man loading his groceries in the car beside mine. He was somber.

Yesterday's bit of irony was related to a part of being Southern. We lose everything. I've thought about what I have could be gone with this Covid. I'm ready mentally to do so. I just hope I don't have to. I've always considered myself Southern lite in that I am not in love with the Southern mythology. But I do know our stubbornness is our gift. My grandmother always said where there is a will there is a way.

At the end of the civil war, the state of GA was in ruins if not burned. A man who had been a Unionist begged the American occupiers to not take his stores of food. The widows and children needed that to eat. There had been a meeting at his house and the men stacked their rifles outside before coming in. They left his store of food alone. No one knows was it because he was a Unionist, his plea, or all those guns stacked outside.


 After finishing this post, I'm taking a shower. I pray for the world. And this is what I struggled with yesterday. So much of this world struggles. If there is any juju, I hope Covid skips over those who are impoverished. There is so much suffering that I have no idea and have never experienced. We could put a protective veil around ourselves and everyone we loved and everyone else. But we live in a very real world. A virus is no respecter of social status or ethnicity or nationality.

Imagine or Irony maybe Iridescent

Imagine or Irony and I like Iridescent too. I have not had a relevant brainwave on "I" today. Usually when I mow grass, something will pop in my mind. Well nothing, nada. Oh I have had an ironic moment thought today. But that is a bit personal. So I will post a few pictures and maybe J will be more productive.

My grandfather, Ben Bennett. He was a soldier in the Spanish American War and an ambulance driver during WW1

My great grandfather David Stephen McDuffie

Humility

Sometimes I hear my father's voice. I certainly hear his thoughts through my mother. Whereas, we are not overly stocked with toilet tissue, we are fine until stores can have a normal stock again which I hope is next month. Kroger sends coupons faithfully to me. My mother gets them. I reached the point, I did not look in her cart. I just purchased the items. It hurts her feelings to say we don't need them. My mother does not like to be talked back to. We've got about 10 cans of sauerkraut in the cabinet.

My mom will pair a coupon to an item that is on sale. As my dad said, she could store the extra in the shed behind the house. Toilet tissue does not rot. At one time, I tried to buy enough toilet paper to satisfy her urge to stock up. I gave up. So I was a little surprised to know we only had about 5 packages of toilet tissue.

My older brother came to visit us on March 2nd of this year. He looked at all the incontinence product my mother had purchased and said woo to my mother. We chuckled. But I had helped her. Kroger kept giving us a coupon of $3 off two packs and if you bought 5, they gave you $5 off in addition to the product being $11.99 versus it's usual $13.99. I guess this is why we weren't so stocked on toilet tissue. I'm very glad in that I think mom uses 1 pack a week. We are set for about three or four months.

Paper towels also fall in this group. My younger brother can't stand clutter or disorder. One day, we were eating in the dining room and I noticed he kept gazing at something behind me. I did not have to turn around to know it was the tower of paper towels beside the china cabinet that he was studying. Kroger had an ongoing thing with coupons for paper towels. My mother has stopped with buying so many paper towels after that incident. We only have about 4 large packs of paper towels. They don't rot.

But for me, what I hear my father saying is that the Bible was a book of wisdom. Not everything happened and we choose what we want to practice like entrees at a buffet. He quoted all sorts of things. My favorite thing he did is he knew when someone was quoting Shakespeare. Culturally, we quote the Bible. He always got tickled when someone quoted Shakespeare.

I had taught school in a suburb outside Atlanta for close to 20 years when I returned to the county I grew up in. The first week of school, I had a child to challenge me by quoting the Bible. I quoted the Bible back at her. The children were impressed. All I could think was I would have gotten in trouble with some parents in my previous school for quoting the Bible. The little girl who challenged me shook her head in approval. I won.

My father prized humility. When young I was a bit mystified when people would say Pride was the deadliest sin. That I understand now. Pride can make you do things which hurt you immediately and destructively. I know that is true from experience. I say this with all humility.

Gardening by the Moon

Culturally, everyone were Freewill Baptist in Georgia. We are Anabaptist who are the English speaking version of Hutterites, Amish and Mennonites. We were run out of England much like the Quakers. I was surprised when I did my family history and found so many Quakers. But it makes sense. I enjoy everyone's family history. It is the wee fragments of history that I enjoy the most.

This is a point to consider when I say I follow a widespread practice of folklore. You do not plant during a Full Moon or New Moon. You plant root crops when the full moon is waning to a new moon and you plant above ground crops when the new moon is waxing to a full moon.

I'm behind with my garden. April 7th was the last day to plant above ground plants until April 22nd. I can still transplant those plants I started indoors and those I purchased before the social distancing went into effect. Yes, I have tomato plants I purchased around March 12th that need to get into the ground. Not many, but a few of them. I need to dig through the potatoes for those that are sprouting to plant a few potatoes. I've got a fine crop of English peas growing along one of my fences.

I've got a Victory Garden this year. The bit of extra time at home has allowed me to work more in my yard. With the rain and warmth, the grass is now close to being out of control. So the best of my garden is planted. I did want to plant some corn. I can see myself with lots and lots or corn chasing people down to give them a few ears, a variant of the person with an over supply of zucchini. Since I don't like zucchini, I grow yellow squash.

This is a portion of one of my flower beds. It is never well manicured but the plants don't care.