Ponder this:

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Three days and counting

YearMonthDayTimeDay of week
2011Jun1520:14Wed

As I have mentioned before, the full moon does things to me. They are rarely pretty things. We used to have a boat, kept it docked upon a big lake in the Adirondacks. In a conversation with some new "lake" acquaintances, Husband told them, "On full moon nights, you'll see June down at the end of the dock. Howling."
The full moon makes my consciousness wispy, holey. It's an uncomfortable feeling, as if I'm dreaming in a world where everybody else is awake and a couple of beats ahead of me in awareness. The detachment and confusion have been moving in on me like fog since late last week. I blamed the rain, but no, it's the full moon. And it isn't finished with me yet.
By 8:14pm my incisors should be scraping my chin... 

On Friday at 4:30pm I will be on vacation. I will be At Home. Most likely I won't be drawn off the property for anything other than books or food. I'd like to believe I'll accomplish some housekeeping chores that I have put off for unrationed time but if I'm honest, I probably won't.


My mother's mother used to call peonies "pineys." The first few times I heard her say something about "pineys" I had no idea what she was talking about. 
One afternoon, some of my classmates walked by. 
"Who's the darky?" she asked me. 
"What?" 
"Who's the darky?"
It was the mid-1960s, I had just read "Gone With the Wind," and I was horrified. 
Horrified! to hear such a politically incorrect term from a blood relative of mine.
I believe I recall setting her straight, from my fourteen-year-old perch of moral superiority.
And I believe I recall her setting her lips so as not to . . . perhaps . . . cuff me. 

She was a real old time countrywoman, that grandmother, born to farm life before the turn of the 20th century. She had borne seven children, one of whom died (a twin) and only the last of whom (my mother) was born in a hospital. In her younger years, she got up every morning and made a big country breakfast on a woodstove in the farmhouse cellar. Pancakes and pies, eggs and meat for breakfast. Every morning, for the men, her husband and sons, who would come in from milking and then go out afterward to do more of the everlasting work.
When they cleared out, she'd clean up the dishes in boiling water poured from a kettle on the woodstove into a metal dishpan, and start peeling potatoes for dinner. It seems as if all she did was cook and clean up after meals. Cleaning the house didn't enter much into the equation, and she stood me in good stead there. 
Country dirt is cleaner than city dirt.

16 comments:

Ann said...

It is odd how the full moon affects people. It wasn't until I was older that I realized it. The full moon makes me feel more peaceful and happy. On moonlit nights I open my curtains so the moon can shine on me.

Tom said...

Thanks for the reminder abt. the full moon -- I'll watch out tonite. As for your grandmother ... you showed some gumption to call her out, and so I think perhaps you're a chip off the old block!

Carolynn Anctil said...

I don't feel any obvious effects from the full moon. My mom, a psychiatric nurse, and my brother, a police officer, have both told me that Full Moon Nights are definitely busy & weird.

I LOVE pineys. *snort* Definitely one of my all-time favourite flowers. In fact, there were a few in my wedding bouquet.

My grandmother was much the same. There was always something to eat simmering on the stove whenever I would go over to visit. And, people sitting around the big kitchen table visiting.

The Cranky Crone, she lives alone! said...

Its a full moon lunar eclipse! the moon should appear orange for sometime, auspicious goings on, I hope you get to see it, as im not sure the timings for USA.
I have a feeling the clouds here are not going to make it easy to see either.

Recycled Cottage & Garden said...

hahahahaha... Reminds me of some of the things my grandparents said. And great aunts too.

Sally Wessely said...

She reminds me of my former husband's grandmother. It was a different time them. They were great, hard-working women.

Barb said...

"Country dirt is cleaner than city dirt." This is a line I'm going to remember! Hope you survive full Moon so you can enjoy your vacation. No housework permitted!

SmitoniusAndSonata said...

I can see why you moved to the country , what with the dirt and the howling an' all !
Our grandmothers believed in hearty meals ... lots of them ... and certainly most of my memories of my mother's mother are about food .
"Stay At Home Moms" they WORKED harder than anyone does these days !

Hilary said...

Country dirt is indeed cleaner. I enjoyed reading about your maternal grandmother. It was a different time. I know someone whose grandmother of similar lifestyle had a black dog and named him something I'd still prefer not to say or type. :/

Joey said...

I've loved the full moons, and find that I have more energy when they are full. I have to drag myself into the house, because I want to stare at them.

It's hard because of all of the trees, (I live in the city) but I find my moon. Last night it was eerie, because the clouds gave it a yellowish cast that glowed...

I'm glad you corrected your friend. I did the same thing with my Daddy and my Grandma. They didn't use that term, and finally Grandma said that she didn't mean anything bad by it, she had just always said it.

I told her that it was rude. That times had changed and they deserved better treatment. She understood, and I never heard her say that again. My Dad was a different story. I had to threaten him... told him that I wouldn't let my children be around someone who used that language, and he stopped.

Old habits die hard, don't they...

I will STILL correct anyone.

Good for you!
Joey

Vicki Lane said...

For folks of my grandparents generation,'darky' wasn't pejorative in the way that n__r was. "Colored' was the best they could do.

Around here, some folks call peonies 'pie-onies."

Linda Myers said...

My grandmother said things like that. My mother, her daughter-in-law, wanted to be proper and she thought my plain-spoken grandma was dreadful.

Now they're both gone. Looking back, I think Grandma was way more interesting!

Friko said...

There isn't a wolf anywhere in your ancestry, is there?

Joe Todd said...

A big breakfast sounds really good this Am.. LOL On the "strangeness scale" my wife says I've moved up 4 points recently.. Oh well

georgia little pea said...

just got back from a short vac where there was a glorious full moon over the water while i fished. it didn't make me slow and no fangs popped out. but i'm convinced it made me bloat. [hey, i have to blame the extra poundage on something and it's certainly not the desserts i had every day.]

Morning Bray Farm said...

Pineys are definitely one of my very favorite flowers because they remind me of my grandmother... and yes, my grandmother was always cooking something amazing.

Hope you're having a wonderful vacation. :)