Don't open that dooooor..............

Okay, fess up!  You have them too.....it's the "I cram everything into a cabinet, so don't open that door until you've prepared mentally with at least an Advil or two.  Mossy does NOT adhere to any such warning nor does she take Advil!   She's more of the I'm-a-reason-you-would-take-Advil!   Last week while weaving (no not from spirits) on my early morning path down the hall, I wondered why this door was partially shut.  Then I wondered why the door would not open.  Oh mercy me!    The little holiday decorating freak had been rooting around stirring it ALL up!  Pumpkins, and an Easter egg and Santa and a turkey or two laid strewn about the floor.  I believe she must have stood inside and dropped kicked the entire collection out.  Was she anywhere around?  No.  Well, I should actually say, she wasn't showing herself or answering my call, but most definitely around.   You see, there was the lightest humming of Here Comes Santa Claus from the tub!   Pestering is too nice to say of what her actions have been lately.   You see the little stinker is OBSESSED with holiday decorations.  I mean, you could say, to the Dolly Pardon's character of Steel Magnolia's magnitude.  Tooky, would be my adjective.  Trashy, might be yours.  "Uncle!" I cried, with a need for some coffee.  Be it tooky, or trashy, or scary to you the pumpkins are rolling out and I guarantee the little minx will too!   

tOadster time!!!! tOadster time!!!!

"Guess what time?  Guess what time?  Tis tOadster time, tis tOadster time!" over and over Mossy sing-songs.  She's so excited she can't sit still. Infectious she is, as my pulse quickens and I add another stem or two.  You see, the tOadster is a much-adored-little-travel trailer that both Mossy and I are totallllllllllllllllllllllllllllly smitten with.  Dreams as big as the Tetons to hitch it up and follow those imaginings call ............. with increasing volume!   Now, here is where a large dose of reality should be dumped (I can hear Don's words).  The tOadster probably wouldn't make it out of Texas, for you see she has abit of age on her!   This is not going to stop this grandmother (of 10 now) and a wee bitty gnome.  Seriously, who doesn't have a mile or two on her?  No siree, since her arrival the tOadster has been painted, decorated, bejeweled, and why...........simply ADORED!  Twas a special gift from he-who-takes-every-opportunity-to-complain-about-said gift!  My ears simply do not hear the words of such nay-sayering (not a word, I know)! Here blogy-style I hope to herald of the adventures we two shall simply have to get into.  For now........I'll simply paint another toadstool or two and dream of Rocky Mountain streams and grin indeed as the chant continues.......tOadster time, tOadster time...............

MIA Mossy

 Many of you remember that Fall seems to bring about an MIA Mossy.  Well, imaginably this Fall was no different but it was by the most unimaginable ......

 To start at the beginning is to start with last October when the earth shifted.  Only a few of us felt it.....only a few were affected.   A life that gave me life was altered and with it mine.  A new world was entered which exist everyday, every moment that we all exist.  A world so different.  We race here.  We race there.  Not content to perform just one task as we race, we stretch multi-tasking to new heights with communication a fingertip away.  Where is your cell phone at this moment?  I bet you can tell me.  I'd also bet you can reach out to touch it.....   But, in this new world such races of task & needs for communication are non-existent.    In the halls of a nursing home pass many, but for those who reside there the "racing" has stopped.  Let me be clear here in expressing that "racing" has stopped, not life.  Confinements to beds, to wheelchairs, to a certain floor, to a garden area, to a building, or to a mind that does not work does not mean that life stops.  With a path of hospitals, long term acute hospitals and nursing home, somewhere along the way I lost my Mossy.   Seriously.  And it was serious!  The little imp can make the most of a moment and I can now attest to living some of the longest moments in history.   You know how the song goes....".in a Georgia state of mind"?  I get "in a nursing home state of mind".   I stare.  No, not at someone but in an almost frozen state of thinking.   So there I was in my "frozen" state and I hear her.  Yep, it's Mossy.  She rolls by on the arm of a wheelchair chattering away about Be'Be' and the current conditions and numbers of Buffalo in Yellowstone.  WHAT?  I stumbled forward, stuttering her name, trying so hard to not lose sight of her.
"Mosssssy, where have you been?"
"Here, Silly",  she turns looking over the back and head of the wheelchair's occupant. 
"All this time?"
"Yep!", this came with a toss of a red curl and a roll of her eyes. 
"But I've needed you," I cried indignantly as I thought of just a few of "those moments". 
Suddenly, I heard another different tiny voice but familiar.  Turning I find Thomas, Mossy's brother on the back of a wheelchair whispering into a gentleman's ear.  Although unable to discern his words, the man clearly understood for he grinned and nodded, snapping his fingers.   Spinning slowly in a circle I counted at least half a dozen gnomes clearly engaged with residents in various modes.  One brushed beautiful snowy hair as she hummed, Beautiful Dreamer to the delight of her wheelchair resident.  Another seemed to be massaging arthritic fingers.  Two were stationed front & back of one wheelchair as they rocked gently the beautiful tiny gray-haired resident who was enjoying a brief catnap.  This was especially fun to watch as it took the wee ones a running start to move the wheelchair even a few inches.
 As I came about full circle Mossy looked me straight in the eye with both hands on her hips.
"Who needed me?"

Mossy helped the frozen that afternoon thaw a bit.  I don't know, maybe it's not so much a frozen state as an uneducated and shocked one to that world that exist everyday.  As usual, though, Mossy challenges me to ALWAYS look for what is not so readily seen.....to see the unseen.......be it gnomes or needs.........

SERIOUSLY?

"Mornin", she exclaimed as she popped her head out of the glass bubble terrarium.  With a door barely unlocked and stepping into a half-lit shop, to hear anything at all much less a squeaky voice from above was rather disconcerting. 
"Gracious, Mossy!  You are the early bird (or rather gnome)  this morn," I can't help but answer. " Yup,"  she grins kicking one leg out of the opening and swinging her perch dangerously close to the nearby cooler.  Nestled in the sand, shells and airplants, Mossy's pose speaks of relaxing summertime- hammock moments; however, one look at her expression and ya know this just ain't so!  "Uh Oh!", was my next thought and no sooner had I thunk it then scrambling out and up the rope she began a routine.  It was complete with her singing the musical accompaniment and worthy of a Ringling Brothers Circus any day.  Wrapping one ballet-slippered foot above her in the rope, she hung upside down twisting and posing and throwing kisses to every corner of the shop.  Seriously?  Funny, the appearance of Mossy in my life has evidently created that particular expression as a common one for me-so pointed out by Don at breakfast.  Oh, why not, I dropped my keys and with clapping began to egg the little acrobat on.  Pulling herself upright she inched further up the rope, swinging back and forth, higher and higher.  Just when I thought the terrarium was about to crash into the cooler, Mossy let go.  Sailing through the air straight above my head she executes a perfect head-over-heels flip.  Was that Spongebob underwear briefly flashed?  Turning my head, I see her land square in the middle of a King Protea.  Freezing, she leans forward as if to hear better.  "Did you hear it?" I can only shake my head in answer.  "Teensy just trumpeted", she declares.  "Who is Teensy?" I ask, leaning forward as if to hear, too.  "The elephant, Silly, didn't you see her yesterday in the large cooler?"  Well, talk about overlooking the elephant in a room!  Now it was the cooler!  At this, I rush to the cooler but no elephant I see.  "Uh Oh!", this time it was Mossy's turn to utter this one.  Like a Tasmanian Devil she tore out the back door.  I hurried after to see, but not a Mossy or a Teensy graced the parking lot.  "Well, I never", I spoke out loud.  "Where on earth do you start after that scene?"  But begin I must, so that I did:  lights on, computers up, freshen front cooler, make a lovely or two, sweep large cooler....  

It was here I muttered again,  "Well, I never!"  For now I saw what I had previously missed scattered amongst the petals.  Shells - not SEASHELLS!  They were EVERYWHERE empty, peanut shells......SERIOUSLY?

"psst....psssst....,"

Mossy whispered in my ear.   Standing on my shoulder she motioned to the backseat.  Good golly Miss Molly or Miss Kylee one should say.  Sunlight sparkled on her nose and her tongue as she licked DQ's bounty of a vanilla soft cone.  "Summer's here!"  Mossy chanted as she jumped up & down.  With delight in a flash I knew just what she meant.  I could smell it.  I could feel it:  a newly mowed lawn, blackberry cobbler, children's laughter as they walked through the woods, fresh mint floating in a glass of tea, fireflies dancing on a warm evening's breeze...  The magic of summer had just begun.  Yes, maybe a few more days of school must linger.  "But not for long,"  Mossy whispered from the dash.  To be a gnome is not enough.   The little minx must now be a mind reader, too! 

I stretched and I yawned in the warm sunlight streaming in, as a toe tapping Mossy step-ball chained across the dash....

"Summer's here, Summer's here, hallelujah, Summer's here!" 

sugar cookies, mOssy and cherry pie?????

I rolled the cookies, sprinkled abit more sweetness to each and popped them in the oven.  Returning to an earlier batch, I scooped them unto a pedestal cake plate as Adele finished her last Rumor Has It.  Adele and then cookie plates are a new and old obsession.   Put anything on a pedestal and BAM some gotta have, gotta need, gotta buy turns on like a flashing neon sign in my soul.  Okay, I realize this is abit dramatic, but seriously, what doesn't look better with a little elevation?  And speaking of soul.  Adele's every lyric speaks of hers.  Mossy informed me that NOBODY can sing like Adele.  "Hmmmmmm," was my reply which brought on one of her eyebrows shooting straight up and under her hat.  As I repeated the rhythm of cookie baking, I inquired of Mossy's activities.  "Cheerio" was her very exuberant reply and then "poof" she went.   Funny, her cheerio sounded more like cherrio.   Mossy's latest royal obsession is - guess.......  I could give you 3, but you would not require it.  I find every bit of Kate & Prince Williams' interviews on my menu list of recordings.  I must admit this gnome thing can be very disconcerting at times.  There is a surprise around every corner, though most are delightful.  Like the wee tiny cherry pie, I found amongst my cookies.  "Wow, MOssy, your cherry pie is a masterpiece,"  I exclaimed.  "Thank you,"  she squeaked reappearing, as she began to rattle on about Friday and 4 o'clock and then something about Bebe's favorite dessert.  "What?"  I wanted to know.  "Are you planning a Royal Wedding Party?"  Tis then moSsy began to strut her stuff.  She sidled to one side holding up the tip of her skirt.  She sidled to the other side switching sides of her skirt edge.  With each move she made she cut her eyes over that shoulder winking exaggeratedly along the way.  Suddenly with a rather dramatic pause she sings "RUMOR HAS IT!" 

whata whata difference.....

in retrospect a few days can make.  Now, granted, it didn't seem like a few days when scraping my windshield or wrapping that scarf once again or wiping watery eyes from frigid air.  Retrospect, in my experience is a lot better on this side than the other.  In fact, the old adage, the grass is greener on the other side, does not apply here.  Regardless, Spring is glorious in Pandora!!!!!  This morning's coffee found Mossy swinging from a sign nestled amidst the azaleas.  "Whats a Peeler?" she squeaked as she hung monkey style by one arm.  "It's my mom's maiden name, my grandparent's names, JT and Sylva."  Glancing again, for her reaction the space was empty.  "Mossy?"  I muttered as I settled down to sip and see the antics of Pandora.  We've an entire bevy of new birds this year of which Don & I keep wondering what they are without seeking any clarification of the question.  It's actually becoming another one of those routines we excel at.  "Look,"  I'll say, "there is one of those birds."  "Yes," he replies  "I wonder what it is."   Upon reflection, I must admit, WE are the same birds of a feather.   Tis comfort in routine.  What were the routines of my grandparents?  As I child, did I ever notice?  Tis comfort in the sameness (don't think this is a word) of the one you love.   Pondering such deep thoughts, I failed to see until the Blue Jay landed in front of me who was riding on his back.  Mossy jumped quickly down, blew him a kiss and began to clog.  Okay, you think I'm kidding, right?  Nope.  CLOG!  She was even wearing tiny golden wooden clogs.  She was also sporting a red velvet vest upon which was pinned a small Johnny-Jump-up bloom.  I sat quickly up and began to clap as her cavorting (sorry, clogging) circled the pond.   "I declare,"  I shouted, catching her infectious mood.  "I'll join you, too!."   Twas then that "routine" flew off with that Blue Jay.    Now, all I'm going to say here, is you missed quite the sight, this bright and beautiful morn, when a small tiny gnome and a grandmother of 8 clogged merrily amidst the blooms!