From now until March, it’s coyote mating season—I just learned this tidbit from Scotty, the man splitting our extra-large oak rounds. While working, he showed Dave and me a large hole in the ground on our property, explaining it was likely a fox den. One day when I was a kid a coyote had its pups in our field, and I remember my parents drove us to the end of the long gravel road to the bus stop. With those wild guys, take no chances!
Today we were outside, organizing two hundred pieces of cedar wood for Evelyn’s playground. We finished the ladder, part of the monkey bars, the “crow’s nest”, and the rock-climbing wall. I silently hoped Scotty’s pronouncement of definite rain tomorrow was wrong (we have a play fort to build!). Still, with his years of owning horses and waking at the ungodly hour of 4 a.m., I trusted his attunement to the natural world—or at least his habit of checking the weather in the early morning paper. He said his years working for Georgia Power had trained him to rise before dawn.
Earlier today, at Dillard’s—a department store similar to Macy’s or Nordstrom—Maria and I stepped through the electric sliding doors with a clear agenda: find a makeup foundation that actually works for me. It’s been years since I’ve had one that matched my complexion and I was feeling a need for pampering.
I always feel a bit like a fish out of water in those places. Like Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman, I notice the sales associates’ black heels, their lab-coat-like white jackets, and their sideways glances at my unpolished toes. Likely they don’t give two diddles about my toes, but I can’t help see these fashionable women looking down on me, silently judging me with thoughts of, She’s probably not buying anything.
But I did buy something! And for my efforts, I also walked away with a few of those toothpick-thin perfume testers and a teaspoon-sized sample of a $550 shimmering glow serum.
No, that’s not a typo—five hundred and fifty dollars.
Meanwhile, in Evelyn’s world of counting down days by “sleeps,” we have just three more sleeps until our five-hour drive to Gatlinburg for sledding and a pirate show getaway. I’ve never been to Dollywood, so I’m curious to see how the larger-than-life Dolly Parton translates into an amusement park. I imagine two circus tents pressing against each other bustfully.
But seriously, Dolly Parton is an incredible woman. For years, Evelyn was enrolled in Dolly’s Imagination Library, which sent her a free book every month. I believe the program is for kids aged 0 to 5, but unfortunately, since we moved, Evelyn no longer qualifies as we’re not in a service area.
Well, a very happy Friday night to you. With my last burst of energy I’m going to work on my Spanish workbook, I think I’m learning when to use the verb “estar”.
Take care!
Love, Jaclynn
Going On 40 