Herban Sprawl

It’s been an eventful day here in my little corner of The Star City of the South. First off, The House Goddess came by today and she was duly impressed and shrieking with glee that I stood in line to see Sen. Obama. The House Goddess was slow to warm up to the political scene this year, but once she made up her mind, that was that.

In her eyes, Barack Obama is part Martin Luther King Jr., part JFK and sweetened by a touch of Tiger Woods. The Goddess had a twinkle in her eye when she told me that. Then we hopped around and giggled like dopey schoolgirls.

The House Goddess went off on a toot about the $150,000 wardrobe and the expensive stylist who is traveling with Gov. Palin. I won’t put down her exact words, but if you can imagine what the Lady Chablis might say, you’ve pretty well got the Goddess’s take on the situation.

Her final comment was a doozie, “She got clothes she ain’t worn in that plane? Then she can take ‘em back to the store like anybody else. She ain’t givin’ them to no Goodwill and if she thinks we women b’lieve any other woman gonna throw away clothes from them big expensive stores, she crazy, Girl!” Amen, Goddess. Amen to that.
The campaign office finally called me and I’m all signed up to help next week. I’ll be answering the phone and such, which is a good thing for me to do.

Shannon called while the H.G. was here. She’s left her job as a prosecuting attorney and was still feeling beat up. I invited her for dinner and talked her out of the tree for a while. I hate it when my girls are treated badly. That former boss of hers better not decide to take a run down my street… I’ve got a big, heavy Studebaker with his name on it.
Then, after a perfectly nice little pork roast, I got a call from Stephanie - and here was the night’s big news - she was selected as Virginia State Teacher of the Year! It’s like being Miss Virginia, only better. She was just bubbling in her new suit from Talbots - I didn’t realize she needed to be dressed to the nines for the banquet or I’d have fixed her up with one of my old Opera outfits! At any rate, the superintendent was on her phone calling everyone near and far, so they were all busy celebrating in Richmond.

I am very pleased for her - there will be a lot of travel, though, so she and her spouse are going to need to be extra careful to build in family time. Toddlers aren’t toddlers for very long - got to be there a lot or you miss the big milestones. But, what a great honor! Wow!

Last night at Herb Society, I bought a Meyer lemon tree. The House Goddess eyeballed it warily and we chatted about how the tea tree had risen from the dead, so it was entirely possible I could grow this little lemon tree and see it fruit. I sure hope so. I have been wishing for a sunroom in which I could grow a Key lime, a Meyer lemon, and be able to keep lemon verbenas going all year long. I have a thought about having a corner that has a terrazzo floor with a drain and a hand sprayer so I could give the tea tree a regular shower, and how large the bay could get with that sort of atmosphere. Alas, as the House Goddess pointed out, if wishes were horses, between us we’d have a whole stable.

The Star City is getting rain, which is needed, and hopefully it will wash away Shannon’s cares. As for the Old Tart and the Old Fart, we’re just feeling blessed to be surrounded by such bright, promising young people and dear friends like H.G., Clarice and the gang.