The day has not gone as I had planned and you know, that is just fine with me. I have not accomplished anything on my to do list except for washing jeans and capris. As of this writing, I have not gone upstairs to put them in the dryer. Meh, I will do that sooner than later. Oh and I made the much needed trip to the PO to mail a couple of bills, yes, I am still old fashioned on receiving certain bills and returning said payment via pony express. And yes, I pay some bills online but now, once again I have digressed. I was writing about the day. The day did begin as an easing into the day kind of thing but then it went into the afternoon but for a very good reason. Peggy, aka Gertrude...aka Gerti called. We hadn't talked in a couple of weeks and we needed to catch up, more than the gratuitous Facebook scan. I think we were on the phone for an hour and a half. Neither one of us are usually long phone talkers but when both of us suffer or rather sometimes enjoy ADD, we had to finish up conversations we began and left unfinished and there were a couple of words, simple words, that both of us were trying to use conversationally, but we couldn't remember them...until later, way past the subject matter we were discussing. Then we needed our junior high school humor to come out for a bit and we laughed until our sides ached. If that hadn't been enough, we continued down that sophomoric humor lane a little longer. There is so much that I love about our conversations. I don't feel rushed, you know sometimes you are talking with someone on the phone and they have told you their concerns and stories and when you begin to talk about your concerns and stories...you can feel it... they want to get off the phone...you sense the impatience that telephone time has run its course, on their schedule and it is time to say goodbye. Those kind of calls are irritating. Sometimes if I feel like I need a challenge or it is going to amuse me, I intentionally ignore the under the breath huffs and puffs and just keep on. Surely it is not because my subject matter is boring?
After we got off the phone and I had cleaned up, the phone rang again, only this time it was Roy. He had another important update on the dehumidifier he had purchased over the weekend. Yes,it is as interesting as it sounds. But I am so glad he gives attention to those kinds of details.
Michael, the one eyed cat, has been hanging around here more lately. I am glad he feels at home but he does deter bird feeder watching. He naps under some shrubs in the back and I think he might spend some nights on our front porch or underneath the trees in front of the garage. I changed cat food brands and he seems to like that much better than what I have purchased before. So this afternoon I have a cat asleep in the house and in the backyard. Michael started pawing at a wasp and I watched powerless to do anything if the wasp decided to attach and fortuneteller, the wasp kept on about its wasp business of generally being a pain to all living creatures.
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If there are asterisks in a post, it must be a new day and why yes, it is. Mike the Mower Man has found the trees we are going to use in the back cheaper at Lowe's, a little shorter too, but that's okay. In the cool early evening I went out back to check on the new plants as well as to scout out where I am going to put these things. I also spent a vast amount of time trying to attack the hose to the faucet and nothing was working. So maybe a trip to Ace Hardware might be in order. It is easier to find someone to help you there than Lowe's many times. When I came inside I had a feeling a little ant might be crawling on my neck and sure enough, it was and then it wasn't. I don't have good reactions to ant bites but these aren't fire ants, so they aren't prone to bite at the first inclination.
While in the Chattanooga Barnes and Noble I found an anniversary edition of Breakfast at Tiffany's. I like the style of Truman Capote's writing. I have been reading some of his early stories and I read In Cold Blood a long time ago and don't think I want to re-visit that book anytime soon.
This weekend both at the pinning ceremony and at commencement a main theme of anyone who had an opportunity to speak was, always keep learning. There were other fine and encouraging words but I zoned out. This is why I was never a good student, lack of attention or at least the attention span of a gnat. I think maybe someone said, love what you do but after that it all sounded like Charlie Brown's teacher waa waa whaa whaa. But really, keep on learning is good advice, although I don't know of anyone who has ever said, that's it! I've learned all I need to know. Maybe it is like saying keep breathing, which there are times that needs to be said in crisis, but not all the time in everyday life. You just seem to breathe without any prompting. The other day I read a post on my high school site written by a man who was cooler than cool back in the day. He wrote he wished he had learned how to pay bills, not extend himself on credit too much, how to choose a mortgage, appliances etc...instead of mathematical formulas that he has never used in high school. Guess he didn't quit learning, he just dropped all the stuff that he didn't need. It has been a joy to move here...to NC...and not just for the obvious reasons but for the opportunity to learn new things and to hear the history of the area. I still don't know half the roads on traffic reports and I am trying to learn the mountain names when I gaze across the terrain from the Blue Ridge Parkway.
