Excitement of Daily Living

My phone weather forecast showed a 5% chance of rain, so John and I set out for our walk. We heard rumbling in the distance 15 minutes in, and I thought it was the sound of a truck having a rough start. It must have been thunder. After climbing the steep hill, it began to sprinkle. John opted to shelter under trees, so I stayed with him. I should have walked on. The rain became heavier. Neighbor Ray offered us a ride in his truck, but we declined. Two mistakes did not make things better. Visiting daughter Kate woke up, realized it was raining, and phoned to see if she should come for us. Mistake number three! We reasoned that we were almost home and already wet. When we finally dripped in, I had Kate take our picture. We didn’t look nearly as wet as we really were.

071118 Wringing wet from walking in rain.JPG — Why do we always smile when a camera is aimed at us? This sends the wrong message.

I saw a black and white animal come from a neighbor’s driveway and thought they must have gotten a cat. A few steps later, I realized it was a skunk. John is far-sighted and sees things more clearly than I do. He said there was more white than black on it. As it ambled away from us, I saw the entire back view was white. The camera was lethargic and didn’t make it out of my pocket fast enough to take a shot.

Grandson Nathaniel and John began restorative work on the backyard waterfall. It leaked at the end of the season last year and did not heal itself over the winter. John wanted to dismantle it, thinking a hose was leaking under the pool. Nathaniel recommended a more conservative approach. He thought changing the position of hoses would solve the problem. We kept our fingers crossed, but the water level went down markedly.

071118 First repairs to backyard waterfall.JPG — Rain that came while we were walking, gave way to sunshine.

Jukebox Junction

We pass the restaurant, Jukebox Junction, when we go to my favorite waterfall. Grandson David and I ate there recently when John was away, and he wanted his mother and brother to go. The walls were covered with pictures of stars, with shots of Elvis and Marilyn Monroe taking the most space. I took a photo of our fellows to include the dining area.

070918 D N JC Jukebox Junction.JPG

John wielded the camera to show daughter Kate and me.

070918 Kate AM Jukebox Junction.JPG

Nathaniel examined the working jukebox and wanted John to see it.

070918 N JC with jukebox.JPG

The jukebox works if you feed it quarters, and Nathaniel happened to have one quarter. He likes music from all ages and genres. While we were there, others played a few songs, mercifully not too loud.

For the foodies: The menu is not large. We had chicken nuggets, a chicken sandwich, and fried clam strips. The sides were tasty, too. The boys and Kate started off with milkshakes, taking quite a bit of time deciding which flavor of ice cream they wanted as the base. David’s was the most imaginative – mint chocolate chip and dark chocolate. Kate liked her blueberry cheesecake shake. On my recommendation, John skipped the shake and had dessert. We shared. I had chocolate cheese pie, and John chose peach cobbler. David had half of each. He is as skinny as a rail, so neither milkshake nor dessert would stick to his ribs.

We drove on to Sunburst Falls. David climbed onto the rocks and persuaded his mother to join him. I stayed on the bridge with my camera, as I always do.

070918 Sunburst David Kate.JPG

After I took the photo showing how small they looked, I zoomed in. David had just helped Kate climb over a rock to sit down.

070918 Sunburst David Kate zoom.JPG

Sunlight was fading as we drove home, happy with our late lunch and time at the falls.

Family at War

Our family went to war, not with each other, but with the Wicked Wisteria. We were waiting for David to get off work when grandson Nathaniel remembered I wanted him to trim a climbing plant next to the house. He marched out with the loppers and never made it past the wisteria. Flatfooted, he trimmed two feet more of the vine than I could have.

070918 War on Wisteria Nate whacks tendrils.JPG

Daughter Kate took a turn holding the ladder for her dad.

070918 War on Wisteria Kate hold ladder for John.JPG — The back porch is where we see the wicked wisteria reaching out to envelop the house.

I thought things were too dangerous when John held the ladder for Nathaniel to clip the branches on top. I presume Kate was the guardian angel on duty in the background. Look at the young man’s size 13 feet on the tiny ladder top. *shudder*

070918 War on Wisteria Nate's feet, John, Kate.JPG

Evidently, the ladder was more stable when Nathaniel continued giving the wicked vine a haircut. No one was paying him any attention. Kate appeared to be holding up the pergola with a magic wand. In the end, the magic was in the appearance of the unruly plant.

070918 War on Wisteria.JPG

We won! Never fear, the wicked wisteria will fight back, but it is no match for our speed with Nathaniel on our side.

Our Twitchit Family

Our tall grandsons struggle to keep their legs and feet out of each other’s way at the dining table. It’s even worse on the porch where the table is narrow. They manage well while sitting straight to eat, but when we relax and chat, the fun begins. I noticed a year or so ago that the boys and John would begin to twitch a bit. Their poker faces projected the message that nothing was going on. Under the straight faces, shoulders might move slightly or muscles would contract a bit. I’ve learned to spot this subtle activity before anyone asks, “And where do you think your feet are going?”

They have perfected the art of non-verbal teasing. Most of the time they keep the conversation going, despite the foot-sparring. We were in a restaurant where we five squeezed around a table that would have been tight for four. I stood up to get a photo of the others to remind myself what a good time we’d had there. You can see how we were seated.

070818 D JC D K at Bogart's restaurant.JPG

The twitching began as they waited for me to finish eating. Kate was giggling, but I didn’t realize what she was doing. She slipped out her phone and took a picture of the feet under the table. Her legs were clad in blue, and her feet were together. David’s black slacks seem to be hugging her feet. And the black shoes pushing against the wall? Nathaniel’s!

070818 Feet under the table.jpg

I hope I’m there to see it if they ever tie themselves in knots and can’t stand up.

Neighbors Marla and Connie to the Rescue!

Our Sunday was not out of the ordinary until we drove away from church on a busy street. The car bucked repeatedly, and all the emergency lights came on. John managed to rabbit-hop into the parking lot of a funeral home before it died. We were 30 miles from home. Stranded!!! As John looked up the number of AAA (roadside assistance), David and Kate ran to the front of the lot to find the address and name of the funeral home. In a matter of minutes, the dispatcher said a tow truck had just passed our location and would turn around to help us.

John would ride in the truck with the car, but what would the four of us do? We thought of the one neighbor who had a car big enough to carry us and who might be home. Angels don’t hesitate. They act. That’s exactly what Marla and Connie did. They were heading to the supermarket, so they immediately turned the car in our direction. Cars on the interstate ramp were stopped. Thinking quickly, they diverted to state roads, which took a bit more time than expected. The photo shows Kate and the boys in the shade of a tree with our sick car in the background.

070818 Stranded travelers.JPG

A somber funeral director came out to see what we were doing. I explained that our car died and was being taken away.

“There is nothing you can do for a dead car, is there?” I said.

The man was obviously used to dealing with distraught people, but he didn’t know how to handle someone saying silly things. After a long pause, he had a good answer, “I guess the only thing we could do is wash it.”

The tension was broken when we all laughed. I asked, “Are you having a funeral this afternoon?”

Yes, there would be a viewing in half an hour, with the service an hour later. He was keeping an eye on activity in his parking lot, especially one that was not related to a human dying. It would be unseemly to have stranded motorists whooping it up as mourners gathered for a funeral. I said neighbors were coming to pick us up, after which he said we could come inside and use the restrooms. We thanked him as the tow truck pulled the car on its back. I told the boys that they were an asset. Having at least two people in their Sunday best made our presence more acceptable.

070818 John watches car being pulled on the truck.JPG — John watches to dead car being loaded

We settled on benches to wait.

070818 David and Kate waiting for rescue.JPG — They look serious enough for a funeral, don’t they?

Before long Marla was there, hopping out of the car to help us in. Being rescued was great, but having cheerful rescuers was far more than I requested. We were very grateful and enjoyed chatting with them on the way home.

I have praised all our neighbors before, but I need to say more. We have THE BEST!

Daughter Kate Arrives

Kate took a nap after work and set out driving from her home in New Jersey around 6 p.m. She arrived here at 10 the next morning. She got her driving gene from John, not me. The trek included several rest stops and an hour’s nap. One frightening event was dodging a deer on the interstate at 3 a.m. Thankfully, all the cars around her threw on their brakes at the same time, and no one was hurt. Kate heard a thump and wondered if the deer had kicked her front bumper. There was no mark on the car to indicate that it did.

She jumped right into visiting with us and her sons. One of the boys mentioned a jigsaw puzzle. We removed the last ones we had worked and dumped out pieces of another box we bought in New York a couple of weeks ago. We knew what to expect this time. The label said the box contained two puzzles that were factory-sealed, so that no pieces would be missing. Each had 240 pieces. What the label didn’t say was that all 480 pieces were jumbled together. With three of us working and one taking photos, we had the edges put together in an hour. David worked on them before going to work, and Kate finished them later. I didn’t ask if they followed our precedent. John does not enjoy jigsaws, so we usually let him put in the last piece for token participation in this family event.

070718 D K N double puzzle.JPG — David, Kate, and Nathaniel working double jigsaw puzzles

Partner from the Past

It took two years, but we finally got together with Cornelius and his wife. I worked with him in New York, both before and after he became a partner in the accounting firm where I was the secretary. We hardly saw each other after he moved to the New Jersey office. I was aware that he and his wife Susan visited her parents in a town close to us here in North Carolina. They came this year to visit them and made time to have lunch with us. I enjoyed catching up with them and seeing pictures of their children.

070618 Cornelius and Susan.JPG

For the foodies: We had beef in a blanket (ground beef baked in pie pastry), mushroom gravy, cantaloupe, neighbor Connie’s recipe for grape salad, and frozen lemon pie.

Waynesville House Tour

It was a total surprise to me that our home might be featured on a house tour. I heard the vehicle on the street, and then it seemed to be circling around the side. I saw it from the back porch and ran to the deck at the side of the house. There it was! The driver seemed very familiar, and I knew the voice of the tour guide. I took a quick photo of the outfit as it drove around the edge of the property.

070618 Bob's Tours.JPG

The driver was none other than neighbor Bob, and he pulled up with a flourish below the deck. Normally that would have accommodated tourists wanting to photograph the house, but he paused for me to record the event. Logan was the tour guide for his nephew Sufi. Bob acknowledged me; Logan waved, and Sufi studied the house intently. He was not ready to commit himself to approval without further scrutiny. Bob’s Tours had made its first historic stop.

070618 Bob's Tours first stop.JPG

If any of you want to book a tour, please let me know. Rates are competitive, and I can guarantee you an excellent discount.

A Picture Not Taken

I resisted taking a photo of our son John $ as he told a bear story. He is allergic to the front side of cameras. When I do take his picture, he doesn’t complain, but I know he prefers not to be recorded. That evening he was stretched out on a sofa and told us about a hike a few days before. There is something about the way he tells a story that commands attention. Hiking on a little-used trail, he and a bear surprised each other. Since he was alone, he wasn’t making much noise. He spotted the bear climbing up a tree about the same time the bear saw him. They parted amicably. Further up the trail, he startled two bears digging for grubs under rotting logs. He said it was highly unusual for two grown bears to be together. He wondered if they were two-year-olds cast off by their mother but still used to being together. One scampered off, but the other started toward him. You need to think quickly in a situation like that. $ made noise and sauntered back the way he came, diffusing the situation. Our son is not accident prone, but dangerous things happen to him all the time.

I wish I could take credit for $’s self-sufficiency. Just before we all went to bed, $ asked if he could have the air mattress. He lugged it from our closet to the living room, set it up himself, knew where to find a pillow, and was soon settled in. The next morning, when I looked in the living room, there was nothing in the middle space. He had already stowed away the air mattress and put the sheets in the laundry room. That’s as close as we come to having an instant guest. We didn’t even have to stir in water.