Merry Mayhem!

The years dropped away as I greeted Inga. She has been a friend of the family for a long time, but I hadn’t seen her for over ten years. She went to a wedding in a neighboring town and remembered I lived in Western North Carolina. It was marvelous that she could stay a night with us, prolonging her stay in the mountains. As an original flat-lander like me, she adores the mountains, especially when they are sporting their brilliant fall colors. She and her sons call me Aunt Anne, and I realized she is a niece with no blood ties.

This was the view from her window that day.

We had a chance to share our new experiences of widowhood. There are more differences than similarities. Her husband was cut down by cancer in the prime of his life. They had 7 years together, compared to 58 for John and me. I have children who look after me, and she has two young sons. My heart grieves for her and all she has had to face.

Good times go along with the sad ones. Neighbor Logan came over to meet these people he had never met. Inga was delighted to be with him, since she watched him grow up through my blog. His nephews are similar in age, so he knew how to entertain them. He ran home to bring over his fossils to show them.

Of the five video clips I took, this one has everyone in it – Inga, her sons, Brit and her sons, as well as David, dog Kacey, and Logan. Favorite toys were yo-yos, a balance ball, a radio controlled truck, the piano, and a plastic recorder (flute). Even the yo-yos were noisy as they barely missed people and hit the floor. It couldn’t have been too bad, since I didn’t shut down my hearing aids.

It was marvelous to be with Inga again. I hope she and the boys will be able to come again and stay longer.

Firefighter!

Oh! Life is exciting at my house now! Friend Brit has been training with the local volunteer fire department, and she just went to her first fire. I had already gone to bed and didn’t know until the next morning that she had done this. The abandoned house was off the beaten track and mostly consumed by the time someone called about it. There was no one to rescue and no reason to enter a building that was already gone. Brit said she was tired after pulling those heavy hoses around. Surely this was an ideal first experience. She shared two photos where the faces would be hard to identify and the department name is not visible.

Twice since then I’ve been here when Brit responded to an alarm – both times she ran through the house to jump in her car and race off. I would feel silly cheering her on, so I pray for her safety and that of her cohorts.

Brit takes wonderful photos with her phone, and this one caught my fancy. Kacey is bounding toward her, and the sturdy old oak tree is in the background.

Greetings on Monday

You’d think things would gear up slowly on a Monday morning, but I communicated with four people before 9:00 am. Some of Joyce’s mail was put in my box last week, so I left it in hers on the way up the street. There was a package shoved to the back. I stopped and texted her, thinking she’d want to take it in before going to work. We had time to wish each other a cheery good morning with our phones.

Neighbor Holly stopped on her way to work, encouraging me about walking. I’ve learned that newer cars shut off when stopped, but I still find it disconcerting. I bite my tongue to keep from asking how she’ll get to work when her car won’t go. Someone should tell me if taking your foot off the brake or tapping the gas pedal starts it again. Maybe AI just knows!

Bob stopped at the stop sign after taking Logan to school, knowing I was at the furthest point from my house. He said, “Fifty cents for a ride home.” I told him I didn’t have any money, and we both laughed as he drove away.

The last greeter was Bob’s brother Tom, here for a short while before going back to Florida. I asked what he was going to do with his early start. “I’m going to help Bob chop wood today,” he replied. “I know it’s not good to just sit and watch TV. People say you have to keep moving to stay alive.”

I said, “I agree, but my saying is shorter. You SIT – You DIE!”

This is what I saw going toward the stop sign.

It Wasn’t Mary Poppins

I knew the umbrella in my yard did not belong to Mary Poppins (a fictional character), because it was much too colorful. Mary’s was black. I spotted it on my way out to walk and took a photo of it when I got back. I’m sure it was there all day. I intended to pick it up, but I forgot it.

The next day I didn’t realize the umbrella was gone until I saw the pictures I had downloaded from the camera. I asked Brit if it was hers and if she had picked it up. She had used it when unloading things from her car, and it must have blown away while she was walking in the house. I went to the front porch to see if it had ended up in the large evergreen trees. Brit handed me a fresh cup of coffee she had made as she joined me on the porch. No umbrella was in sight. She lightly ran across the street barefooted and looked in her parents’ yard. Not there. Then she spotted it down the very steep hill, floating in the pond. I hope she will wear shoes when she goes to fetch it.

Here is a closeup from the street:

My Music has Measles

I was happily sight-reading music by Handel that I downloaded free from the internet, enjoying playing the piano again. When I picked up the iPad and looked closely at the page, I realized there were lots of staccato markings – little dots under the notes to make them very short. I couldn’t see them when the music was on the rack. If I had played the piece as marked, it would have sounded entirely different. The solution? I put a red dot on each mark, highlighting what I needed to see. The dots look a bit like a child’s face with measles. It worked fairly well. I think I can easily delete the marks with a few taps on the screen, although I intend to keep them there.

Logan’s Big Fish

Neighbor Logan (13) had this week off from school, and going fishing was one special treat. He and his dad Bob rented a cabin at Lake Logan for one night. Bob sent this photo to Shawn, and she shared it with me.

I saw father and son as they drove in and commented on the fish. Logan was still excited about all they caught, and especially this big one. At first he thought he’d gotten hung up on the log, but then the line came alive as the fish moved. All the fish were thrown back, so they couldn’t have weighed them. How marvelous that Bob had his phone with him and thought to take the photo!

The next day Logan wasn’t around when Bob talked about the trip. He said they were in the boat near trees on the bank, and he told his son it would be a mess if he got hung up in the trees. It was amazing that Logan cast sideways with great accuracy, avoiding those hanging branches every time. It was such a delight for me to hear the pride in Bob’s voice. Oh! If only all boys had fathers who were proud their sons!

Brilliant Brit

We invited family friend Brittainy (Brit) to live in our spare bedroom for a while. Grandson David opened the door as she began to bring in her things. I didn’t realize she was in the house until I heard her beautiful laugh down the hall. Her laugh is musical and so pleasing to the ear.

Brit knew I was struggling to deal with my iPad and offered to help. I knew little more than how to turn it on and off. She quickly taught me several vital things like how to get to instructions and tips and how to close open apps. I thought that was enough to remember for one session, but I did mention that I hadn’t been able to use a wireless foot-operated page turner daughter Lise gave me. It is for turning pages in the music app. I had tried to pair it to the app several times, with no success. In less than five minutes, Brit handed the turner to me, held the pad up with music displayed, and had me push the button to turn pages. Impressive!! I will use it for real when I play today.

A Volunteer’s True Story

When I headed home from my walk, this scene reminded me of a story my friend Becky told.

Becky was a volunteer at a visitor’s center for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. This is the most visited of all the national parks in the US, so visitor centers are very busy there. A couple with children came to her and asked with all seriousness, “When do they turn on the smoke?”

Becky can TALK, but I think she was struck dumb for a moment or so. I have told that story many times, and it cracks me up every time.

There is a chemical reason for the haze we see in the Smokies. The plants not only give off oxygen, but also chemicals that form the haze. My photo shows just mist that would likely be gone before I got home.

A Kilt in my Backyard??

I knew grandson David and neighbor Logan were throwing a football outside. After a while, I looked out and was shocked to see someone wearing a kilt.

My eyes are not what they used to be, so it took a few seconds for me to realize David had gotten too warm and had tied his flannel shirt around his waist. If your vision was a bit blurry, would you have seen a kilt at first??

I Didn’t Miss Much

Yesterday I had finally had enough of annoying notification dings on the phone. There were few things I really wanted to hear, so I tried to turn most of them off. They were canceled at the system level and at the app level. Many still got through that net. David offered to help, so last night he went through turning things off. It seemed like magic. Suddenly there were no offending chirps. Those few moments before I went to bed were very peaceful.

This morning was quiet, also. I woke up fifteen minutes after the alarm should have gone off. What I skipped was the morning exercise routine. I went out to walk at the usual time, to the accompaniment of constant notification chirps. When David silenced things the night before, it coincided with the night hours set to be silent from 11 pm to 6:30 am. I suspect my phone is a compulsive talker, impossible to stifle.

While walking, I saw a large worm-sized creature on the road and took a photo of it. The Lens app identified it as a milk snake, found from Maine to Tennessee and Western North Carolina. I thought it rather cute but would not be tempted to have one as a pet, as some people do.