Author: Rene

It was raining steadily and much too late for an afternoon nap. What to do on vacation while staying at a friend’s place with your normal home-bound activity unavailable? Peruse “Ye Olde Amazon.”

Did you know there is a ”coupons” column choice? I’ve accidentally had Amazon Prime for two or three years now. (Remember how I signed up for it unknowingly?) I guess I’ve never really explored all of the fine opportunities available to me. Dangerous territory.

I’ll let you know how the pink sweater and blue shirt look, coupon code added at checkout.

You know the dream you have when you’re either late for class, don’t have the textbooks or homework, or can’t find the classroom? Apparently I had a new version of that one installed overnight with my Ipad update.

The sheet music was missing and I was accompanying for a wedding – the wedding of my former grade school teacher, who was a nun. Perhaps I needed a dose of music, because I had chosen all of these old praise songs from the ’60’s for the sing-along part of the wedding. It was such a strange dream, and quite vivid.

Let’s attribute it to the mountain air and the 13,000 steps of hiking I logged yesterday, which probably cleared out a stash of useless fodder from my brain, thus allowing for new crazy thoughts. Either that or the Ipad update migrated?

Returning to our campsite last night, trying to open the RV door, we heard, ”Meow.” It’s pitch black, ”bear” country, and we hear this faint mewing.

Instinct kicked in. We got a little milk and used our best, ”Here, Kitty, Kitty,” voices. A very pretty calico came by, checking us out, wandering back and forth, and eventually hopping in the motorhome. Of course, she hopped right back out when she realized it wasn’t hers. Second attempt, I caught her and gave her shelter in my loving arms while my husband alerted the campground host.

Crisis averted. The cat belonged to the man-in-charge, and instructions were to let this beautiful, pink-collared, declawed animal back into the night. She’d find her way home.

For ten minutes I enjoyed a cat. Now I don’t have to own one. She sure was cute.

Alert…this just in on my news feed: More black widow spiders being reported in the Denver area this year.

The other night as I turned out the light, I saw a little black spider navigating the wall under the window. My first thought was, ”I hope I don’t get bit.” That was followed by, ”Turn the light back on and swat it.”

I was able to sleep soundly, even though the possible window widow was in hiding. My larger question has always been, ”Who is going to turn a spider upside down to view the underside of its abdomen in a search for the reddish hourglass shape identifying the widow?” That was a larger question, wasn’t it?

The spider and I both lived, me none-the-wiser.

For your edification. Thank you, ”Pindy.” Since camping, my brain has not consumed much in the way of new information, sans newspaper and television news.

I’ll be at the family reunion overmorrow, so look for some entertaining stories.

“Missing-my-granddaughter-day” means missing the bubble wand. My son-in-law found this and I laughed heartily. (Hearty laughs are cathartic.)

This little truism has played out on my family room carpet. However, I did not cry, I rejoiced. I will be hunting for new rugs soon and dragging ”Pann” with me. I figure the bubbles only helped speed up the process.

Two friends have just returned from land and sea expeditions, being out of communication for a time. (What a blessing that can be!) The same could be happening here for a few days as I take time to recharge in the hills with the uncertainty of consistent wi-if.

While perusing one of my feeds I came across this somewhat blurry optimistic note, and I thought it should be enough to keep us going through the week, should I be unable to share these highly important blogs. Happy Week!

…a luminous balloon. Anyone else have that example given to them in school when explaining the difference between similes, metaphors and personification? The moon is ”like” a luminous balloon, the obvious simile example. The moon, smiling at me, provided perfect light for my path.

It’s amazing what the memory dredges up on a beautiful pre-Autumn moonlit evening. Once I grasped that literary business I personified to no end and extended many a metaphor. Yes, I’m back at it, trying to finish my book of poetry.

Poetry, a decorated vase. Poetry is like an ornate vase. Poetry smiles with us on the journey.

My vehicle has become a recycling-and-returning center on wheels.

I haven’t had a day in weeks where there wasn’t clothing to be redeposited to one of three appropriate centers, or odds and ends that needed to be given back to people. I thought I was free yesterday afternoon, and that I might vacuum my transport. Nope. My friend forgot the bridge ”equipment” and I have to get it to her now. That’s okay. My sister-in-law left her shoes here, too. They’re going back today.

What would I do if I had to ride my bike everywhere? I suppose I’d need a little trailer or bigger basket. I could even haul a kid in this one. Something to consider?

School supply shopping is fun for those who can afford to do it. Every year our church, like many others, promises to supply kids with the necessities for beginning school. Of course, with no school-age child in the near vicinity, our family adopts a backpack or two and fills it with the items on the list. Here are the comments made while procuring said items:

• “There is no way this kid will use those binder dividers!” – dividers have been on supply lists since the turn of the century. My children returned them unused. Correction: one child returned them unused, the other had them colorfully delineated in a binder.
• ”How many composition notebooks? They’ll be lucky to fill five pages in one!” – another purchase which resulted in a few pages inked, but never a quarter of a book used.
• ”Graph paper. I think one sheaf would do for the class.” – there must be two assignments a year which require graph paper. Although, returned-to-my-home graph paper always got used by me. I thought it was fun for making notes.
• ”Pocket folders? Why?” If it goes in a pocket, it’s bound for the trash.
• “Colored pencils.” Sigh. These also were returned every year with most still unused and pointy. However, ”If you didn’t have them for the two assignments, you were screwed. No one shared theirs.” (Direct quote from my son.)

My biggest problem in shopping is ”the fun stuff.” Sniff. I never had the Crayola crayons with built-in-sharpener and hundreds of colors. I had the 16-pack. The ”Trapper Keeper” binder! Wow. That would have made all the difference in my education! And a fun pencil case that I could zip and unzip daily was never in my supply chain. Now they have ”flexible” rulers that wobble back and forth, which I gleefully purchased, imagining the kids whacking each other with them.

Thus, the Bic crystal pens came into play years ago when I first found them, all because of that serious school supply deprivation I experienced. (I think we really only had to start school with a pencil and paper back then, didn’t we?) Thus, today’s comic strip gave me a chuckle and memories to share. Thank goodness we can help someone else prepare for an education.