Sunday, September 29, 2024

Tote that bale

 After a madcap week of eye doctor (cataracts still practically teenagers), covid shot (no reaction other than a sore arm), haircut, with a little Mahjong at the senior center thrown in, I finished up on Saturday with the fabric drive for the town library.


The drill was to hang out in front of the library and receive bags of clothing and other goods from donors who pulled up to unload. We’d then transfer the offerings into big black garbage bags since they were required by the organization we were basically selling our donations to. As I understand it, the donations would go on a scale and we’d be paid based on the weight. The organization would later sort everything according to whether it could go out on the sales floor or sent to wherever fabric is recycled.

          The return is pretty good for the library and there’s no overhead on our part since we’re all volunteers.

          I’d signed up to serve as one of the drivers, needed because while we gathered everything at the library, it had to be moved to a member’s garage until everything could be trucked to the company receiving it. And good thing I did. I’m pretty sure no one there yesterday was under 70 (including me) and added to that one person had a congenital wrist problem. Maybe next year we can round up some teenagers.

          It’s remarkable how heavy clothes can be, and when you fill a garbage bag full to
over-flowing you have a challenge. We’d stuff at least two+ kitchen bags into one black bag, tie it off, heave it into the back of a car, drive it to the collection point, and heave it out of the car onto the pile. My car alone held about 14 bags and I made 6 trips.

          But I must be doing something right because here I am the next day and my back and shoulders are still in one piece, thank heaven.

Saturday, September 21, 2024

Monday, September 16, 2024

Gluttony, Death and Drugs


 The squirrels outside our house are losing their minds over all the hickory nuts scattered on the grass. 

Friday, September 13, 2024

Breakfast and Broccoli

          My good friend Judi and I settled into a booth this morning at the back of one of our favorite breakfast spots for a long-overdue visit with each other. The waitress was really hustling and it took a few minutes before she got to us with, “Coffee?”

Wednesday, September 11, 2024

Back in the Flatlands


          I’m back home now and happy to be here. It was wonderful spending time with family over the weekend, but the added bonus was an increased appreciation of my own home.

Saturday, September 7, 2024

Heroic Art


          I’m here in the mountains of New Jersey at my daughter’s for a brief visit. Yesterday we descended to Hamilton, not far from Trenton, where My Guy and I met in college, and also not far from Princeton, where I was born. So I suppose my ties to the state are pretty firm at this point.

Thursday, September 5, 2024

Marbles and Murder

 


My Guy and I are currently (sadly) nearing the end of PBS’s Inspector Alleyn mysteries on Amazon Prime.

Tuesday, September 3, 2024

Small news - hummingbirds and ants

 A quiet couple of days have gone by, so not much to tell about, but I figure they’re better than the nothing that would have been here otherwise.

Sunday, September 1, 2024

Straddling the Seasons

 We have rain in the forecast, so I was up and out in the backyard fairly early for a Sunday.

There aren’t many signs yet of the impending autumn – 


the petunias in my hanging pot in front are pushing out a last gasp of blooms,