Happy July everyone!

 Whoohoo! Summertime is here for sure!

Hot days bring everyone to the pool. So the parking lot is mobbed and us seniors either have to hike a ways to get to classes and lunch, or get there really early since the pool doesn't open all that early. Speaking of parking. The other day...

My trunk is packed with folding chairs. I've loaded my picnic lunch in its cooler into the car, as well as a big shopping bag of things to give Teresa, who I'm meeting for lunch.

BUT, the recycle bins haven't been emptied yet. And the maintenance guy put them out where the truck could easily access them without banging them against the sides of the car which is parked facing the little corral where they are usually kept.

The trash corral on another day.

So I texted Teresa to come pick me up. In the mean time, the maintenance guy moved the bins enough for me to back out. I texted Teresa never mind, I could get my car out now. She didn't get that text, because as I back out she arrives, and follows me driving down the hill where I turn around and go back to my original spot. And maintenance guy shouts, the recycle truck just arrived anyway.

So I park and make sure to leave space for the bins to be taken back to their corral, while MM tells Teresa the recycle truck just arrived, and then I unload my stuff into Teresa's car, while she waits right behind mine...after the recycle truck had done it's duty.

I could just imagine the entertainment factor for the seniors in the rockers on the porch across the way. I felt like the keystone cops had just arrived.

We had originally intended to do a Blue Ridge Parkway drive up to Mt. Mitchell for our picnic...and to give me a chance to breath at higher elevation. But it looked partly cloudy, and that would have kept us from seeing any views from the highest mountain east of the Mississippi. So we went to Lake Tomahawk instead, and ate in the picnic pavilion with a great breeze off the lake. I didn't take any more photos.

Then there was the  fiasco of the ironing board.

I had asked the maintenance man how to dispose of several items, a lamp which had shorted out, and the ironing board, which was metal. I asked if I could put it out to recycle. Nope, he said it should go to the household items pick up on Friday...the next day. These things, including beds and furniture, are placed at the foot of the hill of our parking lot. He offered to take things from my front porch for that pickup.

So the lamp, a couple of indoor/outdoor rugs, and the ironing board, and a whole plastic milk crate full of old VCR tapes were put on my front porch before I went picnicking.

He didn't take the blue recycle bin, perhaps because the ones here are green. I can use it to pack something in anyway.

I mentioned to Teresa that I was giving away the ironing board, and she said she really wanted it. She does something called slow stitching. OK, I was pretty sure I could ask the maintenance man to give it back. I didn't get to see him, but mentioned it to the landlady, who passed it on to him, and within a few hours he brought it back. 

I wonder if the porch sitting elders got to see the ironing board go down the hill and then back up again within a few hours. And then Saturday Teresa came back and loaded it and some Christmas wrapping paper into her car. I certainly don't plan taking rolls of wrapping paper out west with me!

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Another note is to wish family members much joy as they attend World Cup games in Atlanta and Philadelphia. Here's a quote from a UU minister who writes a daily newsletter, shared on Substack. 

Keith Kron from Keith Kron What Really Matters

My favorite part of the World Cup happening here in the US is that people from other countries are rediscovering that the American people is not reflected in its government’s political rhetoric. The tourists are reminded that the Americans have more in common with them than Americans do with their own currently elected federal officials. The people of the United States are reminded of how much in common we have with people in the world. Tourists love our ranch dressing. Americans love the competitive fight of players’ loving their countries, the raucous joy of Norwegian fans rowing like Vikings and the drinking ability of the Scottish fans. We love the polite kindness of the Iranian team and their notes of appreciation to the people of Los Angeles. We root for underdogs like Cape Verde when they advance and the accomplishment of being here for countries like Curacao, Haiti, and Jordan, and Uzbekistan. We feel the mutual love and admiration that Lawrence, Kansas, and the Algerian national team have developed for each other.

The world can be amazing and be a place of hope. Thank you World Cup fans for bringing hope for the humanity of the world this month. As you’ve embraced us, we’re grateful to have embraced back.

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