More of the old cars

 What were you driving in the 50s and 60s? Or riding in? And some of these were probably what your parents might have driven...or wished they had.

There were several that had been created from other cars, so they didn't exactly look like what they'd started with.

OK, this is the one I couldn't identify, and forgot to go look for more info. Any ideas? (Thanks Tom, who said Rambler...and I should have known, remembering the song of the Nash Rambler who was stuck in second gear...beep beep)

Colorful

 

Last week I dropped in at my local fav coffee house several times to use their internet as well as imbibe a couple of Americanos. Oooh, I sure can't make them so good. I was in line behind this lovely lady and asked if I could take a photo of her hair. She said sure. Sorry I didn't get her name.

I have been enjoying this fruit, while everyone else is going ga-ga over peaches, I prefer nectarines.

Oops, there goes another bottle of pure unpasteurized local honey. This time it was Locust. I look for wildflower whenever I can, because it helps me in fighting the pollen allergies which get my sinus going. The bees are all covered with pollen when making this honey, and using it raw helps provide me with a low dose that I hope gradually helps me build immunity to it.

Checking out some old cars

 A nice touch of flowers as I walked up to the parking area in front of the Town offices building...which used to be (well I'll show you in a minute.) Since Mellie Macs nursery is right across the street, I dare say she offered to put this beautiful garden spot in for the town, or our great Beautification Committee of volunteers in Black Mountain.

We had a hatchback Mustang back in the 60s...ours was baby blue. But it really wasn't very good as a family car!

Not sure of this one...just look at those fins! (By comment I'm going with a 1960 Chevy Impala)

A bit of a hotrod, with lowered everything...but it doesn't show in this shot.

Not in the car show, but I love our new fire truck!

Thanks to comments, this is a 53 Ford!

The Avanti was fun looking, and I remember seeing just a few of these on the roads...back when...

It was fun seeing the people walking around - just as much as some of the creative vehicles!

The entrance to the town offices...where the old sign for Carolina Foam and Fabric left some shadows on the concrete.

I'll save a few of these cars for another post later. Thanks for stopping by.

Lammas revisited

 Last Sunday afternoon my women's group met to celebrate the first harvest or Lammas.

We each brought something to represent our harvest to give away to each other.

I loved considering the beautiful kernels of wheat.

My basket came home filled with apples, herbs, oranges and flowers!

We had a great little skit performed about Demeter and Persephone...with a humorous twist. 

It was so wonderful to sit out under trees with a breeze blowing. Many smiles around the circle. Thanks to our organizing women!

From the 1890s

 What a fun movie clip from the 1890s...a YouTube from Open Culture newsletter which I receive daily.

The 1890s in cities around the world. Or the Open Culture article is HERE.

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday this week.

And on a more personal note...I attended a short (45 min.) chair yoga class yesterday at the Lakeview center, and it was so great to have many folks attending (most in masks). I have less pain in my back now too!

My little flowers in August

 Having a potted garden on the porches of my apartment means changing their positions every once in a while, to get more or less sun. I may have shared some of these before...pardon my memory!

The fruit of my fruit...an organic beefsteak tomato sprouted, and this is the only vine which I've kept growing...and may get 3 to eat, if they ever turn red. Or perhaps they'll be fried green ones.

This is the first time I haven't cut off the blooms of a Kalanchoe and these plants seem to be doing ok.  I took some cuttings of another plant, rooted them in jars of water, and gave them away last weekend. These are really hardy plants (but have to go inside during the winter.)

A nice hydrangea growing in a nook by a building.

Sharing with Floral Friday Fotos.

Spectrum repair work

 A very competent service technician came an hour late, and then stayed for an hour and a half...tracing some cables in the attic, which of course was hot work.

I was very grateful when he started to put the TV back, but continued to have flickering reception, so he clipped the ends of the  cable, and replaced the cable tips (you know, those ends which have a wire sticking out of a screwed on link)...so I finally had TV, as well as the internet restored.

He even picked up the biggest blobs of fiberglass that had fallen on the floor, before I did the first vacuuming in weeks. I was glad that I'd put a sheet over the bookcase full of books too. 

Mike was his name. He was outfitted with lots of supplies hanging from his tool belt...and was able to do everything he needed to get the connections to work. Apparently there had been something done wrong in the attic, so that's why he had to spend 1/2 hour up there. Fortunately the day had been cloudy so it probably wasn't as hot at it might have been on an Aug. evening. I provided a tall glass of water for him after he took off his N-95 mask.

I'm not sure how I should respond to one of the customer surveys that the Spectrum Co. sent out. He went well beyond what I expected, but he also had to clean up what ineffectual technicians had done before him. Somehow I don't think the standard customer service reviews will have a place for that. But I'll say that Mike did an excellent job.

He also told me that he would describe his work such that I wouldn't have to pay for it. I will wait till his work description has gone through before I request a credit for the 5 days that I was without internet, and also TV. For me, the Internet was the most bothersome thing.

I didn't enjoy carrying my laptop into the library twice...nor parking outside the laundry or the pizza place where I had their internet connections. One morning I carried my laptop into a coffee shop, when I wasn't able to pick up their internet from the parking lot right outside their wall. Twice I went in the church where I could use the internet connection before or after the church program.

All of the laptop toting meant that I pulled something in my back (or maybe I did that before and it just began to bother me then) so my back is now in spasms. If it isn't one thing...

So I start taking these lovely sleep inducing muscle relaxing pills for the back spasms when I'm ready to go to bed...in about a half hour actually. 

What have I learned with 5 days of no home internet or TV service? That I really missed it. That I read 4 complete books. That I can live without some entertainment, but missed seeing any of the Olympics.

I'm definitely Thankful Thursday for Mike's wonderful work.

A lunch date!!

 Going out to lunch today (Thurs) with a good friend who I haven't spent much time with for one reason or another. It will be good to catch up. And photos will follow...

My friend on right, and another of her friends who I just met on left...who had a dog so was happy to sit outside.

Husband of my friend's friend, and just look at that VW!

Open Oven is a nice lunch spot...indoor or outdoor seating, and a bit of a crowd today! It was just 81 or so outside.  They are constructing a bar upstairs as an outdoor balcony kind of place.

Half of the grilled cheese sandwiches, which I had with a salad on the side. Lots of cheddar! Tomorrow I'll have to eat nothing but veggies! Cheese is frowned upon by the Plant Based food people. Just think of all that fat! Oops. But there wasn't much else available without meat. 

Grocery store flowers this week

 Having dedicated a bit of my income to purchasing pretty flowers, I decided to go back to grocery store bunches this week. There are just a few of the ones left from last Sat...and it's only Wed. when I wrote this!

On the way home...

My favorite grocery, which is around 20 miles from home, but it is such fun to shop there! Gorgeous produce, many many items that are not found in regular grocery stores, and especially a deli which has lots (maybe a dozen) things that are vegetarian and vegan! I buy many of those, in small batches.

Some organic broccoli and baby spinach. A big nectarine, some halo tangerines, some radish and alfalfa sprouts, 2 avocados, 3 plum tomatoes...and the list goes on.

I don't buy much in the aisles of the store, many lovely things that are more for people who cook a bunch of things. And a good butcher shop at the back side, as well as a bakery full of wonderful things that I'm avoiding. Nope, the deli is my downfall. Lots of Thai Pepper Sauce Mock Chicken, some snow peas, some asparagus in vinaigrette, and some mock chicken salad...that's what I go for!

Yep, some of the mums are already dropping petals, and one of the roses has dark spots on half the petals.  But we shall see if it can last longer than last Sat. batch. There's no way I'll be purchasing two bouquets a week!

Hope you are enjoying the flowers of summer...either in your garden, or in the house!

It's August birthday month!

 In my family anyway. (Sorry, I didn't feel like editing some of these shots which are sideways.)

Blank inside...fun to write to some relatives!

My middle son, R. is the 16th

Mine is the 23rd.

My youngest son, T.'s wife K. is the 12th.

My oldest son, M.'s wife B. is the 22d.

I gave this card to a friend who's birthday was July 29.

My middle son, R.' wife M.'s mother, J. is the 28th, which was also my father's father's birthday, but he's dead so I don't celebrate for him any more.

It's a great month to keep Hallmark in business. Or if I'm feeling creative, I'll shop some hand-made cards or at least some cards with prints that are made by local artists. I like to keep artists in food!

Thanks for the supportive comments yesterday about my internet/TV connectivity being gone gone gone. I came over to sit outside the church where I can get on line with their modem. Not for long, but I got to read a few blogs and your comments here. There are a few other blogs already in the que to be published. And I'm consuming paper books like crazy.

Cable cut off in error

 So I have no internet nor TV at home since Sat. around 11:15 am.

I was on my way out the door, and figured it was just one of those intermittent things...would be reconnected from their office within a few minutes. As I walked to my car, I saw the culprit, a Charter/Spectrum truck was pulling away from an illegal parking spot. That was 11:30 Sat.

When I returned home at 1:30 or so, still no internet, nor TV. I tried the rebooting procedures which they have led me through enough times that I can now do it without calling them. No luck.

So I called them. They agreed, I was completely cut off. I'm sure they also looked quickly to see if I'd paid their hefty monthly fees. Had there been a line down in the yard, they asked? I said, no, our cable comes in underground from a box at the end of a building (serving 8 apartments).

I told the national repairs desk that I'd seen the Spectrum truck leaving this morning, and deduced since I had a new neighbor next door that he might have been turning on the neighbor's service, and inadvertently cut mine off.

But they could not fix it from the national repair desk. So I received an appointment and then they wrote a ticket. What that means in Spectrum-talk is that I have a ticket that asks for earliest repair, hopefully immediately.

I then got a call from some local person who told me there was nobody in the area today, I'd have to wait until Aug. 4, 4-5 n pm. I told her I'd seen someone in the area this morning. But she hung up on me.

I then had the unique (to me) experience of feeling cut off from the world. Yes the phone still worked, as well as texting friends. But the activities which I usually spend my waking hours doing were suddenly unavailable to me.

So I had lunch, Then read a paper book for an hour. Then texted a friend for a while. But she wanted to watch the game with her hubby (through cable at her house).

I tried setting my alarm and lying down, thinking I might feel better if I could nap for a while.

Then I went to the drugstore and picked up some vitimins I need. The tried to park outside the church in the shade and get the internet so I could sit in the car and read my digital book. They changed the router, and it is no longer the one I used to have access to.

So here I am at the library until 5 pm when they close (in 30 min.) I have a restaurant still to try, and hopefully the heat of the day will have diminished so I can just have the car's ac on and still read for a while there.

I have blogs to write and photos to edit. And 3 library books on my iPad which I usually read in bed.  It will be the paper book again for that activity.

Tomorrow I'll be glad to attend church (Sunday) rather than watch the YouTube live link from home. That's ok, I've got my mask! Then in the afternoon at 4 is our women's Lammas celebration outside. So my activities will be less dependent on the cable.

I haven't been able to print out the little quote that I've chosen to offer. So now I will try to figure out if I can copy it into a text message for my phone. It's a bit long for that, but maybe I can use the notebook on the phone without the internet...unless someone has told me how to get on line at church again.

Hope all my blogger friends are at peace and cool, and breathing easy with all the smoke puffing along through our air these days. Not to mention, avoiding the plague!