Almost June! Where Did the Time Go?

 Wow! I didn't realize how long it has been since I last posted. May is almost over and we will be mid-year in June! Today is a dark, rainy day - all day, it looks like, so it's a good time to do this. While I don't seem to have a lot to report, I do feel that I've been kept busy with one thing or another.

April 29: One thing I did do that was fun and informative was attend the SC Democratic Convention. I was asked to go as an alternate delegate: but once there, I was moved up to a delegate so I was able to sit on the "floor" and participate in the election of state party leaders. I was asked at the last minute (by that time I think they were just looking for a warm body!) and didn't have the time to do the research I would have liked to have done. Even so, it was great to see how things actually worked. I ran into quite a few people I knew, as well as meeting some interesting new people.  Rep. Clyburn was there, as was Marianne Williamson (not sure why). There was also some drama at the beginning, but it was worked out. The lady I sat beside is involved in the county Pride movement, and the gentleman on my left was Postmaster in Bluffton when there were only three routes!! I was certainly happy to have the opportunity to attend for the day. 

While I was away for the convention, Maria and Mark across the street kept Rosie. As a thank you for that and many other kindnesses, I treated them to lunch at Naan on Broughton in Savannah, our closest good Indian restaurant. We had a leisurely lunch, which did not disappoint, and then strolled down Broughton Street to enjoy the day and work off some of our lunch. I boldly order biryani to go, not realizing how large the portion would be - and I took some of my entree home, too. When I got home and unwrapped it, I was amazed. The only problem was that I already had a fridge full of food, so I froze the soup I'd just made the day before and ate biryani for much of the week. It really was delicious and I enjoyed every grain of it!

Maria and Mark gave me a cute little bird feeder that sticks to the window. I've had it in the sunroom and I can see it from anyplace in the kitchen and den. I have really enjoyed seeing the birds and all has gone well until last week when the squirrels discovered it. At first, there was one, but within a couple of days his buddies showed up! This has been a new challenge for Rosie and she is now on constant squirrel patrol. I know I can remove the screen (before they wreck it!), but it's given Rosie so much pleasure that I'm heistant to do it.

I can only suspect that this new lease on life led Rosie to run away from home! I had someone come by to give me an estimate of power washing the house. Usually, Rosie is so happy to see people that she will go right outside the door to greet them but will come right back in as they move inside. On this day, she headed down the driveway with purpose, taking a right turn and heading up the street. Needless to say, I left the guy at the door and headed after her, calling to no avail. She was making sure to keep adequate distance between us. Finally, three houses up Randy was in his yard, saw what was happening, and called her over. She went right straight to him! Naughy girl! I had already realized that if Felix and Henry were out across the street, she would be tempted to run over, but I don't know what brought this on. I'll definitely have to be more careful from now on.

After being here all this time, I've been to our club house twice recently. One of my neighbors invited me to join them there for dinner on a Saturday night when there would be live music. As it turned out, there were only three tables of diners (including us) and about 6 people at the bar for the entire time we were there! The music was good, a guy and his guitar, but we felt so bad for him that the audience was so minimal! Our evening was saved by the fact that we discovered we are like minded politically. They felt isolated and were surprised to find that there are more of us around than expected. Then a week or so later, Maria and Mark invited me to join them there for brunch. It was a day much like today (though it did clear up earlier) and brunch was a good call. The food was good and plentiful, but again there were only a few tables occupied. I'm not sure how they will be able to keep it open with such poor attendance.

On a gloomy note, I've been working with an "advocacy agency" that will be in charge of my care if I become incapacitated. It's a major decision but is one of the better options for someone like me (an elder orphan, as we are called). Of course, no one will care for you/me as we would wish 100% of the time, but one thing that I've realized is that the agency has a better incite into care facilities, etc. that the average person would have. I hope that will be a plus. I have one more thing to do to get that finalized, then I will work on getting cremation plans in order. It will be good to get all of this behind me and have everything in place. how's all of that for being depressing?!

I'll leave you with some miscellaneous photos from our afternoon walks. The first two are from a recently installed "pocket park" that we discovered. I was hoping it would be big enough for a walk around, but not so; however, it is a lovely little spot and would be prefect for a quiet getaway. The others are from various parks in Bluffton. In the heat of summer, by the time we find shade on my street, we are already overheated; so, for Rosie's afternoon walk we try to find shade wherever we can. We're lucky to have such nice parks close by.

I should also tell you about the lovely, long spring we are having (in spite of today's damp and darkness!). It's almost June and we continue to have temps in the 70s and low 80s. The mornings have been comfortably cool, warming up to a tolerable warmth. Long may it continue!