12 Oakdale

Crisis averted? Every Thursday, I Zoom with 5 girlfriends, all 1967 graduates from Naples High. One I’ve known since early elementary school, perhaps it was first grade; the others moved to town by junior high. Sixty years of friendship. My high school class was the last under 200 graduates. We all knew everything about everyone, or at least we thought we did. In our last Zoom, at the very end, our most conservative and quietest member said, not once, but twice, “You all are too radical for me.” Wow. It passed without comment. We said our I-love-you's and goodbyes, but that stuck in my head. For her to say that was a big deal. What to do? I let it buzz around in my brain, several nights waking up and thinking about my response, because I knew I couldn’t just let it be ignored. This was an opportunity to deepen our conversations. I decided to write the group early in the week about how important I felt it was to hear each other’s political opinions. Not to try to change one another,...

I don’t know how everyone feels, but in our circle of friends and among the late night TV hosts, there is a huge drop in tension now that Joe Biden has not only been elected President, but also has lived to be inaugurated today. No Covid, no crazy shooter. I don’t believe we’ve moved into nirvana like a couple of my UU friends do, but just to have some normality sounds pretty good. We were spared the 24/7 ramp up to the ceremony because we were at Myakka River State Park for our annual Cabin Camping with two other couples. One man is a news junkie and has Verizon cell phone service, so using his hot spot, we were able to watch some on my iPad, including the amazing poet Amanda Gordon, the oaths of office by Kamala Harris and Biden, and his speech calling for unity. After that, I wandered off to do more birding. YouTube will have all the rest. I did watch Lady Gaga sing our national anthem when I got home. It was chilling when she sang, “that our flag was still there.” Seemed a little i...

Our first time tent camping in several years. Are we too old for this? I hope not because I made reservations at Yellowstone for 2 weeks this summer. We put up our big tent on the pool deck last week just to be sure it was still whole, which it was, with the exception of 2 corroded zippers on screens. I sprayed them with WD-40 and maintain hope I can get them to slide. Next was trying our camping mattress to see if it holds air. Then we remembered the blowup bed. Why not give it a try in the tent? It does take up most of the space, however its 18” height means we don’t have to get down to the floor, and, more importantly, back up.  In for a penny, we bought an electric mattress pad. What the hey, we will have electricity this week. Not in the national park, but by June, I plan to have stronger thighs and figured out warm sleeping arrangements.     Six or seven years ago, we camped at Cumberland Island. With the exception of a father and son who camped there every MLK week...

This should be one of the best days in the past year. Grant and I got our initial vaccines. Not without some chaos on our part, because we first drove to the wrong convention center. That was solved by putting the correct name and address in Google Maps. Once there, we got in line with about 100 cars ahead of us and followed the signs designating the driving path through the parking lot. The line moved almost consistently. I could just take my foot off the brake, and the car rolled fast enough to keep up. Once we got to the underground staging area, we presented our QR codes, answered some health questions, and received our printed shot information to stick on our sleeves. We were directed to one of the 16 staffed areas, and the first of the glitches appeared. The nurse said she couldn’t give me my shot because I carry an EpiPen for my honey bee allergy. Fortunately, a manager was able to override the software, I promised to call my doctor if anything felt odd, and the nurse fired away...

Annie and I started 2021 just like we’ve started most days recently: I got up a few minutes before 6:00 AM, although she’d be happy if it were an hour earlier. Some days she has tried to encourage me by just barely touching her small, damp nose to mine. Occasionally she will try licking my hair. Once recently she took a mouthful of it and gave a tug. Then I absolutely refuse to get up for at least a half an hour. Once I give in, I know she’d work the kitty alarm so that we’d be getting up at 4 o’clock. I have to hold my ground sometimes. In any case, I get up, pee and wash my hands with her meowing at my feet. I grind coffee and get the pot started. She meows. I get her bowl, put her 1/3 cup of kitty chow in it and try to put it down, without being tripped while she weaves between my legs. She eats; I sit with my coffee and read, meditate, or write; Grant sleeps for another hour. A peaceful start to the morning and this new year. Last night, the fireworks started at 5:00. Grant put the...