one of the nice things

about our new home in the retirement community
is the pool.
1.) it is not far from our apartment -- just around the building and across a footbridge
2.) there is an odd assortment of people -- today, for instance, there was a muslim family, a grandmother and a couple kids, three gay men in tiny bathingsuits, an australian woman and some guy, and an old lady who tans a lot and smokes upwind of us
3.) evidently, i will read if i am lying out in the sun
4.) we can invite friends to hang out with us "by the pool"
5.) i have not lived this close to a pool since i was in greensboro and it was right out my backdoor and i never went to it
6.) i might actually get a tan this summer -- healthy, slow progress toward a golden glow...
7.) if, actually when, it gets insanely hot, you just get in the pool
8.) it is summertime, and like popsicles, pools are for the summertime

Our new answering machine message

"Thank you for calling.
If you'd like to leave a message, go to the McDonalds at North Decatur and Clairmont. Behind the dumpster you'll find a blue mark on a brick wall. Under that mark is a tin box. In that box is a key. That key goes to a locker in Lindberg MARTA station. In that locker is a plane ticket. DO NOT take that flight. But do look at the destination and go to the street with corresponding name in Atlanta. You'll see a restaurant. You'll know. Ask for Muriel. She'll tap her shoulder twice. Tell her the message. She'll call and leave it after this beep."


This is our first message.
We decided we'll play a little game.
We will individually change the message while the others aren't around,
perhaps in a way that will humorously disparage the others.
And it must be changed by the 20th of the month.
Rock on.

Perspective

as in, it's always a matter of

where you've been
what you've done
who you've known
who's loved you

contributions to the view

we seek a preconceived outcome
i look for vibrancy and action
someone seeks peace and determination
another finds commonality in loss

Headache

chili peppers on the radio

today
i woke up
and wanted to stay there
or transplant to poolside

no desire arose
to go to work

i do like my job
the people are fun
the work is easy

almost time for quittin'
my head is splitting

at least there's a cookout tonight

i do love grilled meat
and groups of people
and being outside

Some quotes

that resonate with me today

"Everything is miraculous. It is miraculous that one does not melt in one's bath."
~ Pablo Picasso

"All big things in this world are done by people who are naive and have an idea that is obviously impossible." ~ Frank Richards

"The truth of the matter is that you always knowthe right thing to do. The hard part is doing it." ~ H. Norman Schwarzkopf

"Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there."
~ Will Rogers

"If you don't like the way the world is, you change it. You have an obligation to change it."
~ Marian Wright Edelman

"It's not that 'today is the first day of the rest of my life,' but that now is all there is of my life."
~ Hugh Prather

"I can feel guilty about the past, apprehensive about the future, but only in the present can I act. The ability to be in the present moment is a major component of mental wellness."
~ Abraham Maslow

"I thank you God for this most amazing day;
for the leaping greenly spirits of trees and a blue true dream of sky;
and for everything which is natural which is infinite which is yes."
~ e.e. cummings

Cheerwine.

I am a dork.

I have 690 Cheerwine points.
Once I hit 800
I will have a Cheerwine beach towel
and my points will plummet to zero.

Also, I love Cheerwine.
If you don't know what it is,
I am sorry.
But it is pretty stinkin' delicious
and I love it.

It used to be
A Carolina Thing
but now it's
The Taste You Crave.

Rock on.