• The limelight hydrangeas are opening. They’re in front of the porch. We have hydrangeas at both ends of the porch, one of my gardening dreams come true.
• After some thunderstorms yesterday and a bit of torrential rain, we woke up to a beautiful day. Sunny and not so humid, which is a good way to start the month of August.
Three little “Claudia’s life in a nutshell” stories.
• The other day, we stopped at the library so I could pick up a book that been reserved for me. Don stayed in the car while I went inside. Got the book, thanked the librarian, and exited through the door to the lobby. As I walked, I caught a glimpse of someone close by on my left and I automatically began to say “Excuse me.” Except for the fact that I quickly realized that the person was a potted plant and there was a young woman sitting on the floor to my right so I stopped at “Excu…” and quickly tried to turn it into a cough.
I don’t think I fooled her.
When I told Don about it, he couldn’t stop laughing.
• And then yesterday: I went to another B & N (don’t ask, just as dreadful as ever) that required driving on the thruway. When I got to the exit and had to pay my 75¢, I counted out the money from the center console. As I handed it to the woman working the booth, I realized – too late – that the coins were covered in melted chocolate. I was mortified and apologized profusely. As I left, she was wiping off the coins.
I figured out that it was chocolate from a candy bar Don was eating when we drove back from the concert last week. I remember thinking a piece of it had dropped somewhere. Now I know that the piece fell in the cup holder and proceeded to melt all over everything.
• Also, from Barnes and Noble: I seem to always have to use the restroom immediately upon arriving at a store, and yesterday was no different. As I was sitting in the stall, I heard the occupant of the stall next to me having a conversation on her phone. She was on the toilet. As I washed my hands and got ready to leave, she emerged, still talking on the phone. I saw and heard her a few minutes later out in the store – still talking on the phone. And about 15 minutes after that, she pushed open the door to exit the building – still talking on the phone. And she did it all quite loudly. I wonder what could have been so important that we all had to share in her conversation – even in the bathroom?
• The yellow garden spider is still there. The web is even more elaborate now. It now covers a large triangle where the day lilies were once blooming.
• And some sad news. I walked by the sparrows’ nest in the clematis last week and saw only one egg, rather than the three that were there originally. It looks abandoned. I have been keeping tabs on the nest about once a day and there was no way that anything hatched and fledged during that time period. We had a couple of days last week with heavy rain that surely would have impacted that nest. I don’t know if that had anything to do with it or if the eggs weren’t viable.
Happy Thursday.
