Betty decided to serve lunch at her house, instead of everyone going to Gino's (good!). She had a delightful one of liverwurst, turkey, and cheese, plus various sides and excellent pumpernickel and rye breads. I brought tomatoes, a container of my homemade pickles, and a few cans of beer. We ate inside, then repaired to the porch to gab away. Besides Betty and me, guests included Suzanne M. and her friend, Reinie (a former reporter for the Bucks County Courier Times), whom I had met before and Helene, one of her neighbors. We had a great time.
Left about 4:15 and decided to stop and the cemetery to water the Mexican heather, as it's been so hot and humid. Did so, and as I was leaving Jay's grave, I heard an ominous grinding noise for the car. Darn! A man whom I've seen before was running through the cemetery and he stopped and advised me to drive slowly with my flashes on. Two ideas came into my head simultaneously: 1. Because the guy was certainly over fifty and it was extremely h. and h., I thought he was in the right place because he was about to drop dead in front of me and 2. he was a serial killer and would soon strangle me in the gathering dusk (he had no place to conceal a weapon). Presumably, neither is true, although I don't know for sure.
I thought the grinding got worse as I drove and I was worried about getting on the Parkway, so I called Allstate Roadside Assistance and, after a long wait, was directed to an auto shop in Absecon. Drove right past it, then back, finally arrived, the guy looked under the hood, said it looked okay and I drove home, not arriving until after 7:00. I have to get the oil changed anyway, so will mention it to the Mastercraft guy.
My OT advisor is coming this afternoon to introduce me to some balance exercises.
Today is darling little T's fourth birthday.
WIDER: So very much can be written about the recent dismantling of anything like representative government or "the most good for the most people" notion or a semblance of responsible law-making. However, just this mild comment on "A Tiny Revolution" about the official selling-out of the gang of criminals in Washington will suffice:
"So here we are, some 17 months since George W left office, and we have the same odious oligarchy out in force, subverting the safety net that Roosevelt installed, and obliterating any chances of regulating the big Financial people."
And this, from the priceless "Empire Burlesque" and Chris Floyd:
"So the deed is done. The "debt ceiling" crisis has been "resolved" by a further maniacal destruction of the commonweal, in a bipartisan pact that completely ignores the murderous imperial wars as the primary drain on the nation's treasury."
Oh, yes, the slaughter machine eats up a lot of dough, but let's not go there...
Okay, one more thing: One of the other guests at the luncheon yesterday stated as referred to the fact that Obama is a "socialist" and that "socialism" is now gripping our land.
It was all I could do to keep from sticking a fork in her eye.