Tuesday

From 9:00 am to noon, I was on the phone and laptop, getting my affairs in order.  Called Little Egg township tax collector, Dayna, talked to the assessor, Dawn, and found I can't pay in installments the additional property tax of $1250 (for the six years I didn't live in Jersey, so don't get the widow of a vet deduction). That's not really a problem--I just transferred some dough, sent it electronically, and I'm finished. However, it took time because I had to go back and forth from the tax collector to the tax assessor. 

Dealt with the Ventura County Star with a deal of great deal of rage and frustration. The upshot is, I'll pay $32.00 a month instead of $44.00. (That's just two lines of type, but it took 25 minutes and ten years off my life.)

Ascertained that, yes, I received refunds for both the items I returned to Amazon. I actually LIKE dealing with that company; the Star could take a few hints.

I called Holy Spirit about the group picture I posted yesterday of girls in my class and their mothers. Talked to a very nice person in administration, who asked me to email the picture to her and she'd try to find info about it. Did so.

Did a few other crappy finance-y chores, then resumed reading my dear sister's diary. I then looked up her yearbook: Holy Spirit, Class of 1942. Here are some pictures from it. It's too bad the graduates' pictures were in caps and gowns--they're not very becoming on anybody. (She, of course, is in the lower picture; I can't seem to crop the other grads out.)

Above she's second from the bottom on the right; that's not a good picture of her, though.

 

Gene with one of her many boyfriends on the boardwalk. 

I love reading the diary, but you can't stay in the past too long--you may never escape. I put it aside and had a quick lunch, then took my cart and walked to The Market. It was a glorious day--temp in lower seventies, no humidity, and enough sunshine and blue skies to satisfy even me.

Also walked to Wal-Mart for staples: cabbage and Brussels sprouts and went over to the bus stop after. There, I met yet another woman and we started to chat. We got off at Telephone (she lives in Cypress Garden Independent Living and I wanted to go to the other Von's there), we exchanged names, and I gave her my card and asked her to get in touch. Hers is Alice. I assumed she was about my age, and was amazed when she told me she was 93. It's higher unfair that she looks several years younger than I do!

Home and it was only 4:00, so I again violated my own rule, got my book (incredibly, about the almost half-a-century-ago Watergate scandal) and a beer,and sat on the patio for an hour and read. It was wonderfully peaceful and good to be there:

Got a call from my new friend, LaVonne, and we chatted, then made a date to meet for brunch at the Hill Street Cafe on Sunday. This morning, Julie will pick me up and we'll go to the Beach Cities Neighbors and Newcomers breakfast meeting, then presumably, to lunch. Hey, my social life is heating up and that's good, too.