Thursday

Pretty busy. I finally dug out my Dudley House info--I'm doing docent duty the day after tomorrow and just maybe, I should know what I'll be saying. I need to keep studying it--not memorize, but just know the facts, so I can tell the tour-takers. Also tried on my costume--damn, is it heavy and warm. But that's a minor problem; the real one is that when I got the costume from Ellen's shed, I neglected to get the accessories. I called her to ask if she could leave the shed open and I'll bus there today.

Bused to town and on the way, I impulsively texted Suzanne and Vickie and invited them to come over at 5:00 for one of our social sessions. I went to the shop where farmers bring produce and other food; LaVonne had alerted me to it. It's very inexpensive and boy, were there lots of shoppers. I got beautiful bright red apples, cocktail franks, lettuce, rolls, and a few other things.  Outside, I saw a little girl carrying a real squirrel. Chatted with her--Isabella--and asked if I could take her picture. She said the squirrel--Baby--had fallen out of a tree. Isabella invited me to pet it, I did, and the squirrel didn't object. That makes me think it's probably not long for this world.  Here are Isabella and Baby:

By the time I got back to my neighborhood, it was almost 3:00 and then I stopped on the way at Von's for some cheese and nibbles. Incredibly for me, I skipped lunch, as I wanted to clean up before S. and V. came. I dusted, dry-mopped the hard floors, and shifted a few things from the dining area to my bedroom. Cut the cheese into squares and added toothpicks to them and the cocktail franks. 

Vickie came at 5:00, bringing me a bottle of wine and a lemon cake. I really wish she hadn't. I know damn well she has very little money and combined, they must have cost her fifteen or twenty bucks. Of course, I thanked her heartily; it just makes me feel sad that she squandered that much.  She, Suzanne, and I did, though, have a good time talking and talking. I think both of them are more isolated than I am--Vickie spends a lot of her day transcribing minutes, which must be excruciatingly boring; Suzanne has fibro neuralgia, and I know it causes her a lot of pain.  As for me? I'm a free spirit and hope to be for  a long time to come.

El called back and said she had looked in the shed and into my big container and picked out the box I had described that I think has the accessories in it. She'll leave it on the porch and I'll pick it up. If they aren't in there, no prob because she said my key to her house opens the shed, too--I hadn't known that.

So today: 1.) T.O.P.S.;  2.) Ellen's in Ojai; 3.) Happy Hour with Diane at O'Leary's at 4:00.