Tuesday

Did a quick color wash before breakfast. After, I walked to The Market and Wal-Mart and got tomatoes and a shelf divider at the first, the  sleep aid I've been taking for 25 years at the second, plus a few other items. Ate my lunch in the little park nearby, which was nice, but the Santa Ana winds were blowing, so I bused home after. (Shelf divider doesn't fit the shelf I wanted it for, so will return.)

Took a half-hour nap, then got up and putzed around. I had called Muckie earlier and her voice mail was on. While I was reading at the kitchen table, she called back. This was at 4:00 o'clock--we hung up at  six! Lots and lots to talk about, not only her cancer (last check day before yesterday showed it hasn't metastasized and seems not to have grown, which is wonderful news); old friends and classmates (I told her Pat R. had informed me about John S.); T.V. shows (we both loved Friends and Frasier, among others); the horrifying fact that her grandson goes to Michigan State and was in his  dorm when the recent shooting took place*; and a lot of other topics. What's funny is that she asked if I had heard from Jimmy Downes lately--I hadn't since he called me on New Year's Day six weeks ago. Incredibly, just after I finished dinner, the phone rang and who was it? Yep--Jim Downes. 

Now, my friend, Diane, would be absolutely, positively sure that was not a coincidence, but some kind supernatural mechanism that brought that about. Okay, if you say so.

Talked to Jim for fifteen or so; he sounded more natural and less boastful than he has , so more likable.  Another coincidence: He mentioned that he had had a cancerous "bump" removed from his neck. I was surprised that he had no idea if it was a Basel cell, squamous cell, or a melanoma; he seemed not to know there was any difference.  He asked about Betty, of course, and we talked about a few other deaths connected with HSHS.  He went to grammar school there, too, and gets a newsletter from somebody in his class. Anyway, it was pleasant to talk to him this time.

Ellen called after dinner to wish me Happy Valentine's Day and to ask if I got her card. No, not yet, and she really doesn't have to send me one, but I thanked her and we chatted for a bit.

Speaking of, I got this from the little sweetie-pie in Tokyo (his name obscured):

My mother was born on Valentine's Day; yesterday, she would have been 121 years old. Here she is as a bridesmaid about a hundred years ago:

 

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Incredibly, I read this in a report of the shooting:

--Police in Ewing, New Jersey, shared a statement on Tuesday noting that McRae "had a note in his pocket that indicated a threat to two Ewing Public Schools" and that an "investigation revealed that McRae had a history of mental health issues." McRae "had local ties to Ewing," police said in the statement. In nearby Trenton, police sent officers to local schools early Tuesday out of an abundance of caution.--

My family and I lived in Ewing for more than 50 years; our children all went to twelve years of school there. What connection could the killer have had to Ewing? I'll keep trying to find out.