Sunday

Interesting day and a good one in more ways than one (see later). I took the 16 bus to Ojai, Ellen picked me up and we went to Sea Fresh for lunch. I was delighted that Greg had asked to join us and he met us there. We had a good time, as ever, comfortable with each other, and babbling away.

After, Greg drove home and El took me to the Ojai Retreat Cultural Center. It's in a lovely area, with views like this front one all around:

                                      

There were only about twenty people there, most pretty long in the tooth, but the presentation was interesting. It was given by Lisa and Brian Berman, German Jews, as they identified themselves, who live in Ojai: 

Their peace group went first to Auschwitz in Poland, then to Japan, visiting Tokyo, Mount Fuji, and finally, Hiroshima. They opened with this slide: 

They showed many others, including this from Hiroshima:

I was enchanted by the information connected to the screen on this one: 

It's a "peace pole" that stands at the cultural center, similar to the one at the Bermans' home. Next to it is a tree that grew from seeds taken from Hiroshima just after the atom bomb was dropped. They believe the fact that a tree grew from the seeds in a sign of hope for the world. It's too bad  Harris, Trump and all the rest of the child killers didn't show up.

El picked me up, we stopped into a store, then she took me to the bus stop. This is a nice place with a bench, a little hut-like arrangement, and foliage all around. She waited with me until the 16 came, then we said goodbye.

Now here's the other good part: As mentioned here, I had lost my keys on Wednesday and had to get others made at the office. What I was just too embarrassed to mention was that on Friday, when I came back from T.O.P.S., again I couldn't find my keys. I had another new set made and what's worse, I had also lost my remote that opens the gates and it cost me fifty bucks for a new one; I shelled out seventy bucks all together. Okay, back to the story: Got off the bus yesterday (Sunday) and--couldn't find my keys OR the remote!  I was ready to throw in the towel and declare myself incompetent until I dug around the compartment in my purse and discovered a very small hole in the lining. Yes, that's where I found all three sets of keys and the two remotes! Happy day and shortly, I'm going to go to the office, tell them I found the remote, and ask to get my fifty bucks back for the new one. Life is good!