I have been busy the last few days. On Tuesday, I had an early concert, a St. Patrick’s Day concert. We were dressed in all sorts of shades of green. We had noise makers, whistles, and slides. It was a fun concert. Yesterday was Wednesday, my uke lesson day. Today, tomorrow, Saturday and Sunday, I have concerts, still Irish. My poor sloth is hanging on for dear life.

I became a brownie in the second grade. I had the brown uniform, the beanie and the belt with a sort of change purse. The brownie pin was on my hat. I thought the brownie looked like a pixie. I was right. A brownie is a pixie. Next was my fly-up when I became a junior Girl Scout. My uniform was green with a yellow sort of kerchief round the collar. It was tied in a square knot. I still remember left over right and right over left. I had a green beret with the Girl Scout emblem on it, but I missed the brownie. It was a bit whimsical. I had a sash. On it were the badges I earned. They were listed in the Girl Scout handbook. I have one of those. My sister found it and gave it to me at Christmas. It is exactly like the one I had. I’ll admit I started with the easy badges looking to fill my sash. A few years later, I became a senior scout. It meant more badges, overnights at the scout lodge and day trips. I remember getting a tour of Hood Milk. My grandfather who worked for Hood set it up. When I was a junior in high school, I was part of a ceremony which celebrated my troop’s 10 years in scouting. My parents attended. It was special.

I still have friends from all the stages of my life. Some date back to grammar school. We just sort of moved along together. I see high school friends here and there around town. I have new friends, my uke friends. They get me out of the house. They keep an eye on me. I am lucky with my family and my friends.

The rain was heavy. I could hear it hitting the windows. The dogs looked out the door, decided they could wait then walked back into the kitchen and on to the couch. I read the paper. I heard the rain change. It became gentle, almost quiet. The dogs went out. It is warmish at 52°.

I have reached a new low. I am watching about the worst science fiction movie I have ever seen. It is Invasion Earth released in 1983. The film has mostly teens watching horror and sci-fi movie clips in a theater while aliens are replacing people with pods. Sound familiar? How about Invasion of the Body Snatchers? Rodan made a visit. Many clips were from War of the Worlds. The scenes from the Claw were perfectly chosen. That is one ugly bird. Tarantula also dropped by to commit mayhem. As bad as this movie is. I really want to know how it ends. I’m thinking maybe I’m spending too much time alone.

I have a well honed suspension of disbelief. When I watch old black and white sci-fi movies and the low, low budget current science fiction movies, I sort of chuckle at the absurdity of it all but I keep watching. Right now the biggest croc I have even seen is dining on local fishermen. He is the star of this movie. I guessed that as the movie is called Croc.

I taught English. I taught it in Ghana, my first teaching experience, and at the high school level. I caught the virus, that’s what I call the pieces of English which became embedded. I correct grammar, mostly in my head so as not to offend. The worst is the object of the preposition, when it is me instead of i. Example: a package came for Jake and I. Wrong. It should be for Jake and me. I saw pieces from Them, the giant ant movie. The professor told the police chief to aim for the antennae. The chief shot one then the professor said shoot the other. Obliviously the police chief does not know Latin. Antennae means more than one, ending in ae, first declension plural, nominative. I would love not to remember stuff like this, but it doesn’t work that way. I am doomed.