“I wanted to figure out why I was so busy, but I couldn’t find the time to do it.”
The morning is lovely. A wonderful breeze cools the warm air. It is 77°, just about today’s high. I’ll be on the deck should you need me!
The two days off were crazy. I was exhausted. First, I removed the dead 100 light strand from the fence to replace it. In some places I had to stand on my tiptoes to get at the lights. The strand got entangled a few times so I had to stop to untangle. When I finally got all the lights down, I brought them inside to check. They lit. I cursed. Come to find out it was the timer. I went outside and strung the lights again, on my tiptoes. Sweat rolled down my cheeks. It wasn’t pretty. I strung the new set at the other end of the deck. I next planted flowers in the pot in the front and watered all the pots on the deck rail. I hauled chairs out of the cellar. I swept dirt off the deck. I collapsed.
Yesterday I had company for lunch. I spent the early morning preparing the food. We had a charcuterie board. When I was finished, I thought it looked like a work of art. Later, I realized I had forgotten to add the meat, three kinds of meat. Lunch was feta shrimp linguini. It was scrumptious, little was left. Dessert was coconut ice cream with caramel sauce. My company was one of the sailing families I follow on YouTube. Even though we’d just met, it was as if we had known other for years. We told stories about our travels. We laughed. We got to know each other. We became friends.
Every summer when I was in college, I worked in the post office in Hyannis. I sorted mail. I sat on an uncomfortable slanted stool so I could sort of sit and still reach the cubbyholes. I worked on what were called boards. I worked on Massachusetts, Illinois and Ohio, and the Boston stations, cities and towns around Boston. It was an easy job but a boring job. Sometimes I’d work the automatic postmark machine. Letters went through one at a time while postcards went through in bunches. I’d sort the bunches. If I found a postcard with no address, I’d address it to friends. There were a lot of those. There were also a lot of confused friends.
My dance card is filled this week. I have no free days. Mostly I have uke shows and practices. Friday, though, is play night. I’m going to need naps!!
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August 16, 2022 at 9:49 pm
Hi Kat,
We are heading into a more type weather pattern with highs in the mid to upper 90° range and a slight chance of some rain.
Having new friends over for lunch sounds like a fantastic and fun treat. Your lunch sounded delicious. You can make lunch for me anytime I’m in your area. 🙂
The summer vacation after graduating from high school, I had a job working at a large New York brokerage firm in lower Manhattan. My job was to stand all day at the end of a large, fast moving message belt. When orders were received by teletype, the operators, would send me the orders down the belt. I had to figure out who to send it to back up the belt for processing. One slot in the belt sent orders to the Big Board, (NYSE), another slot to the Curb, (The American Stock Exchange), and another to the OTC, (Over The Counter). When the order was executed, I had to send the confirmation back to the correct teletype operator who then sent the conformation information to the correct city’s office. That summer job taught me a valuable lesson. I hated that job. I learned that If you fall in love with your job, then you will never work a day in your life. 🙂
August 16, 2022 at 10:18 pm
Hi Bob,
It is raining right now. It is supposed to continue into tomorrow. Even if it doesn’t, I’m happy for today’s small amount of rain.
I had been watching this family on YouTube for four or five years. They bought a catamaran without ever having sailed. I got to watch them learn to sail then cross the Atlantic to the Caribbean where their boat is now while they are here. It was a wonderful afternoon. I will be happy to cook for you if you ever mosey northward!
Working in the post office was easy. I had a good memory so I could work different boards. When someone went on vacation, they had me work that board. I was faster than some of the regular sorters. At least it was good money back then.