Passive Aggressive Tendencies

My neighbor made a comment that I was not intended to hear about all the white people moving in and "gentrifying the place". She made the comment after she had been told that her rent would be raised. And she made the comment not remembering that I have a doorbell that records what happens on the porch. (It is only activated when I am not at home and want to keep an eye on my door. I don't use it to spy on my neighbors.) The comment still bothers me. She spent the next week or so throwing cigarette butts and beer bottle caps around the shared porch. I finally got tired of it and went out to sweep the porch while she was outside talking on her phone. I didn't say anything to her, I just swept them up and walked them to the dumper. Later that afternoon I bought a plant to put outside my door. This is honestly as close to gentrification as I can go in a rented apartment. I can't upgrade the windows and replace the siding. But we don't need to toss trash around and make the place look like a slum. I must have made her feel bad because she has stopped her childish fit. I'm not generally passive aggressive on purpose, but sometimes it is the best course of action.

Another Early Morning Walk

The summer heat is on us. With highs in the mid to high 90's I have given up on walking any time after 8:00 am. But my brain and my body have conspired against my circadian rhythm to make sure that I am up at 5:00 before the sun has a chance to turn on the sauna. For the past week or so I have been up and walking. I really do like walking at that time of day. The only people who are out and about are a few regulars who like me, prefer to get their exercise before there is a danger of heat stroke. They have even started to greet me when we pass. That is one of the differences between the PNW and the Deep South. People here are so much friendlier. Saying hello to a stranger isn't considered creepy.

The flowers here seem to like the rain and humidity we have been having. For the longest time I was walking down streets that didn't seem to have flowers and now they are everywhere. Not like they are in the PNW. Here they are a product of landscaping, In the PNW poppies, lupines and primroses grew wild anywhere they could. The roadsides were full of them. In this Auburn, someone plants and tends them. But at least they are here.

 

Happy 4th

 Happy 4th.  The weather has blown up my plans. The city is using the University transit system to take people to the park where the festivities will be, and I had plans to use it. But man plans and God laughs. The heat will remain in the high 90's throughout the day, and we are expecting thunderstorms to begin in the evening. Oh well, I have hotdogs and hamburgers, watermelon and a cheesecake. I will stay home in my cool apartment and celebrate alone. 

Honestly, I am afraid to get back out in the heat. Even going out in the early morning hours to avoid the worst of it didn't keep me from getting heat sickness. It was only 78F when I was walking, but the humidity was in the low 90's. I have just never been able to handle he heat. 

I hope that the skies will be clear enough that I will be able to see some of the fireworks. If there are any frat boys still around, I'm sure they will be blowing up the neighborhood. 

Fifty years ago, I celebrated standing on the Hollywood Boulevard bridge in Hollywood Florida with people who barely will even talk to me now. The reason they don't want to is because I called them out on the Q-Anon garbage that they have been preaching from their pulpits and worshipping Drumpf as if he was Jesus himself. Sadly, I doubt there will be anything to celebrate in the next few years. Those same people are hell bent on destroying the country. 

Book Club and Good News

Well, the book club was a rout. The book was so good and I was looking forward to hearing what everyone else thought about it. I had good hopes for a lively discussion when I found out that the moderator is a literary professor from the university. But the questions she started with were basic to start with and there were a couple of women who dominated the conversation talking about anything other than the book. At one point one of them literally talked over me to talk about someone helping her tie her shoe in the grocery store. And more than half of the allotted time we had the room we were discussing what books we would like to read in the future. The book for July is Where Men Win Glory, and I'm not so sure that I am that interested in reading it. But I have already bought it and will give the book club another try. 

Next on the agenda for meeting friends is the Cookbook Club. They meet next week. Everyone picked a recipe from the Parks and Rec cookbook and will make a dish to share. I am making American Italian pasta salad. I was going to say that I at least will not be going expecting an intelligent discussion. But that isn't nice. Actually, most of the seniors in this community either have taught at the university or went there and stayed in the area. 

In happier news, Tim and Emily put an offer on a house, and it was accepted. They will close on July 20. Which means they will have to forego the honeymoon that they had planned as it would have them in Palm Beach when they need to be in NW Georgia. I suggested that they should consider the train ride between Denver and LA in the fall instead. Both of them were very interested in the idea. They will be busy for the foreseeable future moving and getting their new house in order. I guess I should start looking on gardening sites to see if I can find a couple of those hydrangeas.