Day Late, Dimes on the Floor Friday Round-Up

Out of the blue, the mayor of our city and our alderman showed up at our house yesterday. With them was a contingent of other folks, including several police officers, and a very large, official SUV slowly rolling down the street. It took a minute to realize that they were doing a ‘tour’ of our neighborhood. We chatted for a good while and I remembered the delight of the unannounced visit, an artifact of a different time. I recall my dad saying on the way home from a trip somewhere, “Should we stop in and see So and So?” And we would and the So and Sos would put on a pot of coffee and make sandwiches.

We were sitting on the porch when our important visitors came so they didn’t even have to knock. It was like old COVID times when we’d receive guests on the front porch because we didn’t want to get sick. Now, we’re out there with our heavy hoodies and cups of tea because we don’t want our guests to get sick – in this case, our daughter and granddaughter the day before they were to travel to Nicaragua for a three-month stay. No one could shake hands with us or hug us, which seems weird considering the circumstances but that’s where we’re at right now.

I keep picking up dimes off the floor. This might be a sign but I’m not sure of what. Who is dropping dimes?

A few days ago, CNN decided to give Trump his own prime time rally. He responded by being his favorite bad boy, knowing that there will always be people in the audience who love his “irreverence” for social norms, his endless, odious rudeness, the misogynist scraps thrown to their little rat selves. CNN responded to criticism by saying it was their job to “make news,” which is news to me since I thought news stations covered the news. We will see more of this. Why? Because the grotesque is fascinating and a proven draw. It’s why the carnival booth with the two-headed calf always had such a long line.

We are old but it never gets old. Swirl in dog years, me in actual years, we both hit the last category on the age charts. But as long as we can be outside – going fast or slow – we’re all good.