The heat in eastern Pennsylvania feels almost like East Africa today— temperatures in the low 90s and humidity at 50%. The humidity in Djibouti would be a lot higher.
I spent much of the weekend cuddled up with Hulu between household chores. It’s the only reasonable way to be productive in this heat.
Yesterday, I took two short walks of about a mile plus each and I third that almost got to two miles.
In that process, I found myself noting subtle beauty in my own neighborhood—where I have lived for 17.5 years.
My friend, the one who launched the El Camino virtual pilgrimage, commented that she loves the idea of rediscovering our own worlds.
A shady quiet moment
Somehow, I thought of things differently. Like this medical office that I have walked by just about daily— it looks like something from the Mediterranean coast. The pink color, the grapes on the iron work, the ornate grate on the side…
And then I cut through an old parking lot. It used to be a gated lot and the old equipment stands rusty and sad at the entrance.
And as I approached the final block, the trees and the flowers made the neighborhood look so vibrant. (The same block where I fell and smashed my chin. which led to a lot of dental problems.)
But yes, it’s so hot you drop as soon as you walk out the door. It’s hard to sleep without air conditioning.
I called Nan, my blind friend, during the weekend and said, “I have to get out of the house. Do you have time this week for a social visit? I have some customer loyalty coupons and specials for fast food— how do you feel about breakfast at Wendy’s?”
Nan has a pretty standard response to my phone calls.
“Ooooooooo,” she says.
We agreed I would pick her up on Monday at 9 a.m.
The teenager usually doesn’t emerge from her room until after 10 a.m. I decide to surprise Nan with a trip to Family Dollar, too.
I need a notebook for my volunteer role as Communications Director for Aspire To Autonomy, Inc., and for my notes as a partner in Thrive Public Relations.
Part of the fun of going to Nan’s building right now is the massive construction project they have going on. Her building has seven stories and they are removing the bricks on the south-most wall. The scaffolding they have is like an erector set for Godzilla.
Nan gets in my car, and despite the temperature already in the 80s and the humidity above 50%, I don’t have the air conditioning on in the car. The breeze is nice, the sun roof is open and the air conditioning is too cold.
We plot our order via the Wendy’s app— I order a small vanilla Frosty-chino (on special for $1) and the maple bacon chicken croissant (free with any mobile order). I want to try the chicken honey butter biscuit, too, but I can’t pass up free.
Nan orders the traditional sausage, egg and cheese combo. We order it on the standard bun as croissants can be greasy and flat and a biscuit might be crumbly. When you are planning a car picnic with a blind person, ease of handling is the primary concern.
We make hers the combo. We can split the seasoned potatoes and she gets an unsweetened ice tea as her beverage. Like me, Nan doesn’t like sweetened tea.
Our total for breakfast comes to $6.77.
We split the tab.
We drive over to Wendy’s, go through the drive through and discover that the Wendy’s parking lot has a lot of shade. Things we never noticed before the Coronavirus pandemic.
Surprisingly, the croissant is not a traditional croissant. It is square. This pleases me as I hate when fast food restaurants use American style croissants for sandwiches.
Nan’s sandwich appears to have a real egg on it.
I really like having chicken for breakfast as I am not a “breakfast meat” person. The maple bacon fills the whole car with maple scent. Nan finds it too strong. It tastes like table syrup.
Nan and I agree the potatoes are amazing. Nan reported that her sandwich was better than the average fast food breakfast sandwich.
The teenager planted primarily an herb garden this year though we have a huge red tomato currently in the fridge and a good size eggplant still in the yard.
A pepper also seemed to have reached its peak size. I grabbed it and the tomato and set them on the railing of our deck while I hung the rest of the wash.
I forgot them— so by the time I retrieved them they were hot. The pepper had burned on one side and smelled fiercely like a jalapeño.
I thought the teenager had planted red bell peppers.
I went to show it to her later and realized that it had the characteristics of a bell pepper and the shape of a jalapeño.
So we all ate some.
The teenager said it tasted like a jalapeño but was sweet like a bell pepper.
I thought it tasted like a bell pepper with a kick.
Her dad had some, but I can’t remember what he said.
We all agreed that we have no idea what we are growing.
“There eyes remind us that the challenge is still there.”
Lily Tomlin talking about Jane Russell and Marilyn Monroe in “Gentleman Prefer Blondes.”
So many women. So many epiphanies. So many stories.
“They look free. You want to be like them. You want to do you.”
The word feminist is being replaced by specific struggles— equal pay, equal representation in film.
So many reminders that too many people are still not respected for who they are. So many things that have not changed.
Jane Fonda stating decades ago that a healthy society should be in perpetual change. Jane Fonda today. She talks about herself being “active” and “masculine,” because if you want to be a success, you have to be a boy.
But there is a power in being female— the activists say. Yet, your role as a female is to watch the boys.
Sometimes you have to reject what the world says, and trust your own experience.
And these women featured here had a broad range of experience in major 20th century events… McCarthyism. The Atomic Bomb in Hiroshima. Immigration. Civil Rights and Civil Disobedience.
Women tend to be the peacekeepers. Women understand the larger picture and the fabric of how it all interacts.
Oppression of women rooted in religion.
These women have so many important messages but they are strung together with a stream of consciousness thread that make it difficult to watch for more than a few minutes.
Yet many of the messages are deeply powerful. But like the “Becoming Jane Roe” documentary, it’s a tad dull.
I made it through 30 minutes, which makes me sad, because they have such good things to say.
I was just emailing my mortgage company, sending them the school tax bill, when I received an email from The Mighty.com.
I looked at it for a minute— TheMighty.com is a social media platform for people with disabilities and their caregivers.
They featured my post, which they posted two days ago and shared with Yahoo News and Zenith News, as the lead story on their daily disability e-newsletter.
I looked again…
And opened my TheMighty.com app to see my story had 69 likes. So yes, my story appeared in the daily newsletter.
Suddenly, learning how to email my taxes is not the highlight of my day.
Today, the teenager took Gayle and I to the lower end of her special creek. It’s the next journey as part of our virtual El Camino pilgrimage meant to foster spiritual growth and motivate our out-of-shape butts toward better fitness.
The teenager “slopped” in the creek (I think that’s the official Pennsylvania Dutch term for it) and mined for spiritual rocks.
The water was crystal clear even though the setting was marred with litter and debris. Birds sang gleefully as the highway noise competed for attention.
When we returned to my house, about 7,000 steps later, Gayle—the agnostic in our group— lamented that she’s never had a spiritual experience while walking, no breakthrough movements or epiphanies. I suggested that life didn’t work that way, at least not for me. My own personal truth comes in increments.
Then we turned the discussion to fitness and trying to stay motivated to be more active. We both said we’re bad at doing anything on our own.
And then we heard the ice cream truck. The teenager raced for the door as Gayle and I raced for our wallets.
That sure motivated us.
Sour Patch Kid Ice Cream “Nasty— in the best way ever.”
The Tony’s ice cream truck in pink and white has multiple things I need to try.
Somehow, the ice cream truck made me feel alive. Laughing with my daughter over the crazy flavors in the sour patch kid ice cream. Standing in the street, fully enjoying the urban summer experience.
Last week, I wrote my piece “A Somber Thought” randomly as a reflection.
Last night, I reworked it and submitted it to The Mighty.com, a social media site for people with disabilities and their caregivers.
They published it instantly, despite having accepted an earlier piece that may have “died on the vine.” The earlier piece was on what to expect at your next doctor’s visit during Covid.
The current piece on the Mighty has been shared to Yahoo News and Zenith News.
Body reliability is a type of privilege. One you don’t appreciate unless you have yours taken aware or you never had it.
Last night my dad invited the teenager and I for breakfast so he could spend the day with her.
But first she had to go to the pediatrician to get her meningitis vaccine and school physical.
I started a load of sheets— apparently the teenager needed all of hers washed—and the washing machine was acting funny.
On the way to the Poconos for breakfast— our local library called asking if I could stop by to help with a computer issue.
Pancakes
My dad took the teenager for a long motorcycle ride and she snapped this amazing photo.
And I already had a meeting with my blind friend Nancy to help her with her writing.
Then, I had a request for two more meetings and my mother-in-law asked if I could help her write a thank you card.
Somewhere along the line I decided to dye my hair between meetings.
My hair is dark brown but has been turning red. Not a nice red. A dry looking orange red. So I found some green envy Manic Panic in my bathroom and thought the green should neutralize the red.
I’m happy with the results.
My neighbor brought me an Impossible plant-based burger from Burger King. We shared onion rings, ate on the porch and went for our evening walk. We visited the sad house on Washington Street that has been foreclosed upon.
Angel Ackerman 