Chronicles Continued

because I get a feeling of goodness. Yesterday, prior to leaving the shoe repair shop, the owner asked me if I would make a deposit on the work he was going to do. ‘A deposit?’ I asked. He looked hopeful. ‘I can pay the whole bill,’ I replied. ‘I’m not going anywhere and neither are you, so let me just pay it all.’ It meant he would have the use of my money for less than a week. He smiled one of those deep-felt smiles and said ‘Thank you. Thank you so much I need the money’ Now he has a successful business, but he works 6 days a week with one helper from 7am to 8 pm. He rarely takes time off, he shop is always filled with repairs to be paid for and more folks bring stuff in, but he must have hit a rough patch. It is my experience that the average person is having a struggle each and every day. While he was putting away my work to be completed, he complimented me on the bag into which I was putting the shoe polish. ‘I like your bag’, he said. ‘Would you like it?’ I asked. He looked at me dumbfounded. ‘You may have it,’ I finished up. ‘Right now?’ he asked. ‘Sure,’ I replied. ‘I can put the few things left in it, in my other bag, now that I’ve left these repairs with you.’ The look of just pure joy on his face was my reward. And the bag? This summer, when I was in Oregon, I went to Trader Joe’s on 21st and something and bought a $2.95 jute bag to carry ice K and I were buying to cool the wine on the drive to the coast. I had not seen such a bag here in the City, and found it sturdy, large and somehow magnificent. It stood on it’s own. It has now gone off to another life.

Today, upon leaving the shoe repair shop, I came to a dog-walker at the wait/don’t walk light on the corner across from the library. He was holding the leashes of 5 dogs. Not able to resist, I asked him my questions about the dogs knowing each other, being friends and communicating among themselves as women walkers do. He gave an annotated ‘yes’. He said it takes a week or less. There is resistance at first, then they become friends and like walking together. He believes they do communicate with each other and look forward to being together. He seemed pleased to answer the question. I didn’t ask for a picture, didn’t want to appear too weird.

Watching the dog walker today, wondered if these dogs, who are with each other daily, often multiple times a day, do they become friends? Do they look forward to seeing each other? Do they signal each other about the experience? Do they make friends like women-who-walk do?

Discouraged that all the photos decided to post sideways. So I quit. Now this is showing up in yellow. I believe there is something diabolically wrong with this word press.

Walking down the street in Chinatown today and the woman in the pink blouse walking in front of me, caught my eye. Her blouse buttoned down the back; buttons down the back. When was the last time you saw that? And all of a sudden I recalled a long time ago hiking the blouse up to my shoulders in order to reach the buttons and the button holes. What a lot of effort.

There is something wonderful that happens when you stay/visit others in their homes. Everytime I do so, I always learn a better/smarter way to do something in my daily routine. Here is an example. Drinking a cup of warm lemon juice is part of my morning routine. I thought about buying a juicer, but in this small space, it was one more thing to take up space. So, I used a knife- with risk of it slipping and cutting my palm- to extract the juice. And then I visited A. She had this amazing, compact juicer-tool. Loved using it mornings at her house. Days later, upon my return to the City, to my utter delight, she gifted me one! The difference that this small item makes in my daily life, is remarkable, and in addition, I think of her each time I use it. How perfect is that

Utter surprise to find a brand new phone on a random corner in the Village. In this day and age of cell phones, the public phone on the corner has been eliminated. Curious about what prompted this.

There was the bag, sitting on the corner, all by it’s lonesome. On a Saturday evening. It seemed forsaken and forlorn. Mostly my imagination, I’m certain, but I wondered who had set it out. 15 years ago, I might have ‘taken it in’. Now I know that is never going to be a source of enjoyment, and apparently, someone else discovered the same. I however, had not amassed such a grouping when I called it ‘enough’.
Or
This was set out by a daughter/granddaughter, helping a ‘senior’ move. Since the Village is a mixed group of ages, perhaps the idea was, someone else will welcome it gladly into their space.
Once again, I’ll never know.