The Long Silence

A person once told me they went through times when they just couldn’t “utter”. So that is the expression I often use when I can’t talk or write. In reality, the inability to utter is extremely rare for me. But lately, I’ve been “unable to utter”. Maybe it is what they call “writer’s block”, maybe it is “mental block”, or maybe it is turning 60 (which I did yesterday).

For my birthday MH took me to Memphis shopping and out to dinner. I hate to make him the butt of a joke but I just can’t resist telling a funny story on him. We pulled up to park in front of the restaurant and he started looking for his wallet which he keeps in the console between the front seats. Well, the wallet wasn’t in there. He looked in the floorboard and between the seats. Then he took everything out of the console and looked again. By this time he was getting in a panic. I started in by advising him to think of the last place he’d had it and then think of the places he’d been since, which he did. The place he’d been since he’d last had his hand on the wallet was the dry cleaners. So..... he called the dry cleaners and told them he’d lost his wallet and was betting he’d left it in a pocket of a pair of pants he’d left there. Well, MH has gotten a nasty cold and his voice was deep and gruff. To add to that, he is a bit hard of hearing so he is a little on the loud side when speaking on the phone. In fact, sometimes I wonder if he really needs the phone to communicate. The deep, gruff, loud voice made him sound a little on the scary side I thought. The manager at the dry cleaners is a young fellow and he said they had surveillance cameras and he would search through the video to observe everything that went on from the time MH entered the store until he left. I could tell that the young manager was a little on the nervous side. After MH got off the phone, we got out of the car. And I’ll give you 3 guesses where the wallet was. Yep, it was in his back pocket. This was a relief to him, but it was a bit distressing at the same time. He looked me in the eye and said, “Sorry, but that young fellow is going to have to work for his pay today. I’m not about to call him and tell him where I found my wallet.” I tried to shame him, but to no avail. Sure enough, in just a little while the manager called and broke the news that the wallet had not been seen in the surveillance video. He went on at length about how they turn all the trouser pockets inside out and this is captured on the video. The poor fellow went on to suggest how MH might have lost the wallet in the car. MH was very nice, thanked him for his efforts, and assured him he’d take his advice about searching every nook and cranny in the car.

I would be laughing even harder except I lost a blank check the day before. I tore a check out of my checkbook and put it in my little evening bag before attending a fundraising banquet. When I got ready to make my contribution, the check was nowhere to be found. Thank goodness, the blank check was found by some very honest people during the clean-up after the banquet. Today MH and I pulled out our long-term care insurance policy to see about our coverage. We are wondering if we need to get our names on the list of the best assisted living facility we can afford.

Due to the flurry of work related to the library, I’ve had little time for taking pictures. And with the drought we’ve experienced , the fall foliage has been less than spectacular. Isn’t it ironic to have ended up with a serious drought after such a devastating flood! I did go outside for a few minutes yesterday morning and spotted this gray hairstreak butterfly on a pot of white mums. Because of the lack of color contrast, the stillness of the butterfly, and the small size of this specimen, I almost missed it. I just can’t post a blog without a photo of some sort. Maybe I’ll find something a little more enticing tomorrow.