Beautiful morning, sitting outside with the sun just up for an hour, making long shadows across the deck. Yesterday it was too cold to sit out here comfortably with a temp in the low to mid 50’s. But today it’s in the mi 60’s, and is utterly pleasant, despite the heavy equipment sound coming from the transfer station across the street. There is an almost dust settling on everything from the oak trees. I think that perhaps that’s what I’m allergic to. This particular kind of oak is called a “Live Oak”. Which causes some confusion for us northerners. We want to say, “I know it’s live, but what kind of oak is it?” And the answer is always the same. “Live oak.” It’s a southern thing, lol. But they are much different from the oaks up north. More rambling, smaller leaves. Bigger allergies, lol.

I had so much fun with my friends yesterday. We read through my one friends entire play, it was so much fun, I actually was getting into it by the end. I have no experience at all, none, zero, zilch, with drama, outside of going to watch it. All of the other 4 girls do. So, I took the parts with the lowest number of lines but really had fun getting into the spirit of it all. It is based on Dostoevsky’s short story, “Uncle’s Dream” and is actually pretty funny! Who knew? I had only ever read Dostoevsky’s “Crime and Punishment” in college, and decided it would probably be the first and last of his books for me.

My friend who wrote it taught acting at a private school in Tampa for years until she retired. She acts as well, and has a lot of other creative endeavors. She is so funny! Love her sense of humor, and she and I are always on the same page politically. She went to a rally at our congressman’s office, Charlie Christ. (He’s a democrat.) She said she saw young people walking down the street who weren’t part of the rally and she yelled to them, “You should be here! You have a lot more to lose than we do!” Because she was disturbed that most of the people there were like her, retired women. She’s right, we need to somehow get the youth involved in this, or the world they inherit from us, won’t be what we hope for them.

Another of my friends is transgender, transing from a man to a woman. She is smart, and so so funny, and so up front about herself. We all love her to death. I’ve been told that she at first had a hard time being accepted. She has told me that she had to do what she’s done, or she’d be dead by now. For me, it’s been easy to accept her because I never knew her as a man, and because a good friend of mine from high school, who dated one of my best friends for 2 years then, has been living as a woman for a very long time, more than a decade.

This morning I intend to go for a walk by the water, stop at the town hall to try to get the permit for my shed, and then perhaps go to the Veterans Art Center to help my friend get the art back up on the walls, some of which had been taken down and brought to our fundraiser Friday night.

I love a busy day, busy with things I love. So much nicer than working. Especially when the air is a dry 80°. Perfect.

Love and light, everyone.