We just had one of those beautiful autumn afternoons that melt your heart…warm west wind (the farmers will be delighted), drifting clouds and a warm but not hot sun. I sat on the back deck with the sun on my back and just drank it all in. I know it won’t last forever.

“What is happening,” I say to myself and then I remember, the same thing happens every September…dreams, easy tears, memories. It is near the anniversary of my husband’s death.

I spent two years living in an RCAF apartment complex with many other airforce personnel. It was exceedingly difficult to get into these quarters and actually through a stint of a couple of beers with the housing officer, my husband’s name was moved up the list. Yup, sometimes it is who you know.

I have been blessed to see many parts of our beautiful world during our travel agency days but like most things when you look for them, they are there, right under your nose. Such was the case when I went with three friends for a day trip north of town.

While we were stationed in Europe with the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1955-58, we did a lot of travelling. One day we arrived in Basel, Switzerland and found a very different city than we had anticipated. There were crowds and music everywhere.

I often wonder what people will remember about me after I am gone… or actually, if they will remember me.

I was at a family get together recently. Of course, this involved a lot of eating, talking and kids crying but all in all it was a good event. More and then more people arrived and I found myself dragging out some hamburgers from the deep freeze. I had brought them to the house earlier, thinking they could be eaten the next day. But no way. This was a hungry crowd.

There is nothing that can take the hot air out of a writer’s ego, like reading another writer’s article that is excellent. You recognize immediately your own limitations of knowledge, ability and for a while you just back off and wonder what ever gave you the idea you could reach others with your words.

I recently browsed through some webpages with various pictures and messages. I was somewhat concerned when one of the messages said: “I will never regret doing wrong, I will only regret the good things I did for the wrong people.” Wow, that is one bitter person.

My first mistake was deciding to visit the health lab right after the holiday weekend. It was packed and I spent the first half hour in the “mud room” on a chair. The main waiting room was packed.

Today I am sporting more than a summer tan and a few liver spots on my forearms. Today I am sporting scratches from raspberry canes.

We’d struggled through a Bible study on the Trinity and survived…maybe something a little easier might suffice…so were my thoughts as I delved through a half dozen Bible studies I’d borrowed from the church.

Over a week ago I was at a local grocery store and their gardening section was being partly dismantled…it was nearly the end of the planting season and the last of the pansies and petunias were being given away and would be trashed soon. I couldn’t bear that.

I have spent the last few hours going through old files. It is hard to part with all those ideas I had for stories, but alas, there is so little time and so many stories to tell.

It’s so easy to put seniors in a box. They still love laughter and cake and coffee and they miss their husbands, their kids who live far away and the friends who have already made their home in heaven. They are more than white hair, walkers and hip replacements.

I’m peeling an orange…probably for the thousandth time in my life. This one has seeds and I spit them onto a small plate in front of me. There is an aggravation in orange seeds. As a child I was very careful. I didn’t want an orange tree planted in my stomach.

One thing God gave me was the ability to laugh at myself. Oh yes, I am serious about important things…my faith, my family and my friends, but about myself? No siree!

This morning I wasn’t feeling that well. Luckily I had put the big coffee pot on the counter the night before and the cups on a tray. All was pretty well set up for the Bible study gang. They get together for coffee and conversation during the summer, so no pressure to preach

Now, that is my first laugh this morning. I went to type “The little things in life” and my fingers typed in “The little sins in life.” Perhaps that would be a more interesting subject.

We were having a wonderful time when she looked quizzically at me and said, “There is a grasshopper sitting right beside your ear on the back of your chair.” WOW!!! I was out of that chair like a shot.