Saluting the Season and Our Veterans

First of all, I give a shout-out to all our fighting men past and present on what turned out to be a gorgeous Veteran's Day. I did my first volunteering at the Friends In Deed Thrift Shop in Collingswood in a long time. I mostly took down jeans and sweaters that had holes in them or were too pilled or stretched or out-of-date. I ended up buying a nice leather purse with a long strap and a cool diamond pattern made of leather rope on the front for my winter purse, two packs of Christmas cards (I know I was running low last year), a never-worn white turtleneck (I got rid of my white turtleneck last year - it was huge and had been around since high school), a jazz CD, and a book on career changes for unusual and creative people. Erica wants me to come over sometime for a game of Monopoly with her mother and a chat - I may just take her up on that offer.

I made a brief stop at Rite Aid to see if they had any tissues (none cheap) and at WaWa for a drink (French Vanilla Cappuccino - I was feeling the effects of staying up really late last night with Lauren) before heading home. I grabbed my laundry basket and went straight back out again to Uncle Ken's for this week's laundry session. Dad and Uncle Ken were home when I got in. The former was just finishing packing up the Halloween decorations and putting them away for the year. (Dad has mentioned that Uncle Ken isn't much for holidays and that any seasonal decorating usually falls to him.) Both seemed to be fine but tired. Dad had just come from raking leaves, and Uncle Ken's been seeing medical treatment.

I ate pasta salad, the first food I'd had since breakfast, while finally asking Dad what he's and the family here are doing for Thanksgiving. He told me something to the effect that Jodie had suggested a buffet but Uncle Ken nixed the idea, so now they're debating going to Karen and Jim's. I'll have to call Rose, but I'm definitely leaning towards going to Cape May County for Thanksgiving. I haven't seen my stepfather in over a year, and I haven't seen his and Mom's new house in Erma at all.

Instead of watching cartoons or running errands while the laundry was in the dryer, I finally got to raking the front yard. I love raking. It feels great to be able to do something to help my landlady, something that's good, genuine WORK, not just standing behind a register. It took me two hours, but I managed to get the entire front yard but the small bit of land to the right of the driveway done. I'll do the path to my apartment and that last bit of land tomorrow evening after work (if I'm not asked to stay later).

After the last load of leaves was on the curb, I returned the rake and tarp used to transport the leaves to Miss Ellie's porch and hurried back to Dad's to get the laundry. After that was put away, I went downstairs to talk to Miss Ellie after she came home from work. She suggested putting the $25 I earned today and the last time I raked the side path towards my rent instead of in cash. I agreed it was a sensible idea. I could probably knock a little more down doing the rest tomorrow. I was so tired after running around all day (and so broke), I spent the rest of the evening at home, eating a simple dinner of whatever was in my fridge and watching the Donald Duck Army and World War II propaganda cartoons (which I always do for Memorial and Veteran's Day).