Pragmatist
Pragmatist

I gassed up yesterday.  Did some errands early, and went to my favorite gas station.  Favorite because it usually has the lowest prices in this neighborhood.  Yes, I was happy to pay $2.17 a gallon for gas.  I, the scoffer who said gas would never go over $1.00.  I was surprised when it exceed 50 cents.  My favorite station never got to $3.00 a gallon--close but not quite.  So, yes, I was happy to pay almost a dollar less than I'd shelled out in recent months.

I know why gas prices go up in the summer.  It's no secret if you think about it.  What do we do in the summer?  Why, we go on vacation.  Pack the kids in the car/station wagon/SUV/whatever, and head out thataway.  So, of course, the Biggies in the gas production world take note of this phenomenon and gleefully rub their greedy hands together.  Everybody's on the road, so why don't we just up the price of their vacation and make us another billion in profits.  It's only for three months.  How is that a problem?  Well?

OK, on a less cynical note........

Went to Leisure League luncheon yesterday, and took three other women with me.  I like to drive, they don't.  Anyway, the food was great, as usual.  We had two different entertainments this time.  The first was a woman from the public library touting books.  What else?  Anyway, the particular books are five in number, chronicling the life of a recently widowed Southern lady whose late, unlamented spouse was a skinflint miser, and Miss Sally is in no way mourning.  Anyway, the lady librarian recited the first chapter of the first book, in the voice of Miss Sally.  Sorry, I can't remember the name of the author.  She did it very well, with the proper accent of a South Carolina lady.  If one of my table mates can remember the author's name, I just might go to the library and check out a book.

The other entertainment was four ladies, Sacramento Irish American Ceili Dancers.  (Bobbi, are you listening?)  Between dances we heard recordings of popular Irish songs, among them Danny Boy.  That must be the Irish National Anthem.

All that sitting, though, proved a brief problem for me.  The RLS kicked in, and I finally had to get up walk around the room for a few minutes.  I tried to be discreet, and a few people took brief note of what I was doing, then went back to watching the dancers.  Finally relieved, I sat down again.

A good time was held by all, but we got a surprise as we were leaving.  We had taken no more than six steps outside when all of a sudden the skies opened up.  Big, I mean huge, raindrops pelted us.  No warning.  No small sprinkles.  Not a hint that the deluge was imminent.  Run for the hills, Maw, the dam's done bust.  We were able to scurry under a nearby roof overhang without too much damage to our coiffures.  My raincoat has a hood; H had a plastic scarf for her head; J also; but ML had nothing.  

The big fat drops moderated to "normal" sized drops, so we proceeded to my car under as much protection as we could find.  The three of us, me, H and J, made it to the car in jig time, but ML is v-e-r-y slow.  I was watching her progress, glanced away for a second, and when I looked back, she had disappeared.  At that moment J exclaimed, She just fell!!  So I grabbed an umbrella and went to try to protect her from the rain.  Asked one of the school girls to hold the umbrella while I tried to help ML to her feet.  Thankfully, she wasn't hurt.  About that moment a male teacher happened by, and helped ML to her feet.  All the while I was trying to shelter her from the rain.  

I should mention here that the synagogue has a day school.  That's why there were children around.

Anyway, I got ML back in the car, and we headed for home.  Windshield wipers going like crazy the whole way.  The storm came from the West, the ocean, and headed for the mountains.  I haven't checked the weather news yet, but I expect there's a new snow in the mountains.  Haven't seen any notices that ski runs are open, but I'll bet there's at least one this weekend.

Little bit of drip today, but the storm will have moved out by this evening.

So California's rainy season has officially opened.

Shalom