Why am I feeling joyful these June days?

Joyful June Calendar says:  "June 4 ~ Take a photo of something that brings you joy, and share it."  So I took this picture to share today.  I want you to enjoy the splash of color of these beautiful flowers outside my building, too.

We gathered to acknowledge our losses.  Fifteen of our neighbors died between March 2020 and May 2021, one of whom was my friend Sheila.  We met outside, wearing our masks and socially distanced from each other, but we gathered!  That's me in the center of the "crowd" photo.

The group of friends was permitted to play Bananagrams again on Saturday evening as they did weekly before the lockdown last year.  Donna, Sandy, Miriam, and Gail played on a table outside, since it's warm now.

Floyd scrubbed the patio this week.  I hope that means our Circle@Crown Café will open back up before too long.  A lot of us miss being able to socialize with friends in the Café.

Deb at Readerbuzz hosts Sunday Salon, a place for us to link up and share what we have been doing during the week.

Flowers, words, and lots of friends

Flower for the Day

My friend Sharon sent me azalea photos this morning along with the poem "Azalea Forest," which I later found online.  I wrote back:  "Is this your house?  The azaleas are beautiful."  She replied, "A friend of mine has published this for a number years.  If you want to be added to his daily posts, lmk and I'll have him add you to it!"

Azalea Forest

Beautiful pink azaleas are growing here and there,

A touch of surreal pink fills the forest air,

Tall, tall trees beautifully grow;

Oh I love this forest so!

Patches of light-green grass,

Grow here and there on the forest path,

Sunlight illuminates the air;

Birds are chirping without a care.

God created each azalea with love,

Just as He made the beautiful dove,

Evening sunlight dances in the west;

Shining in the Azalea Forest.

Marian, August 2013

When we built our house in 1965 on Signal Mountain near Chattanooga, we planted rhododendrons along the front.  I looked up the difference between the two kinds of flowers and found this explanation:

• All azaleas are rhododendrons, but not all rhododendrons are azaleas.
• Most azaleas are deciduous, but true rhododendrons are usually evergreen.
• Azaleas have funnel shaped flowers; rhodendron flowers tend to be bell-shaped.

There were also wild rhodendrons growing on the other side of the mountain stream that ran through our little acre.  I love the flowers.  Mine were more pinkish (like this photo I found online), and I don't remember them ever being as lush and full of flowers as his.

Wednesday Words

• lush / ˈləsh / adjective = growing vigorously, especially with luxuriant foliage.  Example:  My azaleas weren't quite as lush as those pictured above.
• lmk = an acronym meaning "Let Me Know."  This one I could figure out, in the context, but not every reader of my blog may know this.  Example:  If you want to be added to his daily posts, lmk and I'll have him add you to it.
• deciduous / diˈsijo͞oəs / adjective = a tree or shrub that sheds its leaves annually.  Example:  My rhododendrons kept their leaves year round, so they were not deciduous.

Decades of difference

Our meals for Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday include glazed salmon, chicken paprikash, and a tuna salad sandwich.  We also get three soups this week:  potato soup, split pea soup, and vegetable soup.  Donna emailed, "Do you want my split pea soup?"  I responded, "Sure, but hang onto it for a day or two, since I've just been down to meet the Instacart guy delivering my groceries, talked to Floyd on the link desk while waiting for the delivery, ran into Emily as she arrived home, spoke to Marie about discussing our new book on the Book Buddies blog, and told Sharon (in passing) that she has a box on the delivery table.  I'm in for today, I think, though Clawdia has been doing mad-cat dashes around the apartment, jealous that I got out of the apartment and won't let HER go for a walk in the hall."

I spoke to a lot of people today, as we were carefully keeping our "social distance" in the hallways and all wearing masks.  It's funny how a mere five people — FIVE — seem like "a lot" after days of staying home and not socializing, not shopping, not attending events, not eating in the dining room or Café together.  It seems like decades since we freely did those things every day!

Speaking of "decades" — I just realized today how very much Donna and I differ in ages, at least during these few days between our birthdays.  As of last week, I'm 80 and can say "I'm in my 80's," while she's only in her 60's.  Good grief!  Oh, well, she'll be 70 on Friday.

A nice surprise

CROWN CARE PACKAGE

I was playing a lazy game of Solitaire just after 10:00 this morning, when someone knocked on the door and yelled, "Maintenance."  I jumped up, since I hadn't yet bothered to get dressed or even brush my hair.  It was Floyd, already two doors down, leaving something at each apartment door.  Galina, across the hall, was wearing a robe when she opened her door.  With nowhere to go and nothing much to do, we are in no hurry to "look presentable."  I reached down and picked up...

...a cellophane bag with several items in it:  a small of bag of Cheez-its, a fresh orange, Planters peanuts, small package of trail mix, a single pack of Quaker Oats (maple and brown sugar), a sealed cup of juicy cut-up peaches, and one small piece of Hershey's Krackel chocolate, like the ones Donna gives people going by the link desk when she's the volunteer on duty.  It isn't much, really, but it brought tears to my eyes.  (That surprised me!)  Then I unfolded the paper that was in the goody bag.  "You've Got This!" it says.  It's a Crown Care Package (Bubbe Approved!) to send us support from the staff.  "It's just a small way to let you know we are thinking of you and know you can do this.  Stay positive and, if you have time, call a friend and make their day a little brighter."

On the back of the sheet is a Word Search puzzle.  Crown usually puts out stacks of Word Search pages every weekday in the library, so seeing this didn't surprise me until I read the list of words.  There are names of twelve staff members on the list:  Amy, Donna, Floyd, Katie, Laura, Megan, Nikki, Randi, Scott, Theresa, Tim, and Yoram.  Ha!  The first name I found was FLOYD, who delivered this care package.

Oh, yeah, Clawdia enjoyed the pretty green ribbon.  I bounced it in front of her, and she tackled it.  She batted it around.  Then she bit it, getting it stuck on her teeth when she chewed through it.  I had to almost tackle her to take it away when she couldn't spit it out of her mouth.  But she had FUN with it.  She thanks you, too, Crown Center.

LAUGH A LITTLE

Before you leave, I'm going to send you to a 2012 blog post I entitled "Monday Madness ~ you can't fix stupid."  If you read on down into the comments, you'll find the "stupid" thing I did on the day I got my first computer.  (Hmm, I need to tell Andy it was his dad Joe who was my computer gugu back in 1984.  Andy probably needs a laugh today, too.)