Robin, Mary, and I were up fairly early, chatting away because apparently we enjoy each other’s company enough to do it before coffee had fully taken effect. Around 9:00 am., Robin headed out to visit and take care of her older sister, who has been in a care facility for years. Robin is truly an amazing woman — she always finds the time and energy to see her sister, take her shopping, out to eat, or to the movies. Basically, she’s running a one-woman family support department, while some of the other sisters seem to have taken early retirement from being useful.
Mary and I worked in the garden and replaced two hanging plants with new ones, transplanting the older plants into new ground-level homes. Mary did the heavy lifting this morning as I lounged around reading the California Post; it’s nice to have a newspaper that seems to be unbiased, and I am tired of listening to the “talking heads” on the radio and TV.
Robin returned around noon, and the three of us headed to the Orange Elks Lodge so Robin could see it. The joint was jumping, as apparently they had a pool tournament going on. We had a drink and a teriyaki chicken bowl and watched all the hubbub!
From the Elks we went to visit Michele, Franklyn, and Theo. Michele was hosting a “Half Birthday Party” because Franklyn’s birthday is right around Christmas and everyone is too pooped out to do any more celebrating. We stayed quite a while visiting their friends and neighbors. It was fun!
We then headed home so Robin could collect her things and go home to the peace of her abode. Bob was in route home from a gig up near Los Altos, California.
The weather was hot, well into the high 80s, so I turned on the air, and Mary played Rip Van Winkle. He is a character from a story by Washington Irving who falls asleep in the mountains and wakes up 20 years later. Mary, however, lasted only about an hour. I played on the computer and finally went to the TV room to watch FLASH Gordon, who was, as usual, battling Ming the Merciless, the main villain.
He is the tyrannical ruler of the planet Mongo, often portrayed as a cruel, power-hungry emperor intent on conquering Earth and dominating the universe. Ming is known for his intimidating appearance, elaborate royal costumes, and ruthless personality.
In the classic story, Flash Gordon, along with Dale Arden and Dr. Hans Zarkov, travels to Mongo and becomes Ming’s enemy. Ming often tries to destroy Flash, force Dale to marry him, and crush any rebellion against his rule.
In the evening, we vegged out and watched war movies until 11:00 pm, then crashed.
