Low Water

Tales of Hurricane Andrew were the order of the evening when our occasional neighbors came for drinks last night. He is a pilot, still flying out of Miami. They bought the house next door in anticipation of his being able to change his base of operations to San Francisco, but when his airline merged with another one, the San Francisco hub was no longer an option. He will retire in August and they will move here permanently. She was in the Air Force, and manager of the supply depot at the air base in Homestead, Florida, when Andrew, a Category 5 hurricane struck. After they left, I found a couple of charming little whimsical pencil drawings of a flamingo she had done and left on the counter....

There was a promise of rain this morning, so Ozzie and I headed down to the creek to have a look. .Ozzie peered over the bridge down to the creek bed but didn't even try to drag me down there, so we tarried for a few pictures and then headed home. I thought I detected a few raindrops on the road, but it was hard to tell....

There were several people in the post office when I went in with my package to mail. Our local post office in Berkeley was a nightmare--the only one where you have to take a number. People are standing around with their packages and letters, trying to fill out forms with pens on chains which are usually inkess. Clerks wandered around, ignoring the patrons, and two out of the three stations were usually closed. Here there was a short, orderly line. The same two gentlemen who are always there were quickly and efficiently serving people. The only wait was for an elderly lady who had forgotten her glasses and had to have the clerk read everything out for her....