1030 Bits and Pieces, This 'n That

We had our passport photos taken this morning. Except for travel to Canada, we've never been out of the country, but that will change this fall.

We passed a Bob Evans on the way up to the Lake on Mother's Day. A long line snaked into the parking lot about 11 a.m. Every woman and girl was in jeans or slacks and a big t-shirt. Mother's Day certainly isn't the dress up occasion it used to be. My sweet daughter left a gardenia corsage in the frig on Friday because she was doing the right thing and visiting her mother-in-law in the nursing home that day. I wore it Saturday night and Sunday morning.

We noticed a man using a walker in his yard, trimming the grass with an electric trimmer. Looked a little unsafe to me.

Another yard with a mailbox by the road, had an umbrella propped up against the post, but no one around. The house was set back about 100 ft. Looked like someone took a stroll down the lane in the rain, the sun came out, she found a letter, or maybe a Mother's Day card, and was so happy, she forgot the umbrella and walked back to the house in the sunshine. Do you owe anyone a letter? More fun than e-mail.

Overheard at McDonald's near Port Clinton where I had coffee yesterday--me and about 10 old fishermen. "My rod and my reel, they comfort me." "I fish, therefore I lie." Then the talk shifted to a missing friend, Paul, then World War II, and VE Day. They were probably all WWII veterans. Thank you all for your service.

Boogers. I know young people think studs through their noses and eyebrows and upper chin look daring and fashionable. But I wear tri-focals, and I assure you, from a little distance viewed through the mid-range (for computer screen or auto dashboard viewing), it looks like you missed something after a big sneeze.

Gasoline in Columbus on Friday was $1.97 and was $1.94 in Bucyrus (Rt. 4). I'm getting whip-lash with these price changes. Two blocks south of the $1.94 Shell there was a Marathon station selling it for $2.09. How unhappy would you be if driving north in a gas-guzzler SUV you filled up and then saw it for $.15 less a gallon two blocks later?

A house on our street in Lakeside had a "pending" sign. We were a bit surprised, but know the owner has three cottages. We thought--"Maybe he needed the money for college for the kids." Later, we were pleasantly surprised to learn he has purchased the last "fixer-upper" (almost falling down). We'll all be grateful when he takes care of that eye sore. So he probably needed the money for that.