There's nothing in the condominium covenants that requires residents to be whacko. I've read it over with a magnifying glass. Still, many are, and the possibility has been suggested that the complex was built on an ancient burial ground offending the spirits of the deceased. Many residents don't seem to distinguish between true garbage, recyclables, and Salvation Army donations.
I would not could not on a train or on a boat or in the rain dumpster dive. I do so do so feel a responsibility to the City of Plano to have our eleven carts filled with actual uncontaminated recyclable materials every Thursday morning. Lately, my whacko neighbors have been putting way too many furnace filters, welcome mats, rotting carpet, chicken bones, Atkins diet chocolate shake boxes, denim jeans, and ugly lighting fixtures in the recycling carts. Plus several bushels of family photos with scary Sixties hairdos in Kresge's frames.
The Kresge's store at Gateway Mall predated the dollar stores of today, and smelled better. It had a popcorn machine, a photo booth, flat-fold fabrics, parakeets, Halloween costumes and Valentine cards, toys in the right price range for most birthday parties, and document frames for your diplomas and ninth grade photos.
Still obsessing about my mismatched ankles, I am peering at photos for heredity hints. On the left is my Aunt Shirley, the only woman I knew with painted toenails in my childhood. Next to her, is my mom, looking an awful lot like me forty-five years later, but with symmetrical ankles. Yikes, myself in the fall of '69. Then a bizarre, slightly tipsy-looking photo of that Christmas Day just minutes before I El-Kabonged my little brother over the head with the plastic guitar. My mom has bubble hair, but still nice ankles. My grandmother had terrific ankles into her late eighties, although they were hidden under mauve doubleknit polyester pantsuits.
The chef at Dad's place is my new best friend. He is working with the dietitian and the hospice nurse to provide Dad meals that are easy to swallow and easy to self-feed. Some meals Dad is anxious to feed himself. Other meals definitely not. Dad's faculties have become crosswired. He tries to feed himself with both hands at the same time.
Yippy I ay. Yippy I Oh. Don't even think about putting that stuff in the recycling cart!
© 2011 Nancy L. Ruder
4 comments:
Sigh...about the recycling cart. I'm sure your mismatched ankles are quite charming.
Good for the chef. That is so important.
I enjoyed the family photos.
Wait! Our ankles are supposed to be symmetrical?
My art professor would say that humans are not ever symmetrical down to the details of noses, grins, or ankles. He claimed if you met someone perfectly symmetrical you would know the aliens had landed and were disguised to blend in. I am just wondering why my ankles are so different. Could it be an old runner's injury?
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