Ghost in The Machine

This morning’s coffee came with a side of spookiness.

I nuked my coffee, turned off the microwave, opened the door to retrieve the nicely warmed coffee, and then there was this.

After several tries, with the microwave stopping when I closed the door, running when I opened it, I ended up risking getting nuked, by quickly reaching in, snatching the hot cup out.

Hope this doesn't mean I have to lug a new microwave up the stairs.

Today was a return to a bit of the normalcy I enjoyed before the pandemic.

That’s right, the spa reopened about a month ago, but I held out a bit — waiting to see how things were going to go. 

Having not been pampered for over a year, the bottom of my feet were killing me, so the wait was over  — I scheduled an appointment.

You can’t imagine how good it felt to once again be able to get an exfoliating scrub, lotion foot massage and hot towel wrap.

Happy Feet

Returning to the complex, I saw Jan — out walking her two little dogs, walked over, introduced myself, told her how much I was enjoying her painted rocks.

What a sweet lady she turned out to be.

When I pointed to my area, said my unit was the one with the red Adirondack chair, she said that, during the Christmas season, she would come out at night just to see my patio display.

That's good to know, because setting up the display is so much work — and I was doing it just because I liked looking at the lights, I wasn't sure I'd put myself through it again this year. But since she, and possibly others, are enjoying my Christmas display, I guess it'll be an outdoor tree and lighted gift boxes again this year.

Jan shared that when she and her husband split up, she moved here, expecting her Christmas decorations to move here with her. They did not, and she's been asking for them ever since so she too can put up a display.

She says her ex tells her, "You've no place to put them", to which she said she replies, "I'll find a place".

Oooookay. LOL.

After I turned the topic back to the painted rocks, she said that she was going to have to put the rocks on “hold” because Complex Manager (CM) is on her arse again. Telling her the landscapers were complaining about them being in the way.

I told her I thought CM was lying, because I’d seen the landscapers at work just recently. That they now (since putting in all the drought tolerant stuff) only mow the grass, do nothing in the mulch.

She laughed because she said she knew CM was probably lying. 

She had a few choice other things to say about CM and how she’s been emailing him about getting activities started again, with no response.

In particular, she has a friend that wants to give Line Dancing lessons in the Community Room. This friend would give the first lesson for free, charge $1.00 for future lessons, but she can’t get CM to respond to her emails about it.

She even approached CM one day asking, “Did you read my email?”

”Which one?” he replied.

That in itself, to me, was his reply — an I’m Ignoring Your Emails reply.

Line Dancing used to be my thing.

When I lived in Long Beach, there would be festivals where the streets were blocked off, there'd be country music, line dancing lessons, the whole nine yards.

I pretty much learned all the dances — through attending various street festivals and country/western dance clubs. Even took vacation from the office one year, to attend a Line Dancing festival on Catalina Island.

In Long Beach, it was totally safe for me, a Black woman, to walk into any country/western bar alone to dance.

My line dancing days ended when a job relocation sent me to San Diego.

Believe it or not, at that time, San Diego was KKK country — may still be.

It wasn't safe to go out at night, let alone walk into a country/western bar, so that was the end of line dancing for me.

There's not a doubt in my mind, CM won't approve it here AND, even if he did, not enough residents would sign up. 

Oh well.

I then told Jan that someone had taken all the painted rocks from my area.

She said she'd noticed and has no idea who's doing it

BTW, I verified this is happening only on my walkway, by checking other areas yesterday and, sure enough, other areas still have their rocks.

A little while after I’d ended my conversation with Jan, returned to my unit, there was a knock on the door.

It was Jan, telling me to “Look out your patio window”.

Bless her heart. Not only did Jan give me multiple pops of color, but it took an enormous effort for her to climb stairs, let me know they were there.

Will be interesting to see if I still have this view in the morning but, just in case I don’t — someone (the creepy girl downstairs) spirits them away, I went down and took pics to give you a closer better look in a future post.

Today ends with me missing Judge Judy because, having yet another Senior Moment, I thought today was Saturday and, just in case you're wondering, last I checked, (6:39 pm) the microwave was off all the way. No idea how long it took for the ghost to leave the machine.