So why am I drinking hot coffee on a 98-degree day? - Mom's 95th Fourth of July - By the dawn's early light - Vitamin B Complex - Cajun Chicken Leftovers for Breakfast - An Orgy of Fireflies

Got the coffee yesterday when I had an egg n cheese biscuit at McDonald's in Hatboro.

Nothing is better!

Could barely finish the coffee, very hot,  and Yes, as I transferred it into my car, I spilled some and burned my fingers.

Dang!

   Was talking to my friend Nancy on the phone and told her I'd written two novels, neither of them published. The first one was based on the life of my former BF Simon.

The second, I couldn't for the life of me remember what it was.

It did finally come to me.

It was/is called My Brother's Keeper.

I do know a couple of people who published their own books. I'll do it when I'm ready.

Yum! This hot coffee is delicious. What I did was pour it into a saucepan, add water, and let it heat up.

Am drinking it in my RUTH cup, given to me by sister Lynn.

Mom is 95. We came up with a great idea. Lynn's friend Ina - pronounced EEna - will take c/o Mom on Saturday's from 11 to 4 pm, giving Ellen a break.

At Camp Wise in Rome, Ohio, I had a counselor named Ina. Took photos with my Brownie camera. Nothing as fun as overnight camp.

Let's imagine we go back.....

Oh, there's Ina, whose hair is all white. She's pushing a walker. Eight of us file into our cabin, which still smells from S'mores (marshmallows, Graham Crackers, and Hershey Bars) and stale tears from crying ourselves to sleep on those very first nights.

To tell the truth, I am still homesick. I hate being away from home, and miss my red couch littered with crumbs from pretzel rods and peanuts.

At the CVS where I'm forced to get medication - they haven't invented anything yet for failing memories - I bought a box of YUMMY looking nuts. Soon as I got home and ripped open the plastic, I could smell it.

RANCIDITY.

I'll return it when they call me to pick up my medications.

So the eight of us all discuss what's happened to us in the FIFTY-TWO years since we've seen one another.

The usual horrible diseases, which I won't go into.

Am reading Lee Child's latest Jack Reacher novel, whose name I can't remember. Riveting!

They taken to calling him BIGFOOT.

WTF?

He's with an awful man, Scorpio, and don't worry, I'm not a plot destroyer, they're in a laundromat. He threatens to put Scorpio in the dryer.

Hilarious! And yucky at the same time.

Told my friend Nancy I got a check for $375 today from the govt.

Ran after Mailman Dante to mail it to the bank. No more keeping things under my mattress and getting eaten by bed bugs.

It's your Rent Rebate Check, she said.

Oh no! I finished my coffee. Let me run downstairs with my Ruth cup and see if there's any left on the stove.


Whew!

My insurance company gave me a scare. Again.

They always screw up!

I always threaten to switch, but never do.

State Farm.

Any thoughts of good insurance.... homeowners and drivers.

Send me an email to RuthDeming at Comcast. net. You will be handsomely reward by my thousand and one thanks.

The coffee ain't so good in its 30th dilution.

Listen I am so relieved the Intell published my story. The editor lost it twice. And his big boss, sent me a very nasty email.

Does he realize who you are, said Nancy.

He doesn't give a flying f*ck who I am, Nancy.

*
Had to drive back to my nephrologist's office b/c he didn't fill out my Kronic Renal Form correctly. He did, except he didn't sign it.

While driving, I realized I wasn't lubed up with Sunscreen No. 50, so I threw a tube into the car. As a person with a lowered immune system, due to taking immunosuppressants for my kidney transplant, I'm at risk for getting skin cancer.

*

All I've wanted to do all day is to read my Jack Reacher novel. Janet Maslin of the Times said it's his best.

Take it with a grain of rice.

*

CAVALCADE OF POETRY (One hopes I can find them all!)

Oh, hell, I'll just get em off Facebook.

Excuse my cursing. This is how I talk to myself, a nice refined Jewish girl like myself.

MOM'S NINETY-FIFTH FOURTH OF JULY

From separate abodes we're watching
the Capital Fourth, Mom, Ellen,
Donna and I.

And she'll have fun fun fun until her
Daddy takes her T-bird away, roared the
award-winning Beach Boys far from the
sands of Iwo Jimo, where my neighbor
George served.

Three little flags waved on my tree lawn
symbols of our still-great nation. As I
pulled them out, they seemed to weep,
where is the great leadership we've
come to expect, the democracy we
fought and died for.

Dad served in Guantanemo Bay, the
leader of our family. Uncle Marvin
in Belgium, Cousin Dan in Vietnam.

We salute them now as fireworks
ignite in the distance, the sound
of the death rattle of men who
perished in the Afghan, France,
Winston's Great Britain, and
Germany.

True equality rules in the
war zones. Let us rethink
what's going on around us
and come to a new resolve.

Believe in the goodness of
humankind. It's there in
the archeological dig.

***

BY THE DAWN'S EARLY LIGHT

Woke up, slipped on my britches
and marched around the block
before the soldiers and their
families were awake.

All's I saw were tankers, loudly
coming my way. I saluted and
tipped my David Smith Sculpture
Garden Cap.

From on high I heard a thin
high noise, a ribbon of an
airplane, heard but not seen
like God.

My legs worked well on this
early morn and I was ready
to defend my country alongside
Paul Revere, Gary Cooper and
Babe Ruth.

Long let freedom ring!

***

VITAMIN B COMPLEX

The temp had cooled to 94
I sight-seed my way to Giant
searched the shelves and found
me a tawny brown bottle
of B Complex with the word
"Stress" printed on top

The only stress I feel
is when driving, merging,
reading rejection letters
and how much they really like
my work but it doesn't suit
our needs right now, the bastards!

It was one of those huge pills
it came with intructions on how to take
Quickly ignoring them I downed it with
tepid water - what stays cool on a
day like today?

Spoke to Judy Diaz earlier today
we discussed former clients at
Bristol-Bensalem, most of em
I loved, said I, but couldna
remember the place I went after
our center closed down

Remembered it while watching the news
with Scott but won't pollute this page
with its name.

Since I care for my crops as much as
my clients, I watered them tonight
when I came home, the new B-complex
making its home in my gut.

That a pill could make a difference
That a pill could change your mood
That a pill could cure a disease
"There's nothing wrong with me,"
said Judy Diaz.

The fireflies are rioting again
tonight. If Joseph in the Bible
made a coat of many colors,
I shall weave a coat of fireflies
blinking on and off, on and off,
and you can follow me where-ere I go.

***

CAJUN CHICKEN LEFTOVERS FOR BREAKFAST

Heat them up, I thought at first.
Why waste gas?
Standing up in the kitchen
I finished the entire batch
Saucy, spicy, dreamily delicious.

A bare-chested jogger was on
the street where the late
Luke Sanders lived.

Off I went, in my painted
sneakers with one painted
red toenail peeking through.

Still strong, tireless, I
wasn't dead yet. Though I
know a few friends who are.

The majestic sun was not up yet
though a sawed off moon lingered
in the sky.

Gave the crops a good soaking
Barry's raspberries are flowering
on the hill, so are the tomatoes
inside the deer-proof fence.

Time to watch Laura Dern on Netflix
in a film they picked out especially
for me! A feeling of dread hangs
over the film, just as it does
in our nation.

***

AN ORGY OF FIREFLIES

Up and down
over and under
in and out

What's their message?

If only we knew.

These age-old beings
who flew in the time
of the Pharaohs

contain secrets and
wisdom known only
to Hashem.

***

So, anyway, I'm talking to Nancy. She said she'd been to my house here on Cowbell.

You have not, I said.

Yes, I did, when you were going with Simon.

OMG, I said, I certainly can't remember that far back.

Simon's in my first novel. He's been dead since 2008, I think.

Nice person, super smart.

215 604 0711.

Sy, I need some help with my computer.

His home in Bensalem exists no more. It's a plumbing supply company.

Every person we know well enriches our lives. Since we can't change anything, let's celebrate what we learned from them.