Off to Town, Tra La!

 The bike ride to town yielded some interesting observations.  First, note the blue sky!  It has been dry, the grass in the lawn is going to seed.  BBBH wanted to mow, but I said, "Let it seed.  Maybe it'll fill in some spots that need it."  Ever the optimist.

 The state highway workers were painting the crosswalk stripes.  The job seems to have required six men and two trucks; you know, one to run the blower to get the dust off, one to run the paint machine to lay the stripe, one to stand in the middle of the street with an orange sign, and three to watch the proceedings.  I am gratified to note that we, the public, are doing our part to ease the unemployment situation.

I arrived at the library to find this art display extending thirty feet along the sidewalk.  This immediately prompted memories.

Forty years ago this fall we opened a new school campus housing an elementary school and a middle school.  Quite early in the year, an art teacher asked me if she might allow the children to do chalk drawings on the walkways in an inner courtyard between the library and the fifth grade classrooms.  I thought it a splendid idea, and the kiddos went to work.  What talent, what effort, what a lot of colored chalk they used!  I was invited to view the final result.  I surveyed the entire area very carefully and with real appreciation.  The kids eagerly awaited my assessment.  "It is gorgeous, it is fantastic!" I exclaimed, then proceeded to comment on each area of work.  "What about this one?  Do you like this?"  It was an exciting moment in life of a new school and a new school year.

At 12:35 the following morning the phone awakened me.  Heart thumping, mind racing, for a call this time of night had always been bad news in my experience, I picked up the receiver and managed to mumble a "hello."

"Lacy," a voice demanded, "did you authorize that disfigurement of the grounds that that art teacher allowed in the courtyard?"  Before he finished the question I realized it was my boss, the Superintendent of Schools.  Hastily determining that conservation of words and the briefest and most honest answer would best serve the situation, I replied, "Yes, sir.  I did."  He grunted a "Huh," and said, "Goodnight, then."

Open the Door!

How do you gain egress from a public restroom? For years I have washed the hands, taken the paper towel, dried the hands. Then, and this is where the expertise enters the picture, using the towel as a buffer, I grip the handle of the door, pulling it open. Next, blocking the door open with the foot, I wad the towel and expertly flip it into the wastebasket. No, one does not miss, for one does not leave trash on the floor for the custodian to handle.

But. Technology being what it is, someone has finally perfected an awesome hurricane-in-a-can which will dry the hands in a trice, thus eliminating the need, in the mind of management, to provide towels. So how to open the door? Clearly, someone has posed this question to the powers that be, for now I find (just yesterday for the first time, in fact) that someone has created a hook thingy to fasten on the inside of the door, along with a diagram showing how to use it. In a few words, insert arm, fingers up, and pull door open with the wrist, thus avoiding the necessity of touching a handle with the freshly washed pinkies.

Now if you have not tried this, trust me: it is trickier than the picture shows. Open a door with the forearm extended up its inside with the elbow plastered against it. And get your body out of the way. Wait! How do I move? Where?

Drat. I am going to have to start carrying extra paper towels in my pocket for just such a situation.