I
didn’t post yesterday because I was too upset about the terrorist attack at the
Boston Marathon. I ran Boston in 1981 with a time of 3:37 with thousands of
other “back of the pack” runners who just wanted to complete this iconic race
and experience the joys of running one of the world’s greatest marathons. My
memories of that day are all good, especially “the Chute” at Wellesley College,
but even the pain of Heartbreak Hill. In those days, the biggest danger was
tripping over another runner at the crowded start. That a perverted mind or an evil
terrorist could ruin that experience for thousands of young and old, and take
lives, limbs and loved ones away from hundreds, is an abomination. But like many
tragedies that are inflicted upon our country and citizens, we shall survive
and grow stronger from this experience. We shall likely become a bit more
cynical, and much more careful, but we shall prevail. Go Boston! 
While
visiting Tampa over the weekend, we took a stroll on the walkway between
Bayside Drive and Tampa Bay. We met this
guy, Ed, standing on the seawall fishing. We asked if he was catching any, and
he replied that he caught 40 or 50 but he believed in catch and release, so he threw
them all back. (A man after my own heart... a conservationist... a tender-hearted
guy... an inveterate liar... a real fisherman.) Dressed in faded, torn jeans,
Ed looked the part of a knowledgeable local fisherman who could give me some
sage advice on catching a lunker redfish for dinner. He told me exactly where
to fish and what lure to use. The next morning, My Good Buddy Bob and I went to
the recommended spot and fished for an hour and a half. I must have caught 20
lbs of.... sea lettuce and sea grass and sea weed... it would have made a meal fit for Neptune. As long as he was a
vegan. Sigh...
Our
friends Jan and Bob Blythe drove their American Eagle to and from Tampa in
company with ours; you know, safety in numbers? After all, Tampa is a pretty
wild place. Our Bus had one mechanical malfunction while driving on I-75: a
broken passenger side windshield wiper. It would start rotating, and then it
would flop too far to one side or another. I thought that maybe the spline
connecting the wiper blade and the drive shaft might have worn excessively.
Here Bob and I are analyzing the problem. It was a tough one to solve, made
all the harder by the fact that since we had stopped at a rest stop on the
Interstate, having a beer or three to help our analytic abilities was out of
the question, for two reasons: (a) safety on the highway; and (b) My Lovely
Bride had forgotten to move the beers from our home fridge to that of The Bus. (Boy, is she gonna be in a world of hurt....
Smack! Hey, Sweetheart, Love of My Life, My Darling Suzanne, I was just
kidding... really!)
So,
when we got back home, I called up the schematic on the Internet for the
exploded view of the wiper mechanism. I got out my handy socket set, disassembled
the cover, and found that the hex nut holding the wiper arm tight to the spline
had simply backed off a half turn or so, letting the arm slip. I tightened it,
and Voila! Wiper now works just like new. “A 5 minute RV job!”
I proudly told My Loving Wife of my successful
repair, and she smugly said, “Well, Dear, that’s another reason why I know I married
the right man; it certainly wasn’t for your fishing prowess...” Sigh...
Suzanne
gave a presentation of her new Making the Connection talk for the Awakening
Human Awareness (AHA!) Club here in The Villages. Her good friend Lynn Walker,
co-president of the AHA Club, introduced her to the 100 members of the Club and
others at the Bacall Recreation Center. They enjoyed hearing about the miracles that can happen when attuning to higher consciousness and appreciated the suggestions for
anyone wanting to make those connections on their own. (She will give this talk one more time --this Sunday from 2:00-4:00 at the Ocala Inner Center--before we head on our summer tour. See details on the events page of her website). The photo shows Suzanne talking to her assistant, Bev Garlipp, about our upcoming trip. Like last year, Bev is coordinating events across the country. They also will be listed on Suzanne's website.
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