This Summer Day

“Hah! He puts his pants on like everybody else - one leg at a time.”


I don’t know when I first heard it, but it was probably at an early age ... when I would sit quietly in the evening ... near the adults, and so quietly that they’d forget I was there ... taking it all in ... soaking it up like a blotter.


The first time I heard it, I thought it was simply funny, because it was so obvious. Later, much later, probably, it struck me that it had a bit more meaning ... an indication that the person being discussed was nothing special, that, despite his high opinion of himself, he was just like the rest of us ... fallible.


Well, I can tell you this ... based on recent experience ... putting on your pants may seem easy, simple, routine, something to be done in a prescribed manner ... but it isn’t necessarily so.


The other morning, for example. 


I hadn’t given it a lot of thought. That didn’t seem at all necessary. I’ve done it hundreds ... thousands ... maybe millions of times, and I had become quite expert at it. I didn’t have to think about it. I just did it, and got about the other business of the day.


On this particular morning, though, I put my right foot through first ... probably my own form of rebellion, after the fact, of being yelled at during basic training: “Yer LEFT, yer LEFT, yer LEFT, right, LEFT” ... and that went well.


Mind you, I’m standing all this time ... teetering a bit, but standing. Then it was the left foot’s turn. No problem. I’ve done that ... well, an equal amount of times, with seemingly little, if any, problem.


This time, though, there was a problem. (I haven’t reviewed the tapes, so I don’t know precisely what the problem was). Perhaps my left foot has grown larger than my right. I don’t know.


What I do know is that my left foot somehow became lodged in the trouser leg. At that moment the world seemed to tilt ... suddenly ... and this threw me into the door facing, then into the video cabinet ... and finally, fortunately, into a chair, which kept me from collapsing in a heap on the floor.


First, I checked to see if I had broken anything ... a rare vase, a family heirloom, a window ... you know the routine after a big fall. Nothing broken, it appeared, but I was bruised ... in places that don’t usually get bruised, even when sledding.   


Phyllis, ever alert for signs ... or sounds ... of trouble, was immediately on the scene, saw me trying to regain my footing ... still struggling with one leg in, one leg out of my pants ... and offered a bit of advice: “Why don’t you sit down to put them on?”


I’d never thought of that. The next day, when I was sure I wasn’t being watched, I tried it. It works! But it’s just not the same as hopping around on one foot while trying to get the other leg properly dressed. 


Still, I might try it again sometime. I could probably get used to doing it that way. It might even become habit. Sitting ... hmmm ... what a concept.


-S&G-


LOREE (Kansas), as many of you know, moved to town recently, as did the two canine members of her household ... then discovered, despite the previous owner’s asserting that he had a dog, the house had no doggie door in it.


You can imagine what followed. Loree reports: “I ran a few pounds off in a hurry, almost record time, just going to that patio door, and making sure I was out of their way when I opened it. Probably 50 times per day, and the last thing at night, before I retired.”


Well, every problem has a solution ... or so I like to think.


In this case it was a patio door “extender,” which Loree found online. I’m not sure exactly what it looks like, but it apparently has a small flap-like door through which the pets can come and go at will. 


“It took about three days of coaxing,” Loree says, “and sort of opening the flap over the doggie door to get my ‘kids’ so they realized it wasn’t going to bite them. They now have exiting and entering down to a fine art.!” 


(And I presume Loree is able to get a bit of rest now)


-S&G-


This from HELEN (Florida): After putting her grandchildren to bed, a grandmother changed into old slacks and a droopy blouse and proceeded to wash her hair. As she heard the children getting more and more rambunctious, her patience grew thin. Finally, she threw a towel around her head and stormed into their room, putting them back to bed with stern warnings. As she left the room, she heard the three-year-old say, with a trembling voice, ”Who was THAT?”


-S&G-


TODAY’S QUOTE: “Last week, I stated this woman was the ugliest woman I had ever seen. I have since been visited by her sister, and now wish to withdraw that statement.” - Mark Twain (courtesy of WALT, Ohio)


-S&G-


TODAY’S POEM: I haven't looked up the birth date of today's poem, but I'm sure it was written back in the days when my writing was done in an attic space ... a great portion of the house where there was always a feeling of quiet ... away from the phones and other distractions.


It was a beautiful nook ... even had a view of the city ... but it was subject to temperature extremes ... HOT in the summer ... and finger-numbing COLD in the winter.


Got the scene?


I may have forgotten the date on which today's poem was written ... but I do recall sitting there barefoot at the keyboard as I wrote:




THIS SUMMER DAY




It's five-thirty in the morning,
and in a nearby yard a dog
is barking for his breakfast.




A cardinal serenades
the dew-draped maple,
an unidentified singer
in a neighboring tree
provides counterpoint,
and I'm sitting barefoot,
ready for the steam.




A captive fan bestows
an artificial breeze,
one for me to remember
as the temperatures
and humidity blast off.




I may have to dig up
memories of last winter,
stored in the root cellar
of my mind for such a day.




Even the crows are out,
cawing: "Hot, hot, HOT!"


(originally published in The Christian Science Monitor)


-S&G-


COMMENT? Feel free ... below, if you like. 


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 rbrimm@peoplepc.com


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-S&G-


If you’d like to see what’s up with my other, DAILY blog (no, this is not my “Home Page”),  here’s a link to it:


http://rbrimm.blogspot.com/


Thanks for paying a visit.




-S&G-


UNTIL NEXT TIME ... take care ... see ya!


-S&G-


©  2010