wednesday's words and wanderings and wonderings

BAM, BAM, BAM...beep, beep. That's been our 7:00 wake up for the last two days (thank heavens for the Labor Day holiday!). The road crew is at it again, digging up the next section of curbs to be replaced.. Last week's temperatures were brutally hot for outdoor workers. This week started off with morning 50s. As I walked to my car on Tuesday morning, passing a worker and making chitchat, "Good morning! Bet you're glad those hot temps are gone." He smiled, "Yep. It was cold this morning." My thought was, "Just wait 'til winter. That's cold."

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Now that the college kids have returned to school my work shift has moved to the 2-7  afternoon slot which means advance evening meal preparation. No big deal. I usually fix a salad and another side dish and Todd will grill when I get home. This time around, the cool temps inspired a pot of chicken soup, again cleaning out bits and pieces of veggies from the bin and using the last bit of farro from the pasta collection. A bag of spinach also bumped up the flavor and added to the nutritional vitamins game. It always amazes how spinach cooks down. A big green leafy mountain cooks down to a nice serving of wilted greens to go in the soup bowl. BTW...this is the view from my "office." A bouquet or two of fresh flowers is always by the register. 

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My dear friend wasn't feeling real perky last week. She called, sounding a little stuffy, "Whatcha doing?'

"Not much. Todd's painting, I'm dusting baseboards. What's up."

"Just wanted to talk. I'm laying on the couch, taking it easy, and I'm bored."

"How about I bring some chamomile tea with lemon and honey to you?"

"Yes!"

I didn't have chamomile tea at home so I went to Central Perc, a lovely European cafe. The owners are from England and this little shop exudes charm. I ordered a cup of chamomile tea to go. The to-go cup was cute and colorful. By the cash register sat this red phone, a little nod to the red phone booths in Britain.

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Labor Day is also the last day for the river fountains to put on their hourly show over the Great Miami River. I told Todd I wanted to go downtown to see them one last time. We went downtown, arriving a little after 6:30, for the 7:00 pm showing. We walked along the river, with me trying to figure out the best spot for photos. It was fairly breezy. If it's too windy, the fountains won't go off, and I was worried that the water show might not happen. The sun was in the west and I chose a bump out on Riverside Drive that goes over the river. Todd's response: "We're standing in the mist."

"Yep." 

As I was surveying for drier vantage points, hoping that the breeze wouldn't interfere with fountain display, the magical "WHOOSH!" sounded as the first fountain squirted and the others followed. From the mist and the sun's sparkle, the most beautiful rainbows appeared (at one time there were three!). The fountain display is supposed to last 10 minutes but because of the breeze it lasted six. But what a beautiful six minutes it was.