59 - 58 - 57

Saturday, April 9, 2011: 59 degrees in Long Beach at 1:43PM; 58 degrees at 4:43PM, Allentown Pennsylvania; 57 degrees at the same time in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Allentown being where my daughters, spouses, granddaughters, cats and dogs live; New Brunswick where my mother lives in the same house where I spent my childhood.

Temperatures usually cool over night, so that those cities were likely warmer during their afternoon than I am likely to see here in Long Beach. It was the cold back there that caused me to move here. Some days I think, might as well be back there, close to family than here ~ especially since I no longer replaced the skates, nor can afford to live closer to the beach.

We had a few nice warm days, but even a short walk, feet numbing and I guess the inflamed back muscle thing is causing the leg pain to start up again as well. Knock wood, the arthritic fingers have not been bothering me, despite the cold weather. Thankful for little things.

I opened the kitchen door soon after waking up this morning, and smiled involuntarily at the sight of a sliver of sunshine across the door mat and sidewalk, oh maybe a  two feet wide band of sunlight. Before John moved in next door, I opened that door first thing every morning to check the weather, admire the sky, watch the birds ~ trees not denuded at the time ~ as water heated in microwave for the instant coffee.

The light that I complained about ~ the one installed shortly after John moved into the building ~ way too bright, on all night, the plus being, a great crop of Morning Glories, that light seems to be broken. After being this close to a skunk one night, I now tepidly open the back door after dark, peek down sidewalk to see if any animals are heading my way.

Neighbor, Mike, manually turns on the security lights every evening, turning off in the morning. He also can control the brightness. He told the bulb on my side of the building burned out. A while ago he complained that the complex handy men told manager they are no longer coming to the complex for small issues, like changing light bulbs. Shortly before he told me that, he had said the bulbs burned out and the handy men were here with ladders to replace them.I think it odd that the new bulb would burn out so quickly.

I am not complaining; I like it to be dark when I look at the sky in the evening, not that there are a whole lot of stars visible in this neck of the world. That darn skunk....