......

CLOUDS ARE BLOCKING THE SUN this morning. Sometimes, however, the sunshine prevails--poking through the cloud cover. In much the same way, my optimism at times trumps my pessimistic thoughts. It happens to be my less-than-ideal tenant clouding up my meditations today.

This less-than-ideal tenant, she's the one, Reader Dear, who smiled a triumphant smile when the judge peered over her glasses and intoned, "If you pay, you can stay!"

Well, then...after that decree at the Magistrate's Office, the court had issued me an invitation to rendezvous at the home of this ornery tenant. The date set for it was eleven days later. One o'clock. If the hostess at this small get-together had not paid her rent (nor had she and her permanent guest deserted the place) by that time, I was not to worry. A constable would also be attending the event!

On the appointed day, I'd pulled into the parking lot at one o'clock sharp, my heart doing a little thump-a-dump, curious as to what would transpire! I didn't see any official-looking vehicle, but as I got out of my car, I noticed a great hulking guy climbing out of an SUV. He walked over to greet me. "I'm the constable," he said, and shook my hand. "Has she paid?"

Dear Reader, this situation had filled me with suspense to the very last minute. I'd imagined quite a few scenarios. But now here we were This was it! And the answer was......NO.

The constable and I walked together to the porch and I rang the bell. Just like that, the door had opened narrowly and a wad of cash was thrust my way. "Here's your rent!" my less-than-ideal tenant had informed me. The constable stood calmly by as I counted it out--all that the court had decreed she must pay in order to stay.

"And how about February rent?" I had asked. "It's now the middle of month. Do you have February rent?"

"Nah," she told me, "I'll pay that later."

....

Well, Dear Reader, on this day full of clouds and sun, it appears that my less-than-ideal tenant had a later day in mind than I might have suspected. It appears she intends to pay on a much later day....


...

...

WILL MIRACLES NEVER CEASE?!

Ah,
Dear Reader,
thank
goodness
there is
clear
and
abundant
evidence
for a
negative
response
to the question!

Furthermore, my yard man and I are sitting in heart-fluttering
expectation of a miracle which, though relatively tiny, will be of
gigantic proportions!

......

......


A LITTLE MIRACLE OCCURRED HERE today on my kitchen windowsill.

















Now, I don't mean to be ungrateful;
I mean, WOW, the miracle of new grape-tomato life!

But (were I to have had a choice) I know I'd be six-point-six times more thrilled were there to have been a little miracle on the floor outside the closet I painstakingly groomed this afternoon (Poof! Sudden disappearance of all items!)

As I ponder it further......(Aaargh, what a job, that grooming!) I reckon I'd be downright delightfully delirious if the miracle had just gone ahead and taken place right inside the closet!

......

......

TODAY, IN THE STATE WHERE I LIVE,



it was so gray and gloomy, wet and windy,
and there was so much rain, that the weather
forecasters, announcers, and commentators
finally brought out the "F" word!



And once they got started, my goodness, they
couldn't seem to quit!



It got them so worked up and excited, they
somehow veered off into a geography lesson!
(Today we learn the counties of Pennsylvania)



Followed by Social Studies, Science and Math!
I was almost expecting they'd tell us about
William Penn. And perhaps explain all
grammatical uses of the "F" word!*


....
*Calm down, Reader Dear,
this time it's FLOOD! floods, flooded, flooding, will flood...
......
...

......


TODAY IS SHROVE TUESDAY, THE DAY before Lent. That means, Dear Reader, that in this Amish-dwelling area where I live, it is Fasnacht Day.

Goodbye, self-control!
Hello, large morsels of fat and sugar!

Late in the afternoon, my Yard Man showed up with a box of six fasnachts, and explained how he had followed a small hand-lettered sign that read "Homemade, deep-fat-fried Fasnachts" into the basement of an Amish home.

"Wow, it smelled good in there!" he told me, as he set the container on the kitchen counter.


"Uh, huh, the Devil's workshop," I murmured, but I took care not to let that Yard Man hear me. Instead I crowed about this absolutely irresistible treat, this fatty, pack-on-the-pounds delight! And when we sat down to eat our supper an hour or so later, and he commented on the missing fasnacht, I advised him he'd do well to eat one quickly while there were still any to be eaten!

...