“I could not help it: the restlessness was in my nature; it agitated me to pain sometimes.” ― Charlotte Brontë, from the book, 'Jane Eyre'

Good Wednesday morning on this October 9, 2019. Mr. Bentley and I did fall for the most optimistic of the cool front arrival forecasts. We were in our place sitting outside at 4:30 a.m. last Monday morning. As I sat there in the muggy morning air I thought of that song line, "looking for love in all the wrong places." It didn't take us very long at all to determine our best choice was back into the house where the A/C was still cranking out the freon saturated air. Now our weather teasers have turned their attention to the next cool front, maybe this Friday and Saturday, where we might even get into the mid to low 50's. We'll see about that. It does give us something to look forward to and something to talk about. More importantly for the local programmers, it gives people a reason to stay tuned in order to get the full report, as if that will be more accurate than the teased forecast. Sadly, it does work here in our domicile where if I can't stay tuned I get the wife to watch it and tell me what they said. I actually fall for that, knowing how often they miss it. Sometimes I can identify with myself not being the sharpest knife in the drawer. (Here's what Wiktionary said about "not the sharpest knife in the drawer":(humorous, euphemistic) Lacking in intelligence; dimwitted. Synonyms: not the sharpest tool in the shed; dumb as a bag of hammers; dumb as a box of rocks. See also Thesaurus entry: stupid.) I suppose the weather folks should add a warning to their forecasts, like the one written on the car side mirror: Temperatures may appear to be actually lower than they really are. I think that should be enough on that tired subject.

Siblings: Cleon, Marilyn, and Dorothy.

Lord willing, we will be leaving in the morning for a trip over to Louisiana to visit the wife's brother, Cleon, who is the elder statesman of our blended family. We plan to travel with the wife's sister and her husband for a two-day visit. Cleon lives over in the northeast corner of Louisiana where the ground is fertile and cotton and soybeans are still grown. I met Cleon, as the 'boyfriend', at their family Christmas gathering in December of 1963. From that time until now, he continues to be someone our entire family looks up to. He is humble, unassuming, and always willing to lend a hand to family, friends, and neighbors. True blue. Genuine. Steadfast. He recently turned the calendar page as he observed his 84th year of sojourn here on the planet. With that comes what we are all learning every day. Age-related challenges. Someone put up a meme on Facebook the other day that essentially said we should not lament the issues involving getting older since it is a privilege not everyone gets to experience. I am looking forward to visiting with Cleon because time is something that will not wait for any of us. Not for him. Not for me. And, not for you, my friend, therefore, use it wisely.

Speaking of age-related issues, stop me if you have heard about my most recent medical experience. I just threw that in as an icebreaker, but, since you asked, I did have some interaction with the ultrasound technician last week. They were scanning my stomach/abdomen area. She kept telling me that it was important that I lay perfectly still. She finally put it like this, "I am almost finished, and, if you could try to be still it would make this go more quickly." I told her she had uncovered one of my most serious limitations. I do not do 'being still' very well at all. I have no idea why that is so hard for me, but, the minute anyone tells me to do better at it, well, it is the more I tend to move around. Before you set up a Go Fund Me page to purchase some therapy for me, please know this has been a lifelong difficulty. I can vaguely remember the barber telling my mom he could have done a much better job had I not been squirming so much. Truth is, I do not like to yield control to an external force. I was horrified the first time I had one of those body scans where I had to be in a casket like tube. "Sir, please try to be perfectly still!" Sorry, but, that was like telling me to move even more. Okay. I'm getting all fidgety just writing about it, therefore, I will close for now and get up and move around a little. And, be sure about one thing, I'm 99.9% sure it has nothing to do with the caffeine imbibed in my Community Coffee. But, that would only be my estimate. Have a great rest of the day and may God bless each one. Amen. ....More later.