Potatoes in the Mist

There's a trend in our neighborhood of girls leaving the bathroom together. Single-occupancy bathrooms. This titillates the men. They giggle and point. Curiously, afterward, the bathroom is smoke free. Hmm. We met a friend's new girlfriend recently. The two of them have the exact same speech patterns. Their sentences stop in the same places and trail off in the same way. So I asked her, "Are you from the Midwest?" (He is.) She nodded. It's probably a sign they're well suited to each other. The similar speech, that is. On the way home from dinner tonight, I patted several dogs, including: A yellow Lab who liked to sit on the sidewalk after his snack, i.e., "rest and digest." A foxy dog who licked me on the nose and forehead. We shared an elevator in our building with a chihuahua that I never dare to pat because he's got a fierce bark on him. Even when he sniffed my legs, I held still. The dog's not much bigger than my hand but his demeanor sa...

Sometimes I get Frankeneye (bloodshot) if I've been reading or knitting too long. Eye drops can exacerbate it. I noticed it in the bathroom mirror before Hairspray. Fortunately, I'm done with the short-sleeved sweater, which was soft and fuzzy, which makes for poor stitch definition, which makes you strain your eyes. So the condition seems to be gone. Today I was in Whole Foods and a little distracted, since I'd been reading a book in line. The cashier was unusually cheerful and smiled at me broadly. On autopilot, I said, "Thanks!" Apparently she thought I said, "How are you?" because she replied, "Great, thanks, and you?" At which point I said, "Good, how are you?" not realizing that she thought I already said "How are you?" She just chuckled, though. On the way home from the market, I saw a woman from my building who could be 85, but is always done up immaculately. I think of her as Zsa Zsa Gabor. Her white hair is carefu...