Sundays

I like Sundays and this one comes at the end of my first month in my new home. This time last year I was in Korea. I am far happier here than there for an assortment of reasons although I ended up feeling that Korea was a "waking up" experience for me. I was very glad I went and would not have ended up here if I did not go. For one thing my house would not have been "purged" and I would not have felt abused by my own adult children. Here, I am on my own again.

Their father has moved into my house and is busy buying new appliances and getting to know his own grandchildren. This is not a bad turn of events. For some reason, he could not get to know his youngest son and his grandchildren until I was out of the picture. I have no idea why, and it is really none of my business anyhow. I like the saying: "Better late than never". I think it is appropriate here.

I like Sundays because I try and take time off from writing and just do the things that are pure enjoyment. I have run out of money but got a lot done this month. I think I will do some reading today. There is plenty of food in my apartment. I got a new dish washer although no one told me not to use the kitchen sink before it could be installed so that parts of the carpet that was completely dried out is now wet again. It is a small spot and not a big deal. The maintenance man said they will dry it out after the Memorial Day holiday. I said that would be fine. I felt bad about it though.

The weather report said it would rain today. When I was growing up in San Diego, if you didn't like the weather you popped into the car and drove over the mountains and into the desert providing it wasn't snowing. The only problem I had was I was so poor I never had a car and had to depend on others wanting to do the same. Now, I have a car and there is a desert of sorts in Eastern Oregon but not the same thing as the desert in California. I love the desert in that state and will miss it, but the gas has been getting so expensive anyhow. I just wish public transportation was better here in the USA as it is in other places. The president wants to improve it but is stymied by other political forces.

I know people and communicate via Internet and that has been good for me. I intend to be more involved with projects here in Portland next month. I am going to sign up for classes in art and exercise and other things depending on my other activities at home. I am a loner as most writers need to be by the nature of their chosen occupation. I have never found it difficult to find someone to talk to regarding books here in Portland. That fact alone made the move here well worth it. I have a friend name Ted who tells me that he has found Portland to be that way. He knows more than several writers here and will be here later in June to say hello to a few. He was here last month. He is in constant motion and has no real domicile. He writes memoirs that does very well. He drinks so much coffee that he is in danger of turning into a coffee cup or mug.

In Redding, I was always running into the religious right and members of the tea party. I have not done so here. The apartment manager has stated that no solicitation of any kind including religious is permitted in my complex so I will not be opening the door to any such as Jehovah Witnesses or Mormons anymore. That happened quite often in Redding. It also happened in Korea as well.

I am going to do more walking to different places as there are sidewalks on the streets and no loose dogs running around. I am very impressed with this. When I did see people walking in my neighborhood in Redding, they were carrying sticks and canes to protect themselves from the dogs. When I see people walking and jogging here, and this is often, I never see them carrying sticks or canes.

I have a friend named Wanda who lives in Los Angeles. I met her through my son years ago. She is convinced that I am far too optimistic about my life here in Portland. She writes these wonderful long letters. She does not indulge in the Internet which means she will never read my blogs. She is a widow and has a nice retirement based on her husband's long employment with the oil industry. She doesn't even own a computer. One of her adult children gave her a laptop and she gave it away to some organization. She doesn't use the phone that much either which is fine because I don't like to use the phone very much except for short conversations. It is all those years as a telephone operator I think. I keep wanting to transfer the call somewhere. She wanted me to move to LA. I never considered doing that at all. It was always Portland that I dreamed about moving to in all of the years I thought of moving.

For most of my working life, Sundays was just another working day. Then I got a job working for the state of California. That was nice. I could count on having Sundays off all of the time except when I was working for the union. Now, everyday is a day off although I wake up around six in the morning all of the time as I did this morning. I have gotten used to it. I also go to bed around midnight. I take a nap around noon. That is a new feature of my life, the noonday nap. My aunt when I lived with her would make us take a nap after lunch. She said it was because we were growing kids. Now, of course, I know it was because she needed one herself. I did not mind anyhow as I used that nap to read.

One of the first things I do when I wake up now is make myself a cup of coffee with one of those machines that make coffee one cup at a time. I try to drink only one caffeinated cup a day. I also like to have toast for breakfast and maybe yogurt. Here in Portland it is so easy to buy gluten free food. The nearest grocery store and within walking distance has several brands of bread that are gluten free and many of them I have never heard of before. They have other things in the store that are gluten free with labels saying "gluten free". There is a restaurant, Sherri's but I rarely go there as they don't have a gluten free menu and other restaurants do.

I used to think Redding was the nicest place to live because the people were friendly. I am glad to say that people in Portland are just as friendly. It is so rare to met rude people here except when they get behind the wheel and that is the case everywhere. What is it that turns people into monsters as soon as they get behind the wheel of a car? I was always told that the people in the Midwest were friendly. Not so or not in the Kansas City area. Sacramento, Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco in California was so so. Redding was very nice and Portland is very friendly. I lucked out there. Not all of Oregon seemed that friendly to me. I found Ashland to be very friendly but not Grants Pass. I have no idea why people are friendly in some cities and not in others. The people in Salem are very friendly as well. Of course, this is based on my experiences and hardly scientific.

I have written this before. When I first started to write this blog, I had no idea all of the things that would happen to me in just a few short years. I think I am healthier but still have a long way to go. I do know that I am healthier mentally and that is a giant step towards good health.