Good news and bad news. The good news is that even with my accumulated years I can still change a car tire in a chilly rain. The bad news . . . .

I am so old that I never got a participation trophy.

“There is a saying that every woman should have three daughters because that way there will be one to take care of her in old age.” Elizabeth Strout, Anything Is Possible.

It is the time of year for Adirondack chairs. Has anyone ever found them comfortable?

Pele did not like to be called “Pele.” Hank Aaron did not like being called “Hank.”

Patrons at the restaurant registered complaints about the server with tattooed arms. I understood because I don’t like tattoos, but then I thought back to when I was the server’s age and some reviled me simply because of the length of my hair and a beard.

“You always dread the unfamiliar.” Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451.

The driver is lost. He stops the car, and he or a passenger lowers the window, yells to a pedestrian, and motions him to the car. The pedestrian comes over and bends down to talk to the person in the car. Since it is someone in the car who is asking for a favor, shouldn’t that person get out of the car and walk over to the pedestrian? Or will this rudeness disappear because of smartphone apps?

I don’t own a smartphone.

No one was home. The delivery service left the package on the stoop. It was stolen. The package contained Nutrisystem food. Was this thief dieting? Or was the thief grossly disappointed?

The teen-aged Anne Perry along with her friend brutally murdered the friend’s mother in New Zealand. The crime and its trial garnered much attention. The girls because of their ages served five only years in prison. Perry, after much struggle, later became a successful and prolific author of mystery stories and historical fiction. She became a devout Mormon. (The person who committed the crime with her became a devout Roman Catholic.) Christians proclaim a belief in redemption and forgiveness, but it has always been hard to extend charity to those who have done a terrible thing even when the rest of their lives has been admirable. If you met Anne Perry, wouldn’t you be fascinated by the fact that she had bashed in a woman’s skull with a brick? What would that say about you? What does it say about me thinking about this?