Someone (or something) to Lean On in Everyday Ramblings

While I do have both eggplant and marigolds in my garden plot, this one gets more sun and so is starting to fruit. Mine are a couple of weeks behind and a different kind. But the flowers and fruit are so pretty. The fellow that grows these says they are enjoyable to eat raw as they are small.

I was trying to think of a word to describe this retired fellow who is so knowledgeable about the garden, (he lives in a house across the street and basically treats it like his front yard, has his plots in prime spots) and I came up with the word maven. Which turns out to be a “new” addition to American English.

“It is derived from Yiddish “meyvn,” which in turn comes from the Late Hebrew word “mebhin.” The earliest example for the word in our own files is from 1965, when an advertisement in the Hadassah News Letter advised readers to get a particular product “at your favorite supermarket, grocery or delicatessen. Tell them the beloved Maven sent you.”

We spent a long chunk of time midday today at the credit union doing the transfer of authority from the previous Treasurer to me. Their system was very slow. We got most everything done and I am now fully in the role. It was a strangely great opportunity for my predecessor and I to get to know each other. We have pretty much kept it on topic up to this point in our meetings. She is a civil engineer. It was lovely to learn more about her.

This last week I participated in a bunch of initial interviews online for our part time office manager position. It is the only paid position in our local League. I haven’t done interviews in a long old time and one of the things we were interested in was if the person has facility with Google Suite. We use it but most of us are not proficient in it. That would include me.

Big learning curve here on lots of levels.

At least the fellow I was sharing the interview duties with and I agreed exactly on ranking the job candidates so far. We won’t make the final decision. Our Vice President in charge of Admin is a mother who is also employed full time, and our President is currently in Ireland doing a theater tour. They decide. But I will probably get roped into the review before we get there. I got a call yesterday asking if I wanted to be on the Development Committee as well.

I just laughed.

Not a chance. My boundaries are now firmly in place.

I finally decided that I was going to take the first week of September off from teaching. At this point I don’t think I am going to go anywhere but getting a break from teaching is a good thing. It will give me a chance to let go and hopefully come back to class recharged and with fresh ideas.

A trip up to Washington to visit my niece is still in the cards but the specifics are uncertain as her life is in transition. She is hoping to get housing in a new subsidized building. Fingers crossed for her. These slots are truly hard to get, and she is lucky to have this chance because this is a new build.

You know how you wish so much for specific good things for a younger person in your life? The if you had some way of making it happen you would, wishing. That is where I am at for her. This is Miss E’s. mother. She so deserves some stability. She and my sister worked hard to provide an incredibly rich and fulfilling life for her extraordinary daughter. Who is turning 24 in September. Wow.

The weather has been nice here this week. Mild. Such a relief for everyone.

Mrs. Sherlock is preparing for a garage sale that a friend of hers is putting together in a neighborhood that is more likely to bring potential buyers. She is in a bit of a fog of things to do as they begin their journey to downsizing and getting ready to move. Mr. Sherlock can’t really read anymore because of his eyes and his mild dementia and so they are slowly getting rid of a lifetime of books.

These are hard things. Talk about letting go. Anyway, because of my credit union thing and her downsizing thing we didn’t walk this morning.

I did go to the garden. I needed to put up my trellis thing I got last year as the sweet peas and one of the tomatoes I grew from seed were in need of a little extra support.

We could all use a little support these days, me thinks.