Tonight's picture was taken in July of 2007. Peter and I took Mattie to Roosevelt Island. As you can see, Mattie climbed up on his favorite rock. He had several on the Island. The irony about Mattie was he was initially very tentative to climb, swing, or go down slides. But once he got the hang out of it, we loved the motion, movement, and the adventure!
Quote of the day: The tears I feel today
I'll wait to shed tomorrow.
Though I'll not sleep this night
Nor find surcease from sorrow.
My eyes must keep their sight:
I dare not be tear-blinded.
I must be free to talk
Not choked with grief, clear-minded.
My mouth cannot betray
The anguish that I know.
Yes, I'll keep my tears til later:
But my grief will never go. ~ Anne McCaffrey
I spent the entire day at Ann's house working on her garden. In fact, I met her and Abbie (her daughter) at the gardening store and we picked out plants together. Abbie has an eye for color and I appreciated her interest in looking at all the plants and picking out the ones she wished to plant. Gardening can be a very therapeutic hobby and it is wonderful to develop this interest in children at a young age. However, most people wouldn't have dreamed of gardening today. It was close to 100 degrees, sunny, and very humid. In fact, the Washington, DC area was under a code red air alert. Despite this, I was outside for at least six hours pruning and planting. I was armed with my hat, sunscreen, and bug spray. All those things helped greatly!
While getting ready to plant, a young fellow walked up to me. I am used to people walking in Ann's neighborhood, so I typically do not have my guard up. That was my first mistake today! Naturally if I were on my own turf, in the District of Columbia, this fellow wouldn't have gotten passed "hello" with me. But Ann's neighborhood is in suburbia and at times because I know so many of her neighbors, I fall into a false sense of complacency.
This young man told me he was selling magazines to earn points to go to college. He told me he wanted to go to Pennsylvania State. He seemed nice enough, legitimate enough, and showed me his ID and the permit from the company he is working for to earn points. However, while I was talking to him, I noticed a police car drive by. I could see that the notion of this car driving by made him nervous. However, it was also clear that I wasn't going to get rid of this person unless a bought a magazine subscription. I wouldn't give him a credit card or check! So I gave him cash. While we were doing this transaction, literally three police cars pulled up in front of Ann's house and stopped us. They pulled this fellow aside. I was fortunate that Ann's neighbor had just dealt with this fellow and called the police. Mind you while this was taking place, Ann's son was inside the house. I knew enough to know NOT to let this person inside the house.
Any case to make a long story short, the whole door to door magazine sale was a scam. It is unfortunate that the young men selling the magazines were also victims of the scam, because they honestly believed that they were earning points to get into college. I attached a link to magazine scams below. I have been out of the loop for a while, due to Mattie's cancer and death, but as I read the link below, I related to everything happening to me today. I am passing this information along to my readers in case such an incident happens to you. As the police officer told me, these scammers tell convincing and sad stories, and you feel compelled to help. Needless to say, the female police officer stayed with me the entire time, helped me get my cash back, and then removed these TWENTY young men who walked into the community to sell magazines!!!! The police officer was stellar and she gave me her business card in case I should run into any more trouble today. I appreciated that especially since the young man who took my money was VERY mad at me for asking him to give it back to me. Based on his level of instability, I wasn't sure if he would retaliate later.
Door to Door Magazine Scam:
http://listofscams.blogspot.com/2010/01/door-to-door-magazine-sales-scams-tips.html
As the day continued, I felt better because I could see that Ann's neighbors were home, and if I had a problem I would just seek their help. I also had the opportunity to see my friends Mary and Tina, who live in Ann's neighborhood. They drove by while I was planting! Ann's garden is in full bloom now with zinnias, angelonia which is also called summer snapdragons, celosia or the velvet flower, new guinea impatiens, and salvia. Tomorrow is going to be as hot as today, so we shall see how these new additions work out.
When Peter got home tonight, we had dinner outside on the deck and exchanged stories about our day. Mind you Peter was calling me on my cell phone throughout this police incident! Peter and I are trying to recall our time at the beach, and the more relaxed feelings we had last week. Even Patches enjoys our outside time while we are having dinner, and in a way she appreciates us being together surrounded by flowers and Mattie's fountains.
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