Bureaucrats, Sunshine, and Friends
Our car insurance company said they were going to cancel our policy next week if I didn’t offer proof of turning in my license. My license expired during Covid when AAA shut their Cape Cod office I could get to with minimal danger. My car had already died, basically of old age. Everything was falling apart. We donated it for parts. I was supposed to get a Special Id, necessary for flying or crossing borders. I collected all the information, we finally got an appointment at the Registry of Motor Vehicles [RMV] on Wednesday and off we went.
The woman behind the counter looked at the social security I’ve used since I was fifteen. She said, it wasn’t a legitimate social security card. But it’s the only card I’ve ever had the one I’ve used all these decades. It’s tattered and hardly pristine, but still quite legible. She also said our tax return form wasn’t valid. Etc etc etc etc. Nothing was legitimate in her judgment. She treated me as if I were a rather stupid child. It was entirely frustrating, actually infuriating. The only good thing was that the security guard noticed me standing there leaning on my cane and wobbling and brought me a chair. It was kind of him to notice and then to help.
The one thing that cheered me up was that we had a nice supper and then my poetry group came over. We hadn’t met in December so I was particularly glad to get feedback on recent poems that I then edited the next morning. I got a piece of paper that is a temporary ID [not special] but that also said it wasn’t to be used for identification????? Anyhow, Fedco seems to have accepted that and has stopped threatening to cancel our car insurance.
Saturday might we had friends over whom we hadn’t seen in more than a month. That was pleasant and we made a delicious dinner of salmon with pesto [they don’t eat meat]; asalad and a Julia Child dish of pureed pumpkin with cannelini beans and lot of gruyere. For an appetizer, we served scallop shells stuffed with scallops. Dessert was panforte. I fell in love with panforte in Sienna years ago. Every December I order one.
Woody got fresh scallops yesterday. We’ll have some later in the week.
Dale finished putting in the corrections to the 2nd section of my new book on Monday. I then could finally get started on it again. I had been feeling a bit depressed but as soon as Dale left and I printed out the 2nd section – now having the whole book in my hands to read through it. I was suddenly happy, very happy. I realized I missed working on the book. Now I’m energized and totally involved again.
It has been grey and dank, but Sunday the sun finally came out. I’m writing this on Sunday instead of on Saturday as I usually do. We get too much sun now in much longer summers and less in the winter when it’s also soggy. When I first moved to Massachusetts from the Midwest, I was delighted how much sun we enjoyed as opposed to what I’d grown up with.
I need to get on with ordering perennials so Dale can call in the order tomorrow morning. I used to order far more, but now just a limited amount, just 4 or 5 types at most. I haven’t ordered dahlias yet but did order calla lilies and begonias, both flowers I grow in pots along with two types of marigolds I start from seeds. The third type I start goes into the vegetable garden to offer some protection.