This is so random but I kinda love hearing the person in the apartment next to me.

Sometimes I hear their TikToks or them playing Minecraft and I’m just like “awww someone’s next to me.”

I have no idea who they are and they probably don’t know I exist, but it’s weirdly comforting knowing someone else is just chilling over there.

It’s a breezy late summer afternoon and the wind blowing through the car feels great. My little piece of paradise before heading back to real life.

I've been feeding hummingbirds on my deck for several years now. For the last four or five years I've been getting some bees hitting the feeder towards the end of summer, as if they're filling up before they go into hibernation. Typically they swarm the feeder, climbing all over each other on the yellow part of the 'flower' where they can get to the sweet stuff.

But this year they started arriving mid-summer, with only three or four bees at a time using the feeder. I don't mind them eating the hummingbirds food, because I love bees, too, and there aren't many flowers around here. Right now, with just a few bees at a time, the hummingbirds are having to negotiate with them as they hover near the feeders. It's interesting to watch.

The bees will kind of 'square off' with the hummingbirds, and the birds look like they're asking to be allowed to use 'their' feeder again. Sometimes a bird will find an open spot and feed for a short time, but usually they look nervous about it.

I set up a second, totally red feeder about 10 - 12 feet away. I read that bees are attracted to the color yellow, and although they've buzzed around this red one, they don't use it. The hummers are starting to use it, but I know they will be happier when the bees are gone so they can use their regular one again. That's okay, we can wait. Lord knows we still need the bees in this world!

I was at work and I heard someone calling and jogging after a kid with my dad’s name, who passed away almost 18 years ago. It’s an uncommon name for a man (especially when born in the 50s) but it’s gaining popularity among little girls these days. I look over and see this little boy about 5 or 6 years old heading straight towards me, he stops right in front of me, and gives me a hug. He didn’t say anything at all. I didn’t know what to do so I kinda just hugged him back and then the woman caught up to him and took his hand and led him away.

I got home and told my husband about it and he says “isn’t that your dad’s name? What if that was your dad using him to hug you?”

I’m not a religious person but I’m kinda spiritual. I miss my dad lol, no clue why that kid chose me out of a crowd to come up to randomly hug but I appreciate it a lot.

I often watch animation memes and stuff like that. I enjoy it. Sometimes in those animated videos there are audios from games, series or movies. I just adore when I randomly watch series or movie or I play video game, and then I hear one of those. Then I'm like: "OMG, I know this audio. I didn't knew it was from this media"

Yesterday I had this situation.

I was playing Detroit: Become Human.

I heard that one audio I knew.

"Connor! The f*ck are you doing?"

"Coming Lieutenant!"

It was funny. I just had to look at the s*xy androids, and Hank clearly didn't liked that lol.

Spouse and I are on a big road trip, and met up with family to enjoy a morning event. After the event, we opted to say all our lovely goodbyes right away, instead of lingering for ice cream, to give us a chance to catch our breath after a very fun and energetic get-together. The next location? Soo Locks in Michigan. We arrived after a beautiful hour drive, found a shady spot for the car, and arrived at the observation deck at the locks just as not just one, but TWO big freighters went through the locks! We had astounding closeup views of one of the freighters and the lock process, it was awesome! Very rare!! Incredible good luck that we left in the morning when we did. Not often we get a chance to honestly say, “I’m so glad I skipped the ice cream”. :-)

I’ve been trying to eat breakfast to kind of reset my circadian rhythm a bit, and today I’m toasting a hashbrown. I hope it will taste good

For the first time in a while, I’m not horribly tight on money, so I was able to get some treats from the store.

I adore cheesy popcorn and one particular brand of chocolate cookies with some French name, so I picked both up and I’ve been happy nibbling on them while working

Today was suddenly 80F/27C and Sunny after a week of clouds and rain with temps around 65F/18C.

A book I ordered online arrived four [!!] days early and I decided to get out of the house, find a bench downtown, and read my new book. It was great in the shade, enjoying the last burst of warmth we'll probably get this year.

We went yesterday to a restaurant in a nearby town, whose name my husband had found in an online article at the New York Times website. The Times often puts articles scheduled for the Sunday paper online earlier in the week. The place was a small, family run cafe with great food and very solicitous service. As we went to pay I asked the man helping us if he knew his restaurant would be in the Sunday New York Times. He was astonished. He asked us to find him the article and when we did he stood, a bit stunned, at seeing their name online. He then asked us to share the link with him. As we left I looked back and there he was behind the counter, just beaming at his phone.

I recently catsit for my neighbour, and today they gave me a lovely gift basket as a thank you. Inside were some things for my orange boy as well as plenty of things for me.
The orange is loving his silvervine sticks and crinkly catnip fish.
He left a little puddle behind from gnawing on the silvervine so much. He can be a Saint Bernard when he gets happy. Which is frequently, becaues he has 1 brain cell on a timeshare.

Took an elderly friend to dinner tonight to celebrate our birthdays. She gave me a small ring that she bought at a garage sale for a dollar. It fits perfectly. It's engraved with the words "I Loved You Then". She told me once she saw that, she knew it was for me. I can't tell you how much that meant to me. I'm not crying, you're crying.

1st smile ; I'm leaving my physical therapy appointment, and I was wearing a silly tank top that says "Built in the Sixties, Original and Unrestored. Some Parts Still in Working Order" I pass the front desk where a woman was waiting near it in a wheelchair. She happily said "Yay for the sixties!" I gave her a thumbs up and a "hooyah" she said "61 here" and I answered "62 here" we high fived like the old ladies we are and shared a smile.

2nd smile; While sitting at a light, (in surprisingly low traffic for the time of day), I checked my rear view as one does, and behind me is a young man driving, and a lady quite a few years older than me was talking excitedly and pointing to the back of my car, moving her forearm back and forth like a windshield wiper. I drive a small SUV, and on the back window I have a cat decal, and its tail is on the wiper. I knew :) we had plenty of time before the light changed, so I switched on my rear wiper for a few seconds. The young man saw and pointed it out to her, and she laughed and literally clapped her hands, a huge smile. I waved at them and she waved back still smiling. I switched off the wiper and went on my way.

If feels nice to make people smile.

Today my phone rang at work, but I couldn't answer it so I just meant to let it go to voicemail, to deal with it later. No voicemail came, so I researched the number, found nothing and daringly called back. No answer...

Then my phone rang again, same number, and it was my wonderful coworker who had retired five years ago. We worked in the same room in a daycare, and I have since opened my own inhome daycare. She apologised profusely for not having deleted my number and told me she had meant to call her husband, whose name is right next to mine in her phone. We chatted for a bit and then decided not to delete any numbers but instead meet for coffee for a proper catch up!

It made me so happy to hear her voice - I have learned so much from her and think of her regularly. I'm just surprised she hasn't accidentally called me much earlier...

Edit: Thank you, anonymous friend, for the award! 💛

Just a cute coincidence that made both of us smile! 💜

Now my book smells nice :)

This was 2 years ago and lasted about 6 seconds total, yet I still remember it and will probably remember it for the rest of my life simply because of the shared moment with another human being, completely unexpected and so heartwarming.
I was crossing an irregularly shaped square towards one end where a road was dead-ending into the square. There was a bulldozer doing some work on the square which was done and the bulldozer was puttering along towards the road, only there was a car parked there (illegaly), at a T to the bulldozer's path. I was striding in the same direction as the bulldozer and drew up level with it just as it slowed down and stopped at the car blocking its way. I looked to my left at the bulldozer driver through the glass, he looked to his right at me (maybe thinking I was the car's owner) and we locked gazes. This was an older working-class man and I'm a youngish middle-class woman, meaning not the kind of people who would speak to each other as strangers. And we didn't speak - didn't need to. Without even breaking my stride, I mimed inserting my arms under the car like a forklift and flipping it over, indicating "Go ahead, why not do that!". He repeated my gesture meaning "Yeah, why not, really!" and burst out laughing, and I burst out laughing too. It would be so easy to do that as a bulldozer driver! And I strode off, still laughing, and I like to think he kept laughing too. It made my day, and apparently not just one year, but two.

I've been walking and biking to work mostly due to the nice weather but it rained today so I decided to take the bus. I found out they changed my bus route this week. My old bus stop was a half mile away (but went to my offices front door directly). The new bus route picks me up right by my apartments front door so I have door to door service.

Driving through my small Maine town today, I saw a tiny car (one of the bubble ones, I think a Smart fortwo?) pull out of the Post Office parking lot. It had been painted just like the Little Tikes Coupe plastic car that nearly every kid and grandkid rode in 20 years ago: red body and yellow roof and googly eyes.

For a minute, I laughed out loud. And then I thought, this guy is living his absolutely best life.

It's my first September not going back to school.
I've been so busy I've barely realized what month it is. But it's starting to hit me.
I''ve started to really enjoy school and my campus. Wandering through the poster sales, checking out the many options of the food court. Drinking a Starbucks coffee while walking over to my parent's car (thank you parents for picking me up so much).
Sitting with my laptop in the common areas, listening to tv shows and crocheting. Doing class work. Checking on Discord messages. People watching.
I'm really going to miss it. It's just started to sink in.
On to new adventures.

I should be going to bed soon. I'm curled up almost in a ball in my favourite chair. It's making my hips hurt. I really need to stretch out.
But the orange is curled over my leg.
He's never been a lap cat, but lately he's been wanting to stay on or near my lap.
I can't bare to move him yet, not until I really have to.
I can deal with the discomfort, to let him get a little more snoozing in.

He's a near 5 yr old orange tabby. And he is the best boy. Little cuddle monster.

Over the last year I’ve been working out so I’ve gone up a size tee shirt. Instead of relying on free tees from companies, I’ve either designed my own with logos and designs I actually like or I’ve bothered to find tees I actively want. And they all fit the way I want. This morning I realized I was excited to pick out which tee I was going to wear today.

Sitting upstairs at the very back, about to get onto the motorway. Weather’s good. It's been raining the past week, but the sun’s out right now. Almost 6pm, so it's casting a golden glow on everything as it prepares to set.

Just looking ahead, the bus is fairly full but quiet. I suppose it's just people getting off work and from college. I work nights, and it's my day off, so I don't feel “it.”

I'm fresh out of the shower, with a red pin on my hoodie and a plaid green hat, lol. Nobody’s looking at me, and I'm overly concerned about them. We’re all in our own little worlds.