I spent Monday with my cousin, Debbie Lynn, visiting our favorite used bookstore (Book Barn) and clothing store (Tumbleweeds) before getting burgers at Johnny Ad's and going to a beach in Old Saybrook.

I didn't realize how much I needed the water, sand, sun and company.

I am amazed that every time she and I talk we find out another ways we are alike. Today it was how we're both fussy about cole slaw and commercial spaghetti sauce and both will only use the same brands (Roas, and Marie's or Marzetti). We both brought keto snacks, a change of clothes, and clothes to give away. The cool, cotton, sleeveless, patchwork, pixie hem dress we both fell in love with had one in our size. Mine is on order. I also learned today that we are both members of the All You Need Is A Bowl And A Spoon For Any Meal Club.

Our mothers were close and we talk of them often. Right now I can imagine them looking down on us, with their conservative, tailored dresses on their slim bodies and their perfectly coiffed hair and wishing that just once, we'd go shopping at Talbot's instead of some hippie shop.

Coming home I hit five lanes of traffic at a dead stop. Much later I found myself in the lane with the least people merging in before coming to a car that had flipped and was burnt to a crisp. Many first responders were still on the scene.

Closer to what is home for the next two weeks, I got to see the nearly full moon coming over the trees. Thanks to Roberto Vargas who shared pieces from his collection at a bonfire this past weekend, I got to hold a thin, polished slice of the moon. I can't describe what it felt like to be holding a piece of the moon that I have been in love with since I was a child. That I was looking at again tonight.

Back at the bus I saw a beautiful sunset that did not impress Pyewacket.

All was feeling right again after the traffic jam, and then I got a call that someone I love had a heart attack. My immediate thought was to get in the car and drive to the hospital, but then I remembered Covid changed all that.

It was quite a day ... that ended with support from sisters, for whom I am grateful.