Another Friday on the central coast of California

They say "time flies when you're having fun". T and I have been here almost 8 months! I have participated in 7 bag Fridays at the Thrift store. The manager of the store is over 80 years old. She had knee surgery 3 weeks ago. She went in for what she thought was torn cartilage, which there was, due to unexpected findings including a fracture and poorly healed old injury the surgery was much more extensive than expected. She showed up today to manage bag day. She hobbled around but didn't complain and got us all working hard to clear the place out in preparation for all "new" stuff tomorrow. I am always amazed by dedicated volunteers in this age group both in CT and here. They carry the brunt of the volunteer burden. Most of them are women and most of them are widowed now. What will all the non-profits do when this generation passes on? I spoke with a number of the shoppers today. There was a great variety of people - aunts shopping for back to school clothes for nephews and nieces; folks who just like to shop thrift stores; many seniors trying to make ends meet; locals stretching their dollar. Then there are the collectors looking for memorabilia and others looking for treasures.



On my walk today I took a picture of a tree known as a "strawberry" tree. This one had flowers and fruit - the fruit is shaped like, you guessed it, a strawberry!