Gift cards for the technologically challenged: yes! We received several fifty dollar gift cards for our fiftieth wedding anniversary: August 28, 1966. (Well, we are Catholics and not allowed to leave one another or it will be another thousand years in Purgatory.). Two of them were for Amazon. Whee, I love Amazon. They not only have books, but everything. I will put the cards in my account. What could be simpler?
Almost anything it turns out. I assumed one took the card out of the cardboard holder in order to activate it, but the card would not come out. So I was at the Amazon redemption spot and it said to enter the code. What code, I wondered. In any case I typed in the series of long numbers on the bottom of the cardboard, only to be told that wasn't it. August 28 is now so far removed that I can't remember exactly what the thing said. I tried it twice more, still to no avail. Finally, growing a little wiser, more sensible, I pried open the top of the cardboard and peered down inside the thing. It looked as though there was a real card in there so, using my teeth, I tore into the cardboard holder, and lo and behold, there was the card which had been inadvertently glued to the container. If I had started with the other one, I would have been all right, for it came out of its holder easily. Anyway, I entered the code on the first one, typed something wrong and had to do that again, but I finally got the right amount entered and proceeded to spend it. Technology. Old age. Ignorance and the inability to think clearly.
There is, however, ignorance in the natural world too. Since Tuesday is trash day, noon found me hauling the empty trash and recycling containers to the top of our rather steep driveway. I put them by the garage door and shuffled over to the front door to go into the house. Before I got there I stopped to examine one of our many plants. I was standing there, head slightly bent, thanks to the fused vertebraes in my neck when I heard this very loud buzzing near my right ear. I looked out from under my baseball cap and saw an enormous bee flying about a foot from my face. I started to duck as it dove back at me, and I would confess to being in a state of mortal terror if I had not recognized that the large insect was actually a hummingbird investigating my very red baseball cap. I'm glad to see that all God's creatures have moments of ignorance and incoherence. Once the little lady determined I wasn't a bright red flower, she flew away. It is good to see that the hummingbirds are still here and haven't yet departed for the warmer south. This occurred yesterday now, on Tuesday, the 27th.
In Mary's garden there are still very tall, brilliant red hibiscus blooming, so I guess the little creature's mistake was understandable. Before I figured out what was making that very loud whirring at my right ear, the little flier didn't look so little, especially since I am a common target for very large mosquitos, of which there are as many in the house apparently as out. If I don't end up with West Nile disease or Zika, it will be a real miracle. In any case, the morning started with, okay, afternoon, with that very unusual occurrence that I will undoubtedly not long remember, nor easily forget, perhaps, which is why I am still up recording it. Attacked by a hungry hummingbird! Life is truly delightful.