It’s only Tuesday and already I’ve found something to get
excited about this week. And it’s about time. I’ve been off my stride since the
long 4th of July weekend which seemed to drag into a two week ordeal,
making the first half of the month feel like a wash with only one or two
exceptional days thrown it. Today I attended a potluck at the senior hall. We have two potlucks a year because we can’t get food for our monthly luncheons
through the school system’s food service in the summer like we usually do the
rest of the year. One hundred and ten of us each bringing a dish to pass. Can
you visualize the food tables? It was something to see and I’m always surprised
at how the number of desserts and salads always even out at potlucks. The meat,
rolls and drinks were provided for a measly $1.00 each donation.
The entertainment after the potluck was a group of twelve
elderly people including an Irish Catholic priest with a brogue I could have
listened to all day long. Too bad he is married (in the mystical sense) to the church or I would have
tried flirting with him afterwards just to hear him talk. The group did short skits
based on the old time radio format---Joe Friday from Dragnet and Fibber McGee
and Molly style---and when they weren’t acting they were talking in rhyme. I
didn’t catch their group’s name but it was something like The Rhyme and Acting
Club. Everything they did had us laughing but the only story I remember, now,
was performed by a gal pretending to be a reporter interviewing a wealthy woman
with three died husbands and a forth one still living. The first husband, the three-time widow
said, was a banker. The second one was a ring leader at a circus, the third
husband was a preacher and the forth one an undertaker. The punchline, if you
haven’t figured it out by now, was that she had married the first guy for the
money, the second man for the show, the third guy to get readying and the forth
one to go. Hey, in a senior crowd it got a big laugh.
The most exciting tidbit I picked up, though, was about the
parent program to their group. It seems a small local college here in town---we
have thirteen---has a program of non-credit classes for people over 50 who want
to keep learning and enriching our lives through cultural experiences. No tests
or text books required and the courses are taught by their fully accredited professors.
The best part is they’ve got art classes! I went
to this college for a couple of semester’s decades ago and their Catholic campus
hasn’t changed much since those days. The nuns and priests still dress in old
order clothing and judging by the priest I saw today they still enjoy good,
hardy laughter.
So what does this agnostic/Humanist think she will do come
fall? Will I fit in and find classes I want to take? Yes and yes. I’m hoping to
sign up for World Music Appreciation and Drawing if the schedule fits into my
life. If not, they offer thirty classes in each of six sessions a year, I’m
sure to find something I like. They have classes in Philosophy, Exploring Film,
Brain Phenomena, Lewis and Clark, one called ‘The Best Advice I Ever Got’ that
all look interesting. Plus the curriculum changes from one session to another.
If you’re a long time reader at my blog, I know what you’re
thinking: I didn’t like the art classes I took earlier this summer because the
instructor was heavy-handed with religion but those classes were one-on-one
which made it hard to just blend into the background when you don’t agree with
something but don’t want to offend anyone by speaking up. I also get along great with Catholics.
My best friend growing up was Catholic. The entire paternal side of my family
are Catholics. I can talk Catholic dogma with the best of them. I just won’t be
able to wear my Red Hat Society clothing on campus but I don't wear it anywhere else but with the group anyway.
Speaking about the Red Hatters, tomorrow we have a tea.
Thursday my cleaning girl comes, Friday is Movie and Lunch Club and Saturday I
trek south to attend a baby shower for the daughter-in-law of one of my two
favorite nieces. Finally, my family is growing and so is my ability to day-dream
again. ©
