WEDNESDAY POTPOURRI

Know what this is?

Considering the wisdom of my readers, I suspect you will identify it.

But the answer is down below.

I went to the big mall over in Prescott a few days ago and spotted what I first thought was a tribute to the Washington Nationals for winning the World Series.

But it was just a kiddy play area.

My trip to the mall was prompted by finding a pair of reading glasses that had gone missing at least six months ago.

I had searched the house, the garage, the car and had inquired at a couple of stores I visit and at the public library.

No one had found them.

And I had finally given up.

Then they turned up on the floor beneath our recliner.

I thought at first they were a pair belonging to SWMBO.

But when she saw them she said they weren't hers and they appeared to be my reading glasses.

When I tried them on I was amazed to realize she was correct.

They apparently had gotten into the works of the recliner and stayed there until somehow they had finally worked themselves out.

But both of the lenses had a scuff on them and Judy said if I took them to the store where I bought them several years ago the optician could probably grind that off.

So that was why I went to the mall, arriving at 9 a.m.

Only to see signs on the eyeglass store and most of the others that they didn't open until 10 a.m.

So I walked around a bit and then sat in a comfortable chair and read my email, nodding to the occasional passers-by intent on fitness by walking, back and forth, from one end of the mall to the other and repeating.

Now I am of a certain age and that is way too much exercise for me.

But I applaud them.

Finally the clock reached 10 a.m. and I was the first (and only) customer to enter the eyeglass store.

I explained my problem, handed the man the glasses and was promptly told that he could spray clean them but my wife's solution of having the scuffs ground off wouldn't work because it would change the prescription.

Well!

This was a venture into futility.

But the scuffs are on the upper part of each lens and I've found that when I read I look through the bottom half, sort of like bifocals, so they work for me anyway.

Doing a quick segue to another topic, last night was sort of wakeful for me and I didn't rise from the Arms of Morpheus until after 7:30 this morning . . more than an hour after my usual time.

Judy was already up and she asked me if I had heard the hailstorm.

"What hailstorm?" asked I.

She said the ground had been covered with small hailstones about 7 o'clock this morning.

I had missed the whole thing.

We were planning a short road trip today but with the possibility of scattered thunderstorms we have postponed it until tomorrow.

I'm not sure why I have carried on so much here this morning but I did and there you are.

Oh, the picture at the top?

It's blue denim.

A close-up of my jeans-clad leg.

I'm a rock star.

A view from a scenic overlook just up from Jerome, Arizona.