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Here’s where I sit every day, doing all my writing, and looking out on the world. My actual view is from slightly lower down, since I took the photo standing. From my chair, I can see less of the neighbor’s roof, a good bit of the lake, the tree canopy at the top, and a lovely cloudscape., which right now consists of small, puffy cumulus crowding in from the northwest, moving very slowly in the still air. They don’t even show up yet on my radar.

i walked this morning before the sun came up, when it was already about 76. Now it’s almost up to today’s predicted high of 90. The sun’s still bright here, but if the clouds make it a bit farther south, we’ll actually get the predicted rainshower. I don’t expect another Frogstrangler like we had yesterday, though, which dropped an inch in just over an hour. #thegirlwhotalkedtoomuch #americangoverness

I know I’ve mentioned this little stream before. I’m so grateful to the city for directing rain runoff from the tennis courts and golf course to join this tiny stream, and leaving a completely wild area (that can’t be much more than a hundred yards or so wide, if that) between it and the backyards of houses on the next block.

In this steamingly hot summer, it’s wonderful to walk past it in deep shade from a row of scrub oaks, on a nice level sidewalk where I won’t trip….Well, actually, I did trip one day. I was hugging the right side of the sidewalk because bikes often tend to come ripping past on my left, and my right foot happened to land partly off the edge. Carried forward by my long stride, I did a full-on face-plant on the concrete. Bleeding from my left eyebrow, cheek and lip, I looked around. I could see cars parked over by the tennis courts, but no people in sight.

Mentally checking my various parts, I decided, “OK then, I’ll do it myself.” Nothing hurt anywhere but the face, and I had a tissue to keep the blood from dripping. I got myself up, very awkwardly, and walked 15 minutes home. It was wonderful feedback on how strong my bones are. Nowadays, I walk in the middle of the sidewalk. The bicyclists can look out for themselves!

I’ve been offline for a bit, since I got a new computer, and haven’t moved into it completely yet. On my old computer, my Word program told me it could no longer edit and save, and that I needed a subscription to Microsoft 365. I actually have one; it comes up for renewal on August 28. I did learn that the update is beyond the capacity of the old computer, so maybe that’s why, but it seems very strange.

This post, made on the old computer, is sort of a test….to see if it will publish at all. I know I can’t copy or paste it to any of the places I usually post copies. If it does publish, then it’ll be the last done on this computer, and the next will be posted from my brand new Macbook Neo.

Here’s a photo of her giving a demonstration. It’s a bit hard to see, but this painting features a white orchid in a setting of green leaves and branches.Notice she’s not holding a brush.

She was a fingerpaint artist, and in the 1950s, the Grolier Encyclopedia used her and her work to exemplify fingerpainting as a serious art form, not just one for children. She made all her own paints, mixing powdered pigments into a base made of corn starch. It was not, unfortunately, a medium which stood up well to the passage of time. She studied art in New York City in the late 1920s.

This big hardbound notebook, 8″x12″ and an inch thick, contains my grandfather’s closely written notes from medical school in 1896. I found it in a box of old family photos that I inherited.. I also found a photo marked that year, a ‘report card’ for Histology Lab in Freshman Year, and a membership card from the YMCA, showing $3.00 as the annual dues.

I know he took a year off in 1898 to serve as a Medic in the Spanish American War, stationed in ‘Porto Rico.’ He returned to college, finished his degree, then did his residency at Brooklyn Hospital, where he met my grandmother, a Bermuda girl who was Head Operating Room Nurse there.

Years ago I donated her two nursing uniforms to the Indiana State Museum. He was from Sullivan, Indiana, and she had served as his office nurse in Terre Haute after they were married.

Ten years after their marriage, they moved to Auburndale and set up a practice. He was killed in an automobile accident there while doing his medical rounds in 1921. I also found a box containing personal items which were removed from his body; a necktie, a wallet, and a checkbook-folder.

I’ve asked the museum if they are interested in accepting all of these items as well.

but something knocked the Beware of Alligators sign askew. It’s one of the sights on my morning walk, and I always keep a lookout for them. In the Spring, I hear them grunting sometimes, and once, I’m pretty sure I saw one…. I heard a great splashing, and thought I could see something spinning in the water, the way an alligator does to drown its prey. I was as close as I wanted to be, so I’ll never know for sure. But alligators or no, it’s a lovely place to walk in the shade and relative cool of early morning! anndickinsonsargent.com. #thegirlwhotalkedtoomuch. #americangoverness

I love being able to walk daily beside this tiny cypress swamp. I’ve always loved growing up in an area that enabled me to peek into these utterly wild microcosms without having to go on safari. They’re particularly wonderful when the rising sun sends low-angled beams of light into the thickly wooded areas, glinting off the standing water around the roots of the trees. I think I’ll get out earlier next time and see if I can catch it! #thegirlwhotalkedtoomuch #americangoverness

When I was growing up in Winter Haven, Florida, the city had a Volunteer Lifesaving Corps, and my sister Linda and I served on it for four summers each. I don’t know if it’s still in existence, but it was well run, and our members guarded beaches at lakes around town.

After passing the required Red Cross courses, we went through initiation by the lifeguards at Daytona Beach. We had to jump off the end of the pier, swim a half-mile parallel to the beach, and then come in. During my swim, a great gray shape surfaced beside me and I looked over to see the curious eye of a large porpoise. He wouldn’t let me touch him, but he escorted me to the turn-in point. I felt very protected, knowing a porpoise can kill a shark.

One of my granddaughters is working as a lifeguard this summer in Atlanta, and I dug out old pictures from those days. I found this hilarious one I call Awkward Lifeguards. I’m on the left, in all my 16-year-old gawky glory, apparently trying to affect a glamorous pose. Linda, 18, is on the right, unprepared for the photo with her eyes closed.

#thegirlwhotalkedtoomuch. #americangoverness

His name is Mr. Pooh Bear, or Pooh for short. He’s an orange Bullseye Tabby, (meaning he has bullseyes on both flanks), a completely indoor cat, who enjoys catching lizards on the screened porch and bringing them in to chase.

Every day, in no uncertain terms, he explains that it’s time for me to lie down for half an hour with him curled under my arm, paws and head on my chest and purr rattling in my ears.

When i’m working at the computer, he requires me to put a quilt across my legs so he can curl up in my lap. When I watch TV in the recliner in the evening, he reminds me to put the blanket across my legs so he can stretch out to my knees and get in some serious sleeping.

Here’s what I found when I went to take his portrait for this post:

At Christmastime in 1961, I was a governess in Schloss (Castle) Neufraunhofen, living with Count Georg von Soden-Frauenhofen and his wife Countess Elisabet and their five children, affectionately nicknamed Buale (Buddy), Alfie, Susie, Hitti, and Puppe (Little Doll). The castle was in Niederbayern, or Lower Bavaria, meaning in the foothills of the Alps. This antique zither was my Christmas gift from the Countess, along with weekly lessons, for which I walked to a nearby village, rain, snow or shine.

I can no longer play it because of arthritis in my fingers, and am giving it to a grandson of mine who’s a musician. Besides extra strings and a simple wooden case, it comes with a tuning key and a copy of Volkstümliche Zitherschule (Folk-style Zither school). It’s decorated with a scene from Lohengrin…just a decal, I’m afraid.

The story of my year there can be found in my book, American Governess, which is on Amazon under the author name Ann Dickinson Sargent, and on my website, anndickinsonsargent.com.