After a rusty P.o.S. truck passed us the other day, hubby and I laughed about this piece of junk being painted in camouflaged design! That makes no sense at all. If a vehicle is to become invisible on the road then it should be painted to look like tar and gravel and potholes and squashed possums and white lines and signs --- anything that would blend in to the surroundings of the interstates.

Instead, this duct-tape special was painted in tree camouflage! Nothing stands out more, running down the highway at 70 MPH, than a disguised leafy green tree, right?

I was heading a meeting yesterday, when someone's hearing aid started to buzz. It got louder and louder and then two or three more joined in on the song. Everyone looked around, slightly embarrassed. Next thing I knew, elderly women were pulling hearing aids out right and left and I had to bite my quivering lip! None of them could figure out who was buzzing, so we continued the meeting over the singing noise.

My dear older lady friends would be surprised to know that I never noticed they were even wearing a hearing aid!

Yesterday's newspaper had an article about how many of the Baby Boomers are needing hearing aids, but they refuse to use them because it will make them appear older. I'm sure it's true, because we Baby Boomers don't want to age even though eventually the Rock & Roll generation must face up to it.

Inventors are being sensitive to this perceived stigma, so businesses are designing hearing aids to look like the person is listening to music, on the phone, or is wearing an earbud, iPod, or Bluetooth. What a marvelous idea --- everyone is running around with something stuck in their ear nowadays, so who knows or cares what it is? They all look the same anyway!

Our recent travels brought us close to the Ave Gardner Museum in Smithfield, North Carolina, so we stopped. I had been wanting to visit this tribute to one of our sexiest movie stars whose career spanned more than forty years! It was worth the hour and a half sidetrip --- I recommend it.

When I was growing up, Ava was always there in the movies whether in the lead role or in the background. Her movies are a blur now, but she was beautiful by any era's standards. Sometimes she looked like other stars of the day like Gina Lollobrigida or Elizabeth Taylor. At one point, she even looked like my oldest sister Bev, of Older & Wiser!

Ava was a small town girl who, because of her beauty, was discovered at age 17 and it changed her life forever. She married three times --- actor Mickey Rooney, musician Artie Shaw, and singer/actor Frank Sinatra --- all were brief unions, but she stayed friends with all of them.

My husband and I know we saw many of her movies during our lifetime. We just don't remember them anymore! So we have decided to pick out some that interest us and begin rediscovering Ava's talent. The list is extremely long --- The Snows of Kilimanjaro, Mogambo, The Barefoot Contessa, On the Beach, The Night of the Iguana --- to name a few. You've probably seen her and didn't even know it!

Our first pick was On the Beach from 1959. It's an apocalyptic story, where the only place untouched is Australia and a US submarine is there with Gregory Peck as the captain. A beautiful black & white film, we thought it was ahead of its time and still has a message for today about our abilities to wipe out the human race. Unfortunately, like most older movies, you'll have to turn to Netflix since these films are not at the corner video store anymore!

Also, check out the museum's website for a complete filmography of Ava Lavenia Gardner: www.avagardner.org/

 The strangest thing happened next door to us this week. Our neighbors of two years moved out after three days of hard work packing their belongings into a huge moving van. That wasn't the strange part, though. The enormous blue and white van parked across our driveway, sealing my car in the garage most of the day!

Desperate by late afternoon, I finally figured out a way to drive on my yard and around the end of the van, circle the neighborhood and then escape. In coming home, I repeated the bizarre route to my garage and my husband did the same. We didn't mind being blocked in for a day for a neighbor even though they never asked us. To this point, they have been a nice quiet couple who spent the last two years remodeling their Asian-style house and landscaping the yard.

The next day, I found the huge van totally blocking my exit and one of the workers' cars parked on our grass, so that I couldn't get out at all! Okay, I changed plans and stayed home because there was no way out. Even the mailman couldn't get to our mailbox either day as he left us a note on the third day. The van had stopped our mail delivery by blocking our mailbox --- rain or snow, be damned, if you're blocked in by a van!

That third afternoon, my husband came home and couldn't get to our garage again via the driveway. He was HOT by this time and went and told one of the workers to get the van moved. Of course, the worker said "I just work here" and told my husband it was our problem! That's when the moving van owner was informed, in no uncertain terms, to move the van now!!!

Within a few minutes our soon-to-be-ex-neighbor, came over and apologized and told us the vehicles would be moved immediately and they were. This has left our next-door neighbor "friendship" tainted. I wish them good luck in their new home and I hope they have learned that the people next door need to use use their cars every once in awhile.

2. July is also Anti-Boredom Month. What have I done to elude the mundane, you ask? See #1.

3. Today is Friday the 13th and, in some circles, a day of very bad luck. Anyway, I don't believe it --- it's just another wonderful day in paradise! Right? Life is good for those who work hard and plan ahead for the years of goofing off in retirement.

4. A confession of forgetfulness: Oh dear, I've been missing friends and family members' birthdays during the last couple of months! Usually, I'm on top of those special days of celebration --- so do you think it's only summer laziness? Or is my mind totally blown? (Please keep comments to one page or less.)