The Light Fantastic

Another rainy day, perfect weather for visiting the neighbors so we walked one door down to call on Ruth and Joyce. Ruth is 95 years old going on 96. She was dressed in her Sunday best, having already been to church. Joyce, her daughter, was also nicely dressed in slacks and a blouse that looked vaguely tropical. Perhaps her taste in clothes reflects her line of work, which is selling condos in the Baja. Before that, she owned a game shop in Jack London Square. The first thing we saw upon entering their house was a splendid 1,000 piece puzzle put together on the table. As soon as we admired it, she destroyed it with one grand sweep of the hand; then put the pieces in a bag and handed it to us. "Your turn." 

We sat down to a table of purple grapes, salmon spread and tortilla chips, which we munched on while sipping ginger beer. First we talked of health while Joyce bounced up and down on her big blue exercise ball. Then we thought up ideas for a game she was inventing for her friend's 80th birthday party. She brought out a big photo book of the 20th century. We were supposed to go through it and think up do-you-remember questions. That was difficult because so much of the 20th century was a downer. We ignored the two World Wars, the Holocaust and the Atom Bomb and stuck to the light fantastic. What kind of dances do you remember from which decades? Joyce sprang up from the couch to illustrate the Charleston. 

The afternoon flew by. It ended when Ruth brought out her latest quilt for us to view, a splendid affair composed of African textiles. "It's a Crazy Quilt," she said. "A little harder to make than my usual ones. I used smaller squares."