Lots of nice things happened this week. We had a lovely Memorial Day. Rick and Suzie were up getting Rick’s new house set up. Ed and Lynne invited them and us for hamburgers. It was a perfect, relaxed evening.

Danita and I went to the BMA to see their mosaic art. There’s plenty of mosaic art in Turkiye. This visit should put is in the mood, so to speak. When we were done, it just happened to be lunch time. Why not have lunch at Gertrude’s? They aren’t cheap, but they’re worth the money.

Mom has good news. Charlestown decided she is eligible for in-home PT, fully paid by Medicare. Mom has had two sessions so far. She has improved enough that she is now sleeping in her bed.

And … we had a Grillin’ and Chillin’ event at the club house Friday. Our events coordinator has been at loggerheads with the SO board. He quit this week. But this event survives the disruption. We went over with the Jonse’s. We had bad hamburgers, good sides, good deserts, and a fun time.

In spite of all those lovely events, I still have a hot mess. We use a Level 2 charger to charge our electric car. The car stopped charging. The first thing is to figure out whether the problem is with the car, or with the charger. It sounds easy. There’s charging stations near Walmart. Unfortunately, these are all high speed chargers. I needed to test the level 2 charger. I found a level 2 charger near Trader Joe’s, but I couldn’t test it because that charger doesn’t accept credit cards. I finally found a level 2 charger at the Nissan dealer. The level 2 charge port in the car works! Now I know that I have to repair or replace our charger. Unfortunately, we’re leaving on a trip Wednesday. The issue will have to wait until we get back. In the meantime, we’re using the trickle charger.

Mom has been having problems with her phones. Sometimes the phone will go “off hook” and nobody will be able to call her. I thought we had the answer, but she had the problem again. Mom has been using four cordless phones. Yesterday, I took them all out and replaced them with a single simple old fashioned land line telephone. That should let her reliably receive phone calls until we get back.

My bike has two wheels in the front. Both wheels are connected to the bike with tie rods. These ensure that both wheels are pointed in the same direction. One of the tie rods came loose. When both wheels don’t point in the same direction, the bike does unexpected and extremely exciting things. It was impossible to ride the bike, or even roll it down the street. I was several miles from home. I called Danita, but she was at the pool. So I knocked on a door and begged a ride home. Fortunately, I have a brand new trike rack for the car. I hooked up the rack, drove back to the bike, loaded it up, and drove 45 minutes to the dealer where I purchased the bike. Parts are on order. They should arrive about the same day we are leaving for Turkey. There’s another issue that has to wait.

In addition, I got my feet banged up in the most exciting bike ride. It was nothing more than a minor inconvenience — or it would have been, if I wasn’t scheduled to leave on a tour of Turkiye that requires a lot of walking. I’m taking it easy and hoping for the best. Ah … life’s little troubles.

I hope this finds everybody doing well.