I didn’t post yesterday because I was too upset about the terrorist attack at the Boston Marathon. I ran Boston in 1981 with a time of 3:37 with thousands of other “back of the pack” runners who just wanted to complete this iconic race and experience the joys of running one of the world’s greatest marathons. My memories of that day are all good, especially “the Chute” at Wellesley College, but even the pain of Heartbreak Hill. In those days, the biggest danger was tripping over another runner at the crowded start. That a perverted mind or an evil terrorist could ruin that experience for thousands of young and old, and take lives, limbs and loved ones away from hundreds, is an abomination. But like many tragedies that are inflicted upon our country and citizens, we shall survive and grow stronger from this experience. We shall likely become a bit more cynical, and much more careful, but we shall prevail. Go Boston! 
While visiting Tampa over the weekend, we took a stroll on the walkway between Bayside Drive and Tampa Bay. We met this guy, Ed, standing on the seawall fishing. We asked if he was catching any, and he replied that he caught 40 or 50 but he believed in catch and release, so he threw them all back. (A man after my own heart… a conservationist… a tender-hearted guy… an inveterate liar… a real fisherman.) Dressed in faded, torn jeans, Ed looked the part of a knowledgeable local fisherman who could give me some sage advice on catching a lunker redfish for dinner. He told me exactly where to fish and what lure to use. The next morning, My Good Buddy Bob and I went to the recommended spot and fished for an hour and a half. I must have caught 20 lbs of…. sea lettuce and sea grass and sea weed… it would have made a meal fit for Neptune. As long as he was a vegan. Sigh…
Our friends Jan and Bob Blythe drove their American Eagle to and from Tampa in company with ours; you know, safety in numbers? After all, Tampa is a pretty wild place. Our Bus had one mechanical malfunction while driving on I-75: a broken passenger side windshield wiper. It would start rotating, and then it would flop too far to one side or another. I thought that maybe the spline connecting the wiper blade and the drive shaft might have worn excessively. Here Bob and I are analyzing the problem. It was a tough one to solve, made all the harder by the fact that since we had stopped at a rest stop on the Interstate, having a beer or three to help our analytic abilities was out of the question, for two reasons: (a) safety on the highway; and (b) My Lovely Bride had forgotten to move the beers from our home fridge to that of The Bus. (Boy, is she gonna be in a world of hurt…. Smack! Hey, Sweetheart, Love of My Life, My Darling Suzanne, I was just kidding… really!) So, when we got back home, I called up the schematic on the Internet for the exploded view of the wiper mechanism. I got out my handy socket set, disassembled the cover, and found that the hex nut holding the wiper arm tight to the spline had simply backed off a half turn or so, letting the arm slip. I tightened it, and Voila! Wiper now works just like new. “A 5 minute RV job!”
I proudly told My Loving Wife of my successful repair, and she smugly said, “Well, Dear, that’s another reason why I know I married the right man; it certainly wasn’t for your fishing prowess…” Sigh…
Suzanne gave a presentation of her new Making the Connection talk for the Awakening Human Awareness (AHA!) Club here in The Villages. Her good friend Lynn Walker, co-president of the AHA Club, introduced her to the 100 members of the Club and others at the Bacall Recreation Center. They enjoyed hearing about the miracles that can happen when attuning to higher consciousness and appreciated the suggestions for anyone wanting to make those connections on their own. (She will give this talk one more time –this Sunday from 2:00-4:00 at the Ocala Inner Center–before we head on our summer tour. See details on the events page of her website). The photo shows Suzanne talking to her assistant, Bev Garlipp, about our upcoming trip. Like last year, Bev is coordinating events across the country. They also will be listed on Suzanne’s website.