Still communicatin’

Look hard and you can see the double top left. (iPhone photo by BobbaLew.)

—As you all know, Yr Fthfl Srvnt continues low-level communicatin’ with his aquacise instructor.
She’s cute for her age, and she suggested aquatic balance-training for me in her YMCA swimming pool in Canandaigua, where she’s head instructor.
My balance is going south — I’m diagnosed with neuropathy.
I don’t know if she’s married, but I think she is. We never discussed that, but with others I have.
If there’s one thing I learned since my wife died, it’s that friendships with women are much more pleasant than with men. Men often become suspicious, or combative. Maybe not physically, but verbally.
And friendship with women flies in the face of how I was brought up. “NO PRETTY LADY WILL ASSOCIATE WITH YOU!” That’s notorious Hilda Q. Walton — no explanation needed. (Click that link if you don’t understand.)
Sadly, my first contacts with this aquacise instructor, among others, were overwrought.
She probably was no more interested in me than any of her other male clients, but never before had a pretty lady seemed interested in me. So I overreacted.
How I remain friends with another early contact I have no idea, although I didn’t have her phone number.
I did have my aquacise instructor’s phone number, so a blizzard of texts began. I also had another lady friend coaching me to be more forward (thank you *****, never again).
I cut back, but our communicatin’ continues. —At a much lower level. Occasionally I try to stop altogether, but “Oh ***** **** might be interested in this.”
Recently I photographed a rainbow (above) for my brother’s Facebook. I mistakenly also put it on my own Facebook.
Much to my surprise that lady reacted right away. I didn’t photograph it for her.
We’re Facebook “friends,” thanks to a fast-one by SuckerBird and his cronies.
We’re worlds apart, but I thought she’d be similarly horrified when I mistakenly killed four baby robins.
She was.
Other pleasant memories remain, even though they go back to “too many texts.”
—Once she texted me from Detroit’s airport. She was probably flying back to Rochester after flying home to VA. She was probably responding to one of my too many texts.
—I took a picture once to prove I’d been out Canandaigua’s City-Pier, and she thought it fabulous. It’s Canandaigua’s famous boat-houses (below), and my photo was barehanded in frigid weather with a lunging dog.
My picture is also a repeat of similar artsy photos — the boat-houses do that. There’s little photographer input. It’s just a pot-shot.
—She began Facebooking photos she took herself. Most were pretty good, and one was extraordinary.
—I gave her a packet of seeds my wife wouldna thrown out. I think she understood — most wouldn’t.
—I Facebooked my “Chessie” blanket (also below), and she “liked” that. For most it would be “who cares.”
—Knowing I’m a railfan she texted me a Tumblr® video of Nickel Plate 765, the BEST restored steam locomotive I’ve ever seen. She wouldn’t know it was 765, but I did immediately, and told her.
So here we are still communicatin’. She could tell me to stop, but she hasn’t. It’s much more low-level than before, but we continue.
I feel like I’m sharing the same things I shared with my wife.
The other night I cranked that iPhone rainbow picture into my Photoshop-Elements, and I manipulated it a little. I pumped up the color saturation, and darkened it a hair. I was so blown away: “that’s something ****** **** might wanna see.”
Previously it was my wife. I’m not lonely, and I’m not bored. But our friendship is pleasant.

Years ago, probably the teens or ‘20s, a Chesapeake & Ohio railroad crew found a stray cat on one of its passenger trains. They adopted the cat, and nicknamed it “Chessie.” “Chessie” became the railroad’s mascot. As many more railroads were merged into Chesapeake & Ohio, C&O renamed itself “Chessie System.” “Chessie” was emblazoned on the front of its locomotives. Even more railroads were merged into “Chessie System,” which renamed itself “CSX.” “Chessie” was retired. (iPhone photo by BobbaLew.)

Canandaigua’s boat-houses. (iPhone photo by BobbaLew.)

• “SuckerBird” is Mark Zuckerberg, founder and head-honcho of Facebook.
• “Color saturation” is how intense the colors are. If I were to “pump it up,” I would make reds even more red, yellow more yellow, blues more blue, etc. I can exaggerate the colors in a rainbow. With Photoshop-Elements I can increase or decrease the color-saturation different from what the camera saw. I can also increase/decrease brightness, contrast, tint, lots of things. Photoshop-Elements is great fun!
• My beloved wife of 44&1/2 years died of cancer April 17th, 2012. I still miss her. BEST friend I ever had, and after my childhood I needed one. She actually liked me.