That's quite some array of fancy grapes they got in your neck of the woods. I like the Cotton Candy flavored ones the Sam's sells in summer. Never heard of those others. See - I'm not above shooting the breeze about trivia. Sometimes it's refreshing to chat about what is truly unimportant. We all need an occasional break from considering how not to end up on a ventilator.

She only recently got a smart phone. (That's a whole other story.) I've encouraged her to learn the joys of texting. I text her now and then, but she never texts back. She'ld rather call.

Her problem is she misses her job that she got let go from. She was there for years in the accounting dept. She insisted on picking fights with people over what she considered inappropriate expenditures. She may have been correct, but she kept challenging someone who had more power than her. That person arranged her dismissal. She kept provoking this supervisor by challenging her use of money. She loved playing a game of gotcha. She discovered that her supervisor charged a Sonic hamburger to a business expense account. She made an issue of it, saying the supervisor had no authorization to use that business charge card for buying lunch. Her supervisor had the last laugh. That's why I say she gets into foolish rivalries to see who will have the last word. It all seems to be a game with her.

She believes in a lot of stuff I consider superstition. Last week she called me to say that some astrologer friend told her that a lot of current lawless behavior was being caused by the position of the planets. She knows I have zero interest in astrology. Years ago I used to argue with her about stuff like that. Then I suspected she was partly pulling my leg. So now I don't get lurred into debating anything with her. I just say her astrologer friend might be onto something.

She has been a decent friend to me from time to time. I don't want to lose site of that. Ideally, I want to keep alive the bond between us, without feeling several times a week that I'm kinda being played. Maybe I need to take more initiative in giving her some quality time and attention on my terms, so she may feel less need to seek reassurance that I'm here for her.