A pleasant day--bike repair, lunch and dinner with friends

This morning, both Jim and Lewis Bundock, the contactors who keep my house in repair, showed up to fix my out-of-control exercise recumbent bike. Took them about an hour--all the complicated directions Nautilus had sent checked out fine, but Jim finally called them and figured out how to reset it. I had started yoga for the day so finished it, but tomorrow I'll try the bike. Plumbers bid is in, and work should start next week on replacing the bathroom sink and rebuilding the commode in the main bathroom and in the guest house. And I should hear about the furnace next week--so far it seems to be holding its own. I figure things come in threes and I've had my three--bike, plumbing, and a/c. Of course I haven't paid for any of them yet!
Lunch today with a much younger colleague from the TCU library--thoroughly enjoyed it. We have a lot in common and a lot to laugh about. Tonight I fixed supper for Charles' daughter, Marsha, who is blind. When I went to pick her up, I didn't realize the friend she's staying without is also at least partially blind, so I waited in the car. No more--when I took her back, I walked her to the stair railing.
I've never spent much time around a blind person and not much even around Marsha, but I've learned to give her my left elbow, warn her about steps and obstacles, and generally get her in and out of the house safely. I suggested a meal out but she wanted to see my cat. She's also on a low-fat, no salt diet, so I fixed a salad of canned potatoes (oops, they probably had salt), that good canned tuna I order from Oregon (minimal salt), tomatoes, celery, scallions, and carrots, with a homemade vinaigrette. Delilcious if I do say so. I quickly learned to put Marsha's hand on her wine glass, her bowl of fruit, and the spoon for it. What I kept forgetting is that she can't see me when I talk, so as usual I talked with my hands and lots of gestures. Even worse, when she said something I'd nod and then realize that wasn't the appropriate response. But we had a good visit, and I enjoyed it. I hope to see her again, before she goes back to Alburquerque on the 18th. Being with someone who is not sighted is a good lesson in learning how people get along in the world and what you can do to help them. We talked about Charles, of course, but it was unsentimental happy talk--he would have liked it.
Busy days ahead, but that's good.