A visit to the Readers Oasis

Sorry about the lag in posting, but I had the sniffles and slept for about 15 hours straight and now feel fine.  The generator is running so I have electricity and the hotspot is activated to get to the internet...all is well.  I have to say that I miss the ease of instant internet more than having water or electricity.

Yesterday Left Brain and I went into town to pick up a couple more LED lights for the RV and to catch a couple more items on our photo scavenger hunt.  One of those items was simply listed as "Paul".  I suppose I could have shot any old Paul around Quartzite, but my readers would be very disappointed as many have been waiting for this day.

It was a warm sunny day and on the way to the Book Store I wanted to drop off these stupid old prescriptions I'd been carrying around with me.  Left Brain saw an article telling us we could dump them off at the Quartzsite police station.  Finally!  We stopped there on the way to see Paul but forgot it was Martin Luther King day and the police station was closed.  Sigh.  Maybe later on we'll try again.

We pulled up to the Reader's Oasis and what a sight it was.  Everything was stacked and labeled neatly enough but it had the feel of shelves ready to collapse on top of me at any moment. 

And then there was this streak of very tan flesh that whooshed by me.  Yikes! 

That must be Paul. 

But what really caught my attention was the appearance of this black and white cat.  It reminded me so much of Baxter that I just had to make friends.  I guess it really shows my age when I'm more enthralled with a skinny old cat instead of a skinny old naked man.

Thank goodness I had heard about Paul before and was prepared for this, or at least I thought I was. 

I'm not sure anything can get you ready for an almost totally naked old man running around. 

Well, he's not totally naked, he was wearing socks and flipflops, some beads, a hat and a ?????, well, I'm not sure what you'd call it. 

His "wardrobe" consists of a crocheted (at least it looked crocheted, I really didn't get that close to look at it) snood that snuggled over his, er...private parts.  One skein of yard would make a wardrobe that could last a lifetime.  I was wondering if he had special ones for holidays, perhaps with tassels or bells.

The sign said it was okay to photograph but to ask permission first, which I did.  I found it very hard to keep a straight face while asking him this, but managed to stammer it out.

He's a very sweet, soft spoken man and assured me it was fine and answered my questions about the cat, whose name is Booth.




Paul was scampering about left and right assisting people in finding their book or magazine that they were looking for. 

Nobody else seemed to be struggling maintaining a sense of decorum like I was.  Maybe they're used to seeing naked men.



One of the Boomers had stopped by the day before and saw him pull on a shirt, get on his bike and head out for parts unknown. 

At first I wondered about the shirt, then I wondered what if felt like to ride a bike with a bare butt. 

Why a shirt?  Then it hit me.  It must be for those stores that post the warning "no shirt, no shoes, no service". 

Well, he has a shirt and shoes, so I guess he's okay.

I would have liked to get a photo of his face as you never see any images of him without them on, but maybe that's part of what allows him to be so nonchalant while pracing about in the buff. 

Or perhaps he's so used to wearing them that he'd feel naked without them?

When I explained about the scavenger hunt and that I needed to get a photo of him, this is the pose he left me with as he said "Here you go!  I hope you win!"  Not many things leave the Queen speechless, but this did it.

Long Live the Temporarily Blinded Queen