Before breakfast this morning, we drove both the van and the truck downtown, where we left the van on a parking lot facing the river carnival parade route. We do this each year so that Mother will have a place to sit in comfort to watch the parade.
Around 9:30, we gathered an ice chest and bottled water, handheld fans and my digital camera and headed for the parade. This year, there was a new feature...water gun fights. We were parked near one of eight or ten large galvanized metal tubs of water (which are generally used for watering livestock), where kids loaded their guns and squirted everybody in sight, including us. I got snapshots of this activity, as well as lots of parade photos, to send to our state newspaper.
At the end of the parade, a fire department truck sprayed water at the crowd as the kids, squealing in delight, valiantly fought back with their colorful water pistols and guns. I stayed busy keeping my camera out of firing range. This was the first year for the water gun activity, but it was such a hit that I'll bet it'll be repeated next year. If I hadn't had my camera with me, I might have joined in the fun too, since it was so hot.
Nothing much happened the rest of today. I spent some time in the yard photographing toadstools and butterflies (see previous blog), as well as uploading the parade snapshots and sending them to my photo editor.
This evening, we steamed new potatoes and yellow summer squash for supper, which we had with fried green tomatoes (unsalted and light on olive oil) and white gravy (not much for me, please). We also had sliced ripe tomatoes from Hubbie's and Mother's veggie garden.
One of the most wonderful parts of summer is the abundance of fruits and vegetables grown right here in our southern state. I relish them and hate to see them go when the season ends.
Saturday, August 2, 2008
Butterflies and Toadstools
The spicebrush swallowtail butterfly above was busy among the zinnias this afternoon. The giant swallowtail below it is the worse for wear, with its tail and parts of its wings missing. With a wingspan of up to six and a half inches, this is one of the largest butterflies in North America.
I snapped the toadstools at two different times of the day, early this morning and early afternoon. The first photo appears to be taken in a mist, but actually, my camera lens fogged over in the intense heat and humidity.
Friday, August 1, 2008
Busy Friday
It's been another scorcher of a day, but maybe not as hot as it's predicted to get the next three days, when temps could reach over 100 degrees, with insufferable heat indices.
We got up at our usual 7 a.m. hour, so that we could be ready to leave for a trip a few hours east to take the camper to an RV shop, where hopefully the refrigerator can be repaired. We dread that it cannot be repaired and we'll have to buy a new one. Even if the current unit can be fixed, it's going to be costly.
After we dropped the camper off, we went to Hubbie's daughter's house for lunch. She served tuna salad on whole wheat bread, sliced tomatoes, and fresh cucumbers and onions in a vinegar marinade. Dessert was low-fat cottage cheese over canned pear halves. It was all good, and very satisfying.
We left Daughter's house around 1 p.m. and stopped to shop briefly at a couple of places before heading back home.
Mother opted out of going with us today, preferring instead to stay home with Shih Tzu and fix us a supper of hamburgers/turkey burgers, along with leftover macaroni and cheese and veggies.
After supper, we went downtown to watch the parade of antique cars cruise Main Street. This was one of the events of the weekend's river carnival festivities. We won't participate in many of the activities...certainly not in the ones at the river tomorrow, where the heat will be unbearable. But we will go downtown for the 10 a.m. parade in the morning.
We got up at our usual 7 a.m. hour, so that we could be ready to leave for a trip a few hours east to take the camper to an RV shop, where hopefully the refrigerator can be repaired. We dread that it cannot be repaired and we'll have to buy a new one. Even if the current unit can be fixed, it's going to be costly.
After we dropped the camper off, we went to Hubbie's daughter's house for lunch. She served tuna salad on whole wheat bread, sliced tomatoes, and fresh cucumbers and onions in a vinegar marinade. Dessert was low-fat cottage cheese over canned pear halves. It was all good, and very satisfying.
We left Daughter's house around 1 p.m. and stopped to shop briefly at a couple of places before heading back home.
Mother opted out of going with us today, preferring instead to stay home with Shih Tzu and fix us a supper of hamburgers/turkey burgers, along with leftover macaroni and cheese and veggies.
After supper, we went downtown to watch the parade of antique cars cruise Main Street. This was one of the events of the weekend's river carnival festivities. We won't participate in many of the activities...certainly not in the ones at the river tomorrow, where the heat will be unbearable. But we will go downtown for the 10 a.m. parade in the morning.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Cardia Rehab and Other Stuff
Again, I got to Cardiac Rehab early this morning and was able to complete my exercises ahead of schedule. Monday and yesterday the scale showed me up two pounds, but today my weight was back to normal. Though I tried to be careful on our trip last weekend, I must have still eaten more salt than usual, causing a water-weight gain.
Today, one of the other patients was experiencing chest pain and numbness in his right arm. His vitals checked out okay, but the nurse gave him a nitroglycerin tablet anyway, and advised him to see his doctor as soon as he left Rehab.
We learned, too, that one of the other patients, a young man in his 30s, who recently graduated from Cardiac Rehab, is back in the hospital today, but we don't know what his status is.
Anytime a fellow patient shows signs of a problem, we all worry about him or her and about ourselves. We all know that having heart disease puts us at a higher risk for suffering heart attacks.
It was cloudy this morning, and there was a sprinkling of rain, so it wasn't quite as sizzling as yesterday morning, and I wasn't pouring sweat when I got home today. The house was quiet when I got here, since Hubbie was gone for his annual physical checkup.
I put together a package of photos to enter in a local bank calendar contest while he was gone, and completed some computer projects. The contest deadline is today, so I had to deliver them to the bank this afternoon.
After lunch, I called a seamstress who does clothing alterations to check on having a jacket altered. This is a very pretty Coldwater Creek jacket that I only wore once or twice before I lost weight. The lady asked me to go to her shop this afternoon so she could do a fitting. She warned me, though, that it will be a while before she can get around to it, since she has a couple of trips lined up soon. I assured her I'm in no hurry for it, since it's a cool-weather jacket, and I certainly won't need it before the end of Sept. or into Oct.
The seamstress asked me how I had lost weight, and I told her I did it through Weight Watchers. She asked me how long it had taken to lose it, and I told her it had taken about a year to lose 40 lbs., a half pound to a pound a week. She said she'd like to lose weight, but is afraid of getting a wattle under her chin. I told her that slow weight loss, along with exercise, helps avoid loose skin.
Tonight was Weight Watchers night for Mother and me. I'm always edgy about going to this once-a-month-weigh-in, even though I'm weighed each day that I go to Cardiac Rehab. As it happened, the WW scale registered a one-pound loss since last month for me, and a two-pound loss for Mother. The WW leader and I agree that Mother doesn't need to lose any more weight. She's not trying to lose, but her appetite has declined over the past few months because of tummy troubles. She is scheduled for a doctor appointment next Monday, so maybe we'll find out what's going on then.
Hubbie was in charge of dinner tonight, and he had potatoes baking in the oven and t-bone steaks on the grill when we got home. Mother doesn't like steak, so she had supper at her own home. Along with the steak and potatoes, Hubbie grilled skewers of shrimp, and served salad and black eyed peas. It wasn't the most heart-healthy meal, but it was delicious.
Today, one of the other patients was experiencing chest pain and numbness in his right arm. His vitals checked out okay, but the nurse gave him a nitroglycerin tablet anyway, and advised him to see his doctor as soon as he left Rehab.
We learned, too, that one of the other patients, a young man in his 30s, who recently graduated from Cardiac Rehab, is back in the hospital today, but we don't know what his status is.
Anytime a fellow patient shows signs of a problem, we all worry about him or her and about ourselves. We all know that having heart disease puts us at a higher risk for suffering heart attacks.
It was cloudy this morning, and there was a sprinkling of rain, so it wasn't quite as sizzling as yesterday morning, and I wasn't pouring sweat when I got home today. The house was quiet when I got here, since Hubbie was gone for his annual physical checkup.
I put together a package of photos to enter in a local bank calendar contest while he was gone, and completed some computer projects. The contest deadline is today, so I had to deliver them to the bank this afternoon.
After lunch, I called a seamstress who does clothing alterations to check on having a jacket altered. This is a very pretty Coldwater Creek jacket that I only wore once or twice before I lost weight. The lady asked me to go to her shop this afternoon so she could do a fitting. She warned me, though, that it will be a while before she can get around to it, since she has a couple of trips lined up soon. I assured her I'm in no hurry for it, since it's a cool-weather jacket, and I certainly won't need it before the end of Sept. or into Oct.
The seamstress asked me how I had lost weight, and I told her I did it through Weight Watchers. She asked me how long it had taken to lose it, and I told her it had taken about a year to lose 40 lbs., a half pound to a pound a week. She said she'd like to lose weight, but is afraid of getting a wattle under her chin. I told her that slow weight loss, along with exercise, helps avoid loose skin.
Tonight was Weight Watchers night for Mother and me. I'm always edgy about going to this once-a-month-weigh-in, even though I'm weighed each day that I go to Cardiac Rehab. As it happened, the WW scale registered a one-pound loss since last month for me, and a two-pound loss for Mother. The WW leader and I agree that Mother doesn't need to lose any more weight. She's not trying to lose, but her appetite has declined over the past few months because of tummy troubles. She is scheduled for a doctor appointment next Monday, so maybe we'll find out what's going on then.
Hubbie was in charge of dinner tonight, and he had potatoes baking in the oven and t-bone steaks on the grill when we got home. Mother doesn't like steak, so she had supper at her own home. Along with the steak and potatoes, Hubbie grilled skewers of shrimp, and served salad and black eyed peas. It wasn't the most heart-healthy meal, but it was delicious.
More Yard Critters
The gulf frittilary butterfly above, and others like it, were drawn to the zinnia flowers last evening. The bumblebee in the bottom photo and his pals are the bane of the hummingbirds, because they monopolize the feeders. Bumblebees are especially prolific in our yard this year, for some reason.Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Wednesday Ups and Downs
Today was a make-up day for me at Cardiac Rehab, after missing Thursday's session last week. Since I got there about 8:45, as usual, I was allowed to begin exercising right away, and was able to finish well before 10 a.m. Afterwards, hot and sweating, I braved the merciless sticky heat to my even more mercilessly hot car, where I turned up the air conditioner full blast for the ride home.
I couldn't wait to take a shower, which helped cool me down. But as soon as I'd gotten ready for the day, Hubbie and I were back out in the heat to run errands. We had several stops to make, including to the bank to drop off two shopping bags full of spiral notebooks...our contribution to the bank's annual collection of school supplies for underprivileged kids. From there, we went to the pharmacy to pick up more prescriptions for me. With high blood pressure and heart disease, I have to take several medications. Hubbie is one of those lucky ones who, in his 70s, is still in wonderful health and takes no medications.
From the pharmacy, we went to the farmer's market so I could choose a variety of vegetables to steam for a meal. Next, I picked up the free Branson show tickets I'd won in a drawing at the Sears store. Lastly, we went to the worldwide discount chain store to re-stock on bread, milk and other essentials depleted after our trip.
An hour later, we were back home. Hubbie and I reviewed the four sets of Branson show tickets we now have to see when they expire. The ones I picked up today expire Oct. 31. We had already planned to make a trip to Branson sometime in the fall, and now we saw that we need to schedule it no later than the end of Oct.
I checked online to see what the cost of an extra ticket to each show for Mother will cost. What we do when we have free tickets or ones we've picked up economically at silent auctions, is buy an extra one and then split the total cost three ways. We do this because Mother refuses to let me pick up the full tab.
It's possible that we will be able to find tickets at a lower price than those quoted at websites, because we know someone who can guide us to bargains. Hubbie tried to call this person at her job today to get more information, but she was out with a sick child. So Hubbie talked to her boss, who is a friend of ours. The friend has been battling breast cancer for several months, and today informed Hubbie that her doctor advised her to quit her job and go home and work on her "bucket list," meaning she is losing her battle, and she needs to get her affairs in order and do some things she's always wanted to but never had time for. She's only in her 50s, the age of one of Hubbie's daughters, and we are just heartsick.
After hearing this news, the three of us sat around for quite a while, lost in our own thoughts, before we decided we needed to get up and do something to relieve the stress. Hubbie went outdoors to water his gardens, I also went outdoors to photograph butterflies, and Mother put chicken breasts into the slow cooker for supper.
Tonight, Hubbie and I decided to go to a movie. Again, we tried to use our complimentary tickets, and again there was absolutely no one around to give them to. So we went on into the theater. About 13 of us were there to see "Mama Mia." We knew half of the folks and visited with them before the movie started.
"Mama Mia," rated PG13 for some sexual references and one brief scene of a guy's behind, is a delightful musical that lifted our spirits. It might be considered a chick flick, but even Hubbie enjoyed it. I'll definitely want to buy the DVD when it comes out.
I couldn't wait to take a shower, which helped cool me down. But as soon as I'd gotten ready for the day, Hubbie and I were back out in the heat to run errands. We had several stops to make, including to the bank to drop off two shopping bags full of spiral notebooks...our contribution to the bank's annual collection of school supplies for underprivileged kids. From there, we went to the pharmacy to pick up more prescriptions for me. With high blood pressure and heart disease, I have to take several medications. Hubbie is one of those lucky ones who, in his 70s, is still in wonderful health and takes no medications.
From the pharmacy, we went to the farmer's market so I could choose a variety of vegetables to steam for a meal. Next, I picked up the free Branson show tickets I'd won in a drawing at the Sears store. Lastly, we went to the worldwide discount chain store to re-stock on bread, milk and other essentials depleted after our trip.
An hour later, we were back home. Hubbie and I reviewed the four sets of Branson show tickets we now have to see when they expire. The ones I picked up today expire Oct. 31. We had already planned to make a trip to Branson sometime in the fall, and now we saw that we need to schedule it no later than the end of Oct.
I checked online to see what the cost of an extra ticket to each show for Mother will cost. What we do when we have free tickets or ones we've picked up economically at silent auctions, is buy an extra one and then split the total cost three ways. We do this because Mother refuses to let me pick up the full tab.
It's possible that we will be able to find tickets at a lower price than those quoted at websites, because we know someone who can guide us to bargains. Hubbie tried to call this person at her job today to get more information, but she was out with a sick child. So Hubbie talked to her boss, who is a friend of ours. The friend has been battling breast cancer for several months, and today informed Hubbie that her doctor advised her to quit her job and go home and work on her "bucket list," meaning she is losing her battle, and she needs to get her affairs in order and do some things she's always wanted to but never had time for. She's only in her 50s, the age of one of Hubbie's daughters, and we are just heartsick.
After hearing this news, the three of us sat around for quite a while, lost in our own thoughts, before we decided we needed to get up and do something to relieve the stress. Hubbie went outdoors to water his gardens, I also went outdoors to photograph butterflies, and Mother put chicken breasts into the slow cooker for supper.
Tonight, Hubbie and I decided to go to a movie. Again, we tried to use our complimentary tickets, and again there was absolutely no one around to give them to. So we went on into the theater. About 13 of us were there to see "Mama Mia." We knew half of the folks and visited with them before the movie started.
"Mama Mia," rated PG13 for some sexual references and one brief scene of a guy's behind, is a delightful musical that lifted our spirits. It might be considered a chick flick, but even Hubbie enjoyed it. I'll definitely want to buy the DVD when it comes out.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Yard Critters
Critters were busy in our yard this evening. The dragonfly and tiger butterfly above cooperated nicely while I got several shots of them. The silhouette of the dragonfly is a little eerie, but I like it.
Photos From Grape Festival
Here are a few snapshots from the grape festival...grape stomping contest, jugs of juice from the stomping, a unique license plate, a street sign, and a young man with pie on his face after his contest attempt. He didn't win, but he did get plenty messy.Monday and Tuesday
It's back to business as usual. Yesterday (Monday) was occupied with doing laundry and other tasks related to getting the camper and the house back in order after the trip. Of course, there were errands to run to the newspaper office, the Post Office, the bank, the pharmacy, the health store, and the worldwide discount chain store. There was email correspondence to catch up on, the Sunday newspaper and a couple of editions of our local paper to read, photos to be uploaded and sent for printing at the one-hour service, favorite TV shows to be scheduled into the DVR, the week's menu to be planned, and so on.
I did manage to get an exercise session in on my home treadmill yesterday morning, and this morning, I went to Cardiac Rehab. I needed these sessions, since other than walking around at the festival, I didn't get any exercise while on the trip. It was just too hot to ride bikes or walk.
While at Cardiac Rehab, one of the patients I exercise with, who manages the local Sears store where we went recently for an open house and to sign up for prizes informed me that I won a trip to Branson, and the tickets are on his desk waiting for me to pick up. I asked him why he hadn't called to let me know about this, and he said they didn't call anybody because the winners were announced on the radio. I rarely listen to the radio.
For a change, we didn't run errands this afternoon, so it'll be tomorrow before I can pick up the tickets.
I did manage to get an exercise session in on my home treadmill yesterday morning, and this morning, I went to Cardiac Rehab. I needed these sessions, since other than walking around at the festival, I didn't get any exercise while on the trip. It was just too hot to ride bikes or walk.
While at Cardiac Rehab, one of the patients I exercise with, who manages the local Sears store where we went recently for an open house and to sign up for prizes informed me that I won a trip to Branson, and the tickets are on his desk waiting for me to pick up. I asked him why he hadn't called to let me know about this, and he said they didn't call anybody because the winners were announced on the radio. I rarely listen to the radio.
For a change, we didn't run errands this afternoon, so it'll be tomorrow before I can pick up the tickets.
Grape Festival, Day Four
Sunday, July 27: we slept until 7:30 this morning, and then had a breakfast of Cheerios, peaches, toast and milk. We were on the road home by 9 a.m. The weather was tolerable. Fortunately, we didn't have the problem leaving the town square that we'd had upon arrival Thursday, when we and the driver of an 18-wheeler got to an intersection simultaneously. Instead of allowing us, with our truck and 32-foot camper to turn right, the semi driver opted to nose into the narrow two-lane road, blocking us.
Hubbie tried to slowly back up, but, unable to see what was behind him, he tapped the bumper of a utility van. He got out to inspect, and the van driver was worried that we might have damaged his front end. There wasn't even a scratch, but Hubbie hastened to let the van driver know that our bicycles on the back of the camper might be damaged. They were not, so Hubbie got back in the truck. I decided at this point that I needed to get out and direct traffic. I stood in a position where the traffic behind us, the semi driver, and Hubbie could see me, and proceeded to motion the traffic to back up, back up, back up. Then I helped Hubbie back up without bumping the van behind him. Finally, the semi driver was just able to maneuver his rig past our rig, with me sandwiched between. Yikes! Not a pleasant place to be.
Our trip home today was without incident, thank goodness. We stopped at noon for a PB&J sandwich. By this time, the day was hot and sultry. An 18-wheeler was parked beside us, and on the rider door was a notation: "In Memory of Shelley, Linda, & Christian." We wondered if these were the driver's family who had been killed in an accident, or if someone who drives for the company was involved in an accident that killed those folks. Either way, it was sad.
It was a good trip, but we were glad to get back home.
Hubbie tried to slowly back up, but, unable to see what was behind him, he tapped the bumper of a utility van. He got out to inspect, and the van driver was worried that we might have damaged his front end. There wasn't even a scratch, but Hubbie hastened to let the van driver know that our bicycles on the back of the camper might be damaged. They were not, so Hubbie got back in the truck. I decided at this point that I needed to get out and direct traffic. I stood in a position where the traffic behind us, the semi driver, and Hubbie could see me, and proceeded to motion the traffic to back up, back up, back up. Then I helped Hubbie back up without bumping the van behind him. Finally, the semi driver was just able to maneuver his rig past our rig, with me sandwiched between. Yikes! Not a pleasant place to be.
Our trip home today was without incident, thank goodness. We stopped at noon for a PB&J sandwich. By this time, the day was hot and sultry. An 18-wheeler was parked beside us, and on the rider door was a notation: "In Memory of Shelley, Linda, & Christian." We wondered if these were the driver's family who had been killed in an accident, or if someone who drives for the company was involved in an accident that killed those folks. Either way, it was sad.
It was a good trip, but we were glad to get back home.
Grape Festival, Day Three
Saturday, July 26: we were up by our usual 7 a.m. hour. Breakfast was Mother's homemade quick breads....date nut, banana, and pumpkin...along with grapes, cantaloupe and peaches.
About 9:30 a.m., Hubbie and I went to the festival. Mother opted to stay at camp. According to predictions, the temp was to rise into the high 90s, but this morning was fairly pleasant.
On our way to the festival, we looked for a farmer's market, where we could buy tomatoes. We were told that the vendors gathered in the town square, but we saw only one, and he was selling watermelons.
So we stopped to fill up with diesel again, and then went on to the festival. Despite several signs declaring that no dogs are allowed in the park, we saw all sorts of breeds there. Maybe the ordinance is lifted, or least relaxed, on festival weekend.
Today, I bought a festival t-shirt that I can wear to exercise in. It's shocking pink, with a grape cluster/festival logo. However, it isn't dated, and the back doesn't sport business advertisements, as the annual t-shirt does. I like this plainer one much better.
Hubbie bought a festival wine glass; in so doing, we were able to sample as many wines as we wanted for free. There was no danger of drinking too much, though, since samples were so small, and Hubbie and I shared those.
Today's festivities included several grape stomps, a grape pie eating contest, a waiter/waitress contest, where contestants filled large, plastic, stemware with what looked like Kool Aid, placed the stemware on a plastic tray, and tried to carry the tray to another point, where they then had to try to pour the liquid into a small-mouth jug.
Some adults, but mainly kids, participated in the stomps and contests. I snapped pictures of the contestants, and after the pie-eating contest, an older gentleman commented that he'd forgotten to bring his camera and could I send him the pictures I'd taken of his granddaughters. I advised him that I do charge for photos, and he agreed to pay. I'm frequently asked to provide snapshots that I take, so I think I need to set up a website for selling them. Right now, though, I go ahead and email them and trust the customer to be honorable and send me payment for whatever photos that are chosen. So far, this has worked fine.
Around noon, we headed back to camp, stopping at the roadside fruit stand to buy a half bushel of peaches. Today, there were also tomatoes for sale, and we bought several.
After lunch, we headed back to the festival. This afternoon, we enjoyed the entertainment, which included a very talented and professional African American singer. Other entertainment featured a country and western band and singers, and a band that played and sang 50s music.
I'd brought along cold lemonade, handheld fans, and wet wash clothes to help keep us cool in the heat of the afternoon. While it was indeed hot, it wasn't as oppressive as Friday night. We only stayed about an hour or so, though, before leaving to go to one of the wineries to pick up bottles of white and red grape juice for Mother.
We were back at camp by 3 p.m. I felt pretty wilted by this time, so I took a shower, and then we decided to nap before suppertime. Supper was turkey bacon, lettuce, tomato and Vidalia onion sandwiches, sauteed potatoes, and black eye peas.
After supper, we sat outside for a while. All was calm, except for a train that trumpeted and snaked its way along the track on the other side of the lake. About 8 p.m., we went indoors to play Skipbo. Hubbie won two games, I won two, and Mother won one. At our Thursday night game, we each won one. Sometimes, we are each convinced that we never win, but when I keep track of games, it turns out that we all do our fair share of winning.
Just after we went to bed, we heard thunder and saw lightening, so Hubbie went outside and rolled up the awning in case of wind. The storm skirted us, though, and we didn't even get a drop of rain.
Grape Festival, Day Two
Friday, July 25: we were up by 7 a.m. After a breakfast of bagels with cream cheese and Mother's homemade strawberry preserves, and fresh fruit, we headed to a town a few hours northwest to visit with Hubbie's daughter, son-in-law, granddaughter, and two great-grandsons.We took along an ice cream bucket of sliced watermelon and a bag of peaches...our contribution to lunch.
We traveled the scenic byway, enjoying rolling hills covered in summer-green trees. Along the way, a lighted tunnel cuts through one of the hills. Mother, who is somewhat claustrophobic, was glad it's a short tunnel. I thought it was interesting.
We arrived at Daughter's house about lunchtime. She had prepared a delicious lunch of chicken and tuna salads, a choice of fresh veggies and/or chips with jalapeno cheese dip, and a platter of fruits that included the watermelon and peaches, as well as strawberries, cherries, and pineapple.
After lunch, we adjourned to the yard, where the kids played in a wading pool, and Shih Tzu enjoyed the swing, and a peddle car. She particularly liked the swing and would grunt when she wanted Hubbie to push her.
Shih Tzu was very well-behaved until about 3 p.m., when she began yelping, her way of announcing that she was ready to leave. Before heading out of town, we stopped by Granddaughter's house...this was our first time to see her creatively decorated new home. Granddaughter has two pets - a silver cat who comes and goes at will through a pet door, and a mixed breed dog that lives in the backyard. The dog is rather large, and very friendly...so friendly that he jumped up on me. On his way back down, one of his toenails found a slit in my sandal and scraped the hide off my little toe. I winced but said nothing, though it bled and stung.
Back at camp, we had a supper of cold meatloaf sandwiches, because somehow we'd failed to get the leftover lasagna into the ice chest. Later, we went to the festival. It was oppressively hot and humid this evening. There was no breeze, and the throng of people, plus the heat generated by various food concession booths, made it terribly uncomfortable. Mother and I made only one tour around the small park before she was sweating and ready to find a bench.
As is the case with many of the festivals and crafts fairs we've been to, there was an abundance of jewelry vendors at this one. One vendor featured dog clothes, another had locally produced honey, and homemade jams and jellies. There were several vendors displaying logo t-shirts and caps, and others selling wood and ceramic crafts. One vendor featured retro clothes, including wedding gowns and veils. The lady promoting these clothes displayed one gown with cowboy boots as a wedding theme suggestion.
For the kids, there were inflatable bounce structures, a rock climbing wall, and a "train"...several barrels cut in half and mounted on wheels and pulled by a lawn mower fashioned like a train engine. There was also a horse and carriage for rides.
We stayed long enough to buy generous and reasonably-priced quarts of sweet Reliance grapes from one of the vendors and then left to find a spot for the fireworks display.
We were early for the show (or so we thought), so Hubbie left the truck motor running so we could cool off. Right away, I asked if my camera tripod was in the back seat. No, it was at camp, thanks to a miscommunication between Hubbie and me. Since we thought we had more than 30 minutes to spare before the fireworks started, we decided to go back to camp and retrieve the tripod. Twenty minutes later, we were back at the fireworks site...just in time to see two bursts and the final salvo. Seems they decided to start the display way earlier than the stated time. Boo.
Back to camp. By this time, we'd had enough day and were ready to hit the sack.
Monday, July 28, 2008
Grape Festival, Day One
Thursday, July 24: the photos above show a lighted bridge at sunset, which can be seen and photographed from a vantage point in the Corp of Engineers Park, where we camped during the weekend. More about the bridge, and the geese, later in this blog.
We got up this morning at 6 a.m. and were on the road by 8:30, ahead of the worst heat of the day. As we traveled, we listened to an audio book we'd started on a previous trip: "Circle of Three," by Patricia Gaffney. This is a very good book about the bonds and interconnections among a mother, a daughter, and a grandmother.
Upon finishing that book, which took about an hour, we started another one: "Seize the Night," by Dean Koontz...a typically eerie story from the author.
The trip was uneventful, except for getting a ding in the windshield when an an 18-wheeler rolled past flinging a pebble in its wake. Colorful wildflowers grow along the highway, including an abundance of white and pink evening primrose, orange butterfly weed, cattails, and purple flowers that I wasn't able to absolutely identify...they could be Carolina larkspur, chicory, or rough blazing star. There was also one misplaced hibiscus with two huge, red blooms. Among the trees, there were mimosas sporting pink, fan-like blooms, and in the yards of homes along the way, red, pink, and purple blooming crepe myrtle bushes and trees were putting on a show.
We stopped once for lunch, and then proceeded to the campground. In the afternoon, Hubbie and I ventured to town to tour the grape vineyards. I had hoped to do some snapshots of grape clusters, but the fruit was not yet ready. So we went on to a winery and tasted a couple of samples, particularly an antioxidant deep red, sweet variety that was very tasty. We bought a bottle of this and then went to a roadside fruit stand to buy peaches. We bought a big bag of a locally grown, luscious, free-stone variety for only $5.
From there, we went to a filling station to buy diesel for the truck. Hubbie tried to purchase the fuel with a credit card, but was advised he had to check with the cashier. He did this, and she turned on the computer pump. Hubbie still couldn't get the pump to work, so back to the cashier he went. Oops, she had turned on the wrong pump. This time, Hubbie was able to fill the tank. As he was finishing the task, the cashier came over the intercom to tell him she needed to swipe his card again, since she had entered the info for the wrong pump. Back to the cashier he went, took care of the situation, and we were finally able to head back to camp.
By this time, we were ready to enjoy our supper of sliced cold meatloaf, microwaved baked potatoes, and French style green beans. The evening was July warm, but there was a breeze, so after supper, we sat outside and enjoyed watching the ducks skimming the water toward their roosting grounds, somewhere close to the dam. At one point, a tug boat pushing four barges loaded with lengths of molded steel somethings we were unable to identify, chugged slowly past our campsite, and into the lock located on the opposite side of the small lake.
Around 8 p.m., Hubbie and I went to the far end of the campground, where I set up my camera and tripod to get sunset photos of the bridge shown above, which is listed as one of the sixteen most beautiful bridges in the nation. On the bank across from where I was set up, was a flock of geese, all standing perfectly still and quiet, as if in expectation. After a long while, one of the geese, the leader, I suppose, having received some internal signal, honked loudly and proceeded down the bank and into the water. One by one, the others dutifully followed, and off they all swam toward the bridge.
A young family...dad, mom, and two kids...were fishing off the boat ramp. Dad hooked something that was strong enough to pull him into the water and snap his line. He waded out of the water just as a boat putt-putted to the ramp. The family, and we, took this as our cue to head back to our campsites.
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