Friday, January 30

Only twelve of us showed up for water aerobics this morning, which wasn't surprising, since so many folks are still without power today. The college campus was strewn with downed pine trees and branches, though debris had been cleared and piled alongside the sidewalks. The water in the pool was cool, but it felt good to get a workout.

One of the ladies said a large pine tree fell on the roof of her house, leaving a hole in the roof. Most of us, though, escaped relatively unscathed.

I didn't accomplish much for the rest of the morning after I got back home. For lunch, Hubbie and I had chef's salad, served with banana muffins, and bowls of fresh fruit. After lunch, we ran a few errands. First we took the gallon of 11-bean soup, in four Styrofoam containers, to the church where they, along with several other varieties of donated soup, will be sold at the arts council Soup Saturday fundraiser.

From there, we stopped by a grocery store to pick up on-sale fresh strawberries and grapes. Then we went to a farm supply store to pick up birdseed.

Back home, I did a report of income and expenses of my 2008 artist-in-education and freelance photography activities for Hubbie to add to other income tax info.

After that, it was close to supper time. Tonight, we had turkey burgers on wheat buns for Mother and me, and beef hamburger for Hubbie. These were accompanied by sauteed potatoes and corn on the cob.

This evening, we went to the college to attend a concert by an a capella ensemble, comprised of five singers from Holland...three women and two men. These extraordinary singers performed sacred music tonight, but there repertoire ranges from Renaissance to music of our era.

We arrived at the college, as did several others, at 7 p.m., which was the time that was stated in both the regional and local newspapers. But it turned out the concert wasn't scheduled to start until 7:30 p.m. So we were invited to gather in the chapel to hear a short talk about and demonstration of the huge pipe organ. It was an interesting prelude to a wonderful concert.

At the concert, a lady who is both a member of water aerobics and Master Gardeners said that she and her husband lost five trees in their yard to the ice storm. We hated to hear this, though we're thankful that they were not hurt and their home was not damaged.