I had trouble getting to sleep last night, so I was groggy when I got up at 6:30 to get ready to go to water aerobics. The water was wonderful, though, as usual. Thirty-three of us showed up for the session, so we were shoulder to shoulder during the workout, and from time to time, someone accidentally kicked or elbowed a neighbor. We were all still very quiet today, after being chastised Monday, though our leader jabbered the whole time, which caused us to look at each other and roll our eyes.
After I got home and ready for the day, Hubbie and I ran errands...to the WDCS for milk and bread; to the bank; to the grocery store that sells my favorite brand of cottage cheese; and then to another grocery store that was selling packages of frozen veggies ten for $10. This store is also the only one I'm aware of that carries my favorite brand of chocolate fat-free ice cream, and I picked up couple of cartons of those.
At home, we settled for PB&J sandwiches for lunch, with milk and bowls of sugar-free Jell-o with canned mixed fruit. At 1:30, we went to the art gallery to help haul items in our van to the restaurant on the river, where the Summer Celebration was held this evening.
At the restaurant, we helped set up tables of silent auction items, and then we came home around 3 p.m. to relax until 5 p.m., when we had a supper of cold roast beef sandwiches on slices of yeast bread, and microwaveable baked potatoes. Nibbles and drinks were offered at the event, but not enough to make a meal from.
We didn't get to the event until nearly 7 p.m., and by then the parking lot was full. We finally found a space hidden down a hill, close to the river, near the restaurant's balcony seating area. A couple of hundred people packed the restaurant, many of whom were standing in line to the refreshment and drinks table when we walked in.
A couple we know were about halfway down the long line, and in chatting with them, we learned there were two spaces available at the table where they were seated, and they invited us to join them, which we gladly did.
I sat at the table and visited with the others there, while Hubbie got in line for refreshments. He brought back a plate of fried chicken wings, tortilla chips and salsa, and fruit...cantaloupe and honeydew melon, and grapes, plus drinks. I ate a couple of bites of melon and a grape or two.
One of the ladies at our table introduced herself, saying she saw me modeling clothes at the Go Red Luncheon last February, but didn't remember my name. I didn't remember her name either, but I did remember that she wore the same red jacket, trimmed in sparkles, that I modeled at the luncheon. We laughed about the coincidence, and then she related a story about a similar incident she'd experienced years ago, before her husband retired as an officer in one of the military services.
She said she and her husband attended a very dressy affair, where the officers wives were expected to dress formally. This lady had returned to our small town earlier to visit family, and while here, she found a beautiful formal dress to wear to the affair. When she and her husband arrived at the event, the wife of a higher ranking officer than her husband, approached her wearing (horrors) the exact same dress as this lady.
Apparently, the woman had bought her dress in a large eastern city and had been assured that it was the only one of its kind. "Where did you get that dress!" she demanded of the offending lady.
When told it had been purchased in a very small southern town, she said, "Go to the other side of the room, and don't be anywhere near me for the rest of the evening!!"
How petty and ungracious. Not a bit the way a southern lady would behave. We would have laughed it off, and maybe even prevailed upon someone to snap a picture of us together.
The evening's entertainment was a blast...two local businessmen dressed in Blues Brothers outfits, with black sideburns (their hair is gray, which peeked below their fedora hats), mimicked the Blues Brothers dances, while they lipsynched the songs. They were hilarious and the audience exploded in laughter and applause. These guys are a long way from being young, so we were surprised when one of them even did cartwheels on the dance floor!
The second entertainer, with short, gray hair, and dressed in a sparkly shirt, with a white coat and several scarves around his neck, performed Elvis Presley songs to an appreciative audience. At one point, he wandered through the audience, stopping to let an "adoring fan" pull a scarf from his neck.
While the entertainers performed, audience members wandered in and out of the room where the silent auction items were on display. All but one item was bid on and sold. The black and white photo I donated...a 5x7 print of a striped tulip, displayed against a black mat and framed in an 8x10 black frame sold for $55.
I won the bids on two items in the silent auction...two tickets to a symphony orchestra performance in October, and an original pen and ink drawing of a Japanese woman in traditional dress. This will become a Christmas gift for Mother, who loves anything oriental.
The live auction included a large original colored pencil drawing by one of our arts council members, who has won numerous national awards, and who is currently on exhibit at a New York gallery. Her work sold for several hundred dollars, as did a week's vacation package to a Florida beachfront condo, and a pair of diamond and ruby earrings.
The event ended with a drawing for a cruise. One of the Master Gardener members won that. After that, there was more music and dancing. Hubbie and I took a turn around the dance floor a couple of times, before we helped clear the silent auction area and loaded stuff into our van to be taken to the gallery tomorrow.
We were home by about 10 p.m., and ready to hit the sack after a long and busy day.
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