Wednesday, June 17

We were up at 6:30 a.m. this morning, so I could get ready to go to water aerobics. About 35 folks showed up at the pool today. The number of people who come increases with the warm weather. In the winter, there are days when fewer than a dozen of us show up.



Before I left for the pool, I gave Hubbie a birthday card...today is his 75th birthday. The front of the card features two goldfish smooching. It reads "Happy Birthday....(inside) to the catch of a lifetime." And he is.

Today at water aerobics, our leader lectured us on how noisy we are. She said she's gotten a complaint that one member cannot hear her instructions because of our chatter. Our leader, bless her sweet heart, chatters constantly between instructions. Nevertheless, we were all silent today. But several ladies were offended at being chided, so she'll probably get more complaints.

Once a member has been through the routine several times, it is not necessary to see every move the leader makes...we're sort of on automatic pilot. So we like to chat while we exercise. The complainant who has trouble hearing her needs to move closer to the front. I'm way back in the back, and I can hear her fine, because, being a former teacher, her voice carries very well.

At the pool, we ladies trade lots of information, like where the best fresh fruits and vegetables sales are, who is ill, whose grandchildren are graduating from high school or college, who has a new great-grandchild, etc. Water aerobics will certainly be a lot duller if we can't chat. In fact, some members will probably drop out. I'm anxious to see how everyone behaves Friday. Hubbie says the results of the lecture probably won't last long, and we'll go right back to chattering soon.

Back home, after I showered and dressed, I got busy getting the house ready for Hubbie's birthday party Saturday. Later, after we ran a couple of errands, we walked down to the whimsical garden on the west side of the house, where I rearranged yard art. Hubbie put the items out a few weeks ago, but he has a tendency to just line stuff up like little soldiers, while I prefer to place things here and there, at the base of trees, or peeking out from the leaves of plants, etc.

This afternoon, too, I called the scrapbook club members to remind them of our meeting tomorrow afternoon. The member whose great-granddaughter suffers from a brain tumor reported good news. The tumor is not the rare kind that was first suspected, and doctors say that this one is much more treatable. Surgery removed most of the tumor, and she is now on meds, but she probably will not have to undergo chemotherapy or radiation treatments. I'm so glad about this.

She also reported that a friend of hers was recently diagnosed with meningitis, after being found unresponsive in her home. The lady went to visit her friend in the hospital and held her hand (this was before the diagnosis was made). So now, she is taking a strong dose of antibiotic to prevent her getting the disease. She is not quarantined, however, so she'll be attending the scrapbook meeting. I researched online about the spread of meningitis and learned that it is not easily spread, except through direct contact with infected nose and throat secretions. And this lady is not infected.

For supper tonight, we made beef tips sauteed with bell peppers and onions, which we had with baked potatoes, and garden salad, plus jalapeno blackeyed peas for Hubbie. I also grilled shrimp for the meal.

I gave Hubbie a small gift after supper...a travel hair dryer. The dryer is intended for him to use for Shih Tzu after he bathes her, because often after he uses mine, he forgets to take it back to the upstairs bathroom, which I usually don't discover until I'm out of the shower, with a wet head, and then I have to jump in a robe and run downstairs to fetch it, because Hubbie is out in the yard, or something (try reading that sentence out loud without taking a breath.)

This is not his main gift from me of course. I plan to help him get the pressure washer he wants, once he knows how many gift cards he gets Saturday. He doesn't expect family members to give him gift cards, but he knows they're going to, anyway.

I didn't fix a birthday dessert for Hubbie tonight, since I'll be making a lemon pudding cake for him this weekend. Instead, I treated him to a cup of soft-serve ice cream from a local fast food restaurant. Mother and I went along to enjoy the treats, too. Mother and I got medium size cups of the ice cream, which seemed pretty large to me. I was only able to eat a portion of mine. Hubbie, who is a fiend for ice cream, was glad to finish it for me. Mother ate all of hers, which surprised me, but she said she was really hungry for soft serve.

We spent the rest of the evening, as usual, watching TV. When I checked the eagle nest, the baby was still alone. I don't know how often the adults visit the nest, now, but they must have to still bring back food, since the eaglet can't hunt for himself yet. Poor little guy looks sort of forlorn huddled all alone in the nest, though.