Wednesday, August 26

We were up at 6:30, as usual on water aerobics days. Again I was later than I wanted to be getting to the pool, thanks to some sort of road equipment that poked along at 20 miles an hour down the two miles to the four-way stop. I was right behind the machine, and a long line of traffic, as far as my eyes could see, piled up behind me. A long line of traffic stalled in the other lane, too, with drivers wanting to turn onto the drive leading to the college a mile or so from our house.

At long last, though, I finally arrived at the other college where the swimming pool is. Since the college is in session, the parking lots were pretty full, and the only space I could find was up the hill, near the student union. Of course hiking up and down that hill was good for my health, but delayed my getting to the pool.

Br-r-r, the water was pretty cool, too, but felt good once I was in it for a while. Stories from the pool included one lady telling me that Shreveport, Louisiana, was named after an ancestor of hers. Another lady, the wife of a doctor, told me all about their medical mission trip to Peru. A contingent of doctors, dentists, ophthalmologists, etc. went, as well as wives and children. All were expected to work for the ten days they were there.

She said that hundreds of people traveled many miles, and stood in line for hours, to be served by the doctors. The dentist, for instance, did some 400 extractions. Though there was little time for touring, a group of them did go up a mountain, where her husband got altitude sickness, and she got a raging headache. Her husband also caught a bug and got severely dehydrated to the point she had to take him to the emergency room as soon as they returned home.

It was the wee hours of the morning when she took him to the ER, and her exhausted sons were asleep. Unfortunately, she failed to take the house key with her, and when she returned home, she couldn't rouse her sleeping sons to let her in. That's when she discovered she didn't have her cell phone with her. So, exhausted herself, she went to the nearest service station to locate a phone. None there. At this point, in frustration, she sent up a prayer..."Lord, I could use just a little bit of help here!" At the second filling station, there was a phone to call her sons and have them unlock the door. We agreed that this was a time when a public telephone would have been handy, but in this cell phone age, public phones seem to have become a scarce as dinosaurs.

Back home, Mother came over and put color in my hair for a 1 p.m. appointment at the beauty shop. Mother opted out of having her hair cut this time, saying it hadn't grown much in a month.

Hubbie went with me to the beauty shop this time, since we both had errands to run. He dropped me off and went to the bank, then came back and picked me up. We went from there to the new department store. I have a 20% off coupon, but didn't find anything I wanted today. I also went to the sports store, hoping to find shorts to wear over my swimsuits, but there was nothing suited to me. I was told they will get another shipment in a couple of days, though, so I'll check back then. After that, we went to a grocery store that is having a sale on frozen veggies...10 packages for $10...as well as fat-free ice cream, and fruit (bananas and grapes).

While we were running around, Mother fixed a pot of stew...beef, with carrots, onions, potatoes, celery, onions, and cabbage in a seasoned beef broth. We had this with biscuits and honey for supper.

Hubbie and I went for a walk after supper, along the street on the other side of the highway. A lady we used to work with stopped in her car to chat a while, and then met us at the end of her driveway as we approached her house. She insisted that we stop and talk, so we did. She talked at length about her physical ailments, which are many, including diabetes, an enlarged heart, and failing kidneys, and about her husband's skin cancer.

At last, we were on our way again, walking to the end of that road and then back. It was nearly 8 p.m. before we got back home. We were gone an hour and a half.

Once we'd cooled off with a glass of ice water, we watched a movie..."Cassandra's Dream," starring Colin Farrell. This is a PG-13 movie, written and directed by Woody Allen. Two guys get into money troubles and prevail on their wealthy uncle to bail them out. He agrees, in exchange for their doing him a favor.