Thursday, March 27

The tulips are blooming, but we're afraid predicted storms over the next couple of days will beat them down. Already, clouds were gathering when I snapped the above photo this evening.

I skipped my treadmill session this morning, so we could shop for groceries for the weekend trip. The WDCS wasn't overly busy today, so we found a parking space close to the store, and were able to pick up what we needed quickly...even at the deli, where I usually have to stand and wait endlessly while folks ahead of me are served. Today, I was the only one at the counter.

We got back home around 10:30, and continued putting food and other items for the weekend into the camper. Then we packed a lunch for the noon brown bag film fest event at the museum. We arrived at the museum shortly before noon and settled in to eat our lunch of homemade pimento cheese sandwiches, with chips for Hubbie and pretzels for Mother and me. For dessert, I ate a fig bar, and Hubbie had cookies from the refreshment table.

The (free) film today was about a town in Maryland, where there are large organic farms, as well as a store that offers only organically grown produce. The growers admit that farming purely the organic way is very labor intensive, though the resulting produce is healthier than that produced by conventional agriculture, which uses synthetic pesticides and fertilizers.

After the film, about 1 p.m., we returned home to drop Hubbie off, and Mother and I went to a greeting card making workshop at the hospice care office. I'd invited another lady, who is a member of our scrapbooking club, and she was there when we arrived. So eight of us worked a few hours and produced a good-sized stack of cards.

We were back home by 4 p.m. Mother had put chicken breasts in the slow cooker to barbecue in a sauce of tomatoes and spices while Hubbie and I were gone shopping this morning. The meat cooked all day and was delicious with rice, and a blend of veggies (from the frozen food section) steamed in the microwave.

While we were gone, Hubbie gave Shih Tzu a bath, and did other things related to the trip. After supper, he hooked the camper to the truck, in case it's raining when we get ready to leave in the morning.

During our quiet hour, I photographed the tulips, and Hubbie read his novel. Then we relaxed and watched a few shows on TV.

Wednesday, March 25

Yikes! The water at the college swimming pool was c-c-cold this morning! It was murky, too, and the level had dropped quite a bit. We wonder if there are mechanical problems and a slow leak. I won't be attending water aerobics Friday, so I hope the snags will be worked out and the pool will be warm Monday.

Hubbie was gone when I got back home. He took Shih Tzu and went to help dig plants at the home of one of the Master Gardeners to be sold at an upcoming fundraising plant sale. Once I was ready for the day, Mother came over, and we prepared a sack lunch to take to this year's first film fest offering at the museum.

Hubbie arrived home about 11:15, and hopped in the shower, while I fed Shih Tzu. We arrived at the museum about 11:45 and began eating our lunch of PB&J sandwiches, with tortilla chips for Hubbie, and light pretzle sticks for Mother and me. Hubbie and I had fresh orange slices as dessert, but Mother passed on those. Instead, she wrapped a couple of cookies in a napkin from the refreshment table to enjoy later.

We didn't accomplish much during the afternoon beyond washing a couple of loads of clothes and loading some stuff into the camper for the upcoming trip.

For supper, we had spaghetti and green beans. Then, at 6 p.m., we attended a couple of more film fest screenings. Tonight, we saw a series of short films that were interesting. We especially enjoyed a humorous one in which two women wonder if the Atlanta Falcons have an identity crisis, because in fact falcons are the female of the bird, which are a third larger in size than tercels, which are the males.

We also enjoyed a clever film that animates the bubbles in bubblewrap, and has the bubble "heads" in conversation as they await their inevitable fate...to be popped. The film is under five minutes in length, but in that short time, we in the audience began to identify with the bubbles and dread their fate. At the end, the man who pops the bubbles throws the wrap in the trash can, with one "baby" one left to cry out for mama. It was hard to decide whether to laugh at the rediculousness of it, or cry at the pathos. Either way, we'll never look at bubblewrap the same way again.

The second half of tonight's screenings was an hour-long documentary featuring older artists in the Memphis area...their lives, and their unique approaches to art. Some of the artists, in their nineties, have died since the film was made. Others are still quite active in the arts of the area, especially as teachers.

As usual, not many folks turned out for the screenings...only a dozen or so, which is a shame, since the films were very interesting.

Tuesday, March 24

We snoozed late this morning, and after a cold cereal breakfast, I headed to the treadmill. My back is fine now, so I was able to walk at my usual speed and use the ski arms to get my heart rate up. I was also comfortable using my five-pound and eight-pound weights for a workout.



We didn't have any special projects in mind for today, so we goofed off watching one-hour shows I'd recorded on DVR. For lunch, we all had something different...Mother had Ramen noodle soup and cheese and crackers (her favorite lunch, because it's easy on her persnickety tummy); Hubbie ate the leftover beef strips with bell peppers and onions, over leftover mashed potatoes; and I had egg substitute scrambled with fresh mushrooms, green onions, and bell peppers. We all had leftover bran muffins with our meals.



We wasted more time in front of TV this afternoon, until about 2:30 p.m., when Mother and I went over to the college library to hear three members of the National Symphony Orchestra perform. 100 members of the orchestra are in the state, with various groups of them doing teaching programs around the state. We are fortunate that the friends of the college library organization was able to bring these three musicians to our town.



About 60 people turned out for the program on this iffy weather afternoon. The musicians, on violin, bass, and cello, played various selections from Bach: Cello Suite no. 1; and Sarabande from Suite in D arranged for the string trio.



They also performed "Assorted short contrapunctal delights by Bach, Teleman, Bartok," and Handel-Halvorson: Passacaglia for Violin and Cello; as well as Saint-Saens: The Swan. The musician who performed The Swan on his cello said that when he was young, his great-aunt frequently requested that he play this piece. I can see why. He also commented that the cello he plays was made in the 1700s, during the time that Bach lived. The instrument must be worth a fortune! I think I'd be afraid to take it out on tour for fear it'd be damaged or stolen.



Before playing each piece, the musicians explained the music to us, which helped us appreciate it more. For instance, one musician explained that contrapunctal is "the art of combining melodies, each of which is independent, though forming part of a homogenous texture...." sort of like "Row, Row, Row Your Boat."



The sky was dark, and it was windy and rainy when we left the concert. By the time we got back home, weather reports on TV warned of thunderstorms in our area. We got a pretty good downpour with some thunder, but it soon passed.



Hubbie did not accompany us to the concert this time, since he had made an appointment for Shih Tzu to see the vet for a persistent cough. The vet said Shih Tzu is in good shape for her age. She has various tumors on her skin, but none are cancerous. She also has a bit of a leaky bladder problem, for which there is apparently no cure. But otherwise, she's fine. He prescribed a medication for Shih Tzu's cough.



For supper, we had hot roast pork sandwiches, with mashed potatoes, gravy, and carrots and onions, and individual cups of applesauce. Mother went home after supper, and Hubbie and I spent our quiet hour reading and playing on the laptop.



At 7:30, we went to the college to hear a lecture by a journalist who works for our state newspaper. He is an investigative reporter, who has won many awards over his lengthy career. He emphasized that early in his career, he surrendered himself to a Higher Power, Who led him where he needed to go as he investigated and unearthed the truth in several controversial murder cases, some of which went back as far as 20 years. Along the way, he was able to bring to light bigotry by corrupt law enforcement, an ineffective and bungling state crime lab, and innocent men wrongly accused and incarcerated.

Flowering Trees

We were up at 6:30 this morning so I could get ready to go to water aerobics. The water was a bit cool, but I still enjoyed it. Twenty-three showed up today. I sort of prefer fewer people in the pool, so there is more room to move, but I know if not enough ladies attend, the college might decide to drop the program.

After I got home and ready for the day, Hubbie and I ran a couple of errands...to pick up yellow squash for a veggie soup for a weekend trip, and to the bank. Then, for lunch, I made fajitas from whatever was on hand. On tortillas, I placed thin slices of deli turkey, sauteed green onions, mushrooms, and bell peppers, canned black beans (rinsed to take away some sodium), chopped green chilies, and mild salsa. Then I rolled the tortillas, wrapped them in foil, and heated them in the oven.

After lunch, Mother and I went for a walk at the college lake. It was an absolutely gorgeous day for a walk. The photos above show the beautiful flowering trees near the wooden bridge at the lake. The only other people at the lake were three kids fishing...a teenage boy and his two siblings. Obviously, he is responsible for taking care of his approximately eight-year-old sister, and his approximately three-year-old brother during spring break this week.

We spent the rest of the afternoon doing things related to the trip. Supper was sauteed beef strips with onions and bell peppers, served with baked potatoes, and salad. Then Hubbie and I spent our quiet hour in individual pursuits...he reading his novel, and I researching on my laptop. Unfortunately, I encountered an install.exe window and had to find a fix for it.

Later, we watched the news and Wheel of Fortune that I'd recorded on DVR, followed by Dancing with the Stars.

Sunday, March 22

Again, we awoke to rain and trees full of chattering blackbirds. I skipped my exercises this morning, and just went about a usual Sunday routine of reading the newspaper, programming the DVR for the week's shows and movies, and doing a couple of loads of laundry.

Mother came over around 9 a.m. and put a pork roast, with carrots, onions and herbs and spices in the slow cooker. Hubbie peeled potatoes, and later, I mashed them. We had the meat, potatoes, and veggies with gravy made from low-sodium beef broth and thickened with cornstarch, and individual cups of applesauce.

After lunch, the sun came out and the temperture rose into the comfortable 60s. So it was a lovely afternoon for an outing. At 2 p.m., we went to the museum to hear one of the Master Gardeners, known as "The Herb Lady," speak about herbs and dyes in the Civil War era. The lady, dressed in a costume of the time, talked about using walnut, butternut bark, indigo, poke weed and sassafras, among others, in making dyes. She also talked about medicinal plants.

At one of the museum exhibits, there were printed instructions for making dye from onion skins. It sounds like a fun craft, though I don't know if I'll ever get around to trying it.

At another exhibit, there were various small plastic bags containing seeds, with two probes, one black and one red, that viewers used to touch the screws holding the bags of seeds and then screws that identified the seeds (a red light glowed with a correct answer). We were able to identify some seeds, but others, like soybean seeds, stumped us.

The museum is currently mounting an exhibit about early freshwater pearling and mussel shell button industries in the area. I commented that I'd written an article about a local pearl diver years ago, and the museum director asked me to provide a copy to her to see if she can use it in the exhibit. So when we got home, I looked up the article and made a copy to take when we visit the museum Wednesday for a film fest offering.

Later this afternoon, we watched a movie I'd recorded on DVR..."Vertical Limit," rated PG-13. This movie is about a mountain-climbing team trying to save other climbers, who have run into weather trouble and are stranded in a cavern. It's definitely an action movie, in which the characters are constantly getting into positions where they hang precariously or fall from cliffs, or are inundated by avalanches. The film stars Scott Glenn, Chris O'Donnell, Bill Paxton, and Robin Tunney, among others.

Then, after a sandwich and salad supper, we watched "Alive," a 1993 R-rated movie starring Ethan Hawke and Vincent Spano, about the 1972 Uruguayan rugby team and family members who crashed in the Andes, and ultimately had to resort to eating their dead to survive. It's a gripping true story of survival.