Wednesday, January 20

Today is Sis's birthday. Happy Birthday Sis!





I started the day with water aerobics. The morning was mild, and the pool was warm, thank goodness. It's always a chore to get up at 6:30 a.m. and go to the pool, particularly on cold mornings, but once there, I really enjoy swimming and visiting with friends.





Back home, once I was ready for the day, I framed the portraits of my kids. The brushed silver frames are just perfect for the pictures. I hope to get them hung on the wall tomorrow. Also, tomorrow, I'll buy a wood frame suitable for the 5x7 portrait that I can hang on the stairwell wall with other family portraits. I also scanned and printed a smaller photo to put on the front of the refrigerator.





I didn't do much else before lunch, other than washing a load of clothes. After lunch, Mother and I gathered materials needed to make greeting cards at the scrapbook meeting tomorrow afternoon. Then we relaxed for most of the rest of the afternoon. Mother did word search puzzles, and I finally got around to reading the Sunday newspaper.





Supper tonight was chicken cooked in the smoker (Hubbie did the honors). The chicken was stuffed with carrots, onions, and celery, along with no-salt seasoning and herbs. The breast was rubbed with olive oil and herbs. It was delicious served with Parmesan baked potatoes and a steamed combination of broccoli and cauliflower. We also had slices of garlic bread leftover from Sunday's lasagna lunch.





Just after 7 p.m., we went to the college to see a slide show called "Around the World in 90 Minutes." The presenter and his wife have traveled to all seven continents to photograph the indigenous animals and insects of various regions.



The man who spoke is more an environmentalist than a photographer, so the purpose of the slide show was to point to global warming and animal endangerment. But he did show photos of some very unusual insects, snakes, lizards, and frogs...some harmless, some venomous. And he was very entertaining, telling stories of his misadventures with biting insects and leaches, and even an encounter with an unhappy hippo that chomped on his and his wife's canoe and tossed it...and them...onto the bank of the river.



We returned home about 9:30 p.m.



Funny: when we got to the college, Hubbie let us out close to the door of the auditorium, and then went to park the car. Mother and I had walked only a few steps when I looked back and saw Hubbie approaching.



"How did you get here so fast?" I asked. Had he parked somewhere closer than the assigned parking spaces?



When he walked up closer to me, I realized that it wasn't Hubbie, but was a man with gray hair and a mustache, wearing a dark jacket and khaki slacks like Hubbie.



"Oh, I'm sorry," I said, embarrassed. "I thought you were my husband."



The man just grinned and walked on past us. A few feet away, Hubbie approached. Just to be sure, though, I waited until he was beside us before I spoke.