Monday, April 26

We were up at 6:30 on this cloudy, windy, chilly morning, so I could go to water aerobics. As I approached the gym, I noticed that large rugs were thrown over the railings. Indoors, two or three shop vacuums stood along the wall, and in the hallway leading to the dressing room, a huge fan was blowing. As I went into the women's dressing room, a custodian standing in the doorway was alerting the women to not close the door, because he was trying to circulate air to dry the floor and alleviate a mill dew odor.

The lower level of the gym had flooded during Saturday's torrential rainstorm. As I was leaving later, the custodian said that the water, which blew down the sidewalk and gushed over the steps like a waterfall, seeped under the gym doors. The water was ankle deep on the concrete floor by the time the rain stopped, the custodian said.

In the pool, one of the women said that Main Street downtown also flooded, and at one point, a small storage shed came off its foundation and floated down the street. The evening newspaper showed photos of flooded streets around town. At at one business, the water was actually four feet deep.

The storm interfered with lots of events going on in our community. It was especially devastating to the college, which sponsored a Scottish festival all weekend. Most of the festival events were held on Saturday, but attendance was very poor.

After I got home from water aerobics, mother came over and put color in my hair in anticipation of getting a haircut tomorrow. By the time I was ready for the day, it was nearly noon.

After a PB&J sandwich lunch, Hubbie and I ran errands...to the pharmacy, the bank, the hydroponic farm to get tomatoes, a roadside veggie stand to get a quart of this year's crop of strawberries, to the WDCS for a few groceries, to a vet clinic for dog food, and to another discount store for a couple of items.

Back home, Hubbie and I stored the photography paraphernalia, and then Mother and I gathered materials for making greeting cards. We didn't make any cards today, but we began thinking about designs.

Supper tonight was slow-cooker turkey roast, with dressing made from whole wheat bread. Green bean and corn mixture, cranberry sauce, and gravy, completed this Thanksgiving-in-April meal. For dessert, we had pumpkin pie...actually, Hubbie had pumpkin pie, and Mother and I had low-fat, crustless, pumpkin custard pie. Both pies had been in the freezer since Thanksgiving.

Mother went home after supper, and Hubbie and I did the usual...watched TV. We started with the movie, "State of Play," starring Russell Crowe, Helen Mirren, and Ben Affleck. This 2009, PG-13, movie is about a reporter assigned to investigate the death of a female assistant to an aspiring politician. A conspiracy is uncovered in this thriller about corruption.

After that, we watched an episode of "Dancing with the Stars."