Tuesday, April 13

We were up at 7 a.m., but I skipped my exercises so I could get ready to take Mother for a routine checkup with her doctor at 9:30. She was to have a blood workup, so she couldn't have anything to eat or drink after midnight.

Fortunately, we weren't kept waiting long after we arrived at the clinic, and were out by 10:30. Mother was pretty hungry when we got home, so she went to her house to have breakfast, and especially to drink a few cups of coffee. She doesn't function well without her morning coffee.

I spent the rest of the morning mixing photography chemicals. After lunch, Hubbie set up a darkroom in the downstairs bathroom, and then I helped Mother make a couple of sunprints to test the chemicals. The chemicals are out of date, and they are not as strong as they should be. So I called a camera shop in the capital city to order more. Neither store had any on hand. A store clerk is calling their other stores in the state to try to turn some up. Hopefully, I'll hear tomorrow that they've found what I need. If not, I'll just have to wing it with what I have.

Since we couldn't do more in the darkroom, Mother and I gathered materials we'll need at a scrapbook meeting Thursday. We can probably occupy ourselves for the two hours of the meeting finishing pages we started last month.

Just before 5 p.m., I went downtown to attend a visual arts committee meeting. Thanks to accidentally locking herself out of her house, where her car keys were, one member was 30 minutes late arriving at the meeting. We had to wait for her, because she was responsible for an important item.

At 6.m., the group was still discussing our upcoming Summer Solstice art auction event, but I needed to leave, come home and have supper, and then head to a community theater board meeting at 7 p.m.

I was there long enough to learn the schedule of the summer outdoor movies, which include several animated features like "Shrek," "Madagascar," and "Finding Nemo," as well as "Second Hand Lions," and "Fly Away Home." Also featured will be "Wallace and Gromit," an animated British film consisting of characters made from molded plasticine modeling clay. I haven't seen this one, but I'm told it is very funny.

The community theater board meeting was short. Only five of us showed up, and we were able to take care of business between 7 p.m. and 7:48, so I was back home by 8 p.m. Hubbie was watching a weird movie that featured a talking dog. He was plenty willing to abandon it in favor of an episode of "CSI Miami," followed by the second night of "Dancing with the Stars."