Friday, Sept. 17

Up at 6:30 this morning to go to water aerobics. Lovely morning. The recent rain greened the grass on the small college campus, a campus that is beautiful anyway, with attractive buildings nestled among trees. This morning, as usual, I was greeted with the dulcet tones of carillons chiming the hour. On the walk to my car after aerobics, the sound of bagpipes filled the air, as pipers practiced somewhere on campus.

Br-r-r, the water was cool in the pool this morning. Twenty-three of us shivered as we braved the water. Got used to it after a few minutes, though, and enjoyed the session.

Back home afterward, once I was ready for the day, I did this and that around the house until lunch time. After lunch, Hubbie and I ran a few errands...to the post office, and then to the farmer's market, where we picked up tomatoes, apples, and a big box of sweet potatoes. We will bake most of those for the freezer, and keep some aside to prepare fresh. I really wanted some peaches, and the vendor said she would have some later today, and gave us her cell phone number to call in the afternoon.

From there, we went to the WDCS for groceries, and then visited the gas station before coming home.

At home, Mother spent time reading e-mails and blogs on my laptop. Around 4 p.m., Hubbie called the farmer's market vendor and learned she had peaches, but not a lot of them. So we went immediately to get some. The vendor said these would be the last of the season.

Then we stopped by a grocery store to pick up food items that were not available at the WDCS. I also got some on-sale bananas and some grapes. I miss the abundance of local fruits that were available all summer.

While we were gone, Mother prepared and simmered canned navy beans with onion, banana peppers, and spices. Had those with sauteed cabbage and sweet potatoes from the freezer, and sliced tomatoes and coleslaw (yes, I know, we had cabbage prepared two ways). Mother and Hubbie had cornbread muffins from the freezer, and I had a slice of sourdough bread. It was a really tasty meal.

Mother went home after that, and then it was TV time for Hubbie and me. We saw the 2008, R-rated movie, "Righteous Kill," starring Robert Di Nero and Al Pacino. Liberal use of THE word, as two grizzled cops, jaded by so many bad guys getting acquitted of their crimes, go on the trail of a serial killer who takes out the low-lifes and leaves poems after each kill. Can one of these cops be the killer? Di Nero and Pacino are great actors, but they are too old for these parts. Particularly, Di Nero is too old to be the believable lover of the young and beautiful Carla Gugino.

A "well-phooey" moment: Hubbie decided to fix us popcorn to munch on during the movie. He likes to pop his, and then bake it for a while in the oven. Tonight, he mistakenly set the oven for broil, and while I was munching on my popcorn, I began to smell something burning. Hubbie checked the oven. As soon as he opened the door, smoke boiled out. He quickly closed the door to the hall, since that's where the smoke alarm is located, and opened both doors in the den to allow the smoke to escape to the outdoors. After that, he and I shared my popcorn...he was in no mood to try another batch.