Saturday, August 28

Trouble sleeping last night. Fell asleep soon after retiring, but woke up at 1:30 a.m., and the last time I looked at the clock it was 5:30 a.m. Then I was up about 8 a.m. Too bleary-eyed to exercise, so after breakfast, Hubbie and I went downtown to the pocket park, where, according to the our local newspaper, there were supposed to be produce and crafts vendors. Apparently, the vendors didn't get the word, because there was absolutely no one there.

Back home, Mother came over and finished her jigsaw puzzle, and I played on my office computer.

After lunch, Mother and I walked around the yard inspecting the remaining veggie plants. Bell peppers have taken off again, and several are maturing on the vines. The fruit in the raised veggie bed that we thought might be a gourd has revealed itself to be a cantaloupe. In the zinnia bed, a couple of more butternut squash are growing nicely. And in the compost heap, there is one large acorn squash, with several others coming on. Hope they have time to mature before cold weather.

Around 1 p.m., Hubbie and I decided to go back downtown to see if we could get into the movie theater for the movie, "Eclipse." Since we arrived just before 1:30, we were among the first to get seated.

Unfortunately, within minutes a woman carrying a baby herded several young children into the seats right in front of us. Hubbie and I decided to move across the aisle. The baby was sleeping when the group arrived, but awakened during the movie, naturally, and became agitated. The child, a year-old toddler, was noisy and active throughout the entire movie, but the woman in charge of him was disinclined to take him out of the theater, preferring instead to subject the rest of us to his noise. Very inconsiderate.

The theater was not full, but there was certainly a good crowd. Not as many, though, as last night, when cars were parked three blocks away from the theater, and there was a long line at the ticket booth. There will probably be a big crowd tonight, when teenagers will flock to the movie.

This old, historic theater gets much larger audiences than the newer one, because admittance is only $2, and the concessions are reasonable. An individual can go to a movie here and get refreshments for less than a ticket price at the newer theater.

We were back home about 4 p.m. Mother was in the process of heating leftover hash, which we had with steamed broccoli, and Chinese beets.

Mother went home afterward, and Hubbie and I lazed in front of TV. I thought about going to the store that has a sale every weekend, because I have a $10 off a $25 purchase coupon, but I didn't feeling like bestirring myself.

Funny: An example of technology taking over our lives: Daughter needed to make an appointment with a new dentist, and she wanted to find out if the dentist would accept her health insurance.

"Do you take Blue Tooth?" she asked.

The receptionist, Granddaughter, who was sitting nearby, and Daughter herself broke into laughter as she corrected, "No wait. I mean do you take Blue Cross."

Friday, August 27

Up at 6:30 to get ready to go to water aerobics. The pool felt great today, and aerobics was invigorating. I'm not a morning person, but I sure feel great after I've exercised in the pool.

Back home, once I was ready for the day, I went to the photo contest site online and spent the rest of the morning voting for my favorite snapshots. My own images have so far garnered nearly 300 votes...probably not enough to get me into the book, since I was so late submitting my work and there are only three days left for voting...but I've enjoyed the positive feedback from other photographers. My email box is filling up with comments.

After lunch, Hubbie and I ran errands. Our first run was to another town to buy beer for a stew recipe, but Hubbie somehow took the wrong road, which he didn't discover for several miles. Then we had to backtrack several miles and then travel another few miles to reach the store we wanted to visit.

From there, we went to the WDCS for groceries. While we were there, we looked through clearance items. We didn't find much that we wanted except some large plastic totes on sale for $2 each, and some photo mats for ten cents each. Bought all they had, which was less than a dollar's worth.

Back home, Mother wondered if we'd bought out the town, and laughed when we told her what really took us so long.

I continued voting for photos until suppertime. For supper, we had baked salmon, macaroni and cheese, and Chinese beets. After supper, it was back to the photos.

Around 6:30, we decided to go downtown to see the movie "Eclipse," third in the Twilight Saga series, but we could see by the number of cars parked on both sides of the street that we would have difficulty finding a decent seat. So we decided to abandon the idea. Maybe we'll try again tomorrow night.

Thursday, August 26

Up around 7 a.m. and did a treadmill session and resistance exercises after breakfast. Before we had breakfast, though, Hubbie took two of the female cats to the vet to be spayed. That's the last of the adult cats to be spayed or neutered, but now there are two female kittens and a male kitten that will need the same procedures in a few months. After that, we will have stemmed the tide of kitten production.

Mother came over while I was on the treadmill and continued to work on her puzzle. Once I was ready for the day, I sorted another stack of trip photos and memorabilia, generating a nice pile of booklets, pamphlets and the like for the trash.

After a lunch of hot roast beef sandwiches and veggies, Mother went back to her puzzle, and Hubbie went out to the yard, where he discovered that a vine growing out of the compost heap is producing what he thinks are acorn squash. The vine in the zinnia flower bed has several more butternut squash on it, too. It has already yielded one nice ready-to-eat squash.

While Mother and Hubbie were occupied, I spent time at my office computer uploading photos to our state newspaper, which is compiling a coffee table book of images submitted by readers and then voted on by those readers for publication. I'm late submitting my entries, so I don't know if there will be enough time for any of my photos to get adequate numbers of votes to be published. But already this evening, a woman posted a compliment to my dashboard on one of my tulip images.

After I was done with that project, I changed clothes to go to a pizza/pool party at a local country club. All three of us were invited, because it was a thank you party for the staff, volunteers and family of Caring Hands Hospice.

The event was from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. About thirty attended. There were lots of children who enjoyed the pool, though they squealed that the water was cold. The only adults who braved the pool were those with children young enough to need close supervision.

It was a perfect evening for the party...pleasant, low humidity weather, with a bit of a cool breeze. Very nice for those of us lounging around the pool, but chilly for those who exited the water.

The club is built on a hill overlooking a beautiful golf course, with pretty mountains in the background.

We each ate several pieces of veggie pizza, though it wasn't the healthiest of meals. Mother and Hubbie indulged in the cookies from a local bakery, too, but when I read the ingredients list on the boxes, I found they contained yellow dye.

We enjoyed visiting with folks. Naturally, at any staff gathering, there has to be shop talk. So a lady joined us at our table to ask if I would be willing to pair with one of the guys I serve with on the advisory board to make radio commercials promoting our hospice program. Of course I agreed.

Around 7:30, the group began to disperse, and we were ready to leave, too. Back home, we watched a couple of one-hour shows before heading to bed.

Wednesday, August 25

Woke up this morning at 4 a.m. and couldn't go back to sleep for about an hour, then had to get up at 6:30 to get ready to go to water aerobics.

What a beautiful morning...spring like temp, with low humidity. The pool was a bit cool, though, since there had been water added to it. I wondered if the person in charge of this forgot to check on it, because the water was very high...only about a foot from the top. The deep end felt really deep today.

I had a refreshing swim, though, and thoroughly enjoyed the aerobics afterward. Some of the ladies are sore from our session Monday, because they didn't exercise during the five weeks we were off. Since I regularly exercised on the treadmill, I've felt no ill effects from aerobics.

In the continuing story of the lady who found her mother lying dead in her driveway, and then herself fell and broke a wrist, I learned today that when she fell, she also came down hard on a knee replacement. The damage is so severe that her doctors are actually considering amputation. Gad! I truly hope that doesn't happen.

In another story, the lady I stand next to during aerobics didn't attend on Monday, because a pest control person was treating for termites at her house. Seems water got into her basement (which is concrete and cinder blocks) and dampened a stack of books, paneling on the wall, and a carpet. Termites then invaded. The pest control guy worked ten hours to treat her house, which he said was fortunately not affected anywhere else but the basement.

So then, the lady set about finding out where the water came from. The water heater? No, a repairman said. The bathroom pipes? No, a plumber said, but she had the pipes replaced anyway, since they had been installed in 1969. At last, an air conditioner repairman discovered a PVC pipe was stopped up, causing leakage into the basement. Expensive enterprise. Seems like a lot of us have had expensive repairs this summer.

Got back home around 9:30. Once I was ready for the day, Mother came over and chose a jigsaw puzzle to work on. She needs some down time to just play.

I fixed lunch later, and then Hubbie and I went to the WDCS, where I purchased seven plastic totes for organizing photos. Back home, I went to work on packets of photos that were stored in shoe boxes, identifying the contents and dating them, and then putting them in three of the totes. I had already filled three totes a few weeks ago. Now I have a nice neat stack of six photo totes.

Used the other four totes to sort and store trip photos and memorabilia, which previously had been stored in a jumble in a large cardboard box. Sorting these photos was my after-supper-before-movie task. Hubbie helped with the job, since it was a twenty-year accumulation. Everything is organized now so that we can actually enjoy reviewing our trips. It'll be nice to "travel" again to these warm vacation spots on cold winter days.

Supper tonight was beef hash, with eggs and toast. Later, we watched the movie, "The Double Life of Eleanor Kendall," a 2008, PG-14, made-for-TV feature, starring Lana Parilla. A woman's identity is stolen, and she manages to find the culprit...a young woman with a child, who is running from her abusive husband. The two become friends, and the victim ends up helping the thief.

Tuesday, August 24

Up around 7 a.m. and did a treadmill session and weights exercises after breakfast. Mother came over while I was getting ready for the day and she and Hubbie started a pot of chicken stewing.

At 11 a.m., I met a haircut appointment at my beauty shop. Two friends were also there getting their hair done. I serve with one on the visual arts committee of the arts council.

She asked if we have been camping lately, and I mentioned that we are planning a trout fishing trip in September. She and her family camped with us years ago at the same trout fishing river, near a dam. Frequently, water is generated over the dam, there is a warning siren, and the river rises slowly, so that wading fisherman can easily vacate.

On this particular day though, we heard no warning siren, and the river rose so rapidly that we found ourselves scrambling for our lives up a steep embankment. We can laugh about it now, but it could have ended disastrously.

Back home, we had chicken noodle soup for lunch, and then Hubbie and I ran errands...to the Post Office, to the pharmacy, and to the WDCS. I found a pair of loafers at the WDCS for $10 in my size, so I bought them without trying them on. At home, I discovered that they were way too big, so we went back to return them. I hoped to find another pair that fit me (tried them on this time), but had no luck.

Since we were out, I decided to stop by the everything's a dollar store, where I picked up several more rubber stamps.

At home, Mother had put potatoes in the oven to bake, and we heated leftover beans and sauteed cabbage to have with them for supper. Mother went home after that, and Hubbie and I settled in front of TV.

Later, we watched the movie, "Answer Man," a 2009, R-rated romantic comedy starring Jeff Daniels and Lauren Graham. A middle-aged know-it-all reclusive author writes religious best sellers, and claims to get his answers directly from the Almighty (apparently, the Almighty is willing to overlook his foul-mouthed attitude). His bad back sends him to a young chiropractor (Graham, with whom he falls in love.

Monday, August 23

Wouldn't you know it, I had trouble falling asleep last night. So 6:30 a.m. arrived too soon. Just the same, I rolled out of bed, because I was anxious to go back to water aerobics this morning, after being off for five weeks while the college was on summer break.



Despite problems getting my act together this morning, I still managed to arrive at the pool around 8 a.m., time enough to swim in the deep end before 8:30 aerobics. The water was very warm...pleasant when I first got into it, but eventually, after I'd swam awhile, it began to feel too warm. I figure it'll be plenty chilly by Wednesday, though. Twenty-three of us showed up today.

Sad news from the pool: a recent newspaper story told of a local woman found dead in her driveway by her daughter. The woman had been shopping, as evidenced by her car that was running, with sacks of groceries still in it. The daughter had just joined our water aerobics group a couple of weeks before the session ended for the summer, and her mother died sometime right after that. And then she herself took a tumble and broke her wrist, which is still mending.

Going back to water aerobics reminded me to order swimsuit wash online. The wash extends the life of expensive swimsuits. When my suits get pretty threadbare, I do what the other ladies at the pool do, I wear sports shorts over them. Then I wear them until they are hopelessly stretched out. Today, though, I treated myself to wearing one of the two identical swimsuits I bought on sale recently. Another lady must have availed herself of the sale, too, because she was wearing the same suit.



Back home from the pool, Mother came over and put color in my hair in anticipation of a haircut tomorrow. I asked this morning if she felt up to this task, since Hubbie has done it the past couple of months and would have gladly done it again today. Mother insisted she was up to it and wanted to do it. She has been suffering from the blues lately, fearing that she is "useless" and no longer needed, so instead of taking over tasks, I let her decide what she feels up to.



By the time I was ready for the day, it was 11 a.m., so I cut up lettuce, veggies, and fruits for a chef's salad lunch for Hubbie and me. Mother opted for a deli turkey sandwich, since she's not big on salads these days.



After lunch, Mother went home for a nap, and Hubbie and I went to a nearby town to buy a watermelon from our favorite farmer at his roadside stand. No one was available, so it was an on-your-honor situation, where buyers chose from three different size watermelons, at three different prices, then put the money for their purchase in a coffee can.



We had hoped there would be peaches available, too, but there wasn't. It's getting pretty late in the season for peaches, now, but we went to a roadside vendor in our town who still had some locally grown ones. Besides the peaches, we bought locally grown Asian pears.



We returned home after that, because Hubbie had a 2:30 appointment with his chiropractor, and it was now 2 p.m. While he was gone, I played on my computer. He returned around 3 p.m., and Mother came over about the same time.



Later, we put leftover beef roast and veggies into the oven for supper. Mother went home after supper. Before Hubbie and I settled in for a movie, I spent thirty minutes clearing a shelf and disposing of outdated pamphlets, booklets and the like, in my effort to get rid of "stuff" in my office. I figure I can eat this twenty-year-accumulation elephant one small bite at a time.

The movie we watched tonight was "Crossover," a 2009, R-rated film starring Harrison Ford, Ashley Judd, and Ray Liotta. Harrison Ford plays an immigration agent investigating illegals. Several scenarios are featured, including a young Mexican mother who is rounded up in a sweat shop, and who begs Ford to help child, an Indian family, whose daughter endangers her family when she pushes the borders of free speech at her school, and a young woman from Australia who is willing to barter herself to get a green card. Ashley Judd plays a teacher, who hopes to adopt an African child she is tending.

Sunday, August 22

Up late this morning, around 8 a.m. and skipped my exercises. Mother came over as I was getting ready for the day and put a beef roast in the slow cooker. We had this for lunch with carrots and onions, and mashed potatoes and gravy. Otherwise, it was a usual Sunday morning of programming the DVR, etc.

Mother went home after lunch, and Hubbie and I goofed off the afternoon....he reading gardening books, and I on my laptop computer, talking with family at a social network.

The heat is still on weather-wise, but it's in the mid-90s today instead of the 100s. Counties south of us are still roasting, though, and are under a heat advisory. Lower 90s, lower humidity, are promised for the middle of the week, but then the temps are to soar again next week, drat it.

Later, we had pancakes for supper, and then watched the movie "The Express," a 2008, PG movie (though I'm not sure why it has such a low rating, since there is language in it, though not THE word). The movie, starring Rob Brown and Dennis Quaid, is a true story about football player Ernie Davis, the first African-American football player to win the Heisman Trophy. A story of triumph over adversity, but with a sad ending.

Looking forward to water aerobics starting back up tomorrow morning. Hope the pool is warm. I've been getting to bed so late, and rising so late these past few weeks, though, that I might have trouble getting up at 6:30 in the morning.