Thursday, April 21

Up around 8:30, and did a treadmill session and weights exercises after breakfast. Once I was ready for the day, I spruced the inside of the van and gathered scrapbook supplies in anticipation of going to a scrapbook meeting at 1 p.m.

The other member called around 11 a.m. and said she had decided to attend the meeting, though she feared it might rain before we were finished at 3 p.m. So she said she'd come by our house and ride with Mother and me to the Extension Office in order to avoid driving on a busy thoroughfare. The road from our house to hers in a nearby community isn't nearly as busy as the one in town, so she feels safe enough driving that route.

At the meeting, she noted that she is personally acquainted with the older couple in our town who recently won one million dollars in a state lottery drawing. More than that, the man is either the brother or brother-in-law of one of the secretaries at the Extension Office. The two men who own the business at which the winning ticket was bought are this lady's sons...nephews to the winner.

I don't know the winner, but Hubbie has a nodding acquaintance with him, because he is the one who built the house in our neighborhood that was struck by lightning and burned to the ground recently. The house belonged to his son, who, upon a divorce, sold it to the family who lived there when it burned. Six degrees of separation (the idea that everyone is only six steps away from any other person on earth..."the friend of a friend of a friend," etc.).

I hated to hear from the other scrapbook club member that she lost a nephew to cancer last week. He was only in his fifties, and died within weeks of learning of his diagnosis. His older brother also died of cancer in 2006. He was only sixty.

At the scrapbook meeting, we all worked until around 2:30, when Mother and the other member came to a stopping place. I had more to do, but quit working, because Mother was feeling a little blah today, and I knew she would like to get back home. While I packed our stuff away, the other member went across the street to the cemetery to visit her twin brother's grave site.

We were back home by 3 p.m. Mother went straight to her house to rest. I searched online for the date when a pioneer village in another town would be hosting its spring open house, and learned that it will be Saturday, April 30, and Sunday, May 1.

The reason I was interested in the open house is because our scrapbook club members would like to go on an outing. We wanted to go to the 2010 fall open house, but weather and illness among members prevented it. So hopefully the weather will be nice and everyone will be well for this trip.

Later, after a supper of leftover salmon chowder and 11-bean soup, Hubbie and I went to the WDCS to pick up a few grocery items, particularly milk and bread for both us and Mother.

Back home, we spent the evening in front of TV. Well, Hubbie napped in front of it for a while, having worn himself out working most of the day developing a new raised veggie bed.

Tonight, we watched the 2006, PG-13 movie, "All the King's Men," starring Sean Penn, Jude Law, Kate Winslet, and Anthony Hopkins, among others. A humble man rises to power...a power that eventually leads to betrayal and corruption (a character inspired by the real-life controversial 1930s Louisiana governor, Huey P. Long). As with last night's movie, "Public Enemies," this movie was on DVD...I bought both on the cheap when a discount store went out of business last fall.