Wednesday, July 6

Today is Great-Niece's birthday, Happy Birthday, Great-Niece!

We were up early this morning, around 6:30, so I could get ready to go to water aerobics after breakfast. This is the first time the pool has been open in about eight months. About 25 of us showed up for this session. The water was pleasantly warm, and it felt glorious swimming and doing aerobics in it.

Today, I learned that the husband of one member is recuperating from knee surgery that took place two weeks ago. Another lady brought her 19-year-old granddaughter with her.

The young woman is very attractive and healthy looking, but her grandmother told us that she has cystic fibrosis. This is a life-threatening disease, she said, and life expectancy in the past was only 20 or 30 years, but with better management these days, that number is now closer to 40. Before she reaches that age, it can be hoped advanced treatments will be discovered to further prolong her life.

She said that her granddaughter is required to eat a high fat, salty diet just to stay healthy, even though no matter how much she eats, she stays slender.

The other news of the day is that our leader has lost a lot of weight...I estimate about 100 pounds. She's on some sort of diet, though I'm not sure what.

We ladies spoke of many things this morning, as we caught up on each other's lives. But I was surprised that no one mentioned the stunning "not guilty" verdict brought down yesterday by the jury in the Casey Anthony case (she was on trial for the death of her two-year-old daughter, Caylee). Maybe everything that needed to be said, both pro and con, about the case and the verdict, has already been thoroughly covered on TV.

I was back home around 9:30, and ready for the day by 10:30. Mother came over, and we worked on cards, again. She made one using handmade paper, and I started quilling leaf designs for mine.

Lunch rolled around pretty quickly, and afterward, Hubbie and I ran errands...to the roadside vendor to buy a flat of blackberries; to a greeting card shop for birthday cards for Hubbie's nephews (he learned today that there will be a birthday party for the boys when we visit them in another town on Sunday); to a pharmacy to pick up a prescription; and to a new grocery store in town. The new store sells groceries at wholesale prices, plus ten percent. Today, we found grapes at 97 cents per pound, and watermelons at $1.97 each.

The sky was a bit dark when we entered the store, but we were surprised upon leaving that it was pouring rain. At home, we noticed some small limbs and lots of leaves, as well as sycamore tree bark, had blown all over the yard. The rain had slackened enough for us to make a dash for the house, but another thunderstorm cropped up a little while later. The rain from both storms was heavy for a few minutes, but stopped too soon to do much good in the gardens.

Spent the rest of the afternoon finishing my quilled leaf greeting card, and starting a scherenschnitte (paper cutting) design. I found a fairy design online that I printed and scissored. Now I need to settle on a background for the design. I'll do that tomorrow.

While I was making cards, Mother washed four quarts of blackberries for the freezer. I intended to do that myself this evening, but she was tired of making cards and wanted something else to do.

For supper tonight, we had the veggie soup Mother made yesterday, with the bread sticks Hubbie and I brought back from the Italian restaurant last week. Heated in the take-home oven bag provided by the restaurant, they tasted nice and fresh.

Mother went home afterward, and Hubbie and I watched a strange 2008 movie called, "Nature's Grave." A couple camps in the wilderness of Australia, but because they fail to respect the nature around them, they are soon besieged and attacked by the beasts the area, from lowly ants, to eagles, to snakes, to sharks of the sea.