Wednesday, August 31

Up at 6:30 to get ready to go to water aerobics. Cloudy morning, but rain never materialized. It made for a pleasant morning, though, for walking from the parking lot to the gym.

Maintenance had topped the pool off, so the water was high...and chillier than usual. Braved it anyway, and enjoyed the swim and aerobics once I was used to the water temp.

The lady who stands next to me during the aerobics session (she's in her 80s) won't be there Friday, since she's having a couple of suspicious spots burned off her face...on on her nose, and one near her eye. She has had skin cancer in the past, so I hope the treatment Friday will take care of everything.

Back home, once I was ready for the day, I spent the rest of the morning, and part of the afternoon hemming a new pair of black slacks to wear to the museum in the capital city tomorrow.

I'm not the world's best seamstress, so I have to be careful when I take on a project like shortening and hemming slacks. I take the adage "measure twice, cut once" to an extreme. Sis had done a preliminary pinning job while she was here, and I used that as a guide. But I still had to measure and pin and try on the slacks at least four times before I was satisfied (with the help of Mother and Hubbie) that they were at the right length on both legs.

After the third pinning, Hubbie even got down on his hands and knees to judge if the hems on both legs were even. They were not, because it turned out that the back left leg panel dipped down longer than all the other panels. So I had to adjust for that.

Finally, I was ready to trim away excess material, and then press the hemline before turning the hem under, pinning, and pressing again before taking a needle and thread to the garment.

I didn't do much after that. Mother busied herself this afternoon with preparations for a beef stroganoff supper. The meat/mushroom sauce was served over noodles, with sides of canned spinach and English peas.

Hubbie spent his afternoon outdoors, as usual. His main project was trimming three beds of irises, which is an annual task each August.

Autumn is on the way, as evidenced by the surprise lilies this month, the crocus that are just beginning to break the ground, and the hummingbirds that are furiously feeding at the nectar feeders in preparation for their migration to Mexico or Central America.

Thanks to a dry spring, we didn't get many surprise lilies this year. And we had begun to think we weren't going to have any hummingbirds, either, but I guess they preferred the nice variety of flowers in the yard during the spring and summer, saving the nectar feeders until now, when blooms are scarce.

This evening's movie fare was a Showtime film called, "Knowing," starring Nicholas Cage. Fifty years ago, elementary school students participate in a time capsule event. They draw pictures of what they think life will be like when the capsule is opened. One little girl, though, fills a paper on both sides with lines of numbers.

In the present time, a young boy, whose dad is a teacher, is present when the capsule is opened. Each child at the school gets an envelope from a student of the past. The boy gets the paper with the numbers on it. His dad (Cage) begins researching what the numbers might mean and learns they are dates of numbers of deaths in disasters that have already occurred, or are predicted to happen in the near future, one of which naturally threatens the earth and all of mankind.