Tuesday, Feb. 28

Up around 7:30 this morning, about a half hour before Daughter awoke. She was dressed and ready to leave when she came out to the den. I fixed a breakfast of scrambled eggs, with toast and jelly, and fresh fruit. I opened a jar of the strawberry jelly that Mother and I made recently. This delighted Daughter.

So before she left, I gave her a jar of the jelly, along with a plastic storage bag of chai tea, and a bottle of our favorite wine...she had not heard of it before, but we think she'll find it to be as good as we do.

After Daughter left, I went to Mother's house to help her take a shower, and put a load of laundry in the washer. Back home, I changed clothes and did a treadmill session and resistance exercises.

Then I got ready to go to a retirement reception for a woman whom we worked with years ago. The reception was from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., but we wanted to get there closer to 1 p.m.

Staff did an excellent job of creating a theme for the event. The honoree is a movie buff, so the reception area was set up like a theater. The middle aisle, between chairs, was laid with a red runner for the "star" to walk on. A table at the end of the runner held a three-layer square cake featuring childhood photos of the honoree, and several plastic Oscar look alike award statues. On one side of the room was a table holding bags of hot popcorn. On the walls were movie-themed decorations.

We stayed at the reception about an hour, visiting and catching up on all the gossip of the agency. I was surprised to learn that the job placement part of the agency, for which I worked years ago, has since dissolved.

After we left the reception, we ran errands...to a grocery store, to a pharmacy store, to a dollar store, and to the WDCS for groceries.

It was nearly 4 p.m. before we returned home. So I got leftover pork chops with onions and apples, rice, and leftover veggies ready for the oven. Meanwhile, Hubbie accompanied Mother to our house to join us for supper.

Hubbie accompanied her back home afterward. A few minutes after they left, I discovered that I'd forgotten to give Mother baggies of fig newtons and slices of apple cake. I rushed to intercept her and Hubbie, but caught up with them just as Mother was walking in her door. She was so surprised to see me that she broke out laughing, realizing that she walks so slowly that even with several minutes head start, I was still able to catch up with her in a matter of moments.

Hubbie and I spent the evening watching TV. First we watched a public television offering, "The Old Curiosity," based on the Charles Dickens novel.

We followed that by watching our favorite college basketball team, as they played to a very disappointing loss...losing by only two points.