Thursday, May 10

Slept a little later this morning, until around 8 a.m. I did a stair stepping, resistance bands, and weights exercises after breakfast, while Hubbie went to a Master Gardener meeting. The MGs were invited to tour the gardens of one of the members after the meeting, and Hubbie invited me to go along.

Once I was ready for the day, I packed a lunch, intending to have a late picnic at the park by the river, since I knew that it would be well past noon by the time the tour ended. I went to Mother's house after the lunch was packed to invite her to go with us on the tour and picnic. At first she said she didn't want to go, but I pressed her, because I knew an outing on this beautiful day would be good for her.

Hubbie returned around 11:30, and we headed to the tour. What a beautiful place the hosts have, with several acres for grazing three horses, a large, beautiful home, a guest house and pool house, tiered decks, and many gardens. It was easy for Mother to navigate with her walker, because there are paved paths throughout.

The property was once owned by a farmer, so when these owners acquired it, it had no trees or gardens. The house had to be completely renovated, and a well-made smaller building, once used as a shed, and later as an emu hatchery, was ideal for converting into a guest house. The house has a cellar, where the owners winter plants.

An inviting swimming pool is bordered by a multi-tiered deck, with a pool house featuring floor-to-ceiling windows all around. In the distance, we could hear the the cry of a peacock. We were told that the bird belonged to neighbors. Seems the bird wandered onto their property to join the chickens while they were feeding, and it just continued to hang around. No one claimed it, so the neighbors kept it. Our host said she enjoys hearing the peacock.

In the pool house, the hosts had provided a big tray of sandwiches...chicken salad and pimento cheese from a local restaurant...with a choice of water or cold drinks on the deck. So instead of having a picnic at the river, as I'd planned, we went ahead and enjoyed lunch pool-side.

This was a wonderful place for snapping photos, and I took a lot. Back home, I uploaded some to my social network page.

We had a great time on the tour, and Mother really enjoyed it. During the rest of the afternoon, Mother worked on her jigsaw puzzle, while Hubbie and I ran errands...to a grocery store to pick up a couple of paper bags full of canned and boxed goods to contribute to Saturday's "Stamp Out Hunger," in which the mail carriers will pick up donated food on their rounds; to the greeting card shop, where Hubbie looked for cards, and where I spent a $5 coupon to buy a lavendar scented reed diffuser; to the farmer's market to buy blueberries and squash; and to the WDCS for several items, including snapshots of myself in the ball gown to use in making a scrapbook page.

Back home, we relaxed for a while until it was time for me to prepare supper, which tonight was a little strange...leftover goulash, and leftover stirfry with rice. I did add a fresh touch by baking a loaf of yeast bread. Afterward, I accompanied Mother to her house, and then Hubbie and I spent the rest of the evening watching TV.

Funny: in anticipation of a picnic today, I took along a pump pot of coffee for Mother. At the MG hosts' house, I asked Hubbie to fetch a cup of it for Mother to have with her lunch. When he returned with the coffee, he gave me a strange look, and I immediately knew what his expression meant...I'd forgotten to put the pump spout in the pot, making it difficult for him to pour the coffee. I laughed and told him it was payback for the other day, when, in his haste to clean up after me as I cooked, he disposed of some fresh ginger that I'd carefully grated for the Chinese soup.