Saturday, April 14

Up at 6:30, so Hubbie could get ready to go help the Master Gardeners at their fundraising plant sale today. The sale started at 8 a.m., and Mother, Daughter and I attended shortly after.

We toured the sale several times, and after Mother decided which plants she wanted to buy, we left and headed to the college to attend the Scottish Festival. We were very fortunate to find a parking space near the festival area.

Our first stop was the tent selling baked goods, where I bought a chocolate cake (I got one of these melt-in-your-mouth cakes last year and was determined to have another this year), Irish soda bread, Struan (a bread that originated in Scotland as a harvest bread, using all the available grains), and Autumn Bread (a type of bran bread with apples, raisins, and spices).

Daughter took the cake and breads back to the van, and then we toured the festival, which included Highland dancing demonstrations, bagpipe competitions, Celtic musical performances, and a British roadsters car show.

By 11:30, Mother was exhausted, so we came back home, where we had a lunch of hoagie sandwiches (Hubbie had lunch at the plant sale). After lunch, Mother settled down for to nap on one of the couches, while Daughter and I watched the musical, "Joseph and the Amazing Tchnicolor Dreamcoat." Following the movie, Daughter retired to the guest bedroom for a nap.

Hubbie returned home around 2 p.m., and went outdoors to put some of the plants he bought at the sale into the ground. I watched TV and played on my laptop until time to prepare supper.

Supper was a choice of cheeseburgers, turkey burgers, or hot dogs, with corn-on-the-cob, and leftover beans and ham. Afterward, I accompanied Mother to her house.

Then Hubbie, Daughter, and I watched TV for the evening.

Deadly tornadoes are ripping across the Midwest tonight, with the storm system headed our way tomorrow. Maybe it'll weaken by the time it arrives here. I look forward to spring each year, but always dread these horrible storms.

Friday, April 13

Today is Friday the 13th. It's said that 17 to 21 million people in the U.S. have a diagnosable phobia of Friday the 13th, a malady that's called figgatriskaidekaphobia. I wouldn't want to be plagued with something I can't even pronounce!

We were up at 6:30 so I could get ready to go to water aerobics, and Hubbie could get ready to go to the armory, a short distance down the road from our house, to help set up for the Master Gardener plant sale tomorrow.

I noticed on my trip to the gym that some of the fields are abloom with red clover and purple vetch. Other fields are bright with yellow bitterweed. At the college, one of the parking lots was closed, because staff and vendors were setting up for the Scottish Festival, which began this afternoon and continues through Sunday. But since I arrived early, I had no trouble finding a parking space.

The water was pretty chilly this morning, because the pool had been topped off, and the water hasn't had time to heat again. Ironically, thirteen of us showed up today. If any of us were superstitious, this might have disturbed us.

Back home, I warmed up with a couple of cups of coffee, and then after I'd gotten ready for the day, I checked on Mother. Even though it was late in the morning, she had just finished dressing, and was pooped from the effort. So I heated some Ramen noodle soup, and served her lunch.

Back home, I didn't do much before Hubbie returned for lunch. He went back to the armory right after lunch to help finish setting up. While he was gone, I helped Mother come to our house, where she worked on her jigsaw puzzle.

Hubbie came back home around 1:30, changed clothes, and accompanied me to run a couple of errands...first to a dollar store to pick up supplies for making hand cream. This will be a project for Daughter to do while she is here for the weekend. She loves the homemade cream, which soothes her hands when she's working.

Then we went to the WDCS to buy groceries for the weekend. Back home, Hubbie went out to work in the yard. Once again, I didn't do much before it was time to fix a supper of leftover spaghetti.

Just as we finished supper, Daughter arrived...she startled us when she came in, since we didn't expect her until tomorrow. Fortunately, supper was still hot, there was plenty left, and Daughter had a hearty appetite.

After supper, Daughter and I accompanied Mother to her house, where I helped her take a shower. I threw a load of laundry in the washer before we returned home.

Before we settled in to watch TV, I helped Daughter make a batch of hand cream. She got three nice size jars of it. She plans to make more when she gets home to give to friends.

Thursday, April 12

Today is Granddaughter's birthday. Happy Birthday, Granddaughter!

Up at 7:30, so Hubbie could get ready to go to a Master Gardener meeting at 10 a.m. After he was gone, I did a treadmill session and resistance exercises.

Once I was ready for the day, I checked on Mother. She decided she wanted to stay home today, so I fixed her a lunch of Ramen noodle soup before I came back to our house.

At home, I started a pot of spaghetti sauce simmering. Just before noon, Hubbie called to say the Master Gardeners were going to tour a private garden around 1:30, if I wanted to join them. I did. Hubbie returned home for lunch, and then we went on the tour.

The man who owns the garden has worked on it for many years, and each year it gets more beautiful. It has been created on several levels of the side of a hill. Rock steps and pleasing pathways lead down to the bottom level, where waterfalls, ponds, a gazebo, and a Japanese tea house delight the eye. Today, all colors of rhododendron and azaleas were in bloom. This gardener is a master at getting the most color under a canopy of trees. I snapped lots of photos of the garden, uploading several to my social network page.

I'd turned the spaghetti sauce off before we left for the garden tour, and when we returned, I started it simmering again. Later, I sent a serving of spaghetti with sauce, and a helping of cottage cheese, along with slices of rye bread, to Mother for her supper.

Then Hubbie and I had an early supper before getting ready to go to the college library for a Friends of the Library champagne reception, and a sneak preview of the book sale. Hubbie and I bought four novels at the sale.

The reception was held in what is called the Tornado Garden...so called because it features the cross that a tornado ripped off the chapel spire in 1973. Besides champagne, nibbles were offered, including delicious hot stuffed mushrooms.

Around 6:30, we left the reception to go to the Presbyterian Church, where a Celtic concert was scheduled for 7 p.m. This unusual concert was the kick-off event of the weekend's Scottish Festival.

The concert included bagpipers, performances on guitar and violin, a singer, a poet, and a dancer. You've never heard anything until you've heard nine bagpipes in a church! But it was an enjoyable concert.

There were two types of bagpipes...small and large. The host commented that when players want to annoy people, they play the small bagpipes; when they really want to annoy people, they play the large bagpipes.

The drummer for the bagpipers, a woman we know from community theater, is really skilled at twirling the drumsticks, but tonight during her performance, her drum, which is attached to a special belt at the waist, fell off. She was a trouper, though, and continued twirling the drumsticks, even though the drum was on the floor.

We were back home around 9 p.m. Watched a TV show, and then headed to bed. It was a good day, but busy.

Wednesday, April 11

Up at 6:30 this morning to get ready to go to water aerobics. It was a bit chilly this morning, and the pool felt chilly when I first got in it, too. But I was very glad to get back to swimming after a week away from it.

Sixteen of us showed up this morning. Unfortunately, one older lady walked into the pool forgetting that she'd tucked her cell phone into the top of her swimsuit. I'm puzzled as to why she was carrying it there, but I doubt it'll work again.

Funny: a car that parks in a space directly across from where I park at the college has a sign on the front bumper that says, "This car insured by the Mafia...you hit me, we hit you."

Back home, while I got ready for the day, Hubbie accompanied Mother to our house, where she continued working on her jigsaw puzzle.

After lunch, Hubbie and I ran errands...to a grocery store to get a 20-lb. bag of red potatoes that were on sale (can share these with Daughter when she visits this weekend); to the newspaper office to leave this week's word search puzzle contest; to a fabric store to buy cheesecloth; to a bank; and to another grocery store to take advantage of coupons, and buy my favorite brand of fat-free ice cream (this store seems to be the only one that carries it); and then back home again to leave these groceries before going to the WDCS for the rest of the groceries. Chocolate Easter candy was on sale here, so I bought several packages of it...again, to share with Daughter.

At home again, I found Mother sitting in her chair, frustrated. Seems that she was well into constructing the jigsaw puzzle, when she accidentally hit the cardboard she was working it on, knocking the whole thing to the floor. She was in no mood to reconstruct that puzzle, so I found another one for her. This time, I put a TV tray table under the cardboard to stabilize it.

Later, Hubbie put potatoes in the oven, which we had for supper with leftover beans and ham, and turnips, and the first of the veggie garden crop...green onions. After supper, I accompanied Mother to her house, where I helped her take a shower, and then I threw a load of laundry in the washer.

An arts council visual arts committee meeting was scheduled for 5:30 this evening, but since the only item on the agenda was an upcoming juried art event, about which I have nothing to contribute, I skipped the meeting.

Hubbie and I spent the rest of the evening watching TV, including another episode of "Betty White's Off Their Rockers." Funny, funny.

Tuesday, April 10

Up at 7:30 on this chilly morning. We had just finished a leisurely breakfast when the pest control guy came by to treat the house. Fortunately, now treatment occurs only on the outside of the house, so it didn't matter that I was garbed in an exercise t-shirt and shorts. I also didn't have to scurry around sprucing the house for him.

Around 9:30, Hubbie accompanied Mother to our house, where she cut up onions, banana peppers, and ham for a pot of Navy beans. After that, she finished her jigsaw puzzle, and I located another one for her to work on, while I set the beans to simmering, and then did a stair stepping, resistance, and weights exercises session.

After lunch, Hubbie went out to work in the yard, and I did this and that around the house, and then settled in to watch TV and play Sudoku games. A friend from water aerobics gave me three Sudoku books recently, because they contain variations on the game that my friend didn't want to try to learn (she's in her 80s). It was fun learning the games, even though they strained my brain, which, it is said, is a good way of possibly avoiding Alzheimer's Disease. Experts now insist that it's not enough to play brain games that we are already familiar with...we must learn new ones, or new ways to play old ones, to adequately exercise our brains.

Around 4 p.m., I started a pan of turnips simmering, which we had with the beans, and a combination of leftover scalloped potatoes and leftover baked potatoes.

After supper, I accompanied Mother back to her house, and then Hubbie and I watched TV, including the elimination show of "Dancing With the Stars." It's always sad to see someone go, and tonight it was particularly sad.

We also watched the new series, "Betty White's Off Their Rockers." This is hilarious...a group of senior citizens plays tricks on young adults. I plan to catch this each Wednesday at 7 p.m. on NBC.

Happy to receive notice by mail today that my blood work is all normal. I worried a little when I had to get a re-test of my white blood cell count, which was a little low the first time. I was told that a silent virus can cause this, and that's probably what it was. I felt a little blah...not really sick, just not up to par..a few days before the first blood draw, and I suspect that's when I had the virus.

Monday, April 9

Since there was no water aerobics this morning, due to the college being closed for Easter break, we slept a little later, until nearly 8 a.m. We had a leisurely breakfast, and afterward, I did a treadmill session and resistance exercises.

Spent the rest of the morning preparing for a tutoring session with my student later. Last week, I was unable to clearly explain when to use gerunds and when to use infinitives. In researching online, I discovered that there are lots and lots of rules concerning these, but one site suggested that infinitives answer questions: "I'll learn (what?) to do it." "I'll need (what?) to do it." "I'll wait (what?) to do it." "To do it" is an infinitive.

Gerunds, on the other hand complete a statement: "I'll keep doing it." "I'll quit doing it." "Doing it" is a gerund.

My student likes to apply strict rules to every lesson, but in the case of infinitives and gerunds, there are so many rules that most websites suggest that practice is better than overwhelming the student with rules. Today, I gave the student lists of common verbs that would be followed by infinitives or gerunds.

After lunch, Hubbie accompanied Mother to our house, where she worked on her jigsaw puzzle, while I went over the lesson plan for my student. I met the student at the usual time of 2:30 p.m.

Today's lesson was on vocabulary about the outdoors: ("I like to go camping." "I like to be outdoors."); about feelings ("We feel angry when a friend yells at us." "We feel sad when a friend is sick."); about adjective opposites ("The book is open." "The book is shut."); about the inside of a car ("Inside the car there is a steering wheel." "There is a front seat and a back seat."); about the use of "again" "The plate isn't clean. Wash it again."); about irregular verbs, ("I sleep very well at night." "I feel fine."); and about past participles of irregular verbs: sleep, slept, have slept; keep, kept, have kept, etc.

While I was away, Hubbie heated leftovers from yesterday's Easter dinner for supper tonight. After supper, Mother washed a pound of Navy beans to soak overnight, and then I accompanied her to her house, where I helped her take a shower. I threw a load of laundry in the washer before I came back home.

Hubbie and I spent the rest of the evening watching TV, including this week's episode of "Dancing With the Stars."

Sunday, April 8

Today is Easter Sunday. Happy Easter, everyone!

We were up around 7 a.m., so I could make a pineapple upside-down cake before breakfast. Sometimes, when I try to turn this kind of cake out onto a cake keeper, some if it sticks to the pan. But today, it came out all of a piece, pineapple rings and maraschino cherries prettily decorating the top. It looked very Easter-y.

After breakfast, Hubbie accompanied Mother to our house, where I presented her with a jigsaw puzzle, and an Easter basket containing an Easter card and Jelly Belly jelly beans.

Then the three of us worked to put together a dish of scalloped potatoes for the oven later. Hubbie peeled and then sliced the potatoes in the food processor, while I gathered all the ingredients and tools, and heated the milk. Mother put the recipe together, layering the potatoes, margarine, shredded Monterey Jack cheese, garlic, and spices, over which I poured the milk. This recipe is an adaptation of a recipe clipped from a magazine, which is an adaptation of a Julia Child recipe. It's really, really good.

Then, while I got ready for the day, Mother made deviled eggs. I put the potatoes in the oven around 11 a.m., and close to noon, I heated asparagus and ham in the microwave, and rolls in the oven.

The cats were banished to the sunroom, so we could display the vase of azalea blossoms on the dining room table, and we sat down to Easter dinner shortly after noon. What a pretty, eye-appealing, spring-like array of food, with the pink ham, white scalloped potatoes, green asparagus, orange carrot salad, and yellow deviled eggs.

Afterward, Mother began working on her new jigsaw puzzle, Hubbie watched TV, and I threw a gentle-cycle load of clothes in the washer, read the Sunday newspaper, programmed the DVR, and finished my John Grisham novel.

Around 3 p.m., we enjoyed helpings of the pineapple upside-down cake. Mother was ready to go home afterward, so I walked with her.

Hubbie and I spent the rest of the evening watching TV, including the 1962 classic movie, "To Kill a Mockingbird." In the 1932 south, a lawyer defends a black man against an undeserved rape charge, and teaches his children not to be prejudiced.