Saturday, June 16

Slept late this morning. In fact, Hubbie had to wake me up around 8:30 a.m. Since I was so late getting up, I skipped my exercises and just went on and got dressed. Hubbie accompanied Mother to our house, and we worked to prepare food for tomorrow's gathering for Hubbie's birthday, and Father's Day.

We spent five hours in the kitchen, where Mother chopped veggies for various dishes, and where I baked two cakes...lemon and pineapple upside down...and twenty four chocolate cupcakes. I also made large batches of potato salad and baked beans. While we did this, Hubbie vacuumed and did other household cleaning chores.

By 3 p.m., we were ready to relax. Mother worked on her jigsaw puzzle for a while, until around 4 p.m. At that time, I made an egg, cheese, potato omelet for Mother's supper. I put the omelet in a microwave dish, so that she could heat it later, and then I accompanied her home, where I helped her take a shower, and threw a load of laundry in the washer.

Later, Hubbie and I went to a Mexican restaurant for supper. I haven't been to a Mexican restaurant in three years, but since this is Hubbie's favorite restaurant food, and it's his birthday weekend, I decided to treat him.

I ordered chicken fajitas, and had enough left for another meal. Hubbie ordered chili rellenos and ate it all.

After dinner, I gave Hubbie the choice of going to a movie or watching our favorite college baseball team in the College World Series. He opted for the game, which our team won. I'd recorded the game on DVR.

Note: Hubbie received the cutest card from Son and Daughter-in-Law...it's a singing card, with a "dog" and a "cat" woofing and meowing to the tune of Happy Birthday to You." Hubbie loves it.

Friday, June 15

Our state is celebrating 176 years of statehood today. Happy Birthday to our state!

Had another one of those nights last night when it was 2 a.m. before I fell asleep. But even though Hubbe forgot to set the clock, I still woke up at 6:30. It was after seven before he woke up, though.

So we were a little later having breakfast, and I was therefore a little later arriving at the swimming pool. The water is still high and a bit cool, but it felt good once I was used to it.

Funny: last night, I dreamed I was involved in a swimming competition with one of the other members of water aerobics. When I told her about my dream, she broke out laughing. "And I won, of course," I added, "because, after all, it was my dream!"

As I was leaving the session, she said, "I'll see YOU Monday," as if demanding a re-match.

Back home, Hubbie peeeled potatoes, which I boiled for making potato salad tomorrow. I also hard-boiled eggs for the dish.

While I got ready for the day, Hubbie accompanied Mother to our house. It was obvious that she was tired. So after lunch, I insisted that she retire to the couch and nap while Hubbie and I ran errands.

Our first round was to the farmer's market, where I bought tomatoes (I'll be very glad when ours ripen); to a business friend's office to borrow a small table and four chairs for a birthday/Father's Day gathering Sunday; and to another town to see if watermelons are ready. They are not, but cataloupes are, so we bought two.

On the way back, we stopped to talk to my favorite computer tech. After discussing the poblems we're having with our office computer, it was agreed that we should deliver it to him for an assessment. We'll do that Monday.

We stopped by home, then, to check on Mother, who was still napping. So we went on to the WDCS for groceries for the weekend.

Back home, we relaxed until 4 p.m., when we went on a second round...to pick up barbecue that Hubbie had ordered this morning; to a Mexican restaurant to pick up cheese dip; and to the WDCS again to pick up a rotisserie chicken for supper.

At home, Mother had just awakened and was ready for supper. We had the chicken, with macaroni salad, and canned whole kernel corn. Afterward, I accompanied Mother back to her house.

Hubbie and I spent the rest of the evening watching TV, including the 1988 movie, "Dangerous Liaisons," starring Glenn Close, John Malkovich, and Michelle Pfiffer. Idle, bored, and rich 18th-century French aristocrats play games of love and betrayal.

Later, we watched as Nick Wallenda successfully walked a high wire across Niagra Falls. Yikes!

Thursday, June 14

Today is Flag Day. Flag Day is a birthday celebration of the American flag. In 1949, President Truman officially signed an Act of Congress designating June 14 as National Flag Day, though the day had been celebrated by school children since a Wisconsin school teacher originated the idea in 1885. In honor of the day, we flew flags from our well house and Mother's front porch.

We were up around 7:30 this morning, so Hubbie could get ready to go to a 10 a.m. Master Gardener meeting. Before he left, he accompanied Mother to our house. I had actually intended for her to stay home until after I got ready for the day, so I could go to her house and help her take a shower for a picnic later in the afternoon.

But since she was here, I put her to work looking through craft ideas, because my hairdresser has asked for suggestions to entertain a child while she and her family and some friends are at camp.

While she was occupied with this, I did stair stepping, resistance bands, and weights exercises. Then I helped her go through craft ideas. We turned up two or three we think will be suited to a girl of about ten years old.

The hairdresser also wanted my recipe for making coffee can ice cream, and I typed and printed instructions for her.

Finally, I got ready for the day, and by this time, Hubbie had returned for lunch. After lunch, he went out to work in the yard, and I accompanied Mother to her house and helped her shower, then threw a load of laundry in the washer.

Around 5 p.m., Hubbie went to the home of the Master Gardener who hosted the picnic to help set up tables and chairs. Actually, this farm house, which is lass than a mile from our house, is not the permanent residence of the host, but is simply the old homestead that the family uses for entertaining.

It's a nice place, and Hubbie and I have been there several times in the past for Community Theater cast and crew parties. It has been a long time since we've visited there, though, so it was fun seeing this photo-opportunity place again.

Hubbie returned around 6 p.m. to drive Mother and me to the picnic. Around 30 people showed up for the event. There were lots of potluck dishes to go along with the barbecue sandwiches, as well as several yummy desserts.

There was plenty of seating, with two large picnic tables in the kitchen, a large picnic table in one of the spacious bedrooms, and more tables on the screened porch.

Following the picnic, folks were invited to tour the old house. I guided Mother through the lower floor, where antique furniture abounds. When I'd gotten Mother seated again, Hubbie and I toured the upstairs, where there are three bedrooms containing more antique furniture. I took lots of pictures of the interior of the house, and then went outdoors to snap a few more shots.

Note: one of the Master Gardener women came in with a boot cast on her foot. When someone inquired about it, she said she merely stood up a few days ago and broke her foot. I immediately thought to myself that she is probably suffering from osteoporosis. She confirmed that while she doesn't have osteoporosis yet, her doctor will be treating her for osteopenia, the condition just before full-blown osteoporosis.

By 8 p.m., Mother was plenty ready to return home. She was tired, and she had a tummy-ache. She opted to come to our house, because it is a shorter walk than to her house. She took care of her tummy-ache, and then relaxed with a cup of coffee, while we watched the evening news, which I'd recorded on DVR. Then Hubbie accompanied her to her house.

Hubbie and I finished the evening watching TV, including the 2006 movie "A Crime." A man comes home to find his wife murdered. His next door neighbor takas a fancy to him and invents a culprit, so he can exact the revenge he seeks, and then he can be free to desire her.

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Funny: yesterday afternoon, when I arrived at the art gallery, it was locked and the council director was nowhere in sight. A man was waiting at the door, and after introducing himself, explained that he was there to pay for an upcoming screen printing class. He handed me $20 and asked me to give it to the director. I agreed, but wondered why he would so freely hand $20 to someone he didn't know. Guess I have an honest face.

He said that he was interested in the class because he once lived next door to the man who invented screen printing. An award for silk fabric screen printing was awarded in 1907 to Samuel Simon of Manchester, England. The guy who handed me the money is well into his 60s, so I guess it's possible he could have, in his youth, lived next door to Simon.

Anyway, no sooner had he turned over the $20, than the council director rushed up. She apologized profusely, saying that she was late because of having to stand in line at the post office.

"This has been a very erotic week for me," she panted, out of breath. The man and I looked at each other, but neither of us cracked a smile, since both of us knew she really meant "erratic."

This lady works hard for the arts council, but she is very big-word challenged. She often uses words that sound close to what she intends, but are miles away in meaning.
This one, though, topped the list. I wanted to say, "Good for you!" but restrained myself.

Wednesday, June 13

Up at 6:30 to get ready to go to water aerobics. The pool is still over-filled, but the water was pleasant, anyway. We laughed a lot at ourselves as we tried to stay upright during aerobics (most of us were standing tippy-toe during the workout).

The talk today was about yesterday's runoff election, and how the candidate from our district won by only 2% of the vote. One lady volunteered at a polling site where only three voters showed up. She said her friend helped at another site where only one voter showed up. Twelve hours and several volunteers for only four votes! Once again, American apathy prevails.

Back home, Hubbie accompanied Mother to our house, and then once I was ready for the day, I boiled macaroni for macaroni salad, which Mother helped make after lunch. This will be our contribution to the Master Gardener picnic tomorrow evening.

Didn't accomplish much else for the afternoon. Mother dozed, Hubbie went out into the yard, and I played on my laptop, read the evening newspaper, and watched TV.

Around 5 p.m., I went to a visual arts meeting at the gallery. Only a few of us showed up, so the director put us to work creating bracelet tags to be used for the silent auction at the upcoming Summer Celebration. These are bright orange, yellow, green, and blue, with round tags for the numbers assigned to guests.

I just don't think these childish looking bracelets are going to be a hit with guests, some of whom will be dressed up for the event. Nevertheless, I agreed to spend time again sometime next week helping to assemble more of them.

This year, instead of having the event catered, members are to bring refreshments. I asked what I needed to bring and was told there's a need for ice chests and ice. That's easy enough.

I also plan to donate a photo this year, if I can get it ready and framed by next Tuesday or Wednesday.

Back home around 6 p.m., Hubbie had heated the leftover soup, cornbread, and biscuits, for supper. Afterward, I accompanied Mother to her house, and then grabbed my camera to snap a few photos in the yard.

Uploaded some of them to my social network page, and then Hubbie and I watched TV for the rest of the evening.

Tuesday, June 12

Slept late this morning, until nearly 8 a.m., which felt good after a sleepless Sunday night. I anticipated a leisurely breakfast and sipping coffee while I watched the morning shows, but promptly after we'd had our toast, Hubbie sped outside to feed the cats and check on Mother.

A few minutes later, he returned, escorting Mother to our house. He then rushed upstairs and changed into "going to town" clothes. By 9 a.m., he was ready to go vote in the run-off election. I don't know why he was in such a hurry, but it meant I had to scoot upstairs and make myself presentable.

We arrived at our voting place by 9:30 (since it's less than five minutes from our house). Later, in the van, he commented that it took us longer to vote today than at any time in the past, even though we were the only three folks (numbers 6, 7, and 8, of those who had voted by that hour) standing in line for the voting machine to select between two candidates.

We asked how many people are registered at that polling site, and learned that there are 850. Only ten percent of eligible voters were expected to turn out today. It was going to be a long, boring day, we were told. These same two manned the poll during the regular primary, and at that time, they were earnestly hoping there would be no need for a run-off. They came prepared with novels, word-game books, a newspaper, and a laptop computer, but I'm sure the hours still dragged.

Took us less than ten minutes to vote, but since we are personally acquainted with the couple manning the poll, and there was no one else around, we spent thirty minutes visiting. Talked of many things, including gardens, whereupon the wife of the couple commented that she had a lot of gourds growing, and would we like to grow some? Hubbie said yes.

Interesting: next door to the polling place is a stone house, surrounded by gardens planted with every color and description of artificial flowers. There's such an abundance, we wondered how much money the owner had invested in them. They certainly aren't inexpensive. The same home features a beautiful vegetable garden. We could see yellow squash ready to pick, as well as other lush plants ready to bear fruit.

Back home, since I didn't have an opportunity to exercise before we rushed to the polls, and since I was already dressed, I decided riding my bicycle was in order. Hubbie had earlier said he needed to get into the yard and pick up limbs from yesterday's storms, so he had changed into work clothes as soon as we got home. I didn't expect him to ride this time. But he allowed as how he had time to ride with me...I think he's afraid to let me ride alone, for fear I might have an emergency medical problem. But as far as I know, I'm in fine shape, and feel I'd be safe to ride alone.

With him along, though, the pack of dogs that usually rush out to bark when we pass concentrated soley on Hubbie, and ignored me. These dogs, including a chocolate lab, a beagle, and a little fuzzy mixed-breed dog, are all bark and no bite. They just want us to believe how fierce they'd be if we trespassed on their property. Truth be known, they'd do nothing more than bark even if we rode up their owner's driveway.

Farther down the road, there are a couple of hunting dogs that bark, too, but they are confined by a fence to their yard. There are also a couple of snippy dogs at another house, but today they didn't bark, because their owners were at the end of the driveway using shovels to smooth out ruts and rearrange gravel after yesterday's storms.

The day was beginning to warm up, and we could feel a rise in humidity, but there was a nice breeze that made the ride comfortable enough. Felt a bit like we were riding uphill both ways today, though, and we were sweating when we got back.

Mother worked on her jigsaw puzzle while we were gone. Later, I set out a lunch of salads from yesterday, making hamburger bun sandwiches with the chicken salad.

After lunch, Hubbie went back into the yard, and Mother and I put together a recipe of Dragon Soup to simmer. Mother's job, as usual, was to dice veggies...onions, carrots, celery, and banana peppers, which I sauteed in olive oil. To this I added a quart of grape tomatoes that we'd processed a few weeks ago and put in the freezer; a can of chicken broth, and a can of beef broth, and a container of broth from the freezer left from slow cooking a pork roast; and various spices, including salt-free seasoning, pepper, paprika, rosemary, thyme, oregano, garlic, and parsley. Once this brew had simmered for a couple of hours, I added leftover veggies that I'd collected from past meals and put in the freezer.

Mother and I relaxed after that...she caught up on a week's worth of newspapers, while I played on my laptop computer. Later, we made a batch of homemade biscuits, and a recipe of cornbread to go with the soup. We used sour milk that had been in Mother's refrigerator to make both breads.

After supper, I accompanied Mother to her house, and helped her take a shower, then threw a load of laundry in the washer. Back home, Hubbie and I watched TV, including a 2002 crime/action movie called, "Ablaze," starring Ice-T, John Bradley, and Tom Arnold. An oil refinery blows up, and a hospital is threatened. Fires everywhere. People running around on fire. Hunk heroes.

In the news tonight: our local paper reported that yesterday's storms resulted in a power outage to 1,500 folks on the other side of town. Power outage at the high school, too, where poles were snapped in two when a tree fell on the lines. Good thing school is out for the summer. Thankfully, all we experienced was a brief brown-out.

Monday, June 11

Had trouble going to sleep last night. Finally drifted off around 2 a.m. So 6:30 arrived pretty quickly. At breakfast, Hubbie said he had trouble sleeping, too, and was up and down all night.

Although I really felt like crawling back into bed, I got ready and went to water aerobics, where several of the ladies also complained of sleep problems last night. Must be the change in weather. It had been cool and pleasant for several days, but this morning it was humid, and as the day rolled on, thunderstorms cropped up.

The pool was even fuller this morning than it was Friday. Today, the water was above the depth markers. I don't know why, but I seem to be more buoyant in deeper water, so that during aerobics, my backside kept wanting to float to the top. At least, I think it was the water depth. Though it might have been my amply padded rump.

I usually like to stand at the back of the group, near the rope, during aerobics, but not today. Back there, my head would have been under water. As it was, all of us exercised in water over our shoulders. We appeared to be moving in slow motion during the workout.

A dozen of us showed up today. Found out from one of the ladies that watermelons in a community near us will be ready by June 15, fully a month ahead of time. That community holds a watermelon festival the second weekend in August each year, and the growers are concerned that there won't be melons by that time.

The cantaloupes are already ripe, so we'll be making a trip to our favorite grower in the next few days to pick up these seasonal fruits.

Back home, by the time I relaxed and had a couple of cups of coffee, got ready for the day, and fixed lunch for Mother, it was time to go to the hospital conference room, where there was a luncheon and educational talk at noon. Today's talk was about skin cancer.

The lunch was three kinds of salad, provided by a local restaurant. We had chicken salad, macaroni salad, and veggie salad, plus a brownie for dessert. Hospital employees seated with us urged us to bring home three boxes of the food, since they would be discarded after the event, anyway. There's enough in those three boxes to serve us at least twice, if we use the chicken salad in sandwiches. Others took boxes home, too, but there were still a lot of boxes left behind. What a waste! Hopefully, hospital staff will make use of some of it.

At home, Hubbie changed clothes and went out to work in the yard, and I went upstairs to my computer to complete paperwork to update my artist-in-residency information for the state arts council. The deadline for submission is July 9, and this is the latest I've submitted my paperwork. I've been debating, for three reasons, if it's wise to sign up again: one, because Mother needs my help more; two, because the program I offer revolves around film photography and darkroom work, both of which are outmoded, even though they are still great teaching tools, and three, because it's more difficult to obtain darkroom supplies, and four, because it is now impossible to get one-time-use cameras developed in one hour. For that part of the course, students might need to bring digital cameras from home.

Halfway into the paperwork, there came a thunderstorm, so I had to shut the computer down. Lots of thunder and lightening, and strong winds. Some rain, too, but not a lot, only about a half an inch. The rest of the afternoon remained dark and dismal, though. Naturally, Mother didn't want to come over to our house.

Later, after I heated leftovers for supper, I took a serving to her. Wow, it had cooled off significantly after the storms! Even though Mother's front door is anything but quiet, she didn't wake up when I entered her house. In fact, she was so sound asleep, she startled me. I had to shake her several times to awaken her.

I stayed with her for a while so she would have compnay while eating her supper, then returned home to enjoy my meal with Hubbie. After supper, we did the usual...watched TV, including a scary 2011 crime movie called, "A Lonely Place to Die." The film takes place in the Scottish Highlands, where a group of hikers run across an underground vault containing a young girl. The hikers rescue the girl, and then are hunted by the men who had held her captive.

Sunday, June 10

Slept late, until 8 a.m. this morning. skipped my exercises, as I usually do on Sunday.

After breakfast, Hubbie accompanied Mother to our house, where she sliced onions, and cut eye of round steak into strips. I browned the strips, and added the onions, along with sliced mushrooms and bell peppers. I added a can of low-sodium beef broth and seasonings, and let the mixture simmer until lunchtime.

While we waited for the meat to cook, Mother worked on her jigsaw puzzle, Hubbie worked in the yard, and I did this and that household chores. Around 11 a.m., I put potatoes in the oven to bake, and later put dishes of Lima beans, and butter beans in the oven to heat.

The meal was very good. Afterward, we watched a movie...the 2003 "Intolerable Cruelty," starring George Clooney and Catherine Zeta-Jones. A slick lawyer falls in love with a gold-digger. PG-13 Comedy. Sexual overtones. This movie has mixed reviews, and we'd agree it's not Oscar material, but we enjoyed the humor.

Following the movie, we hopped in the van and went to the pharmacy to pick up medications for Mother and me, and to fill the van with gas. We also stopped by a local fast-food restaurant to spend the free coupons my hygienist gave me for small soft-serve ice cream cones. These were very generous cones...more than we expected. They are regularly priced at $1.59 each.

Back home, Mother was ready for another movie, so we watched an LMN feature: "Who Killed Allison Parks?" A young ER nurse is accidentally electrocuted by a defibrilator that doctors are using to try to save a woman's life. After that, she is invaded by the dead woman's memories. No one believes her, of course, so she has to solve the murder herself.

Later, I accompanied Mother to her house, and helped her take a shower, then threw a load of laundry in the washer. Tonight, she got so vigorous with the flexible shower that she sprayed everything, including the PJs she was going to wear. Threw those in the dryer for her.

Back home, Hubbie and I continued wasting time watching TV...this time the LMN 2004 movie, "Reversible Errors," based on a novel by Scott Turow, and starring Tom Selleck and William H. Macy. New details emerge in a death row inmate's appeal. A reluctant lawyer (Macy) is court appointed to the case. Selleck plays the good detective, who, for the sake of love, ultimately breaks the law by tampering with evidence.