Slept late, until around 8 a.m., but did stair stepping, resistance band, and weights exercises after breakfast.
While I got ready for the day, Hubbie washed a bunch of sweet potatoes, and put them in the oven to bake, and then accompanied Mother to our house.
Mother seemed sort of in the dumps this morning, so I asked if she was up for an outing, since it was such a beautiful day, and she said she was. So we went to the museum to attend a Family Fun Day.
The event included animal exhibits...birds of prey, a pair of wolves, and a snake. The birds, of course, are ones that for one reason or another cannot be released into the wild, so they are used for educational purposes.
The wolves are domesticated, and they live with the man who exhibits them, and provides educational programs about them. I took several snapshots of the wolves, and their owner. The owner has asked me to e-mail some of the shots to him, so he can include them at his website: www.facebook.com/howlifyoulikewolves.
The wolves are very friendly, and were perfectly content to allow people to pet them. The animals particularly like children. The owner said the pair...one a full wolf, and the other a hybrid, are life mates, although they are unable to reproduce, because of some problem the female has. The owner says the pair would love to reproduce, and they mate as if this were possible. So I wonder if this is why they are so attracted to children.
The male, though, does not appreciate squealing children, and when one youngster let out an ear-splitting scream, the male backed away and put his ears back. So the owner, who had the animals on leashes, attached them to a chain, away from the audience, as a precaution. I think the male just didn't like the noise. He didn't appear to be threatening.
The male was very regal and commanding, though...a true alpha male, who went about marking his territory by scratching the ground, and urinating on the building.
The female wolf seemed to like Mother, and she approached her and licked her face. When I asked her if she'd ever been kissed by a wolf before, she said, "Yes, but it was a long time ago, when I was a lot younger." Obviously, she was referring to the two-legged kind.
Inside the museum, an Extension Services agent exhibited a king snake, which Mother and I touched. Contrary to what people think, the snake was warm and smooth, rather than cold and slimy.
The event included a dutch oven cooking demonstration outside of the museum, where a state park interpreter baked biscuits using an iron kettle suspended over hot coals, with more hot coals topping the kettle lid. We sampled the biscuits, slathered with homemade butter. They were very good.
There were also various fur pelts for kids to handle, as well as crafts tables for them to enjoy.
A bake sale was going on, but we passed on that. Hungry folks could buy barbecue sandwiches for lunch, but by this time, we were ready to return home, where we had leftover Chinese soup.
After lunch, we watched this week's "Dancing With the Stars" episodes. Well, Mother watched the first episode for a while, and then she was ready to head to the couch for a nap. I finished watching both of them, though, and then went upstairs to gather and iron clothes for the week.
Did this and that for the rest of the afternoon, and then heated leftover stirfry for supper. Fixed a fresh batch of rice to go with it. Afterward, I accompanied Mother to her house, where I sorted her clothes, and then waited for her to take a shower, before I returned home.
Hubbie and I spent the rest of the evening watching TV.
Saturday, October 20, 2012
Friday, October 19, 2012
Friday, Oct. 19
Up at 6:30 to get ready for water aerobics. Chilly and windy morning that required both fleece wear and a jacket. The pool was nice and warm, though, and twenty-two of us enjoyed the session.
The group was to meet for lunch at 11 a.m. at an Italian restaurant, but I opted to go to the college's convocation events instead.
I left the aerobics session a little earlier than usual, so I would have time to get ready for the event, which was also scheduled for 11 a.m. Hubbie and I dressed in Sunday best for this...he in a suit and tie, and I in a pantsuit.
The convocation began in the fine arts auditiorium, with a processional, led by the bagpipe band. Then the former president of the college gave the address. He was president of the college when I graduated from there, and he is a very good speaker.
Various other dignitaries gave short speeches too, in praise of the new commons center and dining hall, for which this year's convocation is dedicated. The old building burned, when someone set fire to a trash can in the dining hall that spread throughout the building, totally destroying it. It has taken two years to rebuild. But the new building is state of the art, completely paid for by insurance and private donations.
Following the speeches, and music performed by the community/college concert chorale, the bagpipe band led us all across campus to the commons center, where a ribbon-cutting ceremony took place.
After the ribbon cutting, we were all invited to enjoy a complimetary lunch in the dining hall. Two rows of buffet serving areas were set up, and kitchen staff served us fried rice, corn/tomato/onion/bell pepper medley, steamed broccoli, cheesy potatoes, and baked turkey breast, carved on the spot. We were on our own to choose desserts. I chose dark chocolate cake, and chocolate soft-serve ice cream. Hubbie chose bread pudding and vanilla soft-serve ice cream. We each had steaming cups of coffee to go with dessert.
Following dessert, we toured the facility.
Funny: before we did that, we visited the bathrooms, where I had difficulty locking my stall door. Had to lift up on the door to get the lock to slide into the receptacle. I reasoned that when I was ready to leave, I could just lift up on the lock to release it. Well, no. No amount of lifting, tugging, or anything else I tried released the lock.
I began to think I would either need to scream for help, or get down on hands and knees, and then belly-crawl under the door. But finally the lock released. Now, though, I couldn't open the door. I pushed and pushed, with with little result. I was finally able to open the door just a tiny bit, and wedge myself out.
An older woman was standing outside. "I don't know what's wrong with that door," I said, frustrated.
She looked at me with a straight face, and calmly said, "The door opens inward."
When I related the bathroom story to Hubbie, he laughed and said he thought he knew what caused the problem. It was the color of my hair.
We toured both floors of the building that not only includes a kitchen, and the huge dining room, but a bistro, with outdoor seating on the second floor, an exercise room, a book store, a gallery, a game room, a media room, large and small conference rooms, a student government room, and student life suite for student support services.
It was about 1:30 before we got back home. Before I came indoors, I went to Mother's house to accompany her to our house.
I changed clothes, and then Mother and I made a batch of pumpkin muffins. The recipe made twenty-four muffins that will be good with stews and soups I plan to make over the weekend.
Funny: the muffins call for apple juice. I thought I had an individual serving of it in a sealed plastic container that I'd brought home from Mother's house...we'd gotten the juice at a food event we attended some time back. But I couldn't find the juice anywhere in the refrigerator.
I was sure Hubbie had found it and drunk it. He said he didn't remember drinking it, but he's been known to eat and drink things before without asking if I had a use for them. So I chastised him about the the juice, and said that he could just immediately go to the store and buy a bottle of it!
As I went on-and-on, chiding Hubbie about the missing juice, and how, after the nearly 32 years we've been married, he has never learned to check with me before devouring everything in sight, I picked up the gallon container of milk in the refrigerator, and lo, behind it was that little container of juice. Oops! My bad. Time to apologize. Hubbie thoroughly enjoyed my embarrassment.
When the muffins were in the oven, Mother retired to the couch for a nap, while Hubbie went to the barber shop for a haircut, and I did this and that, including confirming my mammogram appointment, because I got a message from my clinic that the appointment was for Nov. 15, instead of Nov. 6. It's for Nov. 6, as I thought.
I also called the scrapbook club member who could not attend the meeting yesterday to tell her we are thinking about visiting a pioneer village in another town the first weekend in Nov., if she wishes to join us. This would be considered an educational trip for us, for which we'll use club treasury money.
Then I played on my laptop until time to prepare supper, which was leftover Chinese soup. We sampled the pumpkin muffins with it.
Afterward, I accompanied Mother to her house. I thought she'd want to take a shower tonight, but she did not, so I returned home.
Hubbie and I spent the rest of the evening watching TV.
The group was to meet for lunch at 11 a.m. at an Italian restaurant, but I opted to go to the college's convocation events instead.
I left the aerobics session a little earlier than usual, so I would have time to get ready for the event, which was also scheduled for 11 a.m. Hubbie and I dressed in Sunday best for this...he in a suit and tie, and I in a pantsuit.
The convocation began in the fine arts auditiorium, with a processional, led by the bagpipe band. Then the former president of the college gave the address. He was president of the college when I graduated from there, and he is a very good speaker.
Various other dignitaries gave short speeches too, in praise of the new commons center and dining hall, for which this year's convocation is dedicated. The old building burned, when someone set fire to a trash can in the dining hall that spread throughout the building, totally destroying it. It has taken two years to rebuild. But the new building is state of the art, completely paid for by insurance and private donations.
Following the speeches, and music performed by the community/college concert chorale, the bagpipe band led us all across campus to the commons center, where a ribbon-cutting ceremony took place.
After the ribbon cutting, we were all invited to enjoy a complimetary lunch in the dining hall. Two rows of buffet serving areas were set up, and kitchen staff served us fried rice, corn/tomato/onion/bell pepper medley, steamed broccoli, cheesy potatoes, and baked turkey breast, carved on the spot. We were on our own to choose desserts. I chose dark chocolate cake, and chocolate soft-serve ice cream. Hubbie chose bread pudding and vanilla soft-serve ice cream. We each had steaming cups of coffee to go with dessert.
Following dessert, we toured the facility.
Funny: before we did that, we visited the bathrooms, where I had difficulty locking my stall door. Had to lift up on the door to get the lock to slide into the receptacle. I reasoned that when I was ready to leave, I could just lift up on the lock to release it. Well, no. No amount of lifting, tugging, or anything else I tried released the lock.
I began to think I would either need to scream for help, or get down on hands and knees, and then belly-crawl under the door. But finally the lock released. Now, though, I couldn't open the door. I pushed and pushed, with with little result. I was finally able to open the door just a tiny bit, and wedge myself out.
An older woman was standing outside. "I don't know what's wrong with that door," I said, frustrated.
She looked at me with a straight face, and calmly said, "The door opens inward."
When I related the bathroom story to Hubbie, he laughed and said he thought he knew what caused the problem. It was the color of my hair.
We toured both floors of the building that not only includes a kitchen, and the huge dining room, but a bistro, with outdoor seating on the second floor, an exercise room, a book store, a gallery, a game room, a media room, large and small conference rooms, a student government room, and student life suite for student support services.
It was about 1:30 before we got back home. Before I came indoors, I went to Mother's house to accompany her to our house.
I changed clothes, and then Mother and I made a batch of pumpkin muffins. The recipe made twenty-four muffins that will be good with stews and soups I plan to make over the weekend.
Funny: the muffins call for apple juice. I thought I had an individual serving of it in a sealed plastic container that I'd brought home from Mother's house...we'd gotten the juice at a food event we attended some time back. But I couldn't find the juice anywhere in the refrigerator.
I was sure Hubbie had found it and drunk it. He said he didn't remember drinking it, but he's been known to eat and drink things before without asking if I had a use for them. So I chastised him about the the juice, and said that he could just immediately go to the store and buy a bottle of it!
As I went on-and-on, chiding Hubbie about the missing juice, and how, after the nearly 32 years we've been married, he has never learned to check with me before devouring everything in sight, I picked up the gallon container of milk in the refrigerator, and lo, behind it was that little container of juice. Oops! My bad. Time to apologize. Hubbie thoroughly enjoyed my embarrassment.
When the muffins were in the oven, Mother retired to the couch for a nap, while Hubbie went to the barber shop for a haircut, and I did this and that, including confirming my mammogram appointment, because I got a message from my clinic that the appointment was for Nov. 15, instead of Nov. 6. It's for Nov. 6, as I thought.
I also called the scrapbook club member who could not attend the meeting yesterday to tell her we are thinking about visiting a pioneer village in another town the first weekend in Nov., if she wishes to join us. This would be considered an educational trip for us, for which we'll use club treasury money.
Then I played on my laptop until time to prepare supper, which was leftover Chinese soup. We sampled the pumpkin muffins with it.
Afterward, I accompanied Mother to her house. I thought she'd want to take a shower tonight, but she did not, so I returned home.
Hubbie and I spent the rest of the evening watching TV.
Thursday, October 18, 2012
Thursday, Oct. 18
Up at 8 a.m., and skipped my exercises again, so I could finish getting the house ready for company. As it happened, only one member was able to attend the scrapbook club meeting.
Funny: I called the Extension Services agent to invite her to our meeting today, and when the receptionist answered, she buzzed the agent's office, but the agent wasn't there.
"I don't know where she went," the receptionist said, puzzled. "She was standing right here at my desk just a minute ago."
Just then, the agent came in from the conference room. "Oh, here she is," the receptionist said.
"So-o-o, you have an agent with the ability to disappear and then suddenly reappear! Well it is nearly Halloween," I laughed.
The agent said she would try to be at our meeting, if nothing came up. But something must have come up, because she didn't "appear" at our meeting.
The three of us had a good meeting just the same. Mother completed a cute page featuring a photo of herself at the pumpkin patch, and then the two of us began work on pages featuring our newest great-granddaughter. It'll probably be January before we can complete the pages, though, since the club won't meet again until then, due to the upcoming holidays.
Around 2 p.m., I served pumpkin bars, with cups of hot flavored apple cider. The guest scrapbook member liked both, so I gave her the recipe for the bars, plus four packets of various flavors of the cider to take home with her.
While we worked on scrapbook pages, Hubbie ran a couple of errands, including going to the middle school to pick up two items I won at the silent auction last Friday night. a staff member at the school called this morning to inform me of my wins. I thought I'd won four items, but there were only two...but they were the two I was most interested in.
One item is a bicycle helmet that I wanted for my daughter, who rides her bike to work. The other is a small, round, wooden cutting board, which, when I bid on it, I didn't know includes several cheese serving implements. I don't think that the folks who set up the bidding area knew about the implements, either, or they'd have set a higher opening bid on the item.
Hubbie returned just as I was serving refreshments, so he joined us in the treats. The other scrapbook member left around 3 p.m. Mother was ready to go home shortly afterward, so I accompanied her, taking along a container of the Chinese soup for her supper, since we were scheduled to attend a dinner meeting at 6:30.
The meeting revolved around accessing available funding to promote the visual and performing arts. Hopes were that we might purchase a storefront building downtown to house both, since neither will be included in a proposed community center.
The local mayor, and a state representative talked to us about hitching our star to the idea of a new regional library, which could provide space for visual arts, and cooperate in visual arts workshops.
This idea completely left out the community theater, so that at the end of the discussion, a theater representative announced that since the theater group would have no vested interest in the proposed project, it would not feel compelled to assist in its realization.
So it appears things are just about where they were when we arrived at the meeting...nowhere.
Since we are accustomed to having supper around 5 p.m., we were getting really hungry by the time the waitress took our order near 7 p.m., and served it closer to 7:30. Hubbie settled for a burger and fries, while I had grilled chicken and a baked potato.
We were back home around 9 p.m., and finished the evening watching a one-hour TV show from DVR.
Funny: I called the Extension Services agent to invite her to our meeting today, and when the receptionist answered, she buzzed the agent's office, but the agent wasn't there.
"I don't know where she went," the receptionist said, puzzled. "She was standing right here at my desk just a minute ago."
Just then, the agent came in from the conference room. "Oh, here she is," the receptionist said.
"So-o-o, you have an agent with the ability to disappear and then suddenly reappear! Well it is nearly Halloween," I laughed.
The agent said she would try to be at our meeting, if nothing came up. But something must have come up, because she didn't "appear" at our meeting.
The three of us had a good meeting just the same. Mother completed a cute page featuring a photo of herself at the pumpkin patch, and then the two of us began work on pages featuring our newest great-granddaughter. It'll probably be January before we can complete the pages, though, since the club won't meet again until then, due to the upcoming holidays.
Around 2 p.m., I served pumpkin bars, with cups of hot flavored apple cider. The guest scrapbook member liked both, so I gave her the recipe for the bars, plus four packets of various flavors of the cider to take home with her.
While we worked on scrapbook pages, Hubbie ran a couple of errands, including going to the middle school to pick up two items I won at the silent auction last Friday night. a staff member at the school called this morning to inform me of my wins. I thought I'd won four items, but there were only two...but they were the two I was most interested in.
One item is a bicycle helmet that I wanted for my daughter, who rides her bike to work. The other is a small, round, wooden cutting board, which, when I bid on it, I didn't know includes several cheese serving implements. I don't think that the folks who set up the bidding area knew about the implements, either, or they'd have set a higher opening bid on the item.
Hubbie returned just as I was serving refreshments, so he joined us in the treats. The other scrapbook member left around 3 p.m. Mother was ready to go home shortly afterward, so I accompanied her, taking along a container of the Chinese soup for her supper, since we were scheduled to attend a dinner meeting at 6:30.
The meeting revolved around accessing available funding to promote the visual and performing arts. Hopes were that we might purchase a storefront building downtown to house both, since neither will be included in a proposed community center.
The local mayor, and a state representative talked to us about hitching our star to the idea of a new regional library, which could provide space for visual arts, and cooperate in visual arts workshops.
This idea completely left out the community theater, so that at the end of the discussion, a theater representative announced that since the theater group would have no vested interest in the proposed project, it would not feel compelled to assist in its realization.
So it appears things are just about where they were when we arrived at the meeting...nowhere.
Since we are accustomed to having supper around 5 p.m., we were getting really hungry by the time the waitress took our order near 7 p.m., and served it closer to 7:30. Hubbie settled for a burger and fries, while I had grilled chicken and a baked potato.
We were back home around 9 p.m., and finished the evening watching a one-hour TV show from DVR.
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
Wednesday, Oct. 17
Up at 6:30 to get ready for water aerobics. The day started off cool, so I wore fleece. On the drive to the college, I enjoyed a lovely sunrise...pink sky, with purple-gray clouds whisking past.
Stangely, on the walk to the gym, a brisk wind blew at me from left to right, even as the clouds raced by from right to left. Add to that the sudden sound of multiple emergency vehicle sirens on a nearby road, and it was like a scene from an alien invasion movie.
The water in the pool was wonderfully warm again, and 22 of us attended the session. One lady commented that she'd attended a Ladies Night Out event at a local college yesterday afternoon. I had the event on my calendar, in case I was free to go, but I couldn't, because we made a trip to another town yesterday.
I haven't attended this event in several years, because the organizers irritated me when they insisted every attendee had to listen to the lectures in the auditiorium, before we could visit the exhibits, or receive a goodie bag.
At the time, none of the lectures applied to me (gastric bypass surgery?), so I didn't see why I was required to attend. I never went back. But this year, I thought the session and demonstration on cooking healthy meals might be interesting.
It was just as well that I couldn't go, though, because when the lady at water aerobics described it, I realized it was the very same program I'd heard at one of the monthly luncheon/health talks at the hospital.
Besides, she said, the sound was so bad in the autditorium that she able to hear about every tenth word. Again, the organizers would not let people leave. They'd darkened the exhibit area, so no one could visit there. "I'm never going back," she said. My sentiments exactly.
Back home, while I had a couple of cups of coffee, Hubbie accompanied Mother to our house. We went right to work setting a pot of chicken stewing...she diced the carrots, onions, and celery for it.
And then we made a batch of pumpkin bars. By this time it was 11:30. So we had lunch, after which I finally went upstairs to get ready for the day.
Back downstairs, I urged Mother to take a nap until time to leave for a visit with our friends. I did this and that during the time she napped, and then around 2:30, she woke up, and a few minutes later, we left to go to our friend's house, taking a half dozen pumpkin bars with us.
We really enjoyed our visit, catching up on each other's lives. Two of us (the younger ones...and we aren't young) have computers, and we e-mail each other from time-to-time, and keep up with each other on our social network sites, but Mother and the hostess are completely computer illiterate, so they must rely on us to relay information to them.
We visited for an hour and a half, during which time, our hostess served flavored coffee, and a choice of refreshements...cheese and crackers, grapes, and cookies.
Funny: when I gave her the pumpkin bars, she jokingly asked if she had to serve them right away. I assured her she did not, that they were for her and our other friend, plus a lady who's staying with the hostess, to have later, because we have a whole pan of the treats at home.
It was drizzling rain when we left, and raining pretty hard by the time we got home. We were hoping to get home before predicted storms arrived, and we did.
As soon as we were home, I finished preparing a pot of Chinese soup, using the stewed chicken, and adding shredded cabbage, chopped green onions from the freezer, and seasonings that included ginger root and soy sauce. In the last few minutes, I added Ramen noodles to the pot. Served the soup with hot biscuits, butter, and honey.
Afterward, I accompanied Mother to her house, and waited until she had showered, before I returned home. Hubbie and I spent the rest of the evening watching TV.
Around 8 p.m., a thunderstorm cropped up, but though there was a tornado watch covering most of the state, including our county, nothing serious came of the storm.
Stangely, on the walk to the gym, a brisk wind blew at me from left to right, even as the clouds raced by from right to left. Add to that the sudden sound of multiple emergency vehicle sirens on a nearby road, and it was like a scene from an alien invasion movie.
The water in the pool was wonderfully warm again, and 22 of us attended the session. One lady commented that she'd attended a Ladies Night Out event at a local college yesterday afternoon. I had the event on my calendar, in case I was free to go, but I couldn't, because we made a trip to another town yesterday.
I haven't attended this event in several years, because the organizers irritated me when they insisted every attendee had to listen to the lectures in the auditiorium, before we could visit the exhibits, or receive a goodie bag.
At the time, none of the lectures applied to me (gastric bypass surgery?), so I didn't see why I was required to attend. I never went back. But this year, I thought the session and demonstration on cooking healthy meals might be interesting.
It was just as well that I couldn't go, though, because when the lady at water aerobics described it, I realized it was the very same program I'd heard at one of the monthly luncheon/health talks at the hospital.
Besides, she said, the sound was so bad in the autditorium that she able to hear about every tenth word. Again, the organizers would not let people leave. They'd darkened the exhibit area, so no one could visit there. "I'm never going back," she said. My sentiments exactly.
Back home, while I had a couple of cups of coffee, Hubbie accompanied Mother to our house. We went right to work setting a pot of chicken stewing...she diced the carrots, onions, and celery for it.
And then we made a batch of pumpkin bars. By this time it was 11:30. So we had lunch, after which I finally went upstairs to get ready for the day.
Back downstairs, I urged Mother to take a nap until time to leave for a visit with our friends. I did this and that during the time she napped, and then around 2:30, she woke up, and a few minutes later, we left to go to our friend's house, taking a half dozen pumpkin bars with us.
We really enjoyed our visit, catching up on each other's lives. Two of us (the younger ones...and we aren't young) have computers, and we e-mail each other from time-to-time, and keep up with each other on our social network sites, but Mother and the hostess are completely computer illiterate, so they must rely on us to relay information to them.
We visited for an hour and a half, during which time, our hostess served flavored coffee, and a choice of refreshements...cheese and crackers, grapes, and cookies.
Funny: when I gave her the pumpkin bars, she jokingly asked if she had to serve them right away. I assured her she did not, that they were for her and our other friend, plus a lady who's staying with the hostess, to have later, because we have a whole pan of the treats at home.
It was drizzling rain when we left, and raining pretty hard by the time we got home. We were hoping to get home before predicted storms arrived, and we did.
As soon as we were home, I finished preparing a pot of Chinese soup, using the stewed chicken, and adding shredded cabbage, chopped green onions from the freezer, and seasonings that included ginger root and soy sauce. In the last few minutes, I added Ramen noodles to the pot. Served the soup with hot biscuits, butter, and honey.
Afterward, I accompanied Mother to her house, and waited until she had showered, before I returned home. Hubbie and I spent the rest of the evening watching TV.
Around 8 p.m., a thunderstorm cropped up, but though there was a tornado watch covering most of the state, including our county, nothing serious came of the storm.
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Tuesday, Oct. 16
Up around 7:30, but skipped my exercises, because we were scheduled to go to a town a couple of hours east to pick up the repaired trailer hitch. We left home around 9:30 on this very pleasant-weather fall day.
Picked up the hitch as soon as we arrived in town. From there, we stopped by a gas station, and then shopped at a warehouse store to buy a few items we failed to get on our last trip.
From there, we went to lunch at a popular buffet restaurant. I wanted us to have a hearty lunch, since I planned only sandwiches for supper.
Around 1 p.m., we headed home. Mother was ready for a nap when we got back, so she headed straight to the couch.
I spent the afternoon doing this and that, like organizing scrapbook materials for a Thursday gathering of the club. I also read a stack of newspapers that included the Sunday edition of the state paper, since I never did get around to it on that day. In reading the local editions, I noticed I hadn't completed this week's word search puzzle contest, so I did that.
As we were traveling home this afternoon, I got a cell phone call from the local hospital, informing me that I'd been scheduled for a mammogram on November 6, at 8 a.m. Yikes! Too early. But I was told I could call and change the date and time if I wished. So at home, I did that. The day is fine, a Tuesday, which doesn't conflict with water aerobics sessions, but I didn't want to have to get up early on a Tuesday, so I requested a time change to 11 a.m.
Also, while we were visiting the art gallery downtown last Friday, the director asked us to attend a meeting at the restaurant on the river on Thursday night, where members of the arts community will have a dutch-treat dinner, and encourage the mayor and other city fathers to help us secure a store-front building downtown to house the gallery, and the community theater.
Right now, the gallery is renting space from the lady who owns that space, as well as the adjoining one, which now houses a shoe store. She is in the process of selling both stores. When that happens, the gallery will no longer have a home. And of course, the theater has never had a home...performances are held at whatever school or college auditorium is available.
Those of us who agreed to attend the dinner meeting were asked to call a local bank's marketing director to RSVP, which I did this afternoon. Talked for quite a while with this lady, whom we've known for years.
Also, this afternoon, I got a call from our friend who lives a couple of hours away...in the town from which we returned this afternoon. She is in town visiting our other friend, and plans to stay a couple of days. The two ladies asked Mother and me to visit at the local lady's home tomorrow afternoon around 3 p.m., for coffee and cookies.
Mother finished her nap around 4:30, and since none of us were hungry, Mother was ready to go home. I gathered bread, deli turkey, and grapes for her to have when she got hungry later, and accompanied her across the yard.
Spent the rest of the evening watching TV, including the Presidential debate.
Picked up the hitch as soon as we arrived in town. From there, we stopped by a gas station, and then shopped at a warehouse store to buy a few items we failed to get on our last trip.
From there, we went to lunch at a popular buffet restaurant. I wanted us to have a hearty lunch, since I planned only sandwiches for supper.
Around 1 p.m., we headed home. Mother was ready for a nap when we got back, so she headed straight to the couch.
I spent the afternoon doing this and that, like organizing scrapbook materials for a Thursday gathering of the club. I also read a stack of newspapers that included the Sunday edition of the state paper, since I never did get around to it on that day. In reading the local editions, I noticed I hadn't completed this week's word search puzzle contest, so I did that.
As we were traveling home this afternoon, I got a cell phone call from the local hospital, informing me that I'd been scheduled for a mammogram on November 6, at 8 a.m. Yikes! Too early. But I was told I could call and change the date and time if I wished. So at home, I did that. The day is fine, a Tuesday, which doesn't conflict with water aerobics sessions, but I didn't want to have to get up early on a Tuesday, so I requested a time change to 11 a.m.
Also, while we were visiting the art gallery downtown last Friday, the director asked us to attend a meeting at the restaurant on the river on Thursday night, where members of the arts community will have a dutch-treat dinner, and encourage the mayor and other city fathers to help us secure a store-front building downtown to house the gallery, and the community theater.
Right now, the gallery is renting space from the lady who owns that space, as well as the adjoining one, which now houses a shoe store. She is in the process of selling both stores. When that happens, the gallery will no longer have a home. And of course, the theater has never had a home...performances are held at whatever school or college auditorium is available.
Those of us who agreed to attend the dinner meeting were asked to call a local bank's marketing director to RSVP, which I did this afternoon. Talked for quite a while with this lady, whom we've known for years.
Also, this afternoon, I got a call from our friend who lives a couple of hours away...in the town from which we returned this afternoon. She is in town visiting our other friend, and plans to stay a couple of days. The two ladies asked Mother and me to visit at the local lady's home tomorrow afternoon around 3 p.m., for coffee and cookies.
Mother finished her nap around 4:30, and since none of us were hungry, Mother was ready to go home. I gathered bread, deli turkey, and grapes for her to have when she got hungry later, and accompanied her across the yard.
Spent the rest of the evening watching TV, including the Presidential debate.
Monday, October 15, 2012
Monday, Oct. 15
Up at 6:30 to get ready for water aerobics. Though the day promised to warm into the 70s later, it was cool enough this morning for fleece wear and hoodie. The drive to the college was pleasant...trees beginning to show yellow and red colors, mist skimming the surfaces of fields.
I'm glad I was watching my speed, because two police cars were parked at points along the shoulder of the hilly street leading to the college, lying in wait particulary for young people headed to classes, though willing to nab anyone with a heavy foot at that time of the morning. One water aerobics member has already been stopped, and I don't want to be the second.
The pool was delightfully warm today. Twenty-six of us attended.
Funny: one lady came sporting a single hair curler on one side of her head. Several of us noticed it, but thought she'd worn it because of an unruly strand. Finally, someone asked her about it. She flung her hand to her head and laughed. She'd simply forgotton to take that one out. I have to wonder, though, how she combed or brushed her hair without snagging it...unless she didn't do either.
Our leader today announced that she has reserved a room at the Italian restaurant Friday, so we can gather for lunch. Mother and I will attend, if nothing comes up.
Back home, I warmed up with a couple of cups of coffee, and then made a few telephone calls, two of which were to the scrapbook club members to remind them of our regularly scheduled meeting Thursday.
One has an elderly neighbor suffering with cancer, whom she has been driving to the clinic for treatments, and she isn't sure if the neighbor will need her Thursday. The sister-in-law of the other member is in hospice care, also suffering from cancer, and she is now refusing food and drink, so that member, of course, doesn't know what might happen before Thursday.
I won't know until Wednesday if either member can attend, but I'll go ahead and plan for the gathering, anyway.
While I got ready for the day, Hubbie shopped for a few groceries for me, including ingredients for making pumpkin bars...if Mother and I can find time to make them. I think they'd be nice to serve Thursday, with hot apple cider drinks.
Mother stayed home until after lunch today, but we made sure she had Ramen Noodle soup. Hubbie and I had sandwiches from the deli turkey he bought at the store, and then I reviewed today's ESL lesson for my student.
Met the student at 2:30, as usual. We didn't cover much ground today, because the student was on Cloud Nine about winning the State Literacy Council Student of the Year award.
She brought along the award, which is engraved on a 9"x13" wooden plaque. She attended the Literacy Council annual conference, held in the capital city on Friday, and she said about 350 people attended.
We spent a lot of time in conversation about the conference and the award, and about how excited her family in Venezuela was when they heard the news.
The lesson involved a conversation around purchasing gasoline at a filling station. Here she learned a new word...unleaded...which in Spanish is sin plomo.
She already knew the vocabulary for schools: kindergarten, elementary, junior high school, high school, and university or college. She said school levels in Venezuela are similar. Then she commented that she would like to obtain a U.S. General Education Degree, though she did attend high school, and has a few college hours from Venezuela, as well as insurance agent certification from her country.
She also learned vocabulary involving the use of "instead." "Joe wanted to smoke. He ate instead." She had a bit of trouble grasping this idea and using it in sentences, even after she checked her Spanish dictionary for the definition.
We will also need to work a bit more on the use of irregular verbs: "When did the police officers come to Tony's house?" "They came last night." "When did you forget your book?" "I forgot it three weeks ago."
We finished the lesson with listening comprehension, and working in her workbook.
Back home, Hubbie had heated leftover stirfry and rice for our supper. Afterward, I accompanied Mother to her house, and waited until she had showered before returning to our house.
Watched TV after that. While I vegged, I hemmed my jeans, so the time was not a complete waste.
I'm glad I was watching my speed, because two police cars were parked at points along the shoulder of the hilly street leading to the college, lying in wait particulary for young people headed to classes, though willing to nab anyone with a heavy foot at that time of the morning. One water aerobics member has already been stopped, and I don't want to be the second.
The pool was delightfully warm today. Twenty-six of us attended.
Funny: one lady came sporting a single hair curler on one side of her head. Several of us noticed it, but thought she'd worn it because of an unruly strand. Finally, someone asked her about it. She flung her hand to her head and laughed. She'd simply forgotton to take that one out. I have to wonder, though, how she combed or brushed her hair without snagging it...unless she didn't do either.
Our leader today announced that she has reserved a room at the Italian restaurant Friday, so we can gather for lunch. Mother and I will attend, if nothing comes up.
Back home, I warmed up with a couple of cups of coffee, and then made a few telephone calls, two of which were to the scrapbook club members to remind them of our regularly scheduled meeting Thursday.
One has an elderly neighbor suffering with cancer, whom she has been driving to the clinic for treatments, and she isn't sure if the neighbor will need her Thursday. The sister-in-law of the other member is in hospice care, also suffering from cancer, and she is now refusing food and drink, so that member, of course, doesn't know what might happen before Thursday.
I won't know until Wednesday if either member can attend, but I'll go ahead and plan for the gathering, anyway.
While I got ready for the day, Hubbie shopped for a few groceries for me, including ingredients for making pumpkin bars...if Mother and I can find time to make them. I think they'd be nice to serve Thursday, with hot apple cider drinks.
Mother stayed home until after lunch today, but we made sure she had Ramen Noodle soup. Hubbie and I had sandwiches from the deli turkey he bought at the store, and then I reviewed today's ESL lesson for my student.
Met the student at 2:30, as usual. We didn't cover much ground today, because the student was on Cloud Nine about winning the State Literacy Council Student of the Year award.
She brought along the award, which is engraved on a 9"x13" wooden plaque. She attended the Literacy Council annual conference, held in the capital city on Friday, and she said about 350 people attended.
We spent a lot of time in conversation about the conference and the award, and about how excited her family in Venezuela was when they heard the news.
The lesson involved a conversation around purchasing gasoline at a filling station. Here she learned a new word...unleaded...which in Spanish is sin plomo.
She already knew the vocabulary for schools: kindergarten, elementary, junior high school, high school, and university or college. She said school levels in Venezuela are similar. Then she commented that she would like to obtain a U.S. General Education Degree, though she did attend high school, and has a few college hours from Venezuela, as well as insurance agent certification from her country.
She also learned vocabulary involving the use of "instead." "Joe wanted to smoke. He ate instead." She had a bit of trouble grasping this idea and using it in sentences, even after she checked her Spanish dictionary for the definition.
We will also need to work a bit more on the use of irregular verbs: "When did the police officers come to Tony's house?" "They came last night." "When did you forget your book?" "I forgot it three weeks ago."
We finished the lesson with listening comprehension, and working in her workbook.
Back home, Hubbie had heated leftover stirfry and rice for our supper. Afterward, I accompanied Mother to her house, and waited until she had showered before returning to our house.
Watched TV after that. While I vegged, I hemmed my jeans, so the time was not a complete waste.
Sunday, October 14, 2012
Sunday, Oct. 14
Up at 7:30, but skipped my exercises as I usually do on Sundays. While I got ready for the day, Hubbie went to the WDCS to pick up veggies for stirfry. When he returned, he accompanied Mother to our house, and she started preparing the veggies.
I did the usual Sunday chores for the rest of the morning before time to stirfry the veggies. There were so many of them that it took two pans. Served the stirfry over rice.
We watched a movie on DVD from the library, while I cooked the veggies..."First Dog," about a dog that gets separated from the President of the United States, and becomes friends with an orphan boy in a foster home. The boy encounters many adventures in his attempt to return the dog to the president.
After lunch and the movie, Mother headed to the couch for a nap. While she slept, Hubbie and I watched another movie on DVD from the library: "Big Miracle," based on a true incident of whales that get stuck under the ice in Alaska, and the people from over the world who come together to save them.
A third movie we watched from the library was "4400." This was a the complete first season of a TV series that ran for four years. Don't know if the library has the rest of the series.
The premise is that aliens deliver 4400 people to the earth in a ball of light. The people have been gone various numbers of years, but have stayed the age they were when abducted, and now they have super powers. Naturally, here on earth, things have moved on.
During the show, I switched purses from my summer one to my winter one. This required dumping a lot of stuff out of both and reassessing my need to carry some of it. Discarded junk from both purses, but the winter one is still too heavy. I won't want to carry it with me everywhere. I'll have to learn to take what I absolutely need from it and transfer it to a small purse when I shop.
Mother woke up around 3:30, while the "4400" show was playing. She was ready to go home at 4:30, so I accompanied her.
Spent the rest of the evening in front of TV. That was a lot of TV for one day, but I didn't sit like a slug in front of it all day. I was up and down, doing this and that, including finishing a congratulations card for my student, and finding a gift (an autumn scented reed diffuser), and a gift bag and tissue paper. I found a bag that says "Super Star" on the front, which I think will amuse the student.
I also created a fall arrangement on top of the wicker chest of drawers in the living room. I filled a paper twist basket, that Mother made several years ago, with Indian corn, and a couple of the miniature pumpkins I bought at the pumpkin patch. Then placed two miniature straw bales next to the basket, and topped and surrounded them with the other miniature pumpkins. A swan gourd I bought last year completed the arrangement.
I did the usual Sunday chores for the rest of the morning before time to stirfry the veggies. There were so many of them that it took two pans. Served the stirfry over rice.
We watched a movie on DVD from the library, while I cooked the veggies..."First Dog," about a dog that gets separated from the President of the United States, and becomes friends with an orphan boy in a foster home. The boy encounters many adventures in his attempt to return the dog to the president.
After lunch and the movie, Mother headed to the couch for a nap. While she slept, Hubbie and I watched another movie on DVD from the library: "Big Miracle," based on a true incident of whales that get stuck under the ice in Alaska, and the people from over the world who come together to save them.
A third movie we watched from the library was "4400." This was a the complete first season of a TV series that ran for four years. Don't know if the library has the rest of the series.
The premise is that aliens deliver 4400 people to the earth in a ball of light. The people have been gone various numbers of years, but have stayed the age they were when abducted, and now they have super powers. Naturally, here on earth, things have moved on.
During the show, I switched purses from my summer one to my winter one. This required dumping a lot of stuff out of both and reassessing my need to carry some of it. Discarded junk from both purses, but the winter one is still too heavy. I won't want to carry it with me everywhere. I'll have to learn to take what I absolutely need from it and transfer it to a small purse when I shop.
Mother woke up around 3:30, while the "4400" show was playing. She was ready to go home at 4:30, so I accompanied her.
Spent the rest of the evening in front of TV. That was a lot of TV for one day, but I didn't sit like a slug in front of it all day. I was up and down, doing this and that, including finishing a congratulations card for my student, and finding a gift (an autumn scented reed diffuser), and a gift bag and tissue paper. I found a bag that says "Super Star" on the front, which I think will amuse the student.
I also created a fall arrangement on top of the wicker chest of drawers in the living room. I filled a paper twist basket, that Mother made several years ago, with Indian corn, and a couple of the miniature pumpkins I bought at the pumpkin patch. Then placed two miniature straw bales next to the basket, and topped and surrounded them with the other miniature pumpkins. A swan gourd I bought last year completed the arrangement.
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