Sunday, March 24

Slept late again, until 8 a.m., and skipped my exercises. Got ready for the day, then had breakfast. Hubbie accompanied Mother to our house around 9:30, and we put a pot of spaghetti sauce on to simmer. Mother sliced French bread and slathered it with garlic butter.

After that, she went to her jigsaw puzzle, and Hubbie and I relaxed with the Sunday newspaper.

Ran a couple of loads of laundry this morning. When Hubbie checked the second load, he discovered water from the machine had leaked out onto the floor. We think the machine backed up because the dry well is flooded, thanks to recent snow and rain. Right now, water is standing in the yard, because the ground is saturated. We're plenty ready for some warm, sunny days that will dry things out. We can go a week without doing laundry, but longer than that and we'd be desperate for clean underwear.

Our Sunday dinner of spaghetti with sauce, green beans, cottage cheese, and garlic bread, was ready at noon. The sauce was especially good with the addition of leftover meatloaf.

Afterward, Mother returned to her puzzle, Hubbie watched TV, and I read my novel. This novel is called, "Sandcastles," about an Irish family who live on the Connecticut shore. The man and wife, both artists, have three young daughters that they take on a trip to Ireland to trace the family's roots. While there, a man threatens the husband and one of the daughters, and the husband kills the man. He is sent to prison for six years. Now he is out, and his wife is unsure if she wants to let him back into the family.

Around 3:30 p.m., we enjoyed the last of the bucket cake, with cups of coffee, and then Mother was ready to go home. Hubbie accompanied her.

Shortly after he returned, he got a phone call from his sister, who said she and Hubbie's nephew had been in a car accident on an icy road. They'd been traveling from another state and were about halfway home when an 18-wheeler jackknifed, sideswiping them on the driver's side. The airbags engaged and, thank goodness, neither of them was injured, but the car was totaled.

They are now stuck in a podunk town until they can get a rental car, and the weather clears enough for them to get back on the road. They were stuck at the crash site for two hours before officers arrived, so once they were taken to a motel, they were hungry. They walked to a popular country restaurant next door, only to find that it had closed at 4 p.m. due to the weather. They ended up ordering pizza.

Later, Hubbie spent the evening watching NCAA basketball games, and I played on my laptop and tablet, and read my novel.