Sunday, Aug. 25

Hubbie and I both had trouble getting to sleep last night, and it was 2 a.m before we drifted off. I guess a lot of stuff was going through our minds...a visit from Niece and Daughter; and an upcoming trip for a wedding, etc.

So it was after 8 a.m. before we got up this morning. Skipped my exercises as usual on Sundays. Hubbie accompanied Mother to our house after breakfast. We started a pot of Dragon Soup simmering. Mother diced onions, carrots, and celery for it, which I sauteed. Then I added beef and chicken broths, and diced tomatoes, and simmered the mixture until the veggies cooked.

While that cooked, I washed a couple of loads of laundry and did other Sunday morning things. Near lunchtime, I added leftover veggies, meats, gravies, accumulated in the freezer to the the soup, and Mother mixed a recipe of cornbread for the oven, which I baked along with a pan of canned biscuits.

Soup and breads are an unusual Sunday meal, but we enjoyed it. Afterward, Mother went to her jigsaw puzzle, and Hubbie and I ran errands.

First, we went to the library to pick up two more seasons of "One Tree Hill." From there, we went to a grocery store/pharmacy to pick up prescriptions, and a free two-litre bottle of soft drink.

Then it was on to the WDCS. In the parking lot, a lady in the next parking space was frantically searching for her car keys. Her door was unlocked (maybe because she's in the habit of losing her keys?), but she couldn't find her keys.

She said she usually attaches the keys to her purse strap, but today they weren't there. However, she said she also carries a spare set inside her purse, though today she was having trouble turning them up. I didn't know how we could help her, so we went on into the store. Later, when we got back to our van, we noticed the lady and her car were gone...guess she found her keys.

Inside the store, we picked up several items, including stuff Mother needed, then headed for a speedy checkout lane. Ahead of us in line was a young woman who was trying in vain to make her store card work in the machine. She swiped it several time to no avail.

Finally, the checker handed her a plastic bag, and told her to put the card in it, then try swiping it again (I've never heard of this trick before).

It didn't work.

So the checker came around the counter, took the card out of the bag, and vigorously rubbed it against her sleeve, then tried swiping it again. No dice.

She took the card around the counter to the register side, put it in a bag, and swiped it on her machine. Nope, didn't work.

She took it out of the bag and rapidly swiped it up and down in the machine. Nothing happened.

At this point, Hubbie leaned over to the young woman and said, "Embarrassing, isn't it?" "Not really," the young woman shrugged, apparently perfectly willing to stand there all day if necessary to get that stupid card to work.

We were not willing to stand there endlessly, however, so we gathered our items from the counter, put them back into the cart, and went to another checkout line.

Back home, we settled in to watch a movie. For a while now, it has been our tradition to watch a family-friendly movie that Mother can enjoy on Sunday afternoons. I either record appropriate features to the DVR, or we borrow DVDs from the library.

Today's fare was a 2001 PG movie called "Askari," starring Marlee Matlin. A sixteen-year-old girl is orphaned when her parents are killed in a helicopter crash. She goes to live with her aunt and uncle at an elephant conservation farm in Africa. At first there is tension between the girl and her aunt, but later they come to terms when they join together to save some of the elephants from a government ordered kill (for the purpose of culling the herd).

Mother was ready to go home after the movie, so Hubbie accompanied her. The we watched several episodes of "One Tree Hill."