Tuesday, Aug. 13

Up at 7 a.m. to get ready to go to another town to visit with Hubbie's granddaughter and her children, who are here from Michigan. Hubbie's daughter hosted the get-together, which was attended by over a dozen adults, four teenagers, and five children six years old and younger.

It was an overcast day, though for a change it did not storm. It was hot and muggy, though. The low-lying fields were swampy from all the recent rains. The rice crops are thriving, and soy beans are unharmed, but cotton is being decimated, since it thrives in the normally hot, dry southern days of July and August.

For the first time that I can remember, no hawks were on the power lines...maybe because the ditches are too full of water to be inviting habitats for rodents. Wild blooming white and pink hibiscus is flourishing alongside the ditches, though.

On the way, I drew Mother's attention to the shell of a house that burned last Saturday. The house was fine when we passed it going to Great-Granddaughter's birthday party, but on our way home, fire engines and other emergency vehicles were there, and personnel were guiding traffic around it.

It had obviously become engulfed sometime during the few hours we had been at the party, and had already burned to the ground. Nothing was left but a smoldering heap of charred wood. It's amazing, sad, and scary how fast these things can happen.

We arrived at Daughter's house around 10:30 a.m. We had taken leftover baked beans, grape tomatoes from our garden, and the angel food/pineapple cake I baked yesterday, along with a carton of whipped topping, to contribute to the meal.

Granddaughter and her three children...a six-year-old boy, a four-year-old boy, and a two-year-old girl, were already there, along with another two-year-old girl (the birthday girl).

Around noon, we were ready to eat. A few other family members had arrived, and we enjoyed a meal of rotisserie chicken, potato salad (made by Daughter's mother), the baked beans we brought, tomatoes, a veggie salad, and a variety of fresh veggies. Cake and topping for dessert, of course.

Afterward, other family members began arriving until we had the full contingent listed above. We visited until around 3:30, and then the party began breaking up. We were ready to head home around that time.

It's always nice to visit with family, but it's also tiring. So we were glad to get back home.

For supper, we opted for bowls of potato soup, with crackers and peanut butter on the side. Mother was ready to go home afterward, and Hubbie accompanied her.

Hubbie and I settled in front of TV after that. We watched a 2012 movie called, "The Forger." A teenage boy becomes an art forger.

Finished the evening with one-hour shows.