Saturday, Sept. 7

Slept late this morning, until around 8 a.m. After breakfast, Hubbie accompanied Mother to our house, where she sliced large green tomatoes for the freezer, while I did stair stepping exercises.

Before I went upstairs to get ready for the day, I washed green beans from the garden for Mother to snap. It has taken about a week to harvest enough beans to cook. When I came back downstairs I set the beans to simmering...Mother had diced an onion and some banana peppers to add to the pot, and I added cans of low-salt chicken and beef broths, no-salt seasoning, pepper, and paprika.

For lunch, Hubbie made grilled cheese sandwiches for us. Afterward, Mother and I made a batch of strawberry jam. Unfortunately, it didn't jell. I was afraid that would happen when we got nearly five pints of product, instead of the usual four. Apparently, Mother incorrectly measured either the strawberries or the sugar, or both. I feel responsible, since I didn't watch her measure them.

These jars of jam were earmarked for Hubbie's daughter, who buys four jars of strawberry each year. I'll just have to make another batch, and if Mother helps, I'll be sure to watch her measure the ingredients.

This is the second batch of strawberries that have been messed up...the first was unusable for making jam when Mother mistakenly poured the sugar into the strawberries before I'd boiled the berries with pectin.

Mother likes to work in the kitchen, so I make sure she has jobs to do, but when accurate measuring is crucial, I'm going to have to be more diligent about watching her.

After the strawberry jam making session, Mother went to her jigsaw puzzle, Hubbie went out to the yard, and I called a high school classmate.

The woman I called is married to a man who was also a classmate. He is suffering from Parkinson's Disease, and is in decline. I learned this from a woman who attended Hubbie's granddaughter's wedding last Monday. She lives in the same small town as my classmates, and she said the woman, who is basically housebound taking care of her husband, gets easily depressed and needs outside contact. I enjoyed visiting by phone with her.

After that I answered an e-mail letter from a friend (the one who visits another friend in our town from time to time). I sent a birthday card and a long letter (she has no computer) to our in-town friend recently, and in the past, she has always called me after receiving a card. I worried when I didn't hear from her, but I assumed she had gone on an extended visit with her daughter.

I learned from the other friend that this lady has been suffering depression for a while, due to opting not to take a prescribed medication. So her daughter did come and get her. She stayed with her daughter for quite some time. I was glad to learn that she is now on the mend and returning to her regular routine. She's in her 80s, and has twice suffered breast cancer.

Later, for supper, we had BLT's with Vidalia onions, and sides of leftover beans and ham, and the last of the scalloped potatoes.

Hubbie accompanied Mother to her house afterward, and then he and I turned on the radio to listen as our favorite college football team played to a win.