Monday, Oct. 28

Up at 6 a.m. to get ready for water aerobics. It was a relatively mild morning, but very foggy. I took extra care exiting my driveway, since visibility was reduced around that curve. The pool was nice and warm, and twenty-three of us enjoyed it.

Today, a new lady joined us. Her name is the same as mine. She now makes four of us with the same name. Our leader brought this to the attention of the group by joking, "everyone whose name is not (my name), please raise your hands."

Back home afterward, I enjoyed a couple of cups of coffee, while Hubbie accompanied Mother to our house. Instead of going right upstairs to get ready for the day, I decided to get Mother started pulling the stems of crab apples, so I could simmer them for juice.

I washed a batch of the apples, and then decided to help Mother with the project. Pretty soon, Hubbie joined us. It took a long time to prepare two gallons of the fruit.

Once the apples were ready, I simmered two pots of them. It was 11:30 before they were done, so I delayed showering and dressing until after a lunch of Ramen noodle soup for Mother, and PB&J sandwiches for Hubbie and me. Mother went to her jigsaw puzzle afterward.

Finally, I was ready to go upstairs. When I was dressed, Hubbie and I ran errands...to the bank, to the pharmacy, and to the dollar store, where I bought a "Halloween costume" to wear to water aerobics on Wednesday...a child-size head band with little tiger ears on it. I'll wear it with a black swimsuit.
From there, we went to the WDCS for a few groceries. Last stop was the gas station.

At home, I juiced the crab apples. Got about a gallon of juice for making jelly. There are still three more pounds of the apples to process tomorrow. If there's time, I might make a batch of jelly, too.

Once the juice was in the refrigerator, I relaxed for a while, and then around 4 p.m., Mother diced veggies and grated cheese for making an omelet for her supper. She chose an omelet for supper, because Hubbie and I were scheduled to go our insurance company's annual meeting/dinner.

When Mother's supper was ready (the omelet, plus the last of the pumpkin muffins), Hubbie accompanied her to her house, and then he and I went to the college down the road for the meeting/dinner.

We were an hour early, and still folks were lined up all around the large room and out the back door. It took about twenty minutes to finally arrive at the serving area. We estimate around 300 people attended.

The meal was the same as every year...catfish and trimmings. I wondered aloud why the company doesn't serve a healthier meal...wouldn't healthier food help reduce illness, thus saving health insurance dollars?

The tables tonight were decorated with red and white check paper picnic table clothes. Centerpieces were tins designed with ears of corn on the top, and holding packages of popcorn wrapped in twine. Attendees who picked up programs with red stars on the back won these centerpieces. No red stars for us. Nor did we win any of the door prizes.

But, thankfully, the meeting, which started at 7 p.m., was over by 7:30...lots of folks were in a hurry to get home to watch the World Series. We like to keep up with who's winning, but we are not baseball fans, so we don't watch the games.

At home, we finished the evening watching one-hour shows on TV.