Saturday, Oct. 5

Up at 6:30 to get dressed, have breakfast, and wait for the sheetrock guy to come put another coat on the stairwell and bathroom walls. He said he'd be here at 7:45, but he didn't arrive until around 8:15.

Didn't take him long, though, to complete the task, and when he left, I did stair stepping resistance bands, and weights exercises, and then showered and changed clothes. In the meantime, Hubbie accompanied Mother to our house.

I didn't have a major project planned for the day, so I read a book on my tablet that I'd borrowed from the library prior to our vacation trip. The expiration date is approaching, so I want to finish it soon. Today was a perfect day for reading, since it was rainy.

Mother worked on her puzzle, of course, and Hubbie occupied himself with this and that until lunch. Everybody had something different for lunch...Mother opted to finish her baked potatoes from last night's catfish dinner, Hubbie chose a sandwich and chips, and I had leftover sweet potato and English peas.

Mother returned to her puzzle afterward, and I returned to my book. Hubbie watched football on TV. Around 2:15, we went to the museum for a program about the Civil War.

We arrived early, so we had time to tour the new exhibit about the war. The exhibit was set up so that visitors enter through what appear to be the flaps of a tent. Included in the exhibit are a Confederate uniform, a bayonet, a rusted stirrup, shells, diaries, photos, etc. There are also hands-on exhibits aimed at kids. It's a small exhibit, but very interesting.

The program was led by a retired college professor, who, dressed in costume portrayed our town's mayor of 1862. He served as the host who introduced costumed Civil War "generals," one representing the Union, and one representing the Confederacy. These reenactors told the stories of their lives, and what parts they played in the conflict as it related to our area of the state.

A young woman (about seventeen) in a hooped-skirt dress portrayed a girl of our town who, while away in another state, was mistaken for a spy and was jailed. Another young woman in the jail bribed the jailer into providing them with a skeleton key, and they escaped and returned home. The woman ultimately married and produced twelve children.

Note one: my former ESL student's father and mother-in-law were at the museum. The father-in-law is a Civil War buff. The mother-in-law is suffering from Alzheimer's Disease, and it was evident today, when, during the program introductions, she kept singing and talking out loud.

No amount of cajoling by family quieted her, so her daughter finally had to remove her from the room. My heart went out to her and her family. I'm sure they brought her so she'd have an outing from the nursing home, where she now resides.

Note two: while visiting with one of the water aerobics members, I mentioned water aerobics and how the pool had been closed for a while now. She said that actually there had been aerobics all last week, and everyone wondered where I was.

Well, no one thought to alert me that aerobics had started again. I think our leader would have, except the elderly man she lived with as a caretaker died last week, and I'm sure she was busy with activities related to the visitation and funeral.

It was probably just as well I didn't go, though, since the stairwell/bathroom project has been so problematic.

I learned that there will be aerobics Monday, but then the pool will be closed again until a week from next Wednesday. Also, the monthly fee has increased from $20 to $25 a month.

Mother really enjoyed the museum outing, which lasted about an hour. Fortunately, the rain had stopped long enough for us to make the trip to and from the museum, but it started again shortly after supper.

As soon as we got back, I started supper, which was leftover Dragon Soup, and the remainder of the cornbread and biscuits. The soup really hit the spot on this rain-cooled evening.

Afterward, Mother stuck around for a while and watched a few episodes of "Too Cute," from the Animal Planet channel. These shows are about adorable kittens and puppies. While we watched these, it started pouring rain again. So it was about 7 p.m. before Hubbie could accompany Mother to her house.

Later, we watched our favorite college football team, as they played to a loss...as we feared.