Monday, Nov. 18

Up at 6 a.m. to get ready for water aerobics. Cool morning, but not terribly uncomfortable. The pool, though, was cooler than any of us like. But, eighteen of us braved it anyway.

Today, I learned that one of the ladies...the one who leads us in water noodle or barbell exercises....is a cousin of the Hubbie's barber, who died last week. She said she saw us leaving the funeral home last night and wondered how we knew her cousin. She noted that this was the third of her first cousins to die in the past two weeks, and it gives her pause, of course.

Back home, I enjoyed a couple of cups of coffee, while Hubbie accompanied Mother to our house. He ran errands then, including some shopping for Mother. I think he also did some Christmas shopping, since it seemed he wanted to be sure I didn't suggest I go with him.

By the time I was ready for the day, it was noon. After lunch, Hubbie and I ran a few errands...first we dropped three colorful umbrellas (blue, red, and yellow) and a parasol off at the home of a community theater member. The umbrellas have been hanging in my closet for years, and I was ready to get rid of them.

From there, we went to a Stage department store. I have a $10 coupon for this store, and I hoped to find a shirt for Mother. But no dice. In fact, we searched several departments to see if there was anything either of us wanted, but there was nothing.

We are not favorably impressed with the discount coupon, which states that a customer must spend at least $20, if using a store credit card, or $25 without a credit card, in order to get the discount...especially since most items are priced at $19.99 or $24.99, so that customers must find something else to bring the total over $20 or $25.

Besides this, the store has only four or five racks of petite size clothing (though they have a large section of plus sizes), none of which is suited to a woman Mother's age. I continue browsing this store from time-to-time hoping to find something suitable for one of us, but I rarely find anything.

We are frequently encouraged through local media to shop locally, but that's difficult to do when there are so few stores, and those stores carry little that is suitable for mature women.

While I was at the department store, Hubbie went to the sports store a couple of doors down to look for stadium seats. He found some and bought two. They were a tad expensive, but there's just no way either of us can tolerate sitting one bleachers with no back support while watching basketball games.

Next, we went to a little gift shop, where I hoped to pick up Jelly Belly candy to use as a twelve days of Christmas gift for Mother. When I stopped by there last week, I was told they would have a supply by the end of the week. But they still didn't have them today. The manager took my name and phone number, so she can call me when the candy comes in.

We returned home after that and relaxed until time to prepare supper...leftover beef roast and trimmings.

Later, after supper, we went to the college down the road to attend a concert. The performers are a family of seven.young adults...five boys, and twin girls...who sing and play a variety of instruments in an indie-folk style. They are very talented, and we really enjoyed them.

The concert only lasted a little over an hour, so when we got back home, we watched a couple of one-hour TV shows that I'd recorded on DVR, and then headed to bed.

Note: the moon was glorious again tonight, rising harvest gold as we arrived at the college. This following a beautiful sunny day, with temp in the mid-60s. Even the performers commented on what lovely fall weather we are having, saying that it is quite cold in their home state of Virginia right now.