Wednesday, Feb. 12

Up at 6 a.m. this morning, so I could get ready to go to water aerobics. Br-r-r...chilly morning for the walk to the gym, but the water in the pool was deliciously warm. Fifteen of us showed up today. The pool was equally warm on Monday, but only six showed up that day. Guess others were like me...couldn't face getting out in the cold and then facing a possibly cold pool.

Something strange happened during aerobics...one of the foot square blocks that decorate the walls suddenly fell within inches of the lifeguard. Startled the heck out us ladies, though the lifeguard didn't even flinch, maybe because he was wearing ear buds.

One of the ladies, who seems to be afraid of absolutely everything, has decided to never again leave her swim bag on the bench below those concrete blocks, but will move to a bench with no wall of blocks. She couldn't get over how that block dropped, and talked about it endlessly during aerobics.

This is a lady who professes to be strong in her religious faith, but I don't see how that squares with unreasonable fear. Despite this quirk of her personality, I like the lady, and we enjoy visiting during pool time. And we keep each other posted about aerobics when one of us has to be away.

Back home after aerobics, I warmed up with a cup of coffee, and then headed to the shower. I like to loll around for a while before I get ready for the day, but today I needed to hem a pair of black jeans I bought recently.

It takes longer to accomplish a hemming job when there is no one available to pin up the hem. Mother used to do that, but she's no longer able to. The last time I needed help, Sis was here. But today, I was on my own.

I started by measuring the inseam of a pair of jeans that were already hemmed, then used that measurement as a starting point in turning up the hems of the new pair. I thought I'd need to trim a lot more off the jeans legs, but after washing them, and letting them hang to dry and shrink, there was only about three inches to deal with. I measured, tried on, then measured and tried on again, and finally arrived at the correct length. In about an hour, the jeans were hemmed.

It was near noon by now, so Hubbie heated Ramen noodle soup and took it to Mother, then made grilled cheese sandwiches for our lunch.

We relaxed for the afternoon, read novels on our e-readers, and caught up on reading newspapers. Around 4:30, I went to visit with Mother for a few minutes, and then Hubbie and I headed to another town about an hour and half away to attend a visitation for Hubbie's ex-son-in-law.

It was cold today, though the sun was out. So snow melting has begun. Along the route to the other town, the fields are still frozen. The sun positively glared off some of them. Other fields, plowed into rows, looked strange with snow topping only the row ridges. Along the ditches, large dollops of snow looked like meringue. Toward dusk, glazed fields seemed to meld seamlessly with a horizon of blue/gray sky. 

At the church, about 50 people attended the visitation, mostly from Hubbie's side of the family. The deceased had very little family...only a wife, two children, and a couple of stepchildren. A few of his friends, as well as folks from the church, attended. Grandson is taking his father's death very hard, naturally, and my heart goes out to him.

The visitation included a meal in the fellowship hall. Ladies from the church provided a buffet of barbecue on buns, assorted chips, baked beans, coleslaw, potato salad, and cheesy potato dish, as well as desserts...two kinds of cake ...lemon and orange....brownies, chocolate chip cookies, and a wonderful, hot, peach cobbler. Coffee, soft drinks, and water were the available beverages.

We stayed at the visitation for a couple of hours. After we viewed the slide show in the chapel, we were ready to head back home. This had been an opportunity for Hubbie to visit with family, even though it was a sad occasion. Tomorrow, we will attend graveside services, which will occur in a town about 30 miles away.

On the way home, I called Mother to make sure she was okay. She was fine, and remarked that she'd enjoyed her supper of chicken and dumplings, mashed potatoes, and veggies, which she heated in the microwave.

We spent the rest of the evening watching a couple of one-hour shows on TV, then headed to bed.