An amazing quilt

Last night I re-set my alarm for 7:30 to give me time to filter the rain water in the morning before church. That worked well, and was just enough time to get it all done and put in jars before I had to take my shower and get ready for church. I thought to myself that this was the best kind of Sunday – there was nothing I had to remember to bring to church and no one to be sure to talk to after church. So when I sat in the pew, I relaxed. In his sermon, the pastor spoke about how carrying the cross meant forgetting your own worries and doing things you night not want to do for others. After the service, Portia came over and told me to call if there was anything I needed. Then I stood in line with someone I don't recognize, but she knew Chris was gone and was asking how things were going for me. I shook hands with the pastor and the intern. Then the pastor's wife came up with a bag of items: two pillow tops and patches for a jacket. Both sounded like small projects so I accepted them on the grounds that she would donate to the intern fund. Jeanne told me she had finished the doves for the pulpit cloth and altar cloth. She wants me to call her sometime so we can decide how to attach the doves. Then I signed up to man the bean bag toss game for 45 minutes on Rally Day. Then I spoke to the man who is in charge of the intern fund and offered a quilt to be raffled or auctioned. Finally it was time to go shopping. I changed my shoes in the car and drove to Publix. I did not buy much since I have veggies left from last week and tomatoes from my garden and my neighbor's garden. I bought a cabbage and an onion to make the fermented sauerkraut that I saw in a recent video. When I got home, I brought my groceries in and took off my dress. I folded clothes from yesterday trying to decide what to wear today. I made breakfast and the rain started again. I put the collection tubs out. I went out to pick flowers and was dismayed to see that most had been crushed by the sudden downpour. I made fermented nut cheese with the cashews and sunflower seeds I soaked last night. I ate a tomato, and laid down. I got up to e-mail a pic of the quilt to the man at church, but got sidetracked by images of a quilt called La Passacaglio. O.M.G.!!! I HAD to buy the templates. I doubt I will make the whole thing, but I can use parts in my upcoming yellow quilt. Kurt had told me about tardigrades and suggested that eating them might confer upon me some of their properties. So I looked into that with the internet but could find no evidence that people have actually eaten them. I folded more laundry and got dressed for dinner. I grabbed an umbrella and the flowers and went out to the car. I put the vase of daisies in the cup holder but could not find my keys. I thought I remembered pulling them off the wall, but there they were. The flowers made it to their destination, and it was an easy drive. I wore my new distance glasses. I parked in the driveway, and went in with my flowers and umbrella. I was greeted by Paige and Tim, and their two dogs. I sat in kitchen while they cooked, 'till Mary arrived. Then we went outside to look at the flowerbeds and herb bed. He cut herbs for us: stevia, basil, marjoram. She gave us cups of water to put the herbs in to take home later. Then we moved into the diningroom. Salads were sitting on the table. He said grace and we ate and talked. Then they brought out a roast and wild rice and a broccoli casserole. Later they brought out bread pudding, but I said Mary could have my piece. Conversation flowed easily as we talked about pipe organs, pop music, movies, rocket science, and unusual foods. Finally Mary and I said our goodbye's. She left and we stood outside my car talking about driving standard. Then he warned me about the curve of the driveway before I left. I backed out and turned around to head to the entrance. The drive home was really easy, no traffic. The cups of herbs made it safely home. But I had to set them on the railing to unlock the door and one fell over. I came in, and right away checked my laptop and saw a message from Chris. So I messaged him back. It took a few tries for Skype to connect, but it finally did and we had our nightly chat. Then he went to bed and I posted to my blog.

Now I see

   

Last night on my way to bed, I noticed the basement door was open, as it always is. Squinting down to the level of the latch, I noticed that the hole in the door jamb is ever so slightly too high for the latch to pop in. So I took the plate off and used the screwdriver to scrap some wood from the bottom of the hole. When I shut the door, it stayed closed. Then I turned off the router and went to bed.

     When I woke up, I stayed in bed thinking it was earlier than 8, but forgetting that the alarm doesn't ring on Saturday. When I remembered, I got up, and turned on the router. My sheet music was in there, so I looked at another piece that I planned to re-write so it would only take up two pages, which is more manageable on a stand outside where the wind might be blowing on Rally Day. I took it out to the diningroom and booted up the laptop. From there, I read e-mail. Then I remembered to set the alarm on my phone for tomorrow so I won't be late for church. There is only one service because of the holiday, and it starts earlier, at 9:30.

     As I was reading e-mail, I remembered finding a small something on the back of my leg in the middle of the night and thinking that it might be a tick. I began to worry again. I tried to look at it, but there was no way to get a good look. So I took a pic with my camera, downloaded it to my laptop, and enlarged it. I saw a brown spot, but no legs. I searched the internet for a solution. One site said to put liquid soap on a cotton ball and swab the tick until it came out and stuck to the cotton ball. I tried, but it did not come off.

     Still worried, I imagined a list of friends and how far away they are, and decided to call Bertha. She wasn't busy, so I went to her house, and she said it was not a tick, but could be a tick head. She showed me her quilting projects and fabric. She printed a free pattern from Craftsy, one copy for her and one for me.

     I came home, and juiced veggies. I saw Craig in his back yard so I went over to the fence to say hello. He picked 7 tomatoes and gave them to me. I asked him if he had a tool to open a 5 gallon bucket and he came over to open it for me. Then he had to go return something to Home Depot before it rained. I don't think he made it because the rain hit soon and hard. I put out some collection tubs, then made breakfast, and read e-mail. I listened to an audio on candida leading to cancer, and the importance of eating fermented foods.

     I checked the mail, and found my two pairs of new glasses in the mailbox. I was pleasantly surprised that they both came with hard-sided cases, and fit perfectly.  i put the one for distance in my car.  I collected towels and laundry and the fitted sheet. I washed them in two loads. I put the rag rug (made in July?) in the second load. 

   While the laundry was in progress, I watched “Billy Elliot” from Netflix. It felt a bit contrived at several key points. I won't give it a high rating when Netflix asks. There was an annoying overuse of the four letter 'f' word. It was still raining. I emptied other tubs into one big one and brought it in. I skyped with Kurt for over an hour, thinking that Chris would skype. But it is too late now and I am going to bed – as soon as I put the sheet back on the bed.

Making notes

I heard the alarm ring as I went to the bathroom, but I was tired and went back to bed. Sadly, it was after nine when I got up. I put an envelop in the mail and swept leaves off of the porch, which lead to watering various beds. I thought that getting some early sunshine might reset my body clock to get up earlier. Then again, it won't make up for waking up in the middle of the night and having trouble going back to sleep. I cleared e-mail to below 40. I found that the desktop computer had rebooted into Linux, and the laptop kept trying to reboot every 10 minutes. So finally I let it. I did my exercises. Dad called wanting me to go to a site and look up a name to see if it had changed. At that point my laptop was running a security scan. So I finished my exercises and then used the desktop. His question was easily answered, and I called him back. I also got a call from the massage therapist. We talked and I set up another appointment for next week. The postman rang the doorbell with a box from Swanson's and 2 letters. One was about opting out of a class action suit. It was hard to read. Then I got an e-mail from Chris with his flight information. He is coming to visit me for our anniversary, and staying for 2 weeks. I hope he'll have something to do besides chase me around the house. I juiced tomatoes, a pepper, two carrots, sprouts and some sweet potato vine. Then I called up a meditation on my laptop and took it outside to play while I laid in the sun. Even though I had the laptop in a white cloth bag, it still got hot. I put on shorts and a t-shirt to mow the rest of the front lawn. I also mowed inside the back fence. I passed the cherry tomato patch so I ate a bunch of those on the way. I plugged the mower in to recharge, and came in to drink. I stacked the dishwasher and ran it. While it was running, I worked on the pillows. I figured out where to cut the 5 inch squares, but left the backings for later. I cut a strip of each of the coordinating fabrics and sewed them together in order by value. I cross-cut the strips and laid them around the 5 inch squares. I took a pic to send to Cecily. Then I put the pieces away in the bag they came in. I pulled out a quilt top that was pinned to a foundation. Neither the top nor the foundation were sturdy enough to be a quilt top on it's own. I sewed them together in parallel lines. I was glad to have that out of the way. And then I wondered why I put it off so long. I came up to eat a piece of beef tongue and some dates. I watched an amazing display of dexterity called acroyoga on Facebook. Kurt texted me by Skype. I emptied the dishwasher and put away the dishes. I unpacked my trombone and practiced some of the music for Rally Day. Jennifer had given me a part she wrote for one of the songs, but it wasn't finished. I re-wrote the music so I could read it, and wrote in the parts she did not get to. Although it took a while and I needed the piano to test my notes, I was pleased with the result and myself. It was almost 10 then, so I e-mailed Jennifer to let her know it was finished. I posted to my blog and I might have gone to bed.

Marjorie's Mondo bag

I heard the alarm but did not get up until almost 8:30 because I had such a hard time falling asleep last night. I did the usual things: e-mail, exercise, drybrush, water plants, juice, meditate, make breakfast, etc. Because it was Thursday, I also took out the recyclables. I cleaned out my spam folder, I listened to an audio from the Women and Financial Freedom Summit. I started reading the church newsletter. At noon I stopped to load my sewing supplies in the car and drive to Stitch-Its. I sat beside Pat, which would be tough not to since we have 5 of them now. She asked me if I was working on another Linus quilt, and I said, “No, this is the same one.” Another Pat wanted to sell a mondo bag pattern that was printed on fusible interfacing. So I bought it. The group is planning to have a Saturday sew-in for the bags this weekend. I am not sure I will be ready to participate, but at least I have the foundation. At 2 I packed up to come home. I drank a glass of water and laid in the sun for 20 minutes. I set the timer to water another tomato patch. I ate some lunch, dressed warmly in order to sweat, and went out to mow. I concentrated on areas that I had been leaving long in order to promote growth. But now it was looking shaggy. I did most of the back and got around to the front when it was time to recharge. I had a good sweat going and I didn't want to waste it, so I drank more water and went back out to pull weeds. When I came in, I had to clean up and change clothes. They were sopping wet. (This is a good thing.) I drank some of the beef broth and laid down for a bit. Then I had the last of the sweet potato stir-fry. I watched a short demo of a casserole cover. Ingenious design, but I am not sure the stress points are adequate for the weight. Last night the ladies invited me over for their Thursday night viewing of Project Runway. At the time I made the usual excuses, but today I was thinking it might be a fun thing to do once. But I could not find the address of the hostess to see if it was somewhere I was comfortable driving to. I cleared my e-mail from 100 Unread down to 50 unread by deleting some and moving others to files. It felt pretty good. I read about nootropics. I watched a video on making sauerkraut. Then I noticed it was almost 7, so I went out to mow again, this time concentrating on the front yard. Having moved the deck up another notch, I ran the mower for longer than usual. Then I plugged it back in for tomorrow. I checked e-mail again, and caught up on my blog notes. I got a form in the mail that needed signing, which I did, and readied to be posted tomorrow. I skyped with Chris for almost an hour. I looked up the benefits of baking soda. I came across an absolutely gross video on parasites (I may never eat sushi after seeing this). One video led to another and I ended up posting late.

Detox Wednesday

I got up before the alarm went off, finally. I turned on the router, and practiced my trombone. I cleared e-mail with the desktop computer and responded to some Facebook comments. I looked for the coffee detox file on my laptop and could not find it. I went back to my blog and it clearly states that I put the file on my computer last Wednesday. But the search returned no results. I found the orignial piece of paper and wrote it again. Then I boiled coffee, and put cards in the mail. I drybrushed, exercised, detoxed, and swept up dead roaches.  I took some niacin and made green juice, and watered the beds not covered by the hoses on the timer. I filled two water bottles, and parked my car in the sun. Just then Dad called. He needed me to find a form online. I found it and sent him the link. I sat in car, dressed in a sweat suit, drinking water and reading a Dr. Oz magazine. Then I got the mail and watered the indoor plants. I set the timer to water the other flowerbed. I picked two tomatoes and a cucumber. I mowed in the back yard. I put a beef tongue in a pot on stove to boil. I finished a meditation, and took a shower. I played my trombone again. Then I went down to work on Cecily's pillows. There was not enough fabric to fussy cut the backs to match. I came up to have a bite of tongue to eat and dress for practice. I packed up my instrument, and headed to church. I talked to Doris and Terry until the others showed up. Jennifer gave me a trombone part she'd written, but it was so low I could hardly read it. We practiced three songs for Rally Day, standing up. The third one she transposed down on the spot so I could not play as written on that. Afterward she made me a copy of the second one because my copy had 6 pages and lots of repeated parts. I came home and ate more tongue and put the rest away. I read e-mail, and listened to a waltz composed by Anthony Hopkins. Who knew he could write music? I did some tapping, and listened to brainwave entrainment. I was listening to surprising contestants of 'country's GOT TALENT shows on youtube when Chris skyped me. There were a lot of connection problems and it was already late, so we did not stay on long. I finished listening to the song and posted to my blog.

*  Here is a quilt from the guild meeting last week  *

Myofascial release

I was not ready to get up when the alarm rang. So I let it ring and got up a few minutes later. I was having a dream, but can't remember it now. I swished, and got on the desktop so I could clear e-mail more quickly. I was almost done when it froze. So I went to laptop, and – surprise, surprise – it is now running the new version of Yahoo. I did not reboot or click on anything. When I was finished with the first round of e-mail, I exercised, and juiced. There wasn't time for meditation. I went to the Tuesday quilting. I talked with several people and came away with a magazine that was left behind. I stopped at the Asian store for kimbap and sprouts. I decided to stop at the bank on the way home, and the route took me past a new WalMart . How in the world did they build a whole WalMart while I wasn't looking?   I got cash at the bank. I came home ate the kimbap that I didn't eat on the way home. I laid in sun for 20 minutes. I read e-mail. William called to say that car cover I sent him for his birthday doesn't fit. I wrote to the company. I read about the Chinese remainder theorem, although I doubt I shall ever need to use it. I went to Ruth's Nutrition for a myofascial release session. I had to fill out a form somewhat like the one at a doctor's office.  The lovely lady there was my age. She started with myofascial release and did some massage. It hurt in places I did not expect to be sore, but felt better when I got up. She told me to use a tennis ball to work on the tendon that was causing problems for my finger. She gave me water to drink from Garden Cove. I will have to check that out, so I can bring my own next time. Then I went to the farmer's market. I was almost an hour late so I missed the spinach. But I got peppers, and some hydroponic lettuce. Cecelia was there, too. I talked to the wagyu man and he said he might have a beef tongue for me. Then I took my produce home and ate the last of the fish. I cleared more e-mail, then went outside with my tablet to listen to a meditation. Strangely it had trouble connecting with the internet, so I played 2048 until I heard the sound of downloading e-mail. I came in and had some sweet potato leaf stir-fry. I noticed that the carrot which I stuck in water this morning was actually showing signs of growth. I dislodged some more coconut from the shell and ate it without further injury. I arranged the items in my DOWNLOADS file into folders. Then I redistributed my picture files into monthly folders. Chris got online and I skyped with him. I called Dad for some addresses. He could not find his address book so he looked them up in an old file on his computer. I practiced my trombone briefly, then I got out my stack of condolence cards and prepared four of them. I uploaded pics from my camera, then sat to write this posting, hoping to go to bed before I think of anything else I should do tonight.

AmEx and myofascial release

I got up with the alarm at 8. My back still hurt. I turned on the router, and vacuumed the fan ports on my laptop before booting it up. I deleted e-mail, and read comments from posting a new profile photo to Facebook. Thankfully they were all positive. I had forgotten that Facebook would make a point of telling everyone. I went to the desktop computer to see the comments on Facebook since the script blockers on my laptop make it difficult. XKCD was in an open window on the desktop so I got caught up in reading it. I read about the Heartbleed security problem and had to do an internet search to find out more. I tested my browsers to make sure they won't accept revoked certificates, which is some small measure of protection. Then I went back to reading XKCD pages. I exercised, and listened to an audio from the Crazy Courage series. I juiced and meditated. I made breakfast, and took some Aleve. I put the Netflix movie in the mail. I packed a lunch of seaweed and hummus. I grabbed my small sewing box and drove to church. The ladies ribbed me, probably because Joan was there, making up for lost time. Ha, ha. I worked on Barbara's quilt with Bertha. Around 3 I ate my lunch, and went home. My bandaid was falling off, so I threw it away. I no longer needed the pressure to stop the bleeding. I brought in the mail. I ate a thawed piece of fish. I laid out in the sun to reduce inflammation because my back still hurt. I looked up myofascial release on the internet and left a voicemail for the lady whose pamphlet I have. I called AmEx about Chris not being able to access the account online. I laid down to press on the point of pain as in the myofascial release videos. I read the latest e-mail while eating frozen blueberries. Then I was ready to go to Party City but noticed my fingers, lips and tongue were almost black. I scrubbed with the toothbrush, but could not get it all off. went shopping for condolence cards (the way this year is shaping up, I really need them). I came home, and read e-mail waiting for Chris. I opened a letter from Am Ex that said my e-mail didn't work. So I, got online to figure it out. That's when I got a call back from the myofascial lady. We talked and I made an appointment for tomorrow.  She bet me that she was crazier healthwise than I was. I took her bet.  Chris skyped me. His problem wasn't resolved, so I called AmEx while on Skype to facilitate his getting his problem fixed. Then he went to bed. I did a series of tapping videos to get relaxed for bed. Then I wrote this post and retired for the night.

*  This is the signature quilt that was given to the outgoing president at the guild meeting on Thursday.  *

Coconut is dangerous

I set the alarm last night and got up this morning a minute before the alarm went off. I shifted the wires behind the desktop computer so I could reach the power strip more easily. Then I turned on the router. I deleted e-mail, and listened to an interview on using wood chips to sequester carbon in the soil. My slip came out of the laundry yesterday with one strap detached. I took it downstairs to tack it back on so I could wear it to church. When I bought the fish yesterday, I had separated it into 4 pieces and frozen 3 of them. I had eaten the fourth. Today I got out the third one and put it in the fridge to thaw. I showered, and made breakfast. I listened to an audio from the Crazy Courage Interview series.

I got dressed and went to church. Pastor talked about God trusting us with the keys to the kingdom. After the service, I talked to Jen Q about praise band, and to the other Jennifer, ordering a magazine from her son. Later I got Pastor to sign something and returned the apron his wife wanted mended. I left before I could get roped into building Pinocchio with the youth group. From there, I went to Publix for groceries, and then home. I ate some cherry tomatoes and laid in the sun. Then I took some niacin and finished the audio from this morning, waiting for the niacin to kick in. I dressed warmly and mowed the side yard. I went to the back to dig up pokeweed. But my back objected so I did not get far. I sat to rest my back, and fell somnolent. I heard rain and went to lay down in bed. When I got up, my back still hurt but it was obvious that laying down wasn't helping. I started an audio on visioneering quantum reality. I ate the piece of fish, and drained a coconut that I bought at the store today. It was a brown one. I pounded it with a hammer until it broke apart. It was not as easy as I remembered seeing in the past. I pried out the white meat with a steak knife. It slipped and cut my thumb. There was a lot of blood but the wound opening was small. I put pressure on it to stop the bleeding and elevated it. I Skyped with Chris for awhile. I continued to listen to the audio. Then I put a bandaid on the puncture. It was tightly wrapped, which I can't say for myself. I called Dad to see how he was doing. I walked around as I talked, hoping that would help my back. Then I tied a bag of frozen peas to my back while I wrote to my blog. It wasn't quite 10, so I decided to update my Facebook photo with one that shows my current skin (which is an improvement over what I had years ago). I cropped the photos so hopefully no one can tell where I was standing when I took them. Then I chose one to upload and the deed was done. The day was done and I was done.

Pulling Pokeweed

I woke up slowly and waited for the alarm to ring. Finally I got up and then remembered that the alarm doesn't ring on weekends. It was a little after 8. I turned on the router and sat down to read e-mail. I read an article on mosquitoes, and finished an audio I started yesterday. I did my exercises. I washed and juiced spinach, zucchini, and a bag of red and orange peppers. I did half of a meditation since I was running out of time. I ran the pulp through again and cleaned the juicer. I took a shower, got dressed, and played a few notes on my trombone. Then I packed it up and went to church. I practiced a piece with Mary, our organist. It was an easy piece. Then I went home, and took the vitamin C packet that I meant to take earlier. I laid in the sun for 20 minutes. Then I started to water the plants but got rained on. How did the weather go from bright sun to pouring rain? I left the water running because I did not expect the rain to last, and it didn't. Then I made breakfast, and read e-mail. I watched a video on 'the one percent' and how they view the world (in between bouts of laundry). I also had time to pare down magazine renewal invitations to the bare minimum. I went out to mow part of the lawn. I also pulled weeds in the ditch. I took an e-mail break to read and drink. Then I dug up poke weed in the far back. I was sweating profusely in my long sleeves and pants. When my back had enough, I came in to read e-mail and drink water. I ate some sweet potato leaf stir-fry. I folded two baskets of laundry and put them away. I got on the old computer (it's 2014 and still running Windows 95) to type up two quilt labels for embroidery for a quilting friend. I saved them to a blank embroidery card and went downstairs to put it in my machine. I watched “Shine”, which featured Geoffrey Rush as a concert pianist who 'loses it' and tended to forget clothing. It is based on a true story so I looked it up on the internet. Then Chris and Michele skyped me for an hour. It was so good to see Michele again. But I had to hang up at 11:30 to post to my blog and go to bed.

*  This is the cute basket of vegetables that Rebecca gave me on Monday  *

One hot day

Before I went to bed last night, I rigged the router to be on a separate power strip so I could just turn the power strip off instead of unplugging the router every night. Then I went to bed and had a blissfully quiet night. I woke up when the alarm sounded at 8. I switched on the strip (and hence the router) and wondered what the black box behind the router was. It was a modem. I got on the internet to find out the difference between the router and modem so I could determine if I should turn off the modem at night as well. The site with the answer had a video and that led to another video about putting two cords together to double internet speed. But it was a joke.

I read e-mail, and watched a foundation training video. I listened to an audio on improving the experience of life while I was exercising and juicing.  I made a lot of juice using up stuff that was past its peak.  I played an audio on changing your life with color while making breakfast and eating. I cleaned up some clutter on the diningroom table, and tried laying out 2 weeks worth of supplements. I am not sure it works any better than doing one week at a time. I laid out in the sun which kept hiding behind clouds, which seemed incongruous with the heat advisory. I used the shady times to water the garden. Dad called, but did not talk long. I mowed and sweated, (and loved it!) I cleaned up and changed my clothes. I went to the Juice Bar to meet Susan. There were no customers there when I got there. Susan arrived on time and we ordered. Then they got busy. I ordered a shot of wheatgrass and something called an Energizer. I did not realize it was only one ounce, yikes!  It must not have been mixed well 'cause the peppermint oil burned the side of my mouth when I drank it.  When she needed to smoke, we sat outside and talked. When she left, so did I. I took a pic of the thermometer reading 100, and wondered why I was not sweating. I ate the rest of the heart, and drank some broth. I took my laptop outside to watch an episode of The Quilt Show. The video portion stopped but the audio kept going. I could not stop it even by closing the window it was running in. I tried disabling the internet connection, but the audio continued. I don't remember now how it got stopped. Then I reloaded it and ran it again. This time it finished early. The only way to get to the end was to load and play it in IE. So I finished show, went inside and did several internet searches: quilts, and massage practitioners. I did some tapping from the book that Jen lent me. I dug out the last dregs of coconut oil from the old 5 gallon bucket and wondered how I was going to open the new bucket. William called to say he got the car cover that I sent for his birthday, but he hadn't used it yet so did not know if it fit. I stacked and ran dishwasher, then practiced my trombone. I tapped more for feeling overwhelmed and needing to fulfill the expectations of others. I checked the laptop to see if Chris was on skype and he was. So we had a quick chat before he went to bed. It was time for me to blog and retire myself.

End of the quilt guild year

     It was after 11 when I finished my blog and went to bed. Some time after that, somebody in the neighborhood decided to turn up their stereo system to full blast. I could not tell where it was coming from. But it went on and on. I was surprised how unkind my thoughts became. I tried sleeping in the guest

room but I could still hear it. I ended up sleeping in the basement. It was not comfortable, but it was quiet.

       From the basement I heard the alarm go off at 8. I crawled into my regular bed to relax, then got up for the day. I checked e-mail. Dad called for help finding a file that Chris put on his computer. We never did find it, but I had a copy which I forwarded. I wrote a note and put a condolence card in mailbox. I saw recyclables in my neighbors driveway, so I grabbed my own and took them out. I watered the vegetable beds. I picked tomatoes and a cucumber. I cleaned up the juicer from yesterday.   

       Susan called, wanting to go to lunch or something so we made a date to meet at the juice bar. I watched a video on Vitamin D and depression while I did my exercises. I juiced, and meditated. I made and ate breakfast. William called to see if I was still alive after being bitten yesterday. 

     After he hung up, I went to the Thursday group. I worked on the blue Linus project while talking to the ladies there. At 2, I packed up to come home, and laid out in sun. I had some lunch, and listened to an audio on women breaking the mold. Then there was an audio on healing herbs. I ordered flax and chia seeds on Amazon. I mowed the back yard, and clipped weeds, particularly poke weed so it won't go to seed and grow more pokeweeds. I took a shower, and rested. 

      Then I collected my stuff, put dates in a bowl, and went to guild meeting. I dropped off two quilt tops and the strips. I put the dates on the dessert table. I submitted a check for renewal of dues. We sat at one of four tables arranged in a square. Food was on each table. After the prayer, we all stood up with our plates and moved to the right, gathering food as we went. When we had made a full circle, we sat down and ate. Pat had made a dish with carrots, apple pie filling, brown sugar and butter. At least 5 people came over to tell her how good it was and to get more. I thought the dish should have been on the dessert table. We crowned Betty as Miss HQH. The theme for the night was the '50's and she wore her mother's blue dress from her 1952 wedding.  After show-n-tell, and some raffles, the outgoing president recognized and thanked the old officers. Then the new president introduced the new officers. I picked up my last set of strips.  The vice-president raffled off ice cream floats made from carnations. I got my dates from the dessert table and stopped at the back to see if I needed to sign the quilt given to the outgoing president.

    

Then I went home to skype Chris. After our little 'chat', I watched a video on EFT for Crohn's, posted to my blog and went to bed.
*  Betty is at the top and the ice cream float decoration is at the bottom.

Overcommitted

I woke up hearing the phone ring.  It was William giving me an item number to check on Ebay.  I turned on my computer and checked my e-mail.  I wrote my morning routine with coffee detox into a file on my computer since I keep losing the piece of paper it is written on.  I started checking off the steps as I went.  I played an audio on women building business.  Cecilia called and wanted to come over to see my ferns.  I put coconut oil in my hair and finished up the detox.  Then I took a shower. I cleaned up around the house.  Cecilia did not come in because she had groceries in the car.  I walked her over to look at the ferns, and a bug bit me.  Oddly, the pain spread through my foot.   When we finished the conversation, she said it was too hot outside for her and she went home.  I went inside and tried to look at my foot, between the two biggest toes.  Even with glasses on, I could not get my eyes close enough because my knee was in the way.  I gave up.  I washed some veggies for juicing, and then saw sun was out, so I laid out for 20 minutes.  I wanted to take advantage of the heat, so I decided to sweat in my car.  I took some niacin and read e-mail waiting for it to kick in.  William called to see if I had looked up the suitcase on Ebay.  I hadn’t so he waited while I did.  My laptop was not cooperating, so I moved to the desktop.  Then I got sick to my stomach.  I hung up with William, and drank more water. I made notes for my blog.  I juiced tomatoes, a cucumber, and two carrots.  Drinking that made my stomach feel better.  I took two large towels and water to the car, and parked in sun.  I did multiple Sudoku puzzles and took one break.  I was surprised how long it took for the sweat to start.  Afterward I showered, and read e-mail.  I ate a frozen banana. I meant to print out a form but got sidetracked reading  xkcd panels. Then I printed the renewal form for tomorrow night.  I brought in the mail.  Tamara sent me images of Pinocchio for making the costume.  I did not have any of that.  I ate some meat, and laid down.  The doorbell rang, but when I answered it, no one was there.  I laid down again.  Then I got up to practice my trombone.  I packed it up and went to church for praise band practice.  I dropped off the communion bread in the sacristy freezer.  I did not have the first two songs we played, so I sat by Doris and sang with the others.  It was a praise choir, not a praise band.  There was no trombone part.  She wanted me to make one up as I went. I wasn’t feeling well and was tired, so it did not go well.  That was embarrassing. At 8 it should have been over, but others wanted to go on, so we practiced another piece.  Then I drove home.  I checked my e-mail.  I tapped on being overwhelmed with other people’s projects.  I called Jennifer who had called during music practice. I took my laptop down to the sewing room so I could catch up on some sewing while being available for Chris to skype.  I cut center squares for a Linus project that I may take to work on tomorrow,  I mended the pastor’s wife’s apron.  I cut some centers for the pillows Cecily wants me to make.  I started writing up my blog notes, and then Chris skyped me.  We talked for awhile, and then he went to bed and I finished my blog.

 *  This is the communion bread I made on Sunday  *

Hurray for online opticals

It was almost 8 when I got up because of the pain in my shoulder. I checked e-mail, and watched a video about long-lived people. I put the Netflix movie in the mailbox. I got a call back from the stock company to answer Dad's question, so then I called Dad to give him the info. I noticed roots have finally started growing on the sweet potatoes in water. I opened the Swanson box and took out the supplements. I juiced and meditated, then cleaned up quickly. I closed up the water containers on the way to my car, and went to the Tuesday quilt group. I talked to Joyce about her quilt, and to Jane. I went to the Asian store for kimbap. I looked for young coconuts, but they did not have them. There was a young man learning to run the front desk. I drove home through accident site, but my tires made it through unscathed. I ate kimbap and kimchi for lunch. The kimbap was not as good as usual. I ate while reading e-mail. Then I made breakfast, and ate breakfast, listening to an audio on cravings and what they are telling you. I laid in sun for 20 minutes. I listened another meditation (to catch up on the series). William called about suitcase. I practiced my trombone. I pulled up the site for ordering glasses online. I called the optometrist office for the prescription. They got it ready, and I picked it up on the way to the farmer's mkt. I bought spinach at the hydroponic place. No one had celery. I talked to a cattle man. He said they throw the beef tongues away and I told him I would buy them. He gave me a flyer. I stopped by the bank for cash. Denise called and I did not want to drive while on the phone so I sat in the parking lot until our conversation was over. I came home, and put the spinach in the fridge. I uploaded my photo to Zennioptical site. They needed to know pupillary distance so I called the opt. for the number. I tried on numerous pairs of glasses virtually. I considered options like single lens or bifocals, computer or reading, etc. William called to talk about the inside of the suitcase he'd found at Goodwill. I looked it up online to find pic of what he was talking about. It was not exact but helpful. I went back to ordering glasses. Finally I ordered one for distance and one for reading. The order was less than $25. I ate some heart for supper. Chris Skyped me and we chatted. Then I watched a video on backyard gardening. I went downstairs to cut fabric strips for the exchange on Thursday night. I also pressed a finished charity quilt top and added a row to another one so I can turn them both in on Thursday night. I feel the need to get some of these projects out of my sewing room to make space for the ones I need to finish up next. I went through my box of trims, looking for something that would work for the shoulder straps and front piece for a Pinocchio costume for church. What I found was fuschia. I took a pic of it and sent it to the ladies that asked for it. I doubt it is what they want, but lack of planning on their part does not constitute an emergency on my part. I got other things to worry about. Then it was time to blog and go to bed.

  *  These are the charity blocks I made yesterday  *

Sweet potato greens

I woke up to the alarm at 8. I remembered hearing booming thunder during the night. I looked out to see a wet world. I turned off the alarm, and picked up all the laundry I had folded last night while the bread was baking. (The bread had taken 20 minutes to bake and then looked like pancakes.) I put the laundry away. I heard the rain again and rushed to put out some collection tubs. I had thought of that in the middle of the night, but was too well snuggled in bed to get up then.

I read e-mail. I learned about Rallis olive oil and looked for a good price on it, but decided shipping made it too expensive. I juiced, and meditated while digesting it. Then I made and ate breakfast. I packed hummus and seaweed for lunch, along with a peach and a bottle of lemon water. When I got to the church, I noticed someone had parked in my usual spot. That's what I get for being gone for three weeks. I was warmly greeted when I entered the quilting room. I was catching up on all the latest, when Dad called. He wanted me to look up how to sell stock. Rebecca gave me a basket of veggies from her garden and mine. Doris asked me to embroider some quilt labels for her. I set up my machine and noticed a large spot on the big spool of thread. Debbie gave me a donation block packet with instructions and some gray background fabric. I made two donation blocks, thanks to Lauri and Dinah for the solid and print fabrics. I ironed blue blocks from a previous Linus project, but did not have what I needed to make more. Lauri and Alice were ready to go, so we all left at the same time. It was raining hard when I got home. I stood in the carport watching the ditch fill with water and flood the carport. I locked my stuff in car and ran for the house. I came back with an umbrella for my purse, the mail, etc. I checked e-mail, and called Wow. I think their one hand doesn't know what the other is doing. I tried to look up the answer to Dad's question but had to e-mail the company. I ordered a card for Chris, which also involved calling that company. I read that strips are due on Thursday and went looking for them because I thought I already cut them. But they were nowhere to be found. I thought about cooking sweet potato leaves, and then the rain stopped. I picked a bunch of leaves and some stems. I washed them, and cut the stems into small pieces. I put chunks of beef fat into a frying pan to melt, then in went the stems. I let them fry for awhile, then cut up the leaves. I decided to put in onions so I cut up an onion and cooked it down before adding the leaves. I then diced a red pepper and added it for color. I stirred, and stirred. When I tasted it, the onions were still not done, so I put a lid on to simmer. Dad called. I talked to hime while I ate some. It was not bad but I could do without the woody stems. I put the rest in a jar. All of a sudden I realized my left upper chest hurt like I had sprained the muscle. I didn't know where it had come from. I decided to take a rest and watch the Netflix movie that has been sitting here for 3 weeks. I took a cup of vinegar water to sip on while I watched. It was called “About a Boy” with Hugh Grant. It had the makings of a good movie, but parts of it were too unbelievable. When I turned it off, I could hear the rain falling heavily. I came up and opened the front door. There sat a box, completely dry. I brought it in, then went out to sit on the front step and experience the rain. It was lovely. When I came in, I saw a skype message from Chris. He had tried to get me, and gave up and went to bed. I got a package of frozen peas from the fridge and placed them on the sore muscle. I tapped with an audio in my e-mail. I looked up fall garden plants, and made a list. Then I wrote my blog, and went to bed.

Baptism by ice

I got up at 6:30 to use the bathroom, then went back to bed, trusting that my alarm would wake me up at 8. I had a dream about wanting to rescue a tiny horse stranded in the water. On the way to the beach, there was a fabric stall. Most of it was green. I bought some fabric and was so hungry that I started eating it. Then I passed a sandwich place and tried to order a meat and cheese roll up, and that is when I woke up. I stayed in bed, waiting for the alarm. Finally I got up to check the time. It was 9. I did not have time to juice, so I ate the second half of a tomato. I got on the internet and saw that other people had gotten letters from WOW about a price increase, but their bill had not got up, yet. They talked about internet speed, so I used Internetfrog to test my download/upload speed, but the results were not like anyone else's. 

    Suddenly I realized what time it was. I finished breakfast, showered, dressed and drove to church. I met the new intern. She said she had heard of me. The pastor's wife gave me an apron to mend. Terry gave me a sheet to fill out in after the intern gave her first sermon today. The treasurer gave me a hug and kiss. The man who sits in our pew shook my hand heartily and said how happy he was to see me back. Jeanne told me she had almost finished the dove for the bigger red banner (which I haven't started sewing yet). 

     After the service, I stayed in my seat to fill out the questionnaire. Then I dropped it off in Tim's box because I get him and Terry mixed up. I told the intern that she did a good job, which she did. Everyone followed the pastor and our new intern outside. While someone recorded video, Pastor explained that he was answering the Ice Bucket Challenge and that the intern agreed to participate if we raised over $1000. Well we raised $1700, so she got iced, too. When he mentioned challenging a few more people, we all stepped back. But he challenged people from other churches. 

     When that was over, Jen and I sat and talked about reflexology, the Bates exercises, and we did some tapping for an issue we both have. We were interrupted by the youth leaders who, among other things, asked me if I could make a Pinocchio costume by next week. I agreed to try. Jen and I finished up in her office and then she went home.

     I drove to the grocery store in the pouring rain. But it was over by the time I got to Publix. I bought the usual groceries and stuff to make communion bread. I put away the frozen goods, then ate some beef heart for lunch. I put on an audio while I distributed the groceries and cleared the dishwasher. I scraped the beef fat from several jars of broth and put it all in one jar. I drank some of the broth 'cause it was sooooo good. I left some butter out to soften for the communion bread. I used the desktop computer to print out the recipe. I watched a short video called Admissions. Very powerful. 

    Dad called, thinking I had called him. But it had been Faye.  The call was interrupted. I did a speedtest on my laptop and sent the results to Chris. These results made more sense. Dad called back. We tried conference calling on several of his phones, but it never worked. After he hung up, I noticed it was 85 degrees  inside, so I closed the windows and turned on the AC. Usually I prefer the windows open, but when the house gets too hot, things mold, etc. I went outside to pick tomatoes and a cucumber.

     While I was deciding whether to make hummus or communion bread, Chris skyped. I showed him my tomato and cucumber. They were both about the same color (orange with a tinge of green). He got to watch while I made hummus. After he hung up, I put the ingredients for communion bread in the bread machine. While it mixed, I listened to a meditation and cleared e-mail. When the mixing was done, the dough was like pancake batter. So I scooped it out in 4 handfuls and put them on parchment paper on a cookie sheet. I covered them with wax paper to press them flat. The paper did not want to come off, so I put the sheet in the fridge to get cold, hoping that would help. Then I put together a blog post while it sat. I carefully peeled the parchment paper off. It could not be used again so I threw it away. I pricked the patties with a fork as per the instructions and preheated the oven.  I finished my blog post and then baked the bread.

Hot!!!

I got up about 7:30. I checked my e-mail, and soon was watching a video on sustainable farming while I exercised. I tried to order a card for Chris but the website asked for numbers I did not have. I tried calling, but the rep shuttled me back to the automated phone system. I tried the on-line chat and she said she wasn't allowed to know the numbers and to call customer service. She had a different number, so I did call. This time I got a rep who said I needed to wait until my card arrived before I could order another. What a waste of time! Well, at least I found out how to activate my speakerphone. I had to look it up online because the info was not in the user guide. I practiced my trombone, and then juiced. I drank the juice slowly as I checked e-mail. Then I made breakfast. I would have laid out in the sun, but there were too many neighbors out. So I started the laundry and watered the various garden beds. The grass was so hot that it hurt my feet. Then I mowed more of the back yard. I brought in the mail and e-mailed Chris with the items he needed to know about. I raked up pinestraw and pine cones with my laptop on my back. I haven't been able to do that for some time. Yea for new batteries! I found a book I have been looking for for over a month. I read some of it, but must have gotten distracted. I did an internet search to see what I could do with all the fat from the beef heart: saute veggies, dip candles, make bird food, make soap, make pemmican. I looked up how to prepare sweet potato leaves, and decided I could use the beef fat to saute them. I ordered a birthday present for William online and had it sent to Dad's house. I was going to mow again, but seeing the mown grass turn brown convinced me not to. I stacked the dishwasher and ran it, then sat outside to tap for awhile. When the mosquitoes came out, I went in. I called Suyapa and she talked on and on about her daughter and her new school. She also talked about starting a quilt group in her area. Chris skyped me while she was still talking. We discussed the events of the day. Kurt then skyped me by text. While waiting for a response, I found Prime95 and ran it. It clocked out my CPU immediately. I couldn't figure out how to stop it until I remembered the task manager. The new memory did fine. I edited my notes for the blog while Kurt and I continued to 'chat'. I finished just as he signed off. 

*  These are my marigolds, which have done well in the heat.  *

Adding memory

I woke up about 7:30, having had a dream about trying to collect rainwater but all my containers were cracked. I thought it might be raining for real, but it wasn't. I got up and stood in the early morning sunlight to ground my body clock. I got out a small screwdriver set to take the back cover off of my laptop. But it wouldn't come off. Silly me, I thought that would be the easy part. I used the desktop computer to look up how to remove the cover (in case I had missed something). I got sidetracked with XKCD for awhile. Then I found a video and it did not show anything I hadn't done. So I tried it again and was more forceful. I inserted the memory card, and replaced the cover. I booted up computer. It had a bunch of stuff to do before it ran Windows. Then I checked this and that to confirm that the memory was recognized by the computer, but it wasn't. So I took the panel off again (unplugging the power cord and removing the new battery) and re-inserted the memory card. When it was all back together, I booted it up again and ran CPUID. Now it was registering 8GB. But the graphic score was lower than before when I ran the Windows Experience Index. I ran another diagnostic and did my exercises while it scanned the laptop. It needed to reboot in order to give me the results. While it was off, I vacuumed the fan slots. Said results being that it found nothing wrong. So, after all that, I turned to my e-mail and put on an audio. Then the phone rang and it was my father asking about estate stuff which I did not know the answer to. After talking to him, I juiced cucumbers, carrots and sprouts. I watered the squash and put check in the mail. I made breakfast and ate it, then laid in sun with the laptop playing. It was in the shadow of a chair so it would not get hot. I mowed, and showered, scrubbing my feet really well. I drank lots of water. I put my computer on hibernate to keep the battery from discharging too fast. I drove to my reflexology appointment. I laid on the table for an hour while she kneeded my feet and lower legs. She also did some work on my hands because of the painful finger joint and wrist. Then she did something like Reiki. When I tried to get up, my back was stiff, so she did some energy on my back. Before I left, she gave me a cup of highly filtered water with minerals added. I came home, and finished the second part of breakfast. She had told me to drink a lot of water, so I drank a glass or two. I rinsed the defrosted beef heart, placed it in a pot of water and put it in the oven. I filled two water bottles then sat in my car wrapped in towels with Sudoku to sweat. Afterward I took a shower, then opened the coconut, drank the water and ate the flesh. I laid down for a short rest. Then I checked on my computer battery. The instructions said to discharge it to 2% and then charge it fully. I added a salted duck egg and some frozen onion soup to the heart. Kurt was on Skype, so I texted him. I took a break to mow some more before it got dark. Two neighbors, Pat and Don, came over to the fence to meet me. Then I mowed more, and came in to catch my computer before the battery ran down too much. I figured the heart was done, so I took it out of oven. It smelled good. I could just hear a voice from Hee Haw saying ”Hey Grandpa, What's for supper? Boiled beef heart with salted duck egg and leftover onion soup. Mmmm, Mmmm.” It tasted really good, too. The salted egg and pint of soup were just right to season it. I continued to skype with Kurt and we compared computer system ratings. Then I called William to wish him a happy birthday. Chris skyped me during the conversation. Then William hung up and I talked to Chris for awhile. I posted to my blog and went to bed.

*  This pic is from the Asian market yesterday  *

Two new places to shop

In the middle of the night I remembered that I had left the garage door open, intending to mow once more before dark. But that did not happen, so it never got shut. So I got up in the dark to close the garage door. Then next morning I awoke around 7. I checked e-mail and took out the recyclables. In my need to be efficient and do more than one thing at a time, I put them in the bin but forgot to take it out to the street. Well, there wasn't much this week anyway.

I exercised, and juiced one of my cucumbers and two carrots. I added two cucumber popsicles to it to make the usual amount. Then I cleaned up the juicer. I made up a weeks worth of supplements and started a list for reorder. I watered the squash, then made and ate breakfast. I thought I would be hungrier than I was. At 10:40 I drove to Ruth's Nutrition, a heath food and supplement store. Jennifer wanted me to meet her there at 11. She was so happy to show me the store and to introduce me to the owner. The owner showed us a McDonald's hamburger that she bought 4 years ago. See pic. She also told us that she fasts one day a week, but only for 24 hours (supper to supper). There was a lady there who does reflexology in a back room. Jennifer and I both made appointments. Mine is tomorrow.

Then I followed her car down the street to an Asian store. They had the usual things. What caught my attention was the live seafood and the boiled salt duck eggs. I bought a pkg of 4 eggs, and seaweed, and a young coconut. I was excited to see the coconuts and at a good price. Then we parted ways and went home. I checked e-mail, then laid in the sun for 20 minutes, then mowed some lawn. The bugs flew up as I mowed them down. I trimmed the bush by the mailbox. I was pulling weeds when the postman came by. He was delivering my laptop battery and memory card. I wanted to install them but I could hear a voice saying “no disassemble, no disassemble”. I finished the weeds, and uncovered two tomato plants which were choked with morning glory vines. I peeled and ate one of the duck eggs. It was so salty I could hardly choke it down. So I had to look it up and it is usually eaten with something else, like tomatoes or congee. It is hard to believe that the salt can get to the yolk with the shell still on. I also looked up bitter melon since I saw that at the Asian store. It is supposed to be good for weight loss among other things. I found some moldy food in the fridge and threw it out.

I took the beef heart out of the freezer to defrost. I listened to an audio and nearly fell asleep. I mowed again. I got a call from William. He wanted to see if I brought the drill home and had I used it yet. I trimmed my eyebrows, and heard the skype noise. I talked to Chris for awhile, then put some defrosted onion soup in the toaster oven. I skype-texted Kurt while watching videos on composting until the soup was ready. After I ate the soup, I tried to order a card for Chris, but couldn't get Javascript to run. So I ran some detection software to see if there was malware on my computer. Nope. I decided that would have to wait. I placed a Swansons order because the 15% off offer ends today. Then it was time to go to bed.

Fasting for a day

I woke up hearing my phone ringing. By the time I stumbled out there, the ringing had stopped. I checked and it was my dad, so I called him back. But he did not answer because he was leaving a message. I listened to the message and then called him back. He had needed some help in Notepad. After the call, I read some e-mail, exercised, drybrushed, and started the coffee detox. I looked so long and hard for the directions for the detox that it was afternoon 'till I finished the process. Then I laid in the sun for 20 minutes. It was brighter and warmer today than any day at the beach last week. Go figure. I had read about the benefits of fasting, but it wasn't something I was looking forward to. But since breakfast was going to be really late today anyway, I figured I had a head start on fasting and might as well go ahead so the morning won't be wasted. Then I took some niacin, and read e-mail until it kicked in. To get the sweating started, I mowed. The grass must be far worse than it looks because the mower had a hard time and I did not get far before I had to plug it back in, even with raising the deck. I got the mail, but there was nothing important. Then I parked my car in the sun and sat inside with my water bottle. Instead of Sudoku, I brought my tablet. I caught up on audios that were waiting and will be gone soon. I took a break to get more water. At the end, I drank some Himalayan salt water. I checked e-mail again, then took a shower. I laid down for a bit, then went downstairs to watch a movie. When I came up, I got chilly for some reason. I got in bed under the covers, but it wasn't enough, and I had stuff to do anyway. Wednesday nights is now praise band practice. But the leader hadn't sent any reminders (she never does), consequently I wasn't certain about tonight. My back hasn't been so happy today and I vacillated between going and not going. I put on my housecoat to warm up and checked e-mail. There was one on tapping, so I was going through it and I got skyped. MaryAnn called to see how I was doing. We talked for almost 2 hours, and during that time she cooked supper. But she hid it fairly well. I missed practice and hoped it was the best decision after all. I finally got warm, and changed into short and a top. I wrote a few notes for my blog, and then checked e-mail. I called Jennifer and she wants to meet me tomorrow at Ruth's. I pulled up a guided imagery meditation and sat quietly while it played. Then I got up to rub some magnesium oil on my back. I assembled the recyclables for tomorrow, posted to my blog, and went to bed.

*  This is the sweet potato from 2 1/2 weeks ago that had no sprouts.   It lived in a jar, but now only fits in the coffee pot.  *

There is no place like home

I woke up slowly, reaching full wakefulness at 7:30. I exercised and found what I thought was a tick. Cecily was on her computer so I asked her to look. She said it was just a pimple. I washed up then fired up my laptop to read e-mail. I taped closed a box with a drill in it. Finally I ate my last breakfast and packed a few last minute things. Al worked on my suitcase locks so they would hold better. I wondered what the point was since he gave me a strap to put around it that clicks together like a seatbelt. He loaded my luggage in the car and we read in the den until it was time to leave. Then he drove me to the airport and helped me carry in the suitcases and the box of drill. We stopped at a kiosk to print out the boarding passes. But it asked for numbers I did not have. It was an “Oh sh!!” moment. Then another passenger told me I could just swipe my credit card and it would know everything. Well, there was nothing on the screen about credit cards, but there was a cc reader, so I swiped it, and lo and behold, it registered my name and planes, and printed out the passes. Then we stood in line to check the big suitcase and the box. We walked to the start of security and then hugged goodbye. He left and I proceeded to the security guard who asked for my ID. I pulled my cards out of my purse and thumbed through them for my driver's license. But it was not there. Another “Oh sh!!” moment. However, an extensive search of my purse did reveal it. Then I placed all my items on the conveyor belt to be scanned. I was scanned, too, and then picked up my items and rolled them to the gate. I sat and waited, working a Sudoku puzzle. I did not think to stuff my purse into the little rolling suitcase until boarding was called. And then I did not have time. But no one stopped me for having 3 carry-ons. I reached my seat and the gentleman next to me lifted my case into the overhead bin. I put my laptop under the seat ahead and my purse by my feet. I continued my puzzle until we took off and the cloud cover fascinated me. I took several pictures. Cecily had given me an apple to eat, but the stewardess passed out snacks, and one choice was a banana. So I saved my apple for the next flight. When I got to the Atlanta airport, the sign board was low enough that I could read my next gate assignment: B27. Since I was on the C concourse, I rolled my 3 items down a very long hallway to the plane train. I was able to get on the next car. Then, wonder of wonders, I found myself standing next to Chris Rasmussen who is a friend from Augusta! We talked only briefly because the train reached the next concourse quickly. I headed toward my gate. When I had all but reached it, a man in a blue Delta shirt with American Express embroidered on it, stopped me. He wanted to sign me up to get a cc which will give me the chance to earn 50,000 miles if I charge $1000 in 3 months. I asked a million questions because I was skeptical, but it seemed doable as long as I canceled it within a year. 50,000 sky miles just might get me to Honduras. So I signed up. It took so long that when I got back from the bathroom, my plane was boarding. But I made it with no problem. The man I sat next to was in a talkative mood, so the flight went quickly and I did not eat the apple after all. When we landed, I went directly to baggage claim. I called Mary to tell her I was here and she headed over from the Madison library. I walked over to the carousel and watch baggage shoot out. My suitcase came out locked but with the strap hanging loose and unfastened. Then the box popped out. My seatmate grabbed our suitcases as they were next to each other. He also grabbed the box for me. Then we said good bye. He went with his niece and I rolled my baggage out to the curb. I did not have long to wait. Mary picked me up and drove me home. I thanked her and went in through the garage. She left and I examined the yard. The grass was not so high as I had feared, but it was wet, which will be a real problem for my mower. The garden was good in spots (like the ones near the hose ends). I picked and ate a few grape tomatoes. I unpacked a little. I called Cecily to tell her I arrived safely. I opened the windows to air out the house. I called the Asian store to see if they had kimbap, then drove down there to get a package. I ate some on the way back. That and kimchi became supper. I took some pics of the yard, and found three cucumbers and a large tomato that wasn't quite ripe. I went through a large pile of mail and sorted it. Then I read e-mail until Chris skyped me. I showed him the interesting mail (bills). After we talked awhile, I hung up to finish e-mail and post to my blog.

*  these cloud formations made me wonder what kind of weather pattern created them.   *

Shopping and Packing

I got up at 7:30 after lying awake for awhile. I picked up the book and started reading where I left off. Cecily left the house to get her nails done. I took a break to exercise. Then I finished the book and took a shower. I made 2 breakfasts and ate one. I packed the remaining food (which wasn't much) into the smallest space possible. Then I ate some kimchi to try to finish that up since I can't take it on the plane. Cecily came home with rotisserie chicken (for supper). They had lunch. I read e-mail, and listened to two audios. Cecily convinced me to go fabric shopping with her. Suyapa called while we were driving to Jo-anns, and I promised to call her back when I got home to Alabama. Cecily and I selected fabrics to go with her curtains for making couch pillows. When we discussed design, she said “That's fine”, and then “But you could also... , and don't drive yourself crazy.” When we got home, we sat on the couch with the fabric pieces and continued discussing design ideas. Then she got up to do something, so I got up to rescue my whirring computer. I shook it until the fan stopped making that sound. Then I did the on-line check-in for my flights tomorrow. The church sent out an e-mail looking for people to make communion bread. I responded to it. I tried to listen to an interview, but it was loading so slowly that I had to stop it periodically to load more so it would not be choppy. Firefox stopped working, or at least became blind. Whatever site I wanted to go to, Firefox could not find it. I restarted it several times to no avail. So when the video interview was over, I ran a security check and then rebooted the computer. That fixed the problem. I listened to another audio, but something went wrong with the page and I lost the ability to pause or stop it. When Cecily called me for supper, I had to leave it running. We ate the herbed chicken, along with asparagus, tomatoes, salad, and sweet potato. I alone at some kimchi, too. I had just finished eating, when the phone rang. My dad called to wish me a good trip home and to say again how much he would like me to stay longer. After the call, I started packing my suitcase. Al and Cecily went to the grocery store for ice cream. I packed all my remaining breakfast items wrapped in clothing and zipped into a satchel. I learned from the flight over to pack my items grouped into plastic bags in case my suitcase falls open. Then they came back from the store and had their dessert. I got on my computer to await Chris on Skype and to check e-mail. We did skype for a bit when he got back to his quarters.  He wants me to contact him when I get back home tomorrow.  I told him I would add his name to the list of people who want to be contacted when I get home.  Then I read e-mail for awhile and posted to my blog.

Bye, bye beach

I called Marianne last night and she said she would meet me at the airport on Tuesday. I set my phone alarm to ring at 7. I set the phone by the bed and went to sleep. I woke up before 6:30, hearing people walking around upstairs. I did my exercises, drank water, and took a Vit C packet. I stripped the kingsize bed and the queen that I slept on. I scanned my e-mail and then realized it was after 7 but I never heard the alarm go off. I gave Al my suitcase to pack in the car. I took my prepared breakfast upstairs to get a spoon. I ate it while talking to those around. Cecily was busy sorting and packing kitchen items. When I finished breakfast I moved the dining chairs to the tomato room. Cindi vacuumed the hallway by the kitchen and the dining area. She helped me put the chairs back. The vacuum went down to the first floor. I helped Cecily in the kitchen by cleaning. Others carried stuff downstairs and out the door. Bryan and Cindi hugged everyone before they got on the road. Then we bid goodbye to Kelly and finally James and Becca and their kids. I meant to get a group picture but forgot. The house was quiet. Cecily went to her room to take a bath. I started organizing stripped sheets so they could be easily counted. I vacuumed the rest of the living room and the tomato room. Cecily stopped me when she was out and dressed. Al said there was a cleaning lady waiting in her car in the driveway. So we left and closed the door. Then we were on our way. We stopped at a barbeque restaurant that I can't remember the name of. Cecily used to eat there when she worked. I got barbeque without a bun, and beets and baked beans. Then we resumed our trip. When we got to their house, Al unlocked the door and opened the garage. We all carried stuff in until the car was empty. Then I selected a book to read from a shelf in the yellow bedroom. It was called “The Lost City of Z”. I read until supper time. Al took us to Logan's Steakhouse. I wasn't that hungry so I ordered a skewer of mushrooms and a baked sweet potato. Of course they had a bucket of roasted peanuts on the table and I ate more than I intended. Cecily and Al shared a meal but still brought food home. I continued reading. Cecily turned on the food channel. I did my best to ignore it. Then she fell asleep. I took my laptop to the computer room to check e-mail. Al was watching 60 minutes, so I texted Chris on skype until the program was over. Then the three of us had a conversation. Chris' office building is getting a solar power array. After hanging up with him, I responded to Kurt on skype. Then I wrote my blog and went to bed. 

*  this is the tomato room.  I call it that because of the color and because Cecily kept her tomatoes on a table in the corner.  *