Saturday

I woke up at 8:00!! I couldn't believe it. I did stay up after 10, I think. Most of the group was sitting around, laughing at Ray's jokes. He didn't come to bed until midnight. They were drinking bourbon--Maker's Mark. I lay on the couch and finished a really bad mystery novel--Stephanie Plum between the numbers--until I was dozing more than I was reading. I already heard all Ray's jokes multiple times, but I enjoyed the ambience.

Yesterday I didn't get up until almost 7, went to work in the morning. After the first couple of hours, I didn't have that much to do. I will talk to Alison about taking on more, once I get back from my travels and get caught up. Ray picked me up, and we went to get some lunch from Ike and Jane's (where Black Forest Bakery used to be). It's a nice little place and had a steady stream of business. They have lots of great looking cupcakes, as well as donuts, but I resisted. We called Becky and got a sandwich for her, too. She wanted a large iced tea, but hadn't tasted theirs yet (and it wasn't large enough), so we stopped at Wendy's and got one for her. I had to get a Coke float while I was there. When we got to the Silvers', they were not quite ready (WAINS?). We (mostly Ray) moved our things from our car to theirs. Ray drove most of the way down. Becky and I sat in back and Kent rode shotgun. It is a very comfortable car, although Becky had meant to bring a movie and forgot and I told her not to go back in. We had an amazing amount of stuff for 2 days. We brought cucumbers and tomatoes from the garden, as well as a loaf of Luna bread we got at Ike & Jane's, and the pancake fixings.

We got to Beaufort about 5:15. I had contacted the Chamber of Commerce there to find out where I could access the internet. My last class and a chance to see what the other groups had done was at 5:00 (on Friday!). The Common Ground Coffeeshop was great, right on the water and very funky. I had a raspberry-peach smoothie (have to be a customer) and logged on with no problem. They were in the middle of one of the group presentations. After it was done, they had another group presentation. There were only 9 of us "in" the class. Becky, Kent, and Ray were supposed to leave me there and Ron and Janna were supposed to pick me up. They were going to be another hour, and they still had to buy groceries. Meanwhile, Becky had been at the grocery store while I was in class, so I just had them come back and get me, instead of waiting around for Janna.

We got to Deb and John's about 7, put away groceries, had some wine and cheese and snacks. Then we went for a long walk on the beach with the three dogs: Barney, Joe and Beamer. Ray and I went in the water a good bit. It was really warm, a little windy, but didn't feel cold when you got out. When we got back to the house, Ron and Janna were sitting on the porch. They had put the groceries away. We went to work making supper. John had marinated some grouper (caught locally that morning and bought that afternoon from the Gay Fish Company) with herbs and cooked it on the grill. We had some rice, Becky had bought green beans, which Janna steamed (not long enough imho) and then mixed with garlic cooked in olive oil. We also had cucumbers, tomatoes, basil, oil and vinegar. It was great. Ray asked for seconds on the fish, but it was all gone. John said he was not a Jewish mother, so he made enough and served it all. Some people had peaches and ice cream with basil, but I resisted. I had ice cream earlier in the day. I did have some of Ray's though; it was really good. Then they started with the drinking and jokes.

The day before (Thursday) was of course the day to finish my project. I worked, then I met Sara Ruth at the library. Then I came home. I worked on putting the parts together, sending it to her now and then. We had to cut some to get it down to 12 pages, the maximum. Then there were a bunch of appendices, charts with the data, etc. Meanwhile, she worked on the power point presentation and sent it to me for comments. I recorded the narration and she timed the slides so it fit. And then submitted it. I went to bed before 1, but it was done!

Ray made spaghetti with tomato sauce for supper.