The Captain says we've had 3 1/2 inches of rain in the last four days. It has been raining in the night since he said that yesterday. I still think it's a lark and love the sound of the rain on the roof. I like to look out the many windows and see it coming down on the wet ground. There are consequences, however. Yesterday we took some laundry to Janna's to use her dryer. The Captain is a little stir-crazy from being unable to go out and work in the garden. Vanessa, the ever-positive, has started to say out loud that she would like it to stop for a while. The outside temperature is not as cool as I would like (70 this morning) and it's much too humid to open the windows. With four people here and cooking, it gets warm enough for the air conditioning to come on most days.

I went to the choir retreat yesterday, a very enjoyable experience featuring time to talk with friends and relaxation exercises, as well as an introduction to some of the music we will be singing in December, including one taize piece in Spanish! It was at the Healing Arts Center, the building where UUFA used to be.

Then I drove to the Bread Basket in Colbert, where I met Mitzi and her son Devin, who are hosting Art, an exchange student from Thailand, this year. They said all is going well, although Mitzi has had a health problem this week: vertigo so bad she fell and may have broken a rib. She is taking medication for the vertigo now. I am the AFS liaison for Art and so he came to spend 24 hours with us in Athens. Ray was home doing some cleaning up so he would have a place to sleep. When Art and I got there, we played a game of Tortoise and Hare. I couldn't find Carcassone--oh no! Is it possible I took it somewhere and forgot to bring it home? Art won. Mitzi said he was doing very well in school, not surprisingly, but I am glad to hear it. Then he helped us make supper.

We took the laundry to Janna's and put it in her dryer and went on to the Town & Gown, where we saw Company. Ray and I were the concession and box office volunteers. We of course saw lots of people we knew. Some people referred to the murders and said they were glad the theatre was still going on. Of course it is! I admit I dozed some during the second act. I have such high standards. The dancing and some of the singing was quite good, but there wasn't that much of a plot, it seemed to me. Plus, if I am sitting in a dark theater, after 9 at night, I often relax enough to close my eyes...Amy Coenen, who is younger than Amelia, played Amy. You may not know the show, but you've probably heard the song, featuring a lot of really fast lyrics, including..."thank you all for coming...and I'm not getting married today." She was very talented and I know I shouldn't be surprised, all grown up. Why shouldn't she be, if Amelia is? According to the notes, she went to Princeton and is back in town. Her parents were in the audience. I always enjoy seeing them. Miss Dowd was Laura and we spoke briefly to her afterward. So we did our volulnteerism and got our culture at the same time, not to mention introducing another exchange student to Town & Gown. Sometimes I really like Athens.