Back to Work

Well, gosh, I either have a new cold or the last one came back with a vengeance. I started getting stuffy and sniffly yesterday afternoon. It wasn't enough to keep me from sleeping, although I woke up several times. Ray is not in the bed, so I think he is asleep somewher else to avoid my noisy breathing.

We all went to the UUFA yesterday for the service, led by Sarah Dan Jones! She is a choir director and talented service leader. We all had a good time. My father even got up and danced--amd tried to get my mother to join him! I was already up, at the first invitation, but that is not for Ray.

Read some, did some quilting, swept the leaves off the porch, worked on re-organizing my clothes for winter.

And now, to work.

Yesterday started badly, with a call from the Shelter. The 8:00 am person did not show up for her shift, so I rushed off and spent a couple hours there. Maybe I'll pay myself overtime...she eventually called and showed up; had it down wrong on her calendar. I think that's why I'm so grumpy. I had a plan for the day...and that wasn't part of it. On the other hand, I didn't have any out-of-town guests or big plans that I had to give up. And I will get paid. And I do have a job.

I had picked out a couple recipes for dinner that needed to be made ahead. But Ray was up when I got home and we went out for a walk. It was such a beautiful sunny cool day, I worked outside a little too. My Dad had to cut down a tree; he couldn't wait, so Ray and my Mom helped with that. There were some chain saw problems too (ooo-christmas idea--heavy work gloves for Ray for moving wood, books about managing your wood for burning, product to help stack it?). I went in and started the dessert, which had to chill for several hours. It was a complicated recipe, involving lots of pans. It was supposed to be "marble", meaning two different flavors mixed separately and swirled together, so twice as much work. It was very good, as it should be, with eggs and heavy cream, but I'm not sure it was important to have the caramel and the chocolate--maybe I'll make just one half next time. Then we all had a late lunch and Ray got ready to go do the sound for a wedding at the Fellowship. My Mom and I had planned to drop him off and do a little shopping, but I was still working on the ragout when he left. It had to be ready because it had to cook for 2 hours. It was delicious I must say. Beef chunks cooked with lots of onions for a long time.

Worked a little on my sewing while it was cooking. Sewing is never as relaxing to me as cooking or knitting. Trying to quilt this huge window covering is incredibly frustrating. I am reminded of when I tried to sew the stripes down the side of Molli's TKD pants. How do you keep the thing straight?

Anyway, I was awake by 4:30 this morning. But what can I expect when I fall asleep at 8:30?

A pleasant day off

Ray and I took a walk--pretty cold and windy, but sunny and nice. Then we took Vanessa to exercise class and went to the grocery store. We were back in plenty of time to pick her up. I did a little sewing in the afternoon and a little work clearing the grass from around the knockout roses. Played cards, made supper, went to the movies. Not very exciting.

We sure had a great time last night. Ray and I probably would have stayed a lot longer, but Vanessa was more than ready to come home. She says some peculiar things sometimes. When we got in the car, she said, "I wasn't sure if it was going to get better or deteriorate." I certainly understand that she was tired--it was 11:30 when we got home! We started playing Fictionary (also known in our house as Dictionary), where you make up definitions for words--booger dance, gobstick, lampong--about ten, after dinner about 8 followed after a break by pie. The Captain said it was the worst pie crust he'd ever eaten. I think that is an exaggeration, but I like our pies better. Deb V. always makes the pies. Laughing and playing with friendly, smart people--that's about as good as it gets. John O. had to get someone to read one of the definitions for him, he was laughing too hard to get it out. Francesca was ringmaster, and there were lots of clowns.

I made rolls and whole wheat bread, Vanessa and Ray made the sweet potatoes--all home grown. We have one whole pan left. There was turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, gravy, acorn squash (with maple syrup and butter and rosemary), two kinds of cranberry relish (plus canned for the V. boys). Artichoke-spinach casserole, quinoa with green beans and dried cranberries, stuffing. I'm sure there was more. Deb V. also made wheat bread, with walnuts and raisins, yum. She has a bread maker. We talked a good bit with Michael and Alice, who have recently moved to DC. I want to be more like her, understated and calm, but right. Tom and Deb V. sat at our table too. Captain and Vanessa sat with Bertha--and Francesca and the V. boys. Harry is going to be playing Romeo in UGA's Romeo and Juliet in February. We all want to see that. One of the fun things is we will talk all day about who said what and what we liked and didn't. Both Molli and Amelia called to wish us all Happy Thanksgiving. My phone died while I was talking to A., so M. called Janna's house--she knew where to find us!

Other than baking yesterday, I watched the entire Macy's parade. This is the first time we've had DVR, so I could pause it while cooking and then fast forward through the commercials--or any boring parts. I did a little vacuuming and took a bath. While I was in the tub, Janna called to say, "don't come at 4, don't come before 5." So we played cards until 5 and we got there about 5:30--we were still the first ones and there was a lot more last-minute preparation before we could eat. Tom V. was allowed in the L to carve the ham and turkeys. Alice (who is a nutritionist) was occasionally allowed to consult. And Janna began to get panicky at one point--how do we make this happen every year?? gravy, mashed potatoes, everything ready at once. There were 22 people, I think.

Sigh of contentment, followed by wistful thoughts of how she now has her children to do things with for the next few days, while I do not.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I am thankful for so much today. A job. Health--mine and others'. Friends and family who love me and take care of me and each other. My nice safe home. And even my government, although it is hard not to add "but" or "except". The technology that allows me to be in touch with my far-flung children. Food...and much much more.

We had a little Thanksgiving miracle yesterday. On Tuesday night, when our 6th family had just moved in and the weather was turning cooler, we realized we didn't have enough blankets to keep everyone warm. And it was going to be even colder last night. As you can imagine, I am not one to advocate just turning up the heat. We were going to go out and buy lots of blankets, but instead we sent out an email and asked if people had blankets (or wanted to buy blankets) to bring them by. and they did...a big pile of them in my office, brought by workers and families, a steady parade all afternoon. Sniff! it just made me tear up. Some believe in the power of prayer...I will believe in the power of email. I better be careful how I use it.

Also, we have started getting unsolicited end-of-the-year checks in the mail. Awesome! Sam at HED responded positively to my grant proposals. Now I have to write 3 major grant proposals by Dec. 11, without much help. And the fundraiser is next Thursday--I'll have to miss Arabic again. No interns this week; it was kind of nice. A good thing since they will be gone most of December. Although we need to find out how to update the website, because Taylor did not do it before he left, even though I thought he said he would. It looks like none of the Night Staff is willing to work Christmas Eve or New Year's Eve. I might have to put in some time myself. Sigh. I wouldn't mind much if Molli wasn't going to be home. I don't suppose anyone from the Board will step up!

Ray took me in and kept the car and went to his office (even though he was not supposed to, since he is furloughed). He got a lot done, but looked awful when he came to get me. He went to bed when we got home and I haven't talked to him since. It is the same old stuffy head and exhaustion, I think. He could be getting another cold, but I think it's just his allergies. I wish there were something to do about it. Time to build a new house and sell this one??

We had shrimp for supper. We often have it with pasta or rice, but we had rice the night before and pasta before that. So I was looking for some way to cook and eat it with potatoes. I finally found a recipe for Low Country Boil, which uses shrimp and potatoes and sausage, which we had in the freezer from my parents' trip to Massachusetts--linguica. My Mom and I put it together in about half an hour. We ended up being ready to eat before 6. I tried to wake Ray, but he grunted a no when I asked him. My Dad came out and sat down, took one bite and said he couldn't eat it. He had apparently had indigestion all day and chicken soup for lunch. I didn't know or I would have gone with the pasta and shrimp with cream sauce. I was annoyed, he felt bad. Mom and I ate shrimp and sausage and potatoes. Sigh.

We watched some TV and I fell asleep--before my Mom! I was in bed by 9, so not surprisingly I was awake before 5. I am looking forward to my day off--baking rolls and bread for dinner at Janna's. Watching the parade on TV. Maybe working some outside when it warms up this afternoon. Maybe cleaning some inside. Maybe playing cards. Trying to be upbeat and not miss my kids too much. You see, Casey, the trouble with having kids...is then you miss them when they're gone.

Falling asleep early every night finally caught up to me. I woke up at 4 and was not sleepy. Ray was breathing loudly right next to me, but I don't think that's what kept me awake. I know my snoring has bothered him many times.

The day before Thanksgiving and lots of people are not going to work today--kids are traveling home from college. Of course, not in Mexico or Switzerland, where my daughters are. I don't really mind working today, no guests at our house. We will be joining Janna for dinner on Thursday and need to bring rolls and sweet potatoes, but we don't have to be there until 4 and I am not working tomorrow.

I still have a stuffy nose. It's very warm in here again from Ray building up the fire at bedtime.

Yesterday we had a staff meeting. We have started getting requests for tickets for the Harvest fundraiser and I have not had any direction from the board about selling them. I finally got Mary G. to bring me some raffle tickets. Both admission and raffle can be bought online. I will be notified by Paypal and need to keep track so we know who to admit. They can also be bought at the door. There is no such thing as sold out. She also wanted access to my Quickbooks to make sure the categories were there for keeping the money separate--raffle, admission, sponsorship. It was. She reminded me of a few things I knew--it's preferable to write checks directly to vendors, rather than reimbursing for purchases. I asked her about a mysterious Quickbooks problem I was having (some money to be deposited that is negative). She finally printed it out and took it to her office to study.

I made a bank deposit and picked Ray up about 2. We came home and had a walk. It was overcast and cool, but pretty nice. We pretended to look for possible Christmas trees. There are not very many evergreens. They are cedars (junipers) that do not have the traditional triangle shape, and pines, that have fewer branches than is usual for a Christmas tree. Supposedly, my grandmother was known to wire on extra branches to get the desired look. I think a neighbor took 3 small pine trees and lashed them together to get a nice full tree. We may have to resort to one of these methods.

Vanessa had driven herself to the dentist while the Captain was taking a bath. He had been out digging up the garden and bringing firewood to the house, so was really tired. We had an early drink and snack that ran into an early supper, so I could go to Arabic at 6.

We started writing sentences. The verb comes first. If a noun is the subject, it has an apostrophe over it, which changes the sound. It it is an object, it has a dash under it, which changes the sound. Although I like the challenge of learning the language (and thinking about how I would teach differently), I love when Zuhair tells us about his life. In this case, he was worrying about Thanksgiving dinner. He said last year his wife was watching the cooking channel and added a bunch of spices to the turkey. He didn't like it at all, but had to pretend it was delicious. Meanwhile, apparently neither his wife nor his daughter will eat leftovers, but he hates to throw food away. So he was stuck eating this turkey for about 10 days. Another student, Scott, talked about the schnitzel he was having (pork chops with mushroom gravy--sounded delicious). He said he was in the first Gulf War and for some reason the Army served turkey for about 6 months. He says he can't eat it any more.

Home again, Ray washed and cut up strawberries for us to have with vanilla ice cream and TV. Yup, I fell asleep on the couch before 10.

I woke up around 4:30, but went back to sleep. Now it's 6:15...Head still a little stuffy and achy...nice and warm inside due to Ray building up the fire before we went to bed.

Yesterday, I woke him up and he said no, he would come in later. There are no classes at UGA today, so he may revert to his "natural" schedule, which is staying up late and sleeping late. In fact, he had Captain and Vanessa bring him in to work at 11.

Monday morning there is always a lot going on. Extra mail from Saturday. Job TREC people in the office. Today, Jaron came in early and I still have no official communication from Americorps about his position. He told me that they have funding problems in Atlanta and the guy I was talking to no longer works there. I processed the automatic deposits. People who pledge to pay something every month to the shelter authorize us to take it out of their account. So I order a sort of booklet of paper checks that I have to tear out every month, stamp the back and prepare a deposit slip. I'm not complaining. We get almost $700 a month that way. But if you are an organized person, you can just write one check for the year (or the quarter) and save someone from having to do that. That assumes the organization can deal with the cash flow issues. I met with Deb from the Nancy Travis House board about putting in grant proposals for them and talked some about the future. I met Janna and Becky for lunch, so that was a good break. I talked again to crazy people from the leasing company. I asked to speak to their superior and they said no. I called the local dealer and he said he had handled it and it should be stopping any day now. I hope so. Meanwhile I need to learn how to not let it get to me. Ha!

I left at 3, picked Ray up and came home. Did some more work on the insulated shade. there is an inner fabric, picked for beauty, a lining with rings attached (now) and a layer of batting for insulation and a layer of plastic for vapor barrier. It is a pain to assemble. For starters, the fabric has to be cut and seamed, because it is not as wide as the double window I am covering. Then you have to attach the rings to the lining. Then I cut the plastic and batting. Yesterday I pinned them all together, hopefully in the right order and right direction, on two sides. I will sew those and then check it, sew the third side, then turn it right side out and sew the bottom. Then Ray will thread the string through the holes and hang it up for me (staple it to the top of the window). They don't get washed or cleaned. I guess eventually we'll take them down and throw them away and make new ones--oh no! Looking at the walls, there are places that need to be repainted--it has been more than 5 years since we moved in. I am dreading that.

We ate early--Ray made supper--and had time to play another game of cards before we watched our 3 favorite TV shows. I didn't make it through BBT (Big Bang Theory), my current favorite. But I have to say, the 2 and a half men episode had me guffawing.

It was rainy and cold all day yesterday. We started a fire in the morning and again in the evening and we were very comfortable. High was about 48. Ray and I walked out to get the paper with umbrellas--it wasn't raining hard then. I made waffles and we video chatted with Barbara and Ray's Mom, mostly about Christmas presents. We went to church and I sang. There was a UU minister there from Uganda who taught us a song in Swahili and Lugata (?) and drummed with our drum circle. He runs a school, New Life (?). I think he said there are 4000 children, 80% orphaned due to AIDS. Most don't have shoes until they are 10. I was very concerned and gave him $5. After, I thought, maybe they don't really need shoes? Ray MacNair spoke about liberation theology and they gave out the Guest at Your Table boxes.

Ray and I ate Fourth Sunday lunch. Then we met Captain and Vanessa at the bookstore (Barnes & Noble). There was a fund-raiser for Clarke Central--they got some portion of the books you bought--and Vanessa has a membership this year that gives her 10% off (me too!) So I bought some Christmas presents for people. Still need a few more ideas, but feeling better about being prepared than I usually do. My cold was much better, especially my energy level, but I worried a little about being out in the hard rain in the cold. V and I drove to Beechwood, where we went into TJ Maxx and looked at purses. I wished I had sprung for the $70 at Macy's--my red quilted purse is beginning to embarrass me. I have bunches of great purses, but I want one large enough to throw a sandwich and paperback into, yet still organized enough to find stuff and not too heavy. We didn't buy anything there and had to walk a ways in the rain back to our car--very few empty parking spaces, maybe a good day to go to the movies? The movie theater is next to TJ Maxx. We drove up to Talbot's and went in. Good sales there. Janna got there soon after, driving herself in the rain. She was just going to get some stockings, but found a gorgeous fuscia wool jacket. It looked great on her and she had to buy it. I won't tell you how much it cost, but I didn't try it on because of the price. She also got gray pants and a long-sleeved top. I did, however, buy a beautiful red sweater. It doesn't even button, but it looked and felt so nice I got it anyway. Especially in the cold rain--I kept it on the rest of the day. And a pair of dark brown pants and one item for Christmas. We went down to Coldwater Creek and nothing there looked that good, although it was cheaper. Vanessa tried on a pair of dark green velour pants, but they were too long and not particularly becoming. She tried on a couple things at Talbot's too, but didn't get anything. Janna, on the other hand, bought several tops and a gray shawl to go with her new pants. Then we went on home. Captain made turkey soup (with Vanessa's help) and we had the last of the homemade bread from the freezer. I'll have to make that recipe again. Everybody likes it and it even has a little whole wheat in it. Instead of watching TV after supper, we played Oh Hell. It was a good time, we were all in good spirits. The Captain twice said how much he liked this (us playing cards). He and I were tied at the end of the game! Vanessa didn't do very well and he made a couple remarks about her paying attention--was she tired, did she not feel well? She got annoyed and told him she didn''t like to be treated like an idiot.

I fell asleep watching MASH. And didn't get up until 6:15.

I am feeling better this morning, at least happier. I was in bed at 9 and woke up at 5, thanks to Robitussin DM. Ray has been having scotch at bedtime and that seems to work well for him. I think it is raining out, but it is too dark to be sure.

I did not leave the house at all yesterday--not even onto the porch! But it was a beautiful sunny day and warm in our house. We had a fire in the woodstove in the morning, but by the time we had the oven on for an hour, it was too hot!

I honestly don't know what I did all day--sudoku, knitting, cutting out the pieces for the shade in my parents' room...I did work on dinner. And I had a long chat with Amelia in Zurich, via Skype--yay! Ray and I talked about what to buy for whom for Christmas. And Bonney and Polly called me and we had a conference call. You can do that for free on your cell phone. I even put it on speaker phone and knitted while we chatted. It was cozy. By the time Ray and I started watching TV, I fell asleep during the first show.

If you haven't yet, you might enjoy the pictures of baby Ray on Casey's blog (link below). He seems like an especially beautiful baby to me and I would stare at him all day if I were there.

Yesterday was service day at Athens Academy. Eight students and a teacher spent four hours cleaning windows, organizing closets and doing a lot of good work. I did ask them to turn off the music, since Amanda was on the phone, and the alarm went off from cleaning the windows of course. Then I went to lunch at the country club where the Academy had a fashion show, raising $7000 and having a lot of fun. There was not a soul I knew there, but I enjoyed watching the kids. The food was good, but typical ladies' lunch: scoop of salad and a croissant. Chocolate covered strawberry and a cookie for dessert. Glad I didn't have to pay $25 for it. I wore my black suit and spoke briefly.

Then I came home, sat in the sun, read and nursed my cold. Woke up before 4 this morning with dry cough. I usually only take one cold pill unless things are really bad, so I took another one then, after one when I went to bed.

Yup, I'm really sick. I guess I am grateful I managed to not get sick the last few times. And it's only a cold. But I hate when my brain doesn't work and I can't do things. Fortunately, I don't have anything going on this weekend and I can look forward to doing nothing. I had hoped to do some Christmas shopping, but that is a want not a need.

Yesterday 2000 postcards were there and needed to be labeled and mailed. I had one volunteer show up pretty early in the day. Taylor helped, in fact, I put him in charge, more or less. He did keep his iPod (or whatever it is) plugged into his ear...The biggest help came from my parents, although I was worried when they were about an hour late. They got lost... The three of us went to lunch and were finished by 2 ish. Another volunteer showed up just about then. Taylor took them to the post office, but he had to come back to get a check. Since it was over $200, it needed two signatures. Kerri had gone home, since she hadn't slept or eaten since turning in her comps that morning. Fortunately, a board member who works up the street ran over and signed it. The Captain took Vanessa home and then he and I were planning to attend a community garden meeting. Well, I was about 20 minutes late and he was nowhere to be found. Turned out, he had come and gone. Parking was a few blocks away and he decided just to go home. Too bad, I probably wouldn't have gone if I had known he wasn't going to be there. Lots of good things happening, but I came on home. I even called and told Zuhair I wasn't coming to Arabic class.

I have a cold. I feel like germs are just hovering all the time, waiting for a chance to make me sick, and when I am stressed, they have an opening. I mean the kind of stressful incident where your hands are shaking and you feel sick because you're so upset. You know about my earlier week. Well, one more thing happened yesterday. A work-related friend wanted to bring a candidate for Executive Director to the shelter and give her a tour. I said I didn't think it was appropriate. He said a board member had told him it was all right. I said, "if she calls me and tells me to let her in, I will." He said it is a public facility, anyone can come in. I said no, we don't let people in, it is a confidentiality issue." He said he would call the board member, but he was not happy about this. His manner was very high-handed. I quickly emailed 3 board members and told them the situation. One called immediately and was sympathetic. The president sent an email and said I needed to cooperate because we wanted to preserve a good working relationship with him. Then he called back and asked again, so I said yes. I hid in the director's office and let the interns answer the door and let him show her around. I sure hope they don't pick her. I will probably have to find another job in that case.

The president came by later and picked up the applications and signed a reimbursement request. She was appreciative. There was a board meeting last night but I said I could not attend because of choir.

Kerri was home yesterday working on her comps. I was thinking about her most of the day. The residents were pretty quiet until 3 when kids came home from school and were very loud. I mentioned it to one Mom and she said, I didn't know you were here. I thought it was okay since it was 3 o'clock. I said, "it's okay for you to be here, but it is still an office, whether I'm here or not, just try to keep it down a little."

Molli had asked me to wake her. She walked out to get the paper with me and stayed up while I ate breakfast. Then she went back to bed. Ray slept in a little. He and Molli took a long walk, then she took a bath in the big tub and loved it. All four of them met me for lunch at the National. Then I drove her to the shuttle, which she took to the Atlanta airport. She did not want to fly on the little plane, even though now you can go through security in Athens and go right to the terminal at Hartsfield.

I went back to the office for less than an hour. When it started getting noisy, I left the interns in charge and went home. I have managed to schedule two different people for lunch tomorrow. Plus I forgot to pay the taxes on Friday. I paid them yesterday, but will probably have to pay a late fee. It's partly from having 2 different computers I go back and forth between and just having a lot going on.

I asked my parents to make us the hot beverage from the Twin Yolks blog (below left) and we all sat there sipping it as it got dark out. The Captain and I talked about what to plant in the garden next year and maybe getting chickens. I started reading The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind. It's really interesting. We didn't really have dinner, but The Captain cut me some turkey and I made a nice turkey sandwich--the taste of Thanksgiving. After the drinks were gone, we moved into the TV room. I didn't even knit much and was in bed by 9ish.

Well, I guess I need to report on days that are not so good, as well as good days. Yesterday was a bad day in some ways, even though I love having Molli here. At work, I had to continue printing out, photocopying and matching up resumes, cover letters and answers to questions. Although applicants were told to include their name on their answers, 7 did not. The board president asked me to try to match them up. After working at it all morning, I did find six of them. The seventh is a mystery to me. Another one of the Job TREC interns, Cara, helped me with the copying and sorting. Supposedly Beth, the board president, came and got them last night. I give them joy of reading them and hope it results in someone wonderful that I can work with and learn from as the shelter continues to meet needs.

I have had ongoing problems with a rental company. Several months ago, we started getting automated calls from "Leasing Services." I had no idea who they were. The message gave a number to call back, but when you call, they ask for your account number before you can talk to anyone. If you go to the referenced website, QDS, you also need to type in an account number. I never heard of QDS either. It was very frustrating to get these calls, but we couldn't do anything about it. Eventually, I would get a call from a person now and then. The first few times, I politely explained that I did not have an account with them and did not owe them money. I started receiving bills from CTI, apparently the same company. I explained to at least one person that we paid Marlin Leasing for our copy machine and did not owe them money. She said we had been paying them up until a few months ago and gave me a check number. This was a five-digit number and our checks are only 4 digits. I told her it was not my check. We were both baffled. The next few times someone called and started to tell me the account was overdue, I referred them to the notes and hung up. Yesterday morning a man named Craig called. He was very insistent and asked to send me the signed contract. I never heard of the person who signed it. I tried to explain the situation to him--he asked for my boss. I hung up on him 20 times. I told him he was harassing me and I would consult with a lawyer. He wanted Beth's phone number. He emailed me the contract. I got his name and number and called the place we bought the machine, Athena Business Systems. John had told me several times that he would take care of it, so I gave him Craig's number. Meanwhile Craig kept calling back. I told him he needed to hang up so John could reach him. Unfortunately, it upset me very much to the point that I was shaking and felt sick.

Meanwhile, a good friend called and told me more about Aliyah's death. It is truly astonishing. Apparently, she was watching a movie on TV that involved people flying. She went up on the roof of her building, piled up some chairs, climbed on them and fell or jumped. She did not commit suicide in the usual meaning of the word, which is in some ways a relief, but had some sort of mental breakdown leading her to think she could fly...I don't know how they even know this much. It is horrible to imagine that any of us could have a brain malfunction of this consequence and I can't think of a way it could have been prevented. No one should ever be alone for any length of time? Don't watch fantastic movies? No one seems to think drugs were involved. I am afraid I cannot think about it any more and will have to deal with this one by ignoring it for a while. It is too sad.

Molli and I did some Christmas shopping. We went to Rolling Pin, but only bought one thing--a 50 cent orange peeler that she had wanted. We stopped at Bulldog Sporting Goods and bought a few Georgia t-shirts that may go to some nephews. Molli tried on some good running shoes but didn't want to spend $50--they were on sale. We went to the Half-Moon Outfitters and looked at the funny shoes that are supposed to be like going barefoot. They are $80, so too much for a lark. We went to an upscale consignment shop and bought something for someone who reads this blog, so I won't say more about that. We went to Homeplace, where we used to always buy toys and gifts. Molli and I went right back to the toy section, although we had no intentions of buying anything. We picked out 4 games for Nate (and others), but managed to put two back. One was a game involving putting on a pig nose and trying to get truffles out of the box top. It cracked us up in the store. Then we bought an advent calendar to give to Vanessa. And Molli had to have a peppermint for old times' sake. Sarah, the daughter of the owners, was there. She is married now and has moved back to Athens with her husband, a student at UGA. Her major was sociology and for now she is working at Homeplace and looking for another job.

We picked up Ray and came home. We called Gerald so Molli could talk to him. He was attending a celebration and when asked what they were celebrating, he said nothing. It was about 10 o'clock there and very noisy.

We had an early supper and I went to ARabic class. Every time, it seems, he introduces something new. If I were studying for hours in between classes, I could probably get a lot out of it. The word for "the" in Arabic is Al. You have probably heard words that start "Al..." It becomes part of the noun and is attached to the beginning of the word. Depending on the first letter of the noun, it is pronounced "al" or "a", plus a doubling of the first letter. Did you ever have anyone teach you to play a card game called Teg War? It is an elaborate joke, because they make up the rules as you are playing... no, twos can only go on black threes..." That is what this is like. It feels like on Tuesday when it is cloudy, one rule applies... It is very hard. I don't know all the sounds and appearances of all the letters yet and can say very few words. It seems incredible that anyone could ever learn to speak this language, but thousands of children are doing it right this minute.

I don't know how late Molli and Ray stayed up. I fell asleep and went to bed about 10:30. She did seem to enjoy Big Bang Theory and the joys of the DVR. She may have stayed up watching back to back Third rock episodes. I woke up at 4:30 from a dream where I was convinced I should apply to the Public Interest department (a sort of Poli Sci branch). I don't think they have that at UGA and I think I talked to someone in Public Policy and it would be a 7-year program and they only take 10 people. Something like that. At first I thought I heard a kitten mewing, but it was Ray's breathing. His asthma has not been bad for a long time, but it sounded bad then. Then I remembered my conversation with Craig and got all worked up again. Not to mention Molli is leaving today.

One bright spot. Chieko and Casey had their baby! Congratulations and love to all. I wonder if Barbara got any sleep waiting to hear. Cheiko's mother is with them now and Barbara will go in December.

Early Thanksgiving

Molli's home! Yay! She arrived in Atlanta yesterday around 10 am, after her usual adventures bringing samples to Baltimore for her company. It is always a process, flying from Veracruz to a border town in Mexico, where an agent shepherds them across the border. This time, her first flight was delayed for a few hours and her luggage did not make it to the border in time to go through customs on Saturday, before they closed at 2. So the next day, she flew to Baltimore at 4 in the afternoon (the first available flight), delivered them and stayed overnight there. Then flew Monday morning--what a weekend! but the company is allowing her to stay here until Wednesday evening and we are all very happy!

Ray went to pick her up and they came to my office and we went to lunch at Last Resort, Captain and Vanessa coming to join us (in the truck). We had a lovely time. Ray went to a meeting at work. Vanessa went home to cook, and Molli and I followed after she went by the bank. Vanessa made the pumpkin pie, then we made the stuffing and put the turkey in. Of course, we were not very hungry after our lunch, but that was okay; Molli wanted Thanksgiving dinner (they don't celebrate it in Mexico). It looked like it might be 8 or 9 before we ate. The turkey was 11 pounds. I had started the squash the day before. Molli scrubbed the sweet potatoes (from our garden) and peeled the potatoes. We invited Janna and Ray brought her with him when he came. We cooked some green beans from the freezer (that we grew) and opened a can of cranberry jelly. It was before 8 when we sat down.

Molli's friend Adam arrived about 8:30 and we had a very pleasant evening. After the Cotes du Rhone, we opened one of the bottles Amelia brought from Spain and it was delicious, very mellow. It was a pleasure to have Adam here speaking about his research. My father especially enjoyed him; he is a delightful young man and a great listener. I almost would say that you can tell the difference between a Middlebury grad and a UGA grad in his intelligence and ability to converse--although I am sure there are exceptions in both directions. I might increase my gift to Middlebury this year.

As far as work, it was insane. I am making two copies of all resumes, cover letters, and answers to the questionnaire we sent out. This is without any screening by anyone to determine if the candidates are even qualified. This is a horrible waste of paper, not to mention the time it takes. One of the interns helped me some and I will need to continue today. I also printed off mailing labels for the postcards (2000) and they are hoping to have those ready to mail tomorrow. Except that the post cards aren't printed yet. Brandy and I also met with Erin at Our Daily Bread about having the Job TREC program operate out of their location. We are going to try it Dec 1 and see how it goes.

We went to the forum and the service yesterday. Red Petrovs was talking about OneAthens, so I thought I should go. The service was about compassion. Ray and I went up during Joys and Concerns to tell about Aliyah. I couldn't talk at first. Many people were very sympathetic and supportive. That is when you appreciate having a church community.

I was still pretty sad most of the day. I worked outside a little--it was beautiful again, but I just didn't seem to have the energy. talked to molli on the phone. I had a nice bath and made supper. Fell asleep early, had a strange dream this morning. Ray and I were living in some sort of "facility." It was all very high tech and comfortable--there was an artificial ocean to swim in with some comfortable surface on the bottom.

Busy day today--looks beautiful right now.

Yesterday was the annual Nifty Gifty at UUFA. This is a fun morning where children can make presents. I helped kids put beads on pipe cleaners to make bracelets. A few of the kids (8-10 yr olds) made snakes and lizards instead, using a method I didn't know, threading the wire from two directions and pulling it tight. Sorry I don't have pictures. My children went many years. Ray helped too. It was very fun.

In the afternoon, I did a little outside work, clearing around the pecan trees. It was too hot! Then took a bath, made dinner and watched TV. Somewhere in there I spent some time moving things out of the Zen room (called that because of the bamboo floor), so Molli's friend Adam can sleep there when he comes to see her Monday night. Last time I cleared it for him, he changed his plans. She was going to be flying into Atlanta tonight, but problems with her luggage not getting on her plane backed up all her flights, and she had trouble finding new ones. So she flies in at 10 am tomorrow. Sigh. I did a small amount of work entering expenses in Quicken and clearing papers from around my computer.

Ray and I played R-ball yesterday and I am a little sore this morning. He won both games, but I was ahead 6-1 at one point. I am playing better than I was, naturally. I only hit a few badly that I said I could have done better. Most of the ones I miss are too short or too long or too close to the sides...and we run hard.

I went to the interagency meeting at 8:30 yesterday and heard state legislator Brian Cowsert tell us how dire the economic situation in Georgia is. He knows we are all doing good work that will save money down the road, but they have to cut even more this year. He did give us his phone number and email address and told us to let him know how cuts will affect us. I talked to Sam at HED about ideas for CDBG grants for next year. Brandy and i are meeting with Erin from Our Daily Bread to see about having Job TREC work out of that location at 9 on Monday. And I am meeting with two other people next week about my grant ideas.

Resident M got offended because I told her she couldn't afford luxuries, like a TV and VCR--that's why they are called luxuries. She asked if I could have luxuries. I said yes and she said but I can't?

I was interviewed by 2 UGA students from Womens' Studies, as a woman leader...it was fun. They will be putting it on their blog with a picture.

As I was thinking about leaving, a young woman from Clarke Central showed up. she was wearing a purple and black outfit and had tasteful purple streaks in her hair. i wondered if she changed her hair to match what she was wearing every day--or were all her clothes purple? She was fairly assertive, appropriate for a journalist, and showed me the Odyssey. She told me she wanted to do a piece on homelessness because so many of the high school students were not aware and didn't appreciate what they have. Mr. Ragsdale sent her to interview the families and take pictures. She was pretty well stopped in her tracks when I told her no she couldn't. I said if she and her friends wanted to serve dinner, they could meet people that were staying here and then write something about their experience using fictitious names. And she can interview me and we can make up a composite for the magazine. She is going to talk to him, but I don't think cooking and serving food is one of her interests...

Trip to London

A very sad thing--a friend of Molli's from middle and high school died. The phone rang after 10 Tuesday night, but no one was there by the time Ray got it. Apparently it was Molli calling us. She called Amelia and Amelia called here early yesterday morning to tell me. I guess Molli didn't want me to read it on Facebook, but I haven't been on there much in a while. Now I am avoiding it, not wanting to read what people are saying. Amelia said she heard it might have been suicide. A beautiful, super-intelligent girl, graduated from Barnard a year ago, I never would have said she was headed that way at all. I grieve for her parents and her brother. I can see her face, having fun with friends at our house. Gerald was a friend of hers, too, and called me yesterday morning when he heard about it. I was at work, so we didn't talk long. (2 photos by Gerald)

Work went well, another new family moving in. I worked on a reimbursement request and started tossing around some ideas for the CDBG application due early in December. Taylor and Amanda handled the intake alone, as Kerri is working on her comps. I got a lot of calls, including more from the leasing company, which I hung up on. I did feel useful.

Ray drove himself in and stayed to have dinner with the speaker. So I came on home at 3 to work on supper, my Arabic homework and the window shade. I was a little out of sorts, feeling for Molli. Amelia called from the airplane and talked to the Captain mostly, learning a few German phrases before arriving in Zurich. I didn't ever do the Arabic homework, just couldn't get into it, and left a little late for class.

In addition to Wes and Scott and myself, Shelby arrived later. Zuhair's daughter sat in on the class. She was quite silly and I could imagine his conflict, adoring her, but wanting her to focus and learn her parents' language (she's in 8th grade, I think). I think she may speak it to some degree, but not read or write it. she could hear the differences in sounds that were harder for the rest of us. (h, aspirated or not, etc.) It is so hard. We spent some time reviewing the letters and the sounds they make. There are actually 3 vowels, but most vowel sounds are indicated by marks above or below the line. As there are also marks that are part of the letters, it is very challenging. Even the vowels can have marks on them, which makes no sense from our point of view. I am learning, though. I try not to feel guilty that i don't spend time studying between classes. I would get so much more out of it.

I got home from class before Ray did and ate dessert and watched some TV and worked on my knitting. He enjoyed his meal at the Last Resort.

It's a little nippy in here this morning (67), so I put the heat on for a minute, until I am awake enough to go down and light the fire. It looks like a beautiful morning. The trees are silhouetted by the glow of the soon-to-be-rising sun. No colors yet, just dark trees and brightening sky.

I am starting to feel vaguely stressed by the upcoming holiday season and people's reactions to it. I have not really done any Christmas shopping and have to send some faraway packages before too long. I feel like I can't really go shopping without my daughters to help me. Molli is arriving Sunday night for a day or two, but I don't think I'll have much time for shopping and she will be pretty tired.

Yesterday I spent 2 hours on the phone, attending a meeting in Atlanta by conference call. If you think board meetings are tedious in person, you should try listening to them. Sometimes the sound quality wasn't good enough to catch everything, but I could hear most of it and I am glad I didn't have to drive there! I was even able to do a little filing and checking email. It was also payroll day and it seemed like there was a lot going on. There was supposed to be a Shelter board meeting last night, but the president was sick and several others couldn't make it, so they postponed the meeting.

I worked on the sewing project a little while Ray made macaroni and cheese. I swore a lot. It is kind of amusing. One of the reasons I haven't made much progress on the shades lately is they are really big. I have an extra dining table in case of really big dinners, with leaves, but it has a bird cage on it. So I can't open it up and spread out my sewing project. And since the four of us sit down to eat every day, I can't use the main dining table very easily. It always has magazines and salt & pepper on it... but that might be better. I tried to put up one of the leaves of the auxiliary table with the bird on it and work there. But the lining is really slippery and there wasn't enough room. It was probably pretty amusing to the impassive spirits of the air, but not me. And who knows what the finished product will be like? I have to wind a new bobbin before I use the sewing machine again. And I have to work on my Arabic homework...and I don't know what to have for supper.

Potluck was very full. Apparently the Membership Committee invited new members to come and meet people there. There were three new members and three members of the committee, but that doesn't entirely explain the big turnout. The time of year? It was very festive. The only sad thing? The only two children were Amber's. Calvin stood up in his chair when Larry was introducing the new members and said, "who is that man?" It was very funny. Calvin is very short, but speaks clearly. I think he's 3.

Now I am starting to see some color, the green and brown of trees and grass, the gray gravel drive, a few yellow leaves, and the orange marigolds in the garden.

Steady rain all day yesterday and last night It's still raining. This is apparently the edge of Hurricane Ida. I love the sound of rain while I am snug in my bed or sitting by the fire. The clock was blinking this morning, so I wasn't sure of the time. The power must have gone off briefly, but not long enough for my computer to shut down. It did make it uncomfortable driving and especially going from car to work, work to car, car to restaurant and bank...My parents found it unpleasant to be home all day, although Vanessa did go to yoga this morning. She also baked cookies, which warmed up the house and smelled great. I worked on my Arabic homework while I ate lunch by myself at the National: pumpkin soup and chicken salad. It was yummy but crowded and noisy. I was very close to a table of loud women talking about shallow things, which was mildly annoying.

One of the places the Board insisted on advertising the executive director job is Opportunity Knocks and we had 17 applicants respond there. In order to send them the questions, I have to log on to the site, click on each name, click on their email link, type in the name of the organization, type in a subject, paste the questions, and click send. 17 times. I am not sure how I can get the resumes from the site to send to the board members. Perhaps if they email me the answers to the questions, I can ask them to send their resume again, directly to me. I suppose the idea is to make it hard for them to contact me directly, which I applaud, but in this case it is adding tremendously to my work. Of course, I have many other resumes from other places we advertised.

One of our interns, Amanda, is excellent and seems to be very competent. One of our interns, Taylor, is really nice, but can't seem to focus very well and needs a lot more direction. I keep asking people to do things and they don't get done. I need to keep track of who I asked to do what and follow up. Kerri is off today and tomorrow, working on her comps, so it is up to me and the interns to take care of things. This is complicated by the fact that I keep moving from my office to the Executive Director's office and back. So I try to do the Assistant duties in the morning and switch to Director in the afternoon, but if an email comes in for me on the other computer after noon, I won't see it until this morning. Hopefully, if it's urgent, they'll call.

The President of the Board committed to speaking to a group last night, but she had a stomach bug. I am not sure if she expected me to let them know she wasn't coming and I didn't resolve that yesterday. I sure hope she contacted them.

Anyway, I picked up Ray at 3:40 and we came on home. We ate chicken pot pie from the freezer (one of the things I cooked with Janna). Vanessa made the crust and put it in the oven, so I had an hour or so free. I started working on an insulated shade for their room, but it has been a while and my brain was apparently rusty. I had cut two pieces of lining which had to be sewn together to be big enough for the two windows. I sewed them together, but on the wrong edges. Then I ripped out the stitches and sewed it the right way. In the process, the thread broke repeatedly. I was able to rethread the needle once, but then it broke again. I just can't see well enough to thread the needle. Ray was able to do it for me and eventually I finished my seam. Now I have a piece that is bigger than I need, so I have to cut it. It might have made more sense to cut it before I sewed it!

After our early supper, I headed off to Arabic class, a little late in the dark and rain. There was an accident at Whitehead Road. Cars were backed up. There were flashing lights and people with flashlights showing us how to get past. There was an ambulance and someone on a stretcher being loaded in. So I was really late to Arabic class. I am starting to be able to recognize about half the letters, and some of the sounds they make, but new things are being introduced. Some more marks that go above or below the words to tell us how to pronounce them, mostly what the vowels would sound like. So you get bnt, with marks, that is pronounced benet. Remember it is right to left. Anyway, it seems crazy hard to me, but there is a young woman who is way ahead of me. I will say she took the class before and she is very motivated, but she only comes about half the time (girl scouts, choir...). The most interesting thing to me is the teacher, who seems very stern and unhappy with our progress. Except then he smiles or even giggles about something. I think I will try to make him giggle...

I bought some baklava, but my parents were in their room with the door shut when I got home. I ate a piece, the rest will keep. Ray is trying not to eat dessert and to lose weight in other ways. He walked from my office in the rain yesterday morning.

We woke up late (6:45) to rain--very cozy, but we will need to light a fire today or turn on the heat.

There was a 5:30 meeting about the CDBG application process, so I played racquetball at 3, came home and dressed up, went to the meeting, and had supper when I got back. Lots of people there I know, competing with the Shelter for money, as it were.

Another beautiful day yesterday, quite warm in the middle of the day. I cleared the grass and added wood chips around the rest of the blueberries.

We had a lovely lunch after church, sitting outside at Harry Bissett's on Mitchell Bridge Road: oysters for first course for some of us, Pinot Grigio for all. Vanessa had this incredible bourbon-y French toast (even though we had homemade pancakes for breakfast, she loves her some French toast). I had some yummy shrimp and grits with andouille sausage and a creamy sauce. Ray had spicy barbecued shrimp. Service was very good.

Vanessa and I went to Joann Fabrics and bought some fabric to make a shade for her room. It was drapery fabric on sale for $10/yd--still $50! The lining remnant was only $.50/yd, so I bought it all--about 15 yds. I also picked up filters at Kroger. Ray had checked and the one downstairs was filthy, so he changed them. Maybe that will help with the allergies.

Beautiful sky this morning.

I just woke up at quarter of 7, as the sun was rising. It looks like another beautiful sunny day.I was awake a little bit earlier, but went back to sleep. Yay!

Yesterday I was quite grumpy because I had to spend 3 hours in the morning at the Fellowship, talking about safety and security. There are people who want to be authorized to carry weapons in case of a shooting incident. She said she can't protect us without a gun. I said I don't want to live as if someone is going to come and shoot me. I am not willing to kill anyone to protect me or anyone around me. I got pretty upset about it.

In the afternoon, I managed to spend a couple of hours outside, clearing the grass away from around the blueberries and putting on wood chips. It was very sunny and pleasant, although cool in the shade. Ray and the Captain cut some wood. I am always nervous when they do, and Captain gets exhausted. He had already done a lot of gardening in the morning. He lets Ray do most of the work, but likes to contribute to keeping us warm in winter time. Even Vanessa trimmed the rose and cut back some zinnias.

I made dinner from a Rachel Ray recipe, a sort of soup, that we thought we be good on a cold day, but it turned out not to be very cold then. Her recipes are sort of frenetic, designed to be made quickly after work, which I appreciate, but is not really my style. Vanessa cut up a lot of the vegetables for me. Rachel thinks it can be done while the meat is browning, but I got behind. I also didn't have crushed tomatoes, so used tomato puree. It was very tomato-y. Neither Ray nor the Captain really likes tomato soup. But it was fine. Every night I ask the Captain to pick some lettuce (and other things) for a salad. Every night he comes in with just a few lettuce leaves, a couple radishes, some herbs, a spinach leaf or two. Ray adds a carrot from the grocery store and we all have a taste of something good. It gives me great pleasure to be able to eat something from the garden, even in mid-November. There are still peppers and one or two tomatoes as well.

No Britcoms last night; they were showing Christmas from Radio City...a little too early for my taste. We switched between DaVinci code and the Outlaw Josie Wales, two pretty violent movies. I hadn't seen Josie before. Someone (maybe my Dad) had been telling me about it recently. But we managed to turn it off and go to bed before 9:30. The machine is recording the rest, so I can watch it another time if I want.

It's 5:40 a.m. It's a little cold, even inside, this time of day, and there is a little moonlight out there. I love looking out my windows, just about any time of the day or night. There's really nothing to see; I guess that's what I like. Everyone's asleep and it's very quiet here.

Yesterday I was working and T. knocked on my door. She said, "about this money thing. I give you 70% of my money and what does that cover? Do you pay for everything? I like to take my kids places, like the movies." "We have a dollar movie you can go to, out by the mall." "Well, we like to see the latest thing that just came out." "you can't do that while you're here, that's $8." She currently receives $66/week in child support. She has four children and I am pretty sure that is not for all of them. She has a cell phone for which she pays $55 a month. It is hard to say in this day and age that a cell phone is not a necessity. If she applies for work, she can give that phone number. If her children's school is trying to reach her, they can. There is a phone at the shelter, but she will not be sitting by it most of the time. She has a car and spends about $25/week on gas. I told her we can help her by giving her bus passes and she can take the bus instead of driving the car. She is paying $25/month on storage fees and another $25/month on a credit card bill. Kerri said, "you're not using that card are you?" "No," she said, "just paying it down." Once she is working, the 30% she keeps will be enough to go to the movies if she wants. She has certain cleaning products she likes to use--will we buy her those? As long as they are not too expensive.

I went to a meeting with a lot of other organizations about child support. Judge Sweat, bless his heart, is trying to find a way to help and encourage men to work, establish relationships with their children and pay their child support, instead of putting them in jail, where they can't. He said there is one young man (24) who has eight children. OMG! What can we do to teach responsibility and get them to use birth control? I do not think we can teach people not to have sex. Or pass laws against it. How can we make men (young men) want to be involved in their children's lives? And keep women from having children if the fathers are not going to be supporting them? Georgia apparently has the highest rate of incarceration in the country. I think he said one in thirteen people in Georgia is in jail: 54,000 people...and jail is expensive. It's worth reducing the number even by one percent.

Ray and I played racquetball yesterday for the first time in weeks, only about 20 minutes. It felt good, but my back is complaining now. I have apparently gone back to before the time change, falling asleep by 9:30 and waking up very early. Last night I was in bed at 9:30, but I had already been asleep for awhile on the couch.

Homeless Coalition meeting yesterday. I like going to meetings where I can hear about what's going on and hobnob with people doing the same work. Yesterday John Scoggins talked about a big new grant, stimulus money, that a coalition of ACTION, Community Connection and the UGA Institute for Non-Profit organizations got. They will be giving smaller grants to 30 organizations in 5 or 6 counties. I applied to be the director, but they just hired someone else. No interview, no thanks for your application... We may be able to get some of the money for our Job TREC program. It is about helping people get and keep jobs. On the other hadn, some of our CDBG money will not be renewed, unless we can come up with a project to write it for. You can only get it for three years, under new rules, and we have had it longer than that, I think. That's about $11,000 that we'll lose, unless I come up with a bright idea. I am not sure I can ask for money to buy diapers...

New family arrived yesterday. Mom with four kids from somewhere out of state. Why would you just start driving without any reason to settle somewhere? She was staying near Atlanta in a shelter with lots of people in one room and is very relieved to be here. I think she is a worker, but it may be harder than she thinks. Lots of applications for the Executive Director position from all over: Nevada!

Came home.Vanessa had made pepper steak and dessert. I worked on cookies and put some rice in a pot. Captain went out to pick lettuce. He also brought in and hung out laundry.

The computer says it's 37 out; it's warm enough in here. As long as we keep having sunny days, it's very pleasant. last night it was about 74. I opened a window for a bit.

Arabic class: very challenging. Only 3 of us there. The teacher jumping up every now and then to check on the cooking, while assigning us words to write. I know more than I did.

Another resident has the option to move into public housing in another county on Monday. It is a great opportunity, but she has to come up with $600 to pay the utility deposits (and a back balance she owes) by then. You would think I would jump at the opportunity to help her and make it happen. The Shelter has never been involved in paying the costs of getting into a home. This is a Mom who has been working for a while. She had saved some money, but used it all to for the down payment on a car, for which she pays $70 a week. Plus insurance, registration, gas and any maintenance it needs. It is not a nice new fuel-efficient car. She has been looking for an agency to help her and I tell her as far as I know no one will pay utility deposits. Since she bought the car, she has not saved any money. She had $20, but took it out last week for gas. She works part-time, cleaning at a department store and makes less than $800 a month. When she was talking to me, she said she had to buy shoes for the baby last week. There is not much chance that she will succeed in paying her bills if she manages somehow to beg or borrow enough to pay the deposits. Residents think we are mean to make them save, but I sure wish she had listened.

I also had to deal with board members telling me to do something I disagree with, wasting the shelter's money on something that will make more work for me. And a leasing company that has been making automated calls to us daily, saying we are behind on our payments, when I have been paying another company for the copier. When they have a real person call me, I have thoroughly and patiently explained the situation, but this is the third one I've talked to, and he hadn't even read the notes. Maybe this time it will get straightened out.

Another beautiful day. When we got home, Captain and Vanessa were not here. They didn't arrive until after 5--no note, no phone call. They had been at the grocery store and said they had tried to call me, but my phone was turned off. (well, it wasn't, but maybe I wasn't getting service at that point, and Vanessa didn't leave a message). Ray made macaroni and cheese and I worked on my Arabic. It is hard. Then potluck and choir, a pleasure. We are starting to work on music for our solstice service, in the evening on December 20.

I learned the Arabic alphabet yesterday. Well, learned is strong. I have a piece of paper that I can look at to tell me what the letters are. I knew once that Arabic is written from right to left, but I had forgotten it. It is hard to adjust to. The letters are written somewhat differently depending on whether they are at the beginning, middle, or end of a word. Fascinating stuff. One woman is learning Arabic because her boyfriend (and his friends) speak it. It is a surprise. One 12-year-old girl is learning it because she is interested in Egypt and going to work there.

The instructor, who owns a restaurant, has a masters degree in engineering from a US college (one I had heard of but forget the name of). He left Lebanon when he was 17. He was in charge of 35 men and they were behind enemy lines. They were shot with Katoosh rockets. Several died. One he carried for 2 1/2 miles later died in the hospital from his wounds. He was shot in the chest and the leg. Z. turned in his gun and left the country in 1976, while I was in college. He decided there must be a better life. And I guess he found it.

Yesterday at work: meeting with students from Leadership UGA. They are going to have a drive to see who can collect the most diapers, etc. Then took my lunch to meet with some leaders of other non-profits and the Director of Georgia Shares, a state organization that uses payroll deductions to allow employees to donate to non-profits.

Captain and Vanessa were working on the lamb stew when we got home. He couldn't find the recipe he had found on line yesterday, so I should him how to use History on his browser. They had used the food processor to chop up the cooked lamb. So we used it for the onions and celery too. Then I cooked them in butter and mixed everything together and baked it for a while. Vanessa seems much better. She said she walked a little yesterday and her legs were sore. The house is very pleasant this time of year, warm on sunny days, about 74 indoors yesterday. Ray's allergies are acting up...unless he is getting the cold.

Sigh, back to the grind. It was pretty crazy yesterday. Monday mornings often are. As I arrived at the shelter, a mother and daughter (about 4) walked up to me and asked if I worked there. She said they had no where to go and were just walking. I told her I couldn't help her right now and tried to give her directions on somewhere else to go, but she was not from Athens. She said her daughter needed to use the bathroom. I got them some bread and let her use the bathroom. They left while I was on the phone.

Two families left over the weekend. I had known that one had gotten a chance at a place to live. Apparently she invited the other to move in with her. The second Mom, with one child, will probably not enjoy living with the first Mom, with four children under 5, but maybe I'm wrong. I think they are likely to engage in petty criminal activities, but maybe I'm wrong. A third Mom was moving out yesterday. She had bags and bags of stuff. Hoarding is not uncommon for people who are homeless. Her boyfriend came with a car and went away and came back with a truck. He was berating her and she was just calmly replying how her baby needed clothes and toys... Kerri is interviewing families to move in this week. Later in the day I had a call from a woman who wanted to know if a certain person was staying at the shelter. We often get calls like that, usually wanting to help them. We don't confirm or deny any residents. She said she and her daughter had asked for money and all she could scrape up was about $4 in change. She told her she would cash a check and bring $25 by the shelter (The woman said that's where she was staying). I told her we couldn't do that, but of course the residents had plenty of food and all their needs were met. She said yes, I should have realized that, and I thought I smelled alcohol, but I try not to judge... I also had a message on the answering machine from someone who needed a caretaker, someone to live in, and figured she would ask someone from the shelter. I have had those calls before too. Or people who stop by looking for someone to rake their leaves. The thought is good, but we don't generally encourage our residents to do that.

Ray and I came home about 3. Vanessa had been to the doctor and gotten lots of meds. They said this bug was going around. She seemed much better, with more energy. She was trying to put the dishes away until I scolded her and told her she was too germy to do that. The Captain seemed really glad to have me there to take over cooking and cleaning duties. He even followed orders really well, emptying the compost and getting some lettuce and herbs for our supper. He also cut the leftover lamb off the bone and looked on line for a recipe using lamb leftovers. Vanessa wrote it down and it will be waiting for us when we come home! I got out some of the ingredients and left them on the counter.

The down side of the time change is I fell asleep before 9.

We ate Janna's famous oat-apricot breakfast (with Greek yogurt), as well as applesauce-raisin cake. Janna picks out the raisins, just like my children. Ray and Kent and I walked around a little, admiring the large boats from far-away places. We showered and packed. I played Spider and got one pack off, but didn't win. We loaded up the cars (Janna and Ron rode with Becky and Kent in their super-van) and drove to a place we had picked for lunch. I had blackberry French toast. Ray and I got a salad to eat later and some bread to take home, as well as 2 slices of pie. We said our goodbyes. They were hurrying back. Becky could pick up her dogs between 5:30 and 6.

We drove around a little, including a visit to the marina where the Captain and Vanessa had their sailboat tied up 26 years ago. Ray and I drove over from Louisiana at Thanksgiving to introduce their granddaughter to them, when she was one month old.

Then we stopped at the Pinckney Island National Wildlife Refuge. It was amazing! We parked with other cars and followed a cub scout troop down the trail, which is a gravel road, very level and easy to walk on. They (we?) have created man-made ponds to encourage wildlife. We saw lots of birds, including an ibis rookery, and an alligator. The weather was beautiful, warm and sunny, but not hot or humid or buggy. There was lots more, but we had to go so we didn't get home too late. I am always amazed to find something new like that. Why haven't I heard about it? We will go again, with lunch and water.

We started driving. I called home and the Captain was glad to hear from us. Apparently Vanessa was pretty sick all weekend. I felt bad. They had seemed fine when we left. When we finally got home, about 8, we took her temperature. It was over 101. She took some medicine and we took it again twice before we went to bed. It was down below 100, but I still slept with my door open, so I could hear if they called. She is planning to go to the doctor this morning. She was quite lucid, but apparently has been sleeping a lot. She looked pretty white.

And so it is, good and bad together.

We had a lovely beach day yesterday--October 31!! It was very misty/foggy in the morning and we called to ask about the kayaking. They said the captain would decide whether it was safe or not and they would let us know. I'm guessing they decided it wasn't safe and/or we were the only ones interested so it wasn't cost-effective. Anyway, they never called back and it was scheduled for 10:30. So about then, we all got our stuff together (Ray, me, Kent, Becky, Ron, Janna) and drove the mile to the beach. Disney's resort here (where Ron & Janna have a time-share and we are all staying in a 2-bedroom unit) is on the marsh side, but they have a sliver of beach on the other side with amenities for guests, like a pool and expensive snack bar and parking. It was still misty, but sunny and warm. Sitting on the beach, you could see Kent and Ray in the water, but they were kind of in silhouette, no colors. Anyway, we played bocce, some took walks, we found hermit crabs and a dead horseshoe crab and a starfish that we returned to the sea. Ray showed things to strangers' children and we all had a great time. Some of us got quite sunburned. We went up to the snack bar and waited a long time for food that later gave us indigestion. Finally we drove back and some people watched the football game, while other people went on a small shopping expedition. Then we all had a great time at dinner, drinking another 2 bottles of wine and laughing till we cried. At one point, Kent starting singing a song and Becky tried to get him to stop. She said, "he only knows one song...and that's not it." My favorite line of the evening. Apparently the one he knows is Old Dan Tucker. We asked the busboy if he was going to a Halloween party when he got off work and what he was wearing. He said he would just go home, throw on a cape, some fangs and blood...we wondered later why he has those things lying around his room...

This morning it was light out at 7 o'clock. I'm so happy. I want to head out for a walk on the beach, but am waiting for Ray to wake up. Then we have to pack and check out by 11, but we might hang around the area a little longer. A long drive home, but worth it.