Ray and I were very busy.

We took a little walk in the morning. After breakfast, we went to Pilates class--the first ever for Ray. It was good and we will probably go every week. It was raining when we came out, so no chance of cutting down trees, digging up the ground, or doing laundry. We went by Plato's Closet, where they only took one item from our bag of clothes. While we were waiting, Ray browsed and bought some shirts and one pair of work pants. I bought a book and a new pair of sneakers for racquetball. It was over $50! Not as good as Goodwill...they didn't appear to have women's clothes my size, and I know they cater to much younger people.

We had lunch and did a little tidying, including vacuuming, before Captain and Vanessa's bridge guests arrived. She had made and frosted an apple cake for them. Ray and I stayed upstairs on our computers while they were here. I balanced the checkbook and listened to music with the headset. Otherwise I would hear my dad saying to my Mom, "why didn't you bid...?" After a couple hours, I came down and started working on supper, in part because it was a little chilly in the house. Then I heard a lot more--apparently nobody had much in the way of good cards and it was not much fun. When they left, my Mom put her head down on the back of the couch. "What's the matter?" I said. She said, "that is the most unpleasant woman I ever met." This is a pretty strong reaction for my Mom. Apparently she complained about everything, wearing her coat because she was so cold, even though Ray stirred the fire up and they were just inches from it. She took a bite out of two different pieces of chocolate (hoping she would like the second better than the first) and left them on the table. She didn't want any cake because she is dieting, but nibbled on candy all afternoon. And I guess the worst thing, she bragged about what a great player she was, but neither of them played very well at all, making it hard for my parents to play because their bids were so unreliable. She insisted on enforcing all the rules, but they never knew whose turn it was to shuffle or bid and he once bid out of turn. Anyway, it was almost funny.

We had dinner, which was somehow not as good as I hoped. I think the three dishes I made were all good, but not particularly complementary... after dinner, we attempted to watch TV, but couldn't all agree. My Dad was grumpy about how we were always going out. Most nights he would be asleep, or at least in his room, by the time we left for contra dancing a little before 8. We had a great time and came home very sore and tired. We saw lots of people we hadn't seen in ages, like Susan and Tim. Their daughter is in a grad. program at Auburn for something like agricultural sociology (think Omnivore's Dilemma). It sounded pretty neat. She did a nine month trip with Heifer International and now her brother is doing one too.

It rained for about 15 hours, I think, but it is not as cold now. We didn't even have the woodstove going overnight.