There will be a morning when I will wake up and the air will be cool and pleasant. This is not it. I cranked the window in the bathroom a little to check hopefully, but no. I am sweating, even though the fans are turning over my head.

Yesterday, I sang in the choir. Alison preached about answering the call--finding the place where your passion meets the needs of others. I have the needs part down, but what work makes me really happy? I have certainly moments when I like my job, but I don't think it is a passion. I can't quite envision a society where everyone is doing what they love...and everything is getting done.

After the service was the fourth Sunday lunch. Tiffany had come, with a peacock feather in her hair, and a fake jewel beauty spot. I bought her lunch. I ate with Marco and his 6-year-old (?) son and enjoyed listening to him. And remembering. And I ate with Deb and John and we planned to go to trivia Tuesday night.

We drove to Watkinsville for peaches and tomatoes. Then we picked up Janna. I haven't seen her much lately. She has been working hard because of the start of the school year, and we were away for a week. We drove to the Callaway Building at the Botanical Gardens. There was a spelling bee to benefit the Athens-Clarke Literacy Council. We had organized a team from UUFA--Caryl S., Julie S., and me. My parents met us there too. Doc Eldridge was the moderator, David Sweat, Kay Giese, and Pat Barron were the judges (they are all judges). The event was quite disorganized. We were supposed to be there at 2 for orientation. There were only two other teams there then and a few people setting up. Eventually there was a very brief orientation going over the rules and members of six teams showed up. When the competition started, the first three teams were given two words: daquiri and dumbbell. Two of the three teams missed both words and were eliminated. We would have gotten them both right. After a short break, the next three teams went. First word we got right, second word we got right. One team was eliminated. Third word: drunkenness. We spelled it with one "n". Fourth word: inoculate. We spelled it with two n's. We were out. Embarrassing. My father was disappointed. After another break, the two teams spelled about ten words correctly before cognoscente. repudiate, occurrence, surreptitious...and several others we would have gotten right. Oh, well. It was for a good cause. It made me want to compete again and do better. But perhaps I am not as good at spelling as I thought I was.

We all went  home and tried to decide what we wanted for supper. We had eaten some at the event, catered by Lumpkin Cafe: fruit, humus, cucumber sandwiches, and little phyllo cups filled with pudding. Simple, but delicious. Ray didn't need any supper, Vanessa had cereal and milk. Janna and I put together some veggies: zucchini, mushrooms, tomato, with onion and garlic, eggs and a little Parmesan. It was delicious. I also sliced a cucumber and put some oil and vinegar on it. Captain had some of that with us. Then the three ladies went to the movies to see Eat, Pray, Love. We got there very early (because Ray & the Captain didn't come?) and enjoyed ourselves, with popcorn and a Coke that Vanessa and I shared. Fortunately, it did not seem to keep me awake. It was much better than I expected. At one point, the wise man tells her to smile with her whole body, even her liver. It is funny, but it is also somewhat inspiring. I will try to smile with my liver starting today, although I miss my children.