That was a pretty fun day.

I was up early, ate breakfast, working in the garden some, harvesting and pulling a few weeds. Ray came out about 8:30 and said, "shall we go pick blueberries?" Naturally, I said yes. Our neighbor had said anyone who wanted could pick. It's the end of the season and she has all she wants in her freezer. We picked for an hour. There were still plenty of berries, although some were wrinkled and soft, maybe from the drought. It was pretty hot already, although I was in partial shade with a little breeze, so it wasn't too bad. Then I washed them and sorted them, keeping out the least ripe to use for fresh as they ripen more, and the softest to use for pancakes today. I put another quart and a half in the freezer. I might still try to get more. I'm sure I don't have as many as I can use all year yet.

 My parents arrived about a half hour later. My Dad checked his e-mail and went out to water the garden. My Mom took her daily walk for her back. I headed off to have lunch at a new restaurant with Helene, who was celebrating her 62nd birthday. Deb and Don were there too. We had a good time, the food was very good, and the prices were suprisingly reasonable. It was a little lacking in atmosphere and the chairs weren't very comfortable. I had the steak with French fries, which was not the healthiest choice, but it wasn't a huge amount, and I enjoyed it. They have cupcakes for dessert, including mini-cupcakes and they were delicious! I chose Devils Food with chococolate mousse in the middle. mmm. mini, of course.

I headed back home for a bit and then Ray and I headed to Watkinsville to volunteer at a benefit for cancer. How do I get into these things? And get Ray into them? In this case, I read about it in the paper and thought it would be fun, and it was. It was a water polo tournament at the Lockmans. They have a lake (or pond), the kind with grass growing right down to the edges and algae. The water was pretty warm and the bottom of the lake a little disgusting. But they had set up a water polo "grounds" and several teams had paid for the privilege of competing. Dr. Lockman officiated. Ray and I were assigned to help with the canoes. The kids that were running around were welcome to go out in the canoes if they wanted. They had to wear a life jacket. We had no business. In fact, there were not a lot of people watching that were not associated with one of the teams. We sat on a bench in the shade watching. I took out a small canoe with a blunt stern and a double-ended paddle and watched from the lake for a while. I enjoyed it very much. We bought one plate of barbecue to share and drank a lot of water. Eventually, I paddled two 5 year-old girls, Addie and Eva, across to a playhouse there, and back. They were quite demanding and kept changing their minds. Their conversation was amusing. One thing that cracked me up--they said they had to make the playhouse sexier before they could live there. I asked what they meant by that. "Oh, you know, more outfits and accessories..." We saw a few people we knew, but not many of the usual suspects. Dr. and Mrs. lockman (David and Becky) do a lot of community work and share their house and lake often. The whole feeling was very relaxed, like a giant family reunion. We were thanked many times. After we got home and showered, I fell asleep watching TV and went to bed at a reasonable hour.