Yesterday morning we left here around 9, earlier than usual for some reason. I had asked Caryl S. about volunteering for the GED classes. She told me to just show up and gave me the times. I said I would be there Thursday morning. When I got there, two students were waiting for the teacher. There were other people in the building. A couple young volunteers asked me if I was there to volunteer. I said yes. The classes were supposed to start at 9:30, but it was about 10 minutes late before the (young) instructor came in. She had been meeting with the director, Erin, who is pregnant again. Miranda is the instructor. She is a BSW student. She did not seem to know who Caryl is and said she generally met with volunteers ahead of time before they could volunteer. She had me fill out a form and talked to me some about my experience. Then she told me to come back next Thursday morning, if that was the best time for me.

Next I drove to the ACC Council on Aging, where they were having a Harvest Festival. This has been going on 37 years! The older people demonstrate crafts from 100 years ago or so and the schools bring classes to see. I was not demonstrating (I was told they had knitters, but didn't see them). I was assigned to the children's art table. There were two activities; coloring and making pasta necklaces. It seemed a little lame to me. They couldn't think of anything more old-timey and fun than that? However, there were wave after wave of kids, some in matching shirts, some who were well behaved, some with many adults, some with adults who were not very engaged...I spent most of two hours cutting pieces of yarn to make necklaces, and tying one piece of pasta onto them. Fortunately, we ran out of noodles about noon. Then I helped the lady at the next activity with the bean bag toss. This was much more physically demanding. We had to keep bending over and picking up the beanbags from behind the holes and handing them out again. We also handed out candy, from a giant assortment (300 pieces): Laffy Taffy, Sweet Tarts, and Nerds among others. Several children wanted to trade what they had for Nerds. Warning: do not start down that road. A few boys helped pick up the bean bags for us before they had to leave. Many children lined up more than once to play bean bag toss (and get more candy). It was hard to keep track of which ones had already been. They could have another turn, but they were only supposed to get candy once. They gave me a sandwich on a white roll with accompaniments in plastic: chips, cookies, nuts, mayonnaise. I appreciated it and it was tasty, but I was horrified that it was in a styrofoam box. They gave me water in a styrofoam cup, too. Opportunity for education there.

I picked Ray up and we drove home, stopping at the bank and Kroger. I was really tired and read for a while before making a delicious tabouli: home-grown cucumber, peppers, tomatoes, herbs...I mixed in the lentil salad from the day before and it was really tasty. We headed over to the Cedar Commons for KR potluck. Lots of excellent food and good company. After awhile, my young friend Ada asked me to teach her to play cards, which I did. Always fascinating to me that you could get to be 4 (or older) and have no experience of cards. We learned War and she delighted in beating me. I played some with her 6-year-old brother Solomon too. I started by trying to comfort baby Ruby who was crying and crying. At one point, I had her more or less happily bouncing on my knee, while playing cards with her sister. My idea of fun. Later, Ada wanted to be pushed (fast) in her sister's stroller. It had a very smooth ride. Almost everyone was gone and the cleanup had been done, so I raced her around the tables over and over. She always wanted just "one more time." But we finally left.

When we got home, I made the meringues I had been planning to make for days, with leftover egg whites and not much else. Low-fat and wheat-free. We'll see how they taste.

Fell asleep watching TV and went to bed. Ray had to turn the oven off for me.