Time goes by and things don't go quite as I expected. We had a lot of fun yesterday, but didn't get much done. Fortunately, nothing urgent was neglected.

Ray and elisa and I met molli at UUFA. the service was pretty crowded, which is a good thing, and there seem to be lots of new people every week. Unfortunately, the parking lot overflows down the street and people are sitting closer to each other than they might want to. We talk and talk about these issues, but can't seem to come up with any good solution. I am in favor of being a green standard-bearer (or lantern) and having a van and massive car-pooling program. Others say that is not going to happen, we have to expand the parking lot.

I drove Elisa to a farm in Oconee where they were having a horse-jumping event. The young Mom who runs the place was a little busy. There were lots of big horses and people in riding pants. It was pretty interesting, but I didn't really want to stand around there too long. I told her I was going to meet Ray et al for lunch and asked if she wanted me to bring her something. She said, "that's all right, I'll just come with you." She arranged to come back on Tuesday at 4:15. I believe she is exchanging work in the barn for a riding lesson, but need to get more details. Also, I think we need some document from her Mom that okays her riding and absolves us of any responsibility. We have to come up with shoe laces for the boots someone is giving her.

We had lunch at DePalma's with Deb and John and another couple, John and Ginny. They are a little older than we are and we enjoyed talking with them very much. John is an architect, but he is not licensed in Georgia and, I guess, retired. I am excited to talk to him about some of my ideas for housing for older people...energy-efficient, of course. Not sure what to do about funding, but we can certainly talk. We will invite them to see our house before too long.

It is so wonderful to have Molli around, but it is a fact of life that we always want more. She is not here mornings and evenings at the moment, since she is house sitting for Becky. It is hard for her to leave when she is here and I miss her at mealtime. It is only a week before they come home, though, and it is great that she is already earning money. I think Becky and Kent are really happy, too, to know their dogs and house are being well cared for. Molli has one temporary position for the month of February, scoring essays like Polly and I have done previously. She is considering another part-time job, tutoring funded by Americorps. We have talked about it a lot, but it commits her to working across the county 20 hours a week until the end of August. There are a lot of questions and the application process is complicated. Mainly, it pays less than minimum wage and I think she will have other options. It's hard to decide, though. It's good work, in the sense that teaching children to read is pretty important...and a bird in the hand...But it would pay her about $1000 a month and there would be transportation issues. I think her skills can be better used, but we'll see.

At home, Molli continued working on her back taxes and Ray chopped wood. Elisa was in her room all the rest of the day. I didn't do much. We decided not to have supper, since we had a big late lunch and none of us was really hungry. Ray made popcorn and we watched TV after molli left. I fell asleep early and had trouble walking upstairs to bed. Then I was awake for a while, watching the Golden Globes in bed.

Of course, I woke up at 4 again. Finally got up and finished my book. I feel a little off, need to get this internship straight and get on a "normal" schedule.