It is lovely and cool here this morning. Time for my bathrobe and slippers. The fans are turned off. The sliver of moon is casting light on the east end of the house and there are some bright stars too. When I close my computer, I can see a hint of brightness around the horizon that suggests morning is coming.

Unfortunately, I am afraid I may be getting sick, perhaps as a result of the changing weather. I have had a headache since yesterday. I even took some Tylenol in the night. And I have a stuffy nose. Also I have very dry lips and am thirsty. We'll see.

Ray and I spent most of this gorgeous day driving to Dahlonega and singing at a choir retreat. We took Don M. and Aleta and left about 8:30 and were back by 4:30. It was a lovely ride. You could see the mountains clearly from a long way off. And I thought what I always think, "How beautiful it is here. It makes me happy. I should come more often." But do I? It is only a few hours away. Dahlonega less than 90 minutes, the mountains a little further.

On Friday, I worked, but met Ray for a pleasant lunch and left again at 2:30. We went to Ramsey and played 2 games of racquetball and swam a few laps. At home, we had leftover linguica soup that my parents had made for lunch, after freezing most of the giant pot of soup I made Thursday night. We picked up Muhterem and went to the contra dance, which was very fun. They had to leave because I was asleep in my chair at 10:30.

Then of course, yesterday and today, I was stiff and sore from my neck to the bottom of my left heel. Riding and sitting did not make it better.

When we got home, it was in the 70s and sunny out. Vanessa had made beef stew, at least the beef part. My Dad was working on his column. Ray went upstairs and I went out and pulled up some weeds, while I let the chickens out of their coop to roam freely. I was nervous, but they did great, going after bugs and strutting slowly in a cluster. Eventually, they wandered back into the coop. I gave them a cup of feed and closed it up for the night.

I went in and peeled the potatoes and carrot. We also put in a bunch of green beans from the mostly defunct garden. We chatted pleasantly during dinner and watched some TV before heading up to bed. I woke up when Ray took my book out of my hands.