Well we had a fun and interesting, but not necessarily restful, Sunday. It was incredibly hot and humid, and the air conditioning ran pretty much through the night, as far as I could tell.

We went to the service and learned more about our partner church in Okland, Romania. Then we drove some of the girls to Macon, where they are going to Peacemakers Camp. One of the girls in our car, Carola (or Karela), was great about asking and answering questions. I really enjoyed it. When we got there, I was telling another girl, Kinsco, whose mother is the minister's wife, how much I enjoyed it. She said she wanted to sleep and wished Karela would have been quiet! I would like to go teach English in their camp next summer for 3 weeks...

Heather and her husband Scott (Catherine's parents) drove the other car. The four of us had a really nice dinner in Macon, after driving for a while. The places to eat I could find on line were closed on Sunday (family day in the South). Glad I live in Athens. Although they have a really nice-looking mall...

Of course we got home after 10.

There was a Kenney Ridge yard sale yesterday morning, so Ray and I borrowed the truck and drove some things over to the field, along with a folding table and a clothes rack. I made $11.50 after chipping in a dollar toward the ad. And I only spent $2. I sold some toilet paper holders and a towel rack still in their packages from when we built the house; I brought several home and was supposed to return the extras...I sold a plastic computer monitor stand that I had moved from our last house for $1. No clothes. About 9:30 there were no customers and I decided it was too hot and humid and buggy to make it worth standing there any longer. Ray and I packed up and rushed off to Pilates, which was really good. We stopped at the Farmers' Market and got some bread and potatoes and eggs and sausage and then bought a few things at Kroger.

After lunch, we spent a little time cleaning up the study and I looked at cookbooks some. Then we drove to Watkinsville to buy peaches (and tomatoes). We went to Bruce and Jane's house for a pool party about 5:30. There were some visitors from our sister church in Okland, Transylvania. Eva and her daughter visited two and half years ago and remembered the delicious meal my mother had cooked, as well as the charm of my father. I remembered Ray getting the atlas and finding their town on the map. This time, there were Eva and her daughter, now 13, and three other teenage girls. They would be attending camp in Macon for a week. Eva is always trying to raise money. Their church and traditional way of life are endangered and she is part of something called Harvest Hope, which, I think, buys cows for Okland and other communities. Although it is part of Romania, they speak Hungarian. There were about a dozen teens from our Fellowship in the pool, most of whom I didn't know. There was Sam W., who has a large UU tattoo on his back and Madison, Chloe and Emily's younger sister. The pool was kind of dirty, with leaves and dead bugs, and lukewarm, in addition to being full of teenagers just hanging out, so we didn't really swim. Board members were there as well. We all ate pizza and salad and ice cream.

Ray and I came home and watched 2 movies, switching back and forth, and went to bed.

Got to work five minutes early; Ray dropped me off and then had to come back at 11:15 so I could take him to his office and then go to lunch with Claire C. It was very hot all day and in fact the air conditioning is already running this morning. We spent about an hour and a half at the pool; Ray was playing some with the Meyers children.

After delicious and pleasant supper, Ray and I went to see Carousel with Becky and Kent. It was very good, the acting and singing were surprisingly good. I still don't really like the story; it is sad and somewhat weak. I did have a moment of wishing I were in it. But I decided I don't really want to sign up for anything more unless Ray is involved, too.

Ray caught the bus yesterday morning! I was at work about 5 minutes early. Went to lunch with Becky, had a really nice time. Left work about 2:30, seemed like there wasn't much I needed to do. Went to the pool, nice and cool and pleasant, although the sun was very hot--it said 100 when we got in the car, but that was the parking lot, it was only 93 when we got out to the house. Ray grilled the chicken and it took a lot longer than the recipe said--guess our chicken was thicker. Had an enjoyable dinner and watched TV and went to bed early. Slept at least 8 hours.

Another day of work at which I stayed too long without a break, in order to leave at 2 and go to the pool. Lately, working 6 hours just seems too much. I had expected thunderstorms to keep us from swimming, but we were lucky, although I hope for some rain for the gardens today. We hurried home; the cleaning lady was due, but she did not show up. I am sorry to think that it will not work out with her; I like her and she is the most reasonable we have found, but she seems to be unable to keep to a predictable schedule and we do not do well with change here. We had prepared for her visit by tidying up a bit and anticipated in with pleasure. She communicated with me by text, though I called her twice and left messages.

We went off to potluck and choir, a smaller group as summer is beginning. We worked on two somewhat challenging songs, which was a pleasure for me.

Although it was cool last night with the windows open, I barely slept a wink.

Tuesday is my mother's yoga class at 8 am. Ray stayed home to put the cutter bar on my Dad's tractor with him, so he could mow the back yard and some other grass, while the lawnmower is at the shop. My mother likes to get there about 5 minutes of, so she can get a good spot on the floor with her mat. This gives me plenty of time to get to work right on time. It never happens when Ray goes with us. For some reason, we are always 5 or 10 minutes later than we would like.

I worked on reading and editing the financial policies for the Shelter. They were clearly taken from some other organization's some years ago and never completely changed for our situation. For instance, they refer a lot to the Bookkeeper, which I had to keep changing to Assistant Director. One thing that I find these days, no matter what I am editing, is that people leave two spaces after a period. This is a holdover from the days of typewriters, which made every letter (and space) the same size. Computers leave the right amount of space after a period, but we all learned to put two spaces. So one of the things I do whenever I edit someone else's work is take out the extra spaces. There are also some written policies that we are not following, so I will probably have to start doing that, once Meredith has looked at them.

We went to the pool again yesterday. It was lovely and cool and relaxing. I left work before 2, went to deliver the reimbursement requests and to the bank, and then went home to pick up my parents, so they could come too. Ray and I swam back and forth several times, then I sat and read my novel (that Barbara sent me). It wasn't really as hot as it has been, and a little overcast. After about an hour, my Dad was ready to leave. I bought Coke and chips and an ice cream sandwich after I took my shower and got dressed, waiting for Ray. (Who says women take longer to get dressed than men? I am always ready before he is.)

When we got home, I knew what I was making and I wasn't starving to death and we didn't have drink and snack. I cut up the zucchini and squash Captain had picked the day before, a couple small onions and a garlic (also from the garden) and sauteed in butter and oil. Then added some canned spaghetti sauce (I didn't even measure it). Ray cooked the spaghetti and grated the cheese and voila, a complete meal in less than 30 minutes. It was good too. After we ate so early, I didn't know what to do with myself...I got a lot of knitting done and even did a load of laundry. I seemed to have more energy than I had in a while. Of course, I did end up watching lots of TV before going to bed at 9:30.

A little cooler last night, finally better for sleeping.

Worked (newsletter and payroll, meeting with Meredith), then went to the pool with Ray. It was very pleasant and refreshing. We didn't want to stay too long, though, because my parents were waiting for us. We had drink and snack and dinner, watched TV and went to bed. Not much to tell...