Molli and chickens

Back to work yesterday. It wasn't quite as bad as I was anticipating. I worked mainly on fixing the mailing list. We ended up with lots of duplicate entries and the process to merge them is quite slow. I also look up addresses for some that didn't come through. It's not unpleasant or stressful, just tedious and not great for my back. Every now and then, I write a check or do something else, which makes a good break, but does interrupt my train of thought.

Yesterday I went out to buy trash bags and a few other things at Kroger, before having lunch at HQ, where we talked about how to improve the space and the work flow. It is a little tricky because it is Russell HQ as well as the CCDC office and we are hosting a field organizer for the Democratic Party of Georgia. Obviously, all those are important and overlapping, but it's confusing for volunteers and visitors, who sometimes don't know which office they want. And someone needs to take out the trash.

After work, Ray and I stopped at the Farmers' Market. There is one downtown on Tuesday evenings. It's much easier for us to stop on our way home than to make a special trip on Saturday morning. It was really hot--in the 90s. We got potatoes and bread and zucchini and eggplant. Peppers we have from our own garden.

We had a quick supper with Captain and Vanessa and then headed out to audition for Annie. I had gotten an email that morning that they needed more adults for the ACT production. I asked Ray and he said, "Okay!" Of course, they always want men, so he was asked if he would learn a few lines and be a Cabinet minister. He agreed and then Terry (the director) said they might make me one too. Ray pointed out that one of FDR's cabinet members was a woman, Frances Perkins, and we had seen a previous Annie production where they ignorantly portrayed her as a man. So I will probably be her. We sang and danced with the group audition too, but the dancing was particularly hard for me.

It has been a while since I was in a play, maybe not since I started blogging, and it makes me happy that we will be doing it again, especially together. You will have to remind me in a month or so, because there is a point in every show when I think, "why did I say I wanted to do this?" But I prefer having things to do in the evening; otherwise I just sit there and watch TV every night. I can probably knit some backstage or play on my iPhone. And it should not be very stressful, compared to some parts I've learned.

We didn't have to stay long and were home before 9. Captain and Vanessa were watching Wipe Out and tennis. I went to bed before 9:30 and slept well. It was cool enough to have the windows open overnight.

We had another wonderful meal at Bistro Niko. It kind of takes the edge off taking Molli to the airport to eat there first all together. Excellent food and too much wine. But then when we got home from there in the late afternoon, I was completely at loose ends. Couldn't find anything I wanted to do with myself on this beautiful holiday. The weather was excellent, a little too hot and sunny to be outside most of the day, but the morning and eventing were lovely. Even the light was different; as I looked at the trees going by on the way to Atlanta, they were beautiful.

The chickens seem to be settling in. I think the cooler weather makes them livelier. They do sort of fly at each other in a funny dance. I guess they are establishing the "pecking order."

Again, woke up and pulled up the quilt and turned off the fan. Got up and put on a bathrobe. Yay! It was really nice during the day yesterday, hot and sunny, but toward evening I sat outside and watched the chickens, who seemed much livelier when it wasn't too hot.

Ray and Molli and I sang in choir and listened to a service about immigration--sad and inspiring. It was not crowded, probably in part because of the holiday weekend, but several people enjoyed saying hi to Molli--and how great she looks! We drove to Thomas peaches and got the last of the year, as well as some brussel sprout plants for my Dad. He loves them, but hasn't grown them here; we'll see how it works.

Before dinner, we played hearts. After, we went to Buffalo's and played trivia. There were only 4 or 5 teams and we came in first! Not as wonderful as it would seem, because the prize was $35 in coupons to Buffalo's--which can only be used $5 at a time and expire in October. And they are not good on trivia night. There were still some questions which we could not answer. Two points apiece for naming the characters in Ghostbusters--we couldn't name one. He did give one point for naming actors, of which Ray managed 5. Our biggest loss was What foreign car company has a plant in Tennessee that's the biggest in the world? Ray and the Captain and Vanessa were sure it was Toyota, but it was Nissan. They put the maximum point value on that, so we lost 8 points. Molli and I didn't have any idea. One of the places we got ahead was by recognizing these song lyrics as being from Daydream Believer: "I rise, wipe the sleep out of my eyes, the shaving razor's cold and it stings..." We had beer and French fries and were home by 9:30. We were watching some TV, but I had to take myself to bed.

At last! I am cool. I am wearing socks because my feet were so cold. I have turned off the ceiling fan. The windows were open all night. I can hear insects and birds and faraway dogs barking and cars going by on the road. I woke up in the night and pulled the quilt off the floor to cover me. Sigh. We sat outside on the porch to have drink and snack and watch the chickens, who seemed a little livelier, too.

Ray and I got up at 6 yesterday (well, I was up before then anyway) and drove to Atlanta to pick up Molli, who is visiting for the weekend. She was in LA for a couple weeks for training and, luckily, the 3-day Labor Day weekend falls in the middle of those 2 weeks. What a joy to have her here! She looks great, having lost a lot of weight, and is very healthy and strong. I want to keep her around always. We ate breakfast in Hugh's new restaurant in Atlanta and enjoyed it very much. (Hugh Acheson is a young, much-admired chef, from whom I took a cooking class for charity last year).

When we got home, we watched tennis on TV and made cookies and supper. Vanessa made her famous iced tea. After supper, Molli walked Cameron. Zoe and I went a little ways with her. We watched TV and went to bed early. I finished my book about growing up in Florida in the 40s and 50s, during KKK activities. Not conducive to sleeping. But I guess things are somewhat better now.

The Captain and Vanessa got home from their trip yesterday about 12:30. They enjoyed swimming in the ocean every day and eating in good seafood restaurants, but they are not going to be moving down there. The politics are even more conservative and the neighbors too depressing. The trailers (called "coaches") are kind of cute and available very reasonably. Aunt Norma, at 93, is doing pretty well physically, but she does forget what she has just said a lot. And their trailer is incredibly cluttered, including a huge number of the paperback books that Marsha reads.

It was finally cool enough to open the windows last night, although not the kind of cool that makes you want to snuggle under the blankets, but a welcome change. It was in the low 90s during the day, but not as humid as it has been. I am tired and sore, haven't really slept enough in days--or gotten enough exercise or eaten right. Hopefully, this 3-day weekend will set me straight. Nothing we have to do, except drive to Atlanta twice, maybe do some gardening.

Today is the first home football game at UGA and the traffic in town yesterday afternoon was bad. I always hate to see the cars and trucks with multiple UGA flags attached to every window. The people seem so crazily obsessed to me. I suppose it is one more way to keep from thinking about any real  issues.

Meredith is away for the weekend and took the day off yesterday, her first vacation since she started in January. I finished up the two reimbursement requests and submitted them. Unfortunately, the city finance department is now scanning every piece of paper and it will take two weeks to get our check. I worked some more on the mailing list. After lunch, we went to the Food Bank. They had lots of good milk, with expiation dates that hadn't passed yet, free interesting juices, like cranberry-black cherry, and brand-name cereals in boxes that were not completely damaged. We stopped at a drug store and got diapers, wipes, and disinfectant spray.

Then it turned out that the printer was out of ink. I had 3 ink cartridges for a different printer and they tried to hook that one up, but couldn't get it to work. I had a 3:00 counseling appointment, so had to leave. I felt bad because Meredith was gone and Kerri was terribly busy. After my appointment, I called and they hadn't been able to make it work, so I stopped and bought a cartridge and took it to them. That's when I really noticed the traffic. I picked Ray up and we went home and visited with my parents for a while. We just had leftovers for dinner, including some of the really good cheese from the party the night before, which was a big success, if you don't count the fact that only nine people came.

I worked on fixing the Invalid addresses in the mailing list. I'm still not halfway through and we need to get out an appeal; our bank balance is going down way too fast. Meredith and I are concerned. There will be money coming in the end of the year, but will it be too little, too late? I started on the reimbursements for August; that will help.

I went to lunch by myself and read a book on my iPhone. It was lovely and delicious, but I couldn't resist dessert and then I felt too full most of the afternoon. Plus I can't really spend $22 on lunch every day. After work, at 3, I went to Gosford Wine and bought some expensive wine and cheese for the party tonight. We are having a "meet and greet" for the Democratic candidate, Russell Edwards, running against the infamous Paul Broun, Jr. There is a lot to do, but the biggest problem is I only know of a couple people who are definitely coming. I will be so embarrassed if there is not a good turnout--I would love to have a crowd for him. People are out of town or busy or they know they will vote for him and don't see a need to be there. One said they would vote for "a turnip" if it was running against PBJ.

Then I got Ray and we picked up a few more things at Kroger. I need to clean and straighten up the yard and....

Another meeting with the Olan Mills guy went well. We are excited about our new directory. Potluck was delicious and choir was fun. Ray joined us! He has never sung with any group and seems to really like it.

I slept well until 3:45 am. Then I finished my book.

Long night. Now I have a headache, in addition to my sore back and neck and shoulders. Most of the time at work yesterday, I was working on the mailing list, if I wasn't reconciling old accounts, so I was at the computer. I did have a lunch break and leave at 3. Ray and I came home early, but he went straight to bed for a long nap. I made supper. I opened the door so the chickens could go into their yard or tractor, but they stayed in the coop. Maybe it feels safer to them. They seem fine. Watched some TV. It is a little cooler at night now, but it did get up to 95 again yesterday.