Soli easily caught and held this anole; maybe it is sick?

Feeling pretty boring and depressed; not much to share with the rest of the world.

Garden is great; eating lots of good food. My young friend Soli helped me pick the first peas and some more asparagus after our now ritual game of Save the Whales. We ate them with cauliflower-cheese pie, a delicious variation on quiche with a crispy potato crust.

I drove to Town and Gown to audition for Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. It was hard to get up the energy to go; auditions are one of the hardest things in the world, espcially since it is very unlikely for me to get a part. Lots of young skinny women; my only hope is that they need someone who looks older. Only 8 women's parts (and 8 men's--almost always true that it is much easier to get a part if you are male, because fewer men audition).

Feeling so useless I cried myself to sleep, in spite of Ray's attempts to comfort me.

Yesterday was the first day I've been out and about on my own for a while. It felt strange. For one thing, I don't know what I was thinking. I signed up for an OLLI class that meets from 11:30 to 1. What a wierd time! I had to eat lunch at 11 or wait until I got home again. I ate at 11, but it was hard to get on track to get going that early. Ray had driven himself in and I was kind of at 6s and 7s, not sure what to do. It was still pretty cold, so cooking would have been good, but there wasn't really anything I wanted to make that I could start and finish before 11. I worked on photos some and went up and down stairs several times, continuing to tidy up odds and ends from our crazy weeks.

I heated up the chicken and couscous again and it was still tasty. I was ready to leave, but my iPad was charging. After about 15 minutes, I decided I could leave without it. I got to the class about 20 minutes late and I didn't have my parking passes with me. The class was mediocre, involving watching videotaped information, interspersed with comments from the "teacher." There was little new information, about diet, exercise, and other things you can do to live longer independently. The one thing that I have heard before that I know I need to do is strength training. When I talk to my Dad about this, he says, "does gardening count?" No, gardening and other daily activities do not count. We lose 25% of our muscle mass as we get older, and we have to exercise to be able to continue to garden and do other things.

I felt kind of strange on my way there, like I really prefer to stay in my home, cooking and gardening and communicating on line. It would be easy to turn into a recluse, only going places with Ray. I woke up feeling sad that I have so much to offer and sure that there are people who need help, but I just can't connect with them. I try not to think about it, but it bothers me so much. Especially when I go to a class like this: I think, I could live a long time and have nothing to do with my life...I am concerned that Ray is at risk for health problems. I am, too, but less so. I have tried unsuccessfully to help him. He is working too much.

Captain's surprise haircut

I got home and spent a little time in the garden. I picked some lettuce and beets. I worked on the photo albums some more. My Dad arrived. He was too excited about his trip to do any gardening. We agreed the garden looked pretty good. I washed the lettuce and beet greens and put them in a salad bowl with spinach and a lemony dressing.

I went to feed the pigs and then to the Kenney Ridge potluck. There were few of us, but lots of good food. The board meeting was right afterward. It was painful and left a knot in my stomach. I didn't sleep very well either. But I do feel like we made some progress. Ray was home when I got there and we watched a little TV. He went to bed and I stayed up until almost 11.

newborn chick at the feed store

the pigs are eating well their last week or so

Daisy stands guard

peas will be ready to harvest within the week

baby lettuce can be eaten now

I made Easter baskets, but forgot to put them out Sunday AM

The weather has been so beautiful here for so long that it is easy to take it for granted. It is cool at night; we open the windows and I sleep under a quilt. In the middle of the day, it is sunny and hot enough to make me sweat if I am in the garden. In the house, it stays comfortable because we close sunny windows and shades. But it is dry and I need to water the garden; no rain in the forecast for over a week. I shocked little Adah several times and need to put more cream on my hands.

My Dad is dealing with a fairly traumatic event. He filed his income taxes electronically for the first time ever, with the help of an accountant. The IRS rejected them because someone had already filed with one of the social security numbers he used, either his or my Mom's. He has talked to people at the bank, the social security office and Clark Howard's office. He has called credit bureaus and credit card companies. He thinks he has put a freeze on his credit for 90 days. My Mom's credit shouldn't be a problem, because there is nothing in her name any more. It was very stressful and aggravating; at least one of the people he spoke to was in another country and didn't speak English well. But he thinks he has done everything he can now. He will file his taxes on paper instead. And I need to get mine done, too!

Ray and I are digging out from having lots of company for two weeks. The good thing about no rain is I can do the laundry that has accumulated. We have leftovers to eat, which is not a bad thing. I invited Becky to join me yesterday for some more chicken tagine and couscous. Sure tasted good! Last night was ziti--and spinach salad from the garden, which is doing very well. The days have been pleasant enough for me to spend some time weeding. My Dad has been clearing and planting. We have to spray with insect repelling solution, and we have to water to keep them growing.

I crashed watching Jeopardy last night.

The clear nights and full moon have woken us up several times, but it is waning now and should be better for sleeping soon.

It's very quiet here, not that there was ever a lot of noise at 5:30, but I know that it is just Ray and me in the house now. I miss my children very much, and all the activity that goes wtih. But it is nice to know that I do not need to entertain or cook for anyone else today. In fact, we have lots of leftover food, so I don't even need to cook for us right away. I will have Adah to entertain this afternoon, but she usually bosses me around, so I don't need to plan much for her. The garden is starting to produce, so that will shape my meal planning for the next weeks and months.

I want to sing the praises of a new bus service, Megabus. Because it is new, it only cost $1 for each of us to ride to Atlanta. Ray and I went with Molli and Adrian and his family. We did have to leave at 7 am, but it was very comfortable, with two levels. We had a great view from the front of the upstairs, and there is free wi-fi and electric outlets for charging phones and computers. We left from the UGA Campus and were delivered to midtown, to a MARTA station. It was easy to transfer all the bags. The biggest problem was the wait for a train, since it was before 9 on Sunday morning. We were at the airport in plenty of time to have a leisurely breakfast buffet at Houlihan's. It was a strange way to celebrate Easter. After they went through security, Ray and I took the subway to the High Museum and enjoyed the work of Picasso, Pollack, Warhol, and more. We were at the bus stop 30 minutes early and got seats at a table. He corrected papers all the way back to Athens, while I read e-mails.

The weather here was been lovely for weeks, with highs in the 70s and lows in the 50s.. We do need rain and my Dad has been watering the garden. He is planting an setting things out furiously, before he leaves on Friday for a cruitse to Barcelona. He lelft as we arrived home. I spent a short time weeding. Tehn we ate leftover chicken tagine--it was great--and watched TV until I started snoring about 9 o'clock.

This morning, there was an e-mail from Molli that they arrived home safely, with minimal stress.

pineapple, by Adrian

my accidental bunny rabbit

Amelia finishes sewing The Dress

Emily's hair

Francesca at the Salon

Francesca, Kristen, Becca Leathe, Bridezilla (jk)

Ian and Christine were awesome helpers

Groom's cake, made by Gloria O.

ring photo 1 (this and following by Cookie)

ring photo 2 (amelia made the flower)

It's been a whole week since I posted! Obviously, I've been really busy with Molli's wedding. And most of the people who might read this blog were here, in Athens, so I didn't have anything more to say.

Molli is married! My daughter is a bride. Wow! It was amazing--the service and reception were the best ever! Yes, it was all worth it. There are things I might do differently, but it is worth pulling out all the stops and having lots of people. On the scale of weddings, this one was relatively inexpensive, but we did totally splurge on many things.

the Kiss

All Middlebury grads

Maybe the best was a five-piece jazz band that played for 3 or 4 hours with one break. They said they had a great time too. Gloria made an awesome chocolate groom's cake in the shape of a book, with a quote from Nietzche on it. We bought three cakes from Cecilia's--one 14" coconut cake, one 10" tres leches cake (my favorite), one 10" lemon cake. There is a lot left. They looked great. I had no idea how to cut and serve them, but Gloria did. We had plenty of champagne and marvelous toasts by the best man, the maid of honor, the father of the bride... We had plenty of delicious and interesting food...although I'm not sure Molli had time to eat much of it. I was too tired and too excited to really enjoy it, but people raved about it. Not sure what is left, but hopefully we will eat some more today.

Many very happy people dancing when I went to bed, and slept well for 8 hours.