I felt this way the last time we were here to some extent. Spending time with my sister is like looking in a mirror--a funhouse mirror, maybe. We are the same, but different. She has the same cookbooks and the same style of meal planning. She buys the same brands of groceries--some of them were the brands our mother bought, but others she buys for the reasons I do--cost or taste or politics. Not everything. She is more conscientious about buying organic than I am, and there are different choices here than at my house. But they are probably the things I would buy if I lived here--and I was more her and less me. Her reasons usually make sense to me; she doesn't have to convince me of her logic. Sometimes we say the same thing at the same time. Our brains kind of work the same way. I think she is me on steroids--or me if I had more money or was more thorough (or compulsive). Where she keeps things matches where I would put them, even though I usually open the wrong drawer first.

It is cold here, even though local residents are complaing of the heat. That is one of our favorite things about coming here. I have worn a sweater or a sweatshirt much of the time (and been laughed at, but that's fine). I love having to bundle up. They do keep their house much cooler than I like, but that's okay. I am so ready not to be hot. The heat at home saps my energy and keeps me from doing anything. Here I can cook--and there are people who will eat everything I make! I brought a few cookies from home, but they are gone; time to make more. I need to make bread. Polly buys a certain kind of healthy store-bought bread for herself, but the kids pretty much only eat white bread in spite of her efforts to change that. I am hoping some homemade half-wheat bread may entice them.

We arrived on Saturday after spending the day in the airport. Sunday I was awake early, after maybe 5 hours of sleep. Lidet gave me a big hug; she was happy to see me. Nate was a little slower. He had to have his computer time (half-hour a week) before he could casually saunter downstairs. Polly went off for a walk, one of the many ways she stays in shape. She was glad to be able to go before Jim got back, since we were there to stay with the kids. Lidet helped me make pancakes--with raspberries. They are in season here and growing in abundance--right in the yard and up the street at a neighbor's. I will have to plant some at home. They are delicious; picking them is so easy! No bugs, no sweat, practically no thorns. We spent many hours picking as children and it was worth it, but this is so much more pleasant, it practically takes the satisfaction away. Their family has already been picking them for weeks and frozen many packages, but there are loads of them. The bin sits out for anyone to help themselves all day. Lidet especially is a grazer and what a healthy tasty snack!

I didn't make quite enough pancakes--Ray was asleep until late and ate the last few while Jim was getting his exercise--maybe riding his bike. Lidet and I went up the hill and picked two quarts of berries, saying hello to the people we went by. The weather was sunny and warm, in the 70s, and I loved it. All the yards are bursting with flowers and ornamentals--they are small yards; the houses are close together, but every space is carefully planned and planted and maintained. I don't know what happens if you are not a gardener--maybe you hire someone else to take care of the planting for you. And the view is magnificent--the city down below and the mountains beyond. You can see them sometimes and not others, depending on how clear it is. Yesterday afternoon, the drawbridge was up. I'm sure the people waiting the cars did not enjoy it, but sitting on Polly's back porch with a glass of wine and watching was pretty nice.

Polly and Lidet showed me the vegetable gardens and harvested some lettuce and peas as well as more raspberries. We made shortcakes to have for dessert, with raspberries and whipped cream, after Jim grilled some sausages and we made a bean salad. Polly and Lidet had been to the store and bought corn on the cob, too. Yum. We ate outside. I fell asleep sitting on the walk looking at the mountains and got myself awake and put myself to bed.

I woke up early, but managed to go back to sleep, until a strange unpleasant dream woke me.

It was light so early, it was hard to stay asleep, plus the time difference. Jim was up and having some coffee and reading the paper before he went to work. Polly zipped off to go for a swim before the kids woke up. We had to be very quiet, since the sounds from downstairs can wake them early. I made raspberry muffins and they were still warm when the kids got up. Lidet even ate one; she is a notorious not-breakfast-eater.

Watching Polly and Jim negotiate what the kids want to take for lunch is amazing. They don't want to pack something that will go to waste, but they do need a balanced nutritious meal. There are so many options. Bagel with hummus, bagel with cream cheese, fruit, packaged snack...And all packed in reusable containers, of course. Jim left for work. Polly did the final preparations and took the kids to camp at 9:30. Then she went off to work at a coffee shop, even taking a sandwich herself.

Ray lay down and went back to sleep and I studied cookbooks for hours. There was a baseball game that evening and we needed something we could take with us to eat for supper--something healthy that everyone would enjoy. I finally settled on quiche, which my kids loved (and still do)--plain eggs and cheese in a homemade crust. The recipe was on my phone, not in any of these books, and it was tried and true. When Ray woke up, we had lunch--leftover bean salad for me, with a little salami and cheese added. And a raspberry muffin.

When the quiche was done, we took a little walk. Several blocks out, one up and several blocks back. I jumped in the shower and got dressed while Ray watched for the kids. They were brought home a little after 3. We gave them food--a quesadilla for Lidet--and unpacked the lunch boxes. Lots of leftovers. Nate went right to a book and didn't stop reading the rest of the day, except for the ball game--and helping me play Spider. Lidet took Ray to pick berries after Polly came home. She admired the quiches and we made a salad with potatoes and beets. Jim came home, took some quiche and drove Nate to the game. Ray went with them. Lidet went to spend the night with a friend. I finished the salad and Polly did some chores. Then we sat and drank wine and enjoyed the weather. We had some good conversation and went to the ball field, salad in hand. It was a lovely pleasant evening, not much in the way of bugs. Polly and Jim knew a lot of the other parents. Nobody knew the score and we watched in a very desultory manner, but we were there for Nate and we enjoyed the ambience.

At home, I whipped the cream and mixed some berries in--raspberry fool. Nate didn't respond to offers, so we ate it all up. At bedtime, he wanted some dessert--sorry, we didn't leave you any. He could still have berries, just no cream. Polly worked on her computer. Ray and I watched a little TV, a very little, the end of Masterpiece Theater--and went to bed about 9:30. It was still light out, but I slept like a log. Until 4:15 or so...dreaming about dinosaurs this time.

The alarm went off at 5:15. Many times I am awake by then, but could happily have slept longer this time. Got up and groggily checked my email and read a few things on my computer. Had breakfast--only one piece of toast. Put my toiletry kit in the suitcase and zipped it up. Got dressed to go in the clothes I had picked. Sky arrived (5 minutes early). Ray jumped in the shower and I realized I hadn't packed up the computer. It was difficult about shutting down, but finally got it and ran downstairs. I put mayonnaise on a couple slices of bread and threw them in a little insulated lunch box we have, with all the leftover cold cuts and a few things we were taking from the garden: herbs, green beans, carrots, tomatoes..Also the leftover lentil salad. Ray flew downstairs and then went back up to get the suitcases. I grabbed my sunglasses from the car in the garage and ran out. We jumped in Sky's car and drove off, locking the front door behind us.

We got to the Hampton Inn right on time and the shuttle pulled in behind us. We thanked Sky and she left. Turns out we were the only ones taking ths shuttle from Athens that morning. The driver was  a pleasant older gentleman. We chatted with him some. He has to drive the shuttle both ways even if there are no passengers, because he needs to keep to the schedule. Someone could show up without a reservation--or make one at the last minute.

We were at the airport in plenty of time, of course. We checked the one giant suitcase (with all my stuff in it). We carried two bags on our backs, plus my purse and the big white boat bag through the airport--long line at security, but moving steadily. We were at the gate early and reading magazines. When they asked for volunteers to be bumped to an eventing flight, we said sure. Free flights are good and we weren't in a hurry. Polly and her family weren't going to be home until evening anyway.

We spent the day at Hartfield--reading, dozing, eating our sandwiches and lentil salad (I forgot to grab any of the fruit unfortunately). We played gin rummy and we played Scrabble on my phone. We charged the phone a couple of times, when we were near a place to plug it in. I remembered that Janna was flying out the same day, a little later in the day, so I called her to ask where she would be. She was on the shuttle and let us know later what gate she was at. We collected our stuff and headed to Concourse B. There were lots of restaurants there, like a food court. We spent about 15 minutes with her. She is headed up to Wisconsin to visit her aunt and sister--it has been over 100 there, too, but hopefully won't be as bad.

After she left, we stayed at that concourse for a while, but it was awfully busy and noisy, so we wandered over to C, where our flight was due to leave from at 7:45 pm. We continued with the same activities, taking turns sitting with the suticases while the other person went to the bathroom or wandered around, mostly checking out our restaurant choices. I talked to Polly and she said she would come get us at the airport unless we were too delayed.

About 5:30, we picked a restaurant and ordered chicken salads (mine was teriyaki--his was just grilled) and fries, with cheese and bacon and ranch dressing. I stopped eating before I finished, worrying that I might get indigestion. Sometimes packaged dressing has something in it that bothers me, sometimes lettuce has been treated to keep it from turning brown. (I didn't have any problems! Yay, Charley's!)

We actually left the ground a little early--everyone was on. We were in the first seats behind first class, so there were only two tray tables for three seats. It was a crowded plane, with a narrow aisle and not much leg room. A nice retired principal from Perry sat with us and we chatted a lot. I read a little and was starting to doze when we arrived. Ray's leg started to bother him, so he got up and walked back and forth a couple times. Since he had the window seat, that necessitated my getting up and her getting up to let him out--and again back in. She took the window seat at that point and let him have the aisle, so he could stretch out his leg. Then we could see the mountains and Seattle as we got closer. She was looking out and he was too, over me...

We were near the front, so got off sooner than we usually do. Our suitcase had arrived earlier and was right there to grab. We went outside and it was cool--not cold, there were people in shorts and sandals, but very pleasant. Polly called and we moved our stuff upstairs to wait for her at Departures, a trick to avoid the crowds (although probably not needed at 10 PM).

Everyone was aleep at the house. I put a couple things in the fridge and joined them. Of course, I woke up before 5 this morning--it was getting light here, what could I do? Very happy to be here and looking forward to seeing those kids any minute now.

Hot and humid again. I took Ray in and ran errands while he gave his last quiz of this session. I went to the bank and the credit union, returned things to Target and T. J. Maxx. It was more than 90 days, so I got store credit, which is fine. More than 90 days since the wedding!

I delivered lunches. I wanted to tell the children, who don't really know me, that this was my last time. Gere will be doing it from now on, which is really nice, but she has trouble understanding their names and finding them on the list. Not surprisingly. I guess my experience has helped me become more familiar with the accent and behavior of young black children? Anyway, I will miss them and wonder what life holds for them. It was only in the high 80s, but really humid.

Gere and I picked Ray up and then we stopped at Hawthorne Drugs to get our prescriptions. There was a delay and I got a frozen yogurt cone from Em's. Gere had chips. She is vegan and there was not much on the menu she could eat!

At home, we packed. I made supper. Ray went to get a haircut and mowed the lawn when he came back. There was a downpour about 8. We watched one last Jeopardy episode and went to bed before 10.

Hot, hot, hot, and humid. The air conditioning already ran this morning once. The clouds hold the heat, but it's not cloudy enough to block the full moon. all making for not great sleeping. Also my shoulder aches, maybe from the heat and humidity, maybe from too much sitting in front of the computer.

Ray taught his last class this session and I stayed home. My Dad came; there's not much to do in the garden, not even much to pick. It's so hot the beans are blossoming, the pumpkin is dying even though it has a beautiful big green pumpkin. There is a lovely watermelon coming along. He cut up chicken bones and boiled them for stock on the stove, with a little celery and onion and carrot and herbs. I still need to strain it.

I washed some clothes and hung them to dry.

Ray came home for lunch and we ate bean salad and quiche left from yesterday. I paid bills and entered receipts in quicken. He made up the final quiz he will give today. After he corrects it and enters the grades, he will be free for a month!

I sliced cucumbers and mixed them with sour cream and dill and mint and red onion. I made some salsa too, but it was too hot for me. We went to potluck at the KR community center and celebrated birthdays.

Watched a little TV, read a little, went to sleep. I just don't have any energy in this weather. Can't wait for the cool.

Yesterday was a holiday, so Ray was home all day, but he was still working on his computer. I had suggested that my Dad not come, because I needed to do some cooking for the party. I made a tomato quiche, by combining several recipes. I didn't have any milk or cream (that wasn't sour), but I had some sour cream I wanted to use up. The recipe I liked best called for leeks, but I want to save mine until they are bigger before I harvest them. They're precious and I have to decide the best use--potage bonne femme, I think. At the same time, I didn't really want to buy some. I have lots of red onions, but not much in the way of yellow.

I did have half a large store-bought yellow onion left, though. So I sauteed it in olive oil for a while. Ray grated up the bits of cheese that were open in the fridge--mozzarella, gouda, and a couple others. I took some of the pie crust mix I had made (with lard) from a container in the fridge, added water, and rolled it out and fitted it in a big pie dish. After the onions and the cheese, I sliced a couple tomatoes on. Then I mixed two large eggs and a cup of sour cream and poured it over the top.

While that was in the oven, we took a walk. When we got home, I picked as many beans as I could find and a few more tomatoes. The last of the squash plants are wilting, succumbed to the borers.

I didn't get as many beans as I had hoped, only about half a pound. I steamed them and mixed them with canned beans (garbs and kidneys), sliced red onion, minced garlic, oil, vinegar, two banana peppers, minced, and some black olives. The quiche cooled and the bean salad chilled. Ray and I ate leftover rice and beans for lunch. I made sugar syrup and picked mint for mojitos. I squeezed some limes and gathered everything up.

We picked up my Dad and headed to Becky's about ten of five--we were invited for 4...The pool felt wonderful. I mixed mojitos for several of us and they tasted pretty good. We had cheese and pita chips and salsa and corn chips. My Dad and Kent talked a lot. Ray worked on his laptop. Ron and Janna arrived. We all spent some time in the pool and talked.

Becky cooked burgers and sausages. She had made potato salad and Janna had brought a salad with quinoa. Everything was good and we were done in plenty of time to see the fireworks. We didn't go and neither did Ron and Janna, but Becky was  hoping to.

I watched a little TV and was in bed before 10.

Happy fourth of July! It was hot and humid yesterday; no window opening at all. But there was a wonderful downpour, with thunder, for a while. We got almost half an inch! We also lost power for about an hour, but no harm was done. I just had to  make supper very quickly so we could get to the movies--Best Exotic marigold hotel. Very fun movie, with incredible cinematography of life in India.

Captain and I made 2 containers of tomato sauce--more work than it sounds. About an hour or so's worth of peeling tomatoes for him. The usual chopping of garlic, peppers, etc., for me and then some cooking. Ray had very little sleep, so I drove him to work in the morning and picked him up at lunchtime, which gave us a chance for a quick dip before coming home. He slept most of the afternoon and I didn't do much.

Sugar Baby watermelon growing bigger

Friday involved driving Ray to work, spending some time at the library after visiting the bank, and delivering lunches in 100-degree heat. Then Ray and I ate the sandwiches I had brought and started driving to Durham to see Amelia and Kevin (and their house). Almost immediately I started to sleepy. I was supposed to drive while Ray worked on preparing for the class he is teaching. It is two hours every day and he hasn't taught it before, so he has to prepare the notes and PowerPoints every day. It takes many more hours to prepare than to present the information. But I couldn't stay awake. We stopped and bought big caffeinated drinks. Then we had to stop again to use the rest room, of course. After about an hour and a half, I gave up and asked Ray to drive. Did I sleep? Of course not. We sat in traffic north of Charlotte for over an hour, going 10 miles in that time. They are working on the road, which currently goes from 5 lanes to 2...

cabinets drying in the living room

We got there in time to admire the house and go somewhere to eat. Even inside the restaurant it was hot, or at least not as cool as we would have liked. I was too tired to really appreciate my food, but it was a nice chicken salad, which was what I wanted.

Ray and I slept in the twin beds that were my parents' guest beds for many years--my grandmother bought them, maybe as a gift. My Dad can't quite remember, and now that my Mom is gone, that information is too. Gloria and Tom, Kevin's parents, bought new mattresses and box springs for them. And the air conditioning works well.

testing paint colors in the master bedroom

Amelia was there early in the morning, working on the new kitchen counter. It is a green product called Richlite, made of paper, I believe. It is the same stuff that schools use in their science labs, I'm told. She got it in the 1/2 inch thickness and doubled it in places and added an edge in others to make it look thicker, because she thought it looked better. She's probably right. I guess I could never be a designer, because cost and convenience would probably win over appearance most of the time. At this point, she was working on sanding it to make sure no seams show. Over the time we were there, she finished the sanding and added two coats of a special wax, buffing each coat thoroughly and letting it dry overnight in between. It looks great, imho. Then Kevin and Ray carried the sink over and set it into its spot. It did not sit right, since sinks shouldn't be able to move back and forth. She got a piece of wood and her saw and worked on fixing it. And that's where they were when we left about 3 on Sunday.

I helped, sanding cabinets

In between, we ate in two more restaurants and saw her apartment and cat briefly when she and I threw some dinner together on Saturday night. I brought some green beans and other veggies from our garden, and we got corn at the farmer's market that morning. Cooking for the two of them is pretty impossible, since Amelia is a vegetarian and Kevin is not. He doesn't eat much in the way of veggies or fruits--not even corn on the cob! He is used to fending for himself though and dipped into his stash of frozen chicken nuggets.

Driving home was a lot better in terms of traffic. I managed to drive all but the last hour while Ray worked. We stopped for a relatively nice meal at Macaroni Grille, where we met Becky and Kent as they were returning from a trip north as well. Their relatives (Becky's parents) were without power when they left them and it looks from the news like they may still be.

A big old tree down, on the golf course near their house

carrying the sink