My Dad came pretty early and worked in the garden for hours. He planted carrots and radishes. I did a lttle, but it got hot and I was supposed to make cookies. Ray and I walked some. I mixed the cookies up, but it was too hot by then to bake them. I did some reading for my Psych of Aging class. He left and I had lunch about noon. I did some more readng and computer work.

I baked the cookies about 5. Ray came home and we turned around and went out again. The opening of the Democratic HQ was at 6, although we were a little late. I brought a few cookies, but there was a ton of food there and I should have just taken them home again. i forgot them when I left though, sadly. There was an excellent turnout and lots of people to say hi too. After a while, it was loud, hot, and crowded, and we left. My Dad was there, as well as Janna and Ron, Becky and Kent. Becky and Kent ate dinner at Heirloom with us. Ray had already eaten a lot at the open house, so he just had a salad. Becky and I had burgers. They were delicious. Heirloom's claim to fame is local food. I ordered the peach upside down cake, but only ate half of it. Becky's sweet potato pie was delicious, too.

We watched John Stewart and went to bed, so woke up before 6.

Yesterday I had Ray drop me off as he was leaving, so I could walk back. I spent a little time in the garden. My Dad came about 10, but didn't spend time outside because he was dressed for lunch. I took a bath and got dressed and we both read things on our computers. Also I made pasta bean salad.

At 12:30, we met Bill, our spelling bee team mate, at Transmet and had lunch. I quizzed them both on spelling words from a guide the Literacy council had emailed me. My Dad got them all right, except one. I can't challenge you to spell it, because I can't talk to you orally. Can you spell sarsaparilla? Of course, it's pronounced sassparilla. Our plan is for Bill and me to defer to the Captain. We are pretty confident, but then I was confident other years. Our team? The 2 1/2 Geezers. If you want to contribute or learn more, click here. The event is this Sunday afternoon at the Hotel Indigo. Tickets are only $5, I think.

After that, I went by the library for a bit until Ray was finished for the day and came to pick me up. The library is in the throes of a major renovation and it's interesting to find a place to sit there. At the moment, you can't actually look through the books. If you want one, you can ask for it and they will find it and bring it to you, if you know exactly what you want. I generally browse, so didn't get any new books yesterday. I expect I'll be able to see them again soon.

Ray and I spent a little time at home before we headed to the Fellowship for potluck and choir.

I seem to be burning my candle at both ends, with predictable results. Last night we went to see The Campaign at Beechwood with Becky and Kent. It was better than I thought and we were home before 10. I just have to have popcorn and Snocaps at the movies, unless I go to Cine, and the only thing to have with popcorn is Coke. So then I was awake most of the night--how stupid is that! I had to rush there from class, which went from 4:55 to 7:55. I enjoyed it. An older woman biology professor spoke about some of the aging research. A lot of it was beyond my comprehension--I wished Ray were there; he would have really enjoyed it.

Primates and Humans share a lot of DNA. Primates die soon after their reproductive years are over. Humans live a lot longer. What evolutionary reason is there for that? This is a question I had already pondered and really wanted answered. There are several hypotheses. The ones she likes best is the grandmother education effect. Women who live longer have more grandchildren. Theoretically, they provide support to their children and so they are  more "successful" from a reproductive point of view. No, not because they nag them... She also talked about how that works. Some of it was about tleomeres and genes and I can't tall you about it. In involved nude mice...She also urged us all to know the warning signs of stroke and emphasized that heart diseases kills more women than cancer, and is more preventable. Yes, exercise and diet, and quit smoking if you haven't.

Working backwards through my day, before that I was home reading my assignments for that class and there were a lot and I didn't finish all of them. It took me a while to get access to one of them. I couldn't read it on my iPad until I downloaded it on my computer and copied it to Dropbox or Evernote. I had lunch with Becky, Ray, and Le'Ann at Eitenne. Le'Ann broke her ankle in two places. Becky picked her up and took her home and we had a really nice time. I was somewhat moderate in my food choices, ordering salad nicoise (which they make with seared raw tuna steak--quite yummy, but not authenitic in my opinion). I helped other people eat their French fries and pasta and had a couple bites of Ray's croque madame, which is better than ordering my own. I did order creme brulee. The chocolate tart was too sweet for Becky, so I had a couple bites of that too. This is why we were able to have popcorn for supper...

In the morning, I went to the eye doctor and ordered new lenses. The ones I have are scratched, and she told me last year they should be replaced, but I didn't want to spend the money. Ha! I don't have any more money this year, but I noticed it when I was doing a lot of reading for classes.

I went to pilates yesterday morning. We had time for a short walk first. I stopped at the Farmers' Market on the way home and got some potatoes and zucchini. I spent a little time in the garden. It wasn't very hot yesterday, but humid, threatening but not delivering rain.

My Dad came over for a bit and planted some broccoli and lettuce for me. He was feeling down because the food we had eaten Friday night had made him sick and he doesn't know what he can do to keep from being sick so much.

Ray was splitting wood and hit his finger, so he came in and put ice on it. It is very discolored and he will surely lose the nail.

Ray and I had leftover rice salad for lunch and Captain went home to eat canned chicken soup.

Ray and I watched the Olympics we still have recorded and rested up.  I would have made some ginger cookies, but I'm out of eggs. Fortunately, I figured it out in time, so I have creamed butter and sugar in the fridge. I needed two eggs for dinner, to make frittatas with peppers and potatoes, which were delicious. And have one left for pancakes this morning.

After supper, I tried to rustle up some kind of outfit for Groovy Nights. I still have some things I wore in the 70s--or at least something a lot like. A long "peasant" skirt and cotton over shirt, for instance. But the costumes at Groovy Nights tend more toward shiny materials and bright colors--white boots are big too. So I changed to a black and white dress I have, with beads, eye shadow and white lipstick. And my Bass sandals--I have been wearing basically the same sandals since then. I have two pair, because my Mom had exactly the same ones. So I don't need to buy any more sandals for a long time...After all, we're certainly not going to win the costume contest.

I was pretty off the whole night--I really didn't want to go anywhere and it was loud and crowded with people I don't know. Deb and John met us there. I was forbidden from bidding on any auction items--but there weren't any I wanted, really. I spent $5 on a drink and $10 on a frog bath mat. It's cute and I felt sorry for it, because no one else was bidding on it. Maybe I'll give it to someone for Christmas.

We danced a little, but they played the same songs over and over, some that we like, but not all my favorites from the 60s and 70s, just the pounding repetitive ones, like YMCA and Celebrate and We are Family. It's just too much the same every year. They have footage of Soul Train they show, which is interesting, but seems to me to border on racism sometimes--the ads for hair products are fascinating. They serve chocolate fondue, which is yummy, but hard not to get on yourself. We couldn't sit at a table because they were all reserved for people who spent more than we did--or planned better. So we sat on chairs and ate on our laps.

We came home after 11.

Hmm, looks like I missed a day. Sorry about that.

Thursday morning I worked on my writing assignments for class. Ray came home after his class and ate lunch. Then we drove to Atlanta. We were picking my Dad up at the airport, but first we went for a quick visit to Fernbank, where Ray took lots of photos of the dinosaur skeletons. We also visited the exhibit on poop. Of course, we didn't get to stay very long and probably didn't leave as early as we should have. Then the traffic was bad and my Dad called to say he had already arrived. He wasn't feeling good, so we abandoned our plan to eat at Bistro Niko. By the time we got to Conyers, he was feeling a little better. We ate at the best restaurant in Conyers, an Italian place, according to Trip Advisor.

I told him what he should and shouldn't eat. No sauce, plain pasta with grilled chicken. The salads Ray and I had were especially good.

They dropped me off at UUFA for a Lay Ministry meeting, where I volunteered for too much, probably making up for the meetings I missed while we were away. There is a lot to do and we seem to talk more than we do. Nancy M. gave me a ride home. My Dad was sleeping at our house. He slept 12 hours and felt great the next day.

We had carefully left his car at his house and the truck is full of firewood still from a week ago. So I drove Ray to UGA and came home with the car. On the way, I stopped at Hendershots and got my Dad some coffee. In an hour or so, he was ready to go home. I drove him there and then went to Kroger. Then I had lunch with Becky.

Meanwhile, I was very annoyed at UGA. I wasn't able to register. One of the reasons turned out to be a new requirement last year that everyone prove they are a US citizen. OK, I have to fax them my drivers' license. But couldn't they have told me before now? I stopped at the Institute and they faxed it for me. Then I rushed home and kept trying to register. It took until 4 before the flag was removed. Now I am officially registered...and I have to pay almost $4000 by Monday. Annoyingly, they use a company to process credit cards that charges 2.75%. Oh, well, at least I have that option.

Last night, I drove my Dad to a fund-raiser for the Madison County Democratic party, where his friend David is active. It was about a half hour from home, in the middle of nowhere. There is a winery north of Ila! We tasted several wines and chatted with the vintner's wife, who is Irish. We settled on a bottle of Grenache, a blush wine that seemed tasty but not too sweet.

This event was quite interesting. I knew no one there except David...and the DJ, Barbara S. There were more African-Americans than white people and everyone was having a great time, chatting and laughing. Most of the ladies vere very nicely dressed--I wore a red dress that was pretty fancy, and my mother's Venetian necklace. Dinner was BBQ, chicken, green beans, mac & cheese, peach cobbler, watermelon, and sweet tea. It was very good. But it was served on syrofoam plates with plastic cups and silverware! Democrats! Jeez...

There was line dancing and getting candidates on the floor to shake their booties...very amusing. My Dad talked some to David and we left a little after 9.

Meanwhile, Ray had been to the Geology party and met us at the Captain's house, so he would have his car this morning. We went right to bed about 10.

I have three textbooks now. I bought one used, one as an e-book, and am renting the third. Actually, I read the first chapter as a free trial and will probably rent it. I have done most of the reading for two of my classes for next week, but have to do the writing part. I am officially accepted, but still could not register yesterday when I tried. They told me last night that I should be able to now.

I made rice salad in the morning, while I was reading. I had leftover jambalaya for lunch and it tasted pretty good!

I went to the bank and met Ray to leave the red car at my Dad's. I was feeling euphoric and having lots of thoughts and ideas. I saw the policemen with their radar gun and slammed on the brakes. Fortunately, they had not been "shooting" me.

I walked into the glass on the epidemiology of aging--and it was at 2:30, not 3:30. Darn! I hate being stupid. It is also a very different class from the other two, involving statistics and lots of terms I don't know. On the other hand, the professor is relaxed and interesting. On the other hand, the class seems very disorganized. I guess it will be educational.

I am starting to feel like a student again. I went to two different bookstores, to buy a used copy of one of my books for under $30. I bought another online as an e-book and rented a third...I have so much to do!

An early-morning thunderstorm made it really wet for us to walk and kept me from working in the garden. Ray headed out and i followed later, meeting Becky at Transmet for a nice lunch. We went to Cofer and I looked for bean seeds, but they only had fall crops. Then we went to Belk and bought Jockey underwear on sale. That's one thing I can't buy at the consignment store.

I had another class at 4:55, this one much bigger as it is the intro to Gerontology: Perspectives in Aging. As I arrived, they gave me my acceptance letter. Now I can officially register (and pay!). Three hours is a long time... I knew someone in the class, Nancy T., from the Democratic Committee. She is older than me and her office at UGA is closing. She gets to take classes for free as a UGA staff member.

I had an idea today: design for seniors (apparently that is not the right term--older adults). Not just housing, but public and private buildings could have features that make it easier for older people. Just as there are play areas for children, or places to park bikes, as the older population explodes, it should be easier for them to patronize businesses and attend public activities. No steps, handrails, chairs that are good for your back and easy to get in and out of, reading materials in waiting areas. No loud music, good acoustics...

I have a headstart on some of the assignments. One is to spend at least 8 hours with an older person and write down my observations...it can be a relative.

Came home, watched TV, went to bed.