Saturday morning! It's always been a time of possibilities--what fun things will happen today? Yesterday I was home and got my preparations done for my Monday class. I also went to a Kenney Ridge finance committee meeting. Thursday's board meeting was pretty intense. We can't get anything done because the president has strong opinions that are different from everyone else's. Some members of the community doen't think we should obsess about the bylaws. They don't want a lot of complicated rules and regulations--they want to go back to a simpler time...sound familiar? But the lack of clear rules and procedures makes it hard to get anything done, so we keep spinning our wheels.

The weather has been lovely, cool at night, sunny in the middle of the day. Yesterday it was downright warm, in the mid to high 70s. There was some thunder, but I don't think it rained. My Dad was here for a while both days, but hasn't done much in the garden.

The big news is the missing chicken showed up again when I went out about 5. There were three chickens in my front yard! I wanted to hug her, but they are not much into that.

I have been making things with our homemade sausage all week, since we thawed a great big package of it--5 pounds! Yesterday I cooked it in the crock pot with eggplant and zucchini and onion and tomato--sort of a ratatouille with sausage. That might be the best. Thursday night was sausage and sweet potatoes and apples baked. That was better than I expected. We have lots of sweet potatoes, but they have been eaten by something, so the biggest ones have big bites out of them (or lots of little bites). Mice or chipmunks?

Last night we worked at Town and Gown, selling tickets and concessions during the show, See How They Run. It was quite funny, but maybe not their best work. People near me were laughing a lot, so maybe I just wasn't in the mood.

It was such a feeling of relief to come home last night and know that classes are over until next Monday. I have four days to do all the reading for them. One class I have no written assignment, but must review the basics of statistics, which we went over yesterday. Do you remember factorials? The formulas seem like a parody to me, math run amok. I understand the big picture, but the details are incredible.

I have been away so much the last few weeks that I am thrilled to be able to cook and relax and maybe even garden some. The weather is lovely, cool at night, but sunny and warm in the middle of the day. Someone told me she turned on her heat, but we have been toughing it out with 67 degree mornings (in the house).

Yesterday was one of those days. I took Ray to work and didn't feel like going to Ramsey. I have walked every day for about 5 days and decided maybe I could take a day off. But I pulled it together and drove over there anyway. After parking about three levels up, I realized I did not have my ID with me, so drove home instead. On the way, I decided to swing by the Fellowship to pick up the bag with my notebooks I had left there the day before. I was going by my Dad's, so I gave him a call. He was lying down, said he felt a bit dizzy, so I picked him up and took him home with me. At the Fellowship, I realized I did not have my key and there wasn't a soul there. But I found the email on my phone that had the code for the key box, so I could go in and get my bag.

My Dad enjoyed using his computer for a bit, but he still didn't feel very good. I made him some soup and gave him the leftover squash I would have enjoyed. He called the doctor and made an appointment for this morning. I ate leftover jambalaya and a little bit of the cabbage salad. Good lunch.

I took my bath and did a little class work. Mudge lay down and rested. I told him it was time to go, but it took him a few minutes to get up and get going. I called the chickens, but they didn't come. One was in the nesting box, so I shut her in. As we drove in, we were listening to a CD of Appalachian music I had bought at the Mountain. When we got to his house, he wanted to listen to the end of the song, which seemed to go on forever. I was afraid I might be late for class, but I didn't say anything. Then there was a truck in my way. I still got there about 2 minutes late and it wasn't a problem. Might as well be nice about it.

After class, Ray and I drove to UUFA for the first in a series of dinners prepared by the kids in the Coming of Age group...and their mentors. Ray and I are mentors, so he helped with the dinner this month. It was tacos. Pretty good, about what I used to make at home: ground beef, refried beans, lettuce, sour cream, tomatoes, etc. It was a big success, which means it was really hard to hear each other. We look forward to more fun activities with young people.

After choir, we pretty much came home and went to bed. One more chicken was sleeping on top of the run, but I couldn't find the third one anywhere. I went around the house a couple times, calling and shining a light into the woods. She was probably roosting/sleeping somewhere she thought was safe. I hope she was right. I left Cameron out all night. Maybe he will protect her.

It was heavily overcast all day yesterday and never got above 60, but it didn't rain. Today looks the same, but the forecast is for some sun later. It's a little cool even in the house with no windows open. Great for sleeping. We went to bed early and I didn't get up until almost 6.

I dashed off my paper for yesterday's class, the Psychology of Aging, before breakfast. Every week we have to write our reflections on the readings. Ray and I walked out to get the paper before picking up Dan and driving to campus.

Becky and chicken pot pie

I went to the Athens Library, which is under construction. I enjoy trying to figure out what they have done since the last time I was there. I did a good bit of reading for yesterday's and today's classes. A man and his young daughter came in about 11:30. They sat at a table near me and their talking made it hard for me to keep focused. I headed to the Institute and sat in the car there for awhile. Becky called and I walked over to meet her for lunch. It was good, but did not have any vegetables: Roast Beef sandwich to dip and French fries.

I walked back to class. We had a guest speaker, Dr. David Block, a retired neurologist. He was fascinating and brilliant but loved to try to shock us, referring a couple times to his winkie and generally being pretty crude, for which he apologized.

We took Dan home again, and had an early and satisfying supper, which included green beans and winter squash as well as peppers and onions to make up for the veggie deficit at lunch. That menat we started watching TV early and went to bed early.

We had a lovely weekend at the Mountain, a UU retreat center in North Carolina. Most of the time when I come home from a trip, I am glad to be back. I usually want to stay longer at the Mountain, though. There is a cottage you can rent where I could live for a few months and write my novel, walking around the mountain top and having people cook for me.

On Saturday, we hiked down the Mountain and up Mt. Chinquapin, with several others from our group. It was a couple hours and I was pretty much out of breath, but we did it! We also spent three hours working on music for choir performances later this year. We are singing two pieces from a Requiem by Clif Hardin. They are very beautiful and difficult, with high notes. I just cried and cried. We also started work on our holiday music. This year it is jazzy stuff from the Peanuts Christmas shows. It will be Dec. 16 and I hope my children will be there. They are fun to sing.

The other thing that is nice about staying there is I never have to think about what we are going to eat for dinner or do any work to prepare it. The food this time seemed better than previously, although like all instittutional food, it was a little heavy on the starches. I hope the exercise I got balanced out the cake and pasta I ate. The new head of the kitchen staff is Brian. He used to be a lawyer and a judge, but now he prefers to prepare delicious healthy food for us. Lee is the interim director and he is delightful. He engaged Ray in discussions about a new well having to be dug.

We managed to squeeze in some Boggle and Scrabble games and a bonfire, as well as an awesome folk singer named Lee Knight, who grew up in the Adirondacks and now lives in the mountains of North Carolina. My Dad would have lived to hear him and meet him, but he was here taking care of our home and animals. I think he enjoyed it. There was food residue on the coffee table.

Now to get back to preparations for class.

Well, I didn't get completely caught up yesterday, but I did a good bit. Ray and I had a walk. He went to work. Mudge came by and dug up the sweet potatoes. We have a lot of them, some good-sized, but something has eaten part of most of them--a mouse or something similar. I'm sure they will be usable after we cut that part off. He left about 11:30. I had early lunch, leftover pasta bean salad Ray made for potluck the night before.

I chatted with Molli on Skype while I listened to dementia videos on line for one of my classes. Not very cheery.

My Dad picked me up about 4:30 to go to the movies with Becky and Kent. Robot & Frank was playing at Cine, but it was the last day. Ray had to go to a Democratic Committee meeting. It was a good movie, but it made my Dad really sad. It was about a man who had some loss of memory and his son got him a robot to take care of him so he could keep living at home. He became fond of the robot. Since he was a jewel thief, he taught the robot to pick locks and help him steal things. Then he had to wipe its memory so it couldn't be downloaded to incriminate him. Then his family sent him to the residence for people with memory loss.

My Dad went home and Ray and I had dinner at Heirloom with Becky and Kent. It was pleasant. Then we watched Wheel and Jeopardy and went to bed.

Sunny. three inches of rain in the rain gauge! yesterday to town with ray. reading articles. lunch with Becky at Weaver D's because she had never been and it is threatening to close. Lots of people including Chris and Le'Ann. Spoke to Megan in class and she was happy and sends her love. She has a fiance too. Class went okay. Next assignment more doable. To potluck. Ray made pasta bean salad. He slept through choir. At home, we watched debate with Mike and Liz. He went to bed about 10. I was up until 11. Slept well until 5:30. hmm, not enough. Catching up today.

birthday swim at Horsehead Beach

OK, I'm way behind...and today is not the day I'm going to fill you in. I'm behind on my school work, too. It rained off and on all day yesterday and last night. It's very dark, even though it's after 6:30.

I finished my book review last night, which I will present today in class. I have reading to do and I have an assignment for tomorrow's class (that was due last week).

wind patterns in the sand of the empy parking lot

view from Dinda's

birthday lunch--clams and lobster

wild turkeys

I had a good trip and I'm glad to be home with hubby.

Some pictures from the first weekend, where we buried my Mom's ashes and went to my cousin's daughter's wedding at the Rod and Gun Club in Maynard, are gone. My phone jumped out of my pocket into the ocean Sunday evening when I was canoeing. It was really dumb of me to take it, and especially leave it in my pocket while I was paddling. The good news is that I was able to get an upgrade, so I have a 4S now, a "better" phone, and it only cost me...$178. The phone is $99, a deal, but there is a big tax on phones in Massachusetts, plus I bought a case, plus the $36 upgrade fee...

Weather was not great most of the time, but I love having a view of the ocean. My Dad and I played Scrabble three times. Once he won by a lot, twice I won by a little.

Last weekend I spent with 4 close friends from college. We lived on the same hall freshman year, most of us got married right after graduation and went to each other's weddings. That was before Facebook and we haven't done a great job of keeping in touch. Two are divorced, two are very wealthy, all of us have kids, but only one has grandchildren. One lives in California, one in Pennsylvania, one in NY, and one in Massachusetts. Katie invited us to her family's summer home in Rhode Island. It is gorgeous, many rooms with private baths, and a public area with a stone fireplace, and tons of windows with ocean views in every room. Katie and I went swimming on the last day, in spite of the weather. She has two Newfoundlands. One is only three months old. They are big, but gentle and pretty darn lovable, except for the slobber. Only Katie doesn't ever tell them no. So they will steal food off the table or counter if you turn your back. Or go in your purse to eat snacks if you don't keep the door closed.

rainy view from Katie's house in Rhode Island

Claire and Deb

The puppy, Blue

The  traveling went well, but I was pretty worn out when I got home. I forgot to mention that I had a bad cold from the day before we left, the kind where you take cough medicine and eat cough drops and don't sleep very well. I am pleased, though, that no one else apparently caught it from me.