Janna's handiwork

Well, yeserday I was pretty excited about our trip. I had to work most of the day--I usually work later on Thursdays anyway and had to do as much as I could before I left--groceries, bank, etc. I managed to squeeze in lunch with Becky and she wished me Bon Voyage. She was looking forward to a visit with her daughter too. Ray and I had some errands to do. We went to the bank and picked up a few things at Kroger as well. At the bank we went to get my passport out of the safe deposit box. Ray had been carrying his around with him since he came back from Oslo a year ago! Unfortunatly, that turned out to be a bettter plan than mine--it wasn't in the safe deposit box!! I couldn't believe it. I really had no idea where else it could be.

When we got home, I began looking through piles of paper near my computer. I tried to imagine what I would have done with it when I came back from France last year. The most likely scenario seemed to be that I had it in the car and just never got around to taking it to the bank--or I had given it to Ray to take care of for me and he had left it in a "to do" pile. He looked in the car, the garage, the study, through every pile he had. Although I began to panic, I thought it must be in the house somewhere and I would find it. I began sytematically to ransack the house, starting in my closet, looking through all my piles of clothng, checking every old purse. I opened every drawer and made sure there was no place something the size of a passport could be hidden. I moved all the books on my bedside table. All the while I knew there was no way it could be any of these places. Ray looked through all the suitcases in the basement. My mother made a great dinner, but I refused to sit down and eat. My father suggested if I took a break, I would be more functional. I began to go through every piece of paper in the area, putting them in boxes and bags when I was sure there was nothing in there. I looked behind furniture, took things out of drawers. The area began to look like a tornado or a burglary. At this point, I was convinced it had somehow gotten taken to the dump and it started to hit me that there was nothing I could do, I was not going to be able to go. In this climate, there was no way I could talk my way into letting me travel without my passport--never mind that a few years ago, it would not be a problem to go to Mexico that way. Well, if I could have gotten into Mexico, I certainly couldn't have gotten back into the US. (A friend of Ray's 12 year old daughter's name was spelled differently and it held them up for 4 hours!) You can't get a passport, even in a rush, overnight. (it turns out you can--for $300, Ray looked on line, but it was probably too late in the day). Anyway, I turned over a piece of paper and there it was, between two random things, campaign literature from last fall, no rhyme or reason to it. I kissed it, I was so relieved. Moral of the story: don't give up. I was planning to keep looking all night until it was time to leave for the airport. Ray said he wouldn't go without me, which was pretty dumb, but kind of touching. Expensive...Actually, the moral of the story is, keep your passport in a safe place, check it well before your trip.

Like hitting your thumb with a hammer because it feels so good when you stop, we were all very happy that it "turned up." I was exhausted and sore. I enjoyed my dinner and a little wine, packed some and tried to relax. But I could not fall asleep for hours. Adrenaline, I guess!

This is how the garden looks from upstairs, at least it did about 10 days ago.

Now, my stress is more like excitement. I talked to molli and amelia about our trip (tomorrow!) and we are going to do some fun things!

Yesterday I worked until 1, but never heard from Alison. She was supposed to have a board meeting last night, so I suspect she was getting ready for that. Today I have to do everything I can't do for the next 10 days. Except that I don't know what will be needed while I'm gone.

Ray and I got a swim in, so that was really good. Then I had a brief meeting with the nominating committee to see who has applied to be on the search committee. Our job is to pick 10 people and the congregation will elect 7 of them.

Then we took some cucumbers and tomatoes to potluck, where there were about 6 of us, but we had a great dinner. They were glad to see us; no one else had brought salad.

Started packing and paid my bills.

No wonder we eat tomatoes every day. And we have had some really tasy melons, too. Last night, we ate two of the most beautiful eggplants I've ever seen--long, light purple, almost fluorescent (Ping-Tung?).

I have been feeling really stressed. I was looking forward to these few days before we go to get things done and not have to do class work, but other stuff is crowding out my pleasure. It is a little cooler this morning, which has been one of the things making me cross. Over 90 again yesterday. Ray has been sleeping in and not coming to town with me (which he is of course entilted to, since it's his vacation). That means I don't go for a swim before I come home. Plus there has been lots to do at work, which is good, because it means more hours and more money. But it eats up the time I thought I had to get ready for my trip to Mexico. Last night was a board meeting at UUFA. I have to go as past president, but I don't get to vote, so it was with reluctance that I went. On the whole, it is usually energizing and last night's was pretty enjoyable and got over before 9, so that's good.

More cucumbers every day

The plan was for me to sleep really well last night and get caught up from the weekend, so I can get everything done before my next trip, without having to be stressed and panick-y.

Yesterday I worked until almost 3, with no break, not a good plan for me, but it was Payroll day, so I had to stay until it was done. I depend on Alison to finalize and approve the time cards before I can actually pay everyone. Then I went to ALPS because Gloria was anxious for me to meet with her. There was drama camp going on, lots of noisy small children, making it hard to balance the checkbook, etc. I finally got home about 5. The Captain was grumpy for several reasons. The pump had broken and he wanted to know if we would spring for another one. I said we should wait a while, as long as we were allowed to water, and buy a soaker hose instead. I told him I thought we should be able to get away with watering once a week, and we could probably put away most of the rain barrels. They had contacted a cleaning lady, Denise, and she was here at 3:00, but I was not. Ray showed her around and she called in the evening and said she would come for $100. Captain said he would do it for that.

Vanessa made whiskey sours and Ray made dinner, so that I could relax, but I am still feelig a little stressed. It was somewhat cooler last night and not too humid, so Ray opened up the windows.

I am sad because I have decided not to take any more classes. It is $1200 for one class this fall.

I am so tired! Yawning, achy, stuffy...We went to bed about 11, but it took me a while to fall asleep. Carpooling with other people is hard. We didn't leave as early as I would have liked, and then we looked in Augusta for a place we wanted to eat, that would be good but fast. We finally ate at Five Guys (is that the name). It's a hamburger place. They serve burgers, fries, and drinks. Hot dogs, too. You can have all kinds of toppings on your burger--like grilled onions and mushrooms--no extra charge. We didn't know, but they are 2 patties, unless you order the little ones, which I would do next time. Ray and I split a small (regular) order of fries--it would have been plenty for four! They were really good burgers, too.

We went to the beach in the morning. I played some more Spider. I mad pancakes for the crew with blueberries. When Ray and Becky went shopping (while I was on line Friday in Beaufort), they were supposed to get buttermilk for the pancakes, but there wasn't any. So they got this powdered stuff--you're supposed to add one cup of water and 4 T. for every cup of buttermilk. My pancakes were too thin. And then trying to cook on someone else's stove, with their pans. They were not beautiful. Some were not cooked enough and some were almost burned. But they liked them and we ate them all up!

The beach and the ocean were wonderful and it was practically like The Big Chill--or being in college. We all had so much fun. We already made another date in September.

but I am really glad to be home. Sleeping in my own bed. Even driving our own car from Becky's to here. It smelled like cookies!

Sunday

Yesterday I stayed here while Deb, John, and Ray went to walk the dogs on the beach. Then we all had breakfast. Then we eventually all went down to the beach, with chairs and umbrellas and books....Ray and I spent a lot of time in the water. The tide was too high for bocce. I came back a little before the others, had a nice shower and dressed in my new skirt and a t-shirt. I played several games of Spider during the day. I had a delicious sandwich, with bread from Big City and garden tomato...but no cookies! I read some and most people went back to the beach. Then we went to dinner at a great new place in Beaufort, Wren. It was delicious and really fun. We walked a little in Beaufort and by the time we got home, I could not stay up any later, so was again the first to bed.

Saturday

I woke up at 8:00!! I couldn't believe it. I did stay up after 10, I think. Most of the group was sitting around, laughing at Ray's jokes. He didn't come to bed until midnight. They were drinking bourbon--Maker's Mark. I lay on the couch and finished a really bad mystery novel--Stephanie Plum between the numbers--until I was dozing more than I was reading. I already heard all Ray's jokes multiple times, but I enjoyed the ambience.

Yesterday I didn't get up until almost 7, went to work in the morning. After the first couple of hours, I didn't have that much to do. I will talk to Alison about taking on more, once I get back from my travels and get caught up. Ray picked me up, and we went to get some lunch from Ike and Jane's (where Black Forest Bakery used to be). It's a nice little place and had a steady stream of business. They have lots of great looking cupcakes, as well as donuts, but I resisted. We called Becky and got a sandwich for her, too. She wanted a large iced tea, but hadn't tasted theirs yet (and it wasn't large enough), so we stopped at Wendy's and got one for her. I had to get a Coke float while I was there. When we got to the Silvers', they were not quite ready (WAINS?). We (mostly Ray) moved our things from our car to theirs. Ray drove most of the way down. Becky and I sat in back and Kent rode shotgun. It is a very comfortable car, although Becky had meant to bring a movie and forgot and I told her not to go back in. We had an amazing amount of stuff for 2 days. We brought cucumbers and tomatoes from the garden, as well as a loaf of Luna bread we got at Ike & Jane's, and the pancake fixings.

We got to Beaufort about 5:15. I had contacted the Chamber of Commerce there to find out where I could access the internet. My last class and a chance to see what the other groups had done was at 5:00 (on Friday!). The Common Ground Coffeeshop was great, right on the water and very funky. I had a raspberry-peach smoothie (have to be a customer) and logged on with no problem. They were in the middle of one of the group presentations. After it was done, they had another group presentation. There were only 9 of us "in" the class. Becky, Kent, and Ray were supposed to leave me there and Ron and Janna were supposed to pick me up. They were going to be another hour, and they still had to buy groceries. Meanwhile, Becky had been at the grocery store while I was in class, so I just had them come back and get me, instead of waiting around for Janna.

We got to Deb and John's about 7, put away groceries, had some wine and cheese and snacks. Then we went for a long walk on the beach with the three dogs: Barney, Joe and Beamer. Ray and I went in the water a good bit. It was really warm, a little windy, but didn't feel cold when you got out. When we got back to the house, Ron and Janna were sitting on the porch. They had put the groceries away. We went to work making supper. John had marinated some grouper (caught locally that morning and bought that afternoon from the Gay Fish Company) with herbs and cooked it on the grill. We had some rice, Becky had bought green beans, which Janna steamed (not long enough imho) and then mixed with garlic cooked in olive oil. We also had cucumbers, tomatoes, basil, oil and vinegar. It was great. Ray asked for seconds on the fish, but it was all gone. John said he was not a Jewish mother, so he made enough and served it all. Some people had peaches and ice cream with basil, but I resisted. I had ice cream earlier in the day. I did have some of Ray's though; it was really good. Then they started with the drinking and jokes.

The day before (Thursday) was of course the day to finish my project. I worked, then I met Sara Ruth at the library. Then I came home. I worked on putting the parts together, sending it to her now and then. We had to cut some to get it down to 12 pages, the maximum. Then there were a bunch of appendices, charts with the data, etc. Meanwhile, she worked on the power point presentation and sent it to me for comments. I recorded the narration and she timed the slides so it fit. And then submitted it. I went to bed before 1, but it was done!

Ray made spaghetti with tomato sauce for supper.