Yay, it's Friday. And the last day of the work week before the time change. I am really looking forward to having it be lighter in the morning. I have been having trouble getting to work in time and bringing my breakfast with me. I haven't been taking my lunch or taking a lunch break. Yesterday there were donuts, so I had one of those before I left the office. No lunch plus a donut equals crabbiness when trying to make dinner. I did get a lot of work done though. This is the thing I like doing best: submitting expenses for reimbursement--figuring out what to submit where, adding it up, seeing how much is left. It's interesting to me. I have always enjoyed and looked forward to paying bills (well, except when I didn't have enough money to go around), usually on Saturday morning. And this is similar. I can't wait until the end of the month to take all the receipts out of their file and send them off to be reimbursed. It's hard to do when there are kids watching TV, etc. But yesterday wasn't too bad. Kerri the case manager and one of the interns went out and bought plates for the residents in six different colors/patterns. She put the family number on everything (in permanent marker). This is so she can figure out who did not wash their dishes. Then she and the intern washed them all and stacked them where they can get them. She wanted them to keep them in their rooms or lock them up, so no one can use them, but I thought that was going a bit too far.

I talked on the phone for a while with Mitzi, who is having a lot of trouble with Art. He told her he wants to live with another family that has a big house and he is embarrassed by her house. She was very hurt. I tried to say perhaps language and culture made it hard for him to express himself.

Then I packed for our trip to the beach--Hilton Head with Becky and Janna. yay! I also made an applesauce cake. Janna won't eat eggs or beef or shrimp, so I haven't been able to come up with any ideas for food to bring with me. I have a quiche in the freezer, but I guess it would be rude to bring it. I know one restaurant we will probably go to is Italian. Otherwise, I would bring lasagna or some other pasta. I can at least bring applesauce cake. And a loaf of bread for sandwiches.

The Captain went to the doctor on Wednesday and is taking prednizone for a gouty foot. He is not drinking any alcohol or eating rich food and he is a little grumpy. But the foot is getting better. Yesterday they went to the dump and stopped for lunch in town on the way back. But he said they couldn't really eat out properly, since he can't have a drink. His cold is much better and Mom's is better too.

Dream diary: I was in Washington, attending ceremonial events. I had Sean Connery's car. It was very small and expensive and fun to drive. I couldn't figure out the complicated parking system, so gave it to my mother to park. I had the keys with various colored ribbons and tags, but couldn't find it. People were sitting in high seats, waiting for their cars. Someone was in a complicated arrangement drawn by a horse with livery. I woke up before I got too upset about not finding Sean's car.

Maybe I am feverish...everyone here is sick. Although Ray may not be contagious. He gets a lot of respiratory issues. He went to bed when we got home yesterday, but came down to eat when I woke him. The Captain's cold may be getting better, but his foot is swollen and painful to walk on, maybe arthritis. He will call the doctor today if it is not better, he said. Vanessa sleeps a lot and her breathing sounds bad. She sneezes. but then she gets up and cooks and does the dishes.

We were home about four and I worked on supper. Then I went to the Sultan restaurant to talk with the owner and some other potential students about taking Arabic. It would be a small class, only six at the most, meeting Tuesday and Thursday from 6-8 (with a 10-minute break) for eight weeks for $200. I am torn. It seems like a lark, but it is a big commitment. There is homework. The group includes three men (one young Asian-looking man with a hard-to-pronounce name is a student of Islam), a middle-school girl named Shelby and me. Some of them already know some. The first week, we will learn the letters. Naturally, he is a friend of the Taha family. Farah is in NY, studying psychology.

Woke up dreaming about the end of the world. We were expecting nuclear bombs any minute, but people seemed to be in almost a party mood--why not enjoy the last days?

Ray is home safe and I talked to Amelia and Molli both yesterday.

Kerri and I talked about being stricter at the Shelter. And I got the paperwork for submitting reimbursements to DCA and started working on that. i forgot my lunch, so I left before 3 and came home to eat something (leftover pasta).

Yesterday morning, I walked out for the paper. It was a little cool, below 50. Then we had pancakes. Art came down just as we were finishing up. He only had one plateful. Then I got ready for church and we left. It was the annual memorial service, where people come up and take a bulb and say the name of the person they are planting it for. Karen Solheim talked about friendship...and death of course. We sang Comfort Me as one of the hymns. I cried some, but other people had more to cry about than I did. There was the Fourth Sunday lunch too.

Art and I went home and waited for Mitzi to call. She was coming to Sam's Club and we were going to meet her there. Earlier in the day, Art had made me happy by asking to borrow a book one of the Harry Potters. I had asked him a couple of times if he was reading anything in English and he had said no. In the car, he said, "when you read a book, it's like you are in that world. I like it." So all the while we were waiting, I was making banana cake and Art was reading Harry Potter on the couch in the sun. When Mitzi called, she said "don't say anything to Art yet, but one of our cats was killed on the road yesterday and we are all very sad. He was close to the cat." So, I had to respond on my end of the phone with Yes, okay, and not "I'm sorry to hear it."

After dinner, Vanessa and I watched Wild Wild West, which she hadn't seen before. Then I watched an episode of the Daily Show, read some and went to bed.

When I woke up, I had been dreaming about playing with some children (one little boy, maybe Owen or Eamon, except quite young), who had speach or communication problems. There were some experts with some fancy colorful teaching toy, but he and I just wanted to play and the expert allowed as how that was important too. I don't know if it relates to Lidet. She had called and told me she had a pumpkin. It was pretty endearing. Or maybe it was about Art...or about my career. Hmm.

Tomorrow morning when I get up, Ray will be here. Amelia is already on her way to work in Connecticut.

I woke up with a headache. Maybe it's the change in weather. Beautiful pink clouds this morning. Possibly I am getting my parents' cold. They caught it in Seattle, but no one in Polly's family had it.

Yesterday Vanessa and I went to the Farmers' Market and bought a few potatoes and some lettuce. Then we went to Kroger and bought over $100 more of groceries. After lunch and some resting, we went to the mall where she got a new purse and a shirt. Then we all played Hearts, which we had to teach to Art. He caught on pretty well, even though he has not played cards much. He helped make oatmeal-raisin cookies.

Yesterday, Stanfield Air had an open house. They donated an air conditioning unit (and installation) to us a few months ago, saving the shelter thousands of dollars. So naturally when they asked if we wanted to set up a table at the Open House, I said yes. Jaron, the volunteer, went for the first couple of hours. I got there at 12. They had a steady stream of people coming through, but most studiously ignored us. Sometimes they started to sign up for the email list, but then recoiled visibly when they read what they were signing up for, like it might be contagious. It is hard to say if time spent at public events like that is effective. If I connect with one person who follows through and makes a large contribution later, then it is worth it. And I did talk to a few people. Sally Stanfield Allen is such a nice person and so energetic, I am always impressed by her.

I drove up to Colbert to pick up Art (the AFS student) and bring him to Athens for the weekend. The leaves were starting to change and I enjoyed the drive, although the sky was dark and it sprinkled a little. When we got home, Vanessa was cooking the potatoes for the stew I had made the night before. I got the yellow beans ready and put them in the pot. Then Art made shortbread to use up the over-ripe peaches we had. After that, I dug out a 2-person game called Odin's Ravens. We studied the rules and tried to play it a couple times. It is very complicated. During dinner, I got a call from the Shelter. One of the residents' bathrooms was locked and the key was missing. Should we pay a locksmith to come after hours? Maybe the key will turn up. She can use the staff bathroom until Monday.

After dinner, Art and I went to a jazz concert at the Fellowship. It was excellent, but I admit I was falling asleep by the end of it. I think it would have been better if it wasn't in the sanctuary and we could chat or dance or move around. On the other hand, there is a really good piano in the sanctuary. There were about 30 people there, so I think we about broke even.

Ray left for a weekend in New York and Massachusetts. Meanwhile, my parents arrived home after a week in Seattle. Work was fine. I left at 3:30 and got the car washed. I had to stop the man while he was washing the wheels, but I was supposed to pick Ray up at 4:30 to take him home so he could catch his plane. I was very impressed with how hard the men were working wiping all parts of the car. I felt very lazy, because the idea of that amount of physical labor seems like something I wouldn't be able to do all day every day. I gave him a $2 tip. Ray got home and realized he left his black shoes at the office so he had to take his brown shoes. Then he had to pack some presents he bought in Mexico. He didn't want to check any bags, so he was stuffing things into two small bags. It was getting later and later. But he did call me about 11 and say he had arrived in the airport. Then he had to pick up the rental car and drive to Amelia's new apartment that he had never seen.

Meanwhile, I was making beef stew and getting ready to go to Janet Pomeroy's memorial service. I rode with the Porters. The service was wonderful. She was an inspiration to many, including me. She and others founded the Clarke Community Credit Union in the sixties, so that poor blacks could get loans. She was one of the founders of the Jeannette Rankin Foundation, giving scholarships to older women to go back to school. She was a mom and a feminist and a very active Democrat. Gwen O'Looney had trouble speaking without crying. Larry seemed quite matter-of-fact--it's not like we didn't know it was coming, he said. I told him to call me if he needed anything, but he won't. When I got home, there were lights on in my house and I could see my Mom moving around. It was later than I had thought, around 10. There had been a wonderful reception, catered by Deb Dykstra. We chatted a little. Nico is 16, very tall. Emily is majoring in theater. So I just ate some leftover macaroni and cheese and tried to go to bed. My Dad naturally wanted to talk and it was almost 11:30.

I love having the bed to myself, but I didn't sleep quite as well without Ray.