I am not doing much all day every day, but I get pretty tired.

Polly and Jim left yesterday morning, after the kids were at school. They drove to Walla Walla, where it would generally be warmer and dryer than Seattle this time of year. Unfortunately, the forecast was for rain. They called last night and arrived safely, and even took a bike ride in the rain. They are staying in a nice little well-appointed apartment, which, thanks to Google, we can actually see (the roof of).

Ray and I hung out here in the morning, bathing and dressing and doing computer stuff. We ate lunch and then walked to Lidet's school (in the rain). We walked with her to Goodwill (in the rain) and I bought another pair of jeans, a warm hoodie, and a winter coat. We also bought a pair of shorts for her, but they are too big. She seemed to enjoy it, spending a lot of time looking at the shoes. Ray dozed in a chair and kept an eye on her while I shopped. Then we walked home (uphill) in the rain. We had three umbrellas and it was not bitter cold. When we got home, we changed into dry clothes and started cooking. Ray worked on his computer.

I made onion-potato soup (a little too oniony and not hearty enough, imho) and bean and tomato salad (good but not appealing to kids) and cheesecake bars (a big hit with the kids, a little bland for my taste). Lidet helped a lot, and she even put away some of the clean dishes for me. Ray walked down to get Nate at 3; the walk back up was pretty hard. He played Spider on the kitchen island while we cooked. They ate lots of my homemade bread. We ate a little after 5, as a way of forestalling the constant demands for cheesecake bars.

Sometimes, when Lidet and Nate have down time, they run and scream and rough-house, which is a little loud, but I guess perfectly good entertainment for them. They did some of that after supper, as well as playing on the iPad, looking at places on Google, for instance. We watched Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy, except I fell asleep, leaving Ray to put the children to bed.

We are in Polly's room now, a beautiful room with lots of windows--and no shades. This gives a lovely view, looking down on the lights of Seattle, but it gets light here very early these days, close to the summer solstice. I woke up at 4, partly becuase of the light, and partly because I am not completely on Seattle time yet.

I'm wearing my new jeans and hoodie and thinking about what to cook today and what to do. I just heard Nate's feet hit the floor--he's in the top bunk. It's early for him to get up; school doesn't start for 2 or 3 hours.

Ray and I got up and ate and got to Winterville by 7:45. Laura and Danielle were there, as well as Christy and her family. We set up all the materials, registered about 5 more people, gave out bags to the pre-registered ones, and the ride started. Kate, from the Land Trust, had driven the van, but left it parked at the Marigold Festival somewhere. She gave me the keys and set off on her bike. I sent Nancy to find the van and we packed things up. She came back saying she couldn't find it. Eventually, four of them were looking for the van and I was sitting in the cool morning sun waiting. It took about 45 minutes, but they did find it. Then it was tricky to get back to the Todds' without running afoul of the festival and parade. We did all head down the road before 10. I drove the route, following the directions, and I was a little unsure, pulling off to check, but I did end up at Stop 1 as the last few riders were finishing their break. Ray was there. After a bit, they left and we packed things up. Ray drove the truck with the coolers and all in it and I followed him. We quickly caught up to the last riders (Nathan and Kate), followed closely by the First Aid van driven by Mike R. We carefully went around them and all the other riders as we caught up to them. It was a beautiful drive, although getting hotter quickly. The van's AC doesn't seem to work very well.

As we got near the second stop, vehicles with sirens and flashing lights passed, and I said to myself, over and over, "Please, God, don't let it be a rider..." but of course it was. When we got to the second stop, Christy had just gotten a phone call. She sent us ahead to the third stop, but we soon passed the scene. Nancy's car was there, a few cyclists, and many emergency vehicles. We just drove on by, since there was nothing we could do that wasn't being done. We couldn't really see how the person was. I felt terrible, like I wished I had nothing to do with this event, because without a bike ride, there couldn't have been an accident. My prayer changed to, "Please don't let him be badly hurt..." Perhaps this prayer worked better. It was a while before we heard that, although badly bruised and in pain, the 25-year-old man was released from the hospital that afternoon. I hope that this incident will not cause him or the friends riding with him to give up on cycling. It did cast a bit of gloom over the other riders.

In general, feedback was very good. Things went well. Ray was a trooper. There was plenty of food and drink. We had a couple of guys cramp up, probably from not drinking enough Gatorade. Water alone will quench thirst, but riding in the heat requires lots of electrolytes. The first aid man was awesome too, bringing up the very end (Nathan, Kate, and two others). After a suitable period of drinking beverages (and eating), we packed up and brought the last few riders back to Winterville.

We drove home, showered and dressed, and headed to dinner with Janna, Ron, Francesca, and Kent at Farm 255. We had a good dinner and a fun time, although their hard seats were uncomfortable, especially for Ron, and Ray did not like his steak much. We stopped by my parents briefly, and headed home to pack.

Not sleeping very well and my back is still bothering me. All will be well soon.

Yesterday morning, I dropped Ray off and went to EarthFare to pick up the cups they were donating. The woman who got them for me asked, "just the cups?" I said, "if you have any fruit you want to get rid of, we'd love to have it." She came back with the manager and the produce manager and they packed up some bananas and oranges for us and carried it out to the car for me. Then I went to Kroger on College Station and bought some other things we needed: individual packs of cookies, gatorade mix, sodas, napkins...I only spent $50, so felt pretty good. It was a little after 12 when I got to the Land Trust, and Heather said she had already bought everything we needed. Darn! I didn't realize she said she was going to do that. She didn't even have a list. So, now we have plenty, some left over for the future, or to return.

I had a few email inquiries and details to take care of. The shirts were ready a little after 3, and several of us put everything in them. I put the right size shirt in and put a sticker on for the ones that preregistered. There are 30 of them. We'll probably have a few more and we won't lose any money. I was kind of excited for a while. Now I just want it to be over. The shirts and bags are really nice.

I left a little after 5 and picked Ray up. We went to a graduation party for Dusty in Oconee County. Ray had bought a book of advice for college students and we stopped at Add Drug to buy a sheet of tissue paper to wrap it in. It was a nice party. We ate barbecue and talked to Ray's friend John and a couple others, notably Paul's Uncle Rob, who grew up in the northeast.

It was 90 degrees late in the day and it was a little hard to fall asleep. Then I woke up too early. Now to thrash around and get over there.

One community service worker called earlier in the week begging for volunteer hours. She had to get 20 hours right away (I think she wants to leave town). I told her of a few opportunities and signed her up for Saturday. I hoped she would work Friday, too, putting the bags together. I called her yesterday and she said she should have called to tell me she found someplace else that she could get the 20 hours in a row, so she won't be helping us on Saturday. I didn't say, "well, fine, then you can't have the t-shirt I ordered for you!" No music, except Pandora and an iPod docking station. Apparently, the crowd is so small we don't even need a PA system. The t-shirt place said would Friday be okay and I said yes, what time?" At 3 o'clock today, we should be able to put a t-shirt and a few pieces of paper in a bag with our logo on it. Also a sample of Axe and a mini-Lara bar. And a map of the route. Weather still looks good, if a little hot. It'll be cool enough in the morning. Aside from Ray, I have 2 or 3 volulnteers who are supposed to help out. We'll see if they show.

My back is still wonky; good thing I am not planning to ride 48 miles tomorrow. EarthFare is going to give us 50 cups. Laura brought by the Fuze and Monster drinks she got donated, as well as cereal bars. Christy stopped by and we talked about a few details. I need to buy some things, particularly nutter butters in individual packaging. and make a few signs.

Had lunch with Ray and Becky and her parents. Fun. 

My left hip (or lower back) is giving me a lot of pain this morning. It started last night and I was hoping it would be better this morning.

We took a long walk yesterday morning. Then I stopped by Hendershot's to ask if there were any bands he knew of that might want to play on Saturday. He is supposed to email me if he has any ideas. Two more registrations came in the mail, but I was disappointed not to have any new ones online. Talked to the ShirtWorks people and I think the shirts are ordered. I hope they will be ready on Friday. Found some goulash I had left in the fridge, so didn't have to go out for lunch. Left about 3, got Ray, went to Kroger, went home. Made the salad, picked peas. I had started some bread in the morning, so had to knead that and put it back in the fridge while we went to choir. When I got home, I took it out of the fridge and made it into loaves, but it didn't get to bake until after 10 and then it took a long time. I fell asleep and Ray had to take it out.

Dreaming of the ride and feeling unprepared. 

I woke up at 4:30 feeling stressed about this stupid bike ride on Saturday. Unless it was the moonlight shining in. Or the weird dinner we had.

Yesterday morning, my parents came by before we left. They were surprised to see us going, since Ray is not teaching right now.

I went to try to get some beer donated, but no luck. We have 22 people registered now. I have to order the t-shirts and hope that they are ready before Saturday. I am working on getting some vounteers lined up. One has to be picked up Saturday morning. We talked about borrowing my Dad's pickup, so we can cart bicycles around as needed.

I was a little late for the writing workshop and I didn't have any writing to share. Next week is the last class for this session, and I will be in Seattle.

Ray and I went to EarthFare, where we saw Kalindi. We bought a few groceries and I talked to the woman who is supposed to donate $100 worth of things for us, but says she can't right now.

It was very cool and breezy all day. I picked a few peas and watched Gladys, the chicken, in the garden, until I got too cold and went in. I made some unusual dishes for supper, both involving using up sweet potatoes and Indian spices. The soup was not great, but the Indian sweet potatoes were pretty good. Ice cream, TV, early to bed.

Good morning! I was dreaming I was sick; I think it was cancer. Mary Jean was a teaching assistant in a class for young children, like preschool. Other people were sick too. Maybe it was a futuristic epidemic. When I woke up, I felt achy and congested.

Yesterday morning, I baked muffins (apricot) and tidied up some to get ready for the Small Group Ministry coming here. We had decided two weeks before to do a field trip, so I didn't have to plan a topic for a discussion. As people arrived, we gathered outside and I showed the gardens and the chickens. Everything was a big hit. When we were all here, we went in for a few minutes, while everyone went to the bathroom. We lit our chalice and headed out. We walkted through the meadow to warm up, and then down past the giant poplar, around which we held hands. The mountain laurel was pretty much past blooming, but we went by it and admired. At the trail, I asked if people wanted to go back or go on past the river and they all wanted to go on. So we walked around half the outisde of Kenney Ridge (the easy, level half), and came out Nancy S.'s driveway. It was about 11:45, so we were walkling for over an hour. We admired a lot of trees and Victoria looked one up in particular. She had been somewhat mystified, but it turns out the Southern Red Oak has many different shapes of leaves, on the same tree! Everyone seemed really pleased and no one was exhausted or hurt. The weather was perfect: cool and overcast, but not raining.

Ray and I had a little lunch and dawdled a bit. Then we headed in to town. He dropped me off at ALT. There are now 20 people registered for the bike ride, which is nice, but I hope we get a lot more. It's time to finalize the numbers of bags and t-shirts (I ordered 50 bags) and line up the volunteers to assemble them. He picked me back up about 4:30 and we came home.

It sprinkled a little, off and on all day, so I didn't work in the garden. Thought about what to make for supper. It was cool enough to want to bake something and warm up the house, but I had used up all my flour on the muffins: white and wheat. There were a couple of zucchini I had bought that needed eating, so we ate them with pasta and cheese--yum! Ray surprised me with an iPad for my birthday! I love it, but it's quite extravagant of him. Partly, it is because he wants to use my laptop while we are traveling. It is lovely, like a giant iPhone. It comes with no instructions, except hook it up to your computer and follow the directions. It is set up now for most things, but not use as a phone yet.

I played with that some and we watched a little TV. Ended up staying up a little late. Molli is home safely in Mexico, tired but fine. I miss her, but still feel her with me, like an echo or shadow.