July 28

Tuesday had us staying at home waiting for the people to repair the cabinets. They were very nice and exchanged two doors that opened differently than we wanted and fixed the lazy Susan under the counter. We then shopped for some items and began preparing for the potluck/Bible study at church. In the afternoon we received a call saying the pastor was ill and the study had been cancelled. We stayed inside until it cooled and then walked around the lake.
Wednesday found us going to the Folkmoot center, trying to locate the young man and his family. They were on a tour somewhere so we never saw them. We asked one of the directors to call us regarding having them for lunch Thursday. No one called in the evening. I drove to the Casterline's cabin around 11:00 to help Shirley weed eat the road to their house. Evelyn had to stay with the man from the cabinet company who had come to finish the adjustments begun yesterday. He removed two 1/16 inch seam raises in the counter tops. Paul had to get Evelyn as I worked because Shirley had prepared a sumptuous lunch for us.
We have decided on a television. It is a Mitsubishi from a small store near us. I will try to negotiate with the manager later in the week. We went off to choir practice at 7:00. Afterward we walked around the lake until dark. At 8:30 dean called to say that he had found and tried to use an XP disk to repair the computer without success. He came to our home to install the Microsoft disk that will erase all the information I had on the hard drive. He stayed a while and we talked, but he finally tired and decided to leave and finish at his home. It had taken an hour and he was still not on disk four. We watched "DeLovely", the story of Cole Porter.

Disaster

While writing my blog Sunday, I somehow contracted a virus in my laptop. I am now at the library on Tuesday. A young man is trying to repair the damage without destroying all my files. I must find a Windows XP disk to even try to do this. I have spent many hours looking for one. The neighbors have been great in helping me but still no can find. We went to Folkmoot just before this happened and met a young man from Czech Republic who had been a dancer with them until he sprained his ankle the first day in Waynesville. He was playing soccer when injured. Monday we found our A/C in the Jeep would cost $840 to repair. Darryl said to wait until Thursday to see if Shane had found us a Saturn Vue. It has bee beastly hot here, but not as hot as in Indiana and elsewhere. Evelyn went to a nutritional lecture near the hospital while Shirley and I played golf at the Lake Junaluska golf course. We had fun despite the heat. It is a beautiful course, not like the ones in Texas. We walked around the lake in the evening and I gave the disks that I had found at the neighbors to the young man, Dean Draper, to try in the computer. What a mess, but the Lord is good all the time.

A Blessed message

We went to worship and the choir sang. But the highlight was the pastor's sermon, one of the finest I have ever heard. He spoke on the parable of the pearl merchant who found the pearl of great value. He pointed out that Christ was indeed that pearl from our point of view, and we should forego all for Him, but that we are that great pearl in God's eyes because He gave His all just so He could purchase us back even though He had made us. Great stuff! Praise God for His mercy and Grace. We then went to lunch with some friends who had complimentary tickets to Folkmoot. This is the 23rd annual event in Haywood County that brings dancers from many countries (ten this year) to perform. The perform folk dances in costumes and are quite accomplished. Most of them are lively and enjoyable. The Orientals are usually subdued and delicate. The Folkmoot lasts from July 18 through 30 this year.

Nobody knows the trouble I seed

Off to walk. At least E. Evidently I had strained my knee while dancing last evening. I wakened during the night with some pain in my knee. I had decided I had better rest it while she walked. I got on to the computer and published downloaded and dumped e-mail and tried to look at the credit union balances. Suddenly my AVG said it needed to be updated. It began and said the computer had to be restarted to finish. I agreed and the trouble began. I could not get the curser to move and then could not get my windows to restart. As a gift from God, a young man came along and was able to make the necessary repairs. He also began scanning with my AVG, something I thought was done automatically. After nearly an hour and a half of scanning, I decided to quit. Once again I was not permitted to do so. I would have had to start the process all over again. Since I couldn’t do that at home and run the scan all night, I just hibernated the computer until tomorrow.
We had planned to go junking but the morning was all gone and the garage sales had closed. We returned some items to Lowes and went off to a park for lunch. It was quite pleasant in the shade. We then went to the south side of town and enjoyed more blessings from our Lord. We found a true junk sale and they had a non functioning ratchet tie down that I bought because I needed one of the hooks to balance the swing on the carport. We filled the Jeep with gas which is 8 cents cheaper on that side of town. We then went to Goodys clothing. They were having a 25% off bag it sale similar to the one at Camping World. We bought over $60 worth of things that E had been wanting for a long time. We came home and showered and then rested before dinner. We went to Stonebridge to Bill Smith’s dance and concert. Unfortunately, we were an hour late, thinking it began at 7 instead of 6. His cousin was very good and three other people were invited up to sing. They were all good too. They stopped at 8:30, and we drove around some of the high roads around Lake Junaluska before coming home. E played the piano, and I looked through some picture albums, looking for pictures of me and our early marriage to hang on the wall. Tomorrow is worship and Folkmoot.

Parade of Nations

We did our Lake trek early, and went to the café to check the repair on the Juno software. Everything seems to work fine. I must make a back up of my address book so I won’t implode if the problem recurs. We looked at some pictures sent from the Georges and answered some other e-mails. We hurried home and readied ourselves for the parade. I made a lunch of chicken salad, sodas, poppy seed/hazelnut bread, and E. cut some peaches. We had wanted to arrive around 10 but were late because we had to deposit trash and pay a bill. As it turned out, we would have been just fine arriving at 12:30 for the 1:00 parade. It was beastly hot and we had to sit facing the sun. Whatever we suffered, however, was tripled or more by the dancers from the other countries. Most of them wore heavy costumes. The Latvian men even wore long wool coats. Theirs appeared to be worst, but none of the countries looked comfortable. It is quite spectacular to be seen, however. Evelyn and Shirley wanted to go shopping after so I took Paul home. As I got to the car, it began raining harder and harder. I had to drive around for about half an hour because the street had been closed for the parade. It was just as well because it was raining too hard for Paul to get to the car. When I could get to the lawyer’s office where he was waiting, the rain had eased. We stopped at the Bear’s Den on the way home for a beer. I had another at his cabin. E arrived and we went home for dinner and rest. We went back to Waynesville for the street dance where we met Shirley. Paul can’t walk so he stayed home. We had a good time “street” square dancing even though that really heated us up again. We have a good time here. I tried to pay Sandy, our association treasurer, our quarterly dues but she was gone all day and even when we came home at night. Tomorrow we will go “junking”: looking for garage sales and flea markets.

July 21

We went to walk but did not have time to go completely around the lake because E had to get home to ready herself for the Bible study and lecture at the hospital fitness center. While walking, Paul called and said he would be past to get me after 10 so we could go to Asheville. We went to the Farmer’s Market, his favorite place, to Pier One to learn that our end tables were in transit and should arrive next week, to Best Buy to look at television sets (and get more confused) and to lunch. We tried to go to the Hot Shot in the Biltmore Village but could not park close enough for Paul to be able to walk. We went to a restaurant nearby, and I had a mufelatto sandwich that was served on a hoagy bun. It was good but not really a mefelatto. I bought Paul’s lunch for driving me around. We talked a bit about “religion” but I find it difficult to witness to him. He is so bitter that he can’t listen to the truth of the Bible. I guess I can only continue to be his friend and hope that he will see something in me that will encourage him to ask and listen without having so much bitterness. We arrived home around 3:30 and E and I napped a short while. We had dinner of leftover fish from last night and mefulatto sandwich that I had brought home for her. We then went to the association meeting scheduled for tonight. Everyone is unhappy with the lawn service and suggested that we get bids from people on what we want done. We learned that our dues of $45 per month also provides for street lighting and street maintenance. The group was very congenial and cooperative. We got permission to park our motor home in front while we are loading and unloading. We walked partway up the mountain before dark and finished the movie afterward. I also called Tom, and he was able to help me restore my Juno. I will try it out at the café tomorrow. We must go and distribute our medicine into our daily plastic compartments. Sorry to leave you so abruptly.

Wednesday

Off to walk. We drove to Lake Junaluska and the air conditioner is still working. I called the repair shop so they would not be waiting on me and was told to just keep driving until it quit again. That is a good sign. Evelyn walked alone because I wanted to wait for the man who gathers quarters from the game room next to the Kern Café. I waited for him but he had not come when E returned. In the meantime, my Juno e-mail stopped working. This is disastrous because I don’t know many e-mail addresses that are kept in my address book. It is like knowing your friend’s number is 3 or 4 on your speed dial but not really knowing their number. I was still able to use Internet Explorer to retrieve e-mail, but not able to send many. I did contact Juno and told them the problem. I will wait to see if they can help me from afar. I also asked around the café for anyone who might be computer literate. There was no one! How unusual to have a café full of young people with laptops who don’t know much technical information! We went to Wal Mart and drove the motor home to the Jonathan Creek Hide-away Campground where we will store it and hopefully rent it out some days. We came home late and had lunch of leftovers again. Delicious. I was watching Windtalker because I have to return both movies today when Shirley called inviting us to go out with them to celebrate Paul’s 70th birthday. We went to a seafood restaurant that had changed ownership from last year and did not share a meal for a change. A big mistake. E had fish and shrimp, and I had broiled red snapper. She took half of hers home. I put part of mine in with it. We would have both been satisfied sharing either meal. Shirley had brought a birthday cake so we enjoyed it together. We left them and went to choir practice at 7. We came home and I watched an old Peter Sellers movie I had bought for a buck in Texas. I called for Tom and Stacy to tell them when the Folkmoot parade was and got Olivia who must have been asleep. She thought it strange that I call “at this time of night” (9 PM). I left the message with her and then went to bed in the middle of the movie. I will finish it tomorrow.

More choices

Tuesday was walk again day. We had arisen early but worked in the kitchen taking the meat off the whole chicken we had bought and cooked last night. We wanted to make chicken and egg salad, the latter for the potluck tonight. I helped remove the meat, peel and chop the eggs, celery, and onion, and make a pate of the gizzard and liver. The meat packer had been kind enough to add a couple of extras for weight inside the whole chicken. The right guy got this one because I enjoy chicken liver pate. Then we walked. Afterward we went to the Area Council on Aging to see if we could park the motor home in their lot; it is so far to Asheville. They were reluctant but mentioned in passing that we might rent it out. We thought of several RV parks where this might be a possibility. I was skeptical because it seemed unlikely that people would even think of going to an RV park without an RV of their own. We did, however, find one that did just that. They receive calls in response to their website, asking for places to rent. We drove there and talked with the owner who seemed nice and fair. We will take our coach there, pay $35 a month to store it, and he will try to rent it out for us. Of course, it will not leave his small campground but will remain there for daily or weekly rentals. We pray that this will be better for us than driving to Asheville to get it and that we will at least make enough to pay the storage fee. We explained that we will be using it at various times so he will work around that. We came home for a late lunch of----chicken salad and pate! It was delicious. I am blessed to be married to a woman who enjoys many of the same things I do and can cook the burners right off the stove. We cleaned up and she lay down. Paul came with tickets to Folkmoot for Thursday the 28th, the date we preferred. He then drove me around looking for a HDTV. I found a couple but learned that we can put only a 42" screen in our entertainment center. He and I may go to Asheville Thursday next and look farther. There are other things I can do there as well. He is a hot dog freak so he took me to a hot dog shop in Waynesville. I joined him in a hot dog as a courtesy. He had two. He brought me home, and we got our things ready to go to the potluck at church. Everything was good, as usual, and I over ate again, adding calories to the unneeded hot dog I had eaten in the afternoon. The study continued the history of the LCMS. The pastor does a great job with the study. We then came home and watched Spanglish again. I started Codetalker but will finish it tomorrow afternoon.

Monday, July 19

After walking and computering, we went home to clean up for the trip to black Mountain. We also needed to address the problem with the A/C in the Jeep. We talked with the furniture salesperson, Brenda, who talked with the manager. They will take back the entertainment center if we pay them a $212 restocking fee. She was empathetic and spent much time showing us other options. She even got some graph paper and made a model of our space. We finally decided that we would wait until the other items arrived before making any decisions. Evelyn is really upset with herself and the choices she made. We have prayed for peace for her. We ate at a Subway on the return trip because we wanted to make it to Domestic Auto in Clyde so they could work on the car ASAP. It is extremely hot and predicted to remain that way. They were kind enough to look at the car, add more "freon", and tell us to drive it until Wednesday morning. They would then look at the problem and perhaps find the leak they couldn't find. Off we went to home. We had plans to grocery shop in the evening and left home around 5. I had seen a sign advertising "99 cent Monday" at a video store and wanted to surprise E by renting a movie. She was and we did: Spanglish and Codetalker. I know she will like the former and dislike the latter. We bought our groceries (including more meat for me to smoke) and went home to watch the former. We enjoyed it but could not understand all of the dialog. We decided to watch it again since we have the rentals until Wednesday at 8 pm. I also called Gudgers and they are open to our bringing our motor home to Asheville even though they are spending most of their time in Hiawassee. I will take it tomorrow.

July 17

A glorious Sunday! We got to church early and waited for Bible class. I got to talk with the president of the congregation about parking the motor home in the church lot. We will hear from him tomorrow. We continued the study of the Syrophoenecian woman from Matthew. We determined that Jesus was testing the disciples to see if they understood that all people are welcome in God’s kingdom and deserve mercy. I saw for the first time that He did not become nasty to the woman but was speaking to the twelve. We worshipped afterward and were blessed at the Lord’s Supper. We came home for lunch, and I went off for a nap as I watched the finish of the British Open. I only saw snippets as I would wake for a moment. E read and napped too. We then got ready to go to the band concert in Maggie Valley. We stopped off and gave Bill Smith a copy of the chording for “Welcome to My World”. I think he can learn it by next Saturday’s dance. The concert was enjoyable and featured more than just march music. The musicians have a wide range of ages but are all former high school band members who just love to play. We went from there to Paul and Shirley’s for some pecan pie (we had not eaten a supper) and a round of Protestant Poker, sometimes called golf because the idea is to get a low score. We came home at 10:30 and tried to prepare mentally and spiritually for the big altercation with Tyson furniture tomorrow. I must also see about the Jeep air conditioner. It only worked for a couple of days.

Fun on the Green

We went for our morning walk a bit earlier than usual. I spent time on the computer and then we went to the Lake Junaluska rummage sale. At least one of the RV parks in the Valley operates the same way. They have a community sale and the proceeds go to keeping their association dues low. All the residents donate unused items and hold a big sale open to the public. We were a bit late on the second day of the sale but still found a nice iron and a metal wine rack. We are still looking for a knife block and an umbrella holder. I went to Wal Mart to check out prices on a modem to use with our cable TV and found them no cheaper than the one sold by the cable company. One thing that we must do first is buy an HDTV to fit the entertainment center. I bought E a pair of Fiscars while there and she was tickled.
Home for a lunch she wanted to prepare of pork steak. While in preparation I called her mom at the nursing home in Indiana. She has not been writing letters as she used to so we wondered how she was. Her brother was visiting and E had a nice talk with both of them. I showered while they talked, and then we ate lunch. We rested a bit, and then I got up and hung the swing from the soffit at the rear of the carport. I measured several times, trying to get it in the center, and got it up. Unfortunately, the hooks I inserted are not quite far enough apart. I will check with the builders Monday to see if I can or need to move one of them about two inches out.
We served boudin for an appetizer for Paul and Shirley and then left for Asheville and the Shindig. We stopped on the way for a barbecue family dinner at a restaurant Paul had found years ago. Unfortunately, it was Carolina barbecue. The meat, slaw, beans and hush puppies were good enough, but the barbecue sauce is that vinegar tasting stuff that ruins the meat. We enjoyed everything but that. We even enjoyed the waitress who was quick witted and funny.
We drove down to the Shindig on the Green, located in a park next to the Buncombe County Court House. We were late and did not get good seats but could hear most things ok. There were multiple groups that played about two numbers each and a clogging group that danced each half hour. It was a different group each time. We also got up and walked around the court house area where there were at least ten groups singing together. It appeared that many were “pick up” groups that just happened to get together, although we did see a couple of them perform on the big stage later. The groups reminded us of our trip to the Bluegrass festival in Bean Blossom last summer. The evening was mild and provided a nice breeze, keeping the humidity low. We left around 9:30 and drove home in rain that intensified as we neared our home. In all it was a day full of blessings, thanks be to God. We will give Him honor and praise tomorrow at worship.

Dancing with my star

Friday, guess what. We walked again! We have developed a real habit. I used to think people were crazy to drive to somewhere so they could walk. Well now I'm doing it. The hills are too steep and the highway too busy around our house. Besides the lake is beautiful. We went home to clean up and spent most of the day driving around Waynesville looking for the cable TV company and a place for Evelyn to get her hair cut. Before that I coaxed her into cutting my hair. We only need the scissors, a comb, my electric razor, and the wonderful "hair umbrella" we bought that slips over my head and catches some of the hair. It works pretty well. In the midst of this project, the delivery service from Tyson furniture came to deliver our entertainment center and two counter stools. As it turned out, the entertainment center had severe damage to the back panels and is quite larger than we remembered. Evelyn is a bit depressed about it. I called about the damage and learned they had called Thursday saying a new back had been ordered. But E will call the saleslady Saturday to see if we can return the entire unit. If not we will learn to live with what we have. The Lord has always provided and will certainly continue. We talked with the cable company and learned that we don't have to sign an extended contract and can get internet service for around $40 per month. I think I will try it until October. I am somewhat irritated with the installation fee and the fee to re-hook the thing when we return in the spring. We then went to 4 beauty shops before we found one "willing" to cut her hair. Actually the woman was very cold and, as usual, didn't cut things the way E wanted. We had planned to go to dinner with Paul and Shirley, but they are depressed about her car. The service people can't find anything wrong with it. They decided to stay home and we went on home and enjoyed a bratwurst with green peppers and sauteed onions again. We relaxed a bit and then went to the local armory for the ballroom dance. This was the month for CDs but next month is a live band. The charge was $20 and included many snacks and desserts, something we didn't need. We will plan ahead next month and eat a lighter dinner. We enjoyed the dance and were surprised to find a printed sheet enumerating the songs to be played. The people were very friendly, at least the ones close to where we were sitting. Some made a special effort to meet us. We are looking for people to socialize with in this area. The Lord will lead (or has led) us to those He wants us to buddy up with. I did have some trouble dancing due to the problem with my left knee. I could not do much pivoting or spinning. We did meet one couple from Brevard who come very near to our house to see a Dr. Mulholland. Perhaps this is the doctor the Lord has provided for us.

Resort area

The painter returned this morning and finished the trim in our storage unit. I cut some carpet remnants we have to size and laid them on the floor. Then I put up two more wooden strips for hanging items, tried to organize some of the miscellaneous items, tightened and moved the metal shelves back inside we brought from IN, and loaded some items onto them. The place now looks like a resort area, the inside of the storage unit that is. We have decided to hang the swing from the soffit at the end of the carport even though it will not be functional during any rain. We did not walk today because E had more preparation for her luncheon and our evening guests. I did my work while she was gone from 11:30 until 3:00. We relaxed a bit before the evening festivities; E gets tired during the day. While she relaxed more, I attached a cup and saucer to a stake I had driven into the ground. She got an idea in Asheville two weeks ago and found a nice set she didn't want. She can now see it in the flower garden outside the kitchen window. As the builder asked, "What are you going to do with it?" I guess the answer is nothing. We had Bill and Pat Smith for bratwurst, and he always brings his guitar. After dinner we went to the porch and sang. The neighbors came over and joined us for a very enjoyable evening. We had to prepare our little medicine containers for the next week after they left. Now we have health in our dispensers.

July 13

We got up and waited for Shirley to call telling whether she would walk with us today. As I turned on the phone, she called to say that she had not heard anything from the repair shop nor from the insurance adjuster and wanted to stay close to the cabin. We went on for our walk and my leg didn’t bother me too much again today. Perhaps the Lord is healing it. I spent time at the café and then came home for lunch. Evelyn is preparing food for tomorrow night’s guests. We will introduce them to boudin, one of our friend Ray’s favorite foods. We then ate leftovers of pork from last week. Sharon, the builder brought some workers to finish the trim inside the storage area, so I had to remove all the things from the floor. The painter then came and put on two coats of paint. It still needs another coat. I am using remnants from the house carpet to put on the floor. It rained as usual and I was left to work alone cutting the carpet. We had leftovers from Sunday for dinner and then went off to choir practice. Evelyn went along. What a good servant. She really can’t sing well but tries and makes a “joyful noise” to the Lord. We spent the evening hanging more pictures, and event that takes time in deciding where they should go. I have to take the car to be worked on early tomorrow morning and will try to take items to the recycle center on the way. I am somewhat impressed with the efforts to recycle what can be in this area. There is no trash pick up so everyone takes everything to the centers. It is not much more effort to separate the recyclables and drop them at the same location.

July 12

Tuesday was a busy day. We went to walk the lake around 9:00 and then I went to the café to write and dump e-mail. Shirley was going to come to get Evelyn so they could get some paint for some pictures and look at some unfinished furniture. Her problem was that her car wouldn’t start and she had to wait for a tow truck. It was impossible for him to get to their cabin so he let the car be powered by gravity to the bottom of their mountain. There he could put the car on the truck bed and tow it to the shop. We went on by ourselves and found the furniture shop and a neat little café/coffee shop. Shirley met us for lunch. The place is a sort of warehouse and had bags of coffee sitting around. It was very Columbian. I came home and they went to get the paint and see Shirley’s grandson in a play. I built a make shift ramp of wood so I could drive the Jeep up, giving me room to crawl under. It was very shaky, but it worked. The young married girl came over for some help with a nutrition class she is taking and was very enlightened by the professor emeritus. We got ready and went to the church for a potluck and video discussing more history of the Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod. We came home and got some pictures ready to hang. We are also going to ask the guests Thursday evening to help with some furniture. They used to build houses in Richmond Hills, near Savannah GA. Their son still does some wood working and may be willing to build some things for us. The trick will be getting it here. Bill and Pat do go there occasionally and will likely come back in the fall. Perhaps they can bring the items back to us. These are dreams and may not ever materialize, but I know they are good Christians and can build very quality pieces.

Monday, Monday

We learned Saturday that the air conditioning in the Jeep is not functioning. I must find a reliable repair shop. I had a neighbor in mind who has lived here for many years. I will see them tonight. We got up late because the radio volume had been turned down. We ate alight breakfast and went to the Lake to walk. We really are blessed to walk and pray for 45 minutes as we walk the 2 1/2 miles around. I go to the Kern Cafe afterward each day. Evelyn waited for Shirley to pick her up so they could go to Asheville to return the rugs bought yesterday. I stayed quite a while and then went home to eat some leftovers for lunch. I had barely finished when E. came back. Surprisingly, she had not eaten either. She had different leftovers and then laid down for a while. I am still trying to empty boxes, mostly of photo albums. She got up, and we spent and hour looking through some of them. That is something people rarely do. They spend money on film and cameras and time on "albumatizing" them and then rarely if ever get them out again. We brought an enormous amount of old photos and movies from Indiana and don't know what to do with most of them. I am going to make it a mission to look at them. I took the ones we reviewed (we always view them when we pick them up from the photo lab and again while putting them into albums) to the attic. We don't have too much space up there but do have some. While viewing the photos, Shirley called for E. to meet her so they could go to the unfinished furniture store where they might find nightstands for our bedroom. The problem is that the phone was in the kitchen being recharged, so we never heard it ring. It is just as well because Casterlines wanted us to go to the Chinese buffet with them. We have many leftovers that we need to consume prior to spoilage. Evelyn is such an excellent cook that I hate for any of her creations to be lost. We ate some more leftovers for dinner and then I went to the neighbor's to inquire about mechanics. The Lord is gracious and I learned that the wife's son is studying for the ministry but was previously a product supervisor for Ford in this area. Thus he knows good mechanics and recommended two in Clyde, the small town east of here. While there the rains we had been expecting from hurricane Dennis arrived. I had to borrow an umbrella to get home 60 yards away. We have been blessed to miss most of the rains but other areas east of here have been under flood watches for several days. We decided to try out our guest futon for the night but E couldn't take it because "I kept hitting the wooden arms". I was sleeping fine until I noticed her gone so I joined her in our regular bed. I still think the futon is a comfortable sleep. I must take the Jeep to Clyde for possible repair tomorrow. We also invited Bill and Pat Smith, friends who treated us so well in Savannah last summer, for a cook out next Thursday.

Sunday

We went to Bible class and met Paul and Shirley for worship. We then returned home for our roast beef dinner. We had not looked at the church calendar and missed the fellowship dinner after the service. This is bad because we need to get to know more people and that is a way to do it. We had a good time anyway. After lunch we went with them to Asheville. Their cabin had been robbed while they were in Indiana, so they will have to shop for replacement items. This time they were looking for rugs. We were then off to Paul's favorite place--the Farmer's Market. We bought white peaches, tomatoes, and squash to share. I also bought some boiled peanuts, my first since our return to NC. They were jumbos and enjoyable for dinner. Even though it was still early and we had eaten late, Paul took us to the J&S cafeteria, his second favorite place. They ate something, and I smuggled my peanuts in and finished them. We went home and we watched some old western movies on DVDs I had bought a year ago. Those movies that we liked so much as children are really bad in today's terms. I got Steve to come over and help me move the bookcase. He is a wonderfully nice young man. E. and I carried the books Olivia and I had removed and loaded them back in. We are keeping watch on the progress of hurricane Dennis. We continue to be blessed in that it doesn't come this way. We pray for those in both direct and indirect hits.

Goodbye for now

We prepared to leave for Clayton, GA. This is about as close to half way if we want to meet in a town. Tom and Stacy had hosted a missionary family and they weren't going to leave until after 10:00. Olivia helped me unload our bookcase yesterday because I thought Tom might be coming to help me move it to the guest room. I will have to get Steve from across the street to help. We left a bit early so we could get fuel so we arrived about 45 minutes early in Clayton. We had a small bit of shopping to do at the grocery so we were able to kill some time that way. The Savannah Street Cafe, our rendezvous point, closed at 2, so when they arrived we went to a small hippie-like cafe and had a gyro sandwich. We transferred the precious cargo and left for home with some Venetian blinds and two speakers Tom gave us. We stopped at a fruit market and bought a wonderful cantaloupe. We thought of going downtown Waynesville for entertainment but were both tired so we stayed home. It was different without Olivia. I hope she remembers all the fun she had with us, especially Grandma, instead of the times she had to be disciplined. She seems to be more content to focus on the negative things, but perhaps she will look back more fondly with reminders.

Friday July 8

We arose a bit later and left for the meeting at the Maggie Valley Zoo. The “girls” dropped me at the Kern Internet Café and went on. I walked around the lake first so that they could find me when they returned. I tried to better the time of 45 minutes and did by 5 minutes. This was probably not a bright move considering my strained left leg. I hurt many times during the rest of the day. I went back to the café and tried to get onto my blog.couldn'tuldn’t and e-mailed Tom. As I was working, the girl working gave me the phone. Tom had found the café number and called me. What an electronic wizard! Almost. I still can’t access the blog. Olivia had a great time at the zoo: she was able to hold four snakes. Evelyn took pictures. She was so eager that the man giving the demonstrations had to quiet her down since she kept trying to have another turn in front of the other kids. We came home for lunch and Evelyn did some sewing while Olivia did some craft and a card for Noah. She and I also went outside and pulled some weeds from the flower garden. She was a very good helper. We wanted to do something at night so we took the videos back to the library. We noticed that Main Street was blocked off and knew there was a street dance at 6:30. We returned and set up our lawn chairs on the front row and waited for the dance. We had a very good time, but I strained my knee while trying to clog during the first square dance. We didn’t dance anymore, but Olivia did. She looked around until she found a boy six years old and was willing to dance. Later she came back with another boy because the first one "kept wiping his nose on my shirt". She danced almost all the time but kept whining to go home. Finally we packed up the chairs and started to leave. The man called for the third square dance and her new little boy came running up. Suddenly, she didn't want to go home just yet. We did leave after that and had popcorn while she watched some of the videos from the library. We will meet her parents in northern Georgia tomorrow so they won’t have to drive so many hours in one day.

Thursday

We didn't rush to the church this morning because I wouldn't have anything to do until Evelyn and the other ladies had the lunch prepared. As it turned out the weather put a stop to all work and there was literally nothing to do. Fortunately there were crafts and games for Olivia. Evelyn also made plans to go swimming in the afternoon with Mrs. Juhnke and her grandchildren. We at lunch at our house and then they went off to the recreation center. They swam for three hours and I spent time at the Kern Cafe playing on the Internet. We picked up a pizza for dinner and had a nice meal at home. Olivia watched some of the videos and we relaxed.

Servant Event

Wednesday morning I got up and went to the church to help with the servant event. The pastor held a devotion at 8:45 and then everyone piled into cars and went to two sites for work. One group went to a poor elderly woman's house to build steps from her trailer and the other went to he Mountain Area Resource Center to build materials for use at the previous site and at future sites that need to have ramps built. I helped deliver supplies and lunch to both groups. We traveled throughout Waynesville looking for lock casters to attach to the bottom of a heavy table the kids were building. We never found a set that would work, so they improvised to make the legs larger. A 2X4 was nailed to the side of the 4X4 and the casters then fit. After lunch we delivered hand rails to the "steps" site and watched the crew leader do all the work even though he was to be teaching the young servants how to do it. I was very irritated and will not volunteer to go to any site where he is leader in the future. I even tried to help, thinking he just didn't want the young people to mess things up, but he took the tool from me and did it himself. I walked away, fuming. The Lord probably had things work this way to prevent my hurting myself. I got home around 5 and joined Evelyn and Olivia for supper and more videos. The child will watch any cartoon, even to the fourth or fifth showing.

Tuesday

We are enjoying the time with Olivia. We arose at 8:00, and I talked with the builder-in-chief, Sharon. We learned when she would be completing some of the jobs on our house. I am waiting for trim and painting on the interior of the shed. We also talked about the track lighting Stacy recommended over the dining room table, the third change in plans. We paid her the money that we owed her from going over budget on the cabinets. We went to the sanitation office to put the account in our names. We stopped in at the church to see what we could do to help with the servant event. It was done for the day, but we planned to go to Asheville for a minor league baseball game at night. Unfortunately the game was sold out, probably due to the scheduled fireworks after the game. We went on to the dermatologist, a very gracious, Christian man named Rufus Thomas. He said I needed to have the place on my ear "addressed" as well as the one on my chest. I can't have it done until August 3 so there must be no emergency. We returned some drapes to Lowe's after lunch and then went to the library, recycle station and the grocery for some country style ribs to smoke. They were not what I wanted so I passed. We went to the recreation center that has an indoor pool and E. and O. swam for an hour. The pool closes at 8:00. We returned home and watched a video from the library and had popcorn.

Happy birthday, USA

The extended family all went to Lake Junaluska for the Independence Day parade. We arrived late but were able to park in a spot that allowed us to catch up with the slow parade. We walked fast and were in the midst of the candy flinging of many of the "floats". We then went to the pavilion where there were many games for children and a barbecue lunch. There was entertainment for everyone, including a magician, a local bluegrass band and a club of cloggers. We returned home in the rain and began packing for the return to Atlanta. We decided to allow Olivia to stay with us for a few days so we are not alone any longer. I dumped my e-mail and finished my catch-up blog while we awaited the fireworks at the lake. We went back about 3 hours early so we could get a good seat. By the time the event was to begin, the girls were tired of waiting and wanted to leave. I refused after putting in so much time. It was the first time I remember seeing fireworks over water, so it was interesting. We returned home and went to bed about 11.

Some more

Thursday we walked again and I continued working at organizing the storage "shed". It is small and we will have to leave many things outside when we leave for the winter. In the afternoon we went to Waynesville and visited Laurie "Casterline".
She raises ornamental chickens that lay many multicolored eggs. She always has too many and brings them to work to give away. She had two dozen and we took both of them because the grandchildren like eggs. We stopped at the Waynesville recreation center to check on the prices to swim. It is a beautiful facility and costs senior citizens $3 to go all day; kids are $2. Our two are accomplished swimmers and may want to go while here. We stayed home at night. Evelyn baked me a German chocolate cake that we will have to celebrate my birthday with them.
Friday we prepared some food for the visit beginning tonight. The Roswell group was not supposed to arrive until 8:30 but arrived at 6:30 instead. We were in sort of a flux so we heated our ribs and baked potatoes. We ate late as we would have had they arrived when intended.
Saturday we lolled around in the morning until noon when Olivia, age 8, went on a horseback ride. Peter, age 10, said he would go Friday night but cancelled out. During the ride the males were brought home and the females went to shop. Tom, the dad of the two, and Peter went with me to shop for electronic equipment. We bought a VCR and a DVD recorder. We decided against a surround sound system because we should have speakers on the walls to make it effective. Instead Tom said he had some speakers and we could attach them to a receiver to be purchased later. We will attach them to the DVD (CD) player and a tape deck and turntable to be purchased later. It rained hard but not until we were inside buildings. We ate our ribs and baked potatoes for lunch at 2:00. We are to go to Cherokee to see the play "Unto These Hills", a play about how the Cherokee Indians were betrayed by President Andrew Jackson and cheated out of their land in the mountains. You can read the history if you are interested. The play is at an outdoor theater but no rain fell during the performance. We got home at midnight.
Sunday we went to church Evelyn and Stacy went to Bible class in our Jeep and took the keys to their van with them by mistake. We had to call the church so they could bring the keys to us. We had Holy Communion, a real blessing to be reminded of the boundless Grace of our Lord Jesus. We went out to a Chinese buffet because the two restaurants we wanted to eat in were closed Sunday. The buffet was OK at best. We spent the afternoon lying around. I worked on the storage again and am impressed with how well organized it looks. I may have the carport cleaned off sooner than I thought. Tom and I went to the internet cafe where I dumped e-mail and wrote yesterdays blog. We hooked up all the electronic equipment and watched an animated video in the evening.

Another clump of days

I am behind because I lost an hour's worth of work Thursday. The server at the internet cafe went down before I could save it. I will recapture what I can. Saturday, June 25, will have to be entered later. Sunday was worship and then home for lunch. I had bought some Texas style ribs and smoked them in my smoker brought from Indiana. Monday is another blur. Tuesday was my 67th birthday. We spent the morning looking for end tables, etc. and then found a nice Italian restaurant, Pasquales, for lunch. We planned to go to the Flat Rock theater, but it is closed on Tuesdays, so we waited until Wednesday.
Tuesday evening we went to a church member's house where we had a potluck supper and a Bible study featuring some of the history of the LCMS. We have spent much time walking around Lake Junaluska--about 45 minutes each day--and have done that all week. We did it Wednesday too and then took a nap because we will be up late tonight. We left home at 4:00 and went to the "Lamp Factory Outlet" in Canton. What a joke! We found no bargains but did buy two lamps for our nightstands--our future nightstands. We had gone to find a light for the piano so Evelyn could read the music. The cheapest one was $139. A great outlet price. We went on to the theater and got tickets. It was only 6:30 and the play began at 8:15 so we went to the Woodfield Inn for dinner. We shared an appetizer of lobster ravioli and entree of veal parmasagn. It was good but not spectacular. I did receive a free tiaramisu dessert. Off to see "1776", a good musical we had seen before but thoroughly enjoyed again. We got home after midnight after a 50 mile drive. Everything is far away in this area because of having to go around all the beautiful mountains.