Are you ready for some---sports?

Wednesday was our day at the hospital.  Our job is to take snacks to recovering patients to aid the nurses in their jobs.  As I was in the supply room, a nurse came in and gathered some supplies for a patient.  I offered to do the work, but she just talked with me and continued to gather and deliver the items.  I returned to Evelyn and said we should go home—un needed.  I went to the nurse and told her we were leaving.  She said that there were 4 more patients to come back to recover, but I said, if she was going to do our work, we could find other things to do.  We stayed anyway, and she did begin to use us.  we even made 3 beds before leaving.  We came home to get ready to go to the final Tourist home game of the season.  We rode the bus with other rec center members. We had packed some leftover pizza knowing we could not take it into the park—legally.  I had decided to take our food to the small restaurant across the street.  We had eaten there once before this summer.  I bought a beer and we ate our food before going to the game.  The game was really a bad one despite the Tourists victory.  The opposition dropped 3 popups and made 2 other errors.  We were home late.

The beginning of the beginning of recovery

Sunday was a great worship day.  Our choir sang in front of the church in our robes.  We have been in that situation only 1 other time in the 7 years we have been here.  We were very awkward as a group although we sang well.  There was a Voter’s meeting after the service, but we didn’t stay.  We aren’t sure we are voters anyway.  We came home for lunch and stayed home most of the day.  I watched the Cubs lose in the afternoon.  We invited Gary and Linda to play cards and eat popcorn, but they couldn’t come.  We watched a movie, “Two for the Money” and went to bed.

Monday Marty and I played golf.  We were joined by Pastor Crume.  It was foggy again (this is the Smokey Mountains), and he was confused as to how we could play not knowing the target.  He hasn’t played since he was installed here but did fairly well.  He can hit the ball a fur piece from the tee but has the same trouble we have with his long irons.  He could only play 9 because he had an appointment at 11.  Marty and I continued and got a little better.  We both broke 100 and were happy.  I really wish I could get some consistency but so does 90% of the golfing population.  I also gathered up the bottles and cans around the golf course to recycle them.  I brought them home even though we drive past a collection center on the way home.  Our neighbor, Wanda, sells the cans somewhere, so I wanted to take them to her.  She might need the money since Robert is dying.  She had bought $1200 worth of lumber to build a ramp to get Robert into their very small house.  We napped in the afternoon.  I went to the Rec Center to buy tickets for the bus ride to the Tourists game next Wednesday.  We finished our movie from Sunday in the evening.

Tuesday we went to the Silver Sneakers for the first time in at least 3 weeks.  My muscles certainly felt the absence from working out.  Evelyn is in better shape than I.  We had a few errands in town including finding some Crest cinnamon toothpaste for me.  Some places are discontinuing the sale of this—my favorite toothpaste.  I found some and a great deal on our favorite French vanilla cool whip.  We needed that product because Evelyn had made a rhubarb dish for us and our friends from church, Artie and Anita Wias.  They grow vegetables and willingly share them with us.  We took it to them later in the afternoon.  After coming home in the morning, I restained the entry steps to the house from the carport.  It is now darker and looks quite nice.  It did take all day to dry, so I had to lock the door to prevent either of us from going out on to the sticky steps.  We tried to eat up some of our many leftovers.  During the evening we listened to some powerful rhetoric from some thinking governmental leaders who have the good of the country and individuals.  We will begin praying daily that Christians can ride God’s Word to public office.  God will have our country do what is His good and Holy will. 

Man! Am I behind!

Marty and I played golf in the morning.  We were both pretty bad all around.  We had some good shots but were quite inconsistent.  We have a good time playing together and are usually finished around noon but were behind some slow players.  After lunch we napped in the afternoon. Thursday last was the day we were ushers at the HART.  The play was “Lost in Yonkers” by Neil Simon.  I have never thought his comedies to be very funny, with the exception of “The Odd Couple”.  Well, this one was a pleasant surprise even though it was not basically a comedy.  Thee were many funny lines and the acting was great as usual.  We are always surprised at the talent found to act in the plays here.  We sometimes exit after ushering but stayed around for this one and loved it. 

Friday was our day at the Open Door.  We both went this time.  Usually Evelyn attends the Bible study at church.  We were a bit early so we went to Big Lots to see if there was a mark down on sling chairs.  They had none but K-Mart did.  We now have chairs to replace those that were burned by sparks from our bonfire when we celebrated with other Christians in Indiana.  We enjoy working at the soup kitchen even though it is sometimes hard.  I didn’t give the devotion this time and got right to work.  We always serve the meals before we eat.  By the time everyone was served, I was able to eat with the cooks.  I say that in jest because people kept entering causing me to jump up bring them a plate.  After serving, we have to clean up the dining room and kitchen.  I used to wipe the table and chairs but now I just push the dry mop around the floor to pick up the residue left by the eaters.  All the people who cook or serve are Christians, but one man who I like nearly set off a dispute over abortion.  He approves of abortion but not killing of birthed children.  Of course, this caused bristled comments from others.  I didn’t get involved much.  Evelyn usually helps her friend who, with her husband, does the dish washing put the plates, etc. away.  We left and went to the library and Barber orchard where we bought some corn.  It was really delicious.  We had planned to go out during the evening but were tired.

Saturday Gary asked me to play golf with Jimmy and Jimmy’s son.  We began in a dense fog.  We cannot see the first green from the Tee.  It is always fun to just hit in the general direction.  I didn’t play much better than I had Thursday.  We had a good time but didn’t score well.  I just can’t seem to get any consistency.  We were quite slow and were not home until 2.  After lunch and a shower, we took a nap.  Even though we always ride in a cart, I am usually tired.  We left for the square dance and met with Tom and Melanie again.  We really like them and had invited them to a football party but they can’t come to it.  We will have another in October and hope they can come then.  We were pretty satisfied with our dancing ability.  We also talked with Stacy and were delighted that she and her family will be able to come to visit over Labor Day.  We thank God for being close to our families. 

Auto repair

Wednesday we continued chasing our insurance claim.  We didn’t do much in the morning but prepare food for the rest of the week.  We brought in the remainder of our tomatoes and made tomato juice of them.  I went to our neighbors to borrow a steel colander to use for separating the seeds and skins.  We also learned that the man of the house, Robert, had checked in to the hospital last night.  His wife, Wanda, said the prognosis was not good.  In the early afternoon the technician from Safelight came to replace the window in the car.  He was only here less than an hour to complete the job.  The cost of the work was $211.88.  This amount is about half of our deductible amount.  We then took naps before walking briskly around our loop.  We only snacked for supper both before and after choir practice.  Our choir usually sings from the choir loft but can’t next Sunday because the organ is not functioning.  That means Rosalind will have to play the piano on the floor of the sanctuary.  That also means the choir will have to sing from the Communion rail.  We watched some unfamiliar episodes of “Burn Notice” before retiring.

Which company will be responsible?

We met Andrew at 10, but he had not received the message and had been waiting since 9.  We went off to the only nearby Lutheran church but were disappointed.  It was an ELCA church and was offering Holy Communion, and we were ready to partake, but the pastor made a reference to approving of same sex marriages.  He should have emphasized praying and trying to move them out of that relationship.  We wouldn’t take Communion, and Andrew decided to not return to that church.  We left there and found a Mexican restaurant for lunch.  We returned him to the dorm and left for home.  The motel manager had taped a trash bag to our broken window site.  Evelyn had to ride in the back seat to help me know what was on my right.  It was a beautiful day until we reached the Gorge on I-40.  It rained hard there but our taped plastic bag protected us from too much rain soaking.  We arrived home and unpacked, had our popcorn and were in bed by 11.

We wakened by 7, and I went off to play golf with Marty.  It had rained on the course last night as we had driven near there last night.  It was very wet on the course, and we both played very poorly.  Evelyn had worked on the house, especially cleaning the refrigerator.  She had lunch ready for us when I arrived at 1.  We ate and I showered.  We took a nap and dressed to go to our friends, the Ribbes’ for supper.  They have to return to Florida in a short time and wanted to see us before they left.  They live in a very small trailer that makes us really thank God for our small but spacious home.  After dinner we played a new game they had found called WIZARD.  It was rather challenging.  The principle is to bid accurately how many tricks you can win.  I didn’t do well.  We went to the grocery on the way home for milk and a few other things. 

Tuesday was a day to contact the insurance company.  I forgot to mention in an earlier post that our camera had been stolen .  I wanted to make sure the company knew that too.  I used the neighbor’s phone because it is too easy to get put on hold,  eating up too many minutes.  Sure enough, I waited for quite a while and still never talked with the correct person.  He didn’t call back as I was promised.  After a delicious lunch of tilapia that Evelyn had cooked, she took a nap while I waited for the agent to call.  Our problem is that we have 2 homes and 2 homeowner’s policy.  I am concerned that we will get caught in a dispute between companies arguing about who is responsible.  The items in the car are covered under the homeowner’s policy, not the auto policy as I assumed.  The call I never got was to decide which company was liable.  In the late afternoon we walked around our loop 4 times.  Then I watched Fox News’ Special Report.  Evelyn walked with our neighbors while I ate the salad left over from lunch.  We finished the evening by watching For the Boys.

A smashing day.

Saturday found us lounging around until time to leave to meet Andrew.  We were scheduled to accompany him to the welcoming banquet for the merit scholars.  But when we went to the car, we discovered the passenger side window had been broken and the GPS and XM radio had been stolen.  The window glass was all over the parking lot and inside the car.  The console had been dislodged.  As a blessing, everything still worked—the window controls and radio still worked.  We had to call the police and file the report.  We also had to contact the insurance company to initiate the repair that will begin next Wednesday.  We missed the banquet but tried to find Andrew.  By 2 we were hungry and went to the CSF and had a hamburger.  Andrew was waiting for us, and we went to KMart, Walmart, and Good will to get him some supplies.  We returned to his dorm and unloaded the goods and the bicycles.  I was sure glad to get rid of them.  Andrew then took us to Ovid’s restaurant and bought our dinners because his money card was expiring at midnight, and he wanted to use it.  He had to go to a meeting for his major and left us to find a church time for tomorrow.  We found a Lutheran church that begins at 11 tomorrow.  We returned to the motel and had the clerk tape some garbage bags over the broken window.  I doubt they will stay on when we travel tomorrow, but we will give it a try.

Andrew to Lexington, UK

We had a leisurely drive home on Tuesday.  It was a bright day as have been most of the during this past week.  We had played another round of miniature golf before leaving.  When we arrived in Waynesville, we went to the GO Grocery for more supplies for Andrew.  We walked around our loop and spent the evening alone.

Wednesday Evelyn worked on finalizing her Bible study notes.  She had made arrangements with Rolene to take the last half of the study tomorrow.  The choir director gave me great compliments on my short solo Sunday.  It is always good to hear compliments that our true.  E and I went to the basement to finalize the preparation for tomorrow’s study.  She wrote notes and questions on the chalk board for Rolene to follow.  We returned home to watch some of the programs I had recorded last night.  The Closer is now concluded.  Kyra Sedgwick has left the show, but another show is using most of the cast to make another series, Major Crimes.  I don’t think it will last very long.

Thursday morning I took Evelyn to jump start the study and returned home to attach the bicycle rack and bicycles to the Saturn.  We had loaded the car after arising.  We had no way to load it after the bicycles were attached.  We managed to fill the hatch area.  I picked her up about an hour early and left for Louisville—and Andrew.  The bicycles rode all the way without incident.  I was rather surprised but pleased.  Our trip was a smooth one especially since the gasoline in Kentucky was 7 cents less than in NC and 14 cents lower in Tennessee!  We arrived just after Andrew’s plane landed.  We had originally thought he would have to wait an hour, but our leaving early made the difference.  We stopped at a rest area on the way to Lexington.  We had made plenty of sandwiches to provide us dinner.  Andrew said he wasn’t very hungry but did a good job of cleaning out the cooler.  We enjoyed visiting with him while eating.  We used the GPS to find the dorm where he will stay while studying at UK.  He will love studying, especially since he has a full ride being a national merit scholar.  It was dark when we finished taking things into his room.  We were blessed that he had made arrangements with the dorm counselor to let him check in after 6.  We will try to get a picture of his room.  We think he will have to buy a desk lamp for his study desk.  I am thankful that my life of studenthood is far behind me.  I didn’t like the dorms at Ball State 50+years ago when they were attractive.  I don’t like the newer ones either.  We unloaded most of Andrew’s items and left him to check into our motel.  It is not as good as the Fontana Village Lodge, but it has a bed, etc. 

We were blessed to sleep in on Friday morning.  After breakfast we drove to the campus looking for some places that Andrew could find Christian friends.  We parked, after the GPS took us in a circuitous route to the campus, directly across from the Christian Student Fellowship where the students will meet for a luau for freshmen.  It was more difficult to find our way back to the actual dorm where Andrew will live.  When we found it, we learned that it is less than half a mile from the Christian center.  We had spent most of the morning wandering around WalMart checking on items Andrew might need.  We had found him some tableware in the morning at a Salvation Army distribution center.  They gave the items to us despite our offering to pay for them.  We will make a donation to the Army later.  We were blessed all day while looking around the campus.  It is quite a blessing to feel the Lord leading one around.  The greatest example was discovering how close to the CSF location Andrew lives.  We will  meet Andrew at 11 AM tomorrow morning to go to a banquet for honor students and then shop at WalMart.  We also need to find a place to worship on Sunday.

After resting during the day, we found a “contra dance” scheduled at a local Arts Counsel.  The floor was hardwood and was comfortable.  There were 5 string instruments and a drum.  The dance was similar to square dancing, so we knew some of the calls.  The dances went on for around 10 minutes, so it was almost guaranteed that everyone had caught on by the end.  My problem was that I got somewhat dizzy.  There were many swings and twirls.  I often have trouble with dizziness, but not like tonight.  I had to sit out 2 dances.  We also learned that there is a large contra dance community in Asheville.  I don’t think we will go there often for dancing.  I hope we can dump the bicycles off to Andrew tomorrow morning when we meet him for the banquet luncheon.

Fontana Lodge

Sunday we praised God that the garage sale was over.  We wakened refreshed and were off to Bible study early.  The study was good as always and so was the sermon.  I had a short solo in the choir selection for this morning and did well.  We put some tables back into order from yesterday and then came home.  Evelyn prepared lunch while I packed some things for our meals for the weekend.  The lunch was ample and quite good as usual.  I have been blessed (and over fed) by being married to a great cook.  We were off to Fontana Lodge by 1:30.  The trip was longer than I expected and we were close to running out of gas before I found some for $3.899.  We arrived for the night and learned we were supposed to arrive tomorrow.  I made a big mistake but explained we had to be back home for doctor’s appointments so they let us stay.  They were not overbooked anyway.  We were surprised to find how nice the place here is.  We don’t have refrigeration nor microwave but can do well without them.  The information we were given that the nearest restaurant was 22 miles away but found that there are 2 restaurants on site.  This means that we didn’t need to bring all the things we did.  We were also surprised to find a swimming pool.  Of course since we were uninformed, we had not brought swimwear.  We watched a video on how the Fontana Dam was built and learned that there is a big game room providing ping pong and other games.  Some of them are free.  We took a nap because we were not as rested as we felt in the morning.  We just ate snacks for supper and made reservations in the restaurant for tomorrow night’s meal.  We have plenty of food for the other meals.  We leave Tuesday morning for home.

Church Garage sale

I need to mention the food from last night. We were sad that we had ordered smoked salmon as our appetizer. It was probably not the cook’s fault: we just didn’t like it. The vegetables and potatoes Evelyn got were pretty bad. We surmised that the beans were merely washed, not cooked, and the potatoes were not string size but thread size. We are not even sure they were potatoes. My collard greens were cold and bitter. I think I overrated the meals in an evaluation.

Wednesday has disappeared from my mind.

Thursday was golfing day again. Evelyn had to work at the church to help organize the upcoming garage sale. Marty, Gary and I went to Iron Tree. To no one’s surprise, I don’t seem to see any improvement in my final scores. I hit as few good shots which is about all I can manage. I did make a faux pas, however. I said something in jest that Marty took literally. She was very angry about it even after I apologized and tried to explain. We finished the round and left for home. She didn’t leave happy. I sent her an email asking for forgiveness, and her response was “ok”. I don’t know whether she will play golf with me again or not. I have enjoyed having someone to play with all summer and hope that will not end. Gary is limited in the times he can play, so I may be alone again on Mondays. Evelyn worked until about 4 and came home very tired. We had leftover pizza and watched the Olympics.

Friday was my day at the Open Door. Evelyn had to return for pricing of items for the sale and the Friday Bible study. I enjoyed working by serving the Lord by serving food to the “clients”. I had prayed that I would not feel the resentment that I sometimes feel toward the people who come in good cars and sport cell phones. God was faithful as always and kept me focused on serving Him. The food wasn’t as good as usual, but the volunteer cooks do the best they can with the donated food. It is usually quite tasty. I was blessed to lead the devotion and chose to use James 1:17 stressing that all good gifts come from God. I used examples from the Olympics and Folkmoot where God was given the glory for talents. After cleaning up the dining area, I returned home to clean up and wait for Evelyn. I waited until 5 and became upset. She is not strong enough to tolerate much work for that length of time. I make her lie down many afternoons. I finally went to get her at 5:30. Most of the women are too old to work that long even 1 day. They have worked like this 2. We came home for supper and rest—for her. I hadn’t done anything. I did mop the floors after supper. Ironically, Evelyn could not go to sleep until after midnight. She thought she was just too keyed up.

The big day was Saturday, and we spent all day at the church. Unfortunately, God didn’t bless our sale as we had hoped. At 1, we had to load many items into vehicles to take to the Goodwill Industries because they hadn’t sold. Perhaps we didn’t advertise well enough. We all had lunch together at 2:30 and returned home. Evelyn was really exhausted and napped for an hour. Stacy called and talked for a long time telling many things about her week. We just stayed in, missing the square dance. We packed a bit for tomorrow’s trip.

I need to mention the food from last night. We were sad that we had ordered smoked salmon as our appetizer. It was probably not the cook’s fault: we just didn’t like it. The vegetables and potatoes Evelyn got were pretty bad. We surmised that the beans were merely washed, not cooked, and the potatoes were not string size but thread size. We are not even sure they were potatoes. My collard greens were cold and bitter. I think I overrated the meals in an evaluation.

Wednesday has disappeared from my mind.

Thursday was golfing day again. Evelyn had to work at the church to help organize the upcoming garage sale. Marty, Gary and I went to Iron Tree. To no one’s surprise, I don’t seem to see any improvement in my final scores. I hit as few good shots which is about all I can manage. I did make a faux pas, however. I said something in jest that Marty took literally. She was very angry about it even after I apologized and tried to explain. We finished the round and left for home. She didn’t leave happy. I sent her an email asking for forgiveness, and her response was “ok”. I don’t know whether she will play golf with me again or not. I have enjoyed having someone to play with all summer and hope that will not end. Gary is limited in the times he can play, so I may be alone again on Mondays. Evelyn worked until about 4 and came home very tired. We had leftover pizza and watched the Olympics.

Friday was my day at the Open Door. Evelyn had to return for pricing of items for the sale and the Friday Bible study. I enjoyed working by serving the Lord by serving food to the “clients”. I had prayed that I would not feel the resentment that I sometimes feel toward the people who come in good cars and sport cell phones. God was faithful as always and kept me focused on serving Him. The food wasn’t as good as usual, but the volunteer cooks do the best they can with the donated food. It is usually quite tasty. I was blessed to lead the devotion and chose to use James 1:17 stressing that all good gifts come from God. I used examples from the Olympics and Folkmoot where God was given the glory for talents. After cleaning up the dining area, I returned home to clean up and wait for Evelyn. I waited until 5 and became upset. She is not strong enough to tolerate much work for that length of time. I make her lie down many afternoons. I finally went to get her at 5:30. Most of the women are too old to work that long even 1 day. They have worked like this 2. We came home for supper and rest—for her. I hadn’t done anything. I did mop the floors after supper. Ironically, Evelyn could not go to sleep until after midnight. She thought she was just too keyed up.

The big day was Saturday, and we spent all day at the church. Unfortunately, God didn’t bless our sale as we had hoped. At 1, we had to load many items into vehicles to take to the Goodwill Industries because they hadn’t sold. Perhaps we didn’t advertise well enough. We all had lunch together at 2:30 and returned home. Evelyn was really exhausted and napped for an hour. Stacy called and talked for a long time telling many things about her week. We just stayed in, missing the square dance. We packed a bit for tomorrow’s trip.

Eating out

We had Holy Communion again this Sunday.  Afterward we arranged tables in the basement to prepare for next Saturday’s garage sale.  We even had some items delivered and brought them in.  We then went to Asheville for lunch with Brent and Susan.  We went to a seafood restaurant to which I had a coupon.  We were to spend at least $100 to receive $50 off.  Naturally we thought it would be a high dollar restaurant.  It wasn’t.  We had to buy almost $50 worth of cake slices to go.  Evelyn will share them with the ladies as they price the items for the sale.  We came home and enjoyed some Bailey’s.  We just spent the evening watching the Olympics.

Monday is geezer day at Iron Tree, so Marty and I played golf.  Gary couldn’t play because he had to work.  We didn’t have a good day but enjoyed the cool morning.  Evelyn exercised and shopped a bit for clothes for Andrew.  We had lunch and then I showered before resting some in the afternoon.  We were going to shop at but decided to wait until tomorrow because it was to be geezer day, featuring 20% off.  Since we had nothing scheduled, we stayed home.  We had a very nice rain in the afternoon, making it easy to nap.

We went to Silver Sneakers and worked out in the morning.  We went to Belk afterward only to learn that this store won’t honor geezer day because they were having a quite a great sale.  We tried to find some black trousers for me but couldn’t find the correct length.  We did buy some things for Andrew.  We came home for lunch and rest.  Around 2 Jo picked me up to help with gathering some items for the sale.  We went to a house that should be featured on Hoarders.  We could hardly get through the house to carry out the chair she wanted to donate.  We got several other items too.  We got more from 2 others and even got some from out house.  We finished early and I came home to shower.  We met the new neighbors, the Galloways, and welcomed them to the neighborhood.  We then drove to Asheville for dinner at the Corner Kitchen.  Whatever I had set off my sphincter, and I had to leave the restaurant to spit up.  It was the worst attack I have had in years.  It lasted more than half an hour.  We drove home and spent the remainder of the evening.

Alone again

Friday we slept in because Olivia hasn’t felt really well for a while.  I had thought we might possible be scheduled to serve at the Open Door so Olivia could help them, but we were not.  We drove to the Star Ranch to see where it was.  It is a ranch that rescues animals, especially horses, and Olivia has been fascinated with all animals, especially horses, for over 5 years.  The ranch was not open in the afternoon, but we returned at 5:30.  We had thought she would be able to feed the horses, but the regular man had already done it.  We did spend some time allowing Olivia to just look at and pet the animals.  We didn’t go to the street dance downtown because Olivia wasn’t feeling very well.  We had changed her medicine, and she felt better on Saturday.  We just stayed home and watched some of the Olympics.

I fixed omelets for Olivia and I this morning before leaving for Clayton, GA to return her to her mom.  We had a great trip and were early.  When Stacy arrived, we went to a restaurant, Grapes and Leaves, where we had eaten a few years ago when exchanging children.  We enjoyed our visit but were sorry to see Olivia leave.  She has been a delightful guest although we were sorry she never felt good enough to do anything in the evening but stay at home.  Stacy really missed her all week but was very busy all week.  We left them around 1 and drove to Waynesville in spotty rain.  We hit several strips of rain that were no more than half a mile wide if that wide.  We were able to talk with Andrew and made plans for our meeting in Louisville in a couple of weeks.  He wants our old bicycle that will be difficult for us to take, but we will with the help of God.  I have a bike rack under the house but don’t know whether it will fit on our car.  We will begin helping with our church garage sale scheduled for next Saturday.  we have some things to contribute and must get them to the church early in the week. 

I watched the Olympics while Evelyn and Emily talked on the phone.  I haven’t seen much of the games but did begin to enjoy the track events, my favorite part.  I just sat amazed about how fast the runners in the 10,000 meter race ran.  The women’s winner just ran away from everyone in the final lap.  Of course there are also great human interest stories, not the least of which was the first black lady gymnast champion, Gabby Douglas.  She is a devout Christian and gave God the glory He deserved.

Relying on God’s Grace

I happened to be wandering around at the closing show and was blessed to see the New Zealand dancers gathered in prayer.  They had sung Amazing Grace just before this prayer.  I filmed the singing but don’t know how to publish it.

Philippine hosted party for folkmoot late nighter

The dance team from the Philippines host a party for all the dance teams after they have danced most of the day.  They have a great time just being the young people they are.  The bottom picture features the New Zealand dancers performing for some reason I can’t explain since it is not their night.  We had a good time watching all of their fun.

Olivia in the kitchen

The top picture is some lovely chocolate mousse Olivia made for our dessert.  Next are pictures of the sweetheart bakers making a cobbler with the blackberries we picked last night.  The final shows the finished product and grandma giving the special credit to her understudy.

Fun with Olivia

Wednesday Evelyn went to exercise while Olivia and I ate the omelet I had started yesterday.  When she returned we began work on applying water seal on the front porch and deck.  Olivia, who has been a wonderful visitor, used the small sponge roller to apply the Olympic coating.  Of course we had to move the items out into the yard to coat the floors.  So we did that on the front porch but just moved the furniture to one side while she did the other.  We finished the deck after lunch but couldn’t move the furniture back until after it dried.  Olivia had been applying the coating a bit to sparingly but increased the amount, causing it to dry slower.  We had thought it would be dry all day but had a small shower in the afternoon.  Olivia made some garlic/marinara pasta for our lunch.  We enjoyed some mousse she had made earlier in the day.  It was quite lovely and tasty.  It has been a delight to have her come to visit.  We even spent about an hour discussing a passage from Jeremiah chapter 4.  We were blessed to look at the Scripture together.  We made a plan to play golf with Marty tomorrow while Evelyn went to lead her Bible study in the morning.

Thursday Olivia jumped right out of bed at 7.  We were all at the golf course by 7:30.  It was foggy again, and we could hardly see the greens from the Tees.  I played very badly at first and just quit keeping score.  I never did for Olivia, but she did hit some good shots once in a while.  She seemed to have a good time during the 9 holes we played.  She had not played golf since the granddaughters and I played 4 years ago.  We were home just as it became hot.  I showered and started our lunch so we could eat when Evelyn got here at 1.  We took a nap while Olivia worked with her I-phone or pad.  When we wakened, the ladies worked on supper.  I had gone to get my medicine and some items needed for the egg plant supper.  Evelyn had bought 2 Japanese egg plant and Olivia looked on the Internet for a recipe so they could make the exotic oriental dinner.  It was really quite good—and we don’t like egg plant very much.  After dinner we walked down the highway and picked some wild blackberries.  They are thorny and most of them had been picked.  We got very few berries but had a good time.