Heading for the Wurstfest

Tuesday was reunion day.  Our morning began with breakfast followed by Evelyn’s talking with the breakfast maid about doing the laundry.  She volunteered to do it for us.  When she finished, she brought it to our room.  We gave her a $5 tip.  Then we went to pick up Simon for lunch.  We went to the Piccadilly cafeteria as usual.  They usually have good crawfish etouffee but not so much this time.  We did have a nice visit and learned that Roland had spent much of the summer recovering from hernia surgery.  We told him of our escapades as well.  After we returned him home, we went to Trahan’s to pick up pecans from their yard.  Jimmy is losing the ability to walk without one of his elaborately carved walking sticks, and Betty is nearly totally confined to her wheelchair.  We picked up a grocery bag of pecans but not as many as 2 years ago.  For some reason we were too early even though we come at the same time each year.  They have a neat tool they use for picking them up, and I will post my picture of it soon.  We went to the motel to rest before meeting them for dinner at Fezzo’s.  We shared a dinner as usual.  We had another good visit.  It is fun to hear Jimmy talk about his experiences working in the oil fields.  He is pure Cajun and speaks in a heavy brogue.  We met them in 1969 when I was studying linguistics at USL.  Earlier in this day, we drove past the house we rented during our summer.  The neighborhood was very rundown.  Evelyn wanted to see if our landlord was still living there, but the house was for rent.  We returned to the motel and began preparing to pack tomorrow.

Wednesday morning Evelyn washed her hair because the motel had a hair dryer in the room.  We weren’t sure what would be in our motel in New Braunfels.  We found one here too.  We drove into Texas when the RPMs began to go to 5,000 and the engine began to heat up.  We slowed down and eventually stopped at a rest area.  A young air force man and his young family were there.  We looked under the hood and he found a place where something was leaking.  Another man driving a semi had some tape, and I took a screw from another man in a motor home.  I inserted the screw into the small rubber tube that was leaking.  The truck driver taped over the screw and crimped the small tube that was leaking and stopped the leak.  It was so well done that we were able to drive through Houston and arrive at New Braunfels—a 200+ mile drive.  I will take it to a mechanic tomorrow morning because, even through it ran well, I don’t want to risk causing serious damage to some other part.  We were a day early but were still able to get a room.  In fact we have one of the nicest rooms we have ever had.  We are to meet John and Sue Hamel but found that they didn’t have reservations.  I called and told them, so they called the front desk and got the matter resolved.  They will be here on Friday.

Arriving in Lafayette

Monday we drove to Lafayette at out leisure.  Natchez is only about 150  miles to Lafayette.  We took back roads through north Louisiana, and we took 190 to Opelousas.  On the way we stopped at a small truck stop for lunch.  We decided to have Cajun food but were disappointed.  The spicy crispy fries were not spicy.  The boneless chicken was pretty good, and the gumbo I had was the best thing on the menu.  The jambalaya was not very warm.  We did have generous servings and took them with us to the motel.  We arrived around 2 and took a nap after unpacking.  We unhooked the trailer so we could drive around a bit more freely.  We went to our favorite dance hall, Randol’s.  We had fun dancing but didn’t stay long because my left knee was tender, and we didn’t want to aggravate Evelyn’s sciatica.  When we returned to the motel, we ate the left overs from noon.  We ate as we watched game 5 of the World Series.

Using one of the extra days we have to travel.

We slept a bit later than we should have.  By the time we had packed and loaded the car, breakfast had been cleared.  We had some bananas and each ate one.  I asked the clerk for directions to the local Lutheran church and arrived there just in time for the 10 o’clock service.  We had several people greet us despite this being an LCMS church.  Being greeted by more than 1 person besides the pastor is something rare in our church body.  It was Reformation Day, and a brass band played for the service.  As usual, it was a very uplifting service.  When we finished, we left for Vicksburg before eating lunch.  I left going the wrong way because I had missed a turn.  We weren’t delayed too much and were in Jackson by 1.  We stopped at a Popeye’s for a chicken dinner.  I could access the Internet, so I made a reservation at a Quality Inn in Natchez.  We traveled on to Vicksburg and went to the Civil War battle ground.  We had been there years before with the girls.  Emily didn’t remember going but Stacy might.  There was a new feature.  We could take our phone and call a specified number at each marked stop on the driving tour to receive a message as to what happened at that site.  There were 15 sites but we only had time for 7 because the park closed at 5.  We had a bit of trouble getting through Vicksburg, but talked to a sweet young black girl who gave me directions.  It was still difficult, but still possible.  We drove south to Natchez in a rain.  It was quite dark and treacherous.  We pulled into Natchez and bought some microwave popcorn.  We also ate sandwiches made with some peppercorn turkey breast and bread we had brought from home.  We are still a day early in our trip, so we will stay in Lafayette Monday and Tuesday before going on to New Braunfels a day early.  We will likely find more to do for the extra day there.

Goodbye to family

Friday we wakened before 6 for some reason.  Neither of us was anxious, and we had slept fairly well.  We packed our last minute things into the trailer, took our water payment to the office, took the trailer to town to have the tires inflated and left town.  We were into Georgia by 10:30.  We stopped at a CVS looking for a bargain on Pepsi but found none.  We stopped for lunch in Gainesville and were at Stacy’s around 2.  We talked with her and Tom until the kids came home from school.  Olivia was feeling sick and went to bed.  Peter was home for a short visit and left early for the football game.  T,E, and I went to the Tin Drum where Olivia works.  We met her current boyfriend, Brad.  He seemed clean cut.  We drove about 45 minutes to the school where Peter’s school was playing.  It was cold, but we were dressed for the event and remained comfortable.  Peter did well in performing with the band at halftime.  We left for home during the 4th quarter, and Tom dropped us at the La Quinta where we spent the night.

We slept a bit later during the morning and went to Stacy’s after breakfast.  We visited with her and Peter for a while before going to lunch at Red Lobster.  Stacy wanted to buy Evelyn some lobster for the birthday she had in September.  We went back to her house and became aware that they had expected us to leave during the day.  When I became aware of this, I cancelled our reservation for tonight and went online to make one in Meridian, MS.  I was tired and little interested in driving nearly 300 miles starting at 3 PM.  We did none the less.  Just before we left, Tom was able to spend some time helping me learn some things about the tablet I have had so much trouble with.  In fact I thought it didn’t work.  Tom Was able to get it to work.  We left and I fought sleep almost all the way.  We were blessed to enter the central time zone enabling us to arrive shortly after dark.  We ate some leftover pizza we had brought from home and watched some of the World Series since the college football games were blowouts.

Finishing the summer in NC

Tuesday we spent much of the day continuing with our packing.  In the evening we had our neighbor, Wanda, come over to help us finish off our chili from Saturday.  She came and brought 2 books that talked about life in the mountains 50 years ago.  Her parents and other neighbors on their homes and fields where they raised their crops and livestock.  She was really excited to share her memories with us. 

Wednesday we spent the day at home.  It was quite cold especially in the morning.  I moved some of the deck furniture into the living room as Evelyn wants me to do.  She does this every year even though it just tells the world we are not in the area.  In the afternoon I went to the slope on the south side of our house to attempt transplanting a rooster comb plant we bought years ago.  It is always a challenge to dig any hole on that slope because there are many tree roots in the ground and are very hard to cut through.  I finally got my fox hole shovel that converts to a sort of pick and cut through enough to make a transplant.  It has been cold enough the past nights that made us concerned about our mandevilla.  We had cut it down and brought it and a begonia plant into the shed.  I left the light on in an attempt to generate some heat. 

Thursday was errand day.  We just worked here at trying to remove some mold from our bath mat before I took Evelyn to Maggie Valley to get he hair cut.  We found a suggestion in Good Housekeeping that recommended using bleach to wash it in a washing machine.  We had no bleach but used vinegar instead.  The process worked fairly well.   I had a list of errands: returned some books to the library and got some paperbacks that they were giving away; I went to the thrift store and bought a small cooler to cannibalize some zipper pulls to place on my computer carrier; I went to the grocery thinking I could get a 12 pack of Pepsi but found it priced too high; I bought some PowerAde to raise Evelyn’s potassium level; I went to Mountain Tire to make arrangements to have our trailer tires inflated tomorrow; I went back to get Evelyn at Pat’s and went to a carwash on the way home.  I unloaded the car while Evelyn made lunch.  She then rested while I vacuumed the car for the trip.  I also got the GPS reconnected for the trip.  We took a short nap before Doris came to say goodbye.  Just as she left and Evelyn started to heat the pizza for our supper, Gary and Linda came to say goodbye.  They stayed for an hour.  We were hungry when they left.  We ate, did the dishes and washed out the refrigerator before watching the World Series.  I also talked to Jim Juhnke about hiring someone to cut some weeds at the church. 

Potential good news about the sciatica

Sunday was our last day at Our Savior.  We were scheduled to sing one of my favorite hymns, It is Well with My Soul.  I was also scheduled to read the Scripture for the day.  Both things went well.  Afterward we took 2 widows of German descent to a Bavarian restaurant that we had been to several times before.  The restaurant had new owners, and the food was much better.  In fact the ladies who both came from Germany thought it was very authentic.  We were home by 2:30 and rested.  Evelyn’s leg comes and goes in her pain level.  She felt fairly good earlier but bad when we went to bed.  We didn’t eat supper before going to the final band concert in Maggie Valley.  It was one of the best of the season.  We are sorry that it is over.  We came home and had our usual popcorn before going to bed.  Evelyn has been able to sleep most of the night but has trouble turning over and getting out of bed.  She plans to call the doctor and request a referral for an epidural tomorrow.

Monday we began with phone calls.  Evelyn left a message for the doctor and waited for the response.  I called the audiologist because I had seen an ad for a hearing aid.  You may remember that I had lost the one for my left ear a couple of months ago.  I learned that what was advertised was inferior to the one I have and the ad was not for my audiologist.  The doctor returned the call and decided to give Evelyn a shot of Kenalog 40mg.  Of course, we went immediately and were happy that she didn’t have to endure the epidural.  Those are painful and don’t always work.  We pray that this injection in the hip will work.  Evelyn felt better the remainder of the day but hopes that she will feel even better tomorrow.  We are trying to eat the things we have in the refrigerator and freezer.  We had some of the country style ribs that I had smoked in July.  They were good, but we have more to eat in the next days.  I spent some of the day putting the tubs into the trailer.  I think we will have plenty of room but can’t understand why.  I had things packed to the roof when we returned to NC in the spring.  We may even have room to take our Mandevilla in one of the empty tubs.  We are going into a cold period in the mountains, making it easy for us to leave.  I wore a sweatshirt all day and felt good.  I did grease the wheels with Gene’s grease gun and enjoyed a final beer with him and J.R.  We watched Dancing with the Stars in the evening.  Evelyn felt better but has trouble sitting.  We hope she will not be too uncomfortable riding to Texas.

Entertaining the neighbors

Friday we slept late and then continued the slow process of packing.  We can’t move too fast because we might pack many thing we still need.  This makes it difficult also because it is important to get the heavier items into the front of the trailer.  Then I must try to get things as level as possible when I stack them.  I also have nearly discovered that we may have too many tubs to fill with items we plan to take.  Perhaps we aren’t taking as many things as previously.  Evelyn worked on coloring her hair before lunch.  Afterward I took her to therapy.  It seems to be doing some good for her.  We rested in the afternoon before our guests for dinner arrived early.  Kerry and Mary Ann Bartman had never had crawfish etouffee, so we served it to them.  We began with some gumbo we had left.  Kerry liked it all but Mary Ann would eat only a modest amount of each.  I don’t think she eats much of anything but nothing of an experimental nature.  They left so we could go to the dance where we thought we would say goodbye to Karen and Dallas, but they didn’t come.  They were having an early Thanksgiving with their family since they wouldn’t be here on the day.  We didn’t stay at the dance because we thought we might hurt Evelyn’s leg and back.  We were glad to come home early. 

Saturday I loaded more things into the trailer before the Purdue/Michigan State game began.  I was impressed with the way Purdue had improved over the week.  They lost 14-0 but played much better than in last week’s loss of 44-7.  Their freshman quarterback will be pretty good before he graduates.  After that game, I watched some parts of other Big 10 games.  Evelyn spent much of the day relaxing in bed.  We had thought we could have Doris and Wanda for chili, but Doris said she was too tired from entertaining her sister the past 3 days.  Wanda came and brought a couple of books of history of this area featuring some people and places she grew up with.  She was excited to show us these books.  We practiced the choral selection we will sing tomorrow morning, and I practiced my Scripture readings. 

Getting ready for travel very early

Tuesday was the day that we had no pressing plan for the day. Evelyn didn’t have therapy today so we had more time to work around the house. We decided to use the beautiful day to do the autumn trimming of dut into 3the shrubs around the house.  Evelyn was cooking something but came out to help.  I dragged out the extension cord and the hedge trimmer.  I used our recycle containers to hold the refuse.  Two of the shrubs are holly and they have stickers on each leaf.  I finished in a couple of hours.  Evelyn borrowed Doris’ rake and raked all the trimmings into piles for me to pick up.  I tried to find a pitchfork in the neighborhood but none was available.  Finally I put on my rubber work gloves, used Doris’ rake and picked up the piles.  I put them into the large containers that I use for recycling materials.  That was 5 garbage cans.  It was dark and we had accomplished more today than we ever expected. 

Wednesday Evelyn worked on and finished her study for tomorrow.  She had therapy at 1, so I dropped her off just down the street at Yarrington Therapy and came back to connect the trailer.  She is in a rush to get started packing even though we won’t leave for more than a week.  Gene helped me line the car and trailer up for connection.  I backed it into our driveway and set it up.  The tires were strangely full of air.  I returned for Evelyn who was a bit better than when she left therapy yesterday.  She rested for a while and then we went to choir practice.  I don’t know my part very well but couldn’t get more rehearsal time because the people who will be here have to rehearse for the Christmas Cantata.  I made arrangements with Jim Juhnke to meet tomorrow morning at 9 to remove the logs in the church parking lot.  I arranged for Ronny Dean to take the logs and promised to help load them onto a truck bed.  We came home, ate a supper and watched “Million Dollar Baby”  a great film by Clint Eastwood. 

Thursday was a busy morning.  We were at church by 9 and found Ronny and his brother-in-law there with a front loader and dump truck.  Jim Juhnke didn’t arrive until 9:30.  We used the front loader and chain to pull a large log from the brush on the hill.  Once it was out, Jim used Ronny’s chain saw to cut it into 6 ft. pieces.  They were taken to the dump truck and loaded on.  I went to some of the smaller pieces that had been cut into 3 piece sections previously.  They all fit into the front loader bucket.  We were done in about an hour.  We thank God for sending these  men with their equipment.  We would have a nearly impossible task had we been forced to do the work by hand.  Evelyn began her final Bible study of the season while I came home to take a shower.  I picked her up around 12:30 and came home for lunch.  I took her to the therapist for her 2 o’clock appointment.  I went to Lowes to buy some furnace filters, door stop and 2 bags of dirt for next year.  We packed some of our plastic tubes for transport to Texas before and after supper.  We watched a movie in the evening.

Big party

Friday was a total work day.  I had to vacuum, mop and dust because Evelyn’s leg pain won’t allow her to do much.  It was a beautiful day, so we decided to take a break and go to Asheville for a late lunch at a low level diner called Cruizers.  We were late so there were no desserts left.  This sort of impressed me because people don’t buy things that are no good.  We had a Flounder dinner apiece.  This is notable because we normally share a dinner.  If we have one each, we usually each get a different entrée.  We each ate about half of our meal and took the rest home.  My Givalia coffee pot had stopped working this morning.  I thought we might want to serve coffee at our party tomorrow, so I went to the Goodwill to find one.  I did and paid my $2.50 and went back to Waynesville.  Evelyn wanted to get a pedicure, so I dropped her off and went home to try the coffee maker.  It didn’t work properly. For some reason the coffee wouldn’t come into the carafe. I learned that the wrong carafe had been placed in it.  The correct carafe had to be tall enough to push a spring up so the coffee can drain.    I had been told that I could exchange the item at any Goodwill store in the mountains.  I went to the local store, exchanged the coffee maker (I had to pay an extra buck fifty) and took it to the parlor where Evelyn was waiting.  We went home and enjoyed a cup of coffee.   We spent the evening at home resting up for tomorrow. 

Saturday we got up early and finished the preparations.  Actually, I had been unable to sleep well, so I got up before 5 and did much of putting items in serving bowls.  I put the boudin in a bowl for serving and put the beer and sodas into our coolers.  I set up the card table for the women to play cards on as well as chairs to sit on.  I began to get sleepy around 6 and went back to bed for a couple of hours.  We wakened at 8 and dressed for church.  The choir didn’t sing this morning because there was a wedding during the worship, something I have never seen before.  After the service, the newly weds (both outliving their first spouses) gave a reception and lunch.  The groom was a choir member and got our support.  We went home and relaxed by sleeping.  Evelyn finished making the etouffee and cornbread muffins for our dinner tonight.  One couple from our church, who does nothing but come to worship, had gone to New Zealand and Evelyn wanted to see their pictures.  They enjoyed the meal and we enjoyed the slide show.  New Zealand is a beautiful clean country.  They went home around 9 and we crashed.  We have talked with the man in charge of decorating the Lutheran Hour Float in the Rose Bowl Parade.  We have considered going to help decorate for several years but might do it this Christmas season.  We have to do more research.

Monday began a bit later since we are catching up on sleep from the weekend.  Evelyn  had to work on finishing her Bible study for this coming Thursday—her last.  We had thought of inviting our widowed friends for lunch, but one of them was gone.  We tried supper but that didn’t work either.  After lunch I took Evelyn for physical therapy.  I went to pay a couple of doctor’s bills and check on a charge from the hospital.  I try to always check our Medicare statements to make sure the medical profession doesn’t make fraudulent charges.  They hadn’t.  I returned to wait for Evelyn and must have run the battery down listening to the radio.  I had to get a jump from  another patient.  We went to town to get some milk because we were out.  We returned home.  Evelyn was really hurting after the therapy and could hardly walk to the car.  She got better after sitting for a while.  She has some exercises to do and that seemed to relieve her as well.  We watched DWTS and went to bed.

Cleaning the house.

Thursday I took Evelyn to her Bible study at 10 and went on to town to run some errands.  I got some Australian Dream and Blue Emu for Evelyn to rub on her leg.  I also found some more Muller (a delicious imported yogurt and fruit) and bought 24 containers for our breakfasts.  I went to the library and got Evelyn some large print fictions she wanted to read.  I brought them home and put one of the boxes of yogurt into Gary and Linda’s refrigerator.  I returned to get Evelyn after noon and brought her home to finish our sauerbraten for lunch.  I then began to clean house for our party Saturday.  I had to do almost all things because Evelyn’s back and sciatica is very painful.  I had to vacuum the carpets and linoleum before mopping it.  I had to shake rugs and dust some of the high places.  Evelyn rested but will do the lower tables tomorrow.  I even had time to take a nap before going to the Folkmoot volunteer appreciation dinner.  We met some of the other volunteers and enjoyed a Mexican dinner with them.  Maria Presley, an woman of Mexican descent, catered the event.  I am either spoiled or losing my taste buds, but I didn’t think the food was very good.  Perhaps I will get some good stuff when we arrive in the Valley.  Tomorrow we will finish preparing the food for Saturday.

My hospital chariot.

This is how I spend most of my Tuesday afternoons.  I get to listen to the radio and read (usually catching up on my daily Bible reading) while waiting for someone to take to or from their cars to the fitness center.  They are often coming here for rehab.  The ones here for exercise usually prefer to walk.

This is one of my regulars.  I call her “Grumpy” and she seems to enjoy the banter we  have.  Unfortunately she is an atheist and has no interest in being saved.  I don’t know her name nor where she is from, but she has extensive knowledge of cuisine in both Florida and Louisiana.  I believe she was once a librarian and is a big fan of the late Christopher Hitchens. 

Fighting back problems.

Tuesday was wonderful.  The hospital cafeteria served GUMBO!  This was our final day of service before leaving for the winter.  What a blessing from God to have my favorite lunch on our final day.  Evelyn had an uneventful day and I had the same but did get to say goodbye to some of the regulars.  We left at 4 and drove to Belk to pick up the annual Este Lauder perfume special and free gift.  She also wanted an orange blouse and I needed a pair of black trousers.  I have lost mine.  I can’t recall when I last wore them, but the last time I can remember that I wore them in Roswell at a banquet where Stacy was given an award for her work with special needs kids.  I may have left them in the motel where we stayed or at Stacy’s home.   At any rate, I bought another pair at Belk.  We also had to pay a bill from last month and did all that.  We returned home where Evelyn could rest her leg.  We do praise God that she was able to sleep last night.  She seems to do better when she walks but still has pain.  .

Wednesday was our final day of service at the Open Door.  There was a normal crowd but many more volunteers.  There were so many that we were able to leave a bit earlier than usual.  We had a few things to get for our upcoming party, and, since we were already in town, we went to shop a bit.  Evelyn is still not feeling as well as she would like.  She still struggles to get out of the car, walk around the grocery, and get back in.  When we get home, she lies down to rest but we still go out when necessary.  For example, we went to choir practice tonight. She called some friends to ask about her sciatic nerve problems.  She did find out there is a topical item that seemed to work on the problem.  I will try to get some tomorrow.  We had 2 other highlights today.  First we received an email from our dear former neighbors in Texas.  They sold their trailer last spring and won’t be returning.  We were broken up about that then and were touched again by the email.  They were Canadians and wonderful friends and neighbors.  We will miss them.  I also called a retired pastor who we met this past winter and asked him to substitute for me on December 29 so we can go to California to help decorate the Lutheran Hour Float in the Rose Bowl parade.  Evelyn wants to go and may get to complete that adventure this year.  I will have to learn more of the details after this coming football party.

Delicious leftovers

Monday was a bit more relaxing, but Evelyn had been up 3 hours during the night and I was awake 2.  Therefore, the relaxation began by sleeping later in the morning.  Evelyn’s sciatic nerve is what is causing her insomnia and pain during the day.  She took some Aleve and struggled through a shower and hair washing.  We had decided to invite Gary and Linda for dinner to share our German carry out, but we were embarrassed and somewhat furious about the small amount of food we had received.  I called Jo and asked to meet her at the church so I could buy some more meat.  She was very kind and met me, so I bought another pound before they arrived.  We already had extra red cabbage and German potato salad.  We enjoyed our dinner and visit afterward.  Linda was kind enough to try to help me learn how to use my tablet.  I did learn some things but was left short.  I don’t know whether the thing is malfunctioning or I am.  It is something I will try to work out some more answers even before we get to our son in law, Tom. 

Sprechen sie Deutch?

Sunday was a big day.  We began with going to Bible class.  Evelyn was assigned to read the OT lesson and wanted to check the lectionary.  She had practiced her reading.  The LWML was in charge of the service since it was LWML Sunday.   We left the study at 10:10 to go to choir rehearsal.  We were in charge of the hospitality time after the service.  After the congregation left we sent to look at the signs.  We saw that the signs  I had made were curling up.  I had a plan to correct the situation after lunch.  One of the church couples who were going to help came to relax for an hour at our home because they lived about 20 miles away.  At 4 we took our heated sauerbraten to the church.  There were many there bringing their offerings.  I also found that Jim had corrected the sign problem.  The arrangement of the dinner had been changed from last year.  Instead of making the carry out people stand in line, the carry out orders were made up before hand and were just inside the entry door, enabling the people to come and go much more quickly.  I asked Evelyn to make our carryout but she wasn’t allowed to do that.  Neither of us were assigned a task but I stayed around to act as a maître de and chief schmoozer.  After all I had sold more tickets than anyone except Jo.  I saw and talked to many people I had sold.  Evelyn took the dinner that I had sold to the CVS assistant manager and received a big hug.  She returned about half an hour before the finish.  When the customers left, we began folding the tables up,folding the chairs, removing the table coverings, putting the decorations, making the leftovers fit into the refrigerator, and cleaning the pans.  I helped put the barbecue grills away and tried to save the signs for next year.  We took our dinners home and were disgusted to find that they were very lacking in substance.  We had found the same situation last year and will not recommend carry outs next year.  We had decided to share our dinner with Gary and Linda tomorrow night.  They had flown to Florida to visit family and had to miss the dinner.  I will call them tomorrow.  We think the dinner was a success but won’t know for a few days.  Many kids will get food in their backpacks for the weekends.  They wouldn’t have much to eat over some weekends if were not for the dinner.

Final preparations

Friday We had our 2nd Terminex treatment on our current contract.  We had a new technician that was younger than our former one.  He was much younger and did an adequate job including putting glue boards under the house to catch probable mice.  We went to the rec center for Evelyn to attend Zumba gold.  I worked out on a few machines until she was finished.  After that we went on into town to buy our final items for the German dinner and returned home for lunch.  I put some of our plant pots under the house and brought some sodas out.  We left home to go to usher at the HART, so we just bought a drink and waited until our job began at 6:40.  The play was Avenue Q, an adult version of Sesame Street.  We had heard that it was definitely “adult”, so we had decided prior to our arrival that we would not stay.  The local state representative was in attendance, and I plan to ask him if that sort of play should play in Haywood County when I see him next.  We came home but stopped at the CVS on the way.   I sold my final German dinner ticket to one of the managers and agreed to deliver it on Sunday. 

Saturday we met others at the church to help set up the basement for the dinner tomorrow.  I helped with the heavy lifting and erected the signs we had agreed to make.  We have heavy buckets in which to put stakes to hold the signs.  I had to attach pieces of cardboard to each one to prevent the wind from moving them.  It seemed to work a bit.  We also set up an area outdoors with tables and chairs.  If the weather is nice, people like to eat outdoors.  One of the women has many plastic decorations to reflect the season, and Evelyn helped place them on the tables we had covered with the same “butcher’s paper” that we had used for the signs.  We have some very flimsy plastic sheets to use as table coverings outdoors on the round tables that seat 8.  Since one of the meats is bratwurst, I helped to wheel the barbecue grills to the cooking area.  I may have some pictures to post later.  We were finished shortly afternoon and returned home, although we were not the last to leave.  I think some may have stayed until 3 or 4.  I watched some football games in the afternoon.  Purdue didn’t play, making me barely interested in the other games.  I did watch more of the Big 10 games than any others.  The weather here has been unseasonably warm but should change next week.  I also had to slice our portions of the sauerbraten that Evelyn had been marinating for 3 days and cooking all day yesterday.  The entire house really smelled German with the aroma of the vinegar that makes the meat sour.  I am progressing in my chopping and slicing skills and hope to become a butcher when I grow up.  We are also responsible for the social hour after church tomorrow, so there were many small cupcakes to ice during the evening.

A new golf course

I published the previous blog post too soon.  I didn’t mention that Marty and I were scheduled to leave at 7:30 for Reems Creek Golf Club.  The problem is that our #1 alarm is not working.  I heard her gently tapping on the door at 7:30.  I had to just throw on clothes and throw clubs into her car.  Evelyn was her usual quick thinking help in throwing a lunch together for me.  I am not exaggerating the throwing together part.  We took a bit longer than it took to get home because we had never been to this course before.  We enjoyed playing this course which was beautiful.  The staff was working to make winter preparations that will make the course better next season.  It was cool in the morning when we started but was very warm when we finished.  We drove home in 45 minutes—a good time but still one that makes one wonder if it is worth the drive just to play golf.  Then throw in the fact that we don’t play well enough to go as far as the back yard.  Golf is a frustrating game.  People will say the golf gods cause them bad scores, but we know that there is but 1 God—the Lord Jesus Christ—but there are demons that attack constantly.  The confusing thing is that they don’t always cause players to miss shots.  They let them make just enough good shots to bring the terrible player back.  I am one of those players.  I came home and showered immediately.  Evelyn was blessed and was a blessing in leading the study.  She walked in the evening while I watched the baseball playoff games. 

Back to normal.

Monday was light in that we went to the rec center after we unpacked the rest of our suitcases.  Evelyn walked with the neighbors in the evening.  I had made a plan to play golf with Jack Churchill, so he came to get me at 8.  I then remembered that Mike, the owner of the course, Has not been getting there until nearer 9, so we stopped for a breakfast sandwich before going on to the course.  I have not been able to make much improvement in my game but seem to still have fun.  I think I would quit if I didn’t have so much invested in clubs.  Evelyn worked on her Bible study during the day.

Tuesday was our next to last day at the hospital.  I was disappointed to learn that gumbo had been served yesterday for the lunch.  I think about it almost every Tuesday when we work.  I had a few people to transport and had fun with them, but in all the day was a bit too warm and dull.  Evelyn had another day that was off and on in activity.  I had to go to her floor to get some coffee, and that may have been the most exciting thing in her day.  We came home and rested just before going to the Kobe restaurant with the people of Cypress Meadows.  I think we were each thinking the meal would be one that we didn’t like.  We were wrong.  We shared chicken and shrimp dinner that was both cooked and tasty.  We had taken Joretta with us, but she came home with Doris.  Doris had taken Dianne, but her daughter and friends from Florida had arrived to surprise her, so she would have returned alone.  We walked across to the GO grocery and bought some things for our upcoming party.

Wednesday we had follow up appointments with Dr. Lafata.  He is very affable but questionable in his medical prowess.  We found our triglycerides were under control, but Evelyn thinks I am coughing an inordinate amount of times during the day and night, so he changed a prescription to combat the cough.  He also wondered whether I wanted another CT scan.  I had tolerated one in each of the past 2 years because a chest X-ray in Texas had showed some small nodules on a lung.  He joked with us and bought several tickets for the German dinner.  We left and came home before going to choir.  We leave early because the choir are beginning to rehearse for Christmas.  We looked around for some heavy buckets to hold the signs for the dinner.  We are in charge of making them and placing them.  We didn’t find what we wanted but did find some brown butcher paper to use for making them.  We brought them home and cut them to size.  We had gone into town to get the gate with some steel stakes added to them but couldn’t find anyone there.  We did find some rigid old campaign signs and had brought them home.  We used some old artists paint and I painted them after Evelyn had sketched them with pencil.  She is quite good at that and other artistic endeavors.

Thursday Evelyn had a Bible study (her next to last for the season), and I went to play golf with Marty.