A Little Mission

Monday, October 20 – Saturday, October 25, 2008

Monday, October 20

It’s done! After a full week and a late night last night, we were more than happy to sleep in this morning.
The last of the wedding chores for us was to drive to the bed and breakfast where Mike and Kelly stayed last night and pick up his outfit to return to the rental place. I had thought that we might get an early start, but Mike suggested that we come by about 11:00 this morning, which really suited us better.

We arrived at The Inn at Three Bridge (named for Three Bridge Road) just a little after 11:00 and met Jack and Sally, the owners. Jack took us to the room that Mike and Kelly had been in so we could pick up the clothes, and then Sally showed us around the place, taking us to the two rooms and the guest house that are available at very reasonable rates. We decided that if we ever come back to Powhatan on a motorcycle trip, we’d treat ourselves to a stay here.

After the “tour,” we took some pictures and then drove to the Marriott Residence Inn in Richmond, the home base for the wedding party, to pick up all of the other outfits that had to be returned. Heather and Andy and the kids had already left for the airport to return to Dallas, but we hoped we might catch up with Jim, Whitney, and Little Jimmy. Unfortunately (for us), they were out sightseeing today since they didn’t have to fly out until tomorrow.

With our “assignment” completed, we returned to Cozy Acres, stopping first to fill the Vibe with gas at $2.35 a gallon.

Back at Big V we just lounged around for a bit. Then, while Barbara worked on sorting out the kazillion or so pictures that we had taken, I started packing and organizing for the next leg of the journey.

Tonight…RELAX!

Tuesday, October 21

This was just another day of taking it easy, occasionally taking a few minutes out to continue the packing and organizing so we could leave sometime tomorrow. Since we got invited to go to Toccoa a couple of days earlier than we had planned, we decided that we’d leave Cozy Acres tomorrow and drive back to Haw River, North Carolina, for the night before continuing to Georgia on Thursday.

Wednesday, October 22

It was moving day again today. After a month at Cozy Acres, we were going to hit the road again. While Barbara washed clothes, I finished packing, organizing, and making sure Big V and the trailer were ready to roll.

We got away from the park around 2:15 p.m. and headed back over the same roads that had brought us to Powhatan, finding that the scenery had certainly changed in the last 28 days. The fall colors, while not quite in their prime, were just beautiful.

We got to the Flying J Travel Center at Haw River around 5:45, got set up for the night, and spent the evening watching TV and reading…really exciting stuff.

Thursday, October 23

We got an earlier start than we had planned this morning…got away from the travel center at 8:05 (we had hoped to be away by 9:00, but thought it might be closer to 10:00, so we were pleased that we could drive away so soon).

The trip south from the Haw River, Burlington area was generally uneventful, just lots of I-85 traffic, especially around Charlotte. Charlotte traffic was a little crazy when I lived in that area back in the early seventies, but it is way out of control now. Still, I just did my best to stay behind the car in front and in front of the car or truck behind me, and we did ok.

The one moment of excitement in the trip came when we stopped at a Flying J in South Carolina to get fuel and take a short break. As soon as I pulled into the RV island and turned off the engine, Barbara yelled out, “The awning is opening!” Now, that isn’t something that should be happening, so I got out to see what was going on. When I opened the forward luggage bin, I saw immediately what had happened – one of our little camp tables that we use in the canopy tent had slipped from its stack and was leaning against the external awning switch. There’s an automatic cutoff on power to the awning when the engine is running (so it won’t open while we’re traveling down the highway), but as soon as I turned off the engine, the override went off and the power went to the “awning out” circuit.

This wouldn’t normally be too big a problem, but we’ve had some problems lately getting the awning retracted after it goes out. Sure enough, when I pushed the retraction button, nothing happened. There we were, needing to move forward as soon as the rig ahead of us finished fueling, but we couldn’t pull far enough to get to the pumps because there was a post ahead of the awning. We couldn’t back up because another rig had pulled in tight behind use.

I eased forward as far as I could without hitting the post with the partially opened awning and when I stopped, Barbara tried the retraction button again…hallelujah!!!, the awning rolled in and we were able to get up to the pump. I immediately climbed out of the coach and rearranged the things in the forward bin so we wouldn’t have that particular problem again, and after fueling and taking a short break to check email and get a few minutes of rest, we were once again heading down I-85, on our way to the Georgia state line.

About three miles across the state line we stopped at the Georgia Welcome Station and fixed some lunch. From there we drove the final 25 or so miles to Toccoa and the Georgia Baptist Conference Center at Lake Louise, our home for the next two weeks. We were immediately struck by the beauty of the center, nestled in the hills and woods of northern Georgia, about 90 miles northeast of Atlanta and not far from the South and North Carolina state lines.

When we got to the conference center we parked as far out in the lot as possible and then went inside to get instructions for finding an RV site. We soon found Nancy Fairfax, the head of the volunteers, and got the information we needed. She took us upstairs where we found Lynn Worley, another volunteer with whom we had worked at Lady Lake, Florida. On the way back downstairs we met up with Bob Brewer, who rode up to the RV park with us to show us the lay of the land. The campground, while somewhat primitive in design, has full hookups for several vehicles and is perched on a small hill overlooking Lake Louise. The surroundings defy any description other than “beautiful,” with a wide assortment of trees – many of them now in their fall splendor, and other types of vegetation.

After looking at the parking spaces, we followed Bob back down the hill to the laundry facility where we greeted Nell, his wife, and Mildred Rogers, another acquaintance from our Lady Lake experience.

A little later we were back in Big V, having unloaded the Vibe and disconnected the trailer (there was no room in the camping section for a trailer that large). It didn’t take long to get Big V up the hill to the campsites and get parked so we could begin opening her up and making it ready to live in again.

While we were invited to eat our evening meal in the dining hall, we declined and made a trip back to town to buy some much-needed supplies at Wal-Mart. Nancy had told us that we would probably be assigned to dining hall duties and that we needed to buy some non-skid shoes for safety purposes (the conference center would reimburse us for that expense).
On the way out of the parking lot we saw a Sonic, the first we’d seen since leaving Mineola, so we stopped and bought a couple of hamburgers to take back to Big V for our supper.

The rest of the evening was spent getting everything squared away so we could be ready to start our new duties tomorrow morning.

Friday, October 24
Nancy had told us yesterday that we didn’t need to report to the dining hall until 8:00 this morning to eat and get our marching orders, so we didn’t have to get up too early. When we got there, we saw Betsy, who we had first met at the laundry building yesterday afternoon. She told us to go ahead and eat, and that we would meet up with Nancy later to get our assignments.

As we were finishing breakfast, Nancy came to our table to give us some more information about the conference center and, when we had put our trays away, she sent Barbara to learn about the dining hall duties from Ray, a retired missionary to Africa who has been working at the conference center for ten years. Meanwhile, she took me back to the kitchen area to teach me some of the basics of getting dishes, silverware, and trays from the dishwashing room to the serving line (including monitoring the serving line to know when things needed to be carried out).
The fulltime staff of the dining hall generally takes care of moving the food trays out to the line, but we soon found that lines of distinction of duties began to blur when the masses entered the room for meals; in short, whether one was staff or a volunteer, getting the job done was the important consideration.
Since the others were well into the morning routine before we started, our duties were somewhat limited, mine probably more than Barbara’s, since she seemed to be staying busier than me. When I wasn’t carrying stacks of plates and bowls to the serving line or sorting silverware, I kept an eye on what was happening in the dishwashing room, since it was highly probable that I would be spending some time in there before this experience was over.

I was through with my assigned duties by 9:30 or so, but Barbara was still working, so I helped Bill and Walt stack chairs and check them for chewing gum and missing glides. It seems that even church facilities are not immune from gum chewers who don’t know how to place their gum wads in a napkin and throw them away with the rest of the trash.

In checking for glides, we found a number of chairs that were missing one or more of the little nylon or plastic disks that allow them to slide smoothly back from the table rather than tipping over. Someone soon arrived with a box of the little disks and the three of us began the work of removing broken glides (Bill’s job), replacing them with new ones (Walt’s job), and taking the chairs off the table and putting them back in place (my job – very low-tech).

Barbara finished her training and duties about the same time that we ran out of glides, so we left the dining hall and drove back up to Big V to rest for an hour before reporting back for noon duties.

We returned to the dining hall at 11:30 and, after a few announcements from Nancy and asking a blessing on the food, went through the line so we could be finished eating before the guests came through the doors at 12:00.

After eating, we went to our assigned places and started our duties. One of the volunteers who had been working in the dishwashing room left at noon, so I took his place and got a first-hand look at what goes on in this little-noticed, but very important part of the after-meal procedures.

My primary job was to grab silverware off the trays as they came by on the conveyer belt. Spoons, forks, and knives were thrown into separate containers to soak until there were enough of them to justify putting a batch on a flat tray to run through the dishwasher. If I had time after doing that, I would also grab for glasses and cups, pour out whatever was in them, and place them in containers that, when full, would be sent down the line to the dishwasher. There were three of us working that part of the line and the other two would empty dishes into large trash barrels and catch whatever silverware or glasses and cups that got past me.

While it got hectic at times (not to mention very hot in the room), it didn’t seem to be too difficult a task except for those times when the conveyer belt was full and there was a constant line of trays coming at us. Fortunately for me, the others in the room were experienced at this, and everything went as smoothly as it could.

The volunteers in the dishwashing room work only until the last of the trays come down the line. At that point, the paid staff continued the clean-up, giving us time for a break.
I went out to the dining room and was visiting with Bill and Ray while waiting for Barbara’s group to finish their work. Ray brought out a large stack of pictures from his 30+ years of serving on the Ivory Coast in Africa and showed us the churches he had helped build and many of the people he had worked with.

When Barbara was finished with her work, we returned to Big V for some downtime before going back for the supper run. It’s been a long time since either of us spent that much time on our feet, and our dogs were barking loudly.

After a couple of hours rest we returned to the dining hall and started the process again. After a wonderful meal, it was time to get to work. I immediately went to the dishwashing room and found that the crew tonight was a group of local high school students who work here on the weekends. I enjoyed working around them and talking with them as time allowed – they had a lot of questions for me when they found out I was a retired principal, but I found (surprise, surprise) that they didn’t work with the same intensity that we “old-timers” did. Also, we were one person short in the first part of the line, so I had to work faster to keep up with clearing the trays before they got to the dishwasher. It took longer to get the job done tonight, but get it done we did.

By 8:30 Barbara and I were a couple of whipped puppies, so we said good night and headed back to Big V. I was so tired I didn’t even attempt to tune in to the Artesia football game…just wrote a quick email to Jean and asked her to let me know the score when it was over. Barbara did take time to call Jean (she didn’t know I had written) and after a short visit, we both found our way back to the bedroom and dropped like rocks.

Saturday, October 25

For the first time in a long time we deliberately got up at 5:00 a.m. Our “shift” today, even though it was Saturday, was from 6:30 until 2:00 (or however long it took to be finished). Several folks completed their volunteer time yesterday and others won’t arrive until Sunday afternoon, so John, Lynn, Barbara, and I began the early work.

Before we left, I had my coffee and we checked our email (found out that Artesia and Liberal both demolished their opponents in their respective football games last night), and generally got ready for a new day.

As we were driving down the hill in the dark, I remarked that it was the same time that I used to be in the office every morning to start my day at the high school…then I remembered, no matter how early I got there, the cooks were already there ahead of me and were preparing the first meal of the day; that wasn’t the first time today that we developed a whole new, if belated, respect for those folks who toil behind the scenes (and often thanklessly) to prepare the meals and clean up someone else’s mess.

As days go, this one must have been pretty normal. We think that breakfast is probably the easiest to handle, maybe because there aren’t as many items on the menu that make a big mess. For the folks in the dining hall, there is still the constant replenishing of trays, dishes, and silverware and the cleanup when people spill things. In the dishwashing room, we had the slow periods at the beginning, a couple of hectic rushes, and then the gradual slowdown at the end. I was working with another group of kids this morning, but they seemed to be a little more serious about their work and didn’t get as far behind as the group last night.

When I was finished in the dishwashing room, Linda said she had another chore for me before the break, and led me to the big industrial mixer that stood in the middle of the kitchen. She said it had been a long time since it had a thorough cleaning, meaning that it was about to have one this morning. So with scrubber in hand and a bucket of hot, soapy water beside me, I began removing the accumulation of grit, grime, and other assorted sticky stuff from the exterior of the machine. It wasn’t a hard job, but it did take attention to detail (except when Barbara and Linda decided to take a couple of photographs).
With that little job done, we headed out the door a little after 10:00 to go back to Big V and rest for a while (actually, I fell deep asleep…guess I was still tired from yesterday), until time to go back at 11:30.

The noon meal went about the same as the others (lots of good food…if anyone walks out of the dining hall hungry, it’s their own fault). John joined the local boys and me in the dishwashing room and we once again plowed through stacks of dirty dishes, silverware, pots and pans, and cafeteria trays.

At 2:00 p.m. the manager told us we were through for the day, so we left what little was left to the paid staff and walked outside to a beautiful, sunny afternoon, quite a change from the rain and clouds we had yesterday.
We went back to Big V and this time both of us dropped off for an hour or so…guess we’re more out of shape than we thought.

We woke up about an hour and a half later, cleared our heads, and got started taking care of business around Big V. For one thing, we hadn’t put anything but a little thought into this week’s journal, so I got busy writing while Barbara downloaded all the pictures and created the collages for the journal and blog (and oh yes, I followed the game track of the Texas/Oklahoma State football game, since we couldn’t watch it on television).

Around 7:00, Bill knocked on the door and invited us to join the camping group at Herbert and Mildred Roger’s site for a bonfire and conversation. After dragging our folding chairs out of one of the bins, we walked up to the next site and found Herbert, Mildred, Bill, Jean, and Ken already enjoying a beautiful campfire. We just sat around talking, sharing stories about what we’ve been up to since the last time we worked together in Lady Lake, and listening to Herbert’s jokes.

After a bit we were joined by John and Lynn. With a little coaxing, we convinced John to break out his guitar and we spent the next hour or so singing, listening to John play, and enjoying the peace of a beautiful night on Lake Louise.

"With an investment in Jesus, no one loses interest."...church sign in South Boston, VA

From the Georgia Baptist Conference Center in Toccoa, Georgia,

Jim and Barbara

A Little Wedding

Sunday, October 19

The big day was finally upon us. Because of the late night and all the activities on tap for the afternoon, we chose to miss church services this morning, turning instead to reviewing all the DVD’s that Barbara had burned late last night after returning from the pizza dinner. We had planned to use only the pictures through Friday night, but we had so many good ones last night that we just had to make one more revision. The final product was a little over 22 minutes, reflecting many hours of collecting, reviewing, scanning, editing, and transferring to the slide-show story board before burning it to disc. (Barbara: Making it match the music was probably the most time consuming!)

We finished reviewing all the discs just in time to get cleaned up and dressed in our wedding finery. Then, making sure we had everything we needed for the afternoon, we got into the Vibe and started yet another drive across Powhatan County to the site of the wedding, The Mill at Fine Creek.

Following is a little historical background on the mill:

The Fine Creek Mills Historic District was developed as early as the 1730’s when a gristmill was established along a creek leading to the James River. The community flourished as a commercial center for the area well into the 20th century. With a road along Fine Creek leading to the ferry across the James River at Lee’s Landing, Fine Creek Mills served as an important link to the James River and the railroad to Richmond.

The earliest evidence of permanent settlement at Fine Creek is seen in the Fine Creek Manor Site. This site is part of a tract granted to Thomas Jefferson and others in 1718. Although Thomas Jefferson did not live here himself, it does appear that the house was constructed by the 1730’s when his son Peter inherited the property and lived at Fine Creek with his wife, Jane Randolph, and their first two children.

The house was destroyed by fire in 1928, and what remains today is an extensive complex of archaeological features that have been minimally disturbed since the site was abandoned. The house is represented by collapsed brick chimneys and a pit likely to have been the cellar. To the rear of the house the slope has been terraced in places and contains vestiges of outbuildings represented by fragments of sheet roofing metal and large door hinges. A hand dug and stone lined well is present as is an immense, deep pit of unknown function. Overgrown plantings of wisteria and other residential plants that correspond to the descriptions of the house site and early photographs are still present at the site. All of these remains and the presumed activity and disposal areas between them are likely to contain archaeological information relevant to domestic life from 1730 onward.

The land surrounding the mill was the site of Robert E. Lee’s final encampment before he and his troops moved to Appomattox, the surrender of the Confederate Army, and the end of the American Civil War.

For our purposes today, the mill represented a beautiful setting for the wedding of Mike Little and Kelly Jividen. Because they both love the outdoors, this autumn setting was nothing short of perfect.

There are thousands of words that could be used to describe the setting, the friends, and the family members as we all gathered to witness the ceremony and celebrate afterwards, but we choose in this edition of the journal to share the day in pictures, because all the words in the world could never describe the beauty of the day, the place, and the young couple who today set out on their own new path in life.

"To love is to receive a glimpse of heaven." Karen Sunde

Proud, happy, and exhausted... Jim and Barbara

A Little Wedding Preparation

Sunday, October 12 – Saturday, October 18

Sunday, October 12

Happy Columbus Day!

With Bibles and containers of food in our hands, we climbed into the Vibe and headed into Richmond for the Sunday morning service at Grove Avenue Baptist Church.

Again, Mike and Kelly attended the contemporary early service and then went on to their departmental duties while we attended the later “traditional” service. Dr. Mark Becton, senior pastor of the church, was a powerful speaker this morning as he delivered a sermon on “What Heaven Looks Like.”

Following the service, we joined the kids in their class area for a covered dish luncheon and a time of making new friends and sharing personal stories with each other. Mike and Kelly later explained that their department, mainly singles and divorced or separated men and women, is in an almost constant state of transition, and these types of events help them to cement some relationships in the church. It really is an amazing ministry that they have taken on, and we now know to pray for their wisdom as they seek to assist those who are hurting and/or seeking a church home. When we were done with all our church activities, we followed the kids to Maymont Park, one of Richmond’s premier attractions, for a photo shoot to re-enact the events of the day Mike proposed to Kelly and she accepted his proposal of marriage…they just call it “Engagement Sunday.”

We shared Mike’s story of the proposal in a journal entry last March, but of course there were no photographers handy that day to properly record the event. We decided to “fix” the official record by staging the event and getting some shots so we could place it in its proper sequence in the DVD presentation that will be shown at the wedding reception next Sunday afternoon.

So, with camera in hand, we trooped across the beautiful green hills of Maymont to “Kelly’s place,” a large flat rock on the side of one of the hills overlooking a series of footpaths that run through that part of the park. Mike had told us that Kelly had a special place where she liked to go and meditate or just sit and enjoy the beauty of the park, and we could see why as soon as we saw it.
For a half-hour or so we staged different poses, re-enacting as closely as possible what the kids remembered from that early-spring afternoon on Palm Sunday. After that, Barbara took some other shots that could be used throughout the slide show.

With the important shots done, Mike asked if we wanted to go see the Jefferson Hotel, where they had eaten at the famous Sunday Buffet on the day of the proposal. Since we hadn’t seen the hotel, we said we’d love to, and followed them back downtown to see what it was all about.

Since 1895, The Jefferson Hotel has been recognized by discerning travelers as Richmond's grandest hotel and one of the finest in America. Known for its genuinely friendly service, luxurious guestrooms, breathtaking architecture and elegant décor, The Jefferson Hotel is reminiscent of a more gracious era.

The Jefferson Hotel has also been recognized as Richmond’s premier venue for elegant weddings, flawless meetings and conventions and the city’s most well-attended charity and social functions.

Mike and Kelly had a pre-marital counseling session at the church at 5:00, so we left them and made our way back to the RV park (by way of a couple of mall stops) and enjoyed a quiet evening while Barbara worked with the pictures that she had taken today and added them into the slide show.

Monday, October 13

Happy Birthday to our very special friend, Becky Roark, in Lubbock, Texas!

Our clothes hamper was full to overflowing, so while Barbara spent the morning working on the slide show, I took all the dirty laundry up to the park laundry room and invested heavily in washers and dryers. Three hours later, everything was clean, folded or hung up, and back in the closet or drawers, ready to start the process all over.

I spent the next couple of hours doing the ironing, something that I had put off for so long that I could no longer ignore it. By the time that little chore was over, Barbara had finished the slide show (at least up through yesterday) and was burning it to a DVD.

Since it takes around an hour for the computer to scan, load, and burn the show, we took time off to fix some lunch and watch another episode of M*A*S*H. It’s funny and worth repeating that Barbara never liked that show before we retired and would leave the room to do something else if it was on. But, after receiving that wonderful gift from the LHS staff and starting to watch the series from the beginning, she has become one of its greatest fans. I think she was more elated than I was when we found the final two seasons last week! (Barbara: I know I was!)

Later, we went outside and played couple of games of washers, but out of deference to Barbara’s sensitivity, I won’t mention how many she didn’t win (or that my final points in the second game came as a result of her hitting one of my washers on the board and pushing it into the hole for three points). (Barbara: What a considerate guy. Glad he didn’t mention my aiding to my third defeat!)

When the outdoor fun was over, we came back inside, put the new DVD in the player, sat down and crossed our fingers, and pushed the play button, ready to stop it and make notes about the bad spots. Eureka! The glitches that had shown up when we played the storyboard on the computer were not on the DVD…we had a product that was beyond what we hoped for. Now all we have to do is get pictures of family and special friends when they arrive later this week, slot them into the waiting spaces on the storyboard, and burn the final DVD…what a relief!

Tuesday, October 14

With the pressure of preparing the slide show off our shoulders for the time being, we just took our time getting around this morning…checking email, straightening up Big V, etc. We both waked up early, but found time later in the morning to go back to bed, read, and take a short nap before getting serious about the day.

We had worked it out with our friends Rod and Ruth to come visit us today. They live at Lake Anna, about an hour or so from here. Although we have known them less than two years, our friendship is such that we can pick up in mid-sentence from the last meeting and carry on as if there had been no interruption at all. And so it was that as soon as they arrived shortly after noon that we were once again catching up with each other’s activities. We had seen them in April and May out at Glorieta, New Mexico, where they were spending two months working at the Glorieta Baptist Conference Center. While we were talking, Barbara noticed a squirrel carrying something that looked like a large orange or some other piece of fruit. She called for me to bring the camera so she could get a picture of it. What we found when the squirrel had husked the object was that he had picked up an orange rubber ball and carried it up in a tree. He peeled away the cover and the twine and dropped the pieces back to the ground, keeping the rubber core. I’m telling you, these Virginia squirrels are some kind of tough critters!

After a bit of talking, we drove to the Powhatan Historic District for lunch at the Garden Village Café. The trip served two purposes – we could continue our conversation while trying a meal at a place where we had never eaten, and Barbara and I could visit with the manager to clear up some last minute details about the rehearsal dinner Friday night.

We had a great meal and a good visit at the café and then returned to Big V where we introduced Rod and Ruth to a game of Washers (which Rod and I won). After the game, we went into Big V to show them the DVD that Barbara had prepared; then, it was back outside for another try at washers, which ended up pretty much the same as the first one, although there was a lot of good-natured joking about our various throwing styles and their results.

When we had put the boards away and talked a while longer, our visitors decided it was time to hit the road and head back to Lake Anna for the evening. After seeing them off, we went back inside, checked email, picked up our books to read awhile, and promptly fell asleep…guess the warm temperatures (85 degrees here today) and all the activity were just too much for us.

Our plan tonight: do nothing of a serious nature and don’t worry about accomplishing anything.

Wednesday, October 15

Like it or not, today had to be a grocery shopping day. With the cabinets, pantry, and refrigerator looking pretty bare, we had no choice but to draw up a comprehensive list and head out in search of things we needed to fill the larder.

We decided we’d do our grocery shopping in the Wal-Mart in Midlothian, about 25 miles east of here, but first we wanted to find a Target store that we had seen on an earlier trip so we could look for some items we’ll need down the road. Also, Barbara has been searching high and low for a necklace and some earrings to wear go with the outfit she bought to wear to the wedding, and we thought Target might be a good place.

As we entered the parking lot of the small shopping center where Target was located, we noticed that there was a Kohl’s right next door to Target. I’ve never had much luck finding anything for myself at Kohl’s, but figured we had plenty of time, so we might as well check it out.

Well, about an hour later we came out of Kohl’s laden down with new purchases. They were having a huge sale and I found three polo style shirts and a pair of khaki slacks, all of which I will be able to use during some of our duties when we are working at the Georgia Baptist Conference Center in Toccoa in another week or so. Likewise, Barbara found some khaki slacks and some shirts, as well as the jewelry she needed, all at bargain prices.

After putting our purchases in the car, we went on in to Target, but came back out shortly, having purchased only a diet Coke at the fountain.

From there, we drove back to Wal-Mart where we split the list and went our separate ways to find everything we needed. It was a relatively painless experience, and it wasn’t too long until we were back in the car and pointing back toward the campground; but first, a stop at McDonalds for a sandwich and some fries to tide us over until supper. It was 2:30 and we hadn’t eaten breakfast, so we figured we owed that stop to ourselves.

After putting everything away in Big V, I decided to put on my hiking boots and make one more training excursion to prepare for the upcoming hike in the Blue Ridge with the guys on Saturday. This time I headed directly back into the Forestry Service lands and followed a couple of trails for about two hours…saw some of the places I had been through the other day and located a pond that I had missed on the other trip. I also carried the camera this time, knowing that there were some great photo opportunities just waiting for my appearance.
Two hours and no telling how many shots later, the camera and I returned to Big V for the evening…I felt like I was in better shape than I could have been, but was still concerned about trekking through the Blue Ridge, whose trails are uphill both ways (but, thankfully, not waist-deep in snow this time of year). Supper tonight was a crock pot of stew that Barbara had put on to cook before we left on our shopping trip this morning. Our entertainment was another episode of M*A*S*H and an hour of quiet before we turned on the TV again and watched the presidential debate.

Thursday, October 16

We haven’t had many days during the past three weeks when we did almost nothing, but today came as close as any. There was nothing on the agenda until tonight, so we spent the entire day inside doing as little as possible. Barbara worked at refining the slide-show while I got caught up on email and news journals.

The “official” pre-wedding events kicked off this evening with a lingerie shower for the ladies at Kelly and Jen’s apartment. The plan for the men was to have a “guys’ night out” at Buffalo Wild Wings, a mile or so away from Mike and Kelly’s new apartment.

With things scheduled to start happening around 7:00 p.m., we decided to leave early so we could scout out the area around Kelly’s current apartment for a trip we would have to make tomorrow morning.

When the kids were planning the wedding day, they discussed the cakes and whether Mike wanted a Groom’s cake. Mike said that if he had a Groom’s cake he’d like a DQ ice cream cake, but since that wasn’t practical, they’d just go with a wedding cake.

About a week after we got here and got well into the planning of the rehearsal dinner, Kelly emailed Barbara and told her about Mike wanting an ice cream cake. She wanted to know if we could work something out so she could design and order a cake and we could pick it up and have it for a surprise at the rehearsal dinner.

Of course we went to work trying to figure out what we could do about it…even made a trip to the “closest” Dairy Queen, but after talking to one of the workers there, decided that it probably wasn’t a good idea to order from them. So, Kelly found a DQ close to her apartment and a manager who was more than happy to work with her on the design. Our part would be to drive into Richmond, pick up the ice cream cake, and drive as fast as we could back to Powhatan to get it into the freezer at the Village Garden Café. Therefore, we decided to find the DQ tonight so tomorrow would literally be a “piece of cake!”

However, we never did find the Dairy Queen tonight (although we eventually found the street we were looking for), but after taking the wrong exit from the Powhite Expressway, we discovered a whole new way to get lost and find ourselves in the deepest part of downtown Richmond, somewhere that one does not want to find themselves after dark.

Luckily, Barbara got Mike on the cell phone and he talked us out of downtown and on the right roads to where we needed to be. We were amazed that we could just give him a street intersection and he could tell right where we were and where we should go next. When Barbara commented about that, he told her that Kelly used to have an apartment close to that area, so he was very familiar with it. That certainly explained his having that area memorized!

Anyway, we did eventually get to Kelly and Jen’s apartment with a few minutes to spare. I dropped Barbara off and, followed Kelly’s dad, David, who had also just gotten there, to the new apartment in time to catch up with Mike and his friend Josh Barbe, who had been his roommate for three years in China.

Whitney, Jim, and Little Jimmy had gotten in late, so Jim decided he’d better just stay at the hotel with Little Jimmy rather than the two of them joining us for a couple of hours at Buffalo Wild Wings; but, the four of us, Mike, Josh, David, and I, had a great time wolfing down a great stack of wings (a bucket of 50), talking, and watching football and baseball games on the big screens.

Barbara: Most of the guests were already there by the time I arrived; so after being introduced, I quickly put my photographer cap and began snapping and clicking, making certain that I documented the evening for the wedding slide show.
During the evening, we played several games; but my favorite was the “drop a potato in a jar.” One had to put a potato between the knees, quickly go to a quart mason jar located down the room, and drop the potato in the jar. It was an individual contest, but they wanted to run two at a time to conserve time. The lady next to me declined to play; so I wound up being the first one to agree to try. Thankfully, Whitney jumped up and volunteered to be the second runner; so at least I knew the person with me and I wasn’t quite so self-conscious.

The night concluded with a take-off on some TV show, but I can’t remember what it is. But, Mike had been recorded answering 16 questions and Kelly had to answer them, trying to match his answers.

All in all…the evening was a delight with Kelly glowing, sometimes even a little brighter than usual when she opened some of the gifts, since it was a lingerie shower!

Jim: Barbara called at 9:05 to say that their party was over, so we finished at the restaurant and I took the guys back to the new apartment before driving back to Kelly’s place (I knew the way by then – at least as long as I didn’t get forced into a wrong lane somewhere), and within a few minutes Barbara and I were starting our 50-minute trip back to Cozy Acres.

Friday, October 17

With our part of the pre-wedding events kicking off tonight, it was time for us to get to work today. We left Big V in time to be at the Village Garden Café by 8:00 a.m. so we could start decorating for the rehearsal dinner. By the time we got there, Wanda and her staff had the tables set up and covered with tablecloths…from there on, it was up to us.

Since Mike and Kelly wanted a fall wedding theme, we had bought several packages of colored leaves at Dollar Tree to spread out down the center of each table. We also found small ceramic candle pots that we filled with brown raffia and set on their sides on top of the leaves cornucopia style, so we could trail miniature Hershey bars, covered with labels that Barbara designed, onto the leaves.

When we finished with everything we had, we decided that the decorations just weren’t complete without two of the little pots at the center of each of the strands of leaves, necessitating another trip to town to find five more pots. That was no big deal, since we had already planned to go back anyway to pick up that special surprise that Kelly had ordered for Mike.

We drove to Richmond, stopping at Dollar Tree to pick up some more ceramic pots and raffia, and at a Ben Franklin store to get a couple of small floral arrangements to complete the setting we had in mind. From there we drove to the Dairy Queen, picked up the cake, and then drove at the speed limit + to get back to Powhatan before the cake melted.

Within 20 minutes of arriving at the café we had the cake in the freezer and the decorations all in place. All that was left was to wait until the rehearsal was over and meet everyone back at the café for the dinner. We ordered a take-out sandwich while we were there and went back home for lunch and some rest before getting cleaned up and heading back out to the rehearsal site.

We made it to the Mill at Fine Creek, site of the rehearsal and wedding, around three o’clock and waited for the rest of the wedding party to arrive. The rehearsal was supposed to begin at 3:30, but as that time approached, we found that someone on the staff had double-booked events for the afternoon, and a wedding party was arriving as we were getting ready for the rehearsal.But, things finally got worked out and the rehearsal was over a little before 5:00. At that point, I gave instructions for getting to the dinner site and we formed a caravan to drive to Powhatan.

The dinner was a wonderful occasion; Wanda and her staff had prepared a veritable feast for us, and the room was full of family and friends who had traveled from all parts of the country to share in the weekend. There was lots of talking all evening long, with everyone busy meeting and greeting and getting caught up with each other’s lives.

For us, it was great to finally get to meet other members of Kelly’s family. We had spent time with her parents and her sister and her family, but hadn’t met any of her other relatives. And, to top it off, we got to visit with some of Mike’s high school friends who were either members of the wedding party or who had just come to be a part of this special weekend.

Mike is part of a group from the Liberal High School Class of 1994 that has held together for the past 14 years, even though they have taken widely divergent paths in their careers and travels. Andy King, Mike’s best friend since they first met at West Middle School when we moved to Liberal in 1989, would be Mike’s best man. Groomsmen included LHS graduates Seth Lindberg, and John Mah, while Jason McCreary rounded out the LHS group. Also serving as a groomsman was Mike’s good friend, Josh Barbe, who now lives in Houston with his wife, Amber.

The evening ended with both hilarious roastings and sober toastings of both Mike and Kelly by their friends and family…what a fun way to kick off the weekend festivities!
Once everyone left the café, we cleaned up our mess and headed back to Big V, where Barbara immediately started downloading photographs and we selected the ones that we wanted to include in the final version of the slide-show on Sunday.

I gave a brief thought to hooking to the internet and listening to Artesia’s game at Clovis tonight, but I was just too tired to care, so I left it for the Bulldogs and Wildcats to mix it up without me…found out later from Jean that the “Dogs got scratched up pretty badly, losing to the 5-A Wildcats.

Barbara: While Jim headed to bed, I stayed at the computer determined to have final copies of the DVD completed and burned before the light of day! We had all agreed that no other photos would be added after tonight and I knew that I would have no free time tomorrow. By the time I finished burning the DVD’s the clock numbers had rolled around to 2 something. I think my eyes were too blurry to see the other numbers!

Saturday, October 18

Jim: What a great day this was! We were up early so we could ride in to Richmond to begin all the day’s activities. After meeting Heather, Andy, Alexander, Abbie, Andy’s sister Heather, Whitney, Jim, Little Jimmy, and Mike’s friends at the hotel, Mike, nine of his friends, including four of his LHS Class of 1994 friends John Mah, Andy King, Seth Lindberg, and Jason McCreary, and I loaded into three cars and headed west on I-64 to the north entrance of the Blue Ridge Parkway, about 85 miles away.

We traveled about five miles south on the parkway to the first major hiking trails, the Humpback Rocks trail. The trails we followed today totaled about four miles or so, not long as hiking trails go, but Mike had selected the route for the spectacular scenic views at the top end of the trail. He told us that it was a little steep at the beginning…what an understatement! The trail was VERTICAL, and the first part that he was talking about went all the way to the top. But, this old man held his own with those ten kids half my age…I think they might even have been a little impressed, especially after they asked how old I was. When I told them I was 63 and almost 64 I could see a bit of respect in their eyes.

We all had cameras on the trip and got some beautiful shots, but I was using Mike’s camera and wasn’t able to download anything to my computer, so we’ll just have to wait until all the guys start sharing photos to let you see where we were.

Barbara: The ladies had a luncheon to attend at a friend of Kelly’s. It was a lovely, fun affair; but I’ll once again let the photos do the talking…
Jim: After I enjoyed a steaming hot shower and a short nap, we were ready to hit the trail again. We got back into the Vibe and drove back to Richmond, this time to Bottom’s Up, a favorite pizza hangout in the Richmond area. Mike and Kelly had invited all their family and friends to an evening of all-you-can-eat pizza and a time of visiting. Since some of Kelly’s family members had arrived in town today, we got to meet them, as well as some more of the kids’ friends from Grove Avenue Baptist Church.

There’s an unwritten rule that you can’t hold a family gathering without having our camera present and we invoked that rule tonight to get shots of everyone just being themselves and enjoying each other’s company on this last night before Mike Little and Kelly Jividen become Mike and Kelly Little.

On the way back to Big V, Barbara and I decided that we had no choice, but to throw away all the DVD’s burned last night and re-do the slide show since we got such fabulous photos tonight.
So…once home, we went through the photos we knew we wanted to use and then we had to decide what photos we were going to take out of the slide show that was already prepared, as we knew the kids only wanted it to be around 20 minutes long. Once those decisions were made, I got busy working on the journal while Barbara did the one-man job of placing photos on the new copy.

Around 12:30, Barbara had everything ready and started the burning even though we knew we were going to bed!

We took turns in the middle of the night going in and taking one DVD out and putting another in. (We were burning DVD’s for family members of both Mike and Kelly.) We were definitely going on a leap of faith because we didn’t stay up to check the first DVD to make certain everything looked right!

“Faith is the place between the way things are and the good things that are sure to come.” – a saying on the mantle in Mike and Kelly’s apartment

Extra Note: We received the following note and some photos of Jaycie this week from son Jimmy....

As most of you know, Jaycie ran in the ‘Race for the Cure’ to help fight breast cancer.

She was in 3rd place when a police officer yelled out ‘STOP’.... Jaycie thought he was talking to her so she stopped – he was actually talking to a car coming out of the parking lot...
Anyway, she started again and came in 4th – BUT, that was 4th out of literally thousands of people running!!! All ages.

2 high school track runners came in 1st and 2nd....... Jaycie did awesome.
The wild thing is......... she wasn’t even out of breath afterwards!!!!!!

Jaycie ran in memory of Cathey’s Aunt Lana... that’s a sweet story in itself.

We noticed people were running in honor or memory of someone and I said ‘Jaycie, you know Mommy’s Aunt had breast cancer?...... she said Daddy, that is sad – can I put her name on me?’.....

Love, Jimmy and Cathey
With family and friends in historic Virginia,

Jim and Barbara

A Little Running Around

Sunday, October 5 – Saturday, October 11, 2008

Sunday, October 5

What a nice day! Since Kelly had to get ready for a flight to Nashville this afternoon, we decided that we’d just stay in our neighborhood rather than driving all the way in to Richmond to see the kids for just a few minutes.

When we first arrived here, we drove past a pretty little Presbyterian church and commented that it might be nice to attend there some day. Well, today was that day, so shortly after 10:30 we left the RV park and drove a couple of miles down Ridge Road to the Providence Presbyterian Church, where we were immediately greeted and welcomed by members of the congregation.

Providence is a small church with a relatively small congregation, but they were certainly large on heart and love. Pastor Franklin Reding delivered what amounted to four different sermons during the course of the morning, one of which, a great lesson on love, came during the observance of Communion.
We were greeted warmly by Pastor Reding and other members of the congregation following the service and were encouraged to return any Sunday during our stay at Cozy Acres. Of course, we couldn’t resist the urge to take some pictures while we were on the grounds.
Providence Presbyterian Church was organized in 1825 as “Powhatan Church,” a result of the work of ministers from Cumberland County. In 1831 the church moved into a new building, “Mount Carmel,” and in 1890 the church moved into its present sanctuary with the name “Providence Church.”

We were going to run to town for a few things right after church and then go back to Big V for the afternoon, but since the service wasn’t over until 12:30 (and we hadn’t taken time to eat breakfast this morning), we quickly voted to go to Big V first to have a plate of spaghetti to stave off the hunger pangs.

While we were eating, we watched an episode of M*A*S*H, the first that we’d seen in a long time. As we told in the first journal, the staff of Liberal High School gave me the first nine seasons of the show as a retirement gift. They wanted to give me the complete set, but were unable to get the final two seasons. We’ve looked for those shows since, but haven’t been able t locate them except through Amazon. While we were in Wal-Mart yesterday I noticed a rack of old TV series DVD’s, and to my surprise, there were seasons 10 and 11 of the M*A*SH series! Not only that, but they were priced at less than half of what Amazon wanted. It won’t take a whole lot of psychic energy to figure out that I immediately grabbed the boxes and set them in our basket. Now the series is complete and we can again parcel out the viewings during special meal times.

With lunch and the show over, we got in the Vibe and drove to Dollar Tree to pick up some items for a couple of projects that we are working on and then to Wal-Mart to buy some meat for the meal that we will prepare for the kids on Tuesday night. We’ve found that both Dollar Tree and Wal-Mart are great currency conversion spots…we give them our currency and they convert it into a couple of plastic bags full of “stuff.”
Back at Big V we just set the evening on cruise…took a short walk just before dark and then came back to roast some fresh Virginia peanuts, have a dish of nachos, check our email, watch some television, and rest.

Monday, October 6

Today we turned Big V into a giant kitchen to prepare food for the kids tomorrow night. We’ve been in pretty much constant contact with Margarita and Maria in Puerto Rico the last few days to make sure our recipes are right. We wrote them down in cryptic notes on little pieces of paper when we were there last March and have struggled to remember everything each time we try to make a dish.

While Barbara alternated between working on the slideshow project and making the Puerto Rican potato salad (we have that one down pretty well now), I gathered up all our recipe notes and started plugging them into the computer…ended up with seven pages and several recipes that are now legible, if not 100 per cent correct. After getting everything committed to a file, I sent a copy to Margarita so she and Maria could proofread it and make any corrections.

Meanwhile, we went ahead with several recipes and ended the day with a chicken dish, a cream-cheese pie, and a batch of black beans. As I started on a marinade for the cube steaks tonight I discovered that we didn’t have any white vinegar, so I’ll just have to wait until tomorrow and another visit to the store before I can get that one underway.

We did make a run to the café where the rehearsal dinner will be held to discuss a few details with Wanda, the manager, and then to the store to pick up a couple of items we needed (just wish we had known that we needed the vinegar). As we were walking to the front door of the Food Lion store, one of the employees came out and said that the store was closed because all of the cash registers had crashed. We went across the lot to a Dollar Store, hoping against hope that they would have everything we needed, but no such luck. We did buy a couple of items, but had to drive several miles down Highway 60 to another Food Lion to get the rest of the things on our list.

We stopped at the post office on the way home to buy some stamps and drop off a couple of pieces of mail…our Presidential ballots since we won’t be in TX on Election Day. Then we returned to Big V to spend what was left of the afternoon and evening. Barbara spent her time relearning how to burn a DVD of the slide show she has created. I did nothing of importance and am reporting the same.

Tuesday, October 7

It was another busy day around our place today. Barbara spent a great deal of the morning reviewing and editing the slideshow presentation so the kids could view it tonight and make their suggestions. She had some problems burning the show to the disc last night and was up until 4:30 a.m. getting it done.

I had a note from Maria with her comments and corrections on the Puerto Rican recipes, so I spent some time making corrections to my copy and getting everything in order. Luckily, I got the notes from Maria in time to stop me from making a couple of mistakes with the dishes we would fix today.

Since what Barbara was doing was a one-person job, I decided I’d go out for a walk. Mike has set it up for all the guys to take a day hike up in the Blue Ridge Mountains the day before the wedding, and I thought that maybe I’d better get some practice. I walked from the campsite down Ridge Road to the little church that we had attended on Sunday, about a 3-mile roundtrip. It was nice to be out and walking again, even if it was a little cool. Barbara: I did take time to go on my own walk with my Sony companion. The beauty of the trees during this time is just breathtaking and even though the camera doesn’t do them justice, I still like to share my camera view.
Jim: After the hike, we had some lunch and then just rested since neither of us had slept well last night.

Around 4:00 p.m. we got started preparing the last of the dishes for our Puerto Rican buffet. While I got the marinated cubed steaks out of the refrigerator, Barbara poured the black beans into the crock pot and put the pan of chicken into the convection to slowly warm.

The next two hours were spent cooking the cubed steaks, cooking a pot of rice, preparing toasted flat bread made from slices of garlic bread that I had baked the other day, and preparing the fried plantains (our plantains weren’t working out the way we thought they should, so Barbara made a quick call to Margarita to get clarification on how we should do it. We’re not sure, but we think Margarita was standing by so she could coach us through this project if necessary).

Everything was done just shortly after the kids arrived. We all sat down and enjoyed a real feast, much more than we would have had for a typical meal, but we figured we wouldn’t have enough time this trip to fix several Puerto Rican meals for them, so we just went the buffet route. Anyway, it was fun to watch them experience new dishes and taste treats.

We spent the next two hours watching the 25 minute DVD that Barbara had created for the kids and listening to their suggestions for what should be kept and what could be cut. I kept the remote in my hand to pause the show whenever the kids had a question or comment, and Barbara was sitting at her laptop to immediately delete any of the slides they didn’t want.

All in all, it was a very pleasant and productive evening…good food, good company, and a good time for all…Thank you Margarita and Maria for helping to make it all possible!

Wednesday, October 8

This was just a lazy day around Big V. I scanned and cropped old photographs that the kids had given us last night while Barbara worked on inserting pictures in the slideshow and getting them in the right order (all this, of course, when we weren’t napping or reading).

This evening we got around to playing Washers again…haven’t had many opportunities lately, and we really regret that we weren’t able to teach Mike and Kelly, but they can’t get here before dark, and, while that greatly adds to the challenge, it takes away quite a bit of the fun.

Anyway, Barbara once again showed her mastery of hitting the hole with the washers…had four again this evening, but “slow and steady” won against that skill as I eked out four wins in a four out of seven contest. (Barbara: Makes me want to puke! I fold under pressure!)

Thursday, October 9

Happy Birthday to Jan in Gilbert, AZ, Kelly’s mother!

This morning was more of the same for Barbara…working on the slide show; it’s a new program and we are still learning…just don’t understand some of the glitches that appear from time to time and make it a frustrating job.

We were going to take a little break during the afternoon so Barbara could rest and I could go on another hike, but she decided to continue working on a problem that was plaguing her. I went on out for a walk down Ridge Road to the intersection with Highway 13. On the way back, I discovered a hikers’ entrance to a large plot of Forest Service land. Several trails were clearly indicated on a map at the entrance, so I decided to try a couple of them.

It was an interesting experience…no cars to dodge, and the trails I followed were pretty well marked. I found a large pond along the way and indications that there were some more ponds in the area. Since I had been out longer than I had intended, I went ahead along the trail I was following and ended up across the road from the entrance to the RV park…how lucky for me!

When I got back to Big V, I found that Barbara had temporarily given up working on the slide show and was walking around the park taking pictures. Fall is upon us, and we are surrounded by some beautiful colors developing in the trees, not to mention quite a few leaves that are making their way down to the ground.
This evening we drove to Richmond to visit the kids at their new apartment. While they are still living with their respective roommates, they are spending their “spare” time getting the new apartment set up so it will be ready when they return from their honeymoon. It was obvious at first glance that they have been working hard to get everything just right.
Mike and Kelly gave us the grand tour of the two-bedroom, two-bath apartment (it’s on the third floor, has a vaulted ceiling in the living room and a great balcony/deck that opens off the living room and the guest bedroom). After the tour, we sat down to a dinner of Thai food that they had picked up at one of the outstanding Thai restaurants here in Richmond. Mike has been expanding his culinary horizons to include Thai hot sauce. He usually goes with the medium heat, but tonight he went all out, and I’ll have to admit that I finally met my match in hot sauce…Mike and I both were hitting the water glasses pretty hard as we put away the food!

After eating (and cooling down our mouths a bit), we settled down to the business of the night, previewing a draft of the DVD that will be shown at the wedding reception. Before we started the DVD, we told Kelly that it was a really rough draft and that she would just have to imagine how the music would go with the picture selection. What she didn’t know was that Mike, romantic that he is, had emailed Barbara the music selections shortly after noon today and she had been working like crazy to get the slides set to music. Needless to say, the production, while still a rough draft, was well accepted by both of them. The only problem left was how to pare down a 25-minute series to 20 – 22 minutes. For an hour or so, both of the kids went through the show slide by slide (as well as side by side) to choose what they could give up and what had to stay in the show.

After that bit of work was done, we took some more pictures of them in the new place, some to use in the slide show and some just because, and then said goodbye…it was late for us old folks, and we had a one-hour drive back to the RV park, all in the dark.

Friday, October 10

Happy Birthday to Carol Crenshaw (Barbara’s older sister) in Roswell, NM!

After checking email and taking care of business around Big V, Barbara settled in to do some more work on the slide show. Her goal was to get everything she had so far transferred to a DVD so we could see how it looked and sounded. Unfortunately, she was still having trouble with a few of the slides not doing what we thought they should do. She is trying to pan and zoom through the slides to give them a little more interest, but it seems that some of them won’t transition to the next slide after she’s worked with them…no matter what we try (by “we” I mean me commiserating with her and offering suggestions that so far haven’t panned out).

I took a break and fixed a late breakfast…bacon, scrambled eggs, and French toast and we took time out to eat and watch another episode of M*A*S*H.

After taking a break, Barbara returned to the slide show and worked on it into the evening. I spent some time this evening watching the Dodgers/Phillies baseball game, but didn’t get too excited since I didn’t really care which team won. Artesia’s football team had an open date this week, so there wasn’t a game to watch or listen to. I did track the progress of the Red Sox and Rays on the computer, but that is no way to watch a baseball game!

Saturday, October 11

While Barbara slept in a little, I got an early start on the computer to catch up on news and sports…found out that Liberal had lost their homecoming game against Great Bend last night.

We spent the morning pretty much the way we have been spending most of our days lately…checking our lists to see what needs to be one before everyone begins arriving for the pre-wedding activities and working on the slide show. With only a couple of glitches and a couple of things she wanted to edit for clarity, Barbara had the show in good shape…all that was left was to burn it to a DVD so we could see how it was really going.

By noon I had the TV turned on to watch the Texas/Oklahoma football game. Barbara doesn’t like to be in the same room with me when Texas is playing because, evidently, I get pretty vocal whenever the Longhorns make really stupid mistakes. It didn’t take long for me to get heated up, and there were enough mistakes along the way to warrant a few loud exclamations, but in the end, Texas overcame a great Oklahoma team to win the annual Red River Shootout (oops, that’s now the Red River Rivalry to those who are politically correct, but then, almost everyone who reads this knows how I feel about political correctness).

When the game was finally over, we decided we’d been stuck in Big V long enough, so we hopped in the Vibe and drove to town (not that there is really a town close by) to do some more shopping. Barbara wanted to look for another blouse and some accessories for the outfits she will be wearing next week, and we needed to buy a few groceries.

As we finished the last of the shopping, we decided that we’d let someone else do the cooking tonight, so we both started looking for somewhere to get some takeout food. We passed several burger and sandwich shops, but weren’t interested in them. Finally, we spotted a Pizza Hut and decided a large pan Supreme Pizza would fill the bill.

I hesitated on the order when we were told it would take about 25 minutes, but we decided to go ahead with the wait, even though we hadn’t eaten all day. While we were waiting, we walked around the neighborhood, found a genuine 7-11 store and went inside to look around. We were so hungry that we decided we’d buy one taquito and split it to tide us over until we could get the pizza home…maybe not the greatest culinary decision we ever made, but it worked.

After getting the pizza and purchases home, we threw together a salad, piled the pizza on a plate, and settled back to watch M*A*S*H, since nothing else was on. As soon as we finished the show and dinner, we started preparing a meal that we wanted to give the kids tomorrow. Barbara has a delicious crock pot recipe for chicken, potatoes, onions, and carrots, all cooked in a couple of cans of Cream of Mushroom soup, and we thought it would be easy to fix and make a great evening meal for Mike and Kelly.

While we were putting all that together, Barbara also prepared an Apple Betty dessert (she even let me stir the batter for a while), that we would take to church with us tomorrow for a covered dish lunch with the kids’ Sunday school class.

By the time we had done all that, we were tired enough to shut things down for the night. I decided that it was just too frustrating to try to keep up with the baseball game by tracking it on the computer, so I voted to let the Red Sox and Rays slug it out without me.

“Worry is a misuse of the imagination.” – Dan Zadra

From our cozy home in Cozy Acres…Jim & Barbara