Neither of us slept Thursday night. We propped James up on about six pillows. He tried to sleep in the armchair. He did doze off about 5:30, but it was fitful and he was already awake when the alarm went off at 8:30. Meanwhile, I had another delightful fever spike, which are characterized not only with broiling temps but with feet hurting and burning so bad I can hardly walk. At one point I had them over the air conditioner vent to cool them off.

Well, the Sinex/saline/Breathe Right/pillow routine obviously wasn't going to work. We toyed with going to Gainesville and maybe finding a replacement plug, except we don't know what voltage it is. This probably would have taken about two hours and ended unsuccessfully. Alice and Ken even called us from Walmart in Cleveland to say they did have power supplies.

Screw it. We drove home, used the bathroom, grabbed the cord and a med James had forgotten, plus my cane chair, and drove back, a four-hour round trip, beating Friday rush hour traffic by a mere hour. We stopped by the Mt. Yonah Book Exchange on the way back. Found a Thurber book, a "Sisters in Time" mystery, a history book about Victorian writers, and the Paul Hamlyn picture appreciation book Horses Horses Horses Horses Horses, whose companion book Dogs Dogs Dogs Dogs Dogs I've owned since I was about ten years old. It has two photos of "Nautical," the subject of an old Disney short subject "The Horse With the Flying Tail."

Then we both took a nap until suppertime. James conked right out until the alarm went off, but I only slept about a half hour. Then we went out to supper with a big bunch of folks and sat with Alice and Ken at a place called Bigg Daddy's, which had a nice assortment of food. We all had wings, but the pork chops in applesauce looked really tempting. Then a nice evening in the common room. Some folks were coloring, some doing jigsaws, some on computer, some talking. We ended up the evening on a theological argument between Bill and Charles.

Today we were just thinking about getting up when the fire alarm went off. You never know how fast you can dress when you need to. The alarm went off, then went back on. I threw the tables and the camera in the back of James' chair and we were wheeling out when the alarm went back off again. Turned out a couple with a little kid were checking out and the kid pulled the fire alarm.

So everyone who was in the lobby ended up going to have breakfast, completely overwhelming the poor attendant who's used to everyone coming in dribs and drabs, so we pretty much ended up all having breakfast together. Later James and I went downtown and walked for a little while, bought Leigh and Robbie a wedding gift, some balsamic vinegars for ourselves, and our yearly candy from Hansel and Gretel, then drove out past the little lake and the park at Unicoi toward  Batesville, admiring the scenery and the burgeoning blossoms.

Came back to the hotel to find a nice crowd in the common room. Alice and Ken had Star Wars t-shirts they had bought at Walmart for $3/each. Nancy and Shari were over working on a puzzle and I stood talking with them (and later Caran) about books. Country Inns also has a bookcase with books for their patrons to read and return, and I found one called Script & Scribble: The Rise and Fall of Handwriting (actually, they had two copies!) which I read during the afternoon as well. Pretty cool, although I could have done without the chapter on graphologists.

For supper we went with Alice and Ken to a barbecue place right on the river (I went down to the water's edge and took pictures). They had a small menu, but it was all very good: pulled barbecue pork with small sides and garlic bread. As he was getting into the picnic bench seat, James' heel slipped under him and he ended up on his back. Although he told the waitress "nothing's hurt but my pride," she brought us a big serving of ribs on the house! We shared with Alice and Ken and are bringing the rest of it home. Excellent!

On the way back to the car we saw a woman passed out in the street. Someone had already called 911. They had a blanket over her as we were leaving. Hope everything's okay.

Hanging out in the common room till bedtime. A most spectacular sunset just out the windows of the room earlier. I ran for my camera to take photos. You can never take proper photos of sunset; they just don't show up well.

Labels: books, food, friends, shopping

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 8:39:00 PM

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