It was a red-letter week: I finally delivered an overdue Hanukkah gift. It's been a comedy of errors for the last four months trying to get Mel and Phyllis their gift. Either they were where we were and the gift wasn't, or it was the other way around. ::sigh:: It's not even valid as a Passover gift now.

The bad news is that James' toe is still not well; we had it checked out at podiatry this week. The doctor said if we were still patient about this we could "stay the course." So we are, but she sent him down for an x-ray to make sure.

The good news of the week was Saturday in (1) going to Hair Day (where the Hanukkah gift finally was reunited with its owners) and talking to everyone, except for Charles, who is in Greece! and (2) going to the Jonquil Festival. We got there just in time for the Ready Go Dog Show. All the dogs are rescues, some from shelters, some from specific breed rescue. Five dogs performed: an Australian shepherd, a Pomeranian, and a chihuahua named Tito all chased frisbees. Then Phobia, a smooth Border Collie, jumped from a box over a hurdle six feet high. The final performer was a Belgian Malinois named "Beano," also a frisbee freak. The handler said the hardest thing to teach Beano was "stay"!

James got himself two sugar-free desserts (I tasted the lemon cake; it reminded me of the lemon squares from Solitro's Bakery!) and also picked up some jambalaya and red-beans-and-rice for lunches. They had a bumper crop of vendors, but didn't see much that we wanted. The honey guy was there, but he had no small bottles of blackberry honey.

On the way out we stopped at the library because they didn't have an outside book sale this year. Their "perpetual book sale" has shrunk from three large bookcases to two smaller ones. I still found three books: Reviving Ophelia, which I've wanted to read; Sisters in Crime, a collection of short mystery stories about women; and Strongheart, an award-winning children's book about the famous dog star. (We did go to Barnes & Noble, and I didn't buy anything. The library books only cost $2.75.)

In other news, dropped more stuff off at Goodwill, posted the first part of a seven-part fanfic and redesigned the graphic for the series, tried out a new grammar-checker called Quillbot, and listened to more Colonial Williamsburg podcasts.

Labels: books, dogs, events, festivals, friends, gifts, health, sickness

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 10:12:00 PM

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Bracketed the week with goodies.

Did the usual chores a day late this week since Monday was Labor Day. We spent that afternoon at craft stores and then went to Longhorn to celebrate James' birthday. Since we got there before three we got luncheon prices, which was fine with me.

James had the usual physiotherapy this week and later in the week he had his surgery followup. The doctor said the incision looked good and you could tell the fistula was working—if you feel just a few millimeters away from the incision, you can detect a buzzing under his skin; that is the increased flow from the fistula—but since the incision itself got a little red, he was prescribed an antibiotic. On the way home from the appointment we stopped at Trader Joe's and Penzey's Spices.

Hair Day was on Friday, but we were the only ones there for the Friday edition. We chatted for several hours with Ron, Lin, and Sheri, and then went off to Sam's Club to buy lots of inexpensive meat and more Tylenol.

On Sunday we were up early to drive across town to Stone Mountain Park for the Yellow Daisy Festival. The last two years many of the vendors had been out on the main street outside the exhibition area under the trees. In 2021 the heat nearly killed me; I was dizzy and nauseated for most of the morning. Last year was better, but I still hated the street. This year thankfully all the vendors were in the woods under the trees again—I guess they finished redoing the paths or something.

It was very strange not to see my favorite Country Pick'ns vendor there this year, but the Messengers retired last year. Many of our favorite vendors don't show up any longer, like "Smack Yo Mama" barbecue sauce (they don't do Georgia shows anymore) or 1st Sergeant Salsa or the guy who makes the doormats out of old tires. Thank goodness the maple barbecue sauce guy still shows up; we had used up his product. We bought several different maple products, the yearly fudge (but they were out of double chocolate!), different kinds of honey, a cheese slicer made of reclaimed wood, and I was quite taken with an opal ring (although I should have gone the size smaller; my fingers swell up when it's hot like it was today and now the ring is loose, and maybe I should have gone for the three small stones rather than the infinity symbol).

All in all we escaped before it got sizzlingly hot, so it was okay.

Labels: birthday, crafts, festivals, food, friends, health, shopping

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 9:19:00 PM

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We had to get something important out of the way this weekend.

But before that came Thursday. We got the grocery shopping, that inescapable fact of life, out of the way in the morning. They had chicken and wild rice soup on the soup bar at Publix, which we picked up for a quick weekend supper.

Since both James and Ken had doctors' appointments on Friday at lunchtime, we switched lunch to Thursday. The restaurant du jour was Okinawa, which is at the East-West Connector where Borders (::sob!::) used to be. Only six diners today, since Aubrey was working. We talked about the Breakaway Space: 1999 convention this weekend and wished we were there.

Afterwards James and I stopped at Kaiser to pick up the meds he'd reordered, and then we went home, because it was just too damn hot to be outside. It was almost one hundred today. Summer just won't quit, the wretched beast.

We had finally worked through all the Perry Mason episodes available on Amazon Prime and are now starting Babylon 5 from the beginning. Unlike some people, I really enjoy first season and Michael O'Hare as the commander of the station. He was more like a British series lead than an American one, and I was sorry when he left, even though we didn't know why at the time.

Friday morning we had to find out the results of the PET scan, so we drove out to Glenlake for an appointment with Dr. Shash. He reported that a slight abnormality had shown up in the PET scan: it's in the same small vessel in his heart the doctor let be the last two times. The problem is, if Dr. Shash goes in and fixes it with a stent, the vessel is so small he will have to use the highest contrast dye to view it properly. At this point he feels the contrast dye will do more damage to James' kidneys than the abnormality of the vessel will do to his heart. So we've left it at:

If James gets a chest pain, takes a nitroglycerin, and it goes away, leave it (just let the doctor know it happened). (If that keeps happening frequently, there's something they can put him on.)

If he gets a chest pain, and the nitro doesn't help, we skip going to Urgent Care completely and instead go directly to the hospital Kaiser is affiliated with. Then they do the catherization and we start working on getting the kidneys back to normal. Again.

At least we have a plan of action.

Alas, this means James' teleworking days have come to an end unless the chance of rain is high. With the weather reports we are getting, fat chance. So it is back to him losing 45 minutes of sleep and us eating at night (which is, again, terrible for our weight). Sigh.

On the way home we stopped at Trader Joe's. We wanted to see if they had pumpkin fruit bars yet. They did indeed. And pumpkin soup and pumpkin cookies and pumpkin butter and pumpkin...everything. Even pumpkin dog biscuits, which we bought for Tucker. We have to stock up on the fruit bars because they only have the pumpkin ones in October.

For lunch James stopped at Chicken Salad Chick so I could pop out to buy...guess what...some chicken salad for both sandwiches and after-supper snacks for James. I also ran into Sprouts for a "baby boule," their round loaf of country-style bread. Then when we got home we could have some sandwiches for lunch. Supper was the Publix soup, and more Babylon 5.

We actually may have slept a little later than usual on Saturday. Certainly it seemed like no time at all that James packed up the power chair and went off to his club meeting. As hot and sticky as it was outside, I wanted to rack two things off a to-do list that had existed since spring. I had bought a new hose (ours had a crack in it) and a new nozzle (ours was broken) in the spring. Once the pine pollen is done giving everything a yellow scum in April, I usually wash the porch down. But it's been in the 90s since the pine pollen went away and I just didn't want to go outside for any reason except needing bread and books, so the hose and nozzle have been taking up space in the garage. While it was still shady out front I uncoupled the old hose, threw the whole kit and kaboodle in the trash can, installed the new hose and nozzle, and washed off the porch, finally. I'd put up the autumn wreath, basket, and flag on the 12th, and I took everything down to clean thoroughly before putting them back up.

Sigh, apparently I am incapable of hitching up a hose and nozzle without getting wet. Dammit.

Then I cleaned up and went out. If I don't start using my Tin Drum rewards, they will quit sending them to me. And I wanted to stop at the new Five Below.

I didn't have to stop at Barnes & Noble, but I did. Two mysteries in my series are out, but one is discounted on Amazon, the other isn't. I used my B&N discount for that other, and got a new cross-stitch magazine. Next I went to Five Below, which recently moved into half of the old Sports Authority at Akers Mill shopping center. I was sorely disappointed because they do not stock the dark chocolate Hershey's almond bars like the other Five Below stores do. I was able to get the dark chocolate Reese's peanut butter cups, which we have for desserts.

Then I waited on my double protein to-go from Tin Drum. This will give me enough food for two small lunches next week.

It took forever to get home. I didn't linger anywhere, but stuff kept delaying me. It took four people to get the don't-steal-me gadget off the turntable being purchased by the people in front of me at the bookstore, and longer for me to check out at Five Below. By the time I got home I was starving, but I just had a little bit of my Okinawa leftover and a slice of the boule. I had to save the calories for Taste of Smyrna.

James got home in time to cool off a little, and then about five we set out for the festival. It wasn't blazingly hot, but sticky, and I felt like I was walking through molasses. After all that, Taste of Smyrna was a little disappointing. The Thai people did not show up this year, nor did the Cajun place James likes and who always show up at these festivals. We both had our favorite "drunken pork" on cream grits from Atkins Park, two potstickers from the healthy Chinese dipping sauce folks, and pork barbecue from Williamson Brothers (but, heck, we can get that anytime). James also picked up some of Rodney's award-winning soul food as a lunch. I didn't see anything else that floated my boat. The Italian place was only giving out big meals (chicken marsala and pasta, chicken something else and pasta, etc.), I didn't want Mexican, or deep fried anything. Almost went back for a gyro, but decided not to. We had Bruster's ice cream for dessert, then came home, and went back into space.

How does it get to be Sunday so quickly?

Labels: books, chores, festivals, food, friends, health, shopping, television, weather

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 10:30:00 PM

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So, we've spent the last three days bouncing around from grocery store to grocery store, with some fun stops in between.

But first there was Wednesday, which was James' birthday. After I tossed some clothes in the washer, I was going to sneak into the bedroom, pull a book out of my stash, pair it with a homemade card. Instead I spent the day being sick. At least cooked dinner and did the laundry. In a half-hearted attempt to make the day festive, I put on Solo: A Star Wars Story, which we still hadn't seen. It was fun—whatever chick-lit for guys and adventure fans is called. James was amused by the solution to the Kessel run story; as we got ready for bed that night, he mused, "So I guess all Han needed to make the Kessel run in 12 parsecs was 'Liquid Schwartz'?" ROFL! (If you do not get this, please watch Spaceballs.)

This is the weekend we always attend the Yellow Daisy Festival; we usually go on Sunday because the crowds are low early in the morning. Alas, we didn't have that option this year. So I had an idea: why not go Thursday? A lot of people will be at work, so it should be okay.

This worked better in theory. First, we had to get up at six since we had to go across town through rush hour traffic. I said to James, "We'll get out there, and then we'll stop somewhere like an IHOP for breakfast, then go to the Festival." Well, we left the house at seven, but by eight were barely twelve miles from home because we had had to stop for gasoline, and then we had to stop for money. So while James availed himself of the Presto ATM at Publix, I went inside and bought us two sandwiches for breakfast instead. By the time we got to Stone Mountain, we discovered that the handicapped lot was nearly full. Of course! It was a weekday! Who was here? All the grandmas and grandpas, and all the stay-at-home moms! Even with us getting the Early Bird admission, it was still crowded.

We also missed several of the regular vendors. They were not on the vendors' list at all, so I assume it was not a "we only attend on weekends" problem. 1st Sergeant Salsa, Meadowcroft Farms, and Smack Yo Mama barbecue sauce were nowhere to be seen. Meadowcroft and Mama may turn up at the Jonquil Festival or the Apple Festival, but if James wants the other he will have to mail order, as we've only ever seen them at Yellow Daisy. Also, One Screw Loose jellies was on the vendor list, but we never saw them. I even went back to the space they were assigned to in the vendor's guide, but it was a metalworker's booth there instead.

We did get more maple barbecue sauce, the first of our two yearly Ginny's Fudge purchases, some sugar-free chocolate cheesecake mix, and of course a purchase from the nice folks from Country Pickins. I was delighted to see that this year she has added some Thanksgiving-themed items, a couple of flat plaques with little turkeys, and some other items. Of course I've already done my own Thanksgiving-themed items and didn't need them. I did get a little vignette of Pilgrims and Native Americans, but broke down and bought a Hallowe'en shadowbox and some additional Hallowe'en items for it (I had bought a few some years ago, to put on the fall shelf in late October, but most of the time I kept forgetting to use them).

We were flat wiped out when we finished right before noon. I considered we might stop at Publix on the way home, or maybe have lunch instead of the breakfast I promised James, but we were exhausted from the heat. We basically came straight home and it took us three hours to cool off properly.

Later on we watched Ralph Breaks the Internet, the second of the Wreck-It Ralph films. Very funny satire on the internet along with the story of Ralph and Vanellope's friendship, and they hit every single internet cliché. Seriously. Right until the very end. The scenes with Vanellope encountering the Disney princesses was priceless. Favorite line:  "Look up there! A big strong man who needs rescuing!" Probably won't buy a DVD of Solo, but will this.

Thursday was the chief supermarket day: both of us in Publix, me running into Kroger for mushrooms and Lidl for milk, ground turkey, and chocolate. However, we had a nice break in the middle of the food restocking: lunch at Uncle Maddio's Pizza Joint with the Spiveys, Aubrey, and the Boroses. We mostly talked about DragonCon; Aubrey won a keen backpack!

Thursday night I went rooting around on YouTube and found both the David Tennant panel that I was able to see (I didn't realize I had missed so little of it; just the chair racing) and the one I missed on Friday, plus the Catherine Tate panel I couldn't get into. There were very few duplicate questions on the Tennant panels, and, of course, lots of Good Omens discussions.

Today we had to gird our loins, due to it being a Saturday, and go to Costco, as we were running out of both trash bags and Breathe Right strips, and James needed generic Flonase. This was relatively painless, though, since we found a handicapped parking space right away, and found all of what we were looking for, with the generic Flonase and the Breathe Rights on sale. Also got him some Hippeas and a "Cook's Country" magazine and sliced cheese, and noted that we had to come back before the 29th because the Swiffer mop sheets were also on sale. We can get more generic Flonase and nasal strips then, too. Today we were just getting things we needed.

A break: a visit to Barnes & Noble. The fall "Bella Grace" was out, with a breathtaking cover of a woman in a sunset, and I also picked up "Blue Ridge Country" with an awesome fall scene on the cover, and "Country Sampler's" autumn decorating issue. The newest Flavia deLuce mystery was out in paperback and 20 percent off, so I got that as well.

We'd forgotten onions yesterday, so I popped into Publix for them, and then we drove to Town Center and the Kaiser office there which is always open because it's urgent care, too, so James could pick up his new medication for his arthritis pain. We are wary of this because it can affect his eyesight, so he'll have to make an eye appointment to get a baseline reading of his eyes and he will have to keep tracking it going forward if he stays on the medication.

We had bought a streaming membership for DragonCon so James could see some of the panels he missed, but they only have Monday up still. So I've switched to YouTube and we're watching the parade as the sun sets and we wander into the sticky evening.

Labels: birthday, books, crafts, DragonCon, events, festivals, food, friends, internet, magazines, movies, shopping, weather

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 8:21:00 PM

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We had a full schedule planned this morning: we were going to get to the Jonquil Festival right at opening time so we could find a parking place at the library, then we would attempt a trip to Costco (a dangerous proposition on a Saturday), and then to Lidl. Unfortunately yesterday I bit down the wrong way on my bad molar. I went to bed with it feeling very tender and while it was okay when I woke up, I had to give it some TLC this morning, chew my oatmeal carefully, and then brought some Orajel with me when we left.

Alas, everyone else had the same idea about the Jonquil Festival: the close parking lots were full when we got there at opening time, so we had to park at the lot on the other side of the festival area. It was still cool when arrived, so the walk wasn't bad. We did a full walk-around of all the booths, bought some more blackberry honey and some sugar-free strawberry jam for James, and, irony of irony, he bought books and I didn't: Philbrick's Sea of Glory and a Barbara Tuchman book about the American Revolution. We saw a lot of nice things, including jewelry made by a sixteen year old girl (she's been doing this since she was eleven) that was very professional-looking. Sampled dips and a rum cake.

By the time we finished it was 11:30, so we had pork sandwiches from Williamson Barbecue for lunch. My tooth was starting to bother me, so pulled pork was the only thing I could manage. We sat in the shade at long folding tables up for that purpose. I noticed as we came down that one of the food trailers had elephant ears, and we were sitting across from that one as we ate. So I wasted $7 on one because the last time I had anything resembling a doughboy was 2015. Disappointing. It was overcooked until the dough was actually crispy and dark brown, and the lady had to smear some kind of syrup on it to get the sugar to stick on it. It cooked so long the dough was tough. Iggy's at Oakland Beach would be ashamed to serve such as a doughboy.

We made a quick trip home with our purchases and then went on to Costco; amazingly we were able to find a parking space right off. We picked up cheese and mandarin orange cups, which we needed, and also boneless skinless chicken thighs to turn into sandwich meat for WHOlanta, since the hotel restaurants are too expensive. We also picked up mandarin oranges "in peel" and found James' favorite "Hippeas" there again (puffs made from chickpeas). Still no skim milk, and they don't have Eggland eggs, so on the way home James parked at Publix and I ran in for eggs for his breakfast, yogurt, and Crystal Light. Alas, I forgot the distilled water, but we still need mushrooms, so Kroger is our fate tomorrow since they are the only place with no-salt added ones.

My tooth was throbbing by then, so we headed home without going to Lidl, and I left James to put away the groceries while I took three ibuprofin and liberally painted my tooth and gums with Ambesol, then crawled onto the futon for a long nap. Woke up over ninety minutes later feeling hungry and slightly dislocated. James cooked up some fine egg noodles and put them in chicken broth and I had that. A little later, I bit down hard on the tooth, saw stars, and since then it has felt better.

Spent the evening watching Rick Steves, Father Brown, and Britcoms.

Labels: books, festivals, health, shopping, television, weather

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 11:50:00 PM

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