Candles & Bill at VCU

The past few days have been hectic and filled with ups and downs. It's all good though.....
The bad stuff....flat tires and other yuck...
The good stuff.....
- I am loving water aerobics at the Y.....it's fun with Alicia!
- Al came home and we went to a Celtic service at Christ & Grace Episcopal in Pburg late Friday afternoon....it was lovely....hundreds of candles....communion....a single flute for the music....litergy....they have one once a month, so we will definitely go to the one in November.
- Then we headed up to VCU ( along with thousands of others) to see Bill Clinton speak in the commons area of the college. We met Paul B. and wandered around the blocks trying to find the end of the line (which was about 4 deep).......Al was wearing her "smartie pants" and directed us to the lower level of the commons building......we had front row seats on the inside of the building....couldn't hear, but prime seats inside the plate glass. We ducked out early to beat the traffic......Al came to PG, printed out her French paper (her printer is acting goofy) and then she headed back home to Richmond.

And The Acorns Keep Falling...

(A mural in Ocean Springs, MS painted on the building we stayed in last Feb during Hurricane Katrina Recovery)

The past few days have ended up being one of our "Book of Job" adventures. Most of the time we are blessed with our lives making sense and moving with reason. That has not been the case for the past few days....thus, I haven't had the chance to write. The acorns from the big oak tree in the back yard are dropping and banging relentlessly on the deck and roof....much like the chain of events happening around here!

This past Monday, a 26 year old young woman associated with our church took pills in a suicide attempt....she was taken off the respirator yesterday with extensive heart, lung, and kidney damage and pneumonia. JR is in constant touch with the family.....the outcome is in God's hands.

I had the chance to speak to a large women's group Monday nite.....it was a good thing

Tuesday, the craziness began! We awoke to water in our basement from one of our large hot water heaters "cracking" on the inside. The valve to turn off the water was frozen open, so we had to turn off ALL THE WATER from the well pump. No washing or flushing toilets til late the next day! When the workers came to install one finally, they couldn't figure out how to get it in the basement door....(these things are huge because this is how we heat our house!) It was finally remedied late Wed afternoon.

Tuesday, I accompanied Al to Dr. Cain's office in Richmond to get her "endometriosis" shot...The next two days have been "horrible" because the shots cause symptoms to intensify for about 3 days. So she has been taking care of business with her doped up and me as her driver. School stuff, visits with Fahayo, and another annual visit to another doc that happened to fall on the same dates. We did have fun lunches at THE VILLAGE CAFE and then one day at ALADDINS (a family run all middle eastern foods on Broad Street). Most of this was done in a rental vehicle.....next paragraph explains...

I headed to water aerobics at the Y and the van wouldn't start....dead battery! Out of the blue! So I went in and began working on the computer. It was late....the phone rang, and a friend of our's is going through chemo and needed nausea medicine....I took off in JR's car and took some med to Colonial Heights....It must have been ordained by God, because I normally would have been in the pool at the Y. Plus we hope to head to upstate NY next week and there were other things that needed fixing on the van that could have caused havoc on the trip. There were other incidents with the lawnmower, blood pressure medication, empty boxes of checks and the van. WOW.....thank heaven's our lives are usually more normal.....

WORKCAMP NEWS

Cassidy Pruitt is appearing this weekend in CHARLOTTE'S WEB in Valdese, NC! She'll be receiving a big bouquet of balloons at the theater from her workcamp family!

The Hanchey's in TX are investigating the possibility for our college workcampers to help with the recovery in the Galveston during Christmas or spring break.....nothing concrete yet,....will keep u posted

COTTON FIELDS & A LITTLE CHURCH

When I turned onto Malones Road in Dinwiddie County yesterday the first thing I saw were fields and fields of cotton in bloom. We were on our way to Tabernacle Methodist where JR is the pastor. I didn't have my camera, so I picked a couple of branches on the way home.

It was the first Sunday of the month, so of course, we all had potluck lunch at the church...boy, those ladies can cook!

The rest of the day was a lazy Sunday.....

WORKCAMP NEWS

Tonight I am speaking at an associational dinner and meeting of the Baptist women. It's held at Immanuel Baptist in Colonial Heights.

Into The Woods

JR and Jerry have been working diligently cutting up and splitting the tree that he cut down about 2 weeks ago. They pulled the long splitter around to the front of the house. Jerry uses a wood stove for heat in the winter also.
I put together the "fire pit" down by the pool so we can stretch out the days a little longer ....going to have the Scudders over for hot dogs and smores.
I am excited....I have started on CHRISTMAS surprises!!

TAKIN' CARE OF BUSINESS

(Here's a little guy from 1999.....wonder where he is now.....)
Thursday was just a day of takin' care of business......groceries, pharmacy pick-up, bank, .......I did talk with Edyth. I really want to go down to NC to see Cass in her play. She has a speaking part in CHARLOTTE'S WEB. But, we leave for NY the following week, so it's a matter of pacing ourselves and rationing gas. There was no water aerobics instructor at the Y, so Alicia, Ellen and I did an hour of the exercises on our own....fun! Talked with Jeffrey Bean too.....he was on the way to Donk's for rehearsal.....
Then....9pm.....glued to the tube to watch the VP debates.....God, I hope the US is smart enough to know what they were witnessing!

Mormons, Water Aerobics & A Nun

(Al & Drew at Ashlawn-Highland this past weekend)
Yesterday was quite a variety of happenings. Al had spent the nite with us because she was under the weather. She and I got up early, met Alicia, and we drove to Richmond.....dropped Al off at class. Alicia and I then headed up Monument Ave to the Mormon church to check out their genealogy library for a few hours. I hadn't been there in over 20 years! We did lots of digging and had loads of fun!
We met Al and went to the Village Cafe for lunch in the middle of the VCU campus. Good food...lots of laughs.
We all drove back to Pburg where Al went immediately to bed and waited for a call from the doc.
I am so proud of myself....went to water aerobics and to my surprise, the water held two friends! One was a mom from our old days at VACS (VA Assn. of Competitive Swimming) when Al used to swim year round. The other friend.......SISTER PATRICIA from the convent around the corner! Yep, I am doing water aerobics with a nun!
Al started feeling better, so she headed back to her little nest in Richmond....she was home only temporarily for some TLC.
I CAN'T WAIT for the VP debates tonight! This is going to be a hoot! I'm popping corn! It might be as entertaining as Couric/Palin on SNL!

WORKCAMP NEWS
October is here!!! That means Wrap-Up meeting, mailing list update and getting ready to roll NOV 1st to begin looking at houses!!!! WHEW!

A Bit Of A Tough Day....AGHHHHHH!

Yesterday started off well....and then slowly deteriated into a real challenge. After her morning classes, Al drove home because she wasn't feeling well. I took off to do errands....Debra signing checks, P.O., bank, .....about 2pm Al called me in excruciating pain.....the endometriosis had cropped up with a vengeance. I spun into Walgreen's....they called Dr. Cane....and by the time I got home, Al was really bad. Thank God for pain medication......
While she slept.....and her dad napped....I headed for the YMCA. Yep, I joined and did my first water aerobics class since I had my knees done. We bobbed and did orchestrated drowning for an hour.....ran by Ukrops and got big salads for all of us and headed home.
Al was stirring when I arrived.....she sent off a paper to one of her classes over the internet.....then we all crashed.
Speaking of crash....about 1am a horrific storm passed over. One huge boom and all of the electricity went off.....came back on at 4am.....
So with little sleep and a doped up daughter, we girls head to Richmond....drop Al off at class (she can't drive on the meds) and then Alicia on to the Morman library for genealogy! We are gonna make this a GOOD DAY!
Jerry is coming over to finish chopping up the tree that John cut down last week.....Jerry does the work and gets half of the tree. I am thankful for Jerry!

WORKCAMP NEWS!!!
Took a $500 check by Colonial Heights Middle School as a gift....we aren't in this to make money....right!!??? Let's give it away!