Went out and got another bag of mulch before taking Pat to the auto repair place. We left his car and when we got home, I was pleased to hear from Marge asking about my availability for lunch. Sure thing, I'm game. Marge and I like to try different restaurants and we decided on The Grapevine where we haven't been for awhile. I'm not sure why, as it's a nice place, the food is usually good, and it's fairly modest in price. I had--what else?--a salad, but not Caesar this time.
Maybe I should have. This salad consisted of grilled, formerly frozen, chicken strips over blah iceberg lettuce and--unfortunately--lots of other stuff I don't much like, including cucumber, hot peppers, and those horrid "baby" carrots. Warning--here comes a rant: I don't know what the big deal is when you just have to pare real, live carrots, and cut them up, but these packaged, tasteless pseudo-vegetables seems to be all people serve nowadays. (Oh, shut up, Rosemary--get a life!) Anyway, I picked out a lot of the stuff and ate the rest, then took quite a bit home, nibbled a bit more, and threw it out. No matter, because the real enjoyment of our lunch lay in talking and sharing with each other.
Marge and I are now close friends. We no longer have to explain who we mean when we mention relatives and personal histories, so we're very comfortable together. After lunch, we stopped at Hand's Nursery again and both bought pumpkins to decorate the outside. Nice day.
When I got home, Pat took my car to the bay and I spread the other bag of mulch around two trees in the back. I was annoyed to notice we had also overlooked the bed around the front tree (now with pansies), and put some there, too. It needs a little more; I'll buy another bag today.
Took Pat back to get his car at 4:00. They put in a new alternator to the tune of $340, but I just sighed, wrote out a check, and forgot about it.
Pat has that damn breathing test this morning, so we have to leave for Absecon about 9:30. Hope it isn't too much of an ordeal for him.
Tomorrow, I pick up Hazel for the caregivers' meeting in Margate, then meet Pat and Rich for dinner at the Crab Trap--yippee!