Susan had to go up north early yesterday, so I walked our walk with Nat, Frankie, and The Platters. Hey, could there be any more romantic (or sexy) a song than "Only You"? Boy, it's great, right up there with "I Can't Stop Loving You," "Begin the Beguine," and "Unchained Melody."
Darling Dennis came over to change our furnace filter and the batteries in the smoke detectors. Thank heavens, his and Leslie's Pete seems back to normal; still no word on what caused the jaundice, but they suspect an allergy to some OTC medication. I e-mailed Les to ask if I could take her to lunch to celebrate and she happily agreed; we'll go on Monday.
That means next week is shaping up nicely: I have a Woman's Club meeting tomorrow, then lunch with Les, and on Tuesday, I get my hair cut in the morning, then go to lunch with next-door neighbor, Barb D. We have Pat's first radiology session on Thursday, not a fun thing, but we're both okay with it--has to be done and I know it will become routine, so no longer scary.
Took my new slacks to the cleaners to be hemmed. Hey, they're size "small" and the legs are nice and slim, but they're at least four inches too long. The only time I think of myself as short is when I buy clothes.
Got some welcome phone calls yesterday: Old George's SIL, Bea, called to let us know he had come through the aneurysm surgery well. (This on top of the heart surgery 4 days ago.) Pat called other Bay Buddy, John, to let him know the good news. Alison called on the way to her and Mike's regular Friday night hike. There was nothing in particular new, she was just checking in, but I always love to talk to my little girls.
Rest of the day, I did a lot of wash and finished up some financial stuff that had been hanging.
Judy called to let me know she had finally been able to access the George Straight site to order tickets for her idol's concert in February. According to her computer person in Costa Rica, when she downloaded Kodak Easy Share, it caused her keyboard to freeze up.
Wha-a-t?! I have KES and so do hordes of other people I know, and I never heard of that happening. Oh well, what the hell--it isn't important enough to worry about, so I'm going to dismiss it from my mind.
Didn't go to Weight Watchers yesterday after all, and I may just hold off this week and go on my regular Thursday.

Drove to the real big city yesterday: not Manahawkin, but Toms River itself. Went to Modell's Sporting Goods to exchange the birthday gifts Alison had gotten me, from herself and from Pat. The "stand-alone" jacket was snug and the other jacket had a defective zipper, plus the pants with it were too big.
What a hassle! The sullen, unhelpful salesperson seemed annoyed that I dared interrupt whatever the hell she was doing--contemplating her navel, maybe. I wanted to try several sizes of the bad zipper jacket to get the best fitting one, and unbelievably, they were all attached to the pants by one of those round security things. She had to take each set up to the counter to detach it before I could put it on.
Every one was hard to zip--she found it hard, too, although she managed because she wasn't wearing the jacket. She then told me they must all be "left-hand zippers."
Wh-a-at?! Does that make any sense? I never heard of zippers put in for left-handed people and even if such a thing exists, why would all these jackets be made that way, especially when there was no indication to show that? They didn't even have any more of the single jacket, so I finally decided to just return all the items.
Naturally, because Alison had used a credit card and I didn't have it, they would give me only a store credit--grrr! I'm sure not going back to that store, so I'll have to go to the next closest one, which is in Lawrenceville, an hour and a half away. Oh well, I'll combine that with lining up a friend to meet for lunch.
The trip wasn't a total loss, as there was a Kohl's in the same shopping center and I found a great pair of slacks--size "small," thank you very much--and a blouse, which I bought with the gift card Ellen had given me. The slacks are long, so I will have to have them hemmed.
Stopped at Home Depot to get a furnace filter; then, as requested, called good neighbor Dennis who said he'd come down this morning to put it in. Went to Acme and got shrimp for myself for dinner; gave Pat a pork chop.
Got a nice, long e-mail from Leslie, telling us her son, Pete, is home, back to work, and seemingly recovered--thank heavens. After losing older son, Anthony, she was naturally terribly worried when Pete was hospitalized.
Judy K. called close to nine last night to ask if it was all right that she sent me a George Straight web site. Her computer is having a problem and she wants to come over at 10 today to get tickets on-line. Hookay by me, I said, although I had planned to go to Weight Watchers. However, I decided to switch to tomorrow (Saturday) since Dennis is coming, too, so I guess I should be here.

I stepped into my role as volunteer for Ocean County Library's Home Borrowers Program and made a new friend!
Cathy O'C. is a real find. She's a delightful woman a few years older than I am and, boy, do we have a lot in common. She was born and brought up in Trenton and later lived in Glendale, which is part of Ewing. That's where we lived for 41 years and where we raised our children.
Cathy and I quickly found we were both products of parochial schools (hers took, however). She went to Cathedral H.S. and we laughed over our shared experiences--including the uniforms, the stockings, the ban on strapless gowns, and so on. We both smoked and, as teenagers, experimented with hanging out in bars. Not only that, but she loves biographies (same here), real-life murder (oh, yeah), and history (gotcha there, too). She does read contemporary fiction, which generally leaves me cold, but who knows? Maybe I'll acquire a taste someday.
Cathy has a son and daughter and several grandchildren. She lost another son in 1999 and two sisters (one of whom was a nun) and her husband in 2006. I saw a studio portrait of Cathy and him 30 or so years ago and what a beautiful couple! They actually looked like movie stars.
Cathy had about two dozen books to donate to the library and I took them for her. At this point, she's well supplied, as she orders books from the Literary Guild, so I didn't need to take her request for the library.
I was delighted to learn she's computer literate and is on it every day. She loves "Bookworm" and was interested in hearing about my favorite, "Wordslinger." Forgot to ask her to exchange e-mail addresses, but will call her today and do that.
Because I slept so late, then had to zip up to Cathy's, I didn't have time for breakfast. It was close to noon when I got home, so I just segued right into lunch. I know, I know, people are always being preached to about not skipping a meal, especially breakfast, and blah, blah, blah. That seems to me bullshit of the purest ray serene, and I'd like to see the background evidence to support it.
BTW, I'm going to go to Weight Watchers tomorrow instead of today because I have to take Pat to his podiatrist appointment at 10:30.

Incredible--I just got up 20 minutes ago and it's 9:15! Didn't get home until 11:00, and although I went right to bed, I have to read before I sleep, so it must have been midnight before I dropped off. Well, once in a while doesn't hurt, but I'm due in Manahawkin at 10:30, so have to hustle. I'm going to meet the home-bound woman for whom I'll pick up and exchange library books--looking forward to it.
Took Pat to the doctor at Fort Dix yesterday. I actually enjoy the drive, as it's down 539, then west through the semi-rural outskirts of small towns. It went okay, but as is usual now, was somewhat perfunctory.
Went to the podiatrist in the afternoon and she trimmed the calluses on my tootsies, cut my toenails, and generally made me feel like a spa-goer.
Left for Viv's at 5:00--early, but a good thing because I missed the turnoff from Route 9 and got all the way to Lacey before I called and was directed how to get back. Made it just at 6:00 and Viv then drove us to Manalapan to the Wellspouse dinner. Boy, it's a long way--more than an hour and there was a lot of traffic. However, we got to the Java Moon okay and were pleased to see about 15 others there, fellow spouses of disabled or chronically ill people. I had met all these nice people before and Viv and I poured ourselves glasses of wine and sat down to chat and eat.
The Java Moon has a lot of unusual dishes and I ordered grilled Caesar salad with shrimp. Sounds weird, but it was very good. It was a great convivial evening--just wish gatherings were closer.
Incidentally, the reason they're held where they are is that this happens to be the Manalapan group. Viv is the leader of the Southern Ocean group, but at this point, it's very unformed and we know only one or two others who live reasonably nearby. We tried to set a date to meet before Christmas, but things came up that made us cancel.

When I told Susan that Jen had given Joel a motorcycle, I was amazed to hear her say she used to have one. Susan is very sedate, very organized, very methodical, and is the last person in the world I can imagine riding a motorcycle. However, when she was young and married to her first husband, she rode one to work (she was a teacher, then guidance counselor). Interesting.
Dropped the car off at 9:00 and was horrified to hear the repair (a hole in the manifold intake or something) would cost $700. Aagh! But it had to be done and that's all there was to it. Now I have my darling little (actually, big, it's a Buick) car back and it's warm and cozy, so I have to stop bemoaning the cost.
Got rid of the few Christmas decorations I hadn't before--just the live wreath on the front door and big vase of pine boughs in the foyer. Galvanized myself to sweep out the garage and get a few other chores done before Pat got back from the bay and took me to Mastercraft for the car.
Today we have several things going on: We leave to see Pat's primary at Fort Dix at 9:00 and won't be back until after 11:00. I have a podiatrist appointment at 1:30, then tonight, go to the Wellspouse dinner and meeting in Manalapan. Am due at Vivian's in Barneget at 6:00 and we'll leave from there.
Congrats to brother Frank and family for Ezekiel, their new grandson, courtesy of daughter Maureen. Other daughter, Francine, is expecting momentarily--a boy to join her other two. That means all six of Frank's and Marybeth's grandchildren are of the male persuasion--wow!

We had a great time at Alison's celebrating Joel's 26th birthday last night. She had--per his request--both meat loaf and salmon, plus scalloped potatoes and so on, and I brought the candied carrots.
It was the cake, though, that was best. She and Joely had made it on Saturday, when both he and 5-month-old Tristan stayed over. Why? Because Jen had thrown Joel a surprise party for a few friends.
Joely is so cute and funny. He is a big helper, putting the candles on the cake, bringing the dessert plates out to the table, feeding Lulu, and generally making himself useful. Alison repeated something he had asked Mike the night before: "Grandpa Mike, did you have a nice Dad like me when you were little?" He's crazy about his Dad. Joely zoomed around on the floor with Alison's "exercise wheel" to the great amusement of "T-Bone" (which they've taken to calling Tristan), who smiled, giggled, then laughed out loud.
Joel had given Jen a bike for Christmas and she gave him one, too. However, the "bike" is a -gulp!--motorcycle, which makes me nervous, of course, but he intends to drive it to work.
Anyway, it was a wonderfully relaxed and fun evening. Little "T" is so cute. He also zooms around, but in his walker, and he's trying to crawl, but hasn't yet gotten the knack. Joel pulls him around, sometimes very fast, but T seems to like that.
The only sad note was Lulu. When we got there, Alison went out to help Pat into the house. I walked in, hung up my coat, and put the carrots in the kitchen, assuming Little Lulu was out in the yard. But she wasn't, she was just in the next room; she's become so deaf she didn't hear me.
Poor Lu. She always used to--literally--jump for joy when anybody came in. No matter how often she was told not to, she would pounce on the newcomer, wiggling with happiness, then race up and down, then come back to show her excitement--she was a nuisance. Yesterday when she noticed we were there, she let us pet her and she wagged her tail, but quietly, not the way she used to. Now I wish she could be a nuisance again.
Aside from that, it was a wonderful evening. Got home a little before 9 and shortly went to bed, skipping my wine and popcorn. I had had both salmon and meatloaf, as well as a small slice of cake and some ice cream, but I didn't want to push it.

It's thanks to neighbor Judy K. that I got those revolving pics on the blog! It took me some time--I'm electronically challenged--but I got it done. Sent them separately to Alison, Jen, and Mike and Paula, but A. couldn't open them--not sure why.
Yesterday, I got back to my reasonably buoyant self. Ray came over to change the bulb over the sink and stayed to chat awhile. George's SIL, Bea, called to bring us up to date on his condition. They replaced an artery, but haven't yet done the aneurysm; that will have to wait until he recovers more, but he's doing pretty well. He recognized Bea, and was able to follow the doctor's direction to cough, and so on.
Today, I'll make candied carrots to bring to Alison's for Joel's birthday, plus the Nana Mix as a little extra to go with our "real" present of cash.
Was touched by my dear twin's comment on yesterday's entry. If anybody understands the situation, she does.
But okay, them's the cards I wuz dealt and I gotta play them. Other than Pat's health, we've had aces most of our married life which, incidentally, will total half a century on June 21--this year!