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Barbara
Fritchman Thompson Diary
Week
of 12 July 2010
Latest Update: Sunday, 18 July 2010 1:30 p.m.
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Monday, 12 July
2010
A normal, back to work, Monday. Y after work.
When we made the most recent Costco run I picked up one of their
spiral cut, honey baked hams to try since we had a coupone. Costco
sends out their own coupon booklet with some pretty good savings. Much
more off than the standard Sunday paper coupons. We had the ham for
dinner tonight. I thought it was better than any of the honey baked ham
stores and even better than the ones we get from Lowe's. I think it
weighed about 8 and 1/2 pounds. After tonights dinner I froze three
more packages that will be one or more meals and kept out enough for
another meal or two later this week.
YES, we finally got rain today. Bob said it started here around 10
this morning and rained pretty good for the better part of the day. I
think we are up to 3/4 of an inch. Several of us walked uptown for
lunch today to celebrate one of our groups birthday. Good thing we took
our umbrella's. It was not raining when we left at noon but when we
came out of the restaurant it was coming down pretty good. It had
stopped by the time I left work.
While we do have cooler temperatures the humidity is pretty bad, up
around the 80% mark, when it's not raining, of course. Cool days and
rain should green up the lawn again.
With Bob finished shooting pictures I am not tied to the house at
night or weekends unless we have to reshoot something which means
dinners out with friends and some day trips coming up.
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Tuesday, 13 July 2010
Late this afternoon tornado warnings started
popping up north and west of Winston. When I left work at 5pm it was
thundering off in the distance and I hit light rain as I got closer to
our side of town.
I needed to make a library stop and to grab a few things from the
grocery store. The skies darkened a lot while I was in the library. At
one point I thought I might bag the grocery trip since we did not need
anything urgently. Instead, I drove across the street to the store and
ran in to grab just the few things we needed. I manged to get checked
out and to the car just before the bottom fell out.
Driving home I would hit a downpour then go through light rain off and
on like that the 2.0 miles from the store to home. The worst of the
storm went south of us and directly over my folks house. I just called
them to make sure they were all right.
We have storms coming through in waves for the next several hours but so far not much in the way of rain has fallen.
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Wednesday, 14 July 2010
More storms last night and perhaps an inch of
rain. Today was my Friday. I am taking tomorrow and Friday off for a
couple of one day trips. Tonight I met Bonnie for dinner downtown. We
ate at the The Old Filling Station. One of the reasons we met was to
plan our road trip for next week, Wednesday - Saturday. We had
tentative plans but needed to finalize a few things.
I am reading something totally different as a result of a discussion
with the group I work with. They are all reading the Twilight Series by
Stephanie Meyer. When I
worked at the library system I often read books recommended to me by
patrons that I ended up enjoying. They were books I would have never
picked up on my own.
First off, the series is for young adults/teens but I have read books
for that age level before and enjoyed them. Second, it's a love story
about a normal teenager who falls in love with a vampire. My work
friends kept telling me; as much as you read you really need to read
this series. I offered that I would reserve them from the library but
they insisted I borrow their copies. I think there is a movie that has
just come out. Having watched all 200 episodes of Buffy, I decided I
could at least give the first book a try.
Last night I started reading while we were waiting on the storms to go
through so we could take Malcolm out for last time. I was surprised at
how quickly I was hooked into the story. The writing is good, the plot
very fast moving, and I like the setting; a small town in Washington
state. I am just barely into the book but unless something changes I
will most likely stick with it.
Now, to watch some more Lark Rise from Candleford.
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Thursday, 15 July 2010
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I picked the folks up around 9am for a day
trip to Galax. Instead of the back roads that Marcy and I took a couple
of weeks ago, we did Interstate almost the entire way until we got off
on 89 that goes up the mountain into Galax.
We found the leather store dad where dad wanted to go to see about
getting a wallet and key case made. Both of his are very old and they
no longer make them. After we finished up with that I drove a couple of
block over to Flossies for lunch, where Marcy and I ate when we were
there. After lunch I drove and parked as close as I could get to the
block of stores I wanted them to see. One was a really neat
antique store that had some things I wanted them to see. All of those
places are within walking distance for mosts people but dad just can't
walk all that far anymore.
From Galax I took same route back, a back road over to the Blue Ridge
Parkway to 52 and Fancy Gap so we could stop in Cana, VA for mom to get
some fresh peaches. From there we came home 52 instead of the back
roads getting back around 3pm.
On the way home I finally remembered I wanted to stop at the autor
parts store to get a seat cover for the driver side of my Trooper. I
have work the fabric on the door side complete through from sliding in
and out of the car.
It's hot again, even in Cana. It was a little cooler up in Galax which is higher up.
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Friday 16 July 2010
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Marcy picked me up around 9 this morning. We
took old NC8 from Winston to Lexington, NC, about a 45 minute drive.
Once we made it to downtown we drove around looking for a couple places
we wanted to find/scope out. After driving this way and that, up and
then down we could not find either one. Instead, we parked the truck
downtown and walked in and out of the stores and shops the third and
main objective to the trip. They have some very nice antique stores and
little shops. Of the three small towns we have visited of late,
Galax, Mt. Airy, and Lexington, the latter is by far the nicest.
One of the places we wanted to find was a tea shop. We asked one of
store clerks where it was. It was not near enough to the downtown area
to walk. So, instead of going there for lunch we stopped at a one of
the downtown cafes that turned out to be just great. After lunch we
finished the rest of the downtown then back to the car. From there we
drove the mile or so to find the tea shop. We went inside to check the
menu and to see what it looked like for a return trip. From there we
drove to outskits of Lexington to the Bob Timberlake Gallery, the
other place we were looking for.
Very nice. We were both very impressed with the gallery. It is built to
resemble a large cabin. The inside has a very down home, comfort feel
about the place. Of course, I cannot afford the furiniture or his
orginal paintings. But, the gallery has displays built along the walls
with some extrodinary exhitis in them. The also sell home decor and
other type smaller items. We took a break in the coffee shop and sat
and talked for awhile before finishing up looking around.
We left Lexington, stopping on the way back at a small Italian
restaurant we passed on the way down. Very good food, nothing fancy
about the place. I got home around 6:30. It was hot, hot, and hot
walking around this morning though we did have a nice breeze from time
to time. At one point it looked like we might get rained on but we
never did.
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Saturday, 17 July 2010
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The rain and storms moved in around 9:30 this
morning and have kept on coming in waves all day. I cleaned the
bathrooms then took a break during the first storm before running the
vacuum cleaner. I then worked at my desk until we had enough of a break
in the storms that I could jump in the shower then get Malcolm out for
a potty break.
We have a nest up under the front eave sitting on top of the downspout.
I think it is finches, too small to be robins. Yesterday I watched the
parents fly in and out but I don't think she has had her babies yet. I
have one euronymous bush in the front that I noticed had all the leaves
stripped off the top branches. Underneat, there is a pile of green and
dead leaves that appeared after I cleaned up around the bushes a couple
of weeks ago. I guess they are using those leaves to make their nest.
This afternnoon I organized the kitchen pantry where we store our
canned goods, dish towels and cloths, etc. Then I took everything out
of the fridge and cleaned all the shelves and the inside and the door
shelves. And, I made some cinnamon muffins from scratch from a recipie
I ran across in a book I was reading. They turned out pretty good. I
don't bake much and not from scratch hardly ever so I was surprised.
Bob is working away writing and doing the laundry. Last night we
watched a DVD a friend loaned us, A Dog Year, based on the book by Jon
Katz. I had read the book, which is a true story, about how Jon came to
be in possession of a one year old Border Collie. The dog in the movie
looked like Duncan but acted and acts like Malcolm. It was a great dog
movie even if you don't have Border Collies.
As the rain continues to fall, heavy at times, I guess I will do a few
more things around the house and continue reading my book. I am still
reading the vampire novel. It is very good though I think she could
have cut it down by a hundred pages and still got the story across. I
am about two thirds of the way through. It runs close to 500 pages.
Malcolm has spent time either in my lap while I read, lying beside me
when I am in my office, or on the floor near me in the kitchen. He has
been pretty good through most of the storms but will not let me very
far out of his sight. I'm glad I am home to comfort him or he would be
pestering Bob to death keeping him from getting his work done.
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Sunday, 18 July 2010
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We had around an inch and half of rain yesterday.
Malcolm and I did yard work this morning. While I waited on the
grass to dry I pulled weeds, cleaned up the front beds and natural
areas, picked up sticks, etc. We talked with the neighbors up and down
the street thanks to Malcolm going off exploring. I let him run around
loose when I am out working as long as there is no one for him to
bother. The immediate neighbors are all used to him running around.
It was warm, mid 80's but hot in the sun and very humid. Several times
I tried to put Malcolm inside to cool off while I worked outside but he
howled and barked so bad I just kept out with me until I stated mowing.
He will eventually finding a shady spot and lay down. I have a portable
water bowl I take out so he has fresh water.
More storms in the forecast for this afternoon. I have beef ribs
thawing to throw on the grill. Hopefully, if we do get rain/storms we
will get enough of a break I can get dinner cooked.
I finished up Twilight and started another China Bayles mystery, Holly Blues, by Susan Albert.
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Copyright
© 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002,
2003,
2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010
by
Barbara
Fritchman
Thompson. All Rights Reserved.