I'm late, I'm late. . . . .

Just like the white rabbit, but here we go. Sweltering here; under a heat advisory as a matter of fact.

The yard work is not progressing at all. Paul and Arlo are on vacation. I tried preparing some of the bare ground areas for planting, but all the rain made it mud, and then the heat started. Tomorrow is supposed to be the beginning of a few days of 80's, so maybe I can get back to it. 

In the meantime, I decided to tackle my recycle boxes. I had three bankers' boxes full, and I've now reduced it to one box and sorted into folders. I took out bags and bags of trash from the trimmings. New resolution: no more saving trash to make cards unless I really, really, really want it, and then it must be trimmed and filed if I insist on keeping it.

Now I need to do another sort to break down some of the folders; i.e. the holiday folder in stacks by holiday ready to file elsewhere.

I made a great discovery yesterday. I'm totally disenchanted with my meat department at Harter House, and decided to try Food 4 Less. I remembered buying meat there when I first moved back to Missouri, but the rest of the store was unimpressive, so I started shopping elsewhere. Now it will be my go to place for groceries, and especially meat. And you bag your own groceries. I use self check-out wherever possible exactly for this reason. I can sort the frozen, refrigerator, garage from kitchen. Pantry items for the garage can be put away later if I'm exhausted from shopping. Bathroom supplies separate, etc.

They even had dishes on a display table, and you know I need more dishes. I found Our Table Simply White soup bowls for $1 each. They're dishwasher, microwave, and oven safe, and the perfect size. You can buy them at Replacements.com for $6.99 each, but I like $1 better.

I know, I know, but I'm going going to discard these:

And I'm saving the smaller ones. The camera distorts the image. The new ones are twice the size and the old ones have little plates for underneath. I filled the smaller one with water and poured it into the new one. The new one will hold about twice the old one. The old ones are for strawberry soup at a Lady Lunch, and the new one is for a bowl of beef-vegetable soup in front of the TV.

If I want tomato soup with a grilled cheese sandwich, Harry joins me and I remember the fun trip when Niece Terri bought me the mug at the Truman Presidential Library and Museum.

We need to finish the trip I've been posting.

Friday, March 23, 2007
I ate half of my last avocado with breakfast.  Thank you, my lovely children.  Wish I had an avocado tree and a green house so it would survive in Missouri.
 
I was ready to roll at 8:30 after stopping for gas.  The drive to Montgomery was easy and took about three hours.  The dogwood was blooming, along with some yellow climbing flowers I don’t know, and great long wisteria vines.  As I got closer to Montgomery, the redbud trees appeared.  As you travel south, the weather becomes too warm for them.
 
Good signage leading to the capital in Montgomery, and what a beautiful capital it is!  The house and senate have moved across the street to a new building called the “Alabama State House”.  They spent seven years refurbishing the capital and reopening it in 1992.  As they couldn’t wire the building for electronic equipment, they had to construct a new home for the people who run the state.  Some offices remain in the old capital, but it seems to be mainly a tourist attraction.  The old senate and legislature rooms are still as they appeared in 1989, the last year they were used.  The capital dome is one of the most beautiful I’ve seen.  This is a ladies’ capital.  Sometimes the interior looks pink and sometimes peach, depending on how the sun is reflected.  Graceful, curved stairways lead to the second and third levels, enhanced by brass and crystal chandeliers hanging in the circles created by the banisters of the curving stairs.

Murals of the history of Alabama surround the perimeter of the rotunda on the second floor, along with four seals of former rulers.  Alabama has been under French, British, Spanish, American, and Confederacy rule.  The Confederacy drafted their constitution in this very building.

 
Parking meters on the streets around the capital allow you to drop enough quarters for two hours only, and it’s against the law to keep feeding the meter.  I had to hustle.  I crossed the street to the former White House of the Confederacy.  Jefferson Davis lived here during the war and most of the furniture and artifacts are still there, thankfully, as most of his retirement home, Beauvoir in Biloxi, MS, was blown away in Hurricane Katrina, along with most of the artifacts it housed.
 
The docent invites you in, gives you a pamphlet (returnable) and leaves you on your own.  She goes to the little gift shop in the back.  She didn’t ask for an admission fee, and I didn’t see a donation box.  Like a ninny, I forgot to put another camera disk in my purse, so I couldn’t take as many pictures as I’d have liked.

 

When I was ready to leave, I went to the gift shop and told the docent I’d like to make a donation.  She said to leave it in the donation box on my way out.  I couldn’t find it, so I returned and she said that it was right by the guest book I had signed.  I went out and looked again, only to return and tell her I was sorry to be a pest but I just couldn’t find that box.  She went with me and was stunned to find that someone had walked off with it.  Well, duh!  She leaves it right where she can’t see it and barely spends any time in the lobby.  She took my $5 and said she’d have to start another.  Maybe this time she’ll keep it near the door to the gift shop.

 
I still had fifteen minutes left on my meter, so I ate some peanut butter-cheese crackers and the final half of my last avocado and was on my way.  I seemed to drive forever to the turn-off for Calloway Gardens in Georgia.  I stopped at the Visitor Center, picked up brochures, discovered I’d lost an hour by crossing the line to eastern time and was told that the Calloway Gardens turn off was the next one down the highway.  Goody!

Pine Mountain isn’t very big and has few motels.  I called the one I seemed to remember from my former trip and was told they had no vacancy.  I ended up in a smoking room which wasn’t complete and paid $110 after my AAA discount at a Days Inn, even though the published rate in the guide was $60-$70.  I think they were painting because the walls were bare and there was scarcely any furniture.  There was no place to hang anything, no surfaces to place things (not even a luggage rack), a microwave sitting on a little refrigerator, a stuffed chair and a safe which was sitting on the floor.  The TV, the microwave and the refrigerator shared a two-hole plug, so I could use two of the three at one time but not all three at once.  The light bulbs were such low wattage, I had to feel my way.  Good thing I carry a 100-watt bulb with me.  There was a long, black hair in the bathtub and a beer bottle cap on the floor by the bed.  One of the dresser handles was hanging crazily by one screw.  Oh, well!  Better than sleeping in the car, I guess. I didn’t anticipate crowds at this time of year. 

I decided to go out to dinner and check out the cute little teashop called, “Rose Cottage”.  Only lunches and tea, but the nice young lady showed me a menu from a restaurant around the corner, so I just walked over and admired the flower garden down the middle of the street which is maintained by Calloway Gardens.

 

One of the sweetest bathrooms I've seen.

 A couple came in behind me, and we were seated in different areas.  They asked me if I’d like to join them.  I would.  Ed and Jill are moving from a home on the beach in Florida to Washington D.C.  He has a new civil service job with the Air Force and will be working in The Pentagon.  Jill is a counselor and will seek a new position.  They’re sad to leave Florida, but feel it’s a good career move.  They’re in their 40’s and no children, so they have three dogs.  Jill made a sweet book called, “When You’re Blue” with actual photos of her two white doggies (it was before they added the third).  I didn’t get a chance to ask who printed and bound it, but it’s very professionally done.  She gave me a copy for myself, one for Hannah and one for Becky.  They’re on the way to D.C. to drop off their RV and move some clothes.  They’ll be in temporary housing awhile.  They don’t want to sell their home but must in order to buy another.  Jill’s aunt is getting a bum deal from a Georgia Health and Welfare Department because they want her land, but that’s another story.  A couple came in behind me, and we were seated in different areas.  They asked me if I’d like to join them.  I would.  Ed and Jill are moving from a home on the beach in Florida to Washington D.C.  He has a new civil service job with the Air Force and will be working in The Pentagon.  Jill is a counselor and will seek a new position.  They’re sad to leave Florida, but feel it’s a good career move.  They’re in their 40’s and no children, so they have three dogs.  Jill made a sweet book called, “When You’re Blue” with actual photos of her two white doggies (it was before they added the third).  I didn’t get a chance to ask who printed and bound it, but it’s very professionally done.  She gave me a copy for myself, one for Hannah and one for Becky.  They’re on the way to D.C. to drop off their RV and move some clothes.  They’ll be in temporary housing awhile.  They don’t want to sell their home but must in order to buy another.  Jill’s aunt is getting a bum deal from a Georgia Health and Welfare Department because they want her land, but that’s another story. 

A couple came in behind me, and we were seated in different areas.  They asked me if I’d like to join them.  I would.  Ed and Jill are moving from a home on the beach in Florida to Washington D.C.  He has a new civil service job with the Air Force and will be working in The Pentagon.  Jill is a counselor and will seek a new position.  They’re sad to leave Florida, but feel it’s a good career move.  They’re in their 40’s and no children, so they have three dogs.  Jill made a sweet book called, “When You’re Blue” with actual photos of her two white doggies (it was before they added the third).  I didn’t get a chance to ask who printed and bound it, but it’s very professionally done.  She gave me a copy for myself, one for Hannah and one for Becky.  They’re on the way to D.C. to drop off their RV and move some clothes.  They’ll be in temporary housing awhile.  They don’t want to sell their home but must in order to buy another.  Jill’s aunt is getting a bum deal from a Georgia Health and Welfare Department because they want her land, but that’s another story. 

I stopped at a Dollar General and picked up a can of room spray.  That helped with the cigarette smell.  I washed my hair and showered and the shower head had one section with a sense of humor.  It aimed perfectly so that a spray shot over the top of the shower curtain and soaked the bathroom.

People were still arriving at 11:00 p.m. and began getting up to leave at 6:00 a.m.  I didn’t sleep much.  I started the coffee but the lid was missing, so the water wouldn’t drip through the coffee grounds.  I loaded my car, made some instant oatmeal for breakfast, checked out and got a cup of coffee in the lobby.

To be continued. . . . .

HANG IN THERE. A FEW COOLER DAYS ARE ON THE WAY.

HEAD TO THE LAKE

OR JUST ENJOY THE A/C AND READ A BOOK

A LITTLE EARLY SUNSHINE IS OKAY

LAWN WILL NEED WATER

THANK YOU FOR SHARING MY LIFE