Anticipating the next adventure, Sep 29- Oct 6

Monday, Sep 27

On Monday of this week Amanda competed in the regional golf tournament, representing Lenoir City High School.  It was held at Seveirville CC.  I missed going because of our Cataloochee trip.  Amanda had a great round, scoring 87.  It was not low enough for her to move on the state tournament, but it was a very good score.  She was relieved that she did not have to go on.

Wednesday, Sep 29

We have a week to get ready for our week+ at Orange Beach.  Bill has already begun getting the boat ready and he moved into high gear on his preparation of the boat and fishing equipment. I had an appointment to take Pastor Linda to The Good Samaritan Center to meet Cindy and learn more about the work there.  We finishing in plenty of time for me to make a 12:45 appointment for a Covid booster.  Except for a long wait, I experienced no problems and had almost no side effects.  

After a quick lunch at home, we took advantage of another beautiful fall afternoon to take the boat for a spin.  Bill had worked on the water pump, replacing the impeller.  He wanted to test and make sure it was working properly, which of course it was.

The back to town for happy hour at Bonnie's house with Susan and Judith.  In between, I made mashed potatoes, gravy and green beans to go with the sliced roast beef that I had bought for our picnic and forgotten.  

Busy Day!

Thursday, Sep 30

I was home all day and spent most of the day at the computer catching up on various projects, UMW business and Retired Teachers business among other things.

Friday, Oct 1

I had a dermatology appointment this morning and got away with no biopsies, but had more than a dozen benign spots removed. After shopping for Muffuletta bread at several places, I came home and made a loaf.  It proved overnight to be baked tomorrow morning.

For supper, I made roasted haddock fillets with andouille and new potatoes served with a garden salad.

Saturday, Oct 10 - Game Day Saturday

After breakfast, I baked the muffuletta load and made a new recipe which I called shrimp gazpacho.  It was thinner than shrimp cocktail, but too thick with chopped shrimp, avocado, red onion and cucumber to be drunk like a Bloody Mary. The muffuletta loaf came out pretty good. We used only 1/4 for our sandwich today, I gave Kathy a fourth and put the other 2 in the freezer.  For the sandwich, I found a package with the right variety of meats and added a slice or two of provolone.  I had some read-deal olive salad from Central Grocery in New Orleans to make it authentic.

Vols won for a change! 62-24 over Missouri.

Almost as good as a Central Grocery Muffuletta

I used less shrimp, more V8, no ketchup, added a little horseradish.

Tomorrow SS begins a new series in the book of Job, a difficult and challenging study.  Since I will be away, the class may choose nto not continue the study.  I sent them the following message: "I sed to get almost angry about the way God seems to be portrayed in the story of Job.  I understood it was a literal, historical, biographical story.  I did not like th idea of God playing games with a person's life and the lives of so many other innocent people.  I still struggle to understand the meaning of the story of Job, but it help to understand it as a story, an allegory, not a biography.  Certainly the theme of faith in the face of struggle and suffering is one that we can identify with.  And maybe the story of Job has some important lessons for us as Christians in troubling times."

Sunday, Oct 3

Walter had the church decorated beautifully for fall.  I love the alter arrange he and Pastor Linda created for World Communion.  She used a different, contemporary liturgy for the service.

It rained off and on all day.  We needed the rain after a long spell of early fall weather.  The SS discussion of Job was interesting enough that maybe they will continue the series.  I assisted in serving communion, which I always like doing.   The afternoon was uneventful.  I cooked supper, turkey chili, instead of ordering out.

Monday, Oct 4  UMW meeting dominated the morning.  We discussed the distribution of our mission fund.  We will be able to pay our full pledge to mission and give out all of our usual offerings to local missions, distributing $2,150 locally.

After the meeting I went by Jim A's. The Habitat contractor had been there to measure but Jim didn't know when he would be back.  Jim engaged me in an interesting discussion about race.  I wonder if Charlie said something to provoke that.

I took some time in the afternoon to summarize this morning's UMW action and to publish worship online & update the church website.

Facebook was in the news today as a whistleblower revealed how cynical FB's business plan really is - optimized negative content because it sells!  I think all news outlets feature negative and sensationalized content. FB says it is not a news platform, but a great many people get their news from FB links. Ironically, all FB platforms were out of service for about 6 hours today due to a technical (unrelated?) issue.

I made a good chicken dish -  thighs pan roasted with new potatoes, onions & celery and served it with broccoli on the side.

We are beginning to pack in earnest for our vacation.  Bill has been at it for several days, organizing all the boat and fishing gear.

Tuesday - Baking Day 

I spent the drippy day indoors baking sourdough and packing.  By the end of the day, I had all the essentials of my clothing and personal items, all the kitchen essentials and linens packed and ready to load. Used all the left-overs, chicken, potatoes, chili, and added some soup vegetables to make a good clean-out-the-frig soup. A salad completed the meal and all left-overs have been used.

Wednesday, Oct 6

More packing plus a trip to town for each of us.  By the end of the day, we had everything packed in the boat and car except for our overnight bags and food items that we will carry into the motel tomorrow night. Rain held off all day, which helps, but is predicted for overnight and early tomorrow.