Week 30 - Plan B Continues

The heat wave was supposed to slam RI Monday and so we planned to hit the blueberry fields early. We were there shortly after 9:00, resigned to sweating for our fruit. There were other people in the field but we had to wonder what they were finding to pick! There were very few ripe berries and even those were sour. We knew we would not be successful but I wanted some RI berries to take home so we picked a mere 2 cups, sweating bullets the whole time and then hit Stop & Shop to buy berries for the blueberry cobbler we'd promised for dessert. We got everything else we needed for supper and then headed home, spent from just 15 minutes of berry picking. We had a quiet afternoon staying cool in the AC then got busy making the meatloaf Sharyn had requested. We had learned by then that Bob would not be coming for dinner but that didn't stop us from making a 3 pound meatloaf. It was HUGE and I kick myself for not taking a picture. We served it with whipped potatoes, brown gravy and corn so it really was diner fare. All that was missing was a big, white dinner roll. The blueberry cobbler was yummy too. We had fun hanging with Sharyn and Butch and the food was a hit. Go figure. Carolyn is an amazing cook and can cook anything and Sharyn wanted meatloaf? Good call in the end.

I was up and out on Tuesday, meeting Cornelia for breakfast at 7:00. It was great to see her but she was still in the throes of coping with her mom's death so there were lots of tears. I started packing as soon as I got home. I had bought lots of stuff but had also bought a new big suitcase to replace Norm's that finally bit the dust last Christmas. As usual, I fit everything in with room to spare. Hell, I'd even bought New England style hotdog buns that I put in the wastebasket I bought so they wouldn't get squished. Yup, I can pack like a pro. I was done with plenty of time to spare so relaxed and knitted while chatting with Carolyn. It was a nice morning. Good thing because I had a long afternoon of travel - at the airport shortly after noon for a 2:00 flight, 3 hour layover in Chicago and then to Omaha and home. By the time I drove into my driveway, I'd been travelling for ten hours. I got lots of knitting and reading done so it wasn't a total waste but it felt great to be home.

The first thing I did was check the painting. I could see that the west wall was prepped but not painted. I had been gone a week and they weren't done? It ended up being a good thing because when I checked the garage windows, they'd painted them green instead of white. The green was for the door only and the windows looked ridiculous because they were partially wrapped in white so the green was on the sashing, some of the sides and all of the bottoms. Sheesh! When I ran inside to check the paperwork, there it was in writing - paint garage windows and doors GREEN! I had missed that. Damn! This was clearly going to cost me. I called the painter, unpacked, set up the coffee and went to bed. I had to be up for work the next morning, another "feature" of my mid-week to mid-week vacation.

I was surprisingly not tired on Wednesday and the day flew. I mostly slogged through a week's worth of emails and worked on some queries I'd hadn't finished before I left. I then went swimming, which I felt really proud about because I would much rather have just gone home. I boiled hotdogs for dinner (good thing I'd had a salad at lunch) and sat like a zombie until bedtime. Not productive once I got home but I gave myself points for making it through the day so well and swimming to boot. I swam again on Thursday and went food shopping on the way home. I'd already decided at this point to skip the French get together Friday night in favor of just being home with no pressure. It was a good call. I ran errands on Saturday morning and then knitted most of the afternoon, starting my first every lace shawl. Despite cooking nothing, I called Andrea and invited her for dinner. It helped that she was bringing Jamie Oliver burgers. I threw together some cole slaw, put the corn Lorri had dropped off on to steam and we had a lovely dinner, albeit thrown together. But having done not much all day, I had my work cut out for me on Sunday.

I was determined to get some yard work done since it was supposed to be much cooler - high 80's in fact for the first time in weeks. I was outside just after 9:00 to weed and mulch (my neighbor had deposited another pile of grass clipping while I was gone) the entire veggie bed. Then I put my bench and all my plants back where they belonged since the painting was done (he'd finished Friday) then mowed. I got back into the house at 12:30, drenched in sweat, achy and exhausted but feeling good that it was all done. I showered, ate lunch and watched the last 2 episodes of True Blood. By the time I was done, I'd cooled off and could face some more chores. I had litter boxes to empty (I'd set up extra for when I was gone and they were nasty), laundry and a stack of mail to go through. There was more on my list but that's what I got done.

All in all, it was a good week. Better than I'd thought it'd be too. There's something to be said for the mid-week thing. I worked 2 days, had fun for 7 and then had only a 3 day week when I got back. It made it easier both coming and going that I didn't have long to get through on either end before I had a weekend to recoup. Maybe this is something I'll have to consider for future trips. Hmmmm.....