Week 35 - Odd Beach Week

I had some medical issues that put a damper on my week but it was still a beach week so it was still good.

It was full on raining on Monday morning but I wasn't going to let that get in my way. It was too much for the awning so I dragged out the base and umbrella and sat under that for more knitting. I had packed all my WIPS (work in progress socks) and was perfectly happy working on those while watching the rain hit the water. I made BLT's for lunch and we did a Job Lot run to Wakefield afterwards. 

My sister, who was in town from South Carolina, called to tell me that they'd flown (the last I'd talked to her, they were still planning to drive after being delayed by getting covid bad (unvaccinated - duh!)) and so didn't have a car. She'd arranged for Bob's daughter to drop them off at 7:30 on Wednesday and pick them up after work. Um.... NO! Who in their right mind would think that's appropriate at all? Crazy. I hung up, conferred with John and called her back. I would take John's car, pick them up and take them to dinner that night. MUCH better. It was average food, good dessert and any pleasure at seeing my sister was offset by her husband's presence. Family. And on that note, I'd spoken to my cousin, who said that my Auntie Margaret pretty much doesn't leave the house these days so having them come down to the beach wasn't going to be an option. Bummer.

John went for a bike ride on Tuesday morning and, you guessed it, I sat at the picnic table and knitted the morning away. He picked lunch up on the way home and then Cornelia came by after a hair appointment. It was wonderful to see her, as always, and then John and I headed to Newport to see his family. After drinks with his aunt and uncle at the yacht club, we met the rest of his family for Thai food. John and I went to The Christmas Tree Shop, which is one of my favorite stocking stuff places, afterwards but I bought nothing. I had a bout of gastric distress there so was happy to head home. We looked for ice cream on the way but everything had closed early (a dreary Tuesday at the beach doesn't give you many customers) so we got some at the grocery store and went home to eat it.

Carolyn was coming for a beach day on Wednesday and in typical Carolyn fashion, she wanted to be at the gate at 9:00 when they opened. I set an alarm and was ready to go at 8:45. John didn't join us but said he might later. We walked the beach, which is always lovely, and then sat in our chairs chatting and reading. It was too windy to have the umbrella up so I took it off its post and tipped it sideways with it only partly covering me. By 1:00, I was ready to go home and take a shower. John picked me up and that's what I did. Carolyn stayed until 4:30! John made chicken and sweet corn for supper. It was a nice day but I was feeling off and by bedtime, I was miserable. I had a yeast infection from all those antibiotics and I was a mess. I couldn't fall asleep and contemplated waking John up to get the keys and drive to Walgreens but eventually I fell asleep. Sheesh!

I was a total mess by morning and asked Deanne, who was coming for the day, to stop and get me some drugs. I got the one day dose and had high hopes for a quick result. We went to the beach after lunch (the parking lot was full so Dee dropped us and drove back to the cottage then walked back) and let me tell you - when we went swimming, I was not a happy camper. Things did start improving as the afternoon went on though (yay!) and I volunteered to walk back and pick Dee and John up. Two of John's friends were coming for supper (skirt steak salads) and by then, I was able to sit more comfortably. I had high hopes that I was on the mend.

Friday was our last day and our only plan was to have lunch at Aunt Carrie's. We got there to find that they were only doing take out but we could take our food into the restaurant. We had clamcakes and chowder and I was happy that they had coconut custard pie, or so I thought. When we got home, it was coconut cream pie. Nope. Didn't eat that.

After lunch, we drove around looking for a new cottage to rent for next year. We looked near Sand Hill Cove, on Great Island and then found a contender on Harbour Island. It's waterfront on a salt pond (our preference) and bigger (only a bit more espensive) than our current cottage. John emailed and we have high hopes that it'll work out for next summer. Supper was "refrigerator magic" - John's term for leftovers. Cute. We started packing and watched bad TV. It was hard to believe the week was already over.

We were up and out at 10:00 on Saturday. John drove me to East Greenwich, where we were dropping borrowed beach chairs at Matt's car and meeting Deanne. I was flying out Sunday so was staying at Dee's that night. We visited her mom then met a high school friend for lunch. I hadn't had a lobster roll yet but the trying too hard restaurant Dee had picked only had a lobster BLT. Nope. After lunch, we went to Linda's mom's to visit. She had been our girl scout leader and we'd popped in last summer too. Since I hadn't had a decent night of sleep in days and Dee had jetlag from her Italy trip so we picked up snacks at Whole Foods and headed to Dee's for an early night, which suited us both. We watched The Gray Man on Netflix, which was pretty good. Go figure.

After a quick breakfast, it was time to head to the airport. My first flight was on time and uneventful. I had a 2 hour layover at Midway and we boarded my second flight but then sat on the tarmac. There was a big storm and we had to wait to be rerouted. It was a rough flight with lots of turbulence but I was still back in Omaha in time to hit Aldi and be in my house by 8:00. I upacked, took a shower and went to bed.

So another beach week was in the books. I hadn't made many plans, which worked out since I was under the weather. As always, it's good to be home and back into my routine. I'd be tired on Monday but I'd live. I'm completely ready for fall weather and getting some things done. Wish me luck.