What a Week

47°/8.3°C this morning, clear bit later mixed clouds and sun. Warmed to 73°.

What a wild ride this week has been! One of those weeks where we had to go out almost every day. I hate that. I am a much happier camper when I can be home for several days, or even a week or two, with no trips out. But sometimes life sure intervenes.

A better photo of that black iris. Just stunning, I think.

Tuesday was open mic; Wednesday we needed gas, groceries, line for the string trimmer, and we dropped off the riding mower at a repair guy 's place in the evening. So that day was a bust. No garden work at all. Thursday Larry had a VA appointment in Charleston. I was happily reading blogs and doing my puzzles, still in my nightgown, at 9:45am, having had a rough night's sleep due to arm and shoulder pain (should never have helped load that mower!). Suddenly I realized that we were to be in Charleston,  50+ miles away, in 30 minutes! Hollered for Larry, who was messing around outside, called the VA to explain, and we got there an hour and a half late. Fortunately it was just for blood work, so they were pretty flexible. Whew.

Since we were in Charleston, we stopped at the Farmer's market for herb plants. I want to expand my selection of herbs, and there's just nowhere closer. And since we were there, we decided to have lunch at Soho's, a restaurant we like in the market. As we were sitting down, in walked my friend Suzy and her friend Karen! 50 miles from home, what a coincidence. So we enjoyed a nice lunch, did our shopping, and got a call on the way home that our mower was already fixed.

One thing I bought at the market that was not a plant:

These are going to granddaughter Sarah, a Mothman fan. I also bought some Aztec chocolates for granddaughter Grace, from a chocolatier who makes the best chocolates in the state. These are Grace's favorites, and she can't get them where she lives. 

I was amazed that the mower was ready so fast.  How often does anything get fixed that fast? So home to get the truck and pick up the mower. It turned out that the problem was electrical,  and a fuse box and a few other parts had to be replaced. Who knew mowers had fuseboxes! The cost was reasonable, and it was such a relief to find someone so close who can do this work.

A few photos from the road to the repair shop, which is only a few miles from home.

One of the oldest homes in our county:

On the way home, we were behind this poor wrecked Jeep being hauled to the junkyard. A bad wreck happened just a little earlier, and the driver had to be life-flighted by helicopter to Morgantown. So sad, and sobering. Apparently they were just going too fast and lost control in a curve. I haven't heard anything about who the driver was, or their condition, but they certainly have our prayers.

I had our son Derek stop by to help unload the mower. (Not going to ever get involved with loading or unloading it again. Learned my lesson as my arms and shoulders are still giving me heck at night.) Derek stayed around a while to enjoy the firepit with us. That was nice. 

Today was booth day, but a light one because I have had little time to get anything ready. So we had lunch at Shari's with a group of friends, and it was such a good time. So many stories, I am pretty sure all of us left with brown legs due to the large amount of BS around that table! There were stories of snake-handling churches and church revivals, most of them pretty funny. 

Our friend Bill said he was at a revival once and the preacher was telling the story of David and Goliath. The preacher was really wound up and getting into the story, and as he was telling about David using his slingshot to shoot Goliath, the preacher yelled, "He just pulled back as far as he could, and let that stone fly, and it hit that big son of a b**** right between the eyes!" The congregation was stunned for a minute before everyone broke out laughing. 

Larry told them about a church he went to once, in Lincoln County, WV. There was a girl who went to church there that he was sweet on, so he agreed to go to a service with her. Suddenly a man picked up a box and started taking rattlesnakes and copperheads out of the box and handing them to people. Larry said he was out the door fast! And that if there hadn't already been a door there, he'd have made them a new one! 

After finishing the booths, we had a couple extra stops, one to pick up an armoire, another to buy a beautiful brass candelabra from a friend who is also a reseller. 

That armoire was heavy, and no one was there that could help load it, of course. I think i need to take some weightlifting training if I am going to keep on hoisting heavy stuff about. 

Then finally, home, where our dofs were overjoyed to see us. Dinner was leftover cream of asparagus soup, a free pizza bread (given to us at a restaurant on Wednesday because they said they messed up the ones we ordered, even though we couldn't tell the difference), and leftover cobbler. We ate out on the deck, enjoying the beautiful evening. 

We ended up at the firepit---it is just the perfect way to end a busy day,  I think. Need to clean up around the firepit, but that's a job for another day.

Tomorrow we still need to go out again, for concrete mix to finish the patio project, mulch for my herb garden, and a couple more cattle panels for trellising the tomatoes. We may just put off that trip though, as I am longing to be home. But Derek has invited us out for dinner to celebrate Mother's Day, since he has a golf thing on Sunday. So maybe Sunday we will just stay put all day? I hope so!

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.