Catching Up

Dry, dry, dry. No rain to amount to anything in several weeks now. The last two days we've had thunder and clouds, and could see where places to the north and south were getting rain, but not here. So Larry's watering morning and evening to try to keep the gardens going.

I've been working on two performances for this coming weekend, getting my stories and ballads lined up. One is pretty easy, the Celtic program with my friend Judi. The only thing to work on for this one is timing, as we have to stay within our 45 minute slot at the Dublin Irish Festival on Sunday.

The other one is more involved. It's the Inland Waterways Festival that comes around every other year--just enough time for me to forget what I know! For this event I try to do mostly stories from the Ohio River Valley, and this year I have several new ones to add so the research, thinking, plotting out the stories, etc has taken a lot of hours.

Then there's canning, not a lot this week though. Bread and butter pickles and another batch of salsa and that was it. Since I've been fighting an eye and sinus infection, that was enough. I've been moving a lot slower than usual--I swear I think the antibiotics intentionally make me sleepy. I'm on the mend, thank goodness.

The other big thing this week has been painting the porch and deck--Larry's to-do and not mine, luckily. He's also been working on his truck and the tractor as both are giving him fits. He's almost there, and my van is awaiting his talents next. Our neighbor kindly repaired the rusted areas on my poor van for me, in trade for a jar of honey, a bag of homemade chocolate chip cookies and a 6-pack of beer. I call that a win-win.

And then there's my upcoming trip to England! All tickets are bought, rooms rented, plans made. I'm traveling by train from Charleston (WV) to Manassas to meet up with my two sisters who are making the trip with me. We leave August 12. Talk about excited! I've already begun packing. Figuring what to bring for a two-week trip is a puzzlement.

So that's the news from here. Nothing spectacular, just the ordinary day-to-day. I've been a real homebody, not going to town for days at a time, and it's nice. Mornings on the porch, evenings by the firepit--I'll  take it.

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