Home » Diary Home » 17 June 2002 Diary Page

Barbara Fritchman Thompson
Email Barbara

Barbara Fritchman Thompson Diary

Week of 17 June 2002

Latest Update: Sunday, 27 April 2003 08:39

Monday, 17 June 2002

[Last Week] [Monday] [Tuesday] [Wednesday] [Thursday] [Friday] [Saturday] [Sunday] [Next Week]

I had a nice visit last evening with mom, dad, Frances, and Al. We all met at her house around 4 pm and sat around talking until time to go to Pizza Hut. After a fun dinner there we went back to Frances' for cake and gifts and more visiting while we watch the last few holes of the U S Open. I left around 8:30 to come back home. 

After taking the dogs for their last time I headed on to bed at 10 pm. I am still battling this stupid sinus infection. This morning I am just not feeling well enough to try the Body Pump class at the gym so I shall stay home.  We slept in until 8 meaning by the time I read the paper and ate breakfast it was already about the time I would normally be leaving for the gym anyway. The biggest problem is not the cough or stuffy nose but sapping my physical strength. 

Anyway, I have to take Lenore to the doctor this afternoon and we need to leave at noon. It is usually almost eleven by the time I get home from the gym which would barely give me enough time to get my shower and a bit of lunch before we needed to leave. I think Bill is coming over this afternoon for a visit which means take out of some sort.

To add to this mix, I also have a haircut appointment at 2:30. If it looks like Lenore will not finish up in time for me to get her back home and leave to get my haircut Bob will have to come meet us so he can bring her home and I can go on to my appointment. Yes I know...don't ask!

I hope things are going well for you on this Monday. Thanks again for stopping by for a visit. 

[Top]

Tuesday, 18 June 2002

[Last Week] [Monday] [Tuesday] [Wednesday] [Thursday] [Friday] [Saturday] [Sunday] [Next Week]

What a day! I had to take Lenore to the Neurologist yesterday to check out her dizzy spells and hearing problems. The game plan was for me to take Lenore and have Bob come get her if she did not finish in time for my 2:30 appointment. I called Bob from the doctor's office at 1:30. He suggested when we finished up at the doctor's office to go ahead to my appointment and he would meet us there since it was closer to home.

The doctor finished up around 1:45 after which I spent thirty minutes with an office person setting up three different test appointments for her in the next two weeks plus her follow up visit back with the doctor to review the tests. I just did make it to my appointment at 2:30 leaving the car running with Lenore in it while she was waiting for Bob to come. He left me the astro-car and drove Lenore home in my car.

Bill arrived while we were gone. Once I got home I sat down and filled in Bob and Bill on what the doctor said and made a list of all the appointments and where they are for Lenore. Then I left to go have her prescription filled and pick up dinner at KFC.

After dinner we discovered Malcolm, who was having some tummy trouble, had another accident on the bed. I stripped the bed, changed the sheets, and put the spread in the washer. Bill left at 9:30, we walked the dogs and I went to bed to finish reading my book.

Today is my day! I need to run up to the vets and pick up some medicine refills for the dogs then I am going on to lunch with one of the CBCR volunteers. She and I have developed a friendship via e-mail and socializing at the various dog sport and CBCR events. She runs one of her dogs in sheep herding and another one in flyball. She works for an insurance agency in Greensboro and has an older son from an earlier marriage. She is a very nice, down to earth type person, who keeps her wits about her when things come up with the group that need solved. We are meeting half way at a Ham's restaurant at 1:00. There is a Border's Bookstore on the same road so I may take some time and browse around in there before or after our lunch.

Guess that is about all the news from this front. 

As far as Lenore's health. The test are pretty much to rule out further nerve/bone damage from the Rheumatoid arthritis in her neck and/or inner ear drums. The focus of the tests are on the brain stem nerve areas that may be getting affected by the deterioration of the bones from the arthritis. All the tests and follow-up visits are in the next three weeks before I leave to go on my trip. 

 

[Top]

Wednesday, 19 June 2002

[Last Week] [Monday] [Tuesday] [Wednesday] [Thursday] [Friday] [Saturday] [Sunday] [Next Week]

Well, this sinus infection seems to have run most of its course. I am still a bit stuffy and croupy but feel pretty much like am back to normal strength wise. I shall head off to the gym this morning for spinning class, then make the weekly grocery stop. 

This afternoon I need to go run a quick errand in the direction of the lab where Lenore needs to have some blood drawn for one of her three tests so I might as well get that one out of the way. We don't an appointment for this one.

Tonight we have Astronomy Club meeting. I guess we will leave around 5 to go to the library and then on to dinner.

Late yesterday I started another Dorothy Simpson Inspector Thanet mystery No Laughing Matter. I only lack two more to get caught up with all the ones currently published. This particular murder in set on a winery. Simpson always does a good job with characters and settings but I particularly enjoyed this one since I like to tour wineries and drink an a glass on occasion.  She does a very good job of adding a little of the background of how wines are made into the plot without being boring or tedious. This one had more of a surprise ending although almost toward the end she leads you to the them with subtle clues. As usual they read very fast. I went to bed early last night while Bob watched a movie so I could finish it. 

 

[Top]

Thursday, 20 June 2002

[Last Week] [Monday] [Tuesday] [Wednesday] [Thursday] [Friday] [Saturday] [Sunday] [Next Week]

By the time the meeting was over and we stood around and talked for awhile it was ten o'clock before we got back home. I played with the dogs and got Lenore ready for bed while Bob took care of a phone call. Sorry for the short post but I wrote it last night at 10:30 with the dogs pestering for their last time out. 

I am playing golf this morning. Other than that just a routine day around here. Not sure what I will get busy doing this afternoon.

 

Top]

Friday, 21 June 2002

[Last Week] [Monday] [Tuesday] [Wednesday] [Thursday] [Friday] [Saturday] [Sunday] [Next Week]

I have a new author to talk about, Janice Graham. In between reading mysteries I have read two novels in the last week recommended to me: Firebird (1999) and Sarah's Window (2001). As you know Betsy, a former staff member of mine and library assistant at Reynolda, and I often go out for meals together. She has recommended some great books to me in the last few years even though we do not always read  or like the same authors. In this case she introduced me to another good one.

Both novels are extremely well written and have great character and plot development. Yes, they are love stories, but not the same category as the mushy best seller tripe that is out there. I am pretty sure Graham is one of the first or few novelist I have read with settings in the mid-west.  Both books are set in a fictional town the state of Kansas and very briefly in Paris where she divides her time living with her daughter. Her books incorporate tragedies of nature which can occur out there and take a life so quickly. Her main characters are well educated and/or artistic. Graham has a unique way of unfolding the pasts of her characters within the story line at just the right times to surprise the reader and give you the feeling with wondering what is next around the corner. 

I started Firebird one afternoon and finished it the next day. Yesterday evening I started Sarah's Window and stayed up until 11:30 last night reading it to the end. 

Speaking of Betsy, she, Nancy and I are having a woman's night out dinner tonight. We like to meet for dinner periodically to give us plenty of time to catch up on each other's news and discuss books and music without being rushed.

I am going to the gym this morning then back home. Late this afternoon I will go on over to the library to sort some of the gift books while I wait for Betsy to get off work. We are meeting Nancy at Lucky 32's which is near where she works since she cannot get off until 6. 

[Top]

Saturday, 22 June 2002

[Last Week] [Monday] [Tuesday] [Wednesday] [Thursday] [Friday] [Saturday] [Sunday] [Next Week]

Not much news on yet another lovely, blue sky day here in the Piedmont. However, we are in a severe drought, the worst in at least 30 years. If you look at NC on that drought map, right in the middle of the state, you see the dark brown area, D4...that's us. As you can see, other than the mid-western states where the fires are burning we are the only other area of the country in extremely dry conditions. 

The lawn is mostly dead, my flowers pretty much the same. Watering just does not help with all this hot, dry atmosphere they just cannot thrive. Some of the ones in my planters are doing pretty good but the ones in the ground look horrible. As a matter of fact, this morning I am going to pull up all but the few that are thriving. With me being gone for three weeks the rest will die anyway unless we get some rain. I will show Bob the two areas where the ones that are looking healthy are and see if he will water those for me. With all the other things to care for while I am gone I hate to ask him to worry about the outdoor stuff. 

I was going to get the guy down the street that mows lawns to cut it once for me while I was gone but now I will not have to worry about that. I have not had to mow in two weeks and unless we get a tropical storm or a shift in the gulf moisture while I am away things will not change. I feel sorry for the farmers both crop and animal who need to make a living. This mornings paper showed a family in the neighboring county having to drill for a new well, 748 feet down before they hit water at $8 a foot.

I started a new Dorothy Simpson, Inspector Thanet, mystery last night. Nancy, Betsy, and I had a very nice dinner at Lucky 32. I had pasta with chicken and gilled vegetables. By the time I got home, just before 9, it was almost time for the dogs last time and off to bed to read. For some reason I was very tired all day yesterday and turned off the light last night just after ten. The guys let us sleep in this morning until eight, very late for us.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by.

[Top]

Sunday, 23 June 2002

[Last Week] [Monday] [Tuesday] [Wednesday] [Thursday] [Friday] [Saturday] [Sunday] [Next Week]

I spent all morning doing odds and ends around the yard while entertaining the dogs. They really enjoy being outside with me. It was warm but not hot so I let Kerry stay out with us too. 

Just as I was finishing up my lunch my friend Alison called from Jackson, MS. She moved here from England, working at Baptist Hospital for a number of years, which is how we met. My dad met her in the department he was volunteering in at the time and invited her over for one of our family holiday celebrations. About ten years ago she moved to Jackson to take a job with the hospital down there. My folks and I drove down about four years ago to visit her. We talk on the phone about two or three times a year to get caught up on family news. We had met her parents and her sister and her family when she was still living here.

I spent most of yesterday working on my web sites and playing with the dogs. Lenore's hair dresser was coming at 3 but was running late and did not show up until almost 4. I had the dogs out on the deck while I was enjoying my book when I got another phone call. This one from a relative looking for information on the Fritchman family genealogy. We chatted for a good half hour or more.

After Lenore was finished getting her hair done (the lady does it in the kitchen) I threw some steaks on the grill for dinner. I had made pasta salad earlier that afternoon to with them. Last night we spent the evening reading until time for bed.

House cleaning this morning. The Winston Cup race is a road race from California this afternoon.  

[Top]

 

Copyright © 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 by Barbara Fritchman Thompson. All Rights Reserved.