A Good Weekend

Father’s Day was really good this year. We went to Athens last weekend to celebrate with Doug’s daddy. His birthday was on the 18th, so we celebrated everything early by surprising him with something he had talked about getting for a long, long time – a big screen TV! It is a 40 inch Toshiba LCD flat-screen. We all went in together on it – us, Kathleen, Sean and Misty, and Katie. We told him it was his birthday, Father’s Day, and Christmas – his present for the year! (I’m sure we will get him something for Christmas, but that’s what we told him!) He was so happy to get it that it made all of us happy as well. He even went and bought a new stand for it this past week. We had had to put it on the coffee table since his old TV stand wasn’t big enough. We told him we would help him get the stand and put it together the next time we were down, but he couldn’t wait! He had to get a neighbor to come help him with it, though.

JW turned eighty-one this year. I think he does very well for his age. He doesn’t seem as old as Daddy, even though he’s actually five years older. He is on a lot of medication, same as my folks. I guess all old people are. But he and Doug’s mom get around pretty good. They like to go out to eat and play bingo. They have lunch at the Senior Center at least once a week, and they get together with friends to play games. I couldn’t imagine Mama and Daddy doing all that. They don’t even go out to eat very often anymore since Daddy lost his sense of taste.

We called JW on his birthday, and he had a big day planned. Katie and Wayne were meeting them for lunch, and friends were taking him out to dinner that night. We called again yesterday, and he was back from church, enjoying his new TV.

As for my daddy, I decided he had lost so much weight (without trying, I’m afraid) that he needed new pants. His old ones looked like they were wrapped around his waist a few times! He had no idea what size he needed, so I told him I was taking him to a new clothing store in Murphy so he could try them on. We made the trip on Wednesday. Daddy was in his usual negative mood that day. I started out rather cheerful, but this is how the conversation in the car went: first he talked about the property dispute with the neighbors, telling me for the umpteenth time what terrible people they are and how they are going to hell over all this; then he went on to talk about how we are certain to have a nuclear bomb detonated in this country in the near future, and how the North Koreans are planning to attack us; then he went on to say that Obama has done more damage to this country in the short time he has been in office than all the other presidents of his lifetime combined. This was followed by dire predictions for the economy and the demise of America. Thankfully, we arrived at the store, and he got focused on finding pants. I had to go in the dressing room to help him since his balance isn’t that great. I was surprised that he wears a 36 in. waist! (He looks so skinny.) He asked me how they all looked, and I told him that it didn’t matter what size he bought, they would look baggy in the rear-end because he didn’t have one. He said, “Well, if anyone asks what happened to it, tell them I worked my ass off.” He really did.

We found four nice pair of pants in different colors, and then he found some shirts as well. I went to the register to pay for them, and there was a lady already there to check out. She told me to go ahead since she was going to take a while. She only had three little items, so I told her I would just wait. The cashier rang her up, and then the woman got out a bag of coins and dumped them on the counter in a big pile! “You must have robbed the piggy-bank!” I said.

“No,” she replied, “my husband leaves his change lying around all the time, and I grab it.” She was a plain, meek-looking little woman, and I wondered if that was the only way she ever got anything nice for herself. Meanwhile, the cashier decided to void her transaction and let the lady start making stacks of quarters while she rang mine up. Daddy and I left and went to Long John Silver’s for lunch. Then we went to Lowe’s to get a new light he wanted. When we got to Lowe’s, he started talking about this girl they went to high school with, who decided to become a nurse. One day she was taking a break and smoking a cigarette when a friend of hers sneaked up behind her and threw ether on her. She immediately went up in flames and burned to death. Apparently, throwing ether on each other was a joke they played because it felt so cold when it hit the skin. Her friend never got over it. (I probably would have lost my mind if I had done that.) I don’t know why Daddy felt compelled to tell me all that, but I couldn’t shake the image from my mind the rest of the day.

Despite the negativity, the day went well, and I was pleased we found clothes he could wear.

Things got a lot better this weekend. Mike and MJ arrived really late Friday night, and Sean and Misty got here around 10:00 am Saturday. (Kevin and Cindy came last weekend.) We all took Daddy out to eat at a steak house. Then we came home and ate MJ’s peach cobbler with ice cream. This was followed by homemade banana pudding for supper. MJ and Cindy have been so worried by Daddy’s not eating that they bring food up here all the time. They both really like to cook. Anyway, Mama and Daddy were in a very good mood having so much family around. Daddy seemed better than he had in weeks. MJ, Sean, and I played triple solitaire and had a great time.

Sunday morning Doug and I took Sean and Misty to the Cottage Deli for what has to be the best breakfast you can buy anywhere. When we got home, they gave Doug his Father’s Day gift – a cordless drill and circular saw. By the time they left to go home, it was too late for us to go to church, so Doug went to the garden and gathered the first squash. I used part of it to make a casserole for lunch. I also made tartar sauce to go on the trout Mike and MJ had caught the day before. Then we went up to Mama’s where I boiled potatoes and got everything ready except the fish, which Mike took care of when they got back from church. Daddy fried them outside in his fish fryer. They were delicious! But the best part is, we were sitting there stuffing our faces when Daddy suddenly said, “This fish is really good!” We all just sat there for a moment. Then – “You can taste it?!” we all asked at once. “Yeah, I can taste the fish!” He went on to eat the most food I’ve seen him eat in a long time, and he enjoyed it all. He followed that with a bowl of banana pudding. We are hoping now that his sense of taste might be coming back.

Mary Jane and I cleaned up the kitchen and then relaxed on the sofa for a while. Most everyone went to sleep. Mike was lying there with his mouth wide open, and we wished we had ping-pong balls so we could play corn-hole with it. Either that, or bounce them off his bald head. MJ and I decided to play solitaire, and Doug actually got up the nerve to play with us for the first time. (Our games are wild and crazy, and you can get hurt.)

We had told Daddy there was something that really stunk in the fridge down in the basement, and he went down to find what it was. When he came back, he said his smeller must be gone cause he couldn’t smell anything. Doug then said to him, “Paul, you’ve lost your taste buds, your smeller, your hair, your teeth, your butt and your memory!”

“I told you I was going to leave early,” he responded.

“Yeah, but you didn’t tell us you were going one piece at a time!” I added.

Later on we had raspberry shortcake for supper. Notice we do not eat especially nutritious suppers. Doug and I went home so Mike and MJ could come down and see my waterfall before they left. Just as they left, Mama and Daddy’s next company arrived – Bill and Jo Poor. Bill is an old high school buddy of Daddy’s who lives in Orlando now. They came up to spend the night. Mama and Daddy really don’t care much about having company these days unless it’s family, but they couldn’t tell them not to come when they called. Besides, they really like them a lot, and Bill is the only other person left from Daddy’s old gang. Doug and I stayed home and watched “Impact” about the moon colliding with the earth. I’ve always been a sucker for disaster movies. I have to admit I felt kind of sad after everyone had left, but I appreciate the weekend we had.

Celebrating an Anniversary

This past weekend marked the first anniversary of our move to Shooting Creek, North Carolina, and we celebrated it in style. (Actually, there just happened to be a lot going on that weekend.)

We started on Friday with a trip to the movies. Doug wanted to see Terminator, but I had had enough of blow ‘em up, shoot ‘em up movies for a while, so I opted to see just Up, the latest Disney offering. I was glad I did. The animation was adorable, and the story was poignant and sweet, offering a glimpse into the lives of elderly people who feel the world has passed them by. There were even some good laughs. Doug and I met up after the movies were over and went to Asiano, an oriental restaurant in the area. It was good, though not as good as Pekings in Athens!

The next morning we got up and went down to the Farmers’ Market on the square in Hayesville. We enjoyed tasting various jams, jellies, and sweets, as it seemed everyone was handing out samples. We bought a small loaf of pineapple – banana bread, which we ate for breakfast the next two mornings. From Hayesville, we drove to Hiawassee, where they were having the annual Fire in the Mountain chili cook-off to raise money for the fire department. We bought enough tickets to sample five different chilies. There were 28 entries in all! Zell Miller was there, signing copies of his latest book, Purt Nigh Gone, and, of course, I had to have one. He autographed our book and posed for a picture with us both.

Lest you think all we did was have fun the whole weekend, when we left the chili cook-off, we came home – well, after a stop at the Just $5 store. I then spent most of the afternoon helping Daddy cut lower branches off trees on the property and haul them off. It was hot and quite a job. Doug joined us after a while, and we both got dirty and sweaty so we had to have showers before going out for the evening. And what an evening it was! We had tickets to hear Josh Turner at the GA Mtn. Fairgrounds. Our seats were on the third row, right in the center. I got great pictures! (He is a really cute guy, by the way.) We both love his deep voice, and he put on a great show. We got home around 10:30 and went on to bed.

The next morning we went to Sunday school and church. Then we ate a late breakfast at the Huddle House with Mama and Daddy. I spent Sunday afternoon as usual, watching This Week with George Stephanopolus and reading the Sunday paper. Somewhere in there I squeezed in a nap.

Not every weekend is so eventful up here, but things do start happening in the spring. This coming weekend we’ll be attending the Roots and Music Festival at the fairgrounds. We’ve gone for the last three years, at least. There will be plenty of good bluegrass, crafts, and tons of food. Maybe even some of the family will be up – I hope so!