The Day Before A Trip

Tomorrow Nicole, Addie and I leave for Louisiana. It’s a quick trip but we’ll have fun and get to spend some time with my uncle, who is now 91. Every minute we get to spend with him is a blessing for us. He enjoys Addie so much and she’s really close to him. His step-daughter lives near him and she takes very good care of him but he still drives and cuts his own grass, maintains beautiful flower beds and cares for his two spoiled dogs. He lives on a bayou and his house is way off the ground so every time he goes in or out, he has to go down a big set of stairs. He’s really fit and mentally good for his age. I can only hope I’ll do half as good as he does when I’m his age.

Anyway, no matter how much planning and packing and getting ready I do ahead of time, there’s so much to do right before I leave. This morning I washed the last of the clothes that are dirty as of now. I usually wash the sheets on the bed twice a week and it’s going to be at least a week before they get washed again so I washed them this morning.

Yesterday when we were out with Oscar, Vince said “I really want a biscuit and gravy!” I told him if he would wait til today, I’d make that for him so I did.

There’s enough left that he can reheat that a couple of days while I’m gone. One little biscuit wouldn’t fit in the pan so I stuck it in a small skillet and baked it like that (sitting behind the gravy).

I don’t usually eat biscuits and gravy so I made a piece of sausage but when I tasted the sausage and gravy for seasonings, it was pretty good so I ended up eating my piece of sausage AND the biscuits with gravy.

I will get to see two my good friends while I’m there. I’ve known Eileen since about 1975 and Linda was her neighbor at the time so I met Linda and we’ve all stayed friends through the years. It’s always fun to get to visit with Linda and Eileen. It’s funny because Eileen does not cook at all. She keeps the house spotless so it isn’t like she doesn’t do anything. Her husband is an excellent cook. It was always funny because when Eileen worked, they would bring covered dishes sometimes and people would ask what she was going to bring and she woulds say “I don’t know. I have to ask Roger what he’s going to fix.” I’m bringing a gift for Eileen (that you’ll all see after she sees it) and I’m bringing garlic from my garden for Roger.

I want to take something to cross stitch on while there. My uncle goes to bed early so I can get a couple of hours of stitching in every night. I’m also taking the black sweater I’m knitting on. This morning I made sure there was enough yarn wound into balls and there was. I’ll knit on that in the car too – 11 hours there and 11 hours back . . should get a lot done.

I downloaded some books on the Kindle last night, as well as a few magazines.

The biggest job is working in the garden and trying to get all the work done that will hopefully keep me from coming back to a huge mess. I had hoped for rain today so I could justify staying inside and finishing the bird piece but . . no rain yet. My plan for dinner is to cook burgers on the griddle outside so, at this point, I’m hoping it doesn’t rain til I get dinner cooked.

You’d think I was leaving for months . . nope, just a week.