Beezzy beezzy week

It's been a bit wild, here, of late. Aside from the excitement of finally getting to harvest several quarts per session of pie cherries from one little tree in my back yard every other dawn, I've also had honest-to-goodness things to do outside the house. For example, a week ago last Friday, because I'm an available and somewhat insane member of our local Friends of the Library (FotL), I volunteered as an adult supervisor for the first six hours of a lock-in for tweens at our county's public library. I'm not accustomed, these days, to being out of bed after 10 p.m. (not that I'm asleep at that hour -- the cats expect a few hours of attention, affection and grooming, first). But on Fridays and Saturdays, I usually have to wake up extra-early for things like, um, you know, um auctions, so I actually try to rest in advance of them. It doesn't always work, but then, there's that thing about a man's reach and his grasp (oh, don't be so sexist!)...

So, as I was saying. Lock-in. Young'uns. Reading them a ghost story and getting them started down the path to mental problems. Bwahahahaha! Then going home, just after midnight, leaving them in the capable hands of the head librarian and two other members of the FotL.

Then the auctions.

This past week we also had company come, so there was a mess o' preparation to be done. Add to that, the FotL had planned a Book and Bake Sale to run in conjunction with Monmouth's Pottery Swap Meet on the Public Square. I spent all week making fudge of all sorts (my personal fave is the peppermint, but the best-selling was the one with dried cherries – not from my trees–, cranberries, and blueberries in it) and a gigantic batch of banana muffins. Mom and I also ran up to the library repeatedly to drop off books, a cooler, bottled water, sody-pop, and a number of other supplies for the event, and then I spent Thursday's meeting time for FotL making signs, followed by more signs Friday afternoon. Saturday morning, bright and early (after picking a gallon of cherries again and delivering them to Mom's refrigerator), I went to help set up the whole shebang, and I sat and sold sweets and drinks until 2 p.m.

Somewhere around 1 in the afternoon, the Buchanan Center for the Arts began its formal reception for the entrants in the Amateur Art show, and announced prizewinners. About a half hour later, Mom came out and handed me an envelope. I won $10 for horrible mention, for one of my recent watercolor sketches! And I didn't have to give an acceptance speech (although I did have to give credit where it was due -- my painting instructor from Monmouth College came out to see me, and I admitted as I do now, without his course of instruction, I'd have never learned to use watercolors with any boldness. I was a wishy-washy kid, believe it or not).

So, anyway, I got a prize, sold some yummies, then went to a crowded house at my parents' place, here. I ate, I chatted, I went home and watched Rose Tyler's death on Doctor Who (the new-ish series airs from 11:05 until just before midnight, Saturdays, followed by earlier ones, this time once again introducing *ecchh* Peri).

The next morning, auction. It was a big one -- a friend who had passed away two years ago had collected some pretty spiffy old and antique firearms. The auction house had 63 of them for sale, yesterday, and the proceeds will more than make the down payment on the widow's rebuilding the family home. I was not surprised to see how large the crowd was, in the morning, but it did take me aback how many stayed on after the guns were sold, to bid on other tchotchkes and gewgaws. I bought some of our old friend's postcards of trains. I wished I'd had the money for more -- such as his photos of locomotives, rail cars, crossings and crossbucks, and so on, but we all have our limits, I guess. At least we have some things to remember him by.

After auction. Dinner at Elke's, with the crowd (extended family). It was lovely. After supper, it rained, and, since there was no lightning, thunder, or high wind, Elke's two kids and I went out to play in the downpour. No umbrellas. No problem, it was still only 80ºF outside, and we don't do air conditioning. Still, all that playing exhausted me. I was home and asleep before 10 p.m.

Best of all, this morning, there were still enough cherries on the tree I gathered another half gallon. And I didn't get bitten by a zillion skeeters and gnats, because I decided to off myself, first. heh.

Still, the activities are not yet over. Guests from foreign land are still in town, so Mom & I will be doing more cooking and cleaning. My phone -- the cheapest one available from the cellular service our family uses -- decided to quit, so we have to go replace it. Lucky for me, I have a very good friend whose husband gave me his exceedingly nice cast-off, so I upgrade while replacing, free of charge. Not so lucky, we have to take it to the experts to transfer the accounts. But nothing terribly frenetic is coming, to my knowledge, this week.

Lemme catch my breath. It's good to just sit in front of a computer and vegetate, for a while.