Weekend

It's the WEEKEND...hooray. Today we had a surprise visit from niece Ashley. She is the oldest daughter of John's younger brother, Rob. Ashley and her fiance' (Brad), his brother and parents were returning from the Outer Banks where they had been to attend a famly wedding. Returning to St. Louis, this was a convenient lunch stop. They had their sights set for Louisville as a stopover, so we go them for about two hours. It was a very pleasant surprise. Ashley's future in-laws, Jeff and Karen, are delightful, kind and caring. Andrew, Brad's younger brother is a pleasant 17 year old who plays a mean flute. He played Amazing Grace as part of a duet at my mother-in-law's memorial service. When she was alive he used to take her to orchestra concerts with him. How nice is that? We had a wonderful visit and sent them off, packed to the gills. They even found room for Ashley and Brad's wedding gift.

After they took off John and I canoed a stretch of one of the local rivers, the Rivanna. We put in at the bridge at Reas Ford Road and paddled down to the Reservoir. It was interesting to see parts of the county that we had never seen before. We saw 4 deer in different locations. Also saw about 100 Canadian Geese as we paddled along. Saw some kingfishers, and a couple of blue herons. John brought along a rod and tossed it out a couple of times. Didn't catch anything, though. It took about 2 hours all in all. It was fun to see someplace different, but I don't think I'd be hankering to do that stretch again. The water was a little too flat. The stretch of the James that we did last month was nicer.

Champ was acting sick this morning. His disease is really getting to him. Don't know if I posted this, but he's been diagnosed with lymphoma. Christine got him some Prednisone and that really seems to perk him up quite a bit. He missed his doses yesterday and that resulted in a really low energy level this morning. I managed to get some pills in him and he's better tonight. He still has trouble breathing and gets hot and pants a lot, but at least he has enough energy to eat and to walk around a little bit. I know our guy isn't long for this world, but I don't want him to suffer. Thankfully, he doesn't seem to be in pain. He did look pretty pitiful lying out in the driveway in the rain.

So, one more day to the weekend. Yay. I plan to finish cleaning the house and doing the laundry. I have some veggies to pull out of the garden and Ill be making some tomatoe sauce. I have some homework for my computer class and then it's early to bed to be fresh for Monday morning. I love relaxing weekends. Plus, I get to sleep in.

Hope your weekend is just as dull and relaxing.