The Year Is Moving Along!

I'll start with my usual lament - where does the time go? It seems that I just turn around and another month has gone by! With the holidays, we all know how quickly the last few months of the year go. The year will be gone before we know it!!

The month began with a visit by Gov. Newsom, whom I'd met before in Bluffton. Needless to say, I was eager to see him again. There was a very good turnout for the event, including a couple from CPC, as well as a few people I'd met at the local Democratic Party meeting. With all of the negative, hateful stuff that's going on, it was nice to hear someone more positive and who speaks in complete sentences. He is also one of the few people who stand up to trump, so he has my support right off the bat! This is my kind of thing and I enjoyed it throughly. I have several other things lined up that I want to do ASAP - one is a ladies' group in Laurens that meets for coffee one Saturday a month. Another is the Spartanburg Drinking Liberally group, as well as the South Greenville Democrats. Slowly but surely, I'm finding my people!

I think I left off last time with my invitation to the Newcomers' Dinner, which was on July 17th. It really was a lovely affair, and the chef outdid himself. The room was beautifully decorated, and the tables looked lovely. Chef Mark made a Veggie Wellington for me, which was delicious! I was seated between the CEO of all six communities and our Executive Director. Jennifer, our Activity Director, gave a brief bio of each new resident, and it was interesting to learn about everyone's background. After that, we were entertained by a barbershop quartet. All in all, it was a lovely evening and I enjoyed it. The photo of Rosie is of her making me feel guilty as I was dressing for the dinner. I had an eye appointment earlier in the afternoon that lasted about 2 hours, much longer than I expected. Then, to come home and leave again was more than she could take! With a little coaxing and a few treats, Rosie forgave me the next day.

The weekend before (7/13-7/16), I had a visit from Melodee. She started with a visit to a friend in the Atlanta area and then came here. Since I have a one-bedroom place, she stayed in the guest quarters in the main building for two nights and then here for the final night - I got the dates wrong, so there was a mix-up. Monday was her birthday, so we ventured into Greenville to have lunch at Pomegranate on Main, which was very nice. Our plan was to browse around Main Street and the park area, which we did a bit; however, it was so hot that our browsing was cut short. It was my first attempt at driving in Greenville, and thanks to GPS, it was not as intimidating as I expected. I'm sure it has a lot to offer, and I hope to explore it more. As always, I enjoyed Melodee's visit, and it was great to catch up!

The next week, we had an open-air concert at Furman University. It was my first outing with a group, and it gave me an even greater respect for our Activity Director! We were driven up in our community bus, and due to the heat, we sat in the cool bus while they set up our chairs and took in all supplies. We then went to our seats and were served a box dinner. Even though it was hot, it was not as hot as it had been, and about 7:30, it seemed to cool even more. So, we got a break with that. It was a nice outing, and I enjoyed being able to look around more than I can when I'm driving. The music was nice, and there happened to be a national brass instrument meeting of some kind taking place at Furman that week, and we got a special performance by the professional brass instrument players from around the country, which included an Arab lady. I was impressed by that! It was a late evening for me, but I enjoyed it. 

On July 23rd, I was invited to join a luncheon for prospective tenants. There were about eight or so tables of six, with one resident at each table. The luncheon was nice (and Mark made a veggie entree for me), with the usual sales pitch. The guests seemed to like having a resident to ask questions. Unfortunately, it went longer than I expected, and I had to leave early. I apologized to all of the appropriate people, but Rosie had a vet appointment, and I had to go. It was the second time I'd been invited to share a meal with visiting guests, which I thought kind of odd since I'm new myself. 

I've finally been able to meet with the Food Committee in my campaign to get a vegetarian entree offered at lunchtime. Most people seem open to it, though I did hear on lady disparaging it. More recently, I asked the visiting person from corporate, who is on campus weekly, if I might have the address of the corporate dietitian, and what I wanted to propose. The dietitian is on maternity leave and will be back in September, at which time she will set up a meeting/call/etc. But even better, she said they were already thinking of running a pilot program to see how vegetarian dishes might go over! I was very pleased with that news. I'm going to get some ideas on paper so I'll have something to offer when we meet. Keep your fingers crossed.

More recently, we had a wonderful display of seashells. I really wasn't expecting much, but I was very impressed with the number and condition of the shells. There were 7 long tables of shells, all cleaned, nicely displayed, and labeled. The two ladies who put it together told us how it all came about, where they found certain shells, etc. It really was well done and made me wonder why I'd never attempted such a collection, living at the coast as long as I have! Oh, well! It was nice to enjoy theirs.

This past Thursday, we had a "Fine Dining" experience when Chef Mark showed his stuff.  The menu was Oysters Rockefeller, Caesar Salad in a Cheese Bowl, Filet Mignon, King Crab Legs, and Creme Brulee. Needless to say, that wasn't for me. My appetizer was a delicious tomato cheese pot pie, which was delicious. I could have made a meal off that! I normally don't eat much of the crust, but his was so tender and flaky, I ate it all! My main course was a pasta dish with veggies and a nice sauce, like alfredo, but not as heavy. Very tasty! We are so lucky to have Mark, and it's nice that he gets to show his real skills occasionally. He's also open to my vegetarian campaign, for which I'm very thankful.

Last, but certainly not least, Rosie had an episode with her back last weekend. I got her to the vet first thing Monday morning, and she was prescribed prednisone and a muscle relaxer. It takes a while to get the meds in her and for them to take effect, but she is now feeling much better. This just seems to happen periodically, and it breaks my heart to see her in pain. I wish there were some indication when it is going to happen so I could get ahead of it, but there isn't anything I've noticed thus far. I'm just thankful she's feeling better and can get back to her (unofficial) therapy dog duties!

I hope this finds you all doing well and enjoying the summer.