GRAVETTE — We've had a busy week topped with a productive weekend. The cooler days have continued with heavy dew on the ground each morning. Area teams begin their football schedule this weekend and we look forward to attending several games. Labor Day weekend is coming up, traditionally the last big vacation date of the summer, and several are planning campouts, family gatherings and tailgate parties.

My coworkers had a birthday party for me at the office Monday complete with a delicious cake, ice cream, gifts and cards. My car was in the shop having the rear hub and bearings replaced so our ad manager took me home at lunchtime and we stopped to pick up some lemon cucumbers a reader had offered me. On my way home that evening I went by to collect a carton of buttermilk a friend was giving us. I fried our last two large zucchini for supper that evening.

I received another birthday gift on Tuesday, a lovely candle/air freshener spray combo with a citrusy scent. I went to buy a few groceries that afternoon and returned home to make a carrot-pineapple salad. Jim came in from work just in time to watch "Jeopardy" with me that afternoon and I prepared spaghetti and garlic bread for our supper.

I picked up a neighbor on Persimmon Street Wednesday morning and we joined friends at the Senior Center for our monthly J.G.T. Club meeting. Jim was waiting for me when I returned and we made a trip to Siloam where we purchased some water clarifier and a few more goldfish for our fishpond. When we got home I went up to buy a new battery for my watch and came back to fry chicken, make mashed potatoes and gravy and slice tomatoes and cucumbers for our evening meal.

I visited aunts Leda and Leta on Thursday and when Jim came home that afternoon we went to pick up some metal for an upcoming job. I read my magazine on the patio and listened to the splashing of the fountain in the fish pond while Jim stained a pair of posts and several pieces of trim to be put up in a home in Maysville. We attended a meeting together after supper that evening.

I worked a few hours at the office Friday morning and came home to find the mail carrier had brought a late birthday card and letter from my friend in Tulsa. I went to a neighbor's that afternoon to make some calls for library commission bids. Jim came in soon after I got home and sent me out to order pizza for supper. We attended meetings in Southwest City that evening and returned to watch the end of the Patriots-Redskins game.

We made a trip to Oklahoma after breakfast Saturday morning to check on a couple of barns and a storage building that needed repair. The homeowners gave us a bag of tomatoes and fresh-picked okra to bring home. I baked a pan of blond brownies with chocolate chips when we returned and called to check on brother Richard who was coming for a visit. Richard arrived just as I pulled the brownies from the oven and Aunt Merle, cousin Henry and his girlfriend Cindy drove up just as I was leaving for my afternoon quilt class.

We enjoyed refreshments, instructions on a new quilt block and "show and tell", then I returned home to mow the front yard and help Richard burn several wheelbarrow loads of debris from the old building. I broiled pork steaks, boiled potatoes and sliced tomatoes for supper. Richard watched the last of the Cowboys-49ers game and spent the night with us.

Richard took his trailer and pulled out early Sunday morning and Jim and I joined friends for breakfast in Southwest City.We enjoyed scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon, hashbrowns, toast, tomatoes, cantaloupe, coffee and orange juice. Jim used the weedeater in early afternoon and we did three loads of laundry before I clipped the coupons from the Sunday paper. I fried chicken, prepared mashed potatoes and gravy, warmed a can of green peas and sliced cucumbers for supper, then we watched the Broncos battle the Bears that evening.

News, Pages 4 on 09/02/2009