My check-up with Dr. Lagarde took longer than I hoped. He wants me to be 15 lbs lighter by Dec. 1, so looks like I'll be walking the dogs early every morning a lot farther than I usually take them. They will love that. The late night snacking will have to go, too. The only thing that happened that made me feel better was when the receptionist said she could not believe I would be 60 on my next birthday. "I would have guessed you were in your 40's," she said.

We're having a thunderstorm, so Jay-Jay is hiding under my desk panting loudly. They should make Xanex for dogs.

The choir concert is tonight. Mike said he would go with me. It's going to make me sad not to be singing, but I've been on a month long hiatus, so I'll have to sit this one out.

George Kelly has been posting old pictures and stories of Plantersville on his blog. He's aroused some interest and received some responses. One reminded me of the picture of Cecil with John Wayne, which I had to immediately go and dig for until it was found. In my digging, I was frustrated again with my haphazard way of organizing and storing things. And I rushed past so many ghosts from the past that I got very nostalgic. I wanted to spend the day back in 1955, wander barefoot down the road, buy peanuts and a bottle Coke at Partlow's store, pick up the mail from Box 138, drop it off by Daddy's study at the church, help him fold the bulletins, then go for a ride with him out Richmond Road to see one of the church members. I also found some baby pictures of Richard (and Robert) and discovered that Pip doesn't look as much like him as I thought. The baby pictures he looks the most like are still my mother's, but not as much as he did 6 months ago.

I also came across some genealogy notes on Marguerite's family. Was there anybody in Plantersville who wasn't related to everybody else either by blood or by marriage?

Maybe it's the rain that is making me feel so sad.