Ma had insisted on being there for the two days the clean-out guys were working. She shouldn’t have done it; it was very traumatic for her. Thank God she and my sister left today for the drive to Florida! I plan to go by the house one more time when we got back from our weekend, to make sure the guys cleaned up after themselves and run a vacuum over the rugs.

I woke up with a bit of a scratchy throat, on the right side only, and the pain behind my ear had spread to affect the area near the ear opening. It still seems like nothing to worry about. Big deal, a pimple and a cold, right? So early this afternoon we left for a long-anticipated weekend of Square Dancing to Silver Sounds and Round Dancing to Henry Barry at East Hill Farm, near Mount Monadnock in New Hampshire.

On arriving, we settled in, toured the barns and corrals, and greeted friends. Tonight we ate too much good food, then danced our feet into bloody stumps (just hyperbole, folks), and had a wonderful time. My ear and scratchy throat were no worse, so we even stayed for the late-night party after the dance.