Stuff and Things, Eggs-cetra

My house smells of chocolate. I just took a big pan of homemade brownies out of the oven. They are cooling on the counter and the oven door is open to add some heat to the house. After our heat wave, the sky is gray and the air is cool, not quite up to 58 degrees at almost noon. Frankly, I'm loving it! The brownies are for a family reunion picnic we will be traveling to tomorrow. The picnic is on Saturday in the Willamette Valley in Oregon, where I grew up. We will be staying with my mom and taking her to the picnic, where she will visit with cousins she sees maybe once a year. I will have a chance to see Mom's sister and brother, my Aunt and Uncle, who I seldom see any more. There might be a first cousin of two of mine there too, and several once or twice removed. Before I made the brownies I called the local Safeway to see if my eggs were safe. I had the carton but I couldn't read the code. Whoever I spoke to assured me that our local store was not on the list. I knew I had to check, because later today I am going to boil up a bunch of these eggs, which will be made into a potato salad tomorrow, before we leave. I had to be able to assure anyone who asked me that the eggs were safe, and besides, the last thing I would want to do is give a bunch of old folks salmonella poisoning! Because we will be gone for a couple of days, we're taking care of a few domestic chores. Tom is out mowing the lawn, earlier than planned because it sort of looks like it might rain. I'm doing some laundry. Well, the washer and dryer are doing the laundry. We do have it so easy these days. And then I even resent having to fold the clean clothes! We've been enjoying a slow pace around here. Yesterday Tom wondered if he should worry that he was spending three days doing what he usually does in one. I assured him that, no, it was just fine. We've both been doing a lot of reading, when we can keep our eyes open. He gives in and takes an afternoon nap. I fight it because I would really like to sleep at NIGHT please. It's better now that the nights are cool again. This evening we will watch on TV as the Sounders play a soccer match in Honduras, as part of the first round of an international tournament for club teams, sort of like the World Cup for national teams. Next week they'll play in Seattle and we'll go see it live. Then tomorrow morning we'll go to our usual Friday morning breakfast club before packing up and heading south down I-5. I'll be sure to take my mother a bouquet of sweet peas from the garden. She loves them so, and I score so many "good daughter" points. See you later.