And then came Saturday....

The weekend celebration continued on Saturday. My out-of-town friends visited some sites around Montgomery (thanks to Melissa for being the tour guide!), including a stop at the Alabama Book Festival in Old Alabama Town. I was unable to spend the day with them, because I had to work at the bookstore all day, but I managed to have a fine little old time anyway! Saturdays at the store are very different from the regular work days -- folks tend to browse a whole lot, and the chairs around the store get filled up.



As soon as I got to the store I got a call from Karen to hurry up and get the computer booted up so I could stream our friend Andie's public radio station in Kansas.... They are holding their pledge drive and a gift had been made in my honor by the "mysterious RML group!" Poor Andie has been fighting off a nasty bout of pneumonia, and it was a treat to hear her cough up a happy birthday to me.



A little later in the day a man popped in with gorgemous flowers from "Melicious" from Florida -- too funny -- the note was written on a sympathy card (I don't think that was intentional).....

Oh, and see that little jar in front of the flowers? One of my customers came in and saw the note, and ran back out to his car and brought me in a jar of homemade orange marmalade!

Work ran longer than expected, due to one of my Little Old Men customers who needed a whole lot of help just to cogitate, but he was polite, and I was runnin' around turning lights off so he'd get the hint. He finally did, thank goodness, because I would have hated to have had to pick him up and toss him out, although it might well have been the most fun he'd have had in a long time.

When I got home there was a beautiful PANK azalea on my back porch -- again, another RML mystery (which has been solved, so thank you, Sandy from Michigan!) You'll see that in another picture....

I barely had time to take a spit bath in order to meet the buds and my kids at the Embassy Suites before the Biscuits game, so I apologize to anyone who was sittin' anywhere near me!

It was a great night at the ballpark (except that the Biscuits LOST), that came complete with Skittles and being able to introduce Pilot Eddie to my friends. (And yes, I held my breath the whole time, but he was on his best behavior...) Artist Betsy joined us, too, but had to leave early to take the last chaperone shift at a dance her daughter was attending.

Funnest moment -- son Thomas buying ME a beer! Well, and the little chorus of miniature Village People. And did I mention FIREWORKS?

Yep. I'm pretty sure they just did those because they knew it was a big weekend for me. Or not. Sometimes ya just works with whats ya gots.

We were all pretty tired after the game -- do you have any idea how hard it is to eat hot dogs and popcorn and biscuits and Skittles and drink beer? -- so we parted company until Sunday morning. I had no idea what was in store for me. All I could think of was, "Do I honestly have enough nerve to wear that hat??"