Monday, August 1

Today is Great-Grandson's birthday. Happy Birthday, Great-Grandson.

Another month gone. It was a busy one, with the fair, a trip, and life in general. About the only things we missed in July were a Caring Hands luncheon, and a wine and cheese event at the home of the Literacy Council director, both of which happened last week, while we were on our trip. It doesn't look like August will be quite as busy as July, but there are still plenty of things going on.

We were up at 6:30 this morning so I could get ready to go to water aerobics. I arrived at the pool around 7:30, so I had plenty of time for swimming in the deep end before aerobics started.

At home afterward, Hubbie put hair color in my hair in anticipation of a haircut tomorrow. In my usual goofy manner, I made the appointment for this week, instead of last week, before the wedding. Oh well, everyone was supposed to be paying so much attention to the beautiful bride that they shouldn't have noticed my shaggy head, anyway.

Once I was ready for the day, I called Mother's doctor to check on her urine test from last week. The nurse returned my call, and said Mother has no infection, but does have microscopic blood. She suggested Mother might need to see a urologist. I noted to her that Mother had seen a urologist the last time her urine showed blood, and nothing was found amiss. So the nurse said the doctor would consult with the urologist to see if he thought Mother needed to be re-tested. She called back later to say he did not see a need for further testing...that Mother just needs to drink more water. Good luck with that. She drinks lots of coffee, but hardly any water.

I'd left my cell phone number with the nurse before we left on our trip so she could call, if necessary, while we were at camp, and we could pick up a prescription there, if needed. She did call, but my cell phone didn't ring. It was out of range of a tower, I guess. But oddly, it did record a message, which I didn't find until bedtime Friday night. You'd think we were in some remote outback, not just four hours from home. I tried to call the clinic on Saturday morning, but it was closed.

I spent the rest of the morning looking over a lesson plan for my Literacy Council student. After lunch, I didn't accomplish much before my 2:30 meeting with the student.

Today, I took a carton of the Reliance grapes to the student, since she has brought me peaches, figs, and banana peppers.

We worked on a lesson that included practicing making an emergency call for an ambulance, addressing an envelope, using affirmative past tense statements with irregular verbs: go/went, do/did, drink/drank, buy/bought, teach/taught. She caught on to these pretty quickly, but stumbled on how to say bought and taught, which she pronounced as bout and tout. She wanted to use drink/drunk, instead of drink/drank, but laughed when she looked up the word drunk, and found the meaning to be "inebriated."

We also dealt with a story about a cat killing a rat, as a way to see if she understood the difference between "dead" and "alive." She did. I had to correct her pronunciation of alive from a short "i" to a long "i," though.

Today, we were able to carry on a conversation about her homeland. She is very proud of Simon Bolivar, who, in the 1800s, succeeded in leading Bolivia, Columbia, Peru, Ecuador, Panama, and Venezuela to independence from the Spanish Empire.

As for speaking English, I asked if she is using more of the language in her home, among her American family, and she assured me she is.

Back home, we had a supper of hamburgers smothered in onions and bell peppers, with baked potatoes, coleslaw, and sliced tomatoes. I accompanied Mother home afterward, and then Hubbie and I settled in to watch TV.