Monday, Oct. 24

Up at 6:30 to get ready to go to water aerobics. A light fog lent a dreamy quality to the autumn trees on the drive to the college.

I was a bit aggravated when I arrived at the dressing room to find that I hadn't packed my shorts into my swim bag. The suit I'm currently using is pretty thin and exposes too much of my backside. The ladies assured me they didn't care. And I wouldn't have cared either if there weren't a couple of men at the pool...one a water aerobics member, and the other the lifeguard.

So I had two choices...return home, or call Hubbie to bring my shorts. I chose the latter, and he arrived (amused) with them in a few minutes.

The water in the pool was gloriously warm, and twenty-five of us reveled in it. The talk today was about the restaurant that recently closed. The closing has left many lunch-meeting groups in the lurch. Some had paid the restaurant upfront for their meals, which, it seems, is not going to be refunded.

This is one of the only restaurants with a meeting room for large gatherings. The others serve alcohol, which is frowned upon by several groups. The whole thing has created a scandal, apparently, since the husband/wife owners, members of a fundamentalist church, lost their restaurant franchise because of unsanitary kitchen conditions, failure to pay the restaurant electric bill, and (rumor has it) the husband's dalliance with the kitchen help.

Back home after aerobics, I reviewed the lesson plan for today's meeting with my ESL student, while I enjoyed a couple of cups of hot coffee. Meanwhile, Hubbie went to a grocery store to get a gallon of milk, because when I talked to Mother earlier, she thought her stomach might be able to tolerate a bowl of oatmeal.

Hubbie prepared the oatmeal for Mother, while I got ready for the day. As soon as I was dressed, I visited Mother. Her stomach was queasy all morning, she said, but it felt better after she ate. She doesn't have much of an appetite, so it's difficult for me to come up with ideas for meals for her.

After lunch, I went to the greeting card shop to spend a $2 coupon on birthday cards for great-grandkids. I anticipated getting 99-cent ones, but I only found one at that price. It appears the company is raising the price of the economy cards to $1.99.

From the card shop, I went to a bank to try and pick up a free ticket for Sis for an upcoming performance of "A Christmas Carol," but the girl at the reception desk was new to her job, and couldn't find the tickets. She called a co-worker, who said the tickets had arrived, but only one other employee knew anything about distributing them, and she wasn't on the job today.

So I stopped by the college that is sponsoring the play. The receptionist said she didn't have the tickets, and I should go down the hall to the last glass door on the right, and the lady in that office could help me. But unfortunately, the glass door was locked.

So I gave up trying to get a ticket. I'll try again some other day this week. Back home, I gathered my ESL materials and headed to the college.

Today, the student learned to answer questions beginning with "What time...," as in "What time does the class start?" "What time does the bank open?" etc. Then she learned responses using the verb "find out": "What time does the bank open?" "I don't know. I'll find out for you."

Then we reviewed the frequency adverbs of always, usually, often, sometimes, hardly ever, and never. "I always drink coffee for breakfast." "I sometimes drink soda in the afternoon." "I never drink beer in the morning."

Then we dealt with the position of frequency adverbs: "I am always cold." "He is usually cold." "She never opens the window at night."

We ended with the use of ever and never: "Do you ever drink beer?" "No, I never drink beer," etc.

Around 4 p.m., I asked the student to follow me downtown to the county library, where she obtained a library card. The library has recently acquired a sizable collection of books, CDs, and DVDs in Spanish. When I left, the student was excitedly browsing the collection. The librarian laughed and commented, "That should keep her happy for a while."

Back home, Hubbie came in from the yard to shower and change so that we could go back to the college to attend a free dinner sponsored by our insurance agency. We've never seen so many people at this annual event. We arrived very early, and were among the first in line at the self-serve table, but folks were still lined up all the way out the door when we'd finished our meals. I'd be interested to learn how many attended tonight, but it must have been 500 or more. Guess nobody wanted to cook tonight. Or the economy is so poor that everyone is looking for a free meal.

There was to be door prize drawings after the business meeting, but we decided to give our seats to some friends and come on home. We left our door prize ticket stubs with our friends. Hope they won something.

The meal served was the same as every year...fried catfish and chicken strips, with French fries, hush puppies, and coleslaw. I painstakingly peeled the coating off my fish and chicken before I ate it, contented myself with four French fries and a couple of hush puppies, and some coleslaw. I had a giant pile of coating left on my plate, proving that fried catfish is mainly deep fried batter.

I offered to go to a fish house and buy a meal for Mother, but she didn't think she was up to it tonight. Anytime Mother turns down her favorite meal, it's a sure bet her stomach isn't right.

Back home, we did the usual...watched TV.