Monday, Dec. 12

Up at 6:30 to get ready to go to water aerobics. There was a nip in the air this morning, but since there was no wind, the walk to the gym was pleasant. On the drive to the college, I noticed that the hillside, which is shaded, is still dotted with snow leftover from last Wednesday.

The pool was fine, though not as warm as earlier. Still, it was nice enough, and I really enjoyed the session. Only ten of us attended.

Funny: the lady who stands near me crochets some very nice things. A year or so ago, she crocheted off-white shawls for herself and her daughter. She said she received lots of compliments about the shawls, which have a pleasing sheen to them.

She'd made them from a large spool of string given to her by her brother, who owns a discount warehouse store. Later, she learned the string was from a factory that makes Tampons.

Back home, after I got ready for the day, I presented Mother with her first-day-of-Christmas gift...a musical Christmas card with scratch-off tickets enclosed. She enjoyed both and made a few bucks from the tickets.

Then I started a pan of spaghetti sauce simmering, and cooked spaghetti. This was for supper, but I knew I wouldn't have time to cook after I got home from my tutoring session this afternoon. To keep the spaghetti from becoming a stuck-together blob, I rinsed it in cold water and tossed it with olive oil.

After I cooked the sauce and spaghetti, I reviewed my lesson plan for today. While I did this, Mother went to the kitchen and cut up candied cherries for two batches of fruited popcorn. Hubbie broke up pecans and popped the popcorn. These were set aside until I could make the caramel sauce for them following supper.

At 2:30, I met with my Literacy Council student. As soon as she arrived, she apologized for her "presentation." She was referring to her appearance. She'd had a busy day, and hadn't had time to change from her at-home work clothes to something she thought appropriate for our session. I assured her she looked just fine.

In conversation before the lesson, she said she was excited by the snow last week. It's her first time to experience it.

She also talked about her elderly father-in-law (a man Hubbie and I know), who overdid it Friday when he worked with his son. Then on Saturday, he forgot to take his diabetes meds. He began having symptoms that he feared were signs of a stroke, so he was rushed to the hospital. But once his meds were adjusted, he was fine.

He's supposed to watch his sugar and salt intake, and the student does her best to cook tasty foods using spices, but the father-in-law is determined to have the foods he's accustomed to and loves.

Today's lesson included using the present perfect tense, with "just:" "I have just opened the door." "He has just closed the door."

Then she learned "a ride," and "a lift," are the same idea: "Jack gives Jimmy a lift to the shop." "Jimmy says, "Thanks for the ride, Jack."

She also learned the terms "heavy" and "light" as they relate to traffic. "There's a lot of traffic. Traffic is heavy." "There's a little traffic. Traffic is light."

Then she learned about asking for directions: "Where's the bank?" "There's a traffic cop. Let's ask him where the bank is."

Learning about traffic prompted her to tell me about living in Costa Rica, where traffic is apparently horrendous, the roads are bad, and there is a lack of road names and road signs.

She related that when she and her husband first arrived, she asked someone how to get somewhere. She was told to go to a certain magnolia tree (which had since been cut down), then look for the green house (which had since been painted yellow). She got royally lost, but when she asked a taxi driver, he obliged her by leading her to her destination.

We finished the session with a reading lesson, followed by questions about the story. She's been having trouble understanding the differences among the words "who, what, where, when, and how." So I spent some time explaining these to her. Once the light dawned, she had no trouble answering questions about the story.

Back home, I heated the spaghetti and sauce, which I served with green beans, cottage cheese, and bread and butter for supper. Afterward, I made caramel sauce, one recipe at a time, for the two batches of fruited popcorn. The popcorn and sauce has to be baked, but Hubbie was able to handle that task.

Spent the rest of the evening watching TV. Mother went to bed at 8:30, and Hubbie and I continued watching TV until our bedtime.