Thursday, July 5

Up around 7:30, and after breakfast, did stair stepping, resistance bands, and weights exercises. Hubbie ran errands while I got ready for the day. Around 10 a.m., I accompanied Mother to our house.

We watched both the Boston Pops and Macy's fireworks shows, which I'd recorded on DVR. It was noon by the time they were over.

We each had a different lunch...Mother had Ramen Noodle soup, with pimento cheese on crackers; Hubbie had a pimento cheese sandwich; and I had a cold roast pork sandwich. Afterward, I urged Mother to take a nap, while I went to the art gallery to introduce my ESL student to the arts council director.

The art gallery has a Friday Painters gathering each week, and I thought my student would like to join the group. The sessions are free, and they give artists an opportunity to get away from home and other obligations for a few hours to indulge their creativity.

I think it will be good for my student to take advantage of it, because it will give her another opportunity to interact with English-speaking people, as well as giving her time away from home, and a place to paint.

After our meeting with the director, the student asked if I had time to follow her to a yogurt shop, where she was to meet her husband, and her mother and father-in-law. I agreed.

Hubbie and I have often passed by this shop, and commented that we needed to try the yogurt there, but just never got around to it. Today, I opted for chocolate yogurt, but vowed to try others later.

I was saddened to see how much her mother-in-law (whom Hubbie and I have known for many years) has declined since I saw her last. I knew she had been suffering from Alzheimer's Disease, but it was so much more evident today. Her son had to feed her and wipe her face. If he did not wipe her face fast enough, she lifted the hem of her dress to do it.

As soon as the mother-in-law had finished her treat, her husband and son escorted her to their car, so they could take her home. My student and I stayed behind. The student had brought along a shoe box of photos. Many were of herself and her family, when she was a young woman, and some were of homes her construction company had built, and that she'd lived in, before she sold them.

One home was in the beautiful mountains of Venezuela, where she had a cattle farm. She'd constructed (or had someone to construct) concrete furniture in this house...even the sofa and chairs were concrete, with plush cushions on top. For me, concrete cannot be cushioned enough. I teased her, asking if her bed was also concrete. She laughed and said no. She added that this house was very easy to take care of, since all she had to do to clean it was remove the cushions and hose the area down. Not my idea of a comfortable living space, though.

I asked her if Venezuela was as hot as it is here. She said that on her recent visit, the temperature in town was 120 degrees. Needless to say, everyone stayed indoors under air conditioning.

Around 4 p.m., I returned home, and prepared a supper of leftovers from last night...burgers and hot dogs. Afterward, I accompanied Mother to her house and helped her take a shower, then threw a load of laundry in the washer.

Back home, Hubbie and I watched the 2011 movie, "Rise of the Planet of the Apes." A super intelligent chimpanzee is raised for eight years in a man's home, and then, after it attacks a neighbor, is taken to an abusive santuary. The angry chimp leads an ape revolution against their captors in order to gain freedom. Pretty good movie.