Monday, Sept. 10

Up at 6:30 to get ready to go to the pool. Pleasant morning, but cool enough to wear my fleece outfit. Twenty-seven of us showed up today. The pool was wonderfully warm, and I thoroughly enjoyed my swim and aerobics.

Back home, I didn't accomplish much befoe lunch beyond getting ready for the day. Hubbie accompanied Mother to our house mid-morning, and after lunch, she napped as usual, while I reviewed the lesson plan for my student.

I met the student at the usual 2:30 hour. She brought several slices of a moist cake for me that her husband had made.

Our lesson included conversation skills concerning a house fire and how to contact emergency personnel.

The student also learned terms for sleepwear: pajamas, nightgown, robe, and slippers, as well as terms about bedding: mattress, sheets, blanket, pillow. For this part of the lesson, I learned that the Spanish word for pajamas is close to the English word: piyamas.

She continued learning past participles of irregular verbs: shake, shook, shaken; write, wrote, written. For the verb wake, a choice of past participles is given: waked or woken. I prefer woken, as in "Have you ever woken up before the sun?"

In structure focus, the student learned "hope" plus "that clauses:" "I hope that they can save Rose and Joe's house." "I hope that it won't rain today." She also learned to use "so" as a substitute: "Do you think that it will be sunny today?" with a choice of "I think so." or "I hope so."

We finished with a paragraph for listening comprehension.

In discussion, we talked about the 9/11 terrorist attack on the Twin Towers (because tomorrow is the eleventh anniverary of the event). She said that citizens of Venezuela were shocked and saddened about the attack, and folks were calling each other to alert them to turn on TVs to watch the news.

I also learned that the student owns a clothing store in Venezuela, which her daughter manages. Today she wanted to know what stores might have clothing sales, where she could purchase summer items that would be attractive to Venezuelan women. I suggested several stores that might have clearance sales right now.

At home, Hubbie had heated the remainder of the Salmon chowder, and I put a pan of canned biscuits in the oven to have with honey as an accompainment to the meal.

While working on my laptop last night, the battery quit charging, and the computer shut down. I tried everything I knew to get it back, but nothing worked. It was apparent that the charger would need to be taken to our favorite computer shop to see if it was the problem.

Hubbie took the charger and laptop to the shop today, and was told that it is the problem, and a new one would need to be ordered. He was told that the charger should be in by Friday if not before.