Monday, Oct. 1

First day of a new month. Hope it goes well.

Up at 6:30 to get ready to go to water aerobics. Cooler weather this morning, calling for fleece wear and a hoodie. The dressing room at the gym sure was messy today, with sticky spots here and there, and litter all over the place. Guess there was an event over the weekend involving kids.

The pool, though, was wonderfully warm. Twenty-five of us showed up. I learned today that the home of one member's family (a cousin's home) suffered fire damage during last Thursday's thunderstorm, when a lightning bolt tore through the roof and ceiling, straight down to the living room floor. Thankfully, fire fighters were able to save the home.

Back home, I warmed up with a couple of cups of coffee, before getting ready for the day. Hubbie accompanied Mother to our house before I went upstairs. The plumber arrived around that time, and Hubbie went with him to Mother's house to show him the problem. Once again, tree roots had to be reamed out of the pipes. The plumber advised flushing root killer down the toilet periodically to help prevent the problem.

While Hubbie and I were busy, I started a one-hour show from the DVR for Mother to watch. There are certain shows that she likes, but she forgets to watch them at home, so I keep them on my DVR for her to watch during the day.

It was close to noon by the time I came back downstairs, and Hubbie had heated chicken noodle soup for our lunch. After lunch, Mother headed to the couch for a nap, Hubbie ran errands, and I reviewed today's ESL lesson.

I met the student at 2:30, as usual. Today's conversation involved politics. A presidential election is scheduled for October 7 in Venezuela, and the student fully expects Hugo Chavez to be voted out, after nearly fourteen years in office. Online news, though, shows that voters are divided about equally between Chavez, and his opponent, Enrique Capriles.

The lesson today involved laws of the road, weather and temperatures, and irregular verb forms. The verb forms were: blow, blew, have blown; know, knew, have known; and throw, threw, have thrown. She was familiar with the present and past forms, but became a bit stumped with "have blown," "have known," and "have thrown." We'll need to spend a little more time on this.

She had no problem with the use of "had better," though: "I had better take some medicine. I feel sick." "You had better wear a heavy coat. It's cold." "They had better not drive fast. It's against the law."

She also had no problem with "so/plus adjective/plus that: "This box is so heavy that I can't carry it." "I'm so angry that I could yell."

We finished the lesson with listening comprehension, and a reading and questions lesson from her workbook.

At home, Hubbie had heated mashed potatoes and English peas in the oven for supper. I heated the gravy, and Mother prepared coleslaw, and sliced bread, for the meal.

After supper, I accompanied Mother to her house, and waited until she had showered, before returning home.

Hubbie and I spent the rest of the evening watching TV, including the first of three episodes of "Upstairs/Downstairs," from the PBS channel. A British drama, the episodes revolve around the masters and servants in a 1936 London townhouse.