Monday, Dec. 3

Today is Granddaughter's birthday. Happy Birthday, Granddaughter!

Woke up at 5 a.m. and couldn't go back to sleep. So tossed and turned until 6:30, when it was time to get ready for water aerobics. It was a warm morning, but I wore my fleece outfit anyway, because it was a little windy, and I knew that after being in the pool, I'd feel chilly walking back to my car.

The water in the pool was deliciously warm, and sixteen of us enjoyed it. Talk today was about an Internet service that was having problems with e-mail delivery. There was some sort of glitch between here and Tyler, Texas, but one lady, who fears everything, speculated that since a middle-eastern country had recently blocked Internet in its own country, that it might also be meddling with our services. I thought this was an amusing idea, and stated that rather than being some sinister plot by a foreign country, the service was probably just updating its equipment.

Back home, Hubbie accompanied Mother to our house, where she chopped onions, bell peppers, and banana peppers, for spaghetti sauce. Once the sauce was simmering, I got ready for the day.

Spent the rest of the morning doing this and that around the house until lunchtime.

After lunch, Hubbie took the truck and ran a couple of errands. We agreed that I would wait a few minutes and then go downtown in the van to pick him up at a church parking lot that faces Main Street, where there would be a Christmas parade later. We left the truck on the parking lot as a way to hold the space until later.

Back home, I caught up on e-mail, and reviewed the ESL lesson for today's meeting with my student.

Met the student at 2:30, as usual. Today, I took along several handmade Christmas tree ornaments, since we had talked about crafting last week. While the student was still in Venezuela, she made angels from paper doilies that she was proud of. She said she'll bring a photo of them next week. We are both open to new Christmas craft ideas, so I'm anxious to see her handiwork.

Today's lesson included the use of "no" plus nouns: "I have no money." "He had no home of his own."

The student also practiced structure focus using "no" plus nouns, and "not" plus verbs: "I have no money." "I don't have any money." "There was no food." "There wasn't any food."

Another structure focus was clauses with "so that:" "I must take classes so that I can get a better job." "She is learning to drive so that she can get a driver's license;" and structure focus on adjective clauses with "where," and "when:" "The farm was 200 miles from the city where Carlos lived." "Monday is the day when I will see Hugo."

Finished the lesson with reading and writing. The student was very moved by today's reading lesson...a story about Helen Keller and her teacher, Anne Sullivan. She was absolutely amazed by the fact that Helen Keller, who became blind, deaf, and mute following an illness as a child, progressed from being a completely unruly child to becoming a 24-year-old adult who earned a college degree, and went on to teach, speak, and write books.

The student, who knows that the blind use Braille to read, has never seen actual Braille copy. So I will find a sample to take to class next week.

Back home after the session, Hubbie had started a pot of water boiling, so I could cook spaghetti for the sauce. We had the spaghetti and sauce with a side of cottage cheese, and slices of bread and butter.

Around 6:15, we went downtown to the church parking lot, where Hubbie backed the truck out of the space, and I drove the van into it. This way, Mother could be comfortable while watching the parade.

The parking lot was completely full when we arrived, so Hubbie had to double park the truck until the parade was over. He fretted about this, fearing he was blocking someone who would want to leave early.

So thirty minutes into the parade, he decided to glance down the street to see if the end was in view. He came back to the van and announced that he thought he could see Santa way up the street.

But the parade kept coming, with no Santa in sight. "I guess the person I thought was Santa was actually a beauty queen," Hubbie laughed. I'm pretty sure the beauty queen wouldn't appreciate his mistake.

It was a good parade, with the usual complement of police cars, ambulances, emergency vehicles, fire trucks, horses, bands, antique cars, clever floats, etc. One float, fashioned after a harvesting machine, included a truly awful child karaoke singer. He was so bad that he was entertaining.

We also liked the Humane Society dogs that were draped with flashing Christmas lights, and a group of dance studio kids that tumbled, and did flips and handstands. One little girl, about six years old, even walked on her hands.

Back home, I accompanied Mother to her house, and then Hubbie and I spent the rest of the evening watching TV.

Long day. Pooped.