I’d feel so lucky to see something like this!

Surprised?

OYB!

Great weather!

But rain is coming!

Just. Keep. Going.


I like the sound of the word “tontita.” You silly.

I really enjoyed the team from N. Gwinnett Church. They’ve stuck with us through thick and thin and always bring their A Game.

We had fun time singing and studying about Mexican folk Catholicism. Then off on Safari to Plaza Fiesta!

This weirded me out. Real noses from coyotes. They had the whole top of one’s head that they’d made a mask out of. Who would wear that?

Lots of prayer cards.

I liked this.

And this.

I have many sugar skulls.

Speaking of weird. A pigeon just sitting on the hot tarmac? What?

Went to the bank to deposit checks.

I have a friend who lives here.

Had a great time at the missions!

I got to play with the grandgirls for a while.

I’m getting most of what’s said. Amen.

Gassed up the car. Added oil and radiator fluid. Cleaned the windshield.

Stopped by the auto parts place to pick up some more anti-freeze. If the engine heats up enough, it spurts it out the overflow container. I have to watch it regularly. I pretty much check it after every time it goes hot.

Great day.

Always more to learn!

Somebody in San Francisco hacked Kathy’s card. Bank of America is really on the ball with stuff like that.

OYB!

Just keep going.

Mild.

Had fun talking with my buddy Anthony.

Thai lunch.

Listening to the first book in the Harry Potter series now. I seem to be understanding a lot more than I did the first time through. Progress.

Rode my bike 5.97 miles. My arm is still bothering me, so I didn’t ride too far. Hopefully, it won’t hurt worse because of the exercise. I wanted to keep riding because it helps my knees so much.

A massive tree fell during a recent storm. It wiped out about ten other trees on its way down. Wow.

Transported a squirrel.

Español!

Beauty first thing in the morning!

Picked up the girls!

Cloudy, pleasant weather.

Interesting word.

Nana bought the girls these Halloween masks. They had fun with them.

OYB!

So much to learn.

Took the girls to the Doggie Park.

I had FaceTime with my Mom today to help her get her wifi going. It absolutely helped rather than just audio, because I happened to notice something at the very top right with the other icons. I had her move the camera closer and I discovered she had Airplane Mode on! I had her turn that off and everything immediately worked. Amen.

Miles will have the girls Friday and Saturday so I put up all the girls’ stuff. I have a big, tall box that I can fit everything in and it’s out of the way. Easier than having to carry all that stuff from downstairs.

Along with putting all the toys up, I also clean the house. Vacuumed.

Also vacuumed the kitchen and laundry room area.

Then blew the garage and the driveway.

And back deck.

Penelope helped me clean the glass doors, otherwise we see lots of little handprints.

I put in some extra time with Spanish.

Ordered a new clicker for our projector. I think we can get better results with another brand. We’ll see. . . Get it?

Back to Harry Potter. Although I decided I’d go ahead and start with Book One. I listened to Book Six for about thirty minutes.

I talked with my Mom several times today to make sure that her wifi was working properly on her new iPad. That can be a real hassle otherwise.

Checked the mail at the office. Great focus, eh?

I cleaned one of the black curtains that had some mildew on it. Put it back along with the big globe that I hopefully fixed and the electric pump.

I brought my projector home to test it out with my new laptop.

Helped Jesse get some ID.

OYB!

Español!

I found a picture of mimosa flowers. My Mom had never seen them.

It was great to have her with us this week! She was a HUGE help, and the grandgirls just loved having her around, as did we all.

Sad to see her go!

A little cooler day.

I have a friend of mine coming to bring a team. We are setting up a pre-site visit including food. LOTS of choices here in the ATL! This is Al Madina in Norcross. It’s mainly Middle Eastern.

This is from the Al Madina in Clarkston which is primarily Somali.

I listened to the end of the book and the series today. Went back to Harry Potter. Starting with book six.

The Pratchett books last about six hours on audio. Each Harry Potter book lasts from 20-25 hours! So you get a feel for how many hours I’ve listened to Spanish. At least 120 hours plus all the Telenovelas I watch. It’s the only way to get good. Keep practicing.

When I got home I went into repair mode. My big globe had been leaking air pretty fast. I figured it was from the nozzle area where the original problem was. I put a whole other layer over the top and under the original glue where it was coming apart. After it cooled, I sprayed it with bubble water. I didn’t see any leaking. Amen.

I repaired Tuffy, who is the sister of Slothy. Her arm was coming off.

I also reglued the sections of my hat that were damaged from the security ramp at the airport. No one really notices. I’m ready to get a new one, but I’m super picky and they’re kind of hard to find the kind that I like. I’m going to the J Crew store where I got this one with the girls soon.

You might remember that every day Ashley and I play the Dirty Money Game. Today, I found a gold chain on the ground. Probably fake, but still.

I downloaded my recording of “Beating Time” onto my Mac. I’m still learning how to copy and move files around. It’s a bit different that my old Mac Air.

I released a new episode of Verbal Surgery called “One Handcuff.” It’s terrific! Click on the title and GROOVE!

Posted on Facebook.

Español!

Rainy for first part of the day.

Great to have all my girls together!

Always new words!

Had breakfast with Kathy and Jesse. What a blessing!

OYB!

My neighbors got their roof replaced today. The gutter guys worked yesterday. The roof is done, but the gutters still need to be finished.

I’m learning a lot of words with these little stories on Duolingo.

Glad to hear that the videos and Dropbox worked for Ben. I did all of the project on my iPhone.

I bought my Moon a refurbished iPad! It’s the sixth generation. Her old one was the first! We spent several hours getting it all set up and working properly. Had to figure out some of the passwords. Just took time and patience.

We went to the Dollar Tree and Goodwill for toys. We got a couple of pretty cool things at Goodwill including a Barbie Kitchen that looked super.

We took the girls home so we could say goodbye to Ashley. I’m glad my Mom will be coming back for Christmas. Made the goodbyes easier when we knew that!

We went back to working on the iPad when we got home. I set up her Google account along with a new Gmail address: palcummins99@gmail.com. Got Apple Pay set up. Paid for another 50GB of storage. A whopping .99 a month. She was so concerned about deleting the emails to keep space on her iPad. I told her “You could put 50,000 whole Bibles and not make a dent in 50GB.”

Made sure her Netflix was working. Walmart App ok. I redid all the icons on her Home Screen and second screen to be more logical and organized. Got rid of a bunch.

We checked her into her flight and printed a boarding pass. Glad we got her iPad working.

OYB!

Español!

Neighbors getting their gutters worked on. Roof will be next is my guess.

Talked with Swami Muni at the BAPS temple about why Hindus sacrifice food to idols.

Met up with Ashley and the girls. We went to Shake Shack. We thought it was good.

Satch.

Frozen yogurt.

Warm and rainy.

About to the end of this series.

Gassed up my car and checked the fluids.

Deposited checks.

Worked on editing and sharing the videos I shot this afternoon for Ben Birdsong.

Last night I worked on my Mac Air for a couple of hours. I had to track down model and serial numbers to make sure that some of the equipment that I ordered from Amazon would fit.

Español.

I worked on setting up an interview for a couple of short videos I am producing for a friend of mine who will be bringing a team up in a few months.

I have several options including the BAPS temple and the Siddhi temple in Global Mall.

Went to Stone Mountain to record an episode of Verbal Surgery called, “One Hand Cuff.”

I tried to talk with Anthony but he was busy.

The iPad that I ordered for my Mom will be here soon. Amen.

The stories are pretty fun to work through.

Since I transplanted my little banana plants, they seem to be a lot happier.

Just about finished with this book. Pretty hard to understand.

We had Thai food for lunch. It was so good.

It rained over 1.5″ yesterday.

I have a friend that has a hard time keeping up with reading glasses. I shared with him my solution.

Released Verbal Surgery “Hose Woes.” So good.

Nana and I picked up the girls on Friday.

We liked the goslings.

Everly likes to hang out with me outside. Amen.

I let her dip her thumb in the sugar when I’m making the humming bird water. I saw two of them today. M and F.

Nana brought presents for the girl’s birthdays. We decorated an ice cream cake and ate it.

Flowers are always a part of my life with my greenroom.

We went around Walmart to get candy and toys.

Penelope loved her little kitty back pack.

The girls spent the night. I built the “Great Wall of Tim” with pillows between me and the grandgirls. I got a lot better sleep.

Nana and girls watched Frozen together. Such a great movie. Although honestly, Moana is my favorite.

My new computer seemed to be having a problem. My computer screen would show one thing and the Sony TV monitor would show me something else.

My computer screen looked like this.

Jesse said she thought that it was probably a setting for displays. I realized that sometimes my cursor would be on my computer screen and sometimes it wouldn’t be. Then I noticed that the cursor was on the TV screen. So I figured out how to go back to the display settings and change it to Mirror.

FIXED.

In my heart I knew it was user error.

This Apple stuff is just too good to be doing doing this weird a stuff. Anyway, I hope I don’t have any more problems with it.

Been talking with my buddy Ben Birdsong about doing some videos for him.

Spanish.

Got the groceries.

I ordered a refurbished iPad for my Mom. A 2018 6th generation iPad for $229 I thought was super cheap.

Español!

OYB!

Picked up the girls at Global Mall.

Fantastic to see my brother Tito and his son Sammy today!

I had a great DDay with my team from Prattville, AL! I went through the cultural religion of Mexico.

They sang twice at Plaza Fiesta.

They also did a drama.

I struck the set and put everything back in our closet. Took over two hours.

GREAT to hear that Miles landed his new job for the tree company! Amen!

I’ve had a fantastic yet exhausting few days. Sometimes I’m just too tired to even do my blog!

Sunday the 13th, I spent most of my day getting ready for the team coming to town on Monday. I took my big cart to FBC Doraville and was able to move all my things for The Show to the sanctuary. We have 74 people in town, that’s just too many for the Fellowship Hall.

Ashley also helped me get the projector for the slide show figured out which was a huge help.

I also spent a lot of time going to Walmart and the Dollar Tree to get the things I needed for the week.

About 6:30pm I headed to the airport to pick up my Mom. What a blessing she has been. She’s been a huge help watching and loving on the sweet grandgirls while I paid attention to the team.

Got to FBC Doraville with my Mom and met Ashley and the girls at the church. Ashley is always so great at the presentations and she is really missed. But you gotta do what you gotta do and I’m glad she’s following a career that can really help her family.

After our presentation, we took the team to the Buford Highway Farmers Market. We had a great lunch, toured the market and sang for the shoppers. It was awesome.

From the BHFM we went to four missions: Azalea Place, New Peachtree, Shallowford Pines and Pearl Lane. The kids loved having the teams there and they’ve really been doing a terrific job.

Monday night, the team did a fantastic job hosting a block party for the kids at Azalea and also put on a terrific concert. Awesome!

Tuesday morning I did The Show by myself. Although it wasn’t as good as with my Ashley angel, it was still me and my overwhelming humility keeps me from going on and on about how good it was. I covered Hinduism and Buddhism.

We had a terrific meal at Pho24 and sang at the restaurant.

Tuesday evening, the team did the concert and the block party at New Peachtree which is the sister property of Azalea. It was awesome again. I didn’t stay as long that night because I was just exhausted after two nights of not getting home till after 10 PM.

Wednesday morning I did my presentation on Judaism, Christianity and Islam. In the morning before the teams arrived, I edited the slide show to just have the critical elements that we needed so that the presentation was more streamlined and easier for me to do by myself.

After The Show, we went for a delicious meal at the Hibachi Grill. The team also sang a couple of songs for the people at the restaurant. They did a great job and everyone loved them.

From there we went to Al Madina and enjoyed seeing what it’s like to be in the Middle East and then also sang. Went over great!

Then to Global Mall to sing in the Hindu temple there as well as to the people eating at the food court. Everyone loved them!

Straight to the missions next to work with the kids. They went to the Braves Game that night so I had an earlier evening.

My Mom and I enjoyed being with the girls at Ashley’s house. My car has still been having overheating issues so we waited until the traffic died down before coming home.

I’m still trying to catch up on my sleep, but wanted to write the blog, even without the pictures. Everything that I shot is in these galleries: https://whirlwindmissions.smugmug.com/Teams-2021

Also released a new episode of Verbal Surgery called “No Ledge 2.” /a> It’s great!