Monday morning about 1:00 AM my Mom let me know that she needed help. She had a lot of pain in her upper abdomen area. After some discussion, we went to Piedmont Hospital to get her checked out.

She had an X-ray, CT scan and blood work. Her sodium was very low and her gall bladder was extremely inflamed.

I left the hospital about 6:00 AM, absolutely exhausted. I came home and slept for a few hours then went back to the hospital.

She had her gall bladder removed (robotically!) and is doing great. Dr. Fussell did a great job!

She got into room 209 around 5:00 PM.

She will be released from the hospital tomorrow. Here’s what a gall bladder looks like.

I’ve been keeping up with my brother Jim and all his family as well as all my family and our friend Roopa.

OYB!

I came in #2 in the Duolingo Leagues last week.

Laundry.

Mexico is getting a lot of rain.

I emailed our tax guy for Jessi. He sent us the return later this afternoon.

Updated our license plate stickers. It’s nearly my birthday! That’s what the month is for.

I installed a safety bar to help my Mom get into the house. Drilled the holes and then screwed the bar in. It feels super secure.

New week. Keep going.

Listened to Don Cheto.

OYB!

Español!

Gassed up my car and added 1/2 quart of oil.

Cleaned and refilled my hummingbird feeders.

Took Roopa to the airport. Lots of changes. Had a hard time finding the way back going home. Eventually just went on N. 85 to I20. GPS was hard to follow because of so many small roads to figure out.

Storms in our area. Made the clocks blink at our house.

Worked on getting the shower situated for Nana. Every piece of the puzzle has to be studied and figured out. Getting there!

I’ll come in second place this week.

OYB!

Español!

Lunch and Safari at Buford Highway Farmers Market!

Asian Square and China Town.

Hot today.

Showed Roopa around Plaza Fiesta! Good walk.

Cyber punk sugar skull. Don’t see that every day.

Ashley brought the girls to come and see us at Plaza Fiesta. Good times.

Girls and I like to explore.

Second place this week.

Español!

OYB!

I worked with the girls on multiplication tables and they wrote a story for me.

Grandma needs her girls.

Ordered groceries.

We helped Nana get her shoes on. It was really hard! Her poor feet were so swollen. She had to sit waiting for or riding an airplane for about six hours.

GREAT to have Nana with us. She was surprisingly strong. Glad she’s been doing physical therapy!

Roopa really got a kick out of the Patel Center and Masala restaurant in particular.

Mom and I talked about people that we know from the old days. I made a call and tracked down updated information about Fred and Karen. We will call them soon.

Roopa got a big kick out of visiting the market. “I haven’t seen this in so long!”

Global Mall was fantastic. The girls really enjoyed looking for bangles. They got some beauties.

The owner of the store had Penelope model the jewelry. She was so cute.

Took the girls back home so we could see Ashley and Miles.

Nana went through her goodies for Ashley. I think Ashley was really happy about the jewelry. She’s such a fashionista.

I got a glue gun, but it wasn’t big enough for my needs. Sent it back to Amazon and got its much bigger brother.

Picked up my groceries.

Push.

Vocabulary!

My Plumeria is getting ready to bloom. How exciting!

Anti-roach spray.

Laundry!

OYB!

Español!

Not quite as hot today. Amen.

Help for sleep.

Went to Walmart to get supplies to make Nana some signs to welcome her to her new home!

Used my Medicare card to get some meds for K.

Ordered some new shoes and got reading glasses for K.

The flight from Austin with Nana and Roopa was about 1.5 hours late. No big deal. We got home around midnight.

This seemed ironic to me. Looked like it was melting into the asphalt.

Put some new blinds in Nana’s room. Hard to get the old screws out.

I got some extension bits for the next time I need to put something like this up.

The girls helped decorate the house.

Don Cheto on the way to the airport to get Nana and Roopa.

Parked in the daily area. The whole airport has really changed. Wow. I took a lot of picture so I could remember where the car was.

I kept in touch with Roopa who was helping Nana get around.

Yay! Mama is home!

Keep going.

Wow. Hot.

I double checked on when my Mom’s flight arrived.

Played guitar with my Spark amp. So much fun to jam along with songs that are my favorites.

OYB!

Added Restoration Church at the end of July. Three churches the same weekend.

Español!

Took K to the eye doctor. Her diabetes has changed her eyes so her glasses no longer work. Ashley is on staff with the doctors. Great to see her in her work environment.

Went to Pet Smart to see animals.

Got a new glue gun. Not sure what happened to the cord for my old one. This morning I couldn’t find my knife. Super weird. I have two brand new backups, but I hate misplacing things. I’m hoping it’s still going to show up. Maybe the cord will too!

Overbearing.

Well, I’m glad that my passport got there. Amen. Thank you, Father.

Gassed up my car and checked the oil in preparation for the airport run tomorrow evening.

Package for Ashley. Half the time when I get a package I have no idea what’s in it.

Competition normally makes us work harder.

Discussion with a team leader coming to work with us soon. I believe they are an elementary/middle school group.

The heat was intense today.

OYB!

Español!

Washed a mattress cover, dried it and put it up.

Ashley’s new cards include her degree status.

The girls got in a load of clothes from Shein. Good prices, but hard to size. A few of their things were just too tight. I loved the shirt Ashley had made for me for Father’s Day.

Sweet note from my former pastor’s family.

The church secretary came over and copied my newsletter for me on her day off. I appreciated that!

Processed checks and deposited them. Thank you so much, Father!

Got stamps from the machine at the Post Office.

Sprayed my pink magnolia with Neem oil. Supposed to be dry for a few days. Hopefully it’ll have more of an effect.

We are working on multiplication tables at the Mission. They are painting it white.

I like my new shirt.

Added stamps and stuffed the envelopes. Got them in the mail. Earlier than normal. I couldn’t think of a reason to wait.

The girls had fun at the park. I wanted to swim. I just had to sit in the heat and watch instead. Not zesty.

Bad traffic going into town and coming home both. Listened to Don Cheto.

Another week.

I always find Eric Barker’s blog useful and interesting.

OYB!

Español! Came in third last week.

Always great to see my girls!

I threw some stuff that I collected from cleaning Nana’s room in the FBCD dumper this morning.

The girls and K ate at Waffle House. I got some quarters and started the comforter washing. It was the last thing I needed to do before Nana gets here.

We had a discussion about Marzipan. We looked it up. K watches a show called Midwives and they talk about that kind of cookie.

I used the machines at the apartment complex. It can handle the comforters.

Went to the Monkey Bar Park.

To the Mission to study. One of the kids came by but wasn’t interested in working.

They are painting the apartment now. It’ll just be plain colors. That’s cool with me.

I got in touch with one of the teachers at Huntley Hills.

Picked up the dry comforter. Smells good!

We had fun at Burger King.

Back home to rest. So hot.

It reminded me of Aurora Borealis.

Now I remember why I stopped doing two sessions of missions with the teams. Three hours in this heat is crazy talk.

The research says, if you’re standing in the sunshine you add fourteen degrees to that. Holy moly.

The girls went to Lake Lanier this weekend. Want to make sure I have bathing suits. Texted Ash about that.

Looking at the competition, I’ll probably come in second place this week.

So much for the “I’ll never start a war” guy.

Vocabulario.

Ordered more trim cord.

I’m very excited about the plumeria blooming. Ten years in the making.

OYB!

View from my chair on the porch.

Español!

Cleaned Nana’s room thoroughly. Washed and dried all the bedding. I’ll take the comforter and get it cleaned at the Mission tomorrow in the large industrial machines.

I found Penelope’s stylus.

I put the stuff downstairs.

The GPS that tracks where I am kind of went crazy.

Got gas and checked the oil.

Took donations to Goodwill.

Hot.

Wrote newsletter. I’m ahead of schedule. Best to get as much stuff done as possible before Nana gets here.

I’ll come in the top three this week.

I like this.

Always more vocabulary. Endless, really. Slang keep getting added.

Watered the plants in my Greenhouse.

Anytime my washing machine starts to smell weird, I run one of these.

Did my laundry. I do small loads daily if I’ve been working outside.

OYB!

Español!

Getting hotter. High humidity makes it a sweaty mess when you’re working outside. It’s one reason why I did all the planting when it was still cool. And clouds of mosquitoes.

Went to Goodwill. I was looking for a backpack I could put my guitar stuff in. One of the things I like about my Spark GO amp is that it’s tiny. About the size of both your hands put together. So everything can fit in a backpack.

I’m always on the look out for hats. Especially white ones.

Went to Stone Mountain to record Verbal Surgery. “Sweet Talk” is a great episode. Releases tomorrow. The park is so beautiful.

Called Nana. Always great to chat. So excited that she’ll be here soon. Bwana asifiwe!

I trimmed the yard. Takes a little longer than mowing, but SO much better.

Keeping it trimmed actually helps the monkey grass which is what I transplanted.

I put a box of K’s stuff in my car to take to the dumper at work.

I sprayed myself down thoroughly twice during my yard work vigil.

While I was clearing out this area, a yellow jacket tagged me. Felt like a hot needle going into my ankle. Not zesty. I sprayed them down but the can I used was almost empty. I have two more cans coming from Amazon.

Hauled off more branches. I put them in my compost area.

Trimmed near the driveway and street. Clean up is usually the last job.

Good exercise. Enough to make me sore. I listened to Don Cheto while I worked.

I’ve been stung by yellow jackets a lot. The stings can be very different. Sometimes, they shoot me with a lot of venom and it really swells up and changes color. Other times it’s a relatively minor thing. Hurts first, then eventually itches.

Looks like I’ll make the top three this week. My score is low because twice this week Duolingo did maintenance during my study time.