From Farewells to Charms

It has been a rather long, slow weekend. Three days filled with boredom, interspersed with periods of ennui and lassitude. *yawn* Appointments have decreased somewhat, in frequency, and we had nothing much to do. At least with a hectic schedule, one feels they have a purpose in life.

A few farewells were said this past week.

Jack Keller and his mother, Marlys, left on Thursday for North Dakota. Jack was the young man I mentioned earlier, who had a double lung transplant and a fine Christian testimony. We will truly miss them around The House, though, as I told him, he was entirely too cheerful much of the time. If I ever wanted to know what was happening, I just asked Marlys. She was always up to date on the conditions of most everyone in the House.

Then there was Shirley and Roger, who flew back to Alabama. I didn't get to say goodbye to them, because we were hiding out in our room from the threat of sickness, and listening to the Moody Church Hour. (Sorry I missed you Shirley :-( But I heard there was a lot of crying involved, so maybe it's just as well. Marlys has my email...... :-) Shirley and I always seemed to be in the kitchen at the same time. She was good company, the kind of person who liked to talk and listen. Her husband went through some hard trials in the hospital after his chemo treatments. We really prayed for Roger and are so thankful he can go home now.

Loren and I went home last week for one more quick visit before Ardith went back to Letourneau for her final semester. After we left, I realized I hadn't hugged her goodbye :(
Sorry, Ardith. It kinda hit me later on that you were home for 3 weeks, but we were only there for parts of 3 days. *sigh*
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I have not exactly bid farewell to my Spanish studies, but I have changed my approach. I came to the conclusion that 2 HOURS per day was way too much time for something that was intended to be "fun." Loren's occasional disparaging comments had NOTHING to do with it. The fact that the book contained NO ANSWERS, did. I conferred with my foreign language consultant (Sharon) and we concluded that I could continue to work on the basics, and switch to a more useable book when we return home. We also decided that you just can't have too many words with "con" in them.

I was doing just fine, until the introduction of pronouns. Perhaps it's my imagination, but I am convinced there are an excessive amount of pronouns in the Spanish language. I was doing OK until we got to the "reflexive pronouns." I found I had an overwhelming urge to kick that book across the room. And, don't even get me STARTED on the aptly named "pronouns of ambiguity." They're just......so.......so...ambiguous.
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Now, what to do, when friends leave and time hangs heavy on los manos?

A little walk to the local used bookstore is always appropriate. Besides, I have to rectify a slight inequity. I bought a book there, and was charged more than I thought appropriate, because there were two prices. The first one, what I thought fair, was actually a mark from a previous sale. The STORE'S price was on the next page, and appreciably higher. I won't go into all the details, even though there were extenuating circumstances. It was basically my fault for not being more observant. But, while browsing this afternoon, I overheard the proprietor going to great lengths to sell something to a customer. He even offered to lower the price, substantially. "Ah," I thought. "So that way goes the game.

I found a few items of negligible cost, and then, I chanced upon an old hardback of, "Irvin Cobb At His Best." I did not feel the stated price was justified by it's worn condition. Emboldened by my recently discovered intelligence, and a need to recoup my losses, I took all my prospects to the desk.

I am thrilled to announce that I was allowed to purchased said book at half price! I figure I only have to buy seven or eight more items, at good prices, to make up for my past mistake. It won't be a hardship. What could be more relaxing than perusing stacks of well ordered books for an hour or two? The shop is run by a charming family, whose males are oft attired in old world Greek hats. True, "Screwtape Letters" by C. S. Lewis was located in the science fiction section, but, to their credit, they always have opera music playing in the background.

I anticipate future visitations.

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