Daily Update, August 13, 2023

    Since it's Sunday, I contacted Uber after breakfast, and they took me to church. I started particularly late, so I was surprised that they got me there during the announcements, before even the first hymn. They were blessing a large bunch of donations on the steps in front of the altar that were collected for folks on Maui. I sat alone, since Auntie Barbara was busy with the Sunday school. She was excited to have four students today. {Smile}

   I sat with her during lunch, which worked out nicely. While getting ready to leave, I learned from another friend that we are losing our organist. Next Sunday is his last day with us. I mentioned it to auntie Barbara, and she said he and his family are moving to Washington, and he's got a job with an Episcopal church there. {Smile}

   After lunch, auntie Barbara stopped at Island naturals because it's customer appreciation day. I hoped to get some peanuts, but they were out of plain ones. There were salted ones, but I'm watching my salt intake, and they didn't even say *lightly* salted. I just went back to the car, and she took me home, and came inside to visit with Mom before leaving. We sang a few songs, which is always nice. {Smile}

   Auntie Barbara suggested, as she usually does unless Mom is particularly tired, that I call Mom's sister, my Aunt Valerie so they can talk. I did call my aunt, and we had a nice talk, but just as I was about to suggest she talk to Mom, my aunt remembered a chore outside that she wanted to do before it got any darker than it was already. She said she would talk to Mom next time. {Smile}

   I ate dinner with Mom and read to her before dinner. First, I read scripture and thoughts about it. Then I continued with a birthday card from church, a Christmas card from her cousin's granddaughter, and an Easter card from me. Next, I showed Mom the last several pages of pictures in _1940's Fashion in Pictures_, reading her each caption as I pointed out each picture, then finishing by reading the blurb on the back. She does seem to like mid-20th century fashion. Then, I read a few illustrated poems from _Mother Goose Treasury_, starting with a long one, then reading a few short ones until I reached another long one. that will be for another day. After that, I finished out with the August 13th story, "The Apricots," from _366 Stories for Bedtime: A Tale for Every Day of the Year_. Mrs. Dingle was old, and lived alone, but her neighbor, Katy, a young girl, often helped her. One day, Katy brought a big basket of apricots to Mrs. Dingle from her family's yard. Mrs. Dingle said she'd like to borrow them until tomorrow. The next day, she gave Katy four big jars of apricot jam. {Smile}

   I did my arm swinging exercises waiting for a strike force in the early evening, and my walking exercises, leg exercises, arm resistance exercises, and one sitting arm weight training exercise while waiting for Phonso's task force late in the evening. After his task force, I did my salsa dance, first the warmup, then the less structured set, so yes, I did over 20 minutes, my new goal. I did my head exercises after the salsa, as a short break while writing this up. I didn't' get the standing or the other three sitting arm weight training exercises done, but that's all I missed today. {Smile}

   I read comics after Auntie Barbara left, then called my aunt, then hopped into City of Heroes: Homecoming. There, I did some paperwork, worked on a badge for my second-best badge collector, and looked around. I started talking with Ulty, who was working on a badge for the character we play together on a lot. The character I use a bit low-level for that badge, so I got the badge for my second-best badge collector and found a higher-level character who'd begun work on Ulty's badge, but hadn't gotten very far, and I joined her. I ended up making a lot of progress on that badge. So did Ulty, I'm happy to say. Eventually Ulty decided she should leave, so we said goodbye. She hoped to be back later, but I never did spot her again. Anyway, I started working on another badge for my second-best badge collector until it was time to read to Mom. {Smile}

   After dinner, I didn't find anyone I particularly like to hang out with. Well, the leader of the task force last night was on, and advertised for a different task force, but it filled before I'd finished typing a request to join. So, I continued working on the badge I'd started working on before dinner. I got bored, and noticed a strike force I could join on my highest villain. Then I discovered it helped towards a badge my fourth best badge-collector is working on and switched to them to actually run it. When I was done, I did a bit more paperwork, then continued working on the badge I'd worked on twice before today. It was late enough that I was surprised when Phonso asked if I'd like to run a task force. but with only 20 minutes of salsa dancing needed, I hoped I could squeeze it in. It made me just slightly late for starting salsa, but I got over 20 minutes done with time to spare, so that worked well.