Yawnnnnnn

Good Morning All,

My coffee and I are sitting here trying to remember this past week. It was a decent week. Work was just fine, busy but no real complications. One of our reviewers changed locations and will no longer be working from our office. What a loss. She was a great gal. And another reviewer has left the company. He was one of the very first who welcomed me when I started with the company. He is a VERY large man; tall and quite hefty. Married to a tiny little girl, but they make an adorable couple. He was one of the few who urged me to start my Portuguese language lessons. In fact, he even brought me a dictionary and grammar book he had used years ago when he dated a girl who spoke fluent Portuguese. I will miss his bright smile and sense of humor.

Speaking of my Portuguese lettons, they are coming along. I have discovered if I don't study at least 15 minutes every day, I lose it. I took a series of the online tests and for the most part I'm doing OK, but to my standards, I stink. In a series of ten different lessons I had three 100s, four were over 95, one was over 90 and the other two were 87 and 88. I realize that is an average of 95.9 but I think I should be doing better. (Good grief-am I ever glad I didn't go on to school. I'd drive myself nuts) I want to be able to say more than "O gato e branco". I know the cat is white. :o) Obrigada Brasil..........

I've been in a bit of a funk this past week. It's reminds me of the little depression I sometimes feel in the middle of the winter. I know it will pass, but I really don't like myself like this. YUK

I'm going to start making plans for my Labor Day trek to the Midwest for my high school reunion. I'll have to leave from Reagan National because Dulles has no direct flights to Milwaukee. I can remember when it was called Billy Mitchell Field. That was waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back. In my mind's eye I can remember taking my first flight. No boarding the plane from a covered walkway. Those were the days when you walked across the tarmac and hiked up the steps. It had a rather romantic flair to it. You greeted arriving passengers from the gate, which was outside behind a short chain link fence. You could see the planes coming in, landing and watching the stairs wheeled to the side of the aircraft. The doors would open and the 'stewardess' would push the heavy door back against the plane. And one by one the passengers would come down the stairs. Then your passenger would appear in the door and if the mood struck you (and it always did, me)you could jump up and down, wave and yell. Oh those were the good old days of flying. Now it's more like a cattle call. Anyway (boy, I drifted on that one)I'll be finding a reasonable fare and hotel near the airport. I've decided to not try to stay with the relatives. I'm too much of an early bird. I wake up with the chickens and don't like lying in bed till my hosts get up. Sometimes that can take hours. So this way, I can turn on the tv, have some coffee and take forever in the bathroom, if I need to. I'm going to try to visit my old neighborhoods and of course the cemetery. I haven't visited my folks for quite a few years now. I want to make sure they're still there.

Well, I've rambled on and on long enough.

I'll post more later.

God bless you all.