Saturday, May 14, 2022

 Saturday, May 14, 2022 

 

        I woke up early again, agitated. Whatever that calm was right after the Damons left, it was gone. On my morning walk, I ran into Julie and Vince. Julie asked if we were still on for June 2. She volunteered to drive me to the airport at 5 am for the flight to Honolulu and my surgery. She said she had her calendar marked.

    I posted the day's entry on the public blog. As I suspected, the visitors to the site have dropped off precipitously. Last month's total number of visitors was 6,847; I'd be lucky to make 100 this month. There was one teacher who recommended me who traveled between Germany, Indonesia, and the USA, who retired or died. 

      Except for my Saturday HPR shows, it was a nothing day.

      I connected with Jana yesterday. She asked me to mentor her in my reading method. I  always had something to tell her that I hadn't mentioned before. Fifty years in the profession blessed me with a wealth of information. I told her about my approach with adolescent D, modeling the process instead of insisting he performs. His response was positive. He would learn as long as he was attending, not muting me and playing some video game instead. If he was positive, this was his learning sweet spot.

    The sun was out today, as it wasn't when the Damons visited. Those cloudy days, one after another for a week, were flukes. I did two loads of laundry. Shortly, any sign of their visit would be erased. It would be worthwhile leaving a mess.

    While I am walking better to some lights, I feel worse. I was not in acute pain, just a nagging discomfort, an annoying weakness in my leg that made me reluctant to do things I didn't have to.  

    Last night I heard Little barking. I texted Josh to let him know that she was in distress. I suspected she was locked out in the middle of a downpour. He texted back that he wasn't home and wouldn't be for half an hour. Could I go down there and let her in? I wasn't comfortable walking down to their quarters in the dark. I called B, who had called half an hour before, to tell me he was home for the night. He was willing to come up to check on Little. When he got there, both dogs were locked inside. He let them out, assuming they needed to get out. Then he let them back in and gave them a treat. I texted Josh to tell him, assuring him the dogs were okay. We are both so grateful to have B as part of our ohana.

    I had the M and W sisters this afternoon. Their father had trouble signing them in. I hadn't been looking forward to the session. Sadness was settling in after the Damons left, and I was alone again with my reflection. The session with the girls went wonderfully. I had a great time; it lifted my spirits. I put off getting new clients, concerned I was too depressed to handle much more than I had already, the two girls, adolescent D and Mama K's crew, totaling five hours a week.

   I let both girls choose what they wanted to work on. First-grade M chose to revise the story we started in our last session. We edited it today. There were a few spots where I recommended changing the phrasing. Most of the editing was about the tense agreement. In the end, she had to create a title. The ones she offered were inappropriate or too general, "The Adventure." I got her to narrow it down to Lucy and Sunny's Adventure. I was pleased that she included the names of the main characters. If I pushed for more, it would dull the impact of the first step toward specificity.

   With the time I had left with M, I worked on the detailed questioning strategy I used to teach comprehension at a sentence level. We both found this fun.

   Fifth-grade W talked about how she was nervous about starting middle school. I forgot for a moment that she was going to a new school, a private one. I told her to be kind to herself. That type of change is always difficult. Hopefully, the difference would be worth it. I told her how Mike and I had to adapt after moving to Hawaii.

   W chose to work on the spelling, Phase III of The Phonics Discovery System. We read a sentence together from her last story. We both had to remember the words. She then had to dictate the sentence to me, spelling it as she went along. I asked her if she saw improvement in her writing and spelling. She said, "Yes. Everything was much easier." Great! She said sometimes she wanted to write words she didn't know how to spell. I recommended she spell them the way they sounded. With luck, the review function would figure out what the word is and offer the correct spelling. I tried kwik. Spell check did not provide me with the correct spelling. If not, the reader can take a moment to figure the word out. Hopefully, the teacher will think challenging vocabulary is more important than correct spelling. I told her if I had to look words up. I checked the Internet.  

   I ordered a new Kindle to be on the safe side. My old Kindle disappeared at PT yesterday. I know I spent some time reading it in the waiting room. When I checked my purse as I arrived at Farm and Garden, it was gone. I couldn't find it in the car. I called the Rehab. Jerrica checked and couldn't find it. I didn't get a call saying they found it by the end of the day. I suspect that someone in the waiting room nabbed it. I couldn't wait because l needed that Kindle when I went for the surgery. While I imagined I wouldn't do much reading in the 24 hours post-surgery, I had to anticipate they might keep me longer. The PTs warned that my muscle problems were different from other patients. Their words kept me wondering what I was facing.

    I gave up on Wordle today. I just put in any words. I wasn't far from the correct answer; I couldn't get my mind to function. Stress is lowering my mental acuity.

         B called. He was heading to Costco; did I need anything? Yes. Two of Costco's large packages of toilet paper, as recommended by my PT Katie.  I needed them to lay my legs on them after the operation. Legs have to be elevated after hip surgery to prevent blood clots. Katie said these packages work well. There's no need to go out and buy a large cushion to serve that function.