It's once again Thursday and I am feeling pretty good. In addition to turning in my paper Tuesday, I have found a paper that I can use for another assignment. It is about a new model for nursing homes that includes empowering the workers. I am excited about that.

Ray and I had a short walk before going to UGA. After dropping off Dan and him, I went to Kroger to buy the supplies Tonya needed for cleaning my Dad's house. I met her there and went to the EJC office, where I reviewed some statistical videos before class. At 11:45, I left to go back to my Dad's. They were still working away, but I left them a check and went on to lunch with Becky and Deb. It was a beautiful day and we had a pleasant time eating outside.Deb talked about her trip to South Africa and how scary it was there, with a very high incidence of robbery. People have gates and barbed wire and dogs to protect themselves. Apparently, your purse can be stolen from your car at a soplight, if the doors are not locked. So, I am glad to live here and I think it is an illustration of one reason not to have huge economic inequities in society.

I went to class and we talked some more about public health and statistics. In this case, it was about a possible correlation between smoking rates and the death of the subject's father. Really. Hypothesis: people who have smoked in the past and quit are likely to take it up again when their father dies. I tried to argue that they might be more likely to quit, if their father died from lung cancer. Our final group project is to prepare a brief about murder and suicide rates. OK, very interesting assignment, but not too relevant to gerontology... She also handed out the syllabus for the class next semester and asked for our feedback.

After that, Ray and I met for dinner and were able to enjoy sitting outside again. I had a glass of pinot grigio and an antipasto platter, plus some butternut squash soup. Pretty moderate. Ray had caeser salad.

Then we went to Robert's piano recital. He is the accompanist for choir. Incredible to sit in an excellent performance space and listen to that quality of music--for free. There were 20 of us from choir, plus at least as many others.

Choir started much later than usual and was not as long. We rehearsed for Sunday, with a harpist! We will sing two beautiful Requiem pieces. I think I have sung them enough to be all cried out, but we'll see on Sunday.

We watched a little TV and went to bed about 10. I woke up at 5 feeling energetic.