A glance back at the week past: We took the boat out every lunch time and had a meal at one of the local places on the lake. We would sit just like we do in Key West and people/ duck/ bird watch and eat. I packed most of the food up for a 7pm snack. I noted the following:  "Mother Nature is having a great day. The lake is calm and serene. I watched a large gaggle of birds (geese?) fly in formation. The leaders dropped back, others took their place and the entire herd changed formation and reemerged as the V they are supposed to fly in." We had lazy days in Clear Lake… When our friends Tim and Kyla were with us I walked the dog who is very cute and loves Chuck who gave the dog too many treats!!!!  I went to Mass at 8:30 am every day and on Friday, Mass was at a care center where I met some lovely people. One lady said she wasn’t sick, just old. She looked wonderful! After Mass, routine was drink coffee and paint, work on a puzzle (we completed 500 and 1000 piece puzzles), read, whatever. The hot water heater misbehaved and our friend Tim called the building manager and a plumber so we hosted them and they worked very efficiently. In Miami and the Keys, our friend Dave showed Chuck how to reboot the hot water heater, but this one had been rebooted a lot and it was ready to be replaced. It was replaced because it was old. Made me think of what we do in our throw away society… throw away the old… never mind; don’t go there!  My knees have been hurting with a lot of walking so I had to give up long walks, I hope temporarily. Several people have told me about people who have had knees replaced in their early 60s and even sooner. I am NOT looking forward to that even though the orthopedic surgeon I saw in January is cute… I’m just not looking forward to the big cut and the pain. I loosened up leg muscles with Kyla who was going for a run, and then I took a long walk, and my knees didn’t hurt afterwards. I will try to keep exercising, but I might have to trust the wisdom of the surgeon who told me my knees are bad. Like the hot water heater, old knees that get cranky get thrown out because they’re old. On Monday morning (August 26th) we packed up and loaded the van for the less than 2 hour drive to Rochester. Driving into the hotel was like driving into Jackson Memorial hospital… The convention hotel is directly across the street from Mayo treatment center. There are many hospitals and 2 churches in walking distance (St John Evangelist and St Francis of Assisi). I will be able to go to daily Mass tomorrow and get a bulletin and schedule. Also there will be street market and festival on Thursday. We brought our chairs. We are taking 2 guys out for dinner whom we made friends with at past conventions and we look forward to sharing old stories! Have a wonderful week. God bless you!