Monday, July 19, was quiet; Kay had her second sleep study. That’s not the reason it was quiet, there’s just not a lot going on as I’m still hobbling around and she’s staying out of the heat.

Tuesday, Dan and I tripped to Weedhaven in Bradley County. Weedhaven is a name given to house and property owned and lived in by a good photographer friend; he and his wife have allowed it to grow naturally, and have supplemented that with native wildflowers and plants. He has mowed paths throughout the property, and it’s a photographer’s paradise. There were spectacular wildflowers blooming…

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a few butterflies flittering about…

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and even a few dragonflies made an appearance.

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Nothing spectacular happened on Wednesday and Thursday. Friday Ridge and Aker came to visit for the weekend. It was so good to spend time with them.  However, on Saturday after breakfast, I began to feel feverish and achy with a slight headache and sore throat, all symptoms of COVID19, DELTA VARIANT. And, even though we have both been vaccinated, there were several hundred people at the pickleball tournament, and we guessed that the majority had not been vaccinated. Kay rushed the kids to meet their mom and their weekend with us was cut short; thus, no photos.

I continued to exhibit the symptoms on Sunday, and remained in or near the bed most of the day. The symptoms continued Monday, and I underwent a COVID test at the local pharmacy—and tested NEGATIVE. The slight fever—99° vs my normal of 97.2°— broke Tuesday evening. Meanwhile, Kay was carrying the load of taking care of me and doing all the household and outdoor chores.

We drove to the greater Memphis area on Wednesday to spend time with Jenny and her kids: Harper, Linc, and Sutton. We had not seen them in person since October! They all had grown a ton, and Harper, 9 on July 30, had become a tall young lady; the top of her head is even with Kay’s eyes, and she wears a women’s size 8 shoe. She is such a beautiful girl, inside and out. Linc, 2 years old, was motoring around everywhere and getting into everything. He is chunky and solid with long blonde hair and beautiful eyes. Little sister Sutton is almost a year old, and is a quiet child, though she did warm up to Kay. Harper joined us at the hotel for swimming; it was an indoor pool with HIGH levels of chlorine in the water. Regrettably, she had red eyes for a few hours.

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After pool time, we had Harper’s birthday dinner at the restaurant of her choice, El Mezcal Restaurant, with the whole of Jenny’s family, and said our goodbyes until next time. 

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We departed early Thursday morning for home to pack and prepare for our next adventure, stopping on the way at David’s Burgers for a $7.99 cheeseburger, no fries and no drink. We arrived home shortly after lunch. We continued packing and preparing on Friday and today on Saturday, with temperatures in the low 100°s.