Today, I am rushing to get the post done and uploaded. Soon, we’ll be heading out to Verizon and T-Mobile phone stores to investigate possible phone plans and acquire new phones when both of our phones are over three years old and have started to have problems.

My phone camera is shot, and Tom has trouble keeping Google Fi connected when out and about. We have tried every possible fix and based on the fact that cell phones don’t last for very long with heavy use, it may be time to upgrade. Before we head out, I will put together all of our expenses for Google Fi for the past few years to compare our current cost and the cost for a plan with new unlocked Google phones.

It may make sense to change based on how much we determine we’re paying with Google Fi for data while we’re in the US over the next many months. Otherwise, we may purchase two new Google Pixel phones, the latest 8a models, and keep Google Fi as our provider with its current pay-as-you-go plan.

While outside the US, we use data and rarely make phone calls unless we’re using WhatsApp, which requires an internet connection. We’ll carefully investigate the options from both stores and then decide. I’ve been limited in taking photos lately and haven’t been using our stand-alone camera when the photo quality is lower than that of a phone.

I may feel differently about only using a phone for photos down the road when we return to Africa, but that is a while from now, based on my upcoming open heart surgery in the next several months. I haven’t missed using our camera, which is on its last leg anyway, due to damage from constant humidity in countries we’ve visited in the past several years.

Last evening, I went to dinner with my eldest granddaughter, Maisie, at a favorite restaurant near our old home, Maynards, on Lake Minnetonka. In July 1977, as a single mom, I purchased my first boat, which I kept docked at St. Albans Bay for the summer.

On the 4th of July 1977, I took my two sons, then ten and eight years old, out on Lake Minnetonka when I’d never driven a boat. When we first took off, I drove the boat over to Maynard’s, then called T. Butcherblock, docking the boat in their slips, and the boys and I fed the ducks bread we got from the restaurant.

Later, when we continued to my friend Lynda’s home on Black Lake, I hit bottom and tore up the prop. I managed to make it to Lynda’s many hours later with the bad prop and her then-husband Jim helped me out. He removed the prop, took it to a repair place and then I was good to go the following day.

Many years followed when I had bigger and bigger boats on Lake Minnetonka, and I never hitt bottom again, destroying a prop. My sons still remember that day.

Thus, last evening, my dinner with Maisie, which was delightful, reminded me of that 4th of July 47 years ago, which is as fresh in my mind as if it was only a few summers ago. Wow!

Maisie, 17, and I chatted enthusiastically while seated in a booth at Maynard’s, sharing stories of our past and current lives. It was such fun! The food was good, the ambiance was perfect, and the conversation flowed with ease. After dinner, she drove me back to the hotel. It was the first time I had ridden with her since she got her driver’s license. She’s a good driver, and I am very proud of her in many ways.

Soon, I’ll head down to the fitness center to work out on the bike while Increasing the time a little each day. It feels great to be doing this. We’ll move to the next hotel in two days, and I’m hoping they will have an equally good fitness center. They have laundry facilities, which is a big plus for us. Neither of us is interested in sitting in a laundromat again.

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, May 21, 2014: