Home

4am came awfully early this morning and my friend Kelly was kind enough to get up with me and take me to the airport. It is good to be home and I had a wonderful, wonderful time--Kelly is such a gracious hostess.

Yesterday we went to Atchison, Kansas home of the famous home decor store, Nell Hill's. I read an article about the store in Southern Living Magazine several years ago and told Kelly about the article. The store is very well known, many of its customers come from long distances and Kelly says at Christmas time, it is considered an "event" to go to the store. I wasn't disappointed--beautiful things on top of gorgeous things. I bought a birthday gift for my friend Jill who lives here in Montana.

Since before July 4, I have been having problems with these mouth ulcers and they are not getting any better. While in Kansas, the ulcers really began to hurt and cause me problems even to the point that I couldn't sleep. Yesterday afternoon when we got back from Atchison, Kelly took me to one of the urgent care centers run by the hospital where she formerly worked. The clinician I saw isn't sure what is causing them but gave me a truly nasty tasting rinse for my mouth and some pills. The ulcers are no better today so I guess I will be seeking further medical attention and soon. I was really bummed, too, because I could not eat fresh tomatoes or peaches--it just hurt too much!

I had such a great time visiting with Kelly and her husband Tom, meeting Kelly's family and seeing Kansas City through her eyes. It was good to get home to Michael and the Jazzy girl, too, today.