@~Christina, I love seeing pictures of Gus. His youthful fun look brings a smile to my face. I miss having a loving pet. My husband and I want to wait until we eventually move to what will be our own home to adopt one. We really have no proper place to put a big parrot cage in our current home. I'm also a big fan of cats, but Hubby doesn't like them. I like all animals, including dogs, but Hubby wouldn't want a dog and neither of us has any real experience with them.

I'm glad your pain is easing a bit. I hope it eases more as autumn arrives. Perhaps a mood shift could ease the rest. I'm sorry you're not happy with your new NP. It's always hard finding any medication prescriber or therapist. At least you have Richard right now. I know some people have and love their NPs, but I have always felt reluctant to have anything less than a psychiatrist. Perhaps I'm unfair, though.

My Czech hubby is a native level English speaker. The only English he's not 100% on are slang and idiomatic phrases, which he also know a lot of. Like you, he sometimes has a little trouble with certain English accents outside of NJ Tri-State area. Not just British, Australian, and the like, but even some southern US. I sometimes have to translate a little. Actually, he says he occasionally doesn't catch what some Moravian Czechs say, since they occasionally use different words (and have a different accent) than Bohemian Czechs. Hubby is from Prague, originally. If I ever do learn Czech, and still live in Moravia, that will be funny me sounding like a Moravian. Hubby left Czechoslovakia over 35 years ago, to live in the US. Nowadays he's not so familiar with the newest Czech terms and language tendencies. He's had to ask his nephews a few things.