So Ends the 2016 Olympics From Rio de Janeiro!

Hello everyone! I hope that you're all just fine this morning - I certainly am! :) Anyway, I just wanted to give you an update on how I'm doing so far.

It seems like the United States is doing remarkably well in the medal standings. As a matter of fact, as of Sunday night, August 21st - the last day of the 2016 Olympics - Team USA has won a combined 121 medals. Way to go!!!!

The problem experienced by the Brazilians with the sulphuric-smelling, green pools was finally solved. Apparently, the workers had initially set out to prepare the pool area and poured in chlorine. Then, someone else allegedly poured a double dose of hydrogen peroxide into the pool on Friday, August 5th! This completely neutralized the chlorine and caused algae to bloom in both pools on Monday, August 8th and then again on Wednesday, August 10th!

There was at least one more tremendous scandal that blew up during the last week of the Olympics. Unfortunately, this one involved four members of the USA Mens' Swim Team - particularly the recent Gold medal winner Ryan Lochte. Allegedly, Ryan Lochte and three of his teammates had left the Olympic village on Saturday night, August 13th. What was so disturbing about this scandal was that there already had been several muggings of other athletes that took place in the Olympic village.

In the early hours of Sunday morning, August 14th, Ryan and his teammate Jimmy Feigen went to the police and reported that all four of them had been forced out of their taxi and robbed at gunpoint by men with police badges. Apparently, Ryan told 'The Today Show' that one of the would-be police officers actually pointed a gun to his head and ordered Ryan to lie down. When he refused, the man cocked the gun and repeated his order.

What really made the scandal blow up, was that Ryan told his mother this story and she then repeated it to a radio station during an interview. The Brazilian authorities investigated the incident further and it was discovered that the men had actually embellished their police report, and they were charged with filing a false police complaint.

By this point, Ryan Lochte was already back in the United States, having flown home on Tuesday, August 16th. Jimmy Feigen was also out of the country, but soon contacted the police after a judge issued a search and seizure warrant for both his and Ryan's arrest. The other two teammates were stopped at the airport just before they were to board the plane to go home. After talking to the police, they both admitted that everyone was drunk, and had been detained by Brazilian security forces who claimed that they had done some vandalism.

The truth was that Ryan Lochte was apparently the drunken ringleader of the four teammates when they all went out partying on Saturday night, August 13th. Then the group allegedly stopped at a gas station to use the bathroom and Ryan Lochte trashed the place before everyone left. The gas station attendant detained the perpetrators and proceeded to call the Brazilian security forces.

After the security guards arrived on the scene - according to the remaining two teammates who spoke to the police - they were carrying guns and used them to detain the suspects until restitution was repaid to the gas station attendant. Needless to say, Brazil was angry that their country was being shamed in this way.

So, I have been doing several jigsaw puzzles out of a box of twelve that I had bought on Thursday, May 19th! As of Sunday, August 21st, I've finished at least three of the twelve jigsaw puzzles. Not too bad, I suppose.

As regards my own reading, I just finished reading When You Believe by Deborah Bedford on Thursday, August 18th! Then, I immediately started to read Becoming Jane Eyre: A Novel by Sheila Kohler the next night - on Friday night, August 19th! This was actually one of Mareena's 'just because' gifts for August.

Since my birthday is coming up very soon as well, she decided to request a book about the story behind the writing of Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. She knows how much I love reading anything about the whole Bronte family - and most especially the Bronte sisters: Charlotte, Emily and Anne. So far, I'm not that far into the story but I have high hopes that it will be very good.

According to Goodreads, as of today - Sunday, August 21st - I'm currently on page 10 of 232; or approximately 4 percent into the story. Since my own copy of Becoming Jane Eyre: A Novel by Sheila Kohler actually has 247 pages; reading 10 pages of the book means that I've read 3 percent of the story. Here's hoping that I get into the story fairly quickly.

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight