Slow Flight & Stalls

Well the cloud cover is not bad at all today but the temps are in the 90's and I can't wait to get in the air and get some positive air flow besides my breathing. My pre flight completed, all looked good. Intercoms working now that I turned up the volume I contact Millville FSS ....."Millville radio.....Cessna 80121", quick response from FSS and I let them know we are ready to taxi..."millville radio..80121 on the ramp at Big Sky and ready to taxi". FSS returns with wx and traffic info and get cleared to go on runway 28. I dial in the info I received and
spin the heading bug to the wind direction for a reference. Good taxi today, I am starting to feel a comfort level as far as control and not looking like a drunk sailor performing midnight arobics for shore patrol. I taxi up to 28 and turn into the wind for my run up. Ok....taking advantage of my hand towel I brought along to wipe the sweat away so I can see with out my eyes burning.....whew I hate to close the windows. Ok ready to go after completing
checklist, "Millville radio....80121 departing runway 28"....."80121 millville radio advise airborne". Ok nice takeoff, remembering to keep more right rudder pressure as we climb out to 1500. Turning out south and climbing to 2500 we discuss topics for review and some things to accomplish. I do a quick review of turns, noting that my altitude is held along with airspeed and heading. We then practice slow flight and stalls. Dave took control and showed examples of slow flight what he was looking for and what I should be looking for and feeling. I got a real kick out of full flaps flying at just 40 knts with a ground speed of 38 mph. Geeezzzz it felt like we were in hover mode, that C172 sure is forgiving and really does make it hard to stall. Ok back to the lesson. I did a number of slow speed stalls in order to learn recovery and the warning signs, what the buffeting feels like and mushy controls and unlike all the movies you don't have to manhandle the yoke back to your belly button in order to pull out, which as I learned would
only cause a secondary stall and more problems. Dave told me that he felt I was doing very well as we headed back to the airport. "Millville radio...80121" ok no traffic and winds are the same so 28 is the ticket "millville radio...80121 entering the downwind for 28" "80121 millville radio...advise down and clear", "advise down and clear 80121" ok turning to downwind from my 45 degree approach, the runway is about 3/4 up the wing strut so my distance/spacing looks good, trying to keep on a heading of 100, ok looking fair, and keeping speed at 70 knt along with a notch of flaps. So far so good, keeping an eye out for traffic, scanning my airspeed and alignment/position to the runway. "Millville...80121 turning base runway 28 millville"....ok under control feeling tense adding flaps..."millville...80121 turning final 28 millville"....and here I go. Remember rudder rudder rudder for alignment, adding flaps, air speed looks good shooting for the numbers, starting to drift Dave makes corrections, nose up ...nose up....looking down the runway.....stall indicator nose up..... mains down, and square...whew...holding
nose up...bleed off speed...and nose gear down. apply light brakes.....and head to taxiway. Passing the hold short, "millville radio...80121 down and clear". As we taxi in Dave says I can release my grip on the yoke and just use fingertips to control. Ok I get it...I had a death grip on the yoke while landing...I'll do better next time. I taxi to our tie down and run through the final checklists. I'm looking forward to Lesson 6 this thursday !