Dad's story

Dad called last week to tell me the following story: Mom had gone out (to the "grandchildren's row) and picked a bouquet of jonquils, put them in a vase, and took them to the car. She had been doing this a couple days, he said. He told her, "If you want to take those to somebody, you have to tell me who and we'll take them." She did not respond at that time. Later, however, she brought a notepad and he supplied the pencil. She wrote "Mama's house." Dad had trouble making out the "Mama" part, so he asked her, "What does this say?" She responded with "Mama." So, they took Grandma Lottie her flowers and it was just the sweetest day!

the grandchildren's row

Since time began, the rule at our house, (Mom and Dad's house), has always been don't pick the flowers! Then came the grandchildren. As a compromise, Mom planted a long row of jonquils in the very back of the garden where blossoms would not be missed and dubbed it "the grandchildren's row." The grandchildren were allowed to pick this row to their heart's content and have spent many happy springtimes in this area. Well, the grandchildren's "row" is more like a "swath" now and it's in full bloom. Also, to Dad's delight, the onions sets are poking themselves up, the apricot tree is blooming, and he and Christine have been working on a new and improved flowerbed.

Mom's favorite spot lately is the picture window on the east side where she props her feet up and has a nice view of whatever is budding outside, the dogs playing, or company coming down the drive. The rocking chair of choice is the one that Dad bought her when I was born. It has been back and forth between houses through new babies, moves, and whatever else happened to be going on at the time, and has finally found itself back at home for her. Mom is well and comfortable and able to get out and about quite a lot with the warm weather. So, all things considered, life is good!

for the love of pumpkin butter

Miss Jessie (Mom's niece) came to Lottie's house this weekend on her way to visit her parents, Keith and Donna, (Mom's brother and wife) in Ohio. I'm not sure I'd seen her since her wedding, but she sure doesn't look like an "old married woman!" She looks just great! Janice fixed an awesome shepherd's pie at Lotties, Mom and Dad came to eat, and Chad and I dropped in as well. Mom wasn't speaking, but she was smiling and ate plenty. She took a special liking to the pumpkin butter Janice had laid out, and probably would have eaten it to the bottom of the bowl if she had had another sheet of biscuits!

While there, Lottie gave Mom her large photo collage, that she made for each of her children. Mom carried it carefully and wanted it put up immediately when we got home. She also had one of her wedding photos from Lottie's house that she carried around awhile and then tucked in the edge of the frame. We put it in the living room and Mom seemed content with that. While looking through photos at Lottie's, Chad pointed to a couple people and asked, "Who is this?" Correctly, she answered "Grandpa" to one and "Merl Dean" to the another.

I was kicking myself because I forgot to take a photo for the blog last week when Mary came and this week when Jessie was here. I'll have to keep the blog more in my mind!

Mary visited

Over President's Day Mary Schroer came to visit and stay with Mom and Dad. This gave me Saturday and Sunday off to go clean my own house which had been feeling some neglect. We appreciated all she did while there. She spent some time with Ellie on her new lead and Dad was amazed at how quickly Ellie is catching on. Christine texted me last week to say, "Grandma is playing with the dog...of her own accord...and laughing."

visit from Allen

Allen and Liesel were down last weekend and got to see the new dog and the new locks for the first time. They only heard Mom say one word from Thursday through Saturday afternoon. When Patrick and Devri came to visit, she repeated his "How are you?" but Allen was in the other room and missed it. Mom likes Patrick and gives him random hugs when it suits her. She walked around and around the circle of the house many times, and patted Patrick on the head each time. She ignored the rest of us. She's bad about playing favorites! Each time she placed her hand on his head, she smiled. Patrick is a good sport. His grandfather was diagnosed with Alzheimer's about the same time Mom was, but his disease has progressed much more slowly.

Mom chopped up bananas with a butter knife to put in a fruit salad. We're always looking for things she can do successfully and without injury. All my kids were able to come to dinner with us, and Liesel made an excellent peach/blueberry pie for dessert. It was one of those "freezer's choice" pies---whatever comes out of the freezer is what goes in the pie. Anyway, it's an idea worth patenting! It was a great dinner with 'lots of quick quips and laughter.

nurturing

When I got down to Mom and Dad's house today, Mom was already outside. She was wearing three coats with three shirts underneath that, so I'd say she was sufficiently bundled. As I got out of the car I said, "Hi, Mom. What are you doing?" She said without hesitation, "Getting ready to go to Competition." (where they lived when the boys were little.) I said, "Oh, yeah? Hang on a minute and I'll go with you." Why argue? She opted to come on into the house with me, instead. I said to Dad, "Mom says you're going to Competition." He said he'd like to, but would have to have someone go with him because he can't drive all that way by himself with Mom not talking to him. We'll have to plan a trip up when the weather is a bit warmer.

The afternoon was full of things that pointed to Mom's confusion, but I don't want this blog to be a list of "crazy stuff Mom does." I will say only that she has some brown jersey gloves she is now enjoying wearing. That's a good thing since she likes to be outside as much as the weather allows. She likes to wear them in the house, too, and to bed. We're glad she is at home with us so if she wants to wear jersey gloves to bed, that's her perogative. If it's a comfort to her, it's a comfort to us! Who really cares?

Dad's going to have to watch his mouth, though. We were sitting in the stove room swapping stories when he told me about how as a child he had once taken a candle and written with it on the stovepipe. He received quite the reprimand, I guess, because it caused a fair amount of smoke. Less than 30 seconds later, Mom was there with a birthday candle ready to try it out on the stove pipe herself! I said, "Dad, watch what you say and don't be giving her any more ideas!"

At one point in the evening, Mom got a jacket and put it on me. I remembered someone telling me that some Alzheimers patients feel a need to "nurture" and sometimes a doll will keep them happy and occupied. I decided to give it a shot with a doll I found in the attic. I gave it to her while she was sitting in the rocking chair. She looked at it with the same care and concern she would a grandchild and there was a glimmer of normalcy in the way she held that doll so carefully. She rocked it a while then put it on the dining room table. After a break to do something else that crossed her mind, she found the doll again and occupied herself with sitting it on her lap, tucking the "blanket" (tea towel) close around its neck and feet, and holding it vertically, then horizontally to watch its eyes open and shut. I hope we're on to something here and this will give her something to do besides try the doors. My goal is to enjoy having her here and to keep her happy and safe. So far, so good!

shocking

(Sadie, Ellie, and Mom take a walk.) Mom has a shorter trek than the Magnus Corner she enjoys. It's the prefered walk for us in that we can see her from the house the entire time. She goes down to the field south of the house, picks up some fluff from a stuffed animal that evidently died there and loops around to the cars, putting the stuffing in the cupholder of the Toyota. One thing, though, she has to cross electric fence to get there. No problem to her, though. She takes hold of the fence with both hands and takes her time stepping over and does not even flinch. Dad has watched her do it a number of times and thought, "There must be something wrong with the fence." Nope, it's hot alright. There is some sort of disconnect somewhere, though, because she has no reaction to it at all. It's not dangerous, I guess, but.....it's pretty strange. Dad started locking the car saying "I'm tired of all this )*(&^(*^& stuff she puts in the car." I tried to encourage him to relax and let her do her thing. So, he has fluff in the cupholder---welcome to the new normal!