MEMORIAL DAY 2016

 Hope everyone had a great Memorial Day.

I've been in retail for more than 40 years

and the thought of now being able to be off

and enjoy holidays makes me a bit giddy.

Susan was able to join us for the

whole weekend which made is

even better.

Sunday morning started out with a

big family breakfast.

Not only was it delicious but

Sue did the cooking, so it was an extra treat.

In fact, Sue took care of all the meals while she was here.

Sweet!

Dad loves it when Susan comes because

not only does he get to see his

"second favorite" daughter,

he gets to play solitaire

on her IPad.

Billy and Pat were able to join us on Monday.

They were kind enough to bring us

some of their chicken's fresh eggs.

Yum, yum.

They also brought their grill up and we all enjoyed

a cookout of hamburgers and hot dogs.

Rick and Terry are out of the country so they were

not in attendance.

We did keep in touch through our smartphones.

Rick kept our mouths watering with all the

pictures of his baking creations.

This is his apple pie.

Mom was festive in her

red, white and blue.

I do think I discovered something about

her this weekend.

Too many people around is maybe a bit overwhelming.

She doesn't join in the conversation

like she does when it is just

me and her.

I could be wrong, but she just didn't seem as

animated as she is with me.

We all enjoyed the weekend

but now it's time to get back into our normal

routine...I don't mind.

WHAT'S IN A NAME?

We had our follow up appointment with the

neurologist yesterday,

I now have a name for what ails my Mom.

Binswanger's Disease

Binswanger falls under the vascular dementia heading.

No cure, no really good drugs.

Binswanger's disease, also called subcortical vascular dementia, is a type of dementia caused by widespread, microscopic areas of damage to the deep layers of white matter in the brain.

The damage is the result of the thickening and narrowing of the arteries that feed the subcortical areas of the brain.

Commonly known as "hardening of the arteries". 

The most characteristic feature of BD is psychomotor slowness-an increase in the length of time it takes to do things.  Other symptoms include forgetfulness, changes in speech, an unsteady gait, clumsiness or frequent falls, changes in personality or mood (most likely in the form of apathy, irritability, and depression), and urinary symptom that aren't caused by urological disease.

All of these symptoms fit my Mom to a T.

My Dad asked me yesterday,

"What was the point"

Us putting Mom through the MRI, two doctors visits

and for what.  We don't know anything more than we did before.

"Those doctors are all in co-hoots".

The point for me is now

I have a name.

It gives me some comfort and power

to face tomorrow, to know what might be coming

and how I should best react.

I'm glad we have a name.

WELL HEY THERE

Our neighbors were up by the fence line this morning.

I was as surprised to see them as they were of me.

I hated to disturb his R&R,

I didn't make much of an impression.

A casual look...but not interested.

Everyday is an adventure.

MEALS ON WHEELS

Every other Monday my parents receive meals on wheels.

What a great program and what a help it is to all of us.

My parents live too far from the delivery site

to receive hot meals daily.

They do however qualify for the frozen dinners

that come every two weeks.

A hot meal does come to them on the day of the delivery.

I think they are prepared at the local senior center,

but not positive.

The meals are nothing fancy, but nutritious.

Both my Mom and Dad still have good appetites

so not much gets wasted.  Mom sometimes leaves

her green vegetable, but when that happens my Dad

is quick to take up the cause of the

"clean plate society".

They receive twenty meals in all, two hot and 18 frozen.

Skim milk, sandwich bread, whipped spread, snacks

(Moon Pies or cookies)

and a couple of juices all come with the delivery.

The meals arrive just in time for lunch,  so as soon as

the folks have had their fill, Dad gets busy unpacking.

When he's done and not looking,

being the control freak I am,

I do a little reorganizing with like meals together.

This week they have five different choices.

What I usually do is have the meals on wheels

for lunch time and try to cook

a dinner meal.  Sometimes we alternate

but it seems to work well for us.

SATURDAY

I wanted to give you a quick update on how our

garden is coming along.

Yesterday we got some much needed rain,

but not near enough.  The garden is beginning

but I had hoped it would be further along than it is.

The peppers, tomatoes, and squash have done the

best so far.  Our beans are coming up, but haven't

began to climb yet.  They need a few more inches

before I can help them along up our bamboo stakes.

Dad helped me make this make shift composter.

Hopefully I will have enough this Fall to

ready a bed in the front yard for planting

next year.

The good.

Today I my walk I discovered some good and bad.

I've got a question into one of my experts,

but I think these may be blackberries.

I have a vision of blackberry pie!

The bad!

I believe this is poison ivy, and it is growing

like crazy in the woods now.

I am sooooo allergic.

Now for the ugly.

This table and chair set is my latest project,

It's been painted three times, I think,

first black, then white and finally green.

All three colors chipping off now, give it that camo look.

I'm not a camo girl

so I've started today with a wire brush and sand paper.

I hope to get them painted within the next two weeks.

I will keep you posted.

HAPPINESS IS A NEW HEARING AID

The joy of hearing again.

What a day...what a week!

We just got back from the hearing clinic.

We came home with three new hearing aids.

One for Mom

and

two for Dad.

Mom can actually hear the TV again,

she can hear the traffic on our busy road,

but best of all she can hear

me.

It has been a bit depressing around here.

Almost two weeks ago we discovered

Moms hearing aid had gone out.

"Post it" notes and lots of hand signals are

well and good, but I can't tell you how happy I am

that she can hear me again.

She is completely deaf in one ear and

severely deaf in the other.

It took so long to get a new one because

her earpiece had to be special ordered.

Her new one is a little smaller,

has better technology

and hopefully, will be simple to operate.

I couldn't end this post without a snapshot

of my dad, after all he got two new ones as well.

I think he is more pleased that the whole process is over

for another few years rather than excited about

new hearing aids.

God bless him.

By the way, he did not drive there,

he is just pulling

the car into the garage.

A GOOD DAY

Yesterday was a good day.

My cousin Gay and

her beautiful daughter Emma

stopped by for a visit.

I hadn't seen Gay for many years and had never

met Emma.  We had a lovely visit sitting outside in our backyard.

Mom is still without her hearing aid so she couldn't

join in much with the conversation, but

she did remember Gay and could recall

holding her as a baby.

Emma is in her second year at Auburn University

and this summer she is, first time

waitressing, at Logan's Roadhouse.

Dad decided to be anti social and didn't come

out and join us.  When I asked him later, why not,

he told me he didn't know who she was and couldn't

understand when she introduced herself.

I felt bad and learned a valuable lesson

don't assume.

It's my job to make sure

everyone is at the party.

Later I took my normal walk around the grounds.

The Privet is in bloom and it smells heavenly.

I found a cluster of daisies along the path

and was amazed how big they were.

The beautiful weather kept us all outside

much of the day.

I tried a new squash recipe for dinner which

turned out quite good if I do say so myself.

Now lets see what today brings.

HOW DOES A TURTLE CROSS THE ROAD?

How does a turtle cross the road?

Very, very carefully.

I notice something in the road this morning

but couldn't quite figure out what it was.

When I did, my heart started beating fast.

We live on a very busy highway

and there was a 50/50 chance we would not

make it across.

I said a quick and fretful prayer,

nervous the whole time.

He made it.

He allowed me to take a couple of pictures

before he was done with me and

made his way to the tall grass

in our side field.

I'm kind of digging this country life.

LOOK WHATS GROWING ON THE FARM

I like to get out and walk the farm.  It helps me

clear my head and enjoy the great outdoors.

Look what I came across on a recent outing.

After I found the first one, I started looking closer.

Our back wooded area is abundant with

mushrooms.

I found several different types

none of which I know the names.

Apparently they like to grow on or near

burnt out tree trunks.

Some years ago we had a furious tornado come

through our property and knock down twelve or so large trees.

My Dad has since had them cut down and he has been

burning out the stumps.

They are amazing bits of nature.

You may be saying to yourself

BIG DEAL...MUSHROOMS.

I say yea, it is, I take my pleasures where I can get them.