I am not up voluntarily. Didn’t go to sleep until 3:00 or something this morning, but they are breaking up rock across the street from us for something they are doing to the drainage and sidewalk, and they decided to start a few minutes before 7:30 a.m.
That photo is of course a butterfly. The flower is yellow sweet clover, the butterfly is the summer azure, and unless you are seeing it on your phone, this is much bigger than lifesize. It wingspan (wing tip to wing tip with wings open) is only about an inch. When it flies, you see a very pretty pale blue, since the inside of its wings are blue. One can also photograph them with wings open, basking, but in my experience it’s hard to do unless it’s a cool morning and they haven’t warmed up yet.
Morning and I was just about ready to ask about Chas! He was up and at ‘em before us all 😊
That is such a beautiful butterfly up there…as soon as I saw it I thought to myself “snow queen”! Great capture Cheryl!
Very busy couple of days. My self-pity blog post has now been read about 2700 times. That’s a blessing.
Finally, today, I can actually edit my book–but first have to write an endorsement! Crazy days.
Oh, and surprise! I forgot to turn over the calendar to see the house cleaners are coming.
Curious how a life that doesn’t seem all that busy, sure feels busy.
I’ve struggled to get dinner on the table the last two nights–too distracted by everything else. 🙂
In the last few days, the final house builders from our church have received their occupancy permits and have moved in, or are moving in today.
Yesterday morning, I painted primer on our youth leader’s garage walls. I like to paint.
We’re thankful and rejoicing that our church members who have been trying to rebuild are finally home 32 months after their houses burned down.
The most tragic story from the fires remains the fact the smartest couple we know, who finally moved away last fall in frustration, still have not been able to settle and build a house–even in Oregon.
We’ve had red flag fire warnings the last two days. Sigh.
I had to accept a letter of resignation yesterday. What you say online matters and the mob mentality will tie your up and roast you over an open fire. His attorney suggested we make a statement distancing ourselves from him. Today there is an Inman article about a well know person sexually harrassing women in his employ. Is it wrong that I am upset he quoted a Bible verse in his statement? People, being human, will disappoint you.
Lots of commotion here today.
Elvera missed the table chair this morning and fell. She isn’t hurt, but I couldn’t get her up. That means I needed some help. That means that there is lots of commotion because when you are 88 years old, everyone assumes that you broke something. she didn’t break anything
The last three hours have been dealing with the fact that Elvera slipped out of the chair.
There is a time in life when the simplest thing can become an issue.
Oh so thankful she didn’t break anything and even with the commotion you found help in the time of need! ❤️
Yes Kim people do and say the dumbest things and you just have to scratch your head. The superintendent of our school district posted a photo of his family all wearing Hitler mustaches and when confronted quickly took it down…but it was a tad bit too late. Now the board will hold a closed door meeting to discuss what to do…I suspect the district will be soon looking for a new superintendent…..
So sorry to hear that she fell, Chas. Glad she was not hurt! I remember my dad telling me that he and my mom would not be going strawberry picking anymore. He could hardly get her up after she sat or knelt picking. I think it was quite frightening. Old age is not for sissies, as my good friend likes to say.
So easy to post something foolish and even have things misinterpreted. 😦
Happy Canada Day, Roscuro. Or is there a more proper way of saying that?
K, Happy Canada Day is fine. It was once known as Dominion Day, as our official national title was the Dominion of Canada, but that has long since been discontinued, with Dominion of Canada falling out of governmental use in the 1960s, and the title of the July 1 holiday being officially changed to Canada Day in 1982. Our Latin motto is still ‘Ad mare usque ad mare’ – from sea to sea – taken from the verse in Psalm 72, “He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ehnds of the earth”. It is an apt description of Canada’s bounds,extending from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and from the Great Lakes and Saint Lawrence River region to the northernmost point of Ellesmere Island, and harks back to the nominal Christianity of the founders.
It will be a quiet Canada Day here. I went to see Youngest yesterday, for the first time since the shutdown. Smallest Niece is a beautiful baby, looking very like a female version of her next eldest sibling, Seventh Nephew. Seventh is quite possessive of his little sister, fending off his elder three siblings if they get close, a behaviour Youngest is trying to nip in the bud. Seventh is still much less talkative than his cousin Sixth, who is just a couple months older, but he can say my name now. The oldest of the flock, Little Niece, has lost one of her two front teeth, and the other front tooth is quite loose. They are all taller than when I saw them last.
Some Canadian music for the day, from the Quebecois folk group, Le Vent du Nord (The North Wind) – as with most French Canadian folksongs, it doesn’t matter what the words actually mean, which rarely make complete sense, it is the music that is important:
Chas, I’m so glad nothing was broken. So did they have to take her to the hospital to check that out?
I got 10 hours sleep last night, interrupted only once at around 3 a.m. when I woke up with a really achy knee. I suspect it was from all the pushing and pulling and prodding by the physical therapist who now has an intimate relationship with my left knee — and with the re-introduction, after close to a one-week break, of all the exercises at once, plus a couple knew ones. But it really did hurt, so I had to take one of the prescription pain pills to get back to sleep.
It’s OK this morning, though, thankfully. And I feel rested, but dreading the day somewhat as I may have to do a lawsuit story relating to a former harbor commission president, which means 2 other stories I really need to get done before the end of the day tomorrow (a day that again will be broken up by an 11 a.m. PT appt) will be a mad rush. It’s really just feeling like a grind lately.
I’m having an interesting back-and-forth via private FB message with my former roommate, the Roman Catholic, about faith and ‘where is God’ in all of this. She’s unfamiliar with the Bible in general, I think, but I’ve always thought she was a believer, just not deeply steeped (or even exposed all that much) to biblical thinking and theology.
The last thing she sent me was one of those videos that argues that we wonder where God is in all of this because we have dis-invited God from our schools, governments, lives. God is just standing outside, waiting for our invitation.
So, lots I can say about that obviously (beginning with, God hasn’t gone anywhere, even when we do move away). Just weighing how to also keep the conversation going. I’d urged her a number of years ago to check out BSF or another non-denominational Bible Study, but what she came up with is joining a class at her church where the focus was on Catholic doctrine, not the Bible so much.
But she’s always moved (and surprised usually) when I share scripture with her. She mentioned being sort of familiar with the story of Daniel via the Veggie Tales videos she used to play for her daughters when they were going up, but referred to the figures from Scripture as the “three guys” in a furnace that she only vaguely remembered from the story … 🙂
Kim, sorry you’re having to go through all of that, how awkward and frustrating.
We’ve all felt too comfortable with social media, I think (though I long ago quit feeling very free with that medium at all). It can be a minefield, especially when one is still working and is known publicly for their connection to a particular business or company.
Our company has laid down strict guidelines especially for any and all posts, tweets (or likes or comments) when it comes to political views, though it’s still violated by reporters from what I’ve seen. Younger reporters who are on the politically correct side of things seem to feel too free to “go there.” But that’s my old-school journalism take.
I also think that not airing your political views in public helps journalists to keep a more neutral mindset, one that can better see both sides of issues and isn’t part of a political “tribe”.
It’s a discipline of sorts for reporters, I think, not to be “out there” gabbing and griping about political or social causes in the general public. And exercising that discipline, I think, helps us to personally keep that necessary distance even internally from all the debates and arguing.
Love that music, Roscuro! I will share it with Art and Wesley. They both enjoy Loreena McKinnet music and this has some of that sound. I think she is Canadian but I may not remember that correctly.
Glad you enjoyed it. It is Le Vent du Nord’s signature piece, and there are clips showing them closing shows with it at festivals like Shrewsbury Folk Festival and the Celtic Festival in Glasgow. Traditional Canadian folk music is quite multicultural, as it blends together Scottish and Irish with French (did you notice the hurdy-gurdy, a very French instrument) traditions, so you have French Canadian folk musicians playing Irish jigs and reels, along with their traditional turlotte. There are also regional variations, which is why I said this group was Quebecois, as the Acadian style is a bit different. The Quebecois style tends to blend jazz traditions subtly into the music, while the Acadian style is more pure folk, and, of course, the Acadian style is where Cajun music is derived from. The Metis and Inuit both have incorporated fiddle music into their own traditions. In the Nunavut community where I was, they have a long tradition of gathering for fiddle music and dancing on Christmas Eve, and it is something they look forward to, as they told us.
Re the header photo: From the time I had a camera with the ability to capture something and present it at larger than life size, I have marveled even more at the creative goodness of God. One of my first times of wonderment wasn’t this species of butterfly, but it could have been: The camera shows details you just cannot see with the naked eye, especially on a small insect in motion. Notice those stripes on those tiny antennae. You could see them through a microscope, but not in looking at the butterfly in the field, and probably not even holding one in your hand. God has put many such beautiful touches in His creation.
Chas, you ask why take photos of something without people in it? Because all of creation exclaims the glory of God–even a tiny butterfly that’s only one inch wide with its wings open.
Speaking of the cultural mix of music, one of the lockdown memes that got shared in Canadian circles was this clip, taken in the Yukon, of a bagpipe player and a Sikh bhangra dancer showing a safe social distance:
Incidentally, the Sikh community uses bagpipes in their own folk music, as Sikhs picked it up from their service in the army of the British Raj in India.
~ Corona virus immunity is odd. It’s a combination and balance of innate, cellular and humeral immunity. If any system has a weakness this affects susceptibility and the course of infection. Older patients have more receptors. And dev worse inflam complications. Much to learn. ~
If anyone is interested”
Everything is back to whatever normal is around her.Only she still doesn’t eat or drink anything.
Have I told you about that?
She doesn’t eat, she doesn’t drink. I don’t know how long a person can do that.
I can’t do anything about it.
Chas, would it be possible to seek advice from a nutritionist. Not eating or drinking is a part of the dementia, but a nutritionist might advise you on the best foods and prompting techniques. A swallo assessment would also be good to have, as dementia can affect the ability to swallow.
Thanx Phos. She does have a nurse visiting. One is coming tomorrow morning. But they are not encouraging. She doesn’t put up a fuss. She says OK, but doesn’t do it. One sip of water, that’s all. till next time. Whenever that is.
Strangely, she eats most of her breakfast, but doesn’t drink her coffee. She will drink a small glass of orange juice. But that isn’t enough.
Chas, she may need prompting a little more often to have a sip from her drink, but she is getting fluid from her food as well. If she eats cereal for breakfast, then the milk in the cereal provides fluid. It may be a good thing that coffee does not interest her, as it has a diuretic effect – non-caffeinated beverages like orange juice are better to provide fluid. But for those with dementia who eat and drink very little, their body can adapt and make good use of the little they do eat.
Chas, we have mentioned before the possibility of thickening liquid to make things easier to swallow. The fact that she is drinking orange juice but not coffee brings up that possibility again, because orange juice (especially if it has pulp) is thicker than coffee. My nurse daughter did some in-home care of seniors for several years before she started working in a nursing home. She had a knack for encouraging people to eat or drink–but it was a skill. Not everyone is good at it. Can you specifically ask the agency if they can send someone who’s good at that?
Thanks for the suggestions.
I think I may have found an answer, partial, at least, to the problem.
She was sitting in her chair and I didn’t want to get her out at the time, so I brought over a bowl of fruit cocktail and fed it to her. Like a child. She ate all of it, like a child. Then, I brought over some beans. She ate some of them.
How did I know when she finished?
She spit it out, just like a child..
I am slowly learning.
But she noticed what she did, and started brushing herself off.
I may try that approach often again. But not for breakfast. She eats well in the morning.
It is sad to see it happening. But I now know a way to feed her.
So sad.
I’m so glad Elvera didn’t get hurt badly in her fall.
Today is the first Canada Day that I haven’t been busy working at camp in 6 years. It feels weird to have the day off. We drove up to Waskesiu to look at the fifth wheels in the campgrounds to see if there was any shorter ones. Not that we’re looking to buy – just curious. Then we went to a picnic area and ate lunch in the car. It rained the whole time, but this afternoon has been sunny, cloudy, rainy, but very nice.
My more expensive older Galaxy phone that was lost for awhile has a great camera that enables me to get good macro shots. Since my world shrank to stay at home, it is a fun time to look at the macro world in my yard. It’s a whole undiscovered world!
I actually feel like I’ve been on a lovely retreat for the last four months.
I’ve stayed at home, slept (well, that’s an exaggeration) as late as I wanted, exercised, watched excellent Bible study videos, listened to terrific Bible teachings (late at night when I wasn’t sleeping), read liked mad, worked puzzles, wrote a book, tried to listen to God, spent time with my husband.
I’m actually reluctant to give up my cocoon and return to “the world.” Other than to visit friends and family, why bother?
Besides my quick trip to Philadelphia with my daughter in January, I haven’t traveled more than 70 miles from home (and that was only once two weeks ago), and barely out of my neighborhood since March 11.
I can’t think of anywhere I particularly want to go.
I live a lot of my life online, so perhaps I’m not as antsy as others. Most likely I’m spoiled, but this has been a good time for me.
I laughed with a friend I ran into at the park while walking today. When my kids were little, I’d read stories set in English villages where a char woman came in to clean and all the main character did was worry about her garden, walk to the shops in town, check in on the vicar and set aside things for the jumble sale.
My knee is still, praise God, feeling much better than normal. After filing my story and being off the clock (couldn’t get a rise out of any of the editors, though, to tell them the story was in — must have been some really big meeting going on) I went out and watered in the backyard, am about to hit the front porch flower pots now.
Wandering Views 
Am I really first at 8:30?
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Good morning, Cheryl, and all. Such an interesting header. God is amazing with all His functional and beautiful designs.
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Two days ago I posted an article about a YA book that the author had cancelled from going to market. Now the link says the article has been removed. Wow!
https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/childrens/childrens-book-news/article/83691-upcoming-ya-novel-ember-days-canceled-by-author.html
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No, Chas was here before 8. I hadn’t posted yet, so he posted on yesterday’s thread.
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I am not up voluntarily. Didn’t go to sleep until 3:00 or something this morning, but they are breaking up rock across the street from us for something they are doing to the drainage and sidewalk, and they decided to start a few minutes before 7:30 a.m.
That photo is of course a butterfly. The flower is yellow sweet clover, the butterfly is the summer azure, and unless you are seeing it on your phone, this is much bigger than lifesize. It wingspan (wing tip to wing tip with wings open) is only about an inch. When it flies, you see a very pretty pale blue, since the inside of its wings are blue. One can also photograph them with wings open, basking, but in my experience it’s hard to do unless it’s a cool morning and they haven’t warmed up yet.
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Morning and I was just about ready to ask about Chas! He was up and at ‘em before us all 😊
That is such a beautiful butterfly up there…as soon as I saw it I thought to myself “snow queen”! Great capture Cheryl!
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I saw this Thomas Sowell quote yesterday:
“Age gives you an excuse for not being very good at things that you were not very good at when you were young.”
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Oh, Canada!
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Does this work?
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Does it still work?
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Very busy couple of days. My self-pity blog post has now been read about 2700 times. That’s a blessing.
Finally, today, I can actually edit my book–but first have to write an endorsement! Crazy days.
Oh, and surprise! I forgot to turn over the calendar to see the house cleaners are coming.
Curious how a life that doesn’t seem all that busy, sure feels busy.
I’ve struggled to get dinner on the table the last two nights–too distracted by everything else. 🙂
In the last few days, the final house builders from our church have received their occupancy permits and have moved in, or are moving in today.
Yesterday morning, I painted primer on our youth leader’s garage walls. I like to paint.
We’re thankful and rejoicing that our church members who have been trying to rebuild are finally home 32 months after their houses burned down.
The most tragic story from the fires remains the fact the smartest couple we know, who finally moved away last fall in frustration, still have not been able to settle and build a house–even in Oregon.
We’ve had red flag fire warnings the last two days. Sigh.
Trying not to indulge in community-pity.
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I had to accept a letter of resignation yesterday. What you say online matters and the mob mentality will tie your up and roast you over an open fire. His attorney suggested we make a statement distancing ourselves from him. Today there is an Inman article about a well know person sexually harrassing women in his employ. Is it wrong that I am upset he quoted a Bible verse in his statement? People, being human, will disappoint you.
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Lots of commotion here today.
Elvera missed the table chair this morning and fell. She isn’t hurt, but I couldn’t get her up. That means I needed some help. That means that there is lots of commotion because when you are 88 years old, everyone assumes that you broke something. she didn’t break anything
The last three hours have been dealing with the fact that Elvera slipped out of the chair.
There is a time in life when the simplest thing can become an issue.
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Testing. Just to see if I’m still logged in.
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Sorry to hear that, Chas, glad you were able to get assistance. Be careful, old man!
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Oh so thankful she didn’t break anything and even with the commotion you found help in the time of need! ❤️
Yes Kim people do and say the dumbest things and you just have to scratch your head. The superintendent of our school district posted a photo of his family all wearing Hitler mustaches and when confronted quickly took it down…but it was a tad bit too late. Now the board will hold a closed door meeting to discuss what to do…I suspect the district will be soon looking for a new superintendent…..
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So sorry to hear that she fell, Chas. Glad she was not hurt! I remember my dad telling me that he and my mom would not be going strawberry picking anymore. He could hardly get her up after she sat or knelt picking. I think it was quite frightening. Old age is not for sissies, as my good friend likes to say.
So easy to post something foolish and even have things misinterpreted. 😦
Happy Canada Day, Roscuro. Or is there a more proper way of saying that?
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K, Happy Canada Day is fine. It was once known as Dominion Day, as our official national title was the Dominion of Canada, but that has long since been discontinued, with Dominion of Canada falling out of governmental use in the 1960s, and the title of the July 1 holiday being officially changed to Canada Day in 1982. Our Latin motto is still ‘Ad mare usque ad mare’ – from sea to sea – taken from the verse in Psalm 72, “He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ehnds of the earth”. It is an apt description of Canada’s bounds,extending from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and from the Great Lakes and Saint Lawrence River region to the northernmost point of Ellesmere Island, and harks back to the nominal Christianity of the founders.
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It will be a quiet Canada Day here. I went to see Youngest yesterday, for the first time since the shutdown. Smallest Niece is a beautiful baby, looking very like a female version of her next eldest sibling, Seventh Nephew. Seventh is quite possessive of his little sister, fending off his elder three siblings if they get close, a behaviour Youngest is trying to nip in the bud. Seventh is still much less talkative than his cousin Sixth, who is just a couple months older, but he can say my name now. The oldest of the flock, Little Niece, has lost one of her two front teeth, and the other front tooth is quite loose. They are all taller than when I saw them last.
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Some Canadian music for the day, from the Quebecois folk group, Le Vent du Nord (The North Wind) – as with most French Canadian folksongs, it doesn’t matter what the words actually mean, which rarely make complete sense, it is the music that is important:
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Chas, I’m so glad nothing was broken. So did they have to take her to the hospital to check that out?
I got 10 hours sleep last night, interrupted only once at around 3 a.m. when I woke up with a really achy knee. I suspect it was from all the pushing and pulling and prodding by the physical therapist who now has an intimate relationship with my left knee — and with the re-introduction, after close to a one-week break, of all the exercises at once, plus a couple knew ones. But it really did hurt, so I had to take one of the prescription pain pills to get back to sleep.
It’s OK this morning, though, thankfully. And I feel rested, but dreading the day somewhat as I may have to do a lawsuit story relating to a former harbor commission president, which means 2 other stories I really need to get done before the end of the day tomorrow (a day that again will be broken up by an 11 a.m. PT appt) will be a mad rush. It’s really just feeling like a grind lately.
I’m having an interesting back-and-forth via private FB message with my former roommate, the Roman Catholic, about faith and ‘where is God’ in all of this. She’s unfamiliar with the Bible in general, I think, but I’ve always thought she was a believer, just not deeply steeped (or even exposed all that much) to biblical thinking and theology.
The last thing she sent me was one of those videos that argues that we wonder where God is in all of this because we have dis-invited God from our schools, governments, lives. God is just standing outside, waiting for our invitation.
So, lots I can say about that obviously (beginning with, God hasn’t gone anywhere, even when we do move away). Just weighing how to also keep the conversation going. I’d urged her a number of years ago to check out BSF or another non-denominational Bible Study, but what she came up with is joining a class at her church where the focus was on Catholic doctrine, not the Bible so much.
But she’s always moved (and surprised usually) when I share scripture with her. She mentioned being sort of familiar with the story of Daniel via the Veggie Tales videos she used to play for her daughters when they were going up, but referred to the figures from Scripture as the “three guys” in a furnace that she only vaguely remembered from the story … 🙂
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Kim, sorry you’re having to go through all of that, how awkward and frustrating.
We’ve all felt too comfortable with social media, I think (though I long ago quit feeling very free with that medium at all). It can be a minefield, especially when one is still working and is known publicly for their connection to a particular business or company.
Our company has laid down strict guidelines especially for any and all posts, tweets (or likes or comments) when it comes to political views, though it’s still violated by reporters from what I’ve seen. Younger reporters who are on the politically correct side of things seem to feel too free to “go there.” But that’s my old-school journalism take.
I also think that not airing your political views in public helps journalists to keep a more neutral mindset, one that can better see both sides of issues and isn’t part of a political “tribe”.
LikeLiked by 3 people
It’s a discipline of sorts for reporters, I think, not to be “out there” gabbing and griping about political or social causes in the general public. And exercising that discipline, I think, helps us to personally keep that necessary distance even internally from all the debates and arguing.
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Roscuro, the song posted at noon is lovely. Happy Canada Day!
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Yes, that was fun, thanks Roscuro
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We’re all also awaiting the noon announcement from our gov about possibly rolling back more of our recent openings.
Meanwhile, heard another reporter is leaving.
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Love that music, Roscuro! I will share it with Art and Wesley. They both enjoy Loreena McKinnet music and this has some of that sound. I think she is Canadian but I may not remember that correctly.
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Time to head north. Hoopla does not want me to listen to books
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That must be Jo, now driving.
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Glad you enjoyed it. It is Le Vent du Nord’s signature piece, and there are clips showing them closing shows with it at festivals like Shrewsbury Folk Festival and the Celtic Festival in Glasgow. Traditional Canadian folk music is quite multicultural, as it blends together Scottish and Irish with French (did you notice the hurdy-gurdy, a very French instrument) traditions, so you have French Canadian folk musicians playing Irish jigs and reels, along with their traditional turlotte. There are also regional variations, which is why I said this group was Quebecois, as the Acadian style is a bit different. The Quebecois style tends to blend jazz traditions subtly into the music, while the Acadian style is more pure folk, and, of course, the Acadian style is where Cajun music is derived from. The Metis and Inuit both have incorporated fiddle music into their own traditions. In the Nunavut community where I was, they have a long tradition of gathering for fiddle music and dancing on Christmas Eve, and it is something they look forward to, as they told us.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Re the header photo: From the time I had a camera with the ability to capture something and present it at larger than life size, I have marveled even more at the creative goodness of God. One of my first times of wonderment wasn’t this species of butterfly, but it could have been: The camera shows details you just cannot see with the naked eye, especially on a small insect in motion. Notice those stripes on those tiny antennae. You could see them through a microscope, but not in looking at the butterfly in the field, and probably not even holding one in your hand. God has put many such beautiful touches in His creation.
Chas, you ask why take photos of something without people in it? Because all of creation exclaims the glory of God–even a tiny butterfly that’s only one inch wide with its wings open.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Speaking of the cultural mix of music, one of the lockdown memes that got shared in Canadian circles was this clip, taken in the Yukon, of a bagpipe player and a Sikh bhangra dancer showing a safe social distance:
Incidentally, the Sikh community uses bagpipes in their own folk music, as Sikhs picked it up from their service in the army of the British Raj in India.
LikeLiked by 1 person
My veterinarian’s latest tweet:
~ Corona virus immunity is odd. It’s a combination and balance of innate, cellular and humeral immunity. If any system has a weakness this affects susceptibility and the course of infection. Older patients have more receptors. And dev worse inflam complications. Much to learn. ~
LikeLiked by 1 person
If anyone is interested”
Everything is back to whatever normal is around her.Only she still doesn’t eat or drink anything.
Have I told you about that?
She doesn’t eat, she doesn’t drink. I don’t know how long a person can do that.
I can’t do anything about it.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Chas, would it be possible to seek advice from a nutritionist. Not eating or drinking is a part of the dementia, but a nutritionist might advise you on the best foods and prompting techniques. A swallo assessment would also be good to have, as dementia can affect the ability to swallow.
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Thanx Phos. She does have a nurse visiting. One is coming tomorrow morning. But they are not encouraging. She doesn’t put up a fuss. She says OK, but doesn’t do it. One sip of water, that’s all. till next time. Whenever that is.
Strangely, she eats most of her breakfast, but doesn’t drink her coffee. She will drink a small glass of orange juice. But that isn’t enough.
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Chas, she may need prompting a little more often to have a sip from her drink, but she is getting fluid from her food as well. If she eats cereal for breakfast, then the milk in the cereal provides fluid. It may be a good thing that coffee does not interest her, as it has a diuretic effect – non-caffeinated beverages like orange juice are better to provide fluid. But for those with dementia who eat and drink very little, their body can adapt and make good use of the little they do eat.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Chas, we have mentioned before the possibility of thickening liquid to make things easier to swallow. The fact that she is drinking orange juice but not coffee brings up that possibility again, because orange juice (especially if it has pulp) is thicker than coffee. My nurse daughter did some in-home care of seniors for several years before she started working in a nursing home. She had a knack for encouraging people to eat or drink–but it was a skill. Not everyone is good at it. Can you specifically ask the agency if they can send someone who’s good at that?
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Thanks for the suggestions.
I think I may have found an answer, partial, at least, to the problem.
She was sitting in her chair and I didn’t want to get her out at the time, so I brought over a bowl of fruit cocktail and fed it to her. Like a child. She ate all of it, like a child. Then, I brought over some beans. She ate some of them.
How did I know when she finished?
She spit it out, just like a child..
I am slowly learning.
But she noticed what she did, and started brushing herself off.
I may try that approach often again. But not for breakfast. She eats well in the morning.
It is sad to see it happening. But I now know a way to feed her.
So sad.
LikeLiked by 7 people
I’m so glad Elvera didn’t get hurt badly in her fall.
Today is the first Canada Day that I haven’t been busy working at camp in 6 years. It feels weird to have the day off. We drove up to Waskesiu to look at the fifth wheels in the campgrounds to see if there was any shorter ones. Not that we’re looking to buy – just curious. Then we went to a picnic area and ate lunch in the car. It rained the whole time, but this afternoon has been sunny, cloudy, rainy, but very nice.
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My more expensive older Galaxy phone that was lost for awhile has a great camera that enables me to get good macro shots. Since my world shrank to stay at home, it is a fun time to look at the macro world in my yard. It’s a whole undiscovered world!
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Has anyone heard of the Georgia Guidestones? Warning: Controversial Subject Matter
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That was very interesting, Janice, thanks. And hopeful. Good to see people asking those questions.
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I actually feel like I’ve been on a lovely retreat for the last four months.
I’ve stayed at home, slept (well, that’s an exaggeration) as late as I wanted, exercised, watched excellent Bible study videos, listened to terrific Bible teachings (late at night when I wasn’t sleeping), read liked mad, worked puzzles, wrote a book, tried to listen to God, spent time with my husband.
I’m actually reluctant to give up my cocoon and return to “the world.” Other than to visit friends and family, why bother?
Besides my quick trip to Philadelphia with my daughter in January, I haven’t traveled more than 70 miles from home (and that was only once two weeks ago), and barely out of my neighborhood since March 11.
I can’t think of anywhere I particularly want to go.
I live a lot of my life online, so perhaps I’m not as antsy as others. Most likely I’m spoiled, but this has been a good time for me.
I laughed with a friend I ran into at the park while walking today. When my kids were little, I’d read stories set in English villages where a char woman came in to clean and all the main character did was worry about her garden, walk to the shops in town, check in on the vicar and set aside things for the jumble sale.
I used to wonder how you get a life like that.
Now I know.
Spoiled rotten I am.
Back to editing.
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My knee is still, praise God, feeling much better than normal. After filing my story and being off the clock (couldn’t get a rise out of any of the editors, though, to tell them the story was in — must have been some really big meeting going on) I went out and watered in the backyard, am about to hit the front porch flower pots now.
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Don’t forget the tree!
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Tomorrow …
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God willing and the knee bends
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