A Good Valentines Day in DementiaLand

  It had been most recent Valentines day and I had been invited to  lunch and a party with music, with my special Valentine. When I got there Barb had a new friend to go along with Nancy who held hands, on a regular basis, with Barb who reassured her when  Nancy cries that everything was going to be all right. She also promised to be the matron of honor for another somewhat confused lady who believed she was going to be married at the end of the week. Naturally, Barb volunteered to be her matron of honor.  All of us sat together for Valentines lunch at a big table after I cleared with the authorities that this was okay and seemed no danger to anyone. I also consulted with the pianist who was providing the music and asked if she could play some slow music after lunch, preferably waltzes, so Barb and I could dance. All I could think of was the Tennessee waltz. In the meantime, the pianist was playing golden oldies from the 50s.  My lunch group along with others at other tables seemed to be having a good time and I encouraged my group to guess the songs which were golden oldies and we played guess the name of the song and the singer. All the people with dementia beat me soundly in that game. Some bad jokes on my part, more fun and  then I told them Barb and I were going to dance. And so we did. Alone at first and then several other "mixed"married couples(caretaker and resident) joined us. Finally,  some of the aides began rounding up people from other areas in wheelchairs and brought them to join  the dance party.  Here they held hands h with those in wheelchairs and they danced also. Towards the end as some of the smiling laughing people began to sit down from exhaustion, one of the big shots showed up with the camera and took pictures of the  crowd. Later, I asked for copies and told them with their permission I might advertise their wonderful institution by putting those pictures on my blog. Unfortunately, because this facility is part of a giant corporation they have lawyers, there are some "privacy"issues involved in that . So eventually, I expect to get an edited picture of me and my beloved dancing through the night at our best Valentines day ever, and they will be posted on this very same blog :-) Ray

 

Finally, I had to deal with one difficult problem. Saying goodbye to Barb. The problem is easy to explain. When I arrive I get hugs and kisses. When I leave I have two choices. The first is to bring Barb home with me. The second is to shack up with her and move in to memory care. The solution requires teamwork on the part of the staff and me heading home without being seen. Today it all worked well and when I called back Barb was still happy, contented in her new apartment and doing just fine. A really good day in dementia land for Barb and me as well.

Vocation

 

I was reminded last Sunday by our Methodist pastor who spoke in his sermon of a word rarely used today.  That word was vocation. It is somewhat similar to the word calling, which clergymen and women are often said to  to  have experienced. The minister told the story of a young friend of his, who at age 11, told his parents he intended to become a medical missionary. He accomplished that goal by attending medical school, became a pastor, doctored in a small town in Minnesota. There he married and helped raise a family. However, he spent much of his adult life in the small African country of Sierra Leone. There he treated thousands of people where no medical care was available. In semi – retirement he returned to Minnesota  and later returned, at age 84, to Sierra Leone to help fight the spread of the dreaded Ebola. The moral of the pastors message was surely that there are some people in life who spurn the goal of riches and fame, that in the cause of doing good in this world. Something more than a job, something with a mission. I do believe there are people in  jobs and professions, who do that. Not everyone,  but there are some who see their job as a vocation. Nurses, teachers, firemen, social workers, EMTs and so on and on. Let us all remember to give them the respect and honor for what they do, often without much reward, but certainly deserving of our support. Troutbirder (ray)

Dang it!

I did it again. You'd think with only two blogs I could keep it all straight. Wrong!!! My latest post intended for this blog is on the other one. Sorry but you'll have to click on Mark Twain above, sitting next to the idiot to jump over to my other blog

Theodore Roosevelt's early books.

 Hunting Trips of the Rancherman and The Wilderness Hunter by Theodore Roosevelt.

This 1996 modern Library edition of two of Pres. Roosevelt’s many books is readily available. In reviewing it I must reveal a big bias. It seems my father born in 1909 had a middle name named after Pres. Theodore. I followed with the same middle name and then Mrs. T and I named our eldest son Theodore. Theodore Roosevelt was the most remarkable of men. He ushered his country into the 20^th century. He stands also in the first rank, according to author Stephen Ambrose, of the 20^th century presidents. He was  among famous world leaders second on the great writers list just behind Winston Churchill and Julius Caesar. You can add scholar, cowboy, outdoorsman, rancher, conservationist, war hero, police Commissioner, Nobel Prize winner for peace, and progressive Republican who became president. He also reflected some of the currently politically incorrect beliefs and biases of his times. He was a man for all seasons.

The  memoir I just finished reading was an early one of his many books. It does reflect the new man in the making, who lived in the West and learned from it. As a young New Yorker, Harvard graduate,  inheriting wealth from his father he presaged his younger cousin Franklin and was the uncle of Franklins bride Eleanor. I will say this about this book. If you’d like to meet this great president firsthand instead of biographies or see his face on Mount Rushmore. Read about him in his own words. It's real history in the making.

 

Posting on my book review blog

It seems after weeks of inability to enter my own blog and do new posts my computer guru finally got Google to admit me. The war between Yahoo and Google was conquered. I did miss my book review for Barr Sumie do yesterday the first Wednesday of the month yesterday but  today its up and running. So they'll be a new one coming up a few days late and a few dollars short. :-)

Birds & Barb

 

A Bald Eagle flew over our house this morning and then a rare pileated woodpecker showed up at our suet feeder. A good sign I thought. Then sure enough a call from Cottagewood memory care saying Barb was having another good day. Since her new medicine was put in place that makes almost 3 weeks in a row without drastic or aggressive agitation. Sharon G. sent Barb a card saying that she had moved into an apartment just like Barb had. Perfect! Barb said she hoped Sharon would have as nice an apartment as she did. According to the staff Barb is working miracles. She helps big time in the kitchen and holds hands with other ladies who are seriously confused and consoles and reassures them that things will be all right and she will be their friend. That the Barb I know and love...

Ray (Troutbirder)

 

Safe From The Sea

The natural  beauty of the Great Lakes and the awesome force of its storms provide set the scene for this great tale  of life’s natural cycles. Peter Geye in his first novel Safe From The Sea   frames a  profound story of an estranged father and the sons attempts to reconcile, along with the tragedy of a Great Lakes sea wreck hanging over their heads.  The son and his wife also have problems with conception.  This all provides us with riveting characterizations writ large.    It also seems evident to me that  my attraction to this story  that the father son conflict is generational.

Safe From The Sea obviously also clicks for me because as a nature loving Minnesotan our Greatest Great Lake and our northern Pine forests are close to my heart.

This is a very good book.  Family redemption issues, managed by good people, always works for me.

 

 

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@Barrie Summy

Dr. Suess

Click  on the guy standing by the trout stream above and jump to my semi rant on the subject...:)

Return To Duty

In the words of General MacArthur who promised fleeing the Philippines, under duress " I shall return" and did so....well here I am ready to go.  Barb is still in St. Mary's Hospital in Rochester recovering from her  broken arm and soon to return to "memory care." So far so good. I'm doing ok as the adjustment to living alone begins. I do have a new technological device which will help me blog called Dragon. I'm really excited about it as when I talk to it and it types for me on the screen. This is now called "word process". It's gonna take a while to catch on to it but with a little practice....
Here a sample of the first time I tried it.

Latin is a dead language. Dead as it can be. First it killed  the Romans and now it killing me....
(Read by me from  the back of Barb's old high school Latin text)

Ray (Troutbirder)