Irony

I can't find the baby Jesus this morning. Say it with me: "Infant Jesus lost and found..."

Lemon Cookies Available

I opened 2 of Mom's cookie tins last night. Found jewelry in one of them (nothing exciting) and a package of lemon cookies in the other. Considering they have to be at least a year and a half old, they look like they were made yesterday. Andy and I both tasted them. I'm still here to blog this morning, although I didn't check if Andy was breathing before I left.

I'll save them for whoever wants a taste. BTW, no detergent color or taste.

Have a Merry,
Lel

Christmas Plans....

I talked to Paul today and he is planning on having a Christmas Open House on the 25th. His plan is to take Mom to mass in the morning and then bring her back to his house. He said that people could arrive around 2:00 or whatever time works for you. He just needs for anyone coming to please text him and let him know how many to expect and if you could bring anything. I told him that I would call Uncle Larry and Julie. I'm planning on bringing ham and rolls. (don't laugh Quinn!)

Hope everyone's December is going smoothly!

Love to all - Levelle

If anyone has any spare prayers....or job leads...Jamie could use them.

He was "laid off" last week as his company is dissolving his business unit in preparation for a company buy out on January 1st. His unit was more of a support center as opposed to a sales maker and therefore dispensable. So much for 9 years with the "family organization"! We're looking at it as them giving him a head start on the job hunting since they are not even sure who's job is "safe" after the takeover. Soo....if you happen to know anyone in the MD/PA/VA/Carolinas area looking to hire a motivated sales professional...give them Jamie's name please.

Love to all - Levelle

Try to Remember the Twoth of December

Happy Birthday Quinn! Since we can't really thank you enough for what you do for mom and all of us, you'll be getting your reward in heaven I am sure. Anyway, a million thanks for everything.

Wish I had a goofy picture of you to post but I don't (anyone?).

Midnight Madness here we come. Who ever said that antiquing was silly?

TGFQ,
Lel

We miss Baltimore already

We made it back before DC-traffic stopped moving, but it was close. Sorry that we snuck out of Levelle's before dawn and without proper good-byes, but I couldn't deal with a ten-hour drive.

It was great seeing everyone, even though it was not enough time. Thanks for the hospitality, food, drink, rides, gifts etc. And thanks for helping Mom through her troubles.

I'm thinking we need a whole family reunion in the spring. Sprinkles, off-sprinkles, and Danny's off-off. I thought that was something only old people wanted to do but I find myself looking forward to seeing all the cousins together. So, Michael, when is your next trip?

Upcoming activities...

Hello all -

With Michael and Melanie in town, I thought we could post activities here. I'd love to have everyone over to watch the Raven's game on Sunday. Just let me know if you can come. I'm having Thanksgiving dinner here on Thursday. I'm aiming to eat around 4:00, so you can come over any time after 3:00 to our Norman Rockwell Thanksgiving dinner. (up until that point I'll be freaking out, shouting at my family and shoving things in closets ;-)).

Okay - that's it for me - Love to all - Levelle

Dottie Frater

Jim's mom passed away this morning. She would have been 85 on Saturday. Recently she's been suffering with lymphoma, which she couldn't conquer.

Keep us all in your prayers. No funeral or anything being planned - she didn't want anything like that. We're trying to talk Cliff into a big party sometime soon. I'll keep you posted.

Have a scotch and toast Dottie!

Love, Lel

If you want to send Cliff a card:
301 N Lafayette Ave
Ventnor Coty NJ 08406

Nice Weekend!

I know most of you were around a lot for the weekend, but just to fill in the blanks for all...

Quinn and I went to see Mom on Satruday morning. She was mad when we got there because she was in the movie room watching a movie with a group. The aide wouldn't take her back up to the floor or let her leave. Not sure how they got her down there, but Quinn is going to make sure they aren't "insisting" on activities that she really doesn't like. After a few tears we convinced her to have her hair styled (washed - thank you again Quinn!) While her hair was being dried, Uncle Jim showed up. He took us all the Roalnd Park Deli for lunch. We all had a really nice time, talking about funny stories from when they were kids. Mom was almost articulate. Stuart and Trudy and the kids were at BG when we got back, so we also had a good visit with them in the Popcorn room. Only issue of the whole day was that Mom wanted to follow us out as we were leaving, which set off the alarm.

The St Mary's reunion was really a blast on Saturday evening!

On Sunday, Stuart and Trudy took mom to St Mary's for Mass and reception. She was enjoying that so much that Stuart ran his family back to Levelle's for the football game and returned to pick up mom. They came back to Levelles's for a long time, with mom really enjoying herself. I gave her a ride home around 5PM. I was worried about the late hour and/or her willingness to return to her new room. But she was fine. I walked her all the way to the room, even though she wanted me to drop her off. She didn't even try to follow me to the car.

All in all, a good weekend for mom and me :) Hope you all had fun, too. See everyone in a few days,

Lel

Ransom of Red Chief

Stuart thinks maybe that good samaritan was really going to kidnap mom and got as far as York and Winston before he changed his mind. Could be true...

Did we ever find out the guy's name?

First Walmart...now Loyola...

Quinn just received a call from Loyola College Campus Police. He was calling because he wanted to know if she knew a woman named Levelle Smith. It seems Mom was out walking/wandering/lost and someone picked her up and brought her to Loyola (not sure if she directed them there or just seemed like the right place to take her). They called around to local hospitals to see if they had a record of her. GBMC gave them the information to contact Quinn. Quinn has called Paul who is on his way to pick her up.

Now Brighton Gardens has just called Quinn to let her know that Mom is at Loyola and they are sending the police to get her. Quinn told them that Paul was already on his way. The lady (Tomeka) then told Quinn that since Mom has wandered off and gotten lost, they will need to relocate her to the Reminiscence Unit. Quinn asked about the bracelet that they mentioned before and Tomeka told her that they no longer offer that service. Quinn said that there should be some type of intermediate step before that leap to Reminiscence and not to move her before she speaks with them. Quinn is on her way to BGT. More to come....

Love to all and thank you Dad for sending that guardian angel to watch over Mom and get her to a safe place - Levelle

Taking the Bus to Walmart

Megan mentioned that when she went to visit on Friday, Mom was nowhere to be found. She showed up before Megan left, saying that she got on the bus to go to church, but it went to Walmart instead.

We better get her a bracelet GPS.

A few quick notes

Paul relates that Mom's visit with Dr. Lavin went pretty smoothly this morning. Dr. L feels that she's as healthy as can be expected and chalks up last week's incident to her standing up too quickly. I met Mom just before noon and she barely recollected the visit. I set her up for getting a flu shot at BG this afternoon (Quinn, Dr. L said her last pneumonia shot was still current).

My visit with Mom yesterday evening went normally. I like to get her out of BG when I go during the week and was able to talk her into having dinner at Panera. Believe it or not, she didn't order a grilled cheese sandwich but had turkey breast instead! When we got up to leave, she walked right out of one of her shoes. I'm sure she would have noticed this herself by the time we got to the exit ;~)

Mom's conversing skills do seem to be dwindling somewhat further. While adjectives and adverbs still come freely, verbs fairly well and pronouns heavily, it's those damn nouns that just don't want come out. When one-on-one with her, I give her all the time she wants to work towards completing thoughts or stories on her own. Only when she seems to be getting frustrated with her slow tellings do I ever try to 'fill in the blanks'. Most of the time though, she doesn't get too flustered and will often put the tale on pause with some self-deprecating humor.

That's all for now. It's now raining and autumn out there so... Watch out for the wet leaves.

LTA, Danny

Levelle and I had a nice visit...

Unfortunately, it was at GBMC. Don't worry, she is already back at BG. It was similar to the episodes she had before. She was in the living room, passed out- and as usual, no one is clear whether or not she actually went "out", they got her in a chair and called the ambo. At GBMC, she had blood work drawn, an ECG, and a CAT scan. All test results were normal and of course Mom was anxious to get out. The ER doctor was very nice. I warned him that it would not be pretty if they kept her overnight. He called Dr.Lavin who told him the same thing. He said if tests were okay then get her out fast- so they did. I guess they could tell by the urgency in our voice that Levelle and I were serious about just how ugly it could get. I was glad not to have to relay the eye-gouging-"looky what I can do" story.
She looked pretty good when I got her back, but she was starting to get more confused and a little agitated. I think it was just in the nick of time.
Anyway, pray this is not the beginning of another run of visits to GBMC.
That's it for now.
Peace, Q

Who's Going to the St. Mary's Reunion?

November 7

2 things: Leland and Anniversary

I don't mean to bump Michael's blog below - be sure to read it and respond

I just talked to Lel on-line. Sounds like she's doing great! Here's her address:
Birmingham City University
Hobbs House
Flat 3 Room 3
Oscott Gardens
Perry Barr
Birmingham
B42 2SU
UK

I'm going to send Mom flowers from all of us for tomorrow. Just "We love you" in case she remembers the date and because we do :)

Just updating....

Melanie and I are back from a very short trip to the UK. We didn't see Leland for some reason, despite keeping our eyes open for her. We sort of needed to go to Melanie's nephew's wedding and since it was one overnight flight away, we thought it would be a snap. We landed back in Singapore at 7:40am on Tuesday and were in work by 9:30am. I only slept through one meeting too so the day wasn't a complete loss.

Our whole extended weekend was spent within spitting distance of the M11 and A11 highways between the London orbital (M25 / beltway) and Wymondham. The wedding was held in Saffron Walden's St. Mary's Church, built around 1450 (http://www.stmaryssaffronwalden.org/History.htm) and the reception was in the quaint "little" Audley End house built in the early 1600's (http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/server/show/nav.12093). Oliver Cromwell once held a meeting in the church so I made sure to wipe my feet after leaving it. We went to Cambridge on Sunday and it's the coolest little old town I have ever been to. All the students were moving back into their rooms on Sunday and as we walked down the street, every few feet we heard a different language being spoken. We went punting on the Cam River (a flat boat pushed along by a chauffeur using a long pole in the shallow river). In Wymondham, we met up with a friend a Melanie's family who lived in Singapore in the early 1960's. Lunch at the 15th century Green Dragon pub their was quite decent (http://www.greendragon-pub.co.uk/).

Overall it was a nice retreat but I just wonder how long it will take before I stop saying "oh lovely" about everything.

The benefits to Alzheimer's Disease...

I'm sure you've all heard it before..."Alzheimer's is so hard on the family" or "this disease must be so hard for you".

But really, I would like to point out a few of the high points that Mom's disease has brought to us. This Blog has been so much fun to write and follow. We really are a witty bunch of folks. Dad would be proud. It's wonderful to catch up with Danny and Paul every week. (I've now probably seen them more in this past year than I had in the past 5 put together). It's good to see how devoted to Mom Paul is. (ask him to do anything for her and he will...except perhaps pluck those dag on chin hairs) It's nice to see how devoted to Paul Mom is. (invariably she remembers to ask him about his job or to tell him that Mary's no good for him. She remembers to worry about him) I've learned to live in her moment. I like to see her happy to see Danny when she thinks he's Dad. I'm sure it's a little creepy for Danny, but it really makes her happy. I also like it when my sisters visit Mom and when she comments about what a lovely visit they had, they make a point to mention that "it's a shame Levelle wasn't here to share in it". Lucky for me, Mom's memory is short and that snarky comment was probably forgotten before they pulled out of the driveway ;-p .

I like to hear her tell stories (or at least try to). I wonder where her mind will lead to or to what decade. She may not remember the recent stuff (like dinner with Ben and Twitter on Thursday night) but she enjoys trying to tell stories. Recently Uncle Ed and Aunt Helen have been on her mind. Mom will start to talk about them and then the rest of us will fill in with stories that we remember. It's nice to reminisce (while we still can ;-) ) I've also learned the art of location. Location you ask? Yes, location. Like when sitting outside with Mom on a hot Sunday afternoon, it's good to be located next to her rather than across from her. That way you can make gagging faces when she rolls up her pants legs "to get some sun" only to begin scratching her psoriasis spots and letting the flesh fly. (Gagging still!) Or location as in, make sure someone else sits next to her at Mass because Mom's "aroma" can really get pungent when in a confined space like a church pew. But dang if she doesn't still remember all of the prayers. That should bring her some peace.

It's nice to see how loved Mom is by all of her friends. There are a few who are quite devoted to Mom and it shows what a good friend she was to them. They visit often even though she doesn't seem to think they do or remember that they do. But I can tell that they've been there when I see some home made treat in the fridge (or hidden in her night stand) or when I am doing laundry and see several new items of clothes from Talbots. (I'm sure these are from Mrs. Lawrence). Mom and Dad spent their lives helping/serving others. It's heartwarming to see that others appreciated what they did. I hope I've got good friends to visit me when I get ALZ. So that's it for me, what about you?

Love to all - Levelle

What Do They Do in the Alheimer's Unit All Day...

... any idea?

If Mom had something to do, I think she'd be happier. Not sure what she was upset about (see Danny's comment to last post), but I can imagine that she would get confused if she was trying to help out with any regular activities. And if there are other involved who are unkind/non-perceptive people, they could come across as mean.

Not being allowed to walk independently to church will be a big blow for her.

Hopefully she forgets the bad stuff as quickly as she forgets our visits :)

How's Mom Doing?

Sounds like Mom was having a tough time this weekend. Quinn and Tod found her in bed all depressed on Sunday morning, but convinced her to go to church and lunch. From what I understand, she perked up a little as the day went on. But Uncle Jim found her the same way on Monday. He told Quinn it was as bad as she's ever been. Funny part is that when he asked her if the kids had been visiting, she said that Levelle did come around. So much for the rest of you :)

Just wondering if anyone had been back since then? I'm afraid to call, but I'll come down this weekend for a visit.

We need some new pictures on the blog. Post summer photos if you have any or send them to me and I will.

Take care,
Lel

Thanks for the fun party Megan! I hope Leland enjoyed her send-off. I do need to debunk one fact though...

The bag of candy corn that I ate the day before yesterday was NOT made in the USA, but in Mexico also. So that debunks the whole "candy corn from Mexico is sweeter" theory. Sorry. I promise to do more research to figure out why the bag that Leland and I atte yeserday seemed so sweet. (Perhaps it was because it was the second bag of candy corn that I had eaten in two days, hmmmmm?!?)

Thanks again Matt and Megan!

Love to all - Levelle

FYI...Quinn is in the hopital.

She wants you to know that she's doing fine, will be home in a day or two hopefully, pending results of tests. (sorry Megan et al, doubt she'll be making it to the party on Saturday) They brought her in last night due to an irregular heart beat (atrial fibrillation) - irregular, fast and slow. She drugged up now and it is no longer high, but when she gets up, her heart beat shoots up too high. They are running test and also checking her thyroid for hypothyroid (I'm guessing now hypo/hyper sounds the same to me - you know that medical stuff is way over my head) I did ask if it's the same thing as Mom had and she said no. If they do not get it regulated soon, she may be sent home on heart medicine and blood thinner for th rest of her life. (not her ideal).

That's what I know for now - let you know if I hear more.

Love to all and PFQ - Levelle

PS She is a Carroll County General but Lisa was not on duty when she went in.

A New Thread -- Party time

Greetings, one and all,

I got tired of not finding a new post (but maybe no news is good news). Check your e-mail inboxes for a party invitation that I should have sent via the more formal USPS (but ran out of time). I hope you all can make it, and would you mind passing the invitation along to all of your grown and growing children? I'm sure my contact list is way out of date. Can we work on a family e-mail directory?

Hope you all are well and are squeezing every bit of fun out of what's left of summer.

Love, Megan

She is not a happy camper, but not to worry...

It is all Quinn's fault. I had the meeting at BG last Saturday at 12n. We reviewed Mom's plan of care, discussed her progress/ concerns. It was actually pretty uneventful as Mom has been pretty status quo for a while now. The one area of concern that I raised was her hygiene. I asked about them offering Mom "help to get a shower or bath ready" or some kind of verbal cue to make her think about washing up. That was Saturday.
On Sunday, Megan, Paul, Tod and I arrived to find an angry, tearful, depressed, but clean mother. She would not say if anything specific had happened to make her so upset. She "just wanted to get out of their one way or another". She also wanted to know if the house had sold - and believe me she would not let us dance around the answer- and how much it sold for. We said that yes the house had sold and then directed her to Danny for the specifics ;-) We kept trying to distract her and get her to come out of her room, but the more we pushed the more she withdrew. Finally, she had had enough. She turned and pointed at me and said " I know you have been going around telling everyone that I am... that I can't....". Then she started really crying, crawled in bed and told us to leave. She didn't have to finish. It was clear that not only did they force her to clean up, they also used me as the reason they had to do it.
I called and spoke with one of the managers first thing Monday morning. I let her know how angered and humiliated Mom was and how completely unprofessional their actions were. Tanya was very apologetic and is looking into the situation. She will find out what exactly happened and who was involved. She does have a good rapport with Mom and is going to talk to her casually and see if she can help her in any way. She will be getting back to me and I will pass on any updates. Sorry for the bad news. LTA, Q

Final Yarmouth post

In the dark of this morn, I made a final stop at Yarmouth. I'd forgotten to pick up a two items from the trash pad and technically trespassed to recover them. They were still there BUT so too was a 20 foot long dumpster in the driveway. The buyers mentioned at closing that they'd be converting the basement into an in-law apartment. It took them less than 24 hours to begin the demolition. I'm kicking myself now for not having removed the offsprinkle height progression boards, the workbench & pegboard :-(

The proceeds from the sale were delivered this afternoon to the MetLife investors.

LTA-Danny

St Mary Govans School Reunion

St Mary Govans School Reunion
Saturday November 7, 2009
6 PM Till ? at The School

Details To Follow

We are updating the mailing list and developing E Mail and Class Lists. Please forward the following information:

Name/Address
Maiden Name
Phone
Email Address (Up to 2)
Address
Class of ?? from St Mary's

Send info to Neil Cashen at neil.cashen@yahoo.com or at 410-825-2597. Please send the info on any of your family or friends or forward this request to them. Thanks and see you there!!!

Sold!

That's one chapter almost closed. 627 netted just a few shekels shy of 282.5K. Stuart, I'll email the HUD Settlement Statement to you... and to anyone else interested in the finer details as well. And I'll get the check to down Mike Havlick today or tomorrow unless our game plan has changed.

Settlement went well though a couple of items need followup. I finally got a Work Order# late yesterday from BGE to make final service cable connection but I must check & report status to the buyers. And I need to produce a summary of water heater flue repairs and test results. Neither should be problem. The funny part of settlement was that every 'seller' dotted line had to be signed "Levelle G. Smith, by her Attorney-in-Fact Daniel Smith". By force of habit, I slipped up about 1/2 the time by inserting the "C." in my signature... kinda like Mom at the POA signing ;-)

Again, many thanks to my bride, sisters and brothers for your support and help through this process.

Love to all, Danny

Yarmouth is Almost Empty: good news and bad

We Baltimoreans (and Pennsyltuckians) have had a busy week cleaning and clearing out the last of the things at Yarmouth. Maybe some of you locals should share with the 'far-aways' some of the treasures you found at the house. My favorite (that Danny uncovered) was Dad's wood-burning set. Inside the box was Dad's handwritten warning: "Tip Gets Very Hot!"

The bad news: I went to Yarmouth early this morning to finish vacuuming the now empty spaces. I discovered that the house had been broken into overnight! Don't worry. It doesn't appear that any damage was done. As the house was almost empty, the only thing I could see that was missing was that nasty old wooden bookcase. You remember, the one with the doors that had haphazard, pieced together bits of yellowed glass. I think it was just headed for the scrap pile anyway, so no harm done.

By the way, I will no longer be hosting any family events at my house. And don't anybody stop by to visit. Especially not Danny.

Love to all,

Megan

FYI for tomorrow...

Quinn and I were planning on going to 10:00 mass with Mom at the Motherhouse and then out to brunch (I'll have my whole family :-O ). Anyone want to join us?!?! My treat.

Love to all - Levelle

PS Mrs. Lawrence called to let me know that she had a very nice visit today with Mom. She said Mom was looking good and in good spirits. Fingers crossed that we find the same woman tomorrow.

I expect to pass through life but once....

I am not sure who did not get box of cards but I owe you. I accidentally left two boxes in Singapore. One was meant for Alex, Melanie & me to share and the other is for whoever didn't pick one up on our last weekend. For posterities sake, the story behind them is that I heard Jerry Lewis say this quote when he picked up an award for lifetime acheivement related to the Labor Day telethons

I am not sure who did not get box of cards but I owe you. I accidentally left two boxes in Singapore. One was meant for Alex, Melanie & me to share and the other is for whoever didn't pick one up on our last weekend. For posterity's sake, the story behind them is that I heard Jerry Lewis say this quote when he picked up an award for lifetime achievement related to the Labor Day Muscular Dystrophy telethons.

I expect to pass through life but once. If therefore, there be any kindness I can show, or any good thing I can do to any fellow being, let me do it now, and not defer or neglect it, as I shall not pass this way again.

I thought it sounded very nice and Ignatian so I looked it up. It turns out that a Quaker named Stephen Grellet is credited with saying it although a lot of people have continued to spread what appears to be a wrong source as William Penn.

When thinking of Dad one day, and how this quote seemed to encompass a lot of what he was about, I thought it would be a cool idea to make up some cards with the Mr. Grellet's words on it and just pass them to people if I should ever have to explain myself for doing a good deed for them. Better yet, I could pass on the obligation for them to pay forward the good deed to someone else along with the obligation to keep it going.

To that end, I came up with the wording to put on the back. I hoped it would be self explanatory enough that, for example, when an old lady shook my hand after I changed her tire, I could just quietly slip her the card, smile and move on. I should have shown it to Melanie before making them as she rightfully pointed out " then passing on this card" doesn't quite sound right, at least in Singaporean English.

When an appropriate opportunity arises, please repay my small kindness by helping someone else then passing on this card.

Do not mind if the card is torn or tattered; it has been held only by good people.

The next brainstorm was to get 800 of the cards printed so each of you could get a box. I figured that you all could help distribute them amongst your family to start the ball rolling. Imagine in a short time that there are 800 of these in circulation around the world and everyone got it by a good deed being done for them and those people are looking for an opportunity to pay it forward to someone else.

Adding Dad's initials to the second page was not meant to appear to say that it was his quote; it just looks that way by accident. I just meant it as a nod to Dad since I was originally planning to give them to you on his death anniversary in May. I just didn't get back to Baltimore in time. The cards and subsequent deeds were meant to honor him.

Will it all work? Who knows. I am sure some of the cards will go in the bin only seconds after they are received. Others may be in someone's wallet for years to come. But even if only a few people pass on a favor to some stranger in the road, I figure that's a good thing.

Happy Birthday Megan!

Good news. I woke up early and can confirm that the sun did rise this morning and is now on the way to Pennsyltucky. All systems are go for your birthday.

BTW, you know how gas stations always sell gas at some silly number like $2.89 9/10 per gallon? Also, things are Target are like $29.99? That's because the seller thinks that you think those numbers sound smaller than $2.90 or $30.00. That might be true for consumer products but it isn't really true for birthdays. 49 sounds really old compared to 50. Get used to it. :p

Peace. Have a great one.

Clearing out Yarmouth

I spent a good part of Monday trying to find some charitable institution to pickup the remaining furniture and boxes of housewares, etc., from Yarmouth. Salvation Army and American Rescue Workers had no openings for pick-ups until mid-August. Purple Heart no longer picks up furniture at all. They will come get the boxes of goods on Thursday between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. We don't have to be there as long as the boxes are marked for them and on the porch by 7 a.m.

On Wednesday evening, I'm going to meet Matt at Yarmouth when he gets off work. We'll take the remaining furniture (two sofas, coatrack, bedroom rugs, etc.) to Goodwill or Salvation Army. I think I know which items go, and which items are inherited items yet to be taken to your homes. (I'll call someone if I'm not sure.)

One question for you Stuart. Is it worth unpacking and photographing/listing all the items I've already boxed, for tax deduction purposes, I mean?

The Datebooks have been found!!!

Sorry, I didn't realize I was looking for very small notebooks. They were right where Leland and Stuart said they would be...in the wine box. I'm getting a kick out of our floozy mother ;-).

Love to all - Levelle

PS Hope you got home safely Stuart and safe travels to Michael and Melanie.

Thanks for coming to the Swim Meet tonight everybody!

Sorry it was a blow-out and sorry Aidan didn't show you his stuff in butterfly, but I think it was a good night and I think Mom ended up enjoying herself. I can't wait to see your pictures Michael.

Anywho...as for Saturday...I called Uncle Larry and Julie and left messages. I called captain Harry's about the crabs and we are looking at $179-$199/bushel. Should I still order 2 bushels? We can do other food like pork tenderloin on the grill along with some sides. I'm also going to make my chicken caesar pasta salad. We've got plenty of beer and soda.

Have fun at lunch tomorrow. I hope Mom suddenly remembers how to bathe, wash he hair, brush her teeth and change her clothes before tomorrow ;-). See you all Saturday morning.

Love to all - Levelle

PS Stuart - who's coming up with you. You're welcome to stay here. My kids would love to see yours.

Happy Birthday Danny!!!

and Matt, and Leland and Megan! In order to properly celebrate all of these July birthdays (along with the May, June and August)I would like to invite everyone over to my house on Saturday afternoon for crabs. You're treat ;-). We should be done with what we need to do at Yarmouth by early afternoon, so what about 4:00 as a starting time? I want to call Uncle Larry and Julie to come over too.

Have a good week - love to all - Levelle

A phone for M&M

I have a cell phone for Michael and Melanie- the number is 443-605-4043. I will either give it to them tonight or tomorrow at mom's. Happy 4th! See you soon.
Q
P.S. Stuart, Dylan and Tod might be doing a quick visit to... gulp... Duke on Monday. As much as he says he doesn't want to go there, he can't resist going to see it. Let me know if you'll be around, maybe you can hook up with them and spin your blue devil magic.

According to Facebook, Michael and Melanie have safely arrived in the States.

Hope your troubles were worked out easily! My cell phone number is 410-935-0107 if you want to reach me. We will be at the pool most of today and tomorrow if you would like to join us. See you Sunday (if not before)!

love to all - Levelle

Much miscellany

Well I guess Mike & Melanie are already airborne. Here's hoping their flights are smooth.

Sorry 'bout Sunday, Megan. I had no idea of the troubles you had with Mom before mass until Quinn and Levelle filled me in after mass.

Happy early Birthday greetings, Matt!

Paul reported that just the opposite thing happened when he arrived to get Mom to the doctors Monday morn'. Mom was in the lobby, didn't recall anything about the appointment and remained pretty steamed about "not being told" throughout the morning. The usual turmoil ensued when Dr. Lavin spoke with Paul on the side while Mom was trying to get dressed which a nurse had to help her do.

I'd like it if we all could do one more Yarmouth gathering if only to designate and tag what is going to whom, where and when. The sale procedures are rolling along relatively well. I accepted the Structural/Mechanical Inspection Addendum verbatim and am arranging profession repair of the listed items. One of the items on the electric repair list requires a permit to be pulled. It is replacement of main service cable on the upstream side of the service panel and I'm glad we didn't collar Jim for that. On Monday, I received the Chimney Inspection Addendum and it is asking that some pretty pricey work be done. I am NOT inclined to accept this addendum in part and am awaiting the estimate of other contractor work before responding to it.

Looking forward to the crabs & gatherings,
Danny

Jeepers...this blog is slow moving!

Fun (typical) day with Mom today! Megan picked her up to take her to a mass at St. Mary's given by Fr. Guidera. Unfortunately for Megan, Mom was ready at 9:00 for a noon mass. (oops!) She had gone up to the Mother House several times and had even been waiting out on Charles Street for her ride. When someone alerted the BGT staff, the manager had to go out and bring Mom back. After giving Alex (the lady at the front desk) an earful, she stormed up to her room. Needless to say, Megan found her in rare form, lying in bed shaking with anger! I'm not sure how she did it, but Megan got her up and dressed (sorry, no time for bathing) and to St. Mary's in plenty of time. Cheered by the sight of her two favorites (sorry all, it's a fact of life), her attitude changed. Quinn and I met them for a reception in the church hall afterwards. Mom was able to see several old friends and seemed to have a good time.

Meanwhile, back at BGT, we had a fun time going through her wardrobe weeding out the winter clothes. This was getting her pretty upset, so I left the last of her winter clothes in the bottom drawer of her dresser. Otherwise, a pretty un-eventful visit. Paul and I left around 4:30 with Paul promising to return in the morning to take her to her doctor's appt with Dr. Lavin at 8:00am.

Michael and Melanie...have a safe flight. We can't wait to see you again. Let's start thinking about crabs and cleaning out Yarmouth. The only day/night that I am not available is the 4th.

Love to all - Levelle (See...I remembered not to sign Megan's name this time! Means I don't have Alzheimer's...right?!?)

A Happy Fathers Day

Happy Fathers Day Dad. I hope you enjoyed the O's sweep over the Phillies as much as we all did. The USA getting into the Confederations Cup semi-final was just icing on the cake.

State Funeral

For Michael's benefit just wanted to post something about Aunt Melmarie's funeral. The priest who said the Mass said that if this funeral were in Nigeria, it would be a state funeral. There are 4 million Catholics in the 2 diocese of Nigeria and over 1 million of them were influenced by schools and works of the School Sisters of Notre Dame. Aunt Melmarie was the first SSND to go to Nigeria!

The other thing remarkable thing he said was that in Nigeria, people name their children after people who have influenced their lives. He said Aunt melmarie's name "would not be obliterated in all of history." Pretty awesome.

Take care all.

Love,
Lel

Arrangements

Uncle Jim called this evening with final arrangements:
The casket will be taken to the chapel at 1pm on Friday for a "Welcome Home" service.
The wake service is at 7pm, Friday night, the funeral is at 10am Saturday.
Burial is at Notch Cliff- the same place as Aunt Doris Ann (not the exact same place), followed by a reception back at the Mother House.
Uncle Jim didn't think there were viewing times per se, just the prayer service and the wake. I will check the paper to make sure this is accurate- not that I don't trust his memory.
More later.
LTAQ

Aunt Melmarie Died Last Night

Sorry for the sad post, but I wanted to be sure Michael got word. Uncle Jim called Quinn this morning to let her know.

Jim and Bob took Mom out to lunch on Monday and then they all went for a 3 hour visit with Melmarie. It was her birthday. She had a bad day that day, but Uncle Jim said she was much more peaceful yesterday. The plan was to take her back home to the Mother House today, but she passed away during the night.

No funeral plans known now but it could be as early as Friday.

I'm going to miss her! She had the cutest face and the best smiling eyes. And every time I try on a navy blue outfit and look in a dressing room mirror I would always say, "dang, I look like Aunt Melmarie" and then put it back on the rack. Not really a disparaging remark on Aunt Melmarie. I just don't want to dress like a nun.

Love you all,

Lel

K...so that didn't go over so well....

Megan, Paul, Danny and I visited Mom today. It's gorgeous weather here in Baltimore so we decided to convene on the screened porch. Everything was going swimmingly until the topic of Tommy Mooney came up. Mom asked if there was movement on the houuse and Danny told her it was sold. To try and lighten the blow a little, he mentioned that it was a young couple with a child. The father was a carpenter. He didn't go so far as to say his name was Joseph....but you get the drift. Mom was morose about it and sat quietly tearful. Eventually she got up and left us. Turns out she locked herself in her room and isn't answering the door. So Megan and I left Danny and Paul (her favorites), but she not talking to them either. Danny told the desk and the 3rd floor med staff that she was upset and gave them the heads up. Should be a nice visit next week. ;-)

Love to all - Levelle

BTW Quinn said that she visited Aunt Melmarie today and she didn't seem as perky today, but not as bad as she'd been. Tomorrow is her birthday.

Update

Leland and I visited with Aunt Melmarie today. She seemed to be having a pretty good day. They were just giving her pain medicine as we arrived so that they could turn her and clean her up. She dozed a lot, but would wake up pretty easily and watch T.V. or participate a little in conversation. We had to wake her up for lunch, but she sat up and fed herself! All in all, a much better day than yesterday.
I guess everyone got their text that an offer of $300,000 for yarmouth was accepted. I'm sure Danny will have more on that.
Peace,
Q

Aunt Melmarie

I just stopped in to see Aunt Melmarie at St. Joseph's (not my favorite place). Joanie was there and has apparently been there everyday this week so she was filling me in. Luckily I didn't have to deal with Nurse R.

Aunt Melmarie is not doing well - today she has taken a precipitous turn for the worse. She's on a morphine patch, so she's not awake, but she still appears to be in pain at times. I had to leave for a few hours while the IV team tried to put in a pic line for anibiotics. The nuns are making all medical POA-type decisions.

Joanie said that even yesterday, she was awake and having conversations at times. Her favorite one this week was trying to convince her that Ellen Degeneres was a woman, which blew up when Ellen brought out her "wife" Portia deRossi.

I know Quinn took Mom over earlier this week, after some coaxing. I don't think there was much interaction but Aunt Melmarie was sleeping peacefully while they were there which gave Mom some peace of mind.

All I can say is thank God for Quinn and Joanie! I'll go back over in an hour or so and post more if there's anything else to post.

Love to all,
Lel

FYI

Just wanted to let everyone know Aunt Melmarie is in the hospital and pretty sick. I saw her today and she was pretty out of it. She woke up briefly and smiled and said a few barely comprehensible words. I am going to take Mom to see her in the a.m. rather than try to explain her condition to her.
I'll keep you updated.
LTA, Q

Miss you Dad!

today was very nice. The music at mass was beautiful and the weather was beautiful. Michael and Melanie, we got a chance to preview your house for you. Paul had us over for brunch after visiting the cemetery. Everything seemed to be in order and pretty good shape. BTW if you are having trouble fitting all of your stuff in your luggage, feel free to leave the condoms out. ;-) I'm sure Paul would lend you some of the ones under his sink :-O !

Love to all - especially you Dad - Levelle

Saturday Night

Wanna get together at my house on Saturday night? Our weeding and mulching project is finished, so no need to bring garden gloves. We could fully hash out our dreams for the old school. (Refer to previous post.)

Maybe We Could Buy the Convent

Megan and I had a great idea. We could buy St Mary's convent and that could be our little commune. It's a great building with a cool courtyard and chapel on site. The nuns could stay, we'd move Mom in.

The school build could also be put to good use as an artists co-op. Probably create a job or 2 for any family member who is job hunting.

Sounds like win-win-win to me!

Next Sunday....

FYI Paul suggested today that he would like for the whole family to go to mass next Sunday at 10:00 at St. Mary's. We can then go back to his/Michael's house for brunch afterwards. Should be fun!

Love to all - Levelle

Is St. Mary's Closing?

Mary Kay just sent me an e-mail that says St. Mary's is closing after this academic year. I can't find anything on-line about it.

Highs and Lows of Parenthood

So my 11:30pm text message from Andy that I didn't see until this morning was, "Minor earthquake - I'm fine." Good thing I don't watch the news at night.

If someone told you this stuff ahead of time, I don't think the human race would have ever procreated.

I can only imagine how Mom and Dad felt when they would hear about Michael's escapades. You owe them big time :)

Keep on parenting,
Lel

Bids4Kids again, and other news

I sent a check in today, to reserve a table for the May 30th Bids 4 Kids Dinner and Auction. I hope a lot of you (at least 6 of you) are still planning on coming.

I spent a couple of hours with Mom yesterday. When I arrived she was frantically searching for missing money (So, what else is new?) Luckily, I found it right away, wrapped in two layers of nylon footies. Once that was settled, we had a nice visit including a long walk. I decided that every time I go, I'm going to be prepared... I'll have a stash of ones wrapped in kleenex in my pocket that I will conveniently find in an obscure spot in her room. Once it's found, Mom can relax and enjoy herself (as much as possible). Anyhow, I got her clipped and plucked, and she's ready for Sunday visitors.

I plan on bringing whatever summer clothes of hers that I have. Quinn and Levelle, do you have any at your houses? It's time to take her wooly things to the dry cleaners!

Leland (my kid) got word yesterday that she was accepted into a one-year graduate program (in Social Media) at Birmingham City University in Birmingham, England! I think we're excited about this. (?)

Mother's Day?

Anyone have plans for Mother's Day? Did anyone say anything to Mom about getting together? Any ideas? I could have brunch.

Let me know - love to all - Levelle

Bids4Kids

Anyone interested in attending the St. Mary's Bid-4-Kids event on Saturday, May 30th, 7 pm? It was a lot of fun last year. The evening includes dinner, drinks (beer, wine, and sodas), raffles and auctions (live and silent), and chatting with other St. Mary's graduates. Tickets are $40. If we have enough people, I'll send in a check to reserve a table ($320 for 8 people; you can pay me back later).

My weekend for a change ;-)

So...Jamie and I are headed to Chicago on Saturday morning for a few days. Evidently there will be a "kegger" at my house. Whatever you do, pick Aidan to be on your Beer Pong Team - he's a champ!

Anywho, it looks like Leland is coming Friday evening until Sunday when Megan takes over. Megan is staying until Tuesday when we get back. Quinn is handling social activites. Anyone else want to take part in "our" fun weekend?!?

Love to all and sorry I'll miss our Sunday visit with Mom. Feel free to bathe her for me ;-) - Levelle

My Weekend (for a change)

Thanks to all of you who post how the weekends in Baltimore go. It really helps the rest of us to keep up with Mom's development. But my weekend was great so I thought I should update myself.

Friday morning I flew to NYC and met up with a group of old college friends. We went to Nassau Coliseum to see the Dead (formerly Grateful). The parking lot scene was cool and the show was pretty darn cool itself. I had seen them in Greensboro NC a few weeks ago as they opened their first tour in several years, and I had been following the reaction to their shows since then. I just figured, what the hell. I'd travel to see them when I was poor but had no responsibilities, so why not try it when the opposites were true. I spent the next morning walking off a hangover in Manhattan. I can recommend the Chelsea Hotel, on 23rd Street. Besides all of the famous people who lived (and died) there, they have a tremendous amount of modern art and hipsters all over the place.

I passed up a ticket for the Saturday show at Madison Square Garden to return to Durham where another old friend was visiting. Then Sunday morning was Shane's First Communion, followed by a nice brunch at the Washington Duke. Quality time with the whole family - even Rhett came out.

Then the boy and I headed over to Chapel Hill to see the Duke lacrosse team beat UNC for the ACC title. We stopped in Durham to pick up the girls, then went to Raleigh to see the Hurricanes beat the NJ Devils to stay alive in the NHL playoffs. Tow great games on Sunday. Both teams have are long-shots to win their respective titles, but it is fun to see them playing well this late in the year.

Every weekend should have such nice weather, good friends and times with the family, and successful sporting matches. I hope yours' was nice also. See you all soon.

Spit Take

So I was sitting next to my boss at our National Sales Meeting and she was wondering why the speaker was just rehashing business we had already heard about 10 times. I said, "He's a dud." and then waited 5 seconds and leaned over and whispered, "Not that there's anything wrong with that." This earned a spit take and uncontrollable giggles for awhile (think "Danny's Wedding" or a few weeks ago at Mass with the Nugents.) Thanks, Quinn! This will really position me well for a promotion :)

We had Condoleeza Rice as a key note speaker - she was very good. She must have left every meeting with Bush saying WTF to herself. Him, too. Although she strikes me as a very loyal person. And I can see her strength as a representative of the US to the world. She was very diplomatic in her answers to questions from the very Republican-leaning crowd. I got to shake her hand - imagine the long list of other people she's done that with? We also heard and met Bob Costas, Richard Simmons, Nastia Lukien, Brian Clay, Bruce Jenner and Mary Lou Retton. It was a lot of fun.

BTW, if anyone wants to lower their cholesterol, there's a new clinical study just published this week that if you lower your calories by 500 per day and eat 3 cups of Cheerios per day, you will lower your cholesterol by 10% in 1 month! So either buy Cheerios or buy stock. Just kidding about the stock - we have been languishing.

Back to work! Take care,
Lel

How about Susan Boyle! She is amazing!

Nice visit with Mom. We left her with Danny who was going to take her to hear some bagpipers(?) that were practicing in a nearby parking lot.
LTA,
Q

Orioles Baseball

East..................... W L .Pct GB
Baltimore Orioles..... 6 2 .750 --
Toronto Rue Blays... 6 3 .667 0.5
Tampa Jay Bays...... 4 4 .500 2.0
New York Skankees. 4 4 .500 2.0
Boston Red Sux...... 2 5 .286 3.5

Happy Birthday, Dad

Hope you are celebrating in a deservedly heavenly way. Me and Jameson will be over to say hello after a visit with Mom this evening.

Megan, thanks so much for hosting the Easter gathering. I and my branch of the clan had a marvelous time.

Easter, Again

Well, I guess Danny doesn't have any house news to share. So I thought I'd bring up Easter again. I've been cleaning and de-cluttering... a massive chore at my house. But I'll be ready for Easter lunch, on Saturday, at 12:30. Can I get a body count from y'all? I left a message and sent an e-mail to Uncle Larry. Do any of you have cousin Julie's phone number? She didn't reply to my e-mail, so I'm not sure if she got it. Quinn and I invited Melmarie. I'll try to get hold of Paul to see if he could bring her with Mom. I also plan on inviting Aunt Ditty, so this could be really interesting.

I'll have ham and chicken salad, rolls and bread, candy, chips and salsa, pita chips and hummus, candy, cheese and crackers, and candy. Anybody wanna bring a side dish? Or sodas? I can get beer, as well as grenadine and cherries for Shirley Temples. Am I forgetting anything else? Levelle, I know you mentioned you could bring egg salad made from your stash of dyed eggs, but don't you need them for Sunday?

Progress on the house sale

Hey, we had a flurry of inquiries about 627 Yarmouth today and yesterday. I'm showing it to at least one couple late tomorrow morning and possibly another. And all this without even burying a statue of St. Joseph...upside down...facing the house. Keep your fingers crossed ;)

I may combine this with a visit to Mom tomorrow rather than coming back down on Sunday. I'll have to see how pressed for time I am.

Easter

It seems like all the locals like the idea of having Easter lunch on Holy Saturday, at my house. So if you (Leland and Stuart) can make it, please come. I plan on inviting Julie and Uncle Larry, too. Uncle Larry, especially, knows how to liven up a party. (Or something.)

Hope you all can make it. I'm going to try to make the buttercream eggs Mom used to make.

Lookie What She Can Do!

Jim worked on the Alzheimer's floor today. He whirled around to greet one of the patients, who had called him, only to find a woman in her birthday suit. Only quick thinking saved him from a hug.

Let's start a new post...

Recently I've been feeling a bit overwhelmed (or at least filled to the brim) with my life. What with actually having to go in to work FOUR days a week (even if two end at 2:00), added to my full time volunteer schedule, added to meetings, added to taxiing to sports activities, added to cooking, added to cleaning (sometimes), added to the general duties (he, he, he... I said duty) of raising four children with a husband who's job takes him away for the good portion of every week. It's in these moments of chaos that I find myself thinking...."I wonder what Mom is doing right now." That usually puts me in my place ;-).

That's it...just a little quip to start a new thread.

Love to all - Levelle

PS Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't change a thing about my life. Well except for the traveling husband part!

Are We Taking the Plunge on Sunday?

I want to make sure I come down for the event, if you guys are planning on taking Mom to Yarmouth. You may need all the help you can get prying her hands off the railing to get her back in the car. Lord knows we don't want to be locked out on the front porch the way we were so many months ago. Make sure you keep keys and cell phones in your pockets.

If not, I'll try to come down on Sunday for a visit anyway. I'll be spending Saturday with my crazy in-laws. We're trying to prevent WWIII at the shore, precipitated by Dottie being furious that Cliff went on a trip without her. She refuses to remember that the whole thing was her idea and is now convinced he planned it behind her back. She also thinks he has a girlfriend on the side. These people are 82! The only fun thing about my 3 day stay with her last weekend was the money I won at the casino: $425!

I have no idea what to pray for. I just want to be a nice old lady, not a nasty one. But, as the Magic 8 Ball says "Outlook not so good".

Take care,
Lel

Helloooo...Mom okaying the sale of the house doesn't get it's own post?!?!

Details please Danny!

Love to all - Levelle

PS So who's going over tomorrow and what time?

'twill it rain on my parade?

Current weekend forecast: "Few showers/30% rain chance/High-46F/Low-38F". Not the best outlook but we'll wait and see if a leprechaun brings us a rainbow ;).


Yesterday's visit with Mom went as well as we can expect. Levelle & Megan have an anecdote or two I'm sure. Here's one of mine...


We moved to the 2nd floor 'Gathering Room' upon the arrival of the Blanchard bunch. The room was nearly perfect for our visit except for one thing. Twice, the door alarm went off on the Alzheimer's ward down the hall. The first time, I think the girls were able to distract Mom for its short but loud duration. The second time it sounded was more prolonged. Mom hopped up to poke her head into the corridor for a look see. As I stopped her from heading further she asked "What IS that?". I thought to reply "The future" but said "The Remembrance Unit". "What is THAT?" she asked. "Lets head back to our chairs and we'll talk about it" was my gentle reply. By the time we were seated, her mind was onto something else ;) Maireann croí éadrom i bhfad.


Love to all, Danny

Happy Birthday Mom!

I stopped by Mom's today to see if I could help her "tidy up" before her big lunch date with her siblings. She was dressed nicely and her hair didn't look horrible...so I decided not to ruin her day and make her take a shower :-O. Sorry. She had already had a visit from Mrs. Seifert and a phone call from Uncle Jim. While I was there, Michael and Megan called and Mom seemed exasperated by having to answer the phone. She was a bit nervous about the time because she didn't want to miss mass. Otherwise...she was happy with our flowers. Weird thing though, the florist must have run out of ink because several of our names were left off of the card. Don't worry...I fixed it. Now Mom knows how much we ALL love her and wanted her to enjoy some beautiful spring flowers ;-).

Love to all - Levelle

It's been confirmed: Paul's the Fav

We went to church with Mom this morning and then took her out to brunch at Towson Diner. It was a lot of fun - 12 of us in all squeezed into 2 big booths. Mom really enjoyed it. As we were leaving she was sad to find out that Megan & Quinn (and families) were planning on going straight home. They surprised us by coming back to BGT. Mom was so happy with the group that she asked us to call Mrs. Spurrier to come over and enjoy visiting with the family. Joan came over and we all had fun chatting by the fire in the living room at BGT.
2 Funny things: on the way back to BGT, Mom asked where we were going now and when I said, "BGT" she said, "That's what I was afraid of" (but she was smiling)
Also, Joan confirmed that Mom blames the girls for putting her there and she LOVES Paul. To which we say: whatever.
Michael and Stuart, you were there in spirit but we missed you. Mom was sort of happy not to have all the little kids running around - the little Blanchards stayed home with their dad. I think she worries the people at BGT will get upset with the comotion, so it was a good break for her.
Danny and Paul, I think you should tell mom about the house on a weekday - like maybe a Thursday. Give her a few days to cool down and then we'll return on Sunday to start mending fences.
She was still pressing Paul to move in with her as Levelle and I were leaving. Hope Danny and Paul made it out in one piece ;)
Peace all,
Lel

Further boat-rocking, and Birthday plans

I hate to sound like an alarmist but...

We have to keep in mind that Mom recently started (or is about to start) taking the antidepressant Zoloft. While we can be hopeful that this will eventually be a good thing, it will likely be a bad thing for a few weeks, maybe a very bad thing. Antidepressants are famous for making depression worse before it gets better, and we all know how Mom has had adverse reactions to almost every medication she's been put on, anyway.

I'm speaking from personal experience here. When I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia, my doctor put me on a low dose of an old-fashioned antidepressant (Nortriptyline) in order to regulate my sleeping patterns. I wasn't depressed before I started taking it, but spent the first month after starting it extremely depressed. And then there are Matt's two nephews who committed suicide soon after they started taking Zoloft or Prozac.

I don't know if this means we should be rethinking our current visiting habits in order to keep a closer eye on her, or what. But it might affect how she takes Danny's news.

Regarding Mom's birthday... Is the plan just to meet at BG again? I can bake a cake. Or did we want to take her out anywhere? Maybe she'd like a beer to wash down the Zoloft.


This is just something to consider

The boat is about to be rocked

Wish me luck y'all...and keep Mom and I in your prayers today. This evening, I'm paying her a visit and breaking news to her of the plan to sell Yarmouth. I'll try to put a synopsis of the visit on the blog when I get home tonight.

New post was needed...'nuff said on last one.

Quinn, I'll check regularly for the Medicare correspondence and get it to you a.s.a.p.
And if I forget to ask when I drop it off, can you remind me to collect my Dad relics? ;)

Stuart, I don't need any recovery time from this weekend. In fact, the bro's all discussed meeting you half-way for next year's winter camp. What say ye to a mountain rendezvous in a VA or WV state/national forest next February? Man enough? ;)

I'll start to spiff up Yarmouth a little each trip there. Stuart, can I borrow that real estate sign post you left there to rig a FSBO sign when Yarmouth's ready to show. Would y'all prefer to NOT be around when I break this to Mom? I think that doing it during a regular Sunday may be a tad overwhelming or distracting for her.

Changing Mom's phone number.

Mom called me early this morning (looking for Quinn). She was upset about a phone call she received last night from a mean person. She thought it had something to do with a credit card. To avoid telemarketers/creditors from calling, I suggest that we have her number changed and only give it to her friends and family. This would also avoid the doctor's offices from calling to confirm appointments too.

Otherwise, she sounded good. When I mentioned her doctor appointment yesterday, she told me that she was happy to hear it. She thought that she had been to the doctor's, but she couldn't be sure. She said that she just doesn't trust her brain anymore. Hey, at least she's admitting it...for the moment.

Love to all - Levelle

Borneo Holiday

I finally got around to adding the photos of our trip into photobucket. I still have to cut some of the out but most have captions now. If you are interested: http://s86.photobucket.com/albums/k89/Zippsy/2009%20Borneo/?albumview=slideshow (click on the post title for the hyperlink)

And I spoke to Mom the other day. She sounded quite good although a few words were hard to come by. For some reason, however, she thinks the flowers from Leland were from only me. Did one of you call the florist to change the note?

Just to start a new Post

We did have fun yesterday. Mom was a little aggitated when we got there. She was already eating lunch and seemed to be in a bad mood. I sat there while she ate lunch and we chatted a little. She really brightened up when Jamie and the boys came in. We all went upstairs to the community room on her floor room and just had a little party for a few hours. We played Apples to Apples and Mom won! She and Matt seemed to be the experts at that game. We had a few residents and employees come in for a cupcake. It would be nice to engage even more people.
As we were leaving, Mom was telling Quinn and I some story about her frustration with the Mass schedule at the Mother House. I can't imagine what went on in the morning but I bet it involved Mom making several trips over there, trying to get the straight scoop on when Mass was. I'm sure that was what she was mad about when we got there.
Not sure we could do that scale every week (BGT staff looked worried as we trooped in with coolers and party fixins), but I'm willing to do something on Sunday afternoons. I like Danny's idea for outings, too.
We checked the sign-in book on the way out and Mom did have a few visitors last week: Paul, Mackie Lawrence and Joan Spurrier. God bless them, everyone.
Have a great week,
Lel

Nice Visit Today

Jim and I spent a few hours with Mom today and she was in a fine mood. She thinks she's in trouble with someone based on an incident last night, but she doesn't know who it was. She could not explain what happened, but she wasn't upset when she was trying to tell the story. We had lunch with her, and then we chatted and looked through the photo album while Jim napped (big surprise).
The only thing she said about leaving BGT, was as we were standing to leave, she said someone had wiped her out last night (talking about her pens) and that she had to get out of there. I said, "Yup, it's time for us to get out of here." And we left.
I fixed the TV channels so only about 10 show up. Levelle has the original remote, which you would need to add channels.
We're going to try little or no visiting this week and then all come for a dinner on Sunday. Should we ask about using the 3rd floor kitchen?
Take care,
Lel

Well...the good news is...no valuables stolen when Mom's room was ransacked.

Sooo...my phone rang around 7:15 this evening. It was Mom and she didn't know who she called. After I filled her in on who I was, she told me that she had justgotten back from dinner and her room was ransacked! She had already alerted the people there. I told her that I would be right over.

When I arrived, Sr. Trinita was at the front desk and I said that Mom had called me and told her the above story. She said that Mom had gone to dinner at 5:30. I thought that maybe it took her that long to find a real number and actually dial it. Who knows how many she tried first! Anywho...upstairs...Mom's room looked fine and Mom did not seem frazzled at all. She told me that there were papers all over the table beside her chair and that she wouldn't have left them that way. Hmmmm? Really? The nurse checked back in (that's who she alerted earlier) and said that the room did not look ransacked earlier either. Mom then told her that she was busy writing out bills before dinner and now there were papers everywhere and at least 4 of her pens were missing. The nurse said to let her know if we discovered anything else missing.

Mom and I sat down and had an okay conversation. Until...she began in on the weeping about how she wants out. "No matter what you all think, I am NOT out of my mind!" I told her that we didn't think that but that the disease really affected her judgement decisions and that was what worried us. She wanted specifics and I told her that I didn't want to get her upset and that she didn't like hearing what I had to say. She went on and on until I couldn't stand it anymore and burst out with the blue cookie story! She told me that I was lying. Then she flung herself on the bed and started bawling. She told me that she wanted me to leave and that she never wanted to talk to me again. (I'm sure glad that Aidan wasn't there for this as he would have been taking notes on how to throw a good temper tantrum)

I left saying good-bye and I love you. She told me that the didn't like the way I...(door closing tightly here, but I'm sure whe was going to finish by saying something like, "she didn't like the way I part my hair on the left side" or something like that ;-) )

Love to all - and good luck tomorrow Lel! - Levelle

PS I am still up for a Board Meeting!Bob Evans has the most incredible Stacked & Stuffed Hotcakes®
You've never had hotcakes like these! We take two stuffed hotcakes, stack them with vanilla cream cheese, add more delicious toppings, then finished with whipped topping and a sprinkling of powdered sugar.

Blueberry Cream
Stuffed with sweet blueberries and covered with blueberry topping.

Cinnamon Cream
Stuffed with our own sweet cinnamon chips and drizzled in our rich cinnamon cream sauce.

Caramel Banana Pecan Cream
Stuffed with honey-roasted pecans and fresh banana slices then smothered with warm, caramel banana sauce.

Another Rocky Valley to Get Through

I have been getting bits and peices from the local sibs in Baltimore. Sounds like Mom's new thing is that she wants to move in with Paul. We have to help him by giving him some good talking points. I'm sure it's hard for him when he visits, if Mom is crying and begging. Levelle and Quinn had tough visits with Mom this week, but they are pragmatic enough to walk away when there is no way to convince Mom that she's in the best place.

No point in listing the MANY, MANY reasons this would be a disasterous idea.

Jim and I will be down on Sunday, so no need for others to stop in.

Peace,
Lel

Wait, the best news of all: Jim got a job! starts Monday working for the County! Whew!

maybe need a favor.....

Y'all may remember the story we have told about one our friends from Singapore who was the adopted daughter of the last prince of Bali. There is a book about him and it had one chapter about how he "found" this little Indonesian baby (our friend, Merti) with a massively deformed head - it was crescent shaped with one side pushed all the way in. The prince and his wife adopted her since they had financial means to support her and their other kids had grown up already. When Merti was about a year old, a Balinese dance teacher saw her and asked if she could try to massage her to fix her head. Over many months, she "fixed" her and now Merti is a beautiful woman. She looks just like Melanie. (Melanie reads the blog so I had to say that).

Merti & her husband, Bruce Rittgers, moved to rural New England 10 years ago and we just got back in touch again. Their three lovely children have grown up with the first just starting in college. I can't believe their pictures on Facebook.

Anyway.... the oldest, Shanti, is now in the Maryland Institute College of Art. I've already volunteered Megan to meet up with the daughter sometime in the next 4 months :D as she is a fellow graduate and all, but could I give them some phone numbers of the Baltimore crowd in case of emergency? You know how parents are when their first goes off to college (or you can guess). They are easygoing and fun people but still a tad bit nervous. Any objection to one more person having your phone number?

I won't pass them Paul's number since the daughter is gorgeous.

Okay, you can tell Mom now....

We made it back from headhunter territory safe and sound. I wish I had learned to use my camera better before the trip but we still got some good shots that you won't believe. Between Melanie and I, we took about 450 photos over 4 days and had some awesome experiences. It will take a while to sort through the photos but they will be on Facebook soon. I got some good portraits of the people and Melanie got the magic one of the elusive Proboscis monkey. The photos of the land, housing and jungle should surprise you but give me time to sort them.

Flat Stanley went with us, Stuart, so tell Shane that Stan is packing his bags now for the flight to Durham. It make take a bit of work but I hope by Monday he'll be flying.

I must admit that I am still taken aback a bit when in a motorized canoe sailing up-river and we pass kids playing in the river, then 10 meters later seeing a woman bathing, then 10 meters later seeing another woman washing her clothes, then another 10 meters later seeing a man walking up from the outhouse with the hole in the floor over the river.

Hygiene is strange there. They bathe by scrubbing better than a doctor before surgery but they eat fish from nets that also catch the floaters going down river. The funny thing is that our Indonesian guide got sick but Melanie & I didn't. More later.

Mary Elizabeth Frye's poem

I was just reminded of this...

Do not stand at my grave and weep,
I am not there, I do not sleep.
I am in a thousand winds that blow,
I am the softly falling snow.
I am the gentle showers of rain,
I am the fields of ripening grain.
I am in the morning hush,
I am in the graceful rush
Of beautiful birds in circling flight,
I am the starshine of the night.
I am in the flowers that bloom,
I am in a quiet room.
I am in the birds that sing,
I am in each lovely thing.
Do not stand at my grave and cry,
I am not there. I do not die.

A Grand Day

It has been a grand day for America! (You'll see the light soon, I hope, Danny.) And a grand day for a birthday. Happy Birthday, Michael!

Not a lot of chatter out there

Where are sprinlkles et al planning to watch the game(s)?

Voluntary Idea

If we could get mom engaged again in the activities at BGT, she'd be much happier, of course. Is there any volunteer activity we could do when we visit, that Mom would feel obligated to help out with? Telling her, "I promised I'd help with ..., do you want to come?" might just get her out of her room. I volunteer to help with Happy Hour!
She must be bored to tears and is being pretty stubborn about wallowing in her sorrow. She and Dad were such givers, that pushing her back in that direction any way we can might help.
Just a thought,
Lel

Do hummingbirds whistle?

They certainly do... and they twitter as well.

Yesterday, I suggested to Mom that we go out for an early evening movie. Mom declined this as she had "already been out twice today" and made it apparent that she was focussed on something more "important".

The heads-up for today's visitors (I already talked to Megan) is that Mom is wanting to fix breakfast for her "favorite" of BG's staff. The lucky staff member is a female. Mom couldn't give me much more in the way of identification. She couldn't remember the gal's name or schedule so let's just call her 'Sally' for the story's sake of clarity... Mom approached 'Sally' yesterday morning and told her that she wanted to give her a Valentines present for being so nice. She told 'Sally' that the present was to fix her breakfast one morning. 'Sally' responded that just the thought itself was the nicest gesture.

Mom was emphatic about delivering the gift and asked for my help. So being the good, or stupid son that I am, I acquiesced. After dinner, we spent the evening coming up with as workable a game plan as possible. She acknowledged that she had to keep it simple. We investigated the 3rd floor communal kitchen for what appliances could be used. Luckily, only a toaster and a microwave are available. With this in mind, I zipped out to Giant to procure the fixin's. Course one: pop top off cut up red grapefruit pieces and serve. Course two: drop frozen rasberry toaster strudel into toaster on medium setting, remove and serve. Course three: peel back corner of frozen Jimmy Dean breakfast bowl, place in microwave on high setting for 7 minutes, remove, let stand for 2 minutes and serve. These instructions were written out simply and put on her fridge. It'll be interesting to see how it all goes.

BTW, the night stand lamp shade has been recovered. According to Mom, it had been missing since the holidays until she found out that someone had put it over top of the floor lamp's shade. We found that the floor lamp shade's finial functioned only as decoration... so we moved it to the table lamp shade where it now is fastened down tight to prevent future relocation of the shade :)

Love, Danny

Well the Hummingbird took a crap on Quinn's windshield today.

Okay, so Mom didn't actually poop on Quinn's car, but she sure has a way of turning someone's day upside down. (I just love the comparison to the hummingbird) Figuring that the health issues were taken care of, Quinn happily went for her regularly scheduled visit today. Mom was completely distraught and insistent that she wants OUT OF THIS PLACE! Nothing that Quinn could do or say would alleviate any of Mom's anxiety. The lampshade to her bedside lamp is missing (any ideas?!?) and Mom thinks that someone has stolen it. She has also told several friends variations of the "they told me that they don't like me here because...fill in the reason". I'm just putting this out there that no matter how we feel, we have to be united in telling her that BGT is the best place for her. Quinn offered to look into other places and Mom just told her that the cemetery had the only answer. Nice.

Needless to say, Quinn didn't get her to shower this week. Good luck on Wednesday Megan ;-).

Keep praying! Love to all - Levelle

She's like a hummingbird!

I think it would have been easier asking a hummingbird to settle down and take it easy. I talked to Levelle (who spent the morning with Mom), and Mom seemed to be back to her new old self. Mom was certainly well enough after the procedure to tell me how great her favorite sons are. (I won't embarrass anyone by mentioning names.) Maybe once in a while you guys could put in a good word for her daughters. (I won't embarrass anyone by mentioning names. Yes, I will... Quinn! for starters!)

Love you all, Megan

P.S. GO RAVENS! and Eagles.

Gingerly on her way...

Mom greeted her callers this morn with a look of love, deepest concern and the query "How did everything go... with um... you know, with the procedure?". She was quite worried but then calmed with assurances that all would be fine soon.
Please watch over her, Dad.

I'll pass along any updates received from Quinn.

Love, Danny

Happy New Year

Mom seems to be back to her usual routine. She went to the New Years Eve party last night and apparently had a good time. She brought about thirty of the party hats and noise makers back to her room. I guess she stayed to help clean up afterwards : ) Today she had a visitor that made her day! No, I mean other than me... It was Fr.Tewes! The receptionist said he was as happy to see her as she was to see him. She also overheard him tell Mom that " Now that I found you , I will be back to see you soon" Mom was beaming as the receptionist retold the story. That's it for now.
Thanks for all the support over the holidays! I love you all. Peace and health in 2009.
God bless us, everyone. Q