Alzheimer's Research news

http://www.medicaldaily.com/news/20100922/2138/scientists-identify-a-new-target-for-alzheimers-disease.htm

Christmas Plans

Leland reminded yesterday me that I confused things several months ago about when we are next in Baltimore. To set things straight, our free pre-Thanksgiving trip to Las Vegas recently fell through so we canned the change to a November trip this year.

We will be in Baltimore from about 20 December to 4 January. We are just planning our US trip now and as it stands at the moment, we are visiting friends who live between Portland and Seattle at the beginning of December. We're also trying to catch up with Bobby in Corvallis to maybe do some hiking. On 6 December we fly the red-eye to Houston and between then and around 20 December, we'll drive up to Baltimore through New Orleans, Mississippi, Alabama, Atlanta, Charleston and Durham (if we can find some place to stay there). We're aiming to stick to the backroads and stop in places that look cool to us. If not enough looks good, we may be in Baltimore sooner.

Now, about the Durham visit....

Mentally Moved On

I spent a great weekend with the Blanchard kids while Levelle and Jamie enjoyed a much-deserved vacation in Vail. We had a blast. Michael, we particularly missed you while bowling. You would have enjoyed the Kevin Show.

Quinn and Megan joined me and the kids for a visit to St Catherine's Nursing home that is connected to the mother house for the Daughters of Charity in Emmitsburgh. What a wonderful place! First clue that it is better than Brighton Gardens: every single resident had clean hair. The residents chatted with us, the nuns helped us when we wandered into the convent by mistake. It was calm, peaceful and quiet. The whole building smelled clean. All in all, it deserved its 5-star rating. We gave the SSNDs a chance to take care of mom, isn't it time to give the Daughters a chance?

Biggest problen is location - for Paul, Uncle Jim, Mom's friends...

The kids and I went to see Mom on Sunday. All I could see was the shabby, smelliness of the facility and furnishings, and Mom's dirty hair. She had on only one slipper for most of our visit. I have mentally moved on from Brighton Gardens. Hopefully we can find the perfect spot for Mom at St Catherine's or Stella Maris or somewhere. Say your prayers (as you always do :))

Love you all,
Lel

Genealogy

for posterity's sake:

Joseph Andrew Schmitt (3/18/1838 - 11/25/1915)
Wife: Mary Emma Hansen (5/28/1839 - 3/30/1897) (daughter of Thomas Hansen)
Son: Joseph Andrew Smith (12/30/1860 - 6/25/1902)
Grandson: Joseph Andrew Smith (7/31/1892 - 9/3/1966)
Great-grandson: George Vincent Smith (4/13/1930 - 5/31/2008)

James McGovern (? - 3/13/1895) (son of John (Jack) McGovern & Marie Berne)
Wife: Catherine Dixon
Daughter: Catherine Josephine McGovern (3/19/1862 - 10/11/1947) - married Joseph Andrew Smith
Grandson: Joseph Andrew Smith (7/31/1892 - 9/3/1966) - married Julia Quinn Gisriel
Great-grandson: George Vincent Smith (4/13/1930 - 5/31/2008)

Jacob John Giesenreghen (11/11/1827 - 5/3/1892) (son of Frederick Giesenreghen & Rosine ?) (note 3 & 4)
Wife: Sarah Berger (2/8/1830 - 4/19/1911) (note 4)
Son: Joseph Francis Gisriel (3/9/1868 - 3/2/1940) (note 3)
Granddaughter: Julia Quinn Gisriel (11/27/1892 - 2/27/1977)
Great-grandson: George Vincent Smith (4/13/1930 - 5/31/2008)

Laurence Mooney (11/10/1837 - 6/6/1900) (son of Patrick Mooney) (note 1 & 2)
Wife: Julia Quinn (1839 - 3/29/1910) (note 2)
Daughter: Frances DeSales V. D. P. Mooney (1/29/1868 - 11/18/1926) - Married Joseph Francis Gisriel
Granddaughter: Julia Quinn Gisriel (11/27/1892 - 2/27/1977) - Married Joseh Andrew Smith
Great-grandson: George Vincent Smith (4/13/1930- 5/31/2008)

notes:
(1) a native of Kildengen, County Kildare, Ireland. His funeral took place from his late residence, No. 1541 Division Street, Baltimore on Friday morning at 8:30 o'clock, thence to the Immaculate Conception Church
(2) "Mooney, Lawrence [sic] and wife Julia (Quinn), both b. Ireland. Julia at County Kildare, Parish of Manstreven & c. 1855 to Baltimore, they were married. Lawrence [sic] b. in County Kildare in 1837, son of Patrick. To Baltimore at age 15; died 1900. Their son, John H., b. in Baltimore 21 November 1870. Catholic."
(3) moved to Baltimore in 1852.
(4) both (John and Sarah) were born in Germany and were living in Baltimore during the 1880 census. They had 6 other children - John, William, Anna, Elizabeth, Madaline, and Ferdinand. I don't know the address but they were living in the 8th Ward, Precinct 4 which is located in the area around North Ave and Belair Road. Jacob Gisriel was a “huckster” and his two eldest sons (John and William) worked as brass molders/founders." - "huckster" according to Wikipedia is "a seller of small articles, usually of cheap or shoddy quality, or one engaged in haggling or making petty bargains, that is, a certain type of peddler or hawker."

Interesting visit with Mom today.

Pretty sure that she had no idea who I was. She was in the main living room while exercise time was happening. (I say that because she was not participating) I waved and smiled and she just gave me a "huffy" look and continued to stare at the leader. I decided that I should check her room first because that usually gives me a sense of her current mood. Interestingly I found several important things missing...her bedspread, her hairdryer, brush, shampoo and most importantly - her two framed pictures of ME! Harriet (the cleaning lady) asked if I knew where the bedspread was since she had not seen it all day. After searching high and low, it was found three doors down in the empty room left by John O'Brien. Never found the hair stuff, but did manage to find the pictures under the sofa in the lining that's fallen down. (Nice try Quinn, next time you want to get rid of my pictures, you're going to have to find a better hiding place ;-) ) I then went back to the living room.

Mom still didn't seem too interested in coming with me, but she did because I told her that I had some new shoes for her. I had found an interesting website that had shoes/clothing for Alzheimer's patients (or others with limited dexterity) and I ordered some new shoes for mom since the edema in her legs/feet has gotten pretty bad. I also got some new sweaters since her's always seem to look so ratty. So if you see some new clothes & shoes that you don't recognize, chances are they came from this visit. I tried to label everything with her name, but you can't see the writing on some. Mom was completely against all of the new clothing/shoes. She said she didn't need them. It's funny to think that in the two years+ that she's been there, we've probably bought her more clothing than she bought during her entire adult life. She just wears the clothing harder than she has and the people washing it don't take such good care of it. (or some things just disappear...)

By the time I left, she seemed to be in a better mood. Wonder what I'll find next time I visit?!?! Always a mystery...

Love to all - Levelle