Brownies & Beds

Today was another day where she was struggling and I came in to help. She asked me to give her sips of water. She couldn’t talk well. One of the first things she told me was that she’d been “stupid” and had “pushed [her]self” too hard. I didn’t press for details. I’d brought my laptop, and offered her a choice of music: classical, Mormon Tabernacle Choir, and Shirley Temple. Guess which one she picked? (Hint: the answer is always c.) During the “Animal Crackers” song, she told me that it was a very popular song when she was a little girl! (Of course. It’s a classic!)

She looked at some family photos in a little album and on my laptop, and enjoyed it even though she couldn’t remember everyone’s names. Softly and earnestly, she said she loves all her grandchildren though and she knows them, even if she can’t think of their names. She asked me to make a list of people for a party; the list was all her female descendants. She really loves you all, boys and girls!

She could talk better by the time I left (and Grandpa arrived), but I wasn’t sure if she’d come to dinner. She did, though! However, she decided it was a mistake when she arrived; she didn’t feel well enough to sit at the table. Dinner was an unusually small affair of 4 without her and the usual others. She lay on the couch for a while, used the bathroom, and then settled down well in Elizabeth’s room on the bed, reading the newspaper. She wasn’t very interested in most of the meal, but when Elizabeth offered her dessert (ice cream, raspberries and black bean brownies) she had two helpings!

See how nicely the bed and bedding matches her clothes? Perfect outfit. :)

Before heading out again, Grace stepped in the room for a couple of minutes to be with Grandma. Grandma saw her shoes (Easter pastel purple Steve Madden Wedges), she gasped, “Oh my goodness! Those are glamorous!”

Soon after, when she’d finished her dessert, she allowed me to take the above photos and clean her fingernails, and then talked with Cathy on the phone for a few minutes (she was talking pretty well!). Then she told me she was pretty well talked out. However, around half an hour later Elizabeth connected her with David – so she got to talk to 2 of her out-of-town kids today!

Last Wednesday, July 10

The highlight of this visit, for me and Grandpa, was a mattress.

We helped Grandma look over and see it. She was quiet but seemed to be having a good night. 

Now YOU can sleep when Grandma does!

4th of July!

Grandma went up to the Sundance Cabin on Independence Day this year! She sat in the rocking chair surrounded by family and was relatively perky. Gardens were on her mind; she asked Daniel (I think) if he has a garden, and she kept saying that she wanted to see the garden there at the cabin. She took a lie down at one point; apparently she loved the bedrooms and kept asking where the furniture was purchased, and then felt a little sheepish that she couldn't remember where she got them.

Soon after her return, she was ready to go outside! She said she wanted to take a walk around the cabin. I gave Elizabeth a look that said, "Aaaahhhhh but she can't handle thatwhat're we gonna do?!?" We did. We helped her walk out onto the back porch. We invited her to come back inside, but she wanted to go around the cabin. We had her take the newer stairs, which are safer than the old ones. And we walked her around. When she saw the front garden area (a wildflower garden, not a vegetable garden) she was disappointed in the tall grasses/weeds that where there, and wanted to weed! By this time she was ready to sit down, and sit down she did, by a post holding up the balcony. Soon we helped her move to an area with a little wall (it's at 9:00 if you're facing the cabin). There were plenty of weeds there, and she went to it with a will!

She felt good about what she'd done but wished she could work on the real area - the flower garden. I remember her weeding that garden a few years ago, too.

As Grandma was working away, Paul's dog Chuck was happily somewhere nearby in the grass. As Paul was driving out, he called him. Chuck came out with something gray and furry in his mouth! Our best guess is that he was gnawing away at a dead squirrel, and the tail's what he brought out. I didn't get a picture of it, unfortunately, but the reason I'm mentioning it here is because Chuck dropped his catch, not at Paul's feet, but at Grandma's. He knows who's the queen around here!

Yesterday, July 5th, I spent a bit of time with Grandma during the afternoon. We mostly read the papers together. An aid came in with Hershey's Kisses for Grandma - she'd asked him for chocolate, and though he was thinking, "We're not a convenience store," he found some! After he presented her his catch, I showed him the chocolate stash in Grandma's fridge for future reference.

After she used the bathroom, she just wanted to sit on her bed, not lie down on it. I was feeling sleepy, so I sat down too and we lied back on the rumpled blankets together, she reading and me dozing. I took the picture of us below.

Elizabeth visited her that night and said Grandma was pretty tired. But because I went during a good time, we knew that contrary to our fears, the Independence Day jaunt didn't completely wipe Grandma out.