My Mum had a fall today. She seemed a bit muddled the many times she phoned today (I don't think she was getting enough oxygen to the brain, with her extreme shortness of breath today), and this aft she apparently got fed up with being in isolation (Public Health has decreed that they have to be in isolation, and no visitors allowed in the nursing home, until the respiratory infection that's going around the building is under control). So she went out of the room, and when they tried to explain yet again that it was Public Health's ruling, and they weren't just trying to be mean, she got angry, and stormed back to the room (I assume with her walker), and fell. She had to go to hospital by ambulance, and be xrayed -- the hospital phoned me a little while ago, and there's a slight fracture, not enough to warrant surgery (thank heavens) but she has a "collar and cuff" to support and immobilize it., and there'll be follow-up with an orthopedist. They're sending her back to the nursing home in a wheelchair taxi. They had wondered if someone in the family could pick her up and take her back by car, but I'm the only "someone in the family" and I'm not able to manage getting her in and out of the car, etc. At least she'll be in her own bed tonight, and she realizes she shouldn't have stormed off. Old age is not an easy thing.
I haven't been up to see Dad for a little while -- I've had a bit of a cough and cold, and therefore I'm not supposed to go to nursing homes. When I *have* gone to see him, he's been asleep each time. (He has his days and nights mixed up a bit -- he has "Sundowner's Dementia" which means he gets quite agitated as the evening progresses, and sometimes won't go to bed until nearly morning.) Today the nurse said he was up, and had been able to feed himself breakfast -- he often has to have assistance with feeding -- and since he was near the main desk, she wondered if I'd like to talk with him on the phone. I tried. I really did, but he didn't respond hardly at all, so when she came back on the phone, I thanked her for trying at least. She was going to wheel him into the craft room and see if he'd participate a bit in the crafts. The craft lady used to be able to get him to do all sorts of stuff, but he's gone downhill quite a bit in the last couple of months. And I repeat, old age is not an easy thing.
Because visitors aren't allowed right now at Mum's nursing home, I can't go and spend time with her this evening, so I'm going to spend the evening immersed in Julie-stuff and other positive things. I have to keep my positivity up, so that I can help them deal with things (and so that I can deal with things, as well).
Just thought I'd let you know what's happening in the Household of SCB.
"That's Life"...
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Saturday, September 25, 2010
AlphaBook meme
I was bored the other night, couldn't go on the computer because my eyes have been bothering all week (nothing serious, just annoying), so I invented a meme.
The Rules (for there must always be RULES):
1. Go through the alphabet, and for each letter, think of a book you've read that starts with that letter (A, An, and The do not count).
2. You must write down the FIRST book you think of for any given letter. This may make for some odd choices, but them's the breaks.
3. You must have actually READ the book. (I thought of lots that started with some letters, but I hadn't read them.)
4. If you think of a more impressive-sounding book for a particular letter, but you've already written your first thought down, you CANNOT change to the more impressive-sounding book. As an example, you have to leave "Fifty Famous Fairy Tales" (the Whitman Publishing pink and white one) on the list, even if you come up with fifty more impressive books afterwards.
5. If you can think of a book for X, you win... my lasting admiration (I can't afford real prizes!)
6. You can then tag as many people as you like. The more the merrier.
And now (drumroll, please), my answers to the meme. I've put in authors where I knew them, partly just to prove that some of them are real books.
The Art of the Letter, by Alexandra Stoddard
Bunny Blue (one of my favourite tiny picture books when I was very small)
Clan of the Cave Bear, by Jean Auel
The Dreaming Suburb, by R. F. Delderfield
Elizabeth, the Queen
Fifty Famous Fairy Tales (which I preferred to call Fifty Famous Fairy Fables when I was a child. It seemed right, somehow.)
Gift from the Sea, by Anne Morrow Lindbergh (This is a wonderful book!)
Home: a Memoir of my Early Years, by Julie Andrews
If You Could See What I Hear, by Tom Sullivan
Julie, by Catherine Marshall
Karen, by Marie Killilea
A Light in the Window, by Jan Karon
Mister God, This is Anna, by Fynn
New Meanings for Old, by Paul Trudinger (my New Testament prof from Theological College days)
On the Beach, by Nevil Shute
Perelandra, by C. S. Lewis (I need to read this again. I was in the wrong mind-space when I read it over 25 years ago, and it spooked me. I think I'd like it more now.)
Q's Legacy, by Helene Hanff (About Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch, who, as Helene says, was "all by himself her college education".)
Rabbit Tales in Temiskaming
A Swiftly Tilting Planet, by Madeleine l'Engle
These Happy Golden Years, by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Underfoot in Show Business, by Helene Hanff (a delightful read about her years as a struggling playwright in New York)
The Very Fairy Princess, by Julie Andrews and Emma Walton Hamilton (my current favourite children's picture book. It's a joy!)
Watership Down, by Richard Adams
X
The Young Victoria
A Zoo in My Luggage, by Gerald Durrell (although not my favourite of his books, still definitely a recommended read!)
And I tag Brian Sibley, Anne (in Reno), Cap'n Stephel, Little Miao, Mella (are you around, Mella? Are you okay?) and anyone else who'd like to play!
The Rules (for there must always be RULES):
1. Go through the alphabet, and for each letter, think of a book you've read that starts with that letter (A, An, and The do not count).
2. You must write down the FIRST book you think of for any given letter. This may make for some odd choices, but them's the breaks.
3. You must have actually READ the book. (I thought of lots that started with some letters, but I hadn't read them.)
4. If you think of a more impressive-sounding book for a particular letter, but you've already written your first thought down, you CANNOT change to the more impressive-sounding book. As an example, you have to leave "Fifty Famous Fairy Tales" (the Whitman Publishing pink and white one) on the list, even if you come up with fifty more impressive books afterwards.
5. If you can think of a book for X, you win... my lasting admiration (I can't afford real prizes!)
6. You can then tag as many people as you like. The more the merrier.
And now (drumroll, please), my answers to the meme. I've put in authors where I knew them, partly just to prove that some of them are real books.
The Art of the Letter, by Alexandra Stoddard
Bunny Blue (one of my favourite tiny picture books when I was very small)
Clan of the Cave Bear, by Jean Auel
The Dreaming Suburb, by R. F. Delderfield
Elizabeth, the Queen
Fifty Famous Fairy Tales (which I preferred to call Fifty Famous Fairy Fables when I was a child. It seemed right, somehow.)
Gift from the Sea, by Anne Morrow Lindbergh (This is a wonderful book!)
Home: a Memoir of my Early Years, by Julie Andrews
If You Could See What I Hear, by Tom Sullivan
Julie, by Catherine Marshall
Karen, by Marie Killilea
A Light in the Window, by Jan Karon
Mister God, This is Anna, by Fynn
New Meanings for Old, by Paul Trudinger (my New Testament prof from Theological College days)
On the Beach, by Nevil Shute
Perelandra, by C. S. Lewis (I need to read this again. I was in the wrong mind-space when I read it over 25 years ago, and it spooked me. I think I'd like it more now.)
Q's Legacy, by Helene Hanff (About Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch, who, as Helene says, was "all by himself her college education".)
Rabbit Tales in Temiskaming
A Swiftly Tilting Planet, by Madeleine l'Engle
These Happy Golden Years, by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Underfoot in Show Business, by Helene Hanff (a delightful read about her years as a struggling playwright in New York)
The Very Fairy Princess, by Julie Andrews and Emma Walton Hamilton (my current favourite children's picture book. It's a joy!)
Watership Down, by Richard Adams
X
The Young Victoria
A Zoo in My Luggage, by Gerald Durrell (although not my favourite of his books, still definitely a recommended read!)
And I tag Brian Sibley, Anne (in Reno), Cap'n Stephel, Little Miao, Mella (are you around, Mella? Are you okay?) and anyone else who'd like to play!
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Starting all over again...
... you may notice I have no archives. I've decided to start over from scratch. Tried deleting one by one and it was making my eyes tired and my stomach woozy, so I've just deleted the lot, and I'm starting afresh. May have been a bad move, may have been a good one, but it's time to do new things.
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