Autumn walk

We've been having the most glorious, warm, sunny weather this week.
Such a relief after the extended gray and rainy stretch.

When the caregiver arrived at 5,
I asked Oscar if he wanted to go for a walk
and we headed out, leash in one hand, camera in the other,
cellphone in the fanny pack.

80 degrees calls for bare legs and sandals,
which seem incongruous with fallen oak leaves.


The trees that line our street are just beginning their march to gold.


Sedums have lost their summer hot pink and are shifting to claret.


Hydrangeas hedge their bets and show multiple hues in each bloom.


Common geraniums glow in the late afternoon sun.


Asters are airily amethyst.


Kids and dads play baseball in the park.

Oh! A call from my sister.
Can't talk and take pictures at the same time,
so I'll leave you with this,
which was simmering on the stove while we walked and talked:

Chicken soup for supper.

Sam's rainbow

My friend C, who spent much of the summer preparing a new place to live for herself and her older brother Sam, spent Friday with family and friends, celebrating Sam's life at his funeral and accompanying his body to the cemetery.

In one of life's cruel twists, Sam had collapsed and died while in California participating in a Sports Clinic for disabled vets.

For the last six or so years following Sam's stroke, C has been her brother's primary caregiver and tireless cheerleader, advocate, and seeker of services for him. She had just gotten a new job that requires quite a bit of travel, so she found a new place for them to live that allowed him easy access to public transportation to get to the programs and services that he was involved in, so that he could have as much independence as possible while she was on the road. They had moved into their new place just 3 weeks before his death.

He had worked hard to qualify to go to San Diego. It was where he wanted to be. He had also just qualified to participate in permanent employment through the VA, something that had been beyond his reach until now, and was going to go complete the final step when he got back from San Diego. Life was good, probably the best since his stroke.

The weather on Friday was predicted to be pretty bad - lots of high wind and rain. The sky over Lake Michigan near the church was dramatic with dark storm clouds, the beach covered with crashing waves, but the rain held off until later in the afternoon. I was able to attend the funeral but not the burial. C called me later in the afternoon to tell me how things had gone at the cemetery, and while we were on the phone, it started raining. We talked about how appropriate the weather had been for the funeral, and how good it was that the rain had held off.

While we talked, I walked outside to see if there might be a rainbow, since the rain had come while there was sun shining through breaks in the clouds. Yes! And C could see it from her place, too. I was able to get a picture for her before the rainbow disappeared.

The rainbow felt like a blessing to end a difficult yet wonderful day.

On the coast

Isn't this gorgeous?

Last week G's older daughter K arranged a day off for herself
and took a day hike along the Zeeland coast,
near her home in the Netherlands.
Her walk was along 16 miles of beach.

She said the weather was beautiful and sent us pictures from her day.

K and her daughter M
are coming to visit us next month.

We can't wait!

Walkin' & Rollin' to End Alzheimer's

Sunday morning we walked and rolled in the Walk to End Alzheimer's.

G and I participated the first time in 2004
when it was called the Memory Walk,
and his diagnosis of vascular dementia was just 6 months old.
He got a T-shirt.

The next year we were out of town and couldn't attend.

The subsequent years
he either wasn't interested in going with me on the walk,
or wasn't able to handle it.

A few years ago, when he was having difficulty walking
and had begun to use a walker,
I suggested renting a wheelchair so he could go with me.

He wasn't interested.
Perhaps being in a wheelchair didn't fit his self-image.
Or maybe it was the apathy that has been the hallmark
of his journey with the disease.

But now we have a transport chair at home for when he needs it,
so riding in a wheeled chair is not so foreign.

And when I told him a few days ago
that thanks to the generosity of our family and friends,
he and I were currently the top fundraisers for our local walk
and would he like to join me this year,
he said yes.
That he thought it was important that he be there.

I thought it was important, too.

Weather in the low 50's and cloudy,
so we are bundled up in multiple layers for the walk,
G in a borrowed wheelchair.

P.S. It is someone special's birthday today,
but she told me last week she didn't want a fuss made.
So we'll keep it low profile.
Happy Birthday, dear one!

One of the fine ones

Freshman year, Brown University

Today is my dad's birthday.

His mother would tell people she had "four fine boys."
With no irony.

The wives of the four fine boys loved that phrase,
and we kids grew to love it, too.
There was always a lot of teasing about it.

The four fine boys with their parents, wives, children.
My dad is the tallest one in the back row.
(I'm the deer-in-the-headlights one standing at the right, holding my aunt's hand.)

We think we got very lucky,
being the children of one of the four fine boys.

And, of course, I think we got the finest of the lot.


Happy Birthday, Dadder. We love you.

Good deed

On the way to pick up G from the day program

I passed a pedestrian crosswalk sign.

It's a new spot for a crosswalk,
so drivers are still getting used to it.

The problem was the sign was turned
so it was easily readable by pedestrians
but invisible to drivers.

I made a slight detour to the police station
to ask someone to fix it.

On the way home, voila. Fixed.


In other news, we have happy bees again.



Can you see the bee inside the unfurling blossom?

Laundry fluttering in the breeze doesn't disturb them.

Oscar's happy, too.

Angry Birds Bees

About 6pm I was standing at the kitchen sink
and noticed a lot of activity
in the air outside our windows.

Uh oh.

Bees.

Our neighbors have beehives that they started a year ago spring,
but I have not seen angry bees before.
So...are these their bees?
The hives are along our south lot line
but rarely interfere with our lives.

Then I caught sight of our neighbor Chris,
outfitted in his beekeeper suit, hat, veil, and gloves.
Must be their bees I'm seeing buzzing around so angrily.
They were even lighting on our windows.

I called the neighbor's house and found out
the residents of one of the hives
were a little agitated.
So, best not to go out the back door just yet.

The front of the house was safe, though,
so Oscar and I went out for a walk.
While we walked,
I thought about whether I would be able to go to my exercise class,
since the bees were buzzing madly over our driveway
and in front of our garage.
I might have to stay home.

But, no.
By the time Oscar and I returned to the house,
all was quiet in Beeland.

Drat.