Good luck Skip Z. I had the same there at the Hitch 11 years ago. Eleven years that I would have missed for sure and despite the evil machinations of the oligarchs, it's been wonderful.
Bernie, AOC, the growth of the progressive movement and our most clarifying writer and thinker, Heather Cox Richardson.
Skip I have a back porch . I call it my Thinking/ Praying porch. You will be out there with me on Monday and I’ll be doing both, and everyday until you give us an update. Best Wishes and Smooth Gentil recovery.
Skip going from the picture of nature to your message was startling. From heart to heart, I will be thinking of you -- eager to know that you are healing, resting and returning to the fold. Salud!
Skip, my husband had the same thing done last October, though at the UVM Medical Center. He recovered with amazing speed and is much more energetic than before. Our best wishes to you.
Sending warm wishes and heartfelt prayers for a successful procedure and a quick recovery. Listen to your nurses when they tell you to cough and deep breathe. ❤️
Thank you for letting us know, Skip. You’ll be in good hands at D-H. Best wishes for a smooth recovery! Looking forward to hearing from you when you’re back in the saddle.
Hope you are up and walking around soon be sure to have someone show you how to get out of the bed once you are in recovery and get into a swim pool when you can and walk to increase circulation. Wishing you a great recovery, Linda
I’m on the west coast but have heard he is excellent. I have a friend that works at Dartmouth and she says he’s the best! And Cheryl P is right hug that pillow to your chest and cough and deep breathe 💖
Thank you, Dr. Heather, this will be great as my desktop background. Today was a good day here, as we cautiously (masked up and socially distanced) celebrated my mother turning 94 today. She is still physically strong tho no longer mentally sharp but it's better that she has no worries about the future of this country. Thank you as always for keeping us informed yet still relatively sane. Rest well! 💜
How wonderful she is still with you. As my father’s mind wandered off to unknown lands, I began to go with him, asking him to describe what he saw and learning to experience it with him. That insight helped me to calm him down when he became frightened and agitated. When he asked a direct question I always answered honestly. Mostly though I just kept him company in his strange new world. We laughed a lot. Sending love to you both.
We went through that with my father-in-law. Putting him in “control” of his memories through pictures and seeing familiar locations with Google maps and maintaining an ability to laugh really was calming for all of us as we navigated the unknown (he passed away 2 years ago). We also had an opportunity to try an early version of virtual goggles ……his responsiveness to that was eye opening!
Diane, what a wonderful story about how you gently traveled with your dad to his strange new world. Your way of being with him was so loving and supportive. I hope he was not troubled by the sorts of fears and delusions that can cause some people with dementia to become angry or even combative.
Sadly at times he did become combative which forced us to put him in a memory care facility to protect our mother. Without that worry we were able to focus on love and joy. My mother came every day and had dinner with him. Such painful choices.
It's wonderful you were able to celebrate your mother's 94th!! Precious moments. Difficult choices but being in the memory care unit allowed us, as it did with your Dad, to more easily enjoy the moments we had with him. Certain concerns and worries were removed and that part was a big relief. My husband would visit every day for lunch and since we were now close by (he had previously been 5 hours away living alone in a remote area) we could (and did) drop by at other times as well. As my mother-in-law would often say "aging is not for the faint of heart." I'm definitely relating to that now!!
Janice, I believe your mother does somewhere in her mind know that you are there. When my mother was in the last stage of Alzheimer's, my sisters and I would visit her. She was nonverbal. Together, we sang some of the old hymns, and miraculously, she would make sounds of going along with us as we sang. Thrilled us and we hope comforted her.
Glad you took a break. We (wife, teenage son Atticus, and dog Scout) hiked on Mt. Hood east of Portland this afternoon. Hardly saw anyone. Scout was thrilled as she romped wherever she wanted, including a muddy stream. The wild huckleberries were a sumptous surprise. Best of all: a spitting rain that made the leaves glisten. It's been 70+ days since we've had any in Portland. Hoping for more this week.
We got a few sprinkles today in Hood River. It was lovely, and smelled so good. Hope we get some more. It is so dry. We have picked huckleberries on Mt Hood too, near Meadows. They are amazing.
I can picture it all Michael! So glad for the rain in Oregon, pray for more. I have picked wild blueberries from the bushes at my beach here in Michigan for a week now. Muffins on the menu!
Just beautiful. Finally some rain after 6 weeks or so here in North Wales. The garden was suffering and my skin was absorbing moisturiser by the bucketful. How welcome the rain is when it comes after a dry spell. Making music on the roof, sparking in spider webs and hydrating your soul. If it is true as Tom Robbins said, ‘water invented humans as a way to get around”, I can only be grateful to be along for the ride.
Wow Robin--I cannot even imagine North Wales with no rain. I was there, staying in Glyndyfrdwy (which I had to memorize how to spell and learn from my landlady how to pronounce!) for a month about 10 years ago and the flooding was so intense that many of the more remote castle sites were inaccessible. I would walk to Llangollen skirting the sheep and the puddles, and when I drove across Snowdonia National Park it was under cloud for most of the trip. I had a wonderful but soggy month. I bet the gulls are fierce this year, especially with so few tourists.
Yep, that sounds like the Wales I normally live in. Even it there is not one cloud in the sky I take an umbrella. The last two years have had a couple of these dry patches. Global warming... who knows. It's great when they end and we can stop rushing Willynilly around with hoses filling up bird baths and watering plants. Our garden is so steep you have to use a harness from a tree to reach some bits so you can envision the relief the rain brings. There is always magic in the air here.. even waiting for the rain.
Oh yes, plenty of tourists! More than any other year. The plague has make a staycation very attractive to the British. The seagulls will get their fill of chips this year. 🏝
Not only do you furnish my mind but also my desktop. Many thanks from an 85 year old living in the Cotswold. And very very best wishes to you and Buddy.
As I sit on the top of my river boat in Avignon (because it’s not my turn to leave yet) looking at the Rhône River, I appreciate a sunny summer day. After this lovely reprieve in SE France, home tomorrow.
Cold rather especially, as happens quite frequently, it's blowing at 50-70 mph! We often have much sunnier weather than elsewhere because of this wind.
Heather's photo is so similar to photos I love to take of our albeit wider, stone arch train bridge over the Sackett's Brook which flows into the Connecticut River here in Vermont. When the water is very still, the reflection of the arch in the gives the magical appearance of an eye with a the sunlight in the distance shining on the CT. Surreal. Breathtaking. Wish I could post it here. Narnia-like. At times one can be shocked into reality by sudden ripples from an occasional beaver or muskrat dragging a scrumptious branch home. Thanks for the photo, Heather— we always need to remember we have a lot to be grateful for, despite our species.
Maureen Dowd asks (and answers) the question on everyone's mind this days:
WHY DO REPUBLICANS HATE THE COP?
"The heart-rending police testimony was dismissed by most Republicans and Fox News as “political theater.” What gall by a party that claims to have the backs of men and women in blue."
Well it appears TFG and his Admin. has A lot of Bone problems . Spurs , none in their backs an numb skulls. But I have the cure ! Two middle fingers that have strong bones in them. Nope, not what you’re thinking. I’m a lady. When I send my Mail in Vote I use them to push them in the out Post Box. Then I flip the box off ! 😉
Heather, your picture of greens; light, shadow and depth; the perspective reflected on the water; a walkway and an opening, along with a note -- beautiful -- full of nature and the nature of being. Thank you for this treasure. Wishing you peace on this August, Sunday.
Rachel Carson’s book ‘Silent Spring ‘ was published in August 1962.President JFK read it. DDT another chemicals came under regulation because of it.Very good read for a hot or rainy Sunday. Love the rocks.
I'm having open heart surgery really early on Monday at Dartmouth. I hope all goes easy for you and I will catch up as I can.
Good luck Skip Z. I had the same there at the Hitch 11 years ago. Eleven years that I would have missed for sure and despite the evil machinations of the oligarchs, it's been wonderful.
Bernie, AOC, the growth of the progressive movement and our most clarifying writer and thinker, Heather Cox Richardson.
Sending good thoughts to you, see you soon.
Thank you.
Skip I have a back porch . I call it my Thinking/ Praying porch. You will be out there with me on Monday and I’ll be doing both, and everyday until you give us an update. Best Wishes and Smooth Gentil recovery.
Skip going from the picture of nature to your message was startling. From heart to heart, I will be thinking of you -- eager to know that you are healing, resting and returning to the fold. Salud!
You’re in great hands at Dartmouth. Wishing you a speedy recovery!
Hugs for Healing!!
Yay
Skip, my husband had the same thing done last October, though at the UVM Medical Center. He recovered with amazing speed and is much more energetic than before. Our best wishes to you.
Sending warm wishes and heartfelt prayers for a successful procedure and a quick recovery. Listen to your nurses when they tell you to cough and deep breathe. ❤️
Thank you for letting us know, Skip. You’ll be in good hands at D-H. Best wishes for a smooth recovery! Looking forward to hearing from you when you’re back in the saddle.
Sending a virtual hug, holding positive thoughts for a speedy recovery!
Will be keeping you close to MY heart. Speedy recovery!
Prayers for you and your medical team! Wishing you smooth sailing through the procedure and recovery.
Many prayers for a successful surgery, Skip Z!!!!
Skip, will be thinking of you tomorrow. Dartmouth is a good place for surgeries so I know you'll be in good hands🌿
Hope you are up and walking around soon be sure to have someone show you how to get out of the bed once you are in recovery and get into a swim pool when you can and walk to increase circulation. Wishing you a great recovery, Linda
I will be sending healing thoughts your way Skip. You will certainly be in good hands at Dartmouth 💐
Jock McCollough MD is the surgeon
I’m on the west coast but have heard he is excellent. I have a friend that works at Dartmouth and she says he’s the best! And Cheryl P is right hug that pillow to your chest and cough and deep breathe 💖
Sending positive thoughts. Dartmouth will take good care of you.
Thank you, Dr. Heather, this will be great as my desktop background. Today was a good day here, as we cautiously (masked up and socially distanced) celebrated my mother turning 94 today. She is still physically strong tho no longer mentally sharp but it's better that she has no worries about the future of this country. Thank you as always for keeping us informed yet still relatively sane. Rest well! 💜
How wonderful she is still with you. As my father’s mind wandered off to unknown lands, I began to go with him, asking him to describe what he saw and learning to experience it with him. That insight helped me to calm him down when he became frightened and agitated. When he asked a direct question I always answered honestly. Mostly though I just kept him company in his strange new world. We laughed a lot. Sending love to you both.
We went through that with my father-in-law. Putting him in “control” of his memories through pictures and seeing familiar locations with Google maps and maintaining an ability to laugh really was calming for all of us as we navigated the unknown (he passed away 2 years ago). We also had an opportunity to try an early version of virtual goggles ……his responsiveness to that was eye opening!
I love that approach, Diane. ♥️
Diane, what a wonderful story about how you gently traveled with your dad to his strange new world. Your way of being with him was so loving and supportive. I hope he was not troubled by the sorts of fears and delusions that can cause some people with dementia to become angry or even combative.
Sadly at times he did become combative which forced us to put him in a memory care facility to protect our mother. Without that worry we were able to focus on love and joy. My mother came every day and had dinner with him. Such painful choices.
It's wonderful you were able to celebrate your mother's 94th!! Precious moments. Difficult choices but being in the memory care unit allowed us, as it did with your Dad, to more easily enjoy the moments we had with him. Certain concerns and worries were removed and that part was a big relief. My husband would visit every day for lunch and since we were now close by (he had previously been 5 hours away living alone in a remote area) we could (and did) drop by at other times as well. As my mother-in-law would often say "aging is not for the faint of heart." I'm definitely relating to that now!!
Love your spirit of healing, Diane. Wonderful story about your dad. Blessings.
Wow! Happy 94th birthday to your mother!
Janice, I believe your mother does somewhere in her mind know that you are there. When my mother was in the last stage of Alzheimer's, my sisters and I would visit her. She was nonverbal. Together, we sang some of the old hymns, and miraculously, she would make sounds of going along with us as we sang. Thrilled us and we hope comforted her.
Yesterday was my father's birthday as well. He was a year younger than your mother. He stays always in my heart.
Glad you took a break. We (wife, teenage son Atticus, and dog Scout) hiked on Mt. Hood east of Portland this afternoon. Hardly saw anyone. Scout was thrilled as she romped wherever she wanted, including a muddy stream. The wild huckleberries were a sumptous surprise. Best of all: a spitting rain that made the leaves glisten. It's been 70+ days since we've had any in Portland. Hoping for more this week.
So you are a fan of To Kill a Mockingbird!
Atticus, Scout, hiking, and huckleberries!! And the rain!
We got a few sprinkles today in Hood River. It was lovely, and smelled so good. Hope we get some more. It is so dry. We have picked huckleberries on Mt Hood too, near Meadows. They are amazing.
Your description brought back pleasant memories of blue berry picking on Mt Baker as a child in the ‘50’s.
I can picture it all Michael! So glad for the rain in Oregon, pray for more. I have picked wild blueberries from the bushes at my beach here in Michigan for a week now. Muffins on the menu!
One of our cats is named Scout! TKAM made a deep impression on our kids.
Excellent.
Wish we had some rain in Northern California!
Just beautiful. Finally some rain after 6 weeks or so here in North Wales. The garden was suffering and my skin was absorbing moisturiser by the bucketful. How welcome the rain is when it comes after a dry spell. Making music on the roof, sparking in spider webs and hydrating your soul. If it is true as Tom Robbins said, ‘water invented humans as a way to get around”, I can only be grateful to be along for the ride.
Wow Robin--I cannot even imagine North Wales with no rain. I was there, staying in Glyndyfrdwy (which I had to memorize how to spell and learn from my landlady how to pronounce!) for a month about 10 years ago and the flooding was so intense that many of the more remote castle sites were inaccessible. I would walk to Llangollen skirting the sheep and the puddles, and when I drove across Snowdonia National Park it was under cloud for most of the trip. I had a wonderful but soggy month. I bet the gulls are fierce this year, especially with so few tourists.
Yep, that sounds like the Wales I normally live in. Even it there is not one cloud in the sky I take an umbrella. The last two years have had a couple of these dry patches. Global warming... who knows. It's great when they end and we can stop rushing Willynilly around with hoses filling up bird baths and watering plants. Our garden is so steep you have to use a harness from a tree to reach some bits so you can envision the relief the rain brings. There is always magic in the air here.. even waiting for the rain.
Oh yes, plenty of tourists! More than any other year. The plague has make a staycation very attractive to the British. The seagulls will get their fill of chips this year. 🏝
Well Robin, i can tell you where your rain went as in France we've had a wet couple of months lately.
It must be a relief that the cheese trees are ok. A dehydrated Camembert would be a national emergency, 🧀🧀🧀
Robin, this is quite the lovely Ode to Water Joy!
Not only do you furnish my mind but also my desktop. Many thanks from an 85 year old living in the Cotswold. And very very best wishes to you and Buddy.
Wishing for rain here in CA!
Wish you could send some of that rain to California... Rest up. Thanks for helping us all get the big picture of this country at this time...
As I sit on the top of my river boat in Avignon (because it’s not my turn to leave yet) looking at the Rhône River, I appreciate a sunny summer day. After this lovely reprieve in SE France, home tomorrow.
Hi Marcy and all. Just an hour north east of you in Taulignan the sun's shining but the mistral is blowing...breakfast inside as it isn't warm.
I haven’t heard the weather term “mistral wind” since reading it in some lovely novel. Love the description, Stuart. Tell me how it feels. Cool?
Cold rather especially, as happens quite frequently, it's blowing at 50-70 mph! We often have much sunnier weather than elsewhere because of this wind.
…fond memories of a visit at the Quaker meeting house in Congenies and a tour of Cather country… thunderstorms at night, beautiful sunny days.
Thank you for letting us sit along side you for a spell!!
Thank you for being so real, so thoughtful, so adjective free!
The photo is enchanting. I wanted to step into it.
Heather's photo is so similar to photos I love to take of our albeit wider, stone arch train bridge over the Sackett's Brook which flows into the Connecticut River here in Vermont. When the water is very still, the reflection of the arch in the gives the magical appearance of an eye with a the sunlight in the distance shining on the CT. Surreal. Breathtaking. Wish I could post it here. Narnia-like. At times one can be shocked into reality by sudden ripples from an occasional beaver or muskrat dragging a scrumptious branch home. Thanks for the photo, Heather— we always need to remember we have a lot to be grateful for, despite our species.
My thought exactly, Sue!
So nice to know this. ☺️
Maureen Dowd asks (and answers) the question on everyone's mind this days:
WHY DO REPUBLICANS HATE THE COP?
"The heart-rending police testimony was dismissed by most Republicans and Fox News as “political theater.” What gall by a party that claims to have the backs of men and women in blue."
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/31/opinion/republicans-police-capitol-riot-trump.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage
Well it appears TFG and his Admin. has A lot of Bone problems . Spurs , none in their backs an numb skulls. But I have the cure ! Two middle fingers that have strong bones in them. Nope, not what you’re thinking. I’m a lady. When I send my Mail in Vote I use them to push them in the out Post Box. Then I flip the box off ! 😉
Dowd says it like it really is. Disgusting and dangerous.
Thank you, Christopher.
Heather, your picture of greens; light, shadow and depth; the perspective reflected on the water; a walkway and an opening, along with a note -- beautiful -- full of nature and the nature of being. Thank you for this treasure. Wishing you peace on this August, Sunday.
It makes me happy knowing that you live in such a beautiful place. 😍
Rachel Carson’s book ‘Silent Spring ‘ was published in August 1962.President JFK read it. DDT another chemicals came under regulation because of it.Very good read for a hot or rainy Sunday. Love the rocks.
Its been a cool summer in Portugal too, so there is still a little grass for my old horses. Its an ill wind that doesn't do somebody some good.