1. End-of-summer weather in BC.
2. Long meandering conversations on patios.
3. My truck is home! I get to drive it again!
4. My dad.
Today, the nurse was trying to give him his meds (pills, crushed and suspended in thickened liquid) when he stopped her and said, "You painted your nails." She looked at him, then at me, and said, "He's right. I did paint them last night. He's the first man to ever notice or comment." Then he looked under the table at my feet, and said to the nurse, "Her toes are red. She painted them yesterday." And I had. Yesterday afternoon, Karm and I sat side-by-side in massage chairs at the mall and had pedicures. My dad, who was visiting with mom, Hildegarde, Donna and Kenzie when I arrived, noticed my feet right away and said, "You got your toes painted."
Jule had brought in a photo album of pics of dad with his grandkids that he and I looked through it for an hour this evening. These days he is mom's 'dear' and Jule's and my 'dad'. He is 'Pete' to their friends and 'Mr. Klassen' to the young care aides. As he looks through the album he says to me, "And this is when I was Bups." He gets quiet as we look at picture after picture of him holding his grandbabies. "Bups," he says again. "What happened?"
And I know he's wondering how did he end up here, when he used to live a life like that.
"We're getting old, dad. Things change. But you're still a Bups. You always will be. You were the best Bups ever."
5. My mom's house. It is so peaceful and beauty-filled. I popped in there this afternoon, unexpectedly to hang out for an hour between my long lunch with Marg and my early supper with dad. She was at the Lodge with dad, so I made myself at home.
You'd think she had her house for sale - it was definitely ready for a spontaneous showing ...
On the counter, in a basket I remember from Billies, fresh fruit and some cuc's. She lives by herself, so this arrangement was just for herself.
It's the end of hydrangea season. So her house was full of them:
Hydrangea blooms tucked everywhere.
Behind her kitchen sink: birds ...
Yes, that's a TRAVEL mug. So elegant.
This arrangement of shiny things, on the corner of the island, wasn't there when I lived there in June. Pretty and feminine and textured and rich:
She is an ivory person. She loves off-white. Warm white. Oyster white. Creamy (BUT NOT YELLOWISH) white. And lots and lots of texture.
Shalom,
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