KELLY IS GROWING WEAKER

FROM THE GOOD FOLKS AT THE BAYFIELD PINES

Looking out the window first thing this morning I noticed right away how much the snow pack had gone down with yesterday's and last night's milder temperatures.  An emotional boost for sure.  While warming up the car, Richard popped in for a couple minutes before I took Pheebs for a short car ride.  I think it was nearly a week since I had last taken Pheebs for a car ride around the block.

 THE VIEW FROM KELLY'S WINDOW IS A LITTLE BIT LIKE HOME WITH ALL THE PINE TREES

I headed off to the Huron Hospice House around 10:30 raining all the way.  Sabra said they didn't have the best night with Kelly being very restless.  Being on a lot of pain medication she kind of drifted in and out all the time I was there.  A nice potted plant and card from the folks at our Bayfield Pines Park rolled in about 12:45.  I big thank you to all you kind folks here in the Park.  Kelly had been sleeping but as soon as she heard me unwrapping the plant she opened her eyes and wanted to hold it.

 A CARD LEFT IN OUR DOOR FROM GOOD FRIENDS CARIN AND CHRIS

I came home about 1:30 to let Pheebs out and fix myself up a veggie shake.  A nice card in the door from our friends Carin and Chris in the Park.  I must have dozed off for a couple minutes in my recliner when the phone rang.  It was Sabra saying a doctor would be in to see Kelly in about 30 minutes so I quickly headed myself back to Hospice.  It is a Clinton doctor who does rounds at Huron Hospice and he came in shortly after 4 p.m.  Although under pain medication, Kelly was able to talk with the doctor and it was agreed to increase her pain meds. Her bouts of consciousness are becoming less and her breathing has slowed.  I returned home for a short period of time and then went back to Hospice after supper through a pea souper of a fog.  I was again reminded of a late Spring night in March.  We met with a second doctor regarding Kelly's care and this doctor even had his dog with him.  I stayed until about 8:30 before heading home.  Sabra is again staying with her Mother for the night on a fold-out couch in Kelly's room.  I'm so thankful for Sabra being there.  Tonight, I am totally drained.......

 SAYING GOODNIGHT 

Al's Music Box:)) ^{The Homecoming} is a 1975 album by Canadian composer, pianist, and vibraphonist Hagood Hardy. Six of the tracks were composed by Hardy. The album also contained fellow Canadian musician Gordon Lightfoot's song "Cold on the Shoulder" and five songs by other songwriters. It reached the RPM Magazine Top Albums chart in October, 1975.  The Homecoming", started out as music to a 1972 TV commercial for Salada tea.  After being included in this album, it was released as a single in 1975 on the Isis label through the Toronto company, Hagood Hardy Productions. It rose to #14 on the Canadian charts, and to #41 on the pop and #6 on the easy listening US charts. It was certified Gold in Canada.    

GROANER'S CORNER:(( And your opinion would be::?? - I started out with nothing & still have most of it left.

- If I want to hear the pitter patter of little feet, I'll put shoes on my cats.

- Does your train of thought have a caboose?
- Suburbia: where they tear out the trees & then name streets after them.
- Well, this day was a total waste of makeup.
- See no evil, hear no evil, date no evil.
- Stress is when you wake up screaming & you realize you haven't fallen asleep yet.
- Too many freaks, not enough circuses.
- Nice perfume. Must you marinate in it?
Chaos, panic, & disorder - my work here is done.

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An English man, French, Italian, and German are standing at the side of a street watching a street performer.  The street performer noticed that they all have poor eyesight so he asked them whether they can see him and they responded: "Yes" "Oui" "Sì" "Ja"

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Baby 1: I'm a boy.
Baby 2: prove it.
Baby 1: Not in front of the nurse.
Baby 2: Okay The nurse leaves
Baby 2: Prove it.
Baby 1: Look, blue socks...

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Al's Doggy World 

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 THIS IS NOW MY WAY

Al's Art Gallery

THE MIND CAN WANDER ITS WAY THROUGH MANY CHANGES

 HURON HOSPICE PUT UP THEIR CHRISTMAS TREE TODAY

The phone rang this morning at 7:15 and it was Kelly and she was in distress.  I hurriedly dressed and headed for the Huron Hospice House.  The front door was locked but a cleaning lady let me in.  Kelly was in a state of agitation and I was able to round up a nurse person right away.  Unfortunately, as we have so often seen with medical facilities, it was yet another case of the left hand not knowing what the right hand was doing.  Not all of Kelly's medical condition info traveled from the Goderich Hospital to the Hospice.  Also, at Hospice they had pinned a call button to her jammy top yesterday but Kelly, in a fog from medications, forgot it was there.  When she needed help Saturday night (pain) and again early this morning she kept pressing a button on her bed that she thought was a call button and nobody came.  I was able to point that button out to her this morning and then go looking for someone to help her.  It was an unfortunate mis-start at the Hospice House but things immediately began looking up after everyone quickly began to reorganize.  She became more lucid and asked for scrambled eggs and toast for breakfast although she didn't eat much of it.  After they finally got her meds straightened out she took several pain bills and became sleepy.  It was now around 9 a.m. and she drifted off to sleep.  I took advantage of that, slipped into Clinton to gas up the car, grabbed a Tim Horton's coffee, and headed home to get Pheebs some breakfast.  Pheebs is such a patient and darling little angel.  With my laptop in tow, I was soon back to Hospice where I found Kelly sitting up and feeling better.  At the Goderich hospital, l they had been giving her oxygen but it was 'another piece of information' Hospice didn't know about.  Luckily, when I told them about the oxygen, they brought in an oxygen machine and got her started on that.  I called Sabra and she was already on her way from Cambridge.  A couple nurses came in and helped Kelly get her jammies changed and gave her a clean-up.  Sabra rolled in somewhere around noon I think.  Thankfully, it was Sabra to the rescue again and she had brought an overnight bag with her and plans to stay with her mother 24/7.  

 HOW WONDERFUL TO BE DRIVING ON BARE ROADS WITH UNLIMITED VISIBILITY TODAY

WHILE FILLING UP WITH GAS AT A CLINTON SHELL STATION THIS MORNING I SPOTTED THIS SIGN

And, in my own fog, I forgot to publish my Saturday post to the blog.  I remembered to copy and paste it to Facebook, but not to Blogger.  I did post it this afternoon so for anyone who couldn't find it, it's up and published now under the title..Kelly Is Now At Huron Hospice West Of Clinton Ontario

What a treat this morning to finally wake up with milder temperatures and no blowing snow.  Roads were bare and free of snow and ice as well.  I almost felt joyous.  With Sabra now at Huron Hospice, I headed home.  I felt exhausted and kind of sickish and needed something to eat so I warmed up some Cream of Chicken soup that we had bought a couple weeks ago at Jerry Raders in Zurich, Ontario.  It tasted great along with two pieces of toast.  That took care of my sickish feeling, but oh dear....... my shattered nerves:((  

 SOME READERS HAD ASKED THE ADDRESS OF HURON HOSPICE

It was 3:45 when I headed back to Huron Hospice.  Kelly's sons Ben and Jason were still there but heading out shortly.  Kelly, tired and in true fashion said to the boys, 'It's time for you boys to go home now'.  I stepped out into the hall as sad goodbyes were said then Sabra, Ben, Jason, and I walked outside to the cars.  It was nice to feel the late afternoon's milder winter air.  It reminded me of Spring.

 A FEW PHOTOS TAKEN BY SABRA AND JASON THIS AFTERNOON

 JASON

I asked Kelly today if she would like me to bring Pheebs in to see her but she shook her head 'no'.  Maybe she will change her mind, we'll see.  In this final phase of life, the mind can wander its way through many changes.

 BEN FILLING UP A BIRDFEEDER OUTSIDE OF KELLY'S WINDOW

Al's Music Box:)) Both Sides Now is a song by Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Michell.  It was included on Mitchell's album 'Clouds', and became one of her best-known songs. It has since been recorded by dozens of artists, including Dion in 1968, Clannad with Paul Young in 1991, and Mitchell herself, who re-recorded the song with an orchestral arrangement on her 2000 album Both Sides Now.  In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked "Both Sides, Now" at number 170 on its list of the 500 Greatest Songs.  Mitchell has said that "Both Sides, Now" was inspired by a passage in Henderson the Rain King, a 1959 novel by Saul Bellow.  I was reading ... Henderson the Rain King on a plane and early in the book Henderson is also up in a plane. He's on his way to Africa and he looks down and sees these clouds. I put down the book, looked out the window and saw clouds too, and I immediately started writing the song. I had no idea that the song would become as popular as it did.  "Both Sides, Now" appears in the album Joni Mitchell: Live at the Second Fret 1966 (2014, All Access Records, AACD0120), a live performance on November 17, 1966, from The Second Fret in Philadelphia, PA, which was broadcast live by WRTI, Temple University's radio station. This suggests that Mitchell wrote the song before 1967 (the year of composition cited in the Los Angeles Times article above) and precedes the first Judy Collins release in 1967.  Mitchell re-recorded the song in a lush, orchestrated fashion for her 2000 album Both Sides Now. The recording won arranger Vince Mendoza a Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist.  In April 2000, two months after the album's release, Mitchell sang the song with a 70-piece orchestra at the end of an all-star celebration for her at the Hamerstein Ballroom in New York City.  The 2000 version is played during an emotional scene featuring Emma Thompson in the 2003 film Love Actually.  It was also played during the 2010 Winter Olympics opening ceremony.

 SABRA TOOK THIS PHOTO FRIDAY AFTERNOON

GROANER'S CORNER:(( A tough old cowboy once counseled his grandson that if he wanted to live a long life, the secret was to sprinkle a little gunpowder on his oatmeal every morning.  The grandson did this religiously and he lived to the age of 93.  When he died, he left 14 children, 28 grandchildren, 35 great-grandchildren and a fifteen-foot hole in the wall of the crematorium.

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