Watching the Wildlife

Well, we got the Tina Turner nails taken care of yesterday. I know Mom appreciated getting rid of them. Afterwards she kept looking at her hands and saying, "Oh, that's wonderful!"

We'd made a single morning appointment for a mani/pedi and to have her hair cut, but as it turned out, we needed a second visit for the pedicure. So we went back in the afternoon. The beauticians said they're going to put Mom on a regular schedule and coordinate it with the staff in her memory care unit, so her nails won't get so out of control. Let me just say they deserve a medal. I think I seriously am going to buy them each a gift card or something.

Mom and I spent most of the day together. After the beauty shop we went to lunch at the cafeteria, and then sat on a bench by the river, where we saw this long-tailed skipper butterfly (above). We also saw a red-bellied woodpecker, some titmice, a yellow-throated warbler and a yellow sulphur butterfly. Mom used to be really into birds, and although she's lost interest in recent years -- I think she can't remember all their identities -- I pointed them out and she watched them.

I also went to Target and bought her some new bedsheets, as well as a stuffed alligator that now sits on her bed. It's a completely ridiculous gift for an 82-year-old woman, but was so cute I couldn't pass it up.

My brother and I were driving through her complex the other day when we came upon this guy and his dog, and I had to take a picture through the windshield. How is it possible for one man and one tiny dog to occupy the entire roadway?! The man didn't realize we were behind him, so we had to inch along for several minutes before he finally reeled in that yappy critter and we could pass. We didn't want to beep the horn. We were afraid he might die.

One of the items we came across in Mom's apartment is this quilt, which was made many decades ago by my great-grandmother. Pretty amazing, isn't it? All those little cloth bits no doubt came from discarded, repurposed articles of clothing.

Several of Mom's neighbors around her old apartment have approached me and my brother to ask about her. Apparently people knew she was slipping and sort of kept an eye on her, but Mom is a bit of a "lone wolf" (as one of them put it) so she defied close contact. I think they expect us to be sad about having to move her, but honestly, I'm just relieved. I have no doubt she's in a better situation now and she seems to have adapted to the change just fine.

My brother and I have just two more items to get out of her old unit -- a chair and a floor lamp -- and then we're done.