Rain and Frogs and Family

I thought the tropical storm was going to whirl right past us, but we did have some excitement yesterday after all. There was a tornado warning -- which sent out those scary-sounding alerts to our phones -- and although we didn't have any high winds at my brother's, there was some destruction and even a fatality elsewhere in town. It rained steadily all day, and in the evening it really picked up. After a couple of hours of steady downpour I began to wonder if life was going to go on as usual today or if the city would be locked up for recovery.

But it looks like we emerged very, very wet but otherwise more or less unscathed.

I did get to visit Mom again yesterday with my brother and older niece. Mom had a good time -- she's not very verbal anymore, so it's always hard to tell what she's thinking or even what she understands, but she loves to make eyes and faces at us and she just laughs and laughs. We talked with one of her nurses who said she thinks Mom understands quite a lot, and I agree. She knows who we all are, and she does occasionally verbalize. She'll say, "Oh, God" from time to time, usually after laughing, and yesterday when we asked her if she wanted a cake for her birthday, she said, "Oh, yes!" (Her birthday is on the 12th.)

When she was served some juice I asked her if it was cranberry. "Cranberry," she affirmed. My brother said it was the first time in ages he'd heard her say anything other than "Oh, God," and although she may have been parroting me, she knew what we were talking about and it was, in fact, cranberry juice.

So it felt like an encouraging visit for all of us. Of course I miss having real conversations with her, but I feel like we're connecting on some level. It seems like the secret is asking simple questions that demand simple answers. Plus, it just feels good to hug her again. I actually felt teary when I approached her building on Tuesday, knowing I was about to see her for the first time in two years, but I haven't teared up in front of her -- partly because I feel generally positive about her situation and her care.

In the evening, I went with my brother's family to a performance at my younger niece's summer camp. She and her fellow campers performed a revue of Broadway show tunes, singing and dancing along with piped-in music. It was a hoot, and they chose some fairly challenging songs, including Tina Turner's "Proud Mary" and numbers from "Hamilton" and "Pippin." The kids were funny to watch because some of them clearly loved being on the stage and were belting out lyrics with confidence, and some clearly had no clue and were just jumping around. I'd put my niece in the first group, but the clueless ones were hilarious!

Just to get an animal into this post, here's my friend Suzanne's cat Pip, who I saw Monday night in Tampa. He eventually ventured out of his little den to get a scratch from me. My brother is petless at the moment, so I'm missing animal affection! (Dave says Olga is doing fine, but not liking her walks very much because it's been raining in England, too.)

I woke up early this morning and the frogs were making an incredible racket in the morning darkness after all the rain. I'd planned to step out and make a recording of them, but I fell back asleep and when I woke again, the sun had come up and they'd piped down.

(Top photo: Some signs in Starke, a town in Central Florida, on Tuesday.)