It has been a long, tedious winter and spring but things are finally looking up, weather- and otherwise. Ginny and Rachel were kept busy transitioning Aline from her Clarksville apartment into Hillcrest Centre in Jeffersonville. She had been declining in function noticeably since last year and had finally reached a point where it wasn’t safe for her to live alone. She was hospitalized in early April with an infection which seemed to aggravate her condition from forgetfulness to dementia. We had hoped that with more consistent nutrition and medication she might recover some function, but she remains only vaguely aware of her situation. She is comfortable and really enjoys the food, which is tasty and ample. Her vision has also deteriorated to where she needs bright light to see anything, so she has been placed in a nice, sunny room. She was able to keep her television and favorite chair, but doesn’t pay much attention to either anymore. She is not bedridden but for safety’s sake is kept in a wheelchair most of the time to guard against falls. Rachel and Ginny visit her a couple of times a week, and Jesse came out from California to see her over Derby week. We could not tell that she ever understood who he was.
In other sad news, we had to say Goodbye to our faithful buddy of ten years, Jaster the Golden Retriever. Now the fort is held by Wizard and Jake, with feline sidekicks Wickett and Chainsaw (few of you will have seen Chainsaw, who is much more retiring than her name would suggest).
Rachel was working on the housekeeping staff at Hillcrest, but showed
such a gift for working with the elderly patients that the management
and staff convinced her to take a Certified Nursing Assistant course so
that she could be better employed working more directly with the
residents. She will have accomplished this by late June.
Things are busy for Jesse’s family. He is still working for Safeway.
Glendon has graduated and is working for
NexTag, a price-comparison website headquartered in San Mateo. Alan
will be a senior at Berkeley next fall. Chigusa’s father passed away in
February, and Chigusa is visiting Japan for a few weeks in June to spend some
time with her mother.
Ginny is still working for the musicians but will try to retire this
fall to spend more time on the house, the genealogy and the grandkids.
We did get an Anna fix at the end of February, when we drove to Cary to
babysit for a few days while Jessie and Dan took a break in Las Vegas.
Then we just had a return visit over Memorial Day weekend, when the
three of them flew out to drive the Sterlings’ Volvo wagon home with
them. Bruce and Melody took the Prius with them to Germany but wanted to
send the wagon where it could be useful. Bruce and Melody are settled
into a rental house in Germany, and just completed a short trip to
Florence, where they were appalled to realize the dire condition of the
U.S. dollar on a tourist budget. Jess and Anna are leaving soon to spend
a few weeks with them, and Dan will join them at the end of the visit.
Ginny and Rog are still hoping to make a trip too ... Melody's fluent
German would be very helpful on our planned side trip to Bern,
Switzerland to look for Bettler origins.
We enjoyed May with lots of visitors this year. Besides Jesse’s visit,
Scotty and Phil and the kids came for Derby weekend. Philip and a friend
braved the infield, and the rest of us enjoyed the annual party hosted
by Ginny’s boss and his wife, Joe and Linda Spain. Then the next day Rog
fired up the grill and made a huge pile of his special chicken, and we
hosted as many of the family as could make it. We brought Aline out for
the day, and besides our houseguests also hosted Alan, Christopher and
Carrie, Matt and Mora, Pat, Bob and Tess, and Joe and Linda. Check
the Photos pages.
In other family news, we enjoyed hearing about Bud's 200th marathon, the Boston Marathon this past April. And he sent some great photos of the family reunion in Hawaii in April, check the Cousins page to see a few.
Tom and Mario have been enjoying their time in Portugal, but plan to return next month in time to observe the celebration of Charlestown's 200th birthday. Tom has created a photo album on Flickr and posted many beautiful photographs of Lisbon.
And Alyssa Rowe posted another great song on Total Pop Star
... I think it's too late to vote but check it out
here!
