"No rest for the wicked"

Isabel said this week "There is no rest for the wicked" as she began in earnest to meet some new therapy and nursing goals to once again add to her quality of life. Following a recent annual meeting of her enthusiastic care-givers and therapists, Mum and her staff have a renewed plan of action before the holiday season. Once again, we are grateful for pro-active staff.

One of the new therapies of this fall is speech therapy. Each week Mum meets with a Speech and Language Pathologist (the official name for speech therapists) to work on improving her speech and swallowing. Mum has been talking for nearly two years, however, she still has muscle weakness in her mouth and throat that prevents easy talking and swallowing. Her immediate goals are to learn to say "T", "D", "S" and "J". There are specific exercises and intentional movements of the body and head and face to facilitate proper pronunciation of these letters. This week her focus is on "T" and "D".
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Who would have known? For most of us, those sounds slip out with ease. In fact, speech is very complicated, and Mum is learning that these days.

Yesterday, Isabel counted up the times she goes up and down the Wascana halls to physio- and occupational therapy each week. Fourteen times to-ing and fro-ing. The thought can be overwhelming until we remember that Mum is someone who skiied, skated, walked, ran, rode horseback, and gardened.

We hope to have new accomplishments to report by Christmas. In the meantime, thank you for your letters, calls, and visits that brighten each day.

Thanks-giving

This past week marked the Thanks-giving holiday in Canada. Gratitude for harvest (much still in the field!); sharing a bountiful meal with family and friends; giving public and private Thanks in a variety of ways.

On Thanksgiving Sunday, I was in the Scottish Highlands down a long glen (mountain valley) at the end of a sea-loch (lake) having tea with an acquaintance of Isabel's. At 91, Margaret is the retired housekeeper and cook for the mother of our Blakeney cousins. (Cousin Joy Blakeney has visited Canada several times in the last few years and was significant in helping Isabel ease into her move to Wascana).

In a small cottage in front of a cozy fire with a table laden with tea and five kinds of "sweets", Margaret showed us her collection of Isabel's letters from the last three years. We talked of ability and disability and Margaret's life-long hearing impairment. For most decades of her life, she could not use a telephone. With thanks to the newest technology in adapted phones, she can now call from her small isolated mountain village to all her friends and family. We spoke of Isabel's adapted computer and word processor and what that has meant for communication in Isabel's life.

Mum receives her nutrition by food-peg (her throat muscles aren't yet working properly) so there was no turkey or pumpkin pie on her Thanksgiving menu. "And no dishes to do!", says Isabel. But there was a "full meal" which she receives four times a day that provides her with excellent nutrition and energy. And there are friends and family galore that write, and visit and phone and care from all around the world. For this, there is much Thanksgiving.

During the shortening autumn days of the last few weeks, Mum has said a last good-bye to several friends and neighbours. In the midst of sadness and loss, there is much Thanksgiving for years of friendship, neighbourly support, and community service.

With gratitude again and again.

October Greetings

October Greetings to All

September has sped by with wild wet weather and farmers anxious to get on the fields. Mum has been working hard in various therapies along with "supervising" the repair work on the terrace that held her beautiful garden this summer. The heavy rains of this year have resulted in newly found leaks in the brick Wascana building and the gardens and terraces have been dug up (way too soon for the liking of the residents!). Mum writes of the leaves changing on the trees outside her window that are now being caught by the sunny warm breezes of the last few days. With bare trees, more light shines into her west facing room.

Many of you have written or visited in the last month. Thank you. There is a quote that hung on Mum's wall in Abernethy for many years that seems fitting for this transition time of year:

"The cream of enjoyment in this life is always impromptu:
the chance walk;
the unexpected visit;
the unpremeditated journey;
the unsought conversation or acquaintance."

Each of these have been present in Isabel's life this summer and fall. Thank you for your care and love.