Fish

Last evening while Mr. was watching the hockey game, my Lady wanted to do something else. Today is her 90th. birthday , so I thought I would volunteer to play cards with her.

You have to understand the whole picture here .
The other Care Givers on their shifts have been sitting and playing cards with her, something she really enjoys.

B. has dementia and she really enjoys things that get her thinking .
She likes to watch Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy , just to try to answer the questions . In her earlier years she taught school.

Anyway , as for me , I do not really enjoy cards and it has been many many years since I have even played at it , not even Solitare on my computer .

So I decided to sit with B. and let her remind me how to play 'Fish'.
A Lady with dementia teaching a 'girl' who cannot remember how to play any of these games.

Needless to say, hilarity broke out early on .
B. had her own rules, and they seemed 'fishy' (sorry :) to me , but since I wasn't sure , and really , am I going to argue with my sweet 90 year old 'teacher' on the evening of her birthday ?

I sensed the Lord nearby, absolutely cracking up, holding His sides with happy laughter and joy at my dilemma , as B. and I both appeared to be playing with dementia.
B. won ! What can I say ? We tried a couple of more games that she remembered , 'sort of'. She won those as well ! No, I did not 'let' her win.

My head was swirling with 'not remembering' , 'not knowing' but we laughed a lot . I decided to 'finish quickly' and excused myself by feigning fatigue .... and who wouldn't? Well , if I am honest , the other care givers , that's who, they seemed to have the stamina that I do not .

Funny though , perhaps strange is a better word , that 'swirl' around my head of 'not knowing', not being able to recall . Sometimes I think that the Lord shows me how it feels to be 'them', if only just for a moment . This has happened to me occasionally with one or two others . Just a 'teaching moment' to feel where that 'Dear One' lives all the time now.

It was fun, but I am going to find out how to really play Fish, though 'B.' is pretty convinced that her way is 'the' way ... what if she is right ?



Happy 90th. Birthday B. !

Busy Busy Busy

Sometimes blogging is the last thing I find time or desire to do these days.Last weekend was a weekend off so my two sisters and I went to 'The City' for the day. I drove to Scarborough where we parked the car, then took the subway to downtown Toronto...and back again.....It's fun to be with my sisters to shop, laugh and catch up.

This week I have another test in anatomy,so I have been studying and doing my computer homework.

The most fun I have had though has been trying to figure out how to split an mp3 file that is too long for a regular cd. so that I can burn it onto two cd.s enabling me to listen in the car since I do not have an mp3 player. I also want to be able to share these teachings with my friends.
I managed to split one and the first track turned out ok, but the second flopped. I will keep trying ..and I will figure it out eventually ....not homework but very challenging all the same.

Since the new year I have tried to get back to my basic devotional time with Jesus that had slipped away from me with all my 'overnights away' and the fatigue that comes with that life style. No wonder I get weak and discouraged when the Lover of my Soul does not have my hearts total focus in these perilous times.

Gary and Marie Weins have a new book out called "Reaching Your Power Potential, Authority on Earth as it is in Heaven." It is about the beatitudes.

Here's a bit....


Poverty of Spirit...Recognizing Our need for God's Presence

When Jesus came into the world He came as the normal human being, living as a man filled with the Holy Spirit in order to demonstrate what God had in mind when He created humans in the first place.

What God intends is that the life that He lived through Jesus is the same life He intends to live through us by the power of the Holy Spirit.

That's how I desire to live.To walk with the Father as Jesus did, in the strength and power of the Spirit, and by the Voice of the Holy Spirit be led step by step into the life He has for me. Not as easy as it seemed in the early days, but way more worth the effort to pursue this narrow way than I used to think when we would pray 'come Holy Spirit'and He would actually come at our simple asking.

It's late here, and I am beginning to babble, so I will rest now.

Thursday January 4 th. 2007.

Just dropping in for a brief update. I worked New Years Eve, since this celebration does not do much for me.....never has actually.

Instead I think back on the last year, meditate on the amazing way that God has carried me through so many challenges and trials. I am grateful Lord.

I also seem to spend a certain amount of time grieving over what I consider my many failures before letting it all go ...... again. Don't you love a clean slate ? It is always good for me to regain my Focus , to Maintain Eye Contact and Default to the Romance ! (I am really good at beating myself up)

Celebrated another birthday on Tuesday, with my sister and her children blessing me with a lovely dinner, a balloon tied to 'my' chair, chocolate cake and much love. JoAnne even locked her six cats in the bedroom, with an abundant supply of cat nip, so that Sam could walk around without feeling the need to 'take back the land'.

Sometimes when we visit I usually end up carrying him around because he just keeps behaving like a dog...barking and chasing those curious cats...who have been known to gang up on him.

Something funny that really works is this. Carol-Ann and Kinza have witnessed the truth of this phenomenon as well.... right girls ?


I put a towel over his head....and he seems to know that is his 'time out' and he leaves it on for quite a while, and usually he is on my lap, not on the stove as in the picture.


It can be very amusing at times....however he can throw it off just as quickly, usually when we are unaware while watching a movie or chatting, and suddenly he bounds out from beneath his 'safe place' in hot pursuit of the taunting felines.

A good time was had by all ..... Thanks Sis .