Grandpa at Picasso Exhibit

Grandpa is holding one of those audio phones that explains the show highlights. It was a great, great exhibit!









Three Figures under a Tree, 1907



Try downloading this image to your screen as a desktop background, it is gorgeous!

Melinda Doolittle (from American Idol) dances with Grandpa!

I took Grandpa to a concert by Melinda Doolittle - one of the most outstanding singers ever discovered on American Idol!

(for the Kiwi followers, American Idol is a singing competition on TV that has been going for 11 years and has produced many new talents in singing. It's controversial but fun).

It was during her season 4 years ago that I started watching AI, mostly because one of the other competitors, Blake Lewis from Seattle, had sung with our chorus a few years prior and I wanted to support him. He was awesome, and the winner Jordin Sparks (to whose performance in 'In The Heights' I took Jamie and Justin to see on Broadway in New York a few months ago) was great, but Melinda was MAGNIFICENT and even better now. She has scorching vocals and a very sweet personality. Here is her amazing and gorgeous version of My Funny Valentine:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfevUaJeA1o

We had front row seats and, during her set, she came down to the audience to dance with a few men. Grandpa was one of them! He was so delighted with the attention that he cried with joy. Later, during intermission, many people made a fuss over him, and he just blushed and guffawed, speechless with happiness and confusion, all over again.

He's 82!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (but he thinks he's 30)

His shirt says "Say NO to negative thinking"

from left to right: Gabe, Ben, Isaac, and the Birthday Dude













Lookin' good, Birthday Dude!

Grandpa's coming and goings

Grandpa kept a notebook of his daily activities over the past 5 years. He doesn't write in it very much any more. Here is a typical page from about 2 years ago (minus all the notes he wrote down from TV adds about how to make a fortune from this and that, call now this special number for exclusive access to blah bah blah):

9:15 am Gone on a walk-about.
10:20 Back from walk.
10:25 Gone again.
10:50 Back again
11:00 Gone again
12:00 Back again
12:25 Gone again
12:50 Back again.
5:30 pm Walked to lake and back
9:25 Gone on walk
9:15 Back again (this time error may have been from re-writing the first entry)

(you can see that, with all this restlessness, it was quite a challenge for Vince to keep Grandpa from going on walks while he was recovering from foot surgery last year. He had to basically take his shoes away for a few weeks. We are so lucky to have Vince taking such good care of him!)

Sept 22, 2010
6:40 pm Back from a walk-about. Leaving for another walk. The evening is very pleasant. Vince went out in several directions to pick up the older boys who are scattered about. He'll pick up other boys he finds!

Undated entry:
5:10 Returned after walk-about from the north. Gone on a short walk-about. Howdy do! Good day to you!


Undated entry:
11:45 am Gone on a walk
12:15 Returned. Very nice walk. Gone on a walk about. Olympus pen very good! Good morning! Thank you! Evening! Thank you!
Ralph RPR
Ralph RPR
Ralph RPR
Ralph RPR

notes from Vince, taking care of Grandpa today

"Gpa came out to ask for a page of paper to write a letter to Ed. He's got the paper, but he doesn't remember what he intended to do with it, so nothing's been written yet. It's been 20 minutes. He's just sitting there."


"he then told me he was having trouble contacting his parents. He doesn't believe me when I tell him they've passed on. He says he just came from visiting them."

"So I asked him how old he was, and he said '30'. I told him he was 82 (which would make his parents over 100). He rejected that idea in utter disbelief."

"I then sat down with him to go over his family situation. He got a piece of toilet paper from the bathroom, folded it several times, and proceeded to take notes on it. He rejected my offer of something nicer, and less likely to rip, for notetaking. He wrote down notes on the info of who was who in the family. When we mentioned Julie, he looked very surprised. He said, "Oh? Tell her hi for me!"


(btw - and this is Julie here - last night when I was home, Grandpa came up to me, folded his hands in front of him as if in prayer, and asked "tell me, have you spoken with Mother lately?" He meant HIS mother. He had no idea what I meant when I said something about needing a Oiuji board...))


Later:

This is what Grandpa ended up writing:

"Dear Ed,
I've just been in conversation with another fellow who lives here, and your name came up, and I learned she is from our Ralph family! Julie Ralph! I had not learned that, even tho' I've lived with her brother Vince Seavello!"


Last night, Isaac heard Grandpa opening and closing the drawers in his room. He went to check on him and Grandpa reported that he was looking for the cat; he thought the cat was stuck inside the drawers. Nope, no cat in there.

Later, he was heard singing in his room. All night long. Isaac told Vince, at 2 am, and Vince went to go check on him. "You all right, Grandpa?". and he replied: "Yes, I was just singing." So, Vince and Isaac went back to bed.... and Grandpa was heard singing each time they woke up again.

Grandpa just walked into our office and asked us:

"What is the next thing I should think about?"

Grandpa's Eldercare activities

At Eldercare, they like to do social games and activities. Sometimes they do something craftsy. Grandpa plays gamely along but when he brings home the end result (for example, on Halloween: a mini-pumpkin decorated with pipecleaners stuck into it), he often has no idea what it is or why it is in his hands.

Recently he brought home an activity sheet on 'Building Connections'. This is how he answered the questions:

1. I wish I had enough money to: 'share with others'
I would like this because: 'I don't like see others in debt.'
2. A present I would give a friend is: 'invitation to dinner'.

The next question was:

3. Everyday I try to remember to:

He stopped there.

The rest of the questions had to do with remembering, such as favorite book, movie, most embarrassing moment, etc. Not something he could do!

Today (3-21)he came home from Eldercare, and was escorted to the door by the bus driver. He rang the doorbell, then turned and walked away. When we opened the door for him, he was just turning around on the porch steps and coming back to the door, saying, "Apparently, I live here!"

Then once inside the kitchen, he kept saying "Oh, what a nice place! I'm so glad to be back here!". Isaac said "Yeah, we missed you too, Grandpa!".

Happy Birthday, Grandpa!

He is 82 years old today.

Jamie called him and sent a very thoughtful gift of huckelberry jam and syrup.

Tess sent a lovely card, and Mary and John sent a lovely card with a homemade dried-flower bookmark.

Thank you! and may God Bless.

a breakfast conversation

Isaac: "Something wrong with your oatmeal Grandpa?" (he's picking at it)

Grandpa: "No, I just don't know what to do about it."

Isaac: "You eat it. It's your breakfast."

Grandpa: "Oh, like that, huh?"

Tiny bubbles..... in his coffee....

A few posts ago I mentioned how he likes his coffee very, very sweet - sometimes it'll be all sweetness, and no coffee.

Well, this time, on a hunt for more sweetener, he thought the dishwashing soap would do nicely. And so he squirted some into the brew in his mug. Vince noticed that Grandpa's coffee mug was full of tiny bubbles and, wondering what was going on, took the teeniest tiniest sip.... UGH!

He regretted it for hours. But Grandpa was saved from the trouble.

Words that won't be found

Gpa came into our home office this afternoon, rather agitated, mumbling, trying to say something but speaking gibberish. It wasn't a stroke, it was word-finding difficulty. He managed the phrase "those white things" and we realized he was asking to have one of the coconut cupcakes on the kitchen counter (I'd made them for Ben's friends who visited today).

However, when I quizzed him to see what he wanted, and to make sure his difficulty wasn't something more serious, he seemed quite frustrated with himself for not being able to find his words, and kept running his hands through his lovely white hair and shaking his arms out in agitation.

So, I got him a cupcake and then took him for a walk, thinking it would help to calm him, perhaps re-orient him. After a few quiet minutes of walking, he asked "Have you talked to Mother lately?"

It turned out he was thinking of his mother, and he didn't know who I was, he thought I was his sister.

So, we clarified the ideas, who was who, and who was alive, and he seemed appreciative, and said "Well, I'm glad to get notification of those events."

Back home, I settled him down with the first of two dinners, nice and hot, and when he was done he put on his hat and jacket again and came to me and asked "Didn't you say we were going on a walk?"

Tonight, he put his hat and coat on to go outside at 10:30 pm, so Vince intercepted that and suggested a different choice of activities (ie, bed-time). He asked when we'd be going to San Diego - and when the 'choo-choo' would arrive to take him there.

That reminded me of a similar episode of word-finding difficulty last year, in which he said he was looking for his shoes, but couldn't think of the word for them, so called them "cloppity-clops".

He was very convinced that we had plans for him to leave sometime tonight or tomorrow, and was again relieved to be re-oriented towards what was happening (and not happening), and said again "I'm very glad to know these things".

Maybe he shouldn't be watching Antique Roadshow?

While I was preparing dinner for the family, Grandpa Dear came out in the kitchen holding his jacket in front of him, trying to find words to say something. I'd already brought his dinner to him, and had taken off his jacket to give him a heavier sweater so that he'd be warmer. Thus, it had been hanging on a hook in his room. I turned to pay attention to what he wanted to say:

"Things have been changing for a while, and I wonder if we can take this to someone to find out what we can get for it".

Huh? That jacket was his constant companion- he'd often sleep in it. Then it dawned on me - I'd turned the channel to Antique Roadshow for him to watch while eating, and he'd gotten the idea he needed to liquidate his possessions!

Once I explained to him that we were fine, and didn't need to sell it, he seemed relieved and went back to his room with the jacket under his arm.

Ben, doing his homework at the kitchen table, then looked up and said "Niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice....."