Party Animal

My cousin's 40th wedding anniversary party was great fun, as always it is so nice to see family members, especially those you haven't seen in a long time. Dave and Glen looked fabulous, it's hard to believe that they've been married for 40 years. One of the highlights of the night was a projected slide show of old photos which played in the background during the meal. I think they managed to get pretty much every family member who was there (I was 10 and a bridesmaid and cannot believe how much my daughter looks like me!). A late night but a very good one.

The following morning started early for me because I had visions of Ma deciding she needed to walk the dog and wandering off. So at 6:30 I went to her room and sure enough she was in the process of 'dressing' and getting ready to go out. I left her with a cuppa and told her I'd be back at nine. I took the dog for a scamper around the grounds which she absolutely loved even though she didn't spot the rabbits! At that time of the morning the horrendous rain hadn't arrived so it was a very beautiful pootle. Back at the room I was now very much up and awake so I had some serious Kindle time until 9 then went and got Ma, arranging to meet a delicate Cornishman in the restaurant.

After a truly stonking hotel breakfast we packed and paid and then drove over to Dave and Glen's for a post party lunch party. Clearly there was less drinking for the drivers though! Lovely food and lovely company then home.

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I think all the excitement of the weekend has sent Ma into a small decline. She is rambling such a lot and is almost incoherent at times. There's a lot of talking to herself and talking back to the television too. As I understand it, vascular dementia has a different progression to Alzheimers. In Alzheimers the decline is fairly steady and continual, in VD it is more like a set of uneven steps. There can be relatively long periods where things are stable and then an event or situation will bring on a noticable reduction in abilities. Over the last few days we've had quite a lot of new behaviours or existing behaviours becoming more marked.

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We nipped into the garden centre for bird seed after we'd been to Tesco having picked up a hot chicken and some salad for lunch. Silly me. Ma had chips.

Blood tests and other things

As predicted we were slow off the mark this morning. Ma was still floating around in her nightie at 8:15 but we made it to the appointment on time. Naturally Ma thought this was the appt with the gynae and was very surprised to be seeing him in the doctor's surgery... next week she'll be wondering why we are going to hospital.

We had a cup of tea in Tesco afterwards. As we were sitting there this was the conversation:

'Don't look up there but there's a couple we used to see here all the time. She used to go to the place where we got covers and got measured (nope me neither). They were always here when your Dad and I came and he used to talk to her for ages. She couldn't walk very well. They came here because they didn't have anything else to do'

'She looks to be walking ok now'

'Who does?'

'The woman in the corner you're talking about'

'Oh they aren't here. I was just telling you about them'

*whimper*

Edited to add: And when we were in Comet she was admiring the shoes. For shoes read irons.

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This afternoon has mostly been spent looking through the address book for Auntie Joyce's address and phone no. Well, whilst watching Loose Women again again. I know the number is in there but she refuses any help in finding it. She maintains that she is going to write a letter to Joyce but as I've said she can barely write anything at all anymore so perhaps I can persuade her to dictate and I will write it instead.

Oh and as we are on the subject of tv... she watched an episode of CDWM this afternoon. It was from Liverpool. These people were perfectly normal (well, within the parameters of the show that is) and yet, because they are from Liverpool Ma was convinced that they are all hilarious. This, I have to say, is not confined to the hallowed halls of CDWM it happens whenever any scouser is in the room/on tv/in evidence. I'm from Ramsbottom (mostly) and I can't honestly say that if I saw anyone from Rammy on the tv I'd find them utterly hilarious just BECAUSE they are from Ramsbottom. Drives me insane. And here's the really amusing bit... Ma doesn't think she has an accent any longer. When people ask her if she's from Liverpool she's always shocked. But this is the woman who still says 'a fair coat' and 'furry cakes' :)

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However *Breaking News* Ma has discovered pizza. She had a quarter for lunch and another quarter for tea with a few chips and some salad.  As I really don't like pizza I am slightly miffed and don't know what to eat. I think I may grill a tin of sardines and have them with an onion/coriander/lime salsa thing.

Wednesday

It has been a very long day.  Ma has been on one of her 'mission' days so it started with a very early shower ('it's still broken') then visiting every neighbour. After that she got ready for her evening out and has been waiting to go out since 12:00. She has asked (literally) every 10 minutes 'is that someone at the door?' and going to put her coat on. It does get wearing after a while.

I guarantee that when I need her to be up and out for a blood test at 08:55 tomorrow she will be snoring away lol!

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We've had thunder and lightning and torrential rain on and off today - I've been calling it tropical storm EeByGum - and it has played merry hell with the bird feeders. I've chucked all the sodden seed onto the lawn tempting the sparrows to dance in and out munching the seed when there's a break in the weather and we must have at least 8 blackbirds in the garden at the moment, four or five or them juveniles. Lily spends a lot of time chuffing out of the window...

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As we know Ma is out tonight so I've made a variation on harira using up the meat from the lamb shank we didn't eat last night and the leftover stock along with chickpeas, ras al hanout, mint, coriander, lemon juice and eggs. Smells fab. If I wasn't so carb phobic I'd probably add a couple of handfuls of cous cous and have it with some flatbread. But to be honest it is quite thick and unctuous so I will have it with a mint, cucumber and onion affair, dressed with lemon and a little salt.

Photo

Thought you might like to see a pic of Ma and found this one on my phone (hence the rubbish photo). I'd just bought her some new clothes for Mothering Sunday :)

Food

I've made a decision. I spend a lot of time thinking about food and then cooking and eating it but can't be arsed to write two blogs. Plus I do often refer to things I've cooked so from now on there may be a slightly more detailed small food bit at the end of any post.

Hope nobody minds and thinks 'Pah! What a cheat. I shall never darken the doors of this blog again' After all, you don't have to read the food bit if you don't want to.

Dazed and confused

It's been a day of confusion today with a lot of repeated questions and a fascinating take on world politics.

She's going out for a meal tomorrow night so most of this afternoon was taken up with looking for something to wear.  Three bulging double wardrobes later and still we couldn't settle on anything. Nevermind, we've got all day tomorrow to resolve this. I do hope the neighbours weren't looking when she whipped all her clothes off in front of the patio windows in order to try on a dress. I couldn't swear to it but I think I may have let a very tiny scream escape when I turned around and saw her in the buff.

Lamb shanks for tea tonight. 6 hours in the bottom oven with red wine, garlic, onion, tomatoes etc. Absolutely ruddy delicious. Obviously Ma didn't eat very much of it *sigh* but the leftovers will make something splendid tomorrow for a one-person supper.

Shudder

This is why she cannot be left to look after herself.


'Would you like a cup of coffee?'

'No thanks, shall I make you one?''

'No no, I'll do it''

...


'Ugh that's not very nice'

'It doesn't smell very nice either! What on earth did you do'

'I think this milk is off' <points to bottle in fridge>

'You mean this 'milk' in the salad cream bottle?'

On your marks...

Ma has an ultrasound scan today at 13:45, she's been up and ready since just after 5. I told her she could have a slice of toast for breakfast but then nothing until after the scan. She refused breakfast.

Just found her in the kitchen eating KitKats. Arrgghh.

She's also been looking for shoes to wear to the party on Saturday. My goodness she has an awful lot of shoes!

Update

The ultrasound scan has thrown up a few questions in the lady bits department so there is to be an appointment with the gynaecologist within the next two weeks. But they don't think it's anything sinister.

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Ma is still very teary. Anything from driving down the street to Morrisons to eating a pie can set her off. I guess that after being together for almost 60 years everything you do is laden with memories. For her sake I hope things start to ease soon. I've suggested talking to Cruse but she won't have any of it yet, maybe (hopefully) in time.

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 I've organised for Sky+HD to be installed. This is mainly for Ma's sake but also to save my sanity, there is only so much daytime ITV I can take. So from Thursday we will have a billion channels to watch and I fully intend to make sure we look at most of them - even though she watches wall to wall ITV she doesn't really like it!

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I want an iPad. But only because I want to play Angry Birds. Look I never said I wasn't completely shallow.

Sunday

Yesterday was a fairly quiet day although deciding to go shopping in town was a really bad idea after such a long drive on Friday. I got halfway round and most of my joints stopped working due to overtiredness. Cue a cup of tea and a sit down! Unfortunately the tiredness stopped me being able to decide which shoes to buy for the party so will have to go back at some point this week.

This morning started with a blind panic.

I got up just after six and found the front door wide open. No sign of Ma or the dog. Jumped into car in nightie and toured the neighbourhood. Found them in the middle of the main road. No lead on Lily. Ma in slippers, sparkly top, pj bottoms and cardi. Apparently none of this mattered because there wasn't anyone around. I think my heart rate has finally gone back to normal.

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Sometimes you just have to laugh...

'What do you fancy for lunch Mum?'

'Oh I'm not very hungry I think I'd like a couple of pieces of bacon.'

'Ok no problem, I'll just pop to the shop.'

'I'll have some of those other things as well.'

<cue a question and answer session - she meant sausages>

'Oh and I'll have a few mushrooms'

'And an egg'

'And some hash browns'

'And fried bread...'


Edited to add: And a sherry!

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Ma is showing the dog her Princess Diana doll. The dog is supremely uninterested. Ma is taking this personally. I've tried to explain that the dog is not a 3 year old child but I'm not sure I've been very successful.

We're back!

Hellooo - it's been a busy week but we are now back.

The Cornishman is recovering nicely and the bruising is finally going, he's still a bit sore and has to be very careful about lifting/twisting etc. but otherwise he's fine.

I've just had the drive back from hell, left Devon at 09:30 and arrived in Ramsbottom at 21:00 - admittedly that did include a trip to Tesco, but I count any trip to Tesco as a drive from hell anyway. Ma was on form and annoyed a lot of people by stopping in the middle of aisles and spent a lot of time looking for red wine, something she's never drunk but apparently 'loves'. Fortunately only white wine made it onto the till in the end. I'd never hear the last of it!

The final hour and a half from my brother's house to here involved at least four circular conversations:

- 'How is George?' 'He's fine thank you' 'Will he get a job up here?' 'No, he's in sixth form college for another year'
- 'How is Harriet?' 'She's fine thanks' 'When is she coming?' 'She's not, she's still in school for another year' 'Oh yes that's right...'
- 'What colour shoes do you need for the party?' 'I don't, but you need to look through yours for some though' 'Well you can have any of mine' 'I know Ma thanks, but your feet are two sizes smaller than mine and I already have shoes sorted' 
-  'We need to get some wine' 'Yes we do (heartfelt)' 'I like the sound of this Merlot' 'You don't drink red wine Ma' 'I love red wine' 'Since when?' 'Always!'

Bedtime for me soon I hope - Ma is insisting on staying up for some reason.

Footnote: I watched Unstoppable last night. Great film in true Tony Scott style. I swear I yelled at one point 'Get the horses OUT!' Like they were going to let them get blown to bits in a horse box by a runaway train...