Hair straightened and toes curled.....

This is been a week where I have had no real time for myself. I've had an elder in the hospital, who's failing. Unfortunately his son, who was his caregiver, is quite
ill himself, and is confronting his own mortality. Getting his son to be on the same page with me, on just how aggressive we should be in treating his father, has been difficult. Because of the son's own illness, all communication has had to be by phone, which doesn't exactly facilitate the discussion on what it's time for hospice care. This gentleman's care has taken up a lot of what should've been my free time this week.

Add to this, my husband is away for the weekend. He's gone off to a conference down in Santa Cruz, so I'm on my own. I fell asleep around midnight last night and then awoke shortly after six this morning, wide awake and ready to face the day. I did attack this kitchen & did a couple of loads of dishes, then did a couple of loads of laundry, folded hung and put everything away. Then I attacked the vacuum cleaner, unclogging everything, then proceeded to attack first the bathroom floor, then the sitting room, and finally the bedroom. Given how much the dog sheds, I managed to vacuum up a couple of Chihuahuas and what appeared to be the remains of an Afghan. After five hours, I decided I had enough & I headed into town, to do patient care.

The elder is now stable and slowly improving and so I discharged him to a nursing facility where he'll hopefully get enough physical therapy that he'll be able to return home. Honestly, I think hospice is in his very near future. He's stable at the moment but I doubt he's going to make it past another six months. Part of me that honestly doubts he'll make it back to his home.

After that, I hit Costco both for some dishwasher detergent, some paper products for the memorial on Monday, and then it was finally time for some me time. A good friend in Marin had offered to work my back (& butt & legs) over and so I headed south. I have to say, he left me breathless, hair straightened and toes curled. Thereafter he and his husband went off to see the sunset and I decided to cross the street to the local knockoff of whole foods to pick up some grub. I was not really in a state to drive home quite yet.

The food was novel to say the least and spectacularly tasty. They were serving a vegan "hot wing": cauliflower florettes that had been parboiled midway between tender and crunchy, then coated in rice flour that had been seasoned with jerk seasoning and buffalo wings spice. They were then flash fried and put out on the hot table. Frankly, 'to die for' is the best descriptor.

I decided to park at their outside patio enjoying the warmth of the late afternoon and the fading sunlight as evening approached, while the flavors of those ersatz hot wings danced in my mouth, watching the local color passing by. No unfortunately I left my cell phone in the car because I was not quite prepared for the family walking past with their kids out for a stroll. Literally. Their kids.

Mom and dad and a teenage brother were all walking canines, while the two younger girls were walking young goats on leashes, the older girl with two kids and the younger with just one. The kids were quite obedient about walking on leash, although the youngest of them seem to be straining at the leash, trying to pull her young owner along, in order to keep up with the dogs. Doesn't everyone take their goats out for a walk on a Saturday evening? (Yeah I know, pics or it didn't happen, but my phone was in the car and parked across the street.

Well time for bed. Tomorrow is yet another day. I think it got more stuff to vacuum.