Supermarkets

 

My late Mothers (in the long white shirt) shopping at Wegmans Downingtown, PA. She LOVED Wegmans!

One big thing that I miss since we moved to Delaware in 2006 was Wegmans super market. 

Have you ever been to a Wegmans? I remember the first time I heard the name Wegmans. I was working as a hotel front desk clerk in Lionville, Pennsylvania way back in 1999. Linda, the hotel salesperson, informed us that we were going to have a LOT of reservations for the new Wegmans. I never heard the name Wegmans. I asked her "What's a Wegmans?" She smiled at me and said "You never heard of Wegmans?" I admitted that I did not. She told me it was a supermarket chain that began in Buffalo New York. Well, this was the first time I had heard of Wegmans. What was the big deal anyway? She advised me to check it out on their grand opening day. Oh sure, I'm going to do that. Crowds and crowds and forever to check out. Oh yes, that was always my experience with supermarkets, old and new. All those check out stations and rarely more than three of four manned by checkout clerks. Didn't matter whether it was Acme, IGA, Clemons, A&P. Same deal, big store, cluttered aisles, slow checkout.

However, after more assurances by Linda, I did go on the grand opening day. As I expected the parking lot was packed. Some difficulty finding a parking space. Found one and went into the supermarket that was crowded with shoppers. This Wegmans was located in a former 84 Lumber store in Exton, PA. "God, I'll be forever getting out of here" I thought. 

I grabbed a shopping cart and began may tour de force. Well, I was immediately impressed. There was a hot and cold food cafeteria style area. Freshly made food at reasonable prices. The produce area was HUGE. Big open spaces which is unusual from my experience in supermarkets. Usually they have the aisles cluttered with displays to entice you to buy items from those displays. An all too typical marketing ploy which was really getting old. Some years ago I read about the top two complaints against supermarkets.

Number #01 - Slow checkout

Number #01 - Cluttered and blocked aisles

There were also other specialty areas. Ready made foods to take home. And that was a large area. More than just rewrapped subs and pitiful looking casseroles that looked like they were made a week ago.

Another nice touch was a large toy train that traversed tracks around a ledge about ten feet up around the store. A nice whimsical touch for the kid in us. Who doesn't like toy trains?

There were many other speciality areas in addition to the regular rows of shelves with canned and box grocery products. But the real test came at checkout.

"Oh, here we go" I thought as I guided my shopping cart to the front of the store, looking for the checkout lane that I estimate would take me the LEAST time to get out of that crush of people. 

First thing I noticed was that ALL of the twenty-four lanes were open. That was something I had never seen in my lifetime, all checkout lanes open. Which one to get into I thought. While I was pondering my decision I noticed a Wegmans jacket employee come over to me, looks at my cart, which only had a few items in it, and advised me "You can go to lane 14" which was way down the other end. I was puzzled by his concern for me. As I maneuvered my cart to lane 14 I noticed other Wegmans employees checking other shoppers carts and advising them what lane to go into. What was this? Oh, I know. CUSTOMER SERVICE! What a novel idea! Instead of the supermarket acting like they're doing you a favor by being there, here was a supermarket actually making my shopping experience easier. I have to admit this surprise brought a smile to my face. 

Then when I got to my checkout I noticed that the checker bagged my items as he checked them. What was this? No pushing the items aside (preferably for me to bag) while scanning the codes. Again, what a novel idea, to make the checkout experience......how do we say......EFFICIENT.  Man oh man. Now I know what Wegmans was all about and why they have the reputation as one of best supermarkets in the country.

My dentist and his wife retired to Delaware a year before we moved here.  I remember her lamenting that she would miss Wegmans. She said "Going to Wegmans is an EXPERIENCE" and indeed it is.

Pat is also a big fan of Wegmans. When I visit Pat in Canada I fly to Buffalo and he comes across the Canadian/American border to pick me up. We always make it a point to EXPERIENCE" Wegmans in Buffalo, Wegmans hometown.

Since moving to Delaware in 2006 along with many other out of staters who move to Delaware mainly to escape the high taxes of the neighboring states of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, and Maryland, several new supermarkets have opened. They are all Wegmans wannabes. Most of them have adopted the more efficient method of bagging the groceries. And the supermarket I frequent most (Food Lion in Milton) also makes a point of using all of their checkout lanes (they only have eight) when the volume of shoppers requires. However, most of the other supermarkets have not caught on to that basic concept of customer service, the main one being Safeway. Safeway has at least fourteen lanes, I never seen more than two open at a time. I quickly found out that Safeway is a union store, which explains their poor customer service. I've shopped there a few times when I was in the area and I always had to wait too long to check out.  One time was especially galling. I had ONE item. There were two lines open. The checkout clerk in the second line was bagging items for the first lane while chatting with the checker (something I hate, supermarket clerks socializing with each other when they should be waiting on the customers). I saw his lane was open so I motioned to him that I only had one item. When he say I was trying to get his attention he frowned and motioned with his forefinger for me to stay in the line I was in while he chatted with his co-worker. 

Damn! That made me hot. I took my ONE item (a pork butt which I should have thrown at him) put it back and left the store. I was still steaming when I went home so I called the store manager and explained what happened. She wasn't interested. She gave me some word salads but she clearing WAS.NOT.INTERESTED. 

I made a vow never to go in that store again. Of course I've been back since (once in a while I'm in that shopping strip mall and try to save myself a trip) but the service is the same. Non existent Union shop. 

Now there is a new store in town. It's called Redner's. It's another Wegmans wanna be. I have to admit. I like this store. It has a wide open space (how long with that last?) when you first go in. They have a hot food section which has keilbasa and sauerkraut which, although expensive at $9.99 a pound, is good. 

This Redner's store is large and I give them profs for being far and above what we have already here in the Rehoboth Beach/Lewes area but it's not Wegmans. 

Who knows, maybe in my lifetime Wegmans will put their footprint here in southern coastal Delaware. 

One thing that will happen if they do, they're put stores like Safeway out of business. That's what Wegmans did in Downingtown, where I used to live. Four of the nearby supermarkets were out of business within the year. And that folks is how customer service work. 

By the way, these days when I'm a full-time caregiver, my main social interaction other than my doctors' appointments are my super market shopping excursions. This is the only time I get to see and interact with people. All my other shopping I do through my Prime Amazon account.  Now talk about customer service, that's Amazon. I don't care how much money Jeff Bezos has, all I know is that his company has made my life much easier. 

Enjoying Streaming Shows

 I'm really enjoying my new streaming of movies in the Tipton Cinema.

Last night I finished the third (and final) season of "The Kominsky Method." That is a Netflix series starring Michael Douglas and many other Hollywood stars in cameo roles. This is the kind of show I like. Intelligent scripts, great acting, good (authentic) story lines and dark comedy along with real drama. 

I'm always sad when I come to the end of one of these series. 

Netflix suggested a new series for me to watch, "Frankie and Johnny." This is the one starring Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin. Wow, talk about going from excellent to crap. Stupid, cliche clogged scripts. I can predict everything they're going to say. 

Miscasting big time. Casting that notorious lesbian Lily Tomlin as the loving wife of Sam Waterson. Doesn't work folks. 

Casting Martin Sheen and Sam Waterson as late in life self discovered homosexuals in love with one another and leaving their wives Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin, sorry Hollywood producers of this "make the money and run" production, DOES NOT WORK. I hate shows like this which are an insult to my intelligence. Yes, MY intelligence. I've watched enough movies and TV shows in my lifetime to know crap when I see it. To know when the actors are just going through the motions to collect a paycheck. Shame on you Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, Martin Sheen and Sam Waterson for trying to foist this drek on the viewing audience. 

I went back to that entertaining frothy series "Emily in Paris." This series is entertaining but now that I'm on the sixth or so season, they're starting to stretch in ridiculous territory. I've seen this with shows before, when they run out of story material, plot line, the ridiculousness starts to rear its ugly head. I can take a few more show of this silly confection but I need something more intelligent. Then I found the sixth season of "Better Call Saul." Hey! That's what I'll be watching tonight. 

Bill Goes For a Walk on the Boardwalk

 

Monday was a very mild day here in southern Delaware. Sun wasn't out but the temperatures were so mild, I could feel the boardwalk in Rehoboth Beach calling to me.

I love walking on the boardwalk. The boards of the boardwalk are springy. Makes my legs feel good. And these days my legs need all the feel good they can get.

Bill also came down with me as he always days when I go out. I am so glad he is here at home and I can take him out (almost) every day. If he was in some facility (God forbid) he would be stuck inside all day, at the mercy of all those underpaid attendants ("attendants" for lack of a better description). 

Usually Bill sits in the car while I take my Boardwalk walk. However, he's been working on healing the open wound on his right leg. He's been walking a lot recently. I so admire him, he just doesn't give up. He's weak and tires easily but he pushes himself. I tell him not to overdue it, which he doesn't but he does get his exercise in. Sometimes he does more walking than I do. One thing, he can take the thirteen steps up from his basement bedroom to our first floor easier than I do. You should see me struggle to do those steps. Maybe on second though you don't want to see that sad sight.

Although this video shows a sparsely occupied boardwalk, there were actually a lot of people in town Rehoboth. Then I realized that Monday was a holiday, Presidents' Day. Yes, another holiday. Seems like every time we turn around, there's another holiday. It was nice to see all those folks in Rehoboth, eager for the new summer season to begin.  Rehoboth is very smart, they don't charge for parking in the offseason. Smart move.  

Today the temperatures reached 71 degrees. I'll take it! I'm done with snow. This time of year I would normally be in Palm Springs for the two week Modernism Week festivities. Maybe next year but not as long as Bill is here. We're pretty well settled into our routine now. However, I do miss my hotel job. Again, maybe next year. Working part-time at the hotel. Trips with Pat to Philly, Canada and Palm Springs. Something to look forward too.

Streaming

 

Finally, I have streaming video.

Pat's been on my case for several years now to get streaming video. 

For the past ten years I've been watching my movies via DVD's mailed to me from my Netflix account. 

I can only get three DVD's at any one time. 

When I get them I have to use my CD player which is hooked up to my Samsung Surround Sound system that Bill put in my bedroom way back in 2013. The video quality is only 480 DPI. Good enough but not HD, which I much prefer.

I tried streaming several years ago but my WIFI house signal wasn't strong enough for bedroom to watch a DVD without frequent pauses for buffering. 

I know I was behind the digital curve, which you know I hate, but I didn't have much choice. Me, with the annual update on the latest iPhone. 

I had debated getting a whole new wide screen TV but hesitated because what would I do with the perfectly good 60 inch Sharp Aquos TV I now have in my bedroom, also known at The Tipton Cinema?

So I procrastinated. And procrastinated. 

Then last month I noticed that my whole house WIFI signal was almost totally defunct. I bit the bullet and called my Computer Guy to give an analysis of what I needed at Casa Tipton-Kelly to have a proper whole house WIFI.

He came (Justin), looked and tested the previous WIFI extender he had installed about five years ago. It was done. Kaput. Finished. He suggested the latest equipment which cost $225. YES! Whatever works!

After a morning of installing the new equipment and getting all the passwords in, it works! In fact it works GREAT! 

Firestick, which enables me to stream my Netflix account and other services!

And now not only can I stream the latest movies I can access my YouTube account with has that fabulous "shop" continuous DJ mix of Deep House Music which so relaxes me. OH JOY!

The last two nights I've been watching "Emily In Paris", which I highly recommend. And what a pleasure to watch that series in high definition 1080 DPI instead of the old semi blurred 480 DPI which my CD player was providing. 

Now that I'm basically under a form of house arrest that I'm caregiving for Bill these past two years, having an outlet like watching a good movie or series is so important to my mental well being.  When Bill goes to bed early (about 6:30 PM) I will now have the rest of the night to myself to watching the latest movies or just listen to my music in my bedroom. I can't play my music on my computer when Bill is in bed because my home office is right above his bedroom in the basement and the thump! thump! of the beat keeps him awake. My  bedroom is across the other side of the house, far enough away from him that he can't hear that throbbing beat.

Now if I can just get my online Scrabble games to work on Facebook. Yes, my games aren't coming up again. Playing online Scrabble (Scrabble GO) is my other form of relaxation. 

Now I'll close out this blog post and take Bill for his daily Ride. When I get back I'll lay two wheelbarrows of mulch, yet another form of relaxation for me. 

This weekend in Palm Springs began Modernism Week. The last time Pat and I was there was three years ago. COVID knocked us out the first two years but this year we would have returned if I wasn't caregiving. Hopefully next year we can make a return. But Bill has stabilized again. His leg wound is healing finally. Whatever way our lives work out is fine with me. Maybe I won't be in Palm Springs next year for Modernism Week. At least I'll have a good streaming service here at Casa Tipton-Kelly. Nice that Alexa is working too.

Have a great day everyone!

Bill's Other Problem

"Ditto", my brother's cat with her new favorite accessory, my Mother's red, white and blue afghan

 Bill has another major problem in addition to his health problems. 

That problem is psychological. Because he can't see he cannot do his projects, which he's done his whole life. 

He can't read.

He can't watch TV.

He can't drive.

There is a lot you cannot do when the eyesight is gone. Thank goodness he can see light. 

He can see colors. But he tells me everything is a blur. Even me. No longer can he look me in my eyes.

When I look at him in his eyes I can tell he cannot see me. And it saddens me.

A few of his activities that he likes and looks forward too are going out to our mailbox and checking for the mail.

Another activity he likes is bringing in trash cans once a week after the trash pickup. He always looks forward to bringing both our cans back and our neighbor's cans. 

I take him out almost every day for a ride. He sits in the passenger seat (shotgun) of our Subaru Forester, looking out his right side window. Sometimes I ask him what he sees. He says he sees "The light and color." I can sense his comfort at even this limited eyesight. 

I probably should spend more time with him talking but it is difficult having a conversation with him. His response is almost always "Huh?" when I say something. Even though he has his new hearing aids in, almost always the first response is "Huh?" I'm human and this is frustrating for me. Then when I repeat myself he often still doesn't understand me. It's like I have to reel him in from space. I often think of that image of an astronaut tethered on a space walk. I have to reel him in.

He doesn't have Alzheimer's or even advanced dementia but he does have cognitive issues. He can't connect the dots, so to speak. 

The one pleasure he has is listening to the little transistor radio that I bought for him several months ago. Of course there is a drawback there because the only station that comes in clear is the local Fox station. After he's been bombarded with the Fox propaganda lies for hours he starts to believe them. I can see how many of our fellow Americans are brainwashed. While driving around today he was talking about how Biden is taking us into a war with China. I asked him "Have you ever heard that radio station say ANYTHING good about Biden?" He admitted he hadn't. I reminded him that during the Biden administration more jobs have been created in the past two years than in the history of our country but you would never hear that on that local Fox propaganda radio station of daily lies.  I told him "If you listen to that crap long enough your brain will turn to mush just like so many other Americans who subject themselves to that propaganda station. You listen to that station and they'll tell you that the blacks are coming for  your women and all your money. That's their bottom line. Lie, lie, lie and raise fears just to grift for more money." I also asked him "Have you ever heard them say anything bad about Trump?" He admitted he hadn't.  Trump, the biggest con man in American history. The traitor who attempted to have his Vice President hung and overturn an American election. That Trump. He admitted that "No, that station has never said anything negative about Trump."  It's a shame I can't get another station in as clear on his transistor radio as that Traitor Station. Just another challenge I have to deal with caring for Bill. There was a time when I used to visit the VA Outpatient Clinic that the only station they had on the TV in the waiting room was Fox. WTF? Well, that's changed thank God. Now it's one of those silly home makeover stations. That's bad enough but having a Fox station on is even worse.

Bill's open leg wound is still weeping requires daily changes of bandages. It's healing but ever so slowly.

Somedays when I feel more trapped here than usual and start feeling sorry for myself I think of poor Bill and how trapped he is without his eyesight and just so tired of sitting and sleeping all day. Again, I keep telling my self he's not in pain and in a facility but here at home where he is comfortable. But even that becomes boring over time. 

I'll be quite frank with you folks, I don't think I'm ever going to get out of this situation so I'm trying to make the best of it. Like Bill, for me it could be a lot worse. I am so thankful Bill is still mobile. He can move around and go to the bathroom by himself. But he will never be able to give himself his own medication, nor prepare his food nor dress himself nor shower or wash himself. He's just not capable. 

One of the few solaces I have is the time now when Bill is in bed and I can sit here at my computer and type this blog entry. While I'm typing I have my Bose radio on to the Percy Faith station which plays gentle music of my youth that brings back so many fond memories for me. In the mornings after I get Bill up and feed him, I also come into my home office and update my online Scrabble games (that's back to working again thank goodness!) and I listen to the throbbing beat of continuous Deep House mixes on my You Tube channel. I've written about those channels before, it's the same music they play in the upscale clothing stores like The Grove in North Hollywood. That's when I first heard that kind of music. To me, that music is so soothing. Different than the gentle music I hear by Percy Faith, Jackie Gleason, Mantovani, Herb Alpert, and others of that Fifties "Beautiful Music." I don't play the heavy beat music at night because my home office is right above Bill's bedroom and the thumping of the bass wakes him up.

I talk to Pat often on FaceTime during the day and evening but tonight Pat is off with one of his bands practicing so I am here alone to wallow in my self pity. I so loved my hotel job because I could get out at least twice a week and do something different. Sometimes I got frustrated at the hotel but always a challenge which I enjoyed. I hope someday I can go back to that job but lately I've been wondering if I'm physically up to it. My arthritis, I'm having more problems walking. Yes, I am walking like an old man now. Well I am eighty-one years old. Father Time is catching up to even me. I've had a good run but I recognize that even my time is running out. 

Tomorrow I get a haircut. I get out.

Wednesday I have my computer guy coming over to checking out my WIFI connection. It's been acting up lately. 

Today we had nice weather so I laid two wheelbarrows of mulch. I can only do two wheelbarrows these days before I'm near collapse. I just don't have the energy I used to have in my Glorious Youth. 

Last week I mailed a red, white and blue afghan that my Mother made for me some years ago to my brother in Pennsylvania. I'm a red, white and blue guy but those colors didn't fit into my interior decor here at Casa Tipton-Kelly. The good news is that my brother's cat fell in love with that afghan right away. He texted me wanting to know if I "put catnip in that afghan."  I  told him I didn't but I suspect his cat likes the red, white and blue because she is a MAGA cat. She's named "Ditto" after my brother's favorite broadcaster, the late Rush Lumbaugh. Yes, my brother is one of THOSE but he's still my brother. 

Life is imperfect folks but as Pat often says, "These are all First World problems." We could be living in Ukraine.

By the way, watching the Philadelphia Eagles lose that close Super Bowl game in Phoenix yesterday didn't help my mood either. Philly loses again. They lost the World Series and now the Super Bowl all in one year. Brings back a lot of bad old memories. 

Bedtime now folks. 

Steady As She Goes

 

We're still here folks. 

We have our new routine in place now. 

It's taking longer to care for Bill. 

The past two years before Bill's latest hospitalization the morning routine took about half an hour. Now because of his leg wound, getting him ready for the day takes at last an hour.

As in the past, every third day is Shower Day. Bill continues to hate Shower Day (I'm not so fond of it either) but it is something we must do. I don't want any more fungus growing on Bill. He doesn't and can't bath himself. Thank goodness he can walk to the shower on his own.

Now every morning I have to dress his leg wound. That leg wound is taking much longer to heal but it appears to be healing, albeit slowly. I needed a lot more dressing with the VA sent this week. I wonder what the UPS driver thinks of all this medical equipment and boxes of Depends being send to Casa Tipton-Kelly. I'm pretty sure they surmised that there is caregiving going on here. 

The VA has been so good to us, supplying us with whatever we need. Hospice has also been very good to us. They have offered to have someone come in to help me and have a hospital bed installed downstairs in Bill's bedroom but we both demurred. Neither one of us wants a stranger semi-living in our house. I can still take care of Bill. Of course I am concerned that if my health changes what will happen to Bill. But I push that thought out of my mind when it rudely intrudes.

Bill has stabilized somewhat but he hasn't gotten stronger. He no longer walks around outside. He may as the weather warms up but I doubt he will survive the summer. He feels the same way too. He feels his strength ebbing. I see it too. 

I cannot say often enough how thankful I am Bill isn't in pain. His leg wound hurts when I clean it but the rest of the day there is no pain. He's still sleeping about twenty hours a day. 

I felt sad that he no longer checks the weather patterns on his iPad. His appetite is down, he doesn't eat the shortbread cookies that I used to make weekly. That's a break for me because making those cookies was very labor intensive for me. After I made a batch of them, my back was aching on a scale of one to ten at a six or sometimes a seven. His favorite cookies are the Oreo Lemon Thins. After I'm done posting this blog, we'll go out for our daily ride and I'll buy some more of those cookies.

Earlier this week I was thinking of posting about other subjects other than the sometimes depressing health issues and caregiving here at Casa Tipton-Kelly. I have so many memories of my life I would like to post about. Wonderful and interesting (to me anyway) memories. I think I've posted enough about the bad memories in my many previous blog postings. Time to post the fond memories. One of them is from my childhood when I attending East Ward Elementary School in Downingtown, PA. I lived three blocks from the school on Washington Avenue. I would walk those three blocks (which seemed so long to me in those days with my little short legs) to the school every day. Sometimes our little kid network would get word that a nice old lady in one of the grand old houses had cookies for us kids.

I think this is the house. It was one I just pulled from the  Internet. I would go to the right side of the house for my cookie

Her house was on a small hill, steps which I had to climb to go to the back of her house where the kitchen was located. We kids never assembled en masse but individually we would climb those steps and walk the sidewalk to her backdoor and knock on the storm door. She would come to the door and I would ask "Can I have a cookie?" She would smile and say something like "I'll get one for you now." And she would return with a big sugar cookie. Oh what a treat that was! The cookie was so big, and had sugar crystals sprinkled on it. Often the cookie was still warm from her oven. Thinking back she must have timed the cooking of those cookies to when we were returning home from school. 

By the way, here is something interest from my childhood. These days you hear so often of little kids being abused or taken advantage of. That NEVER happened to me. All my interactions with adults was always positive. I was always treated with kindness and respect. No one even came close to abusing me. And I was a cute kid! In a future blog post I'll have to tell you about that brief time when a church volunteer young man would pick us young boys up after school once a week to help clean the church. Just from that brief description it sounds like a perfect opportunity to take advantage of your, gullible boys doesn't it? I think I was about ten year old at that time. The only things I remember was how thrilled I was to be chosen to help along with about six other young boys, to help clean the church. I can still remember the perfect peaceful quiet of the church pews as we polished the wooden benches. The smell of the furniture polish. And the young man (he was about twenty-five) was a very handsome man so I was thrilled even though at the time I didn't know why.  Of course I discovered later why I liked this attention. These days I wonder if an old lady can hand out cookies to little kids from elementary school and an adult male can pick up pre teen boys after school to help clean a church. Probably not. These are just some of the many fond memories I have never forgotten from my youth and adult hood. At this time of my life I think I will recount more of them in this blog so when I am gone, someone will enjoy reading about those experiences that I was so fortunate to live.

Have a great day everyone!

Trudging Forward

 

Bill's daily leg wound dressing

Wow! It's been a week since I posted to my blog. So what have I been doing? Same thing as I've been doing for the past two years now, caregiving for Bill.

Bill is still recovering from his latest hospital stay. His leg wound is taking longer to heal. In the past, when Bill had a leg wound, it usually healed within a week. This wound is going on three weeks now. 

Today his new hospice nurse came by for her weekly checkup visit to Bill. I asked her in her experience is this unusual taking so long for his leg wound to heal? She said "No, something it takes quite a while." One good sign, his leg wound isn't getting worse (thank goodness). But it does look like we're in for the long haul.

Because of the daily change of dressing of his leg wound, that's added about an hour to getting Bill ready for the day. 

I also have to liquify Bill's oatmeal. He drinks his twice a day main meal of oatmeal. I also have to crush his pills. More time taken. Altogether this is adding another two hours or more. 

Bill is getting weaker. He gets confused more often now. It's hard to have a regular conversation with him. Now days I have to frequently repeat my conversation to him for him to understand what I'm talking about. I feel so bad for him, he's trying so hard but he's slowly slipping. And he knows it. 

We both agree that the best option is that he pass away peacefully in his sleep. He tells me almost every day he's "ready." He looks forward to passing over the Rainbow Bridge to join his beloved pets Babydoll, T, Horace, Sparky and Hamburger. Perhaps if there is a Heaven he will finally meet his father who died when Bill was only a year old. His father was twenty-one years old when he died in an automobile accident. 

I told Bill's hospice worker that Bill was ready to go and he hopes it is peacefully in his sleep. She said "Unfortunately, that's not the way most people die." Well, that wasn't encouraging but I am thankful that he's not in pain and that he is here at his home that he loves so much. 

These days he sleeps about twenty hours a day, half the time in our sun room. He listens to his transistor radio because he can't see to read. He doesn't even look at his iPad anymore. He used to like to watch the color of the weather patterns on the satellite display on his iPad. He's not interested anymore. He also has lost some of his appetite. He doesn't even eat those labor intensive crescent shortbread cookies. 

I feel so sad for him. I feel sad for myself. I will miss him when he's gone but the Bill I used to know has been disappearing for the past two years now. Just a slow decline.

We both joke that this way of dying is because he led such a healthy lifestyle. No smoking, drugs, drinking or eating unhealthy foods. But no matter how healthy one's lifestyle, the Grim Reaper eventually catches up with us all. We talk about that Jeep Laredo that he had for over twenty years. It was a good vehicle and ran well for a long time but eventually that vehicle ran out of gas too. 

So we take each day as a gift. 

Each day that he is pain free. 

Each day that we can love each other. 

Each day that we can laugh together over some memory of long ago that we share. 

Bill often tells me stories of his time in the Army in Germany after World War II and his time in the Air Force in Japan after that same war. Even though I've heard these stories many times I never correct him.  Just this morning he was telling me the story of seeing General MacArthur ordering Emperor Hirohito to meet WITH HIM, turning down Hirohito's invitation to visit him in Imperial Palace in Tokyo. 

General Douglas MacArthur with Emperor Hirohito

Bill will tell me this story again and I will patiently listen. He is so happy recalling these memories. And in the future, should I be alone again I will always remember this memory of Bill.

Music For Shopping In Upscale Clothing Stores

A few years ago, in my Previous Life, when Pat and I used to go on our quarterly trips, I encountered this type of music.

The place was at a very upscale clothing store (whose name I do not remember) at The Grove Mall in West Hollywood. I couldn't afford any of the clothing in that store but what cool music they had playing in the background. That music put me in the mood to part with all my money and buy some of those cool very expensive clothes that were draped in the shadows of that ever so cool clothing emporium. Listening to the throbbing beat of this music, the feeling was sensual. How clever of Them to create the Whole Experience while shopping in that rarefied atmosphere of which I could never afford in one hundred lifetimes. 

This music leaves my previous favorite 70's disco music in the dust. If I ever had a memorial service when I pass away, play this music......please.

Now if  you're of a mind for some grand relaxation, play this music with some good speakers with a sub woofer (I use Bose) and go about your daily routine. I have a feeling your spirits will be uplifted as mine is.