Saturday

Thank the powers that be, I slept well for a change and got up late--for me--at seven. After breakfast, I walked over to CVS for two birthday cards, then to Von's for apples and other stuff. 

I called my brother, Larry, in Florida, and we had a good talk. I was surprised when he told me about the "Catholic Hospice" there. They are providing all kinds of services for Helen, including--incredibly--respite care. They'll actually transport Helen by ambulance to a nursing home for eight days and Larry can be free of his caregiver duties for that time--and recipients can take advantage of this every thirty days! They do this even though Helen does not have to be declared dying and although Larry is well off. I'm hoping he takes advantage of this and can come here sometime.

I got out of the freezer the sandwiches left over from when Julie and Noreen were here and arranged them on a platter. Also retrieved what was left of the apple crisp. When Jim got here for lunch, he ate four halves, so two ham and swiss cheese sandwiches, also a large bowl of the apple crisp.  Strangely, he said he had never heard of it before. I take it his mother wasn't much of a cook. Anyway, as the old saying was, we had a good talkfest. I showed him some of the books I'm reading and we discussed them. Today, he's going to a group at someone's house to discuss the book he wrote for his classes, The Origins of Philosophy, which he gave me years ago. I'll have to look it over again. 

After Jim left, I actually lay down and took a nap of about an hour. I know why I was sleepy: because instead of beer with lunch, I had two glasses of red. However, I was fine when I got up. Went out to get the mail and found a letter from my darling granddaughter, Vivian. She brought me up to date on her scholastic and almost-dating life (the boy and she, she wrote, are "still in the talking stage," although she thinks we'll be dating pretty soon). She including a picture of the boy (Cosmo), as well as one of herself and four friends at a birthday party. What I would have given for a life like hers when I was a senior in high school! I video-PMed her Dad, Mike, and said hello to the whole family, including Violet, 13, to whom I'll write next.