A Journey of Heartfelt Miles

The beginning of our journey airborne...

A stuning sunset on the evening of our return...

This Peace Pole standing so proudly is on the grounds of the

Board of Education

Main Street, Branford, Ct.

These ornamental blossoms are on the campus of the Yale Medical School

New Haven, Ct. right down the street from Yale-New Haven Hospital where my mom recently was a patient on the 7th floor recovering from surgery.

There I am taking time out to enjoy the flowers, as this was the

First Day of Spring.

When finally arriving home these beautiful blossoms were waiting.

Thank u* Pam~

This journey's been long, but that's what life is after all. All of our journeys one step at a time, intercepting one an other's, but still uniquely personal~

My brother & I went down to Florida on March 1oth, which will be two weeks ago this Saturday. Our mother knew we were coming to bring her home that weekend from the Harbor Beach rehab/nursing home facility in Ft. Lauderdale where she had been staying after being discharged from the local hospital on 1/13/12, since being rescued from her home in Hollywood Florida, due to two compressed fractures of her spine, & her need for surgery & rehabilitation. Our plan was to help bring her back to Connecticut where she has lived for over fifty years, since moving up here with our family from the Bronx. Every imaginable thing was going so perfectly well. The checking in at the airport that my husband had arranged in advance for handicap assistance for my mother went flawlessly. The seating at the front of the plane, also perfecto. Though the flight was about 45 minutes late in departing, nonetheless we had no complaints, as it was smooth travels all the way.

On arriving at Bradley Airport in Windsor Locks right outside of Hartford, my husband, once again kept all the dots connected, as within minutes of talking to him once we landed he was there with my car, & off we went to Reins Deli in Vernon for a much anticipated late dinner, as we were all famished. My brother & I had a real meaningful time together while we were down in Florida, as there were of course quite a bit of loose ends to pull together. Sadly it has become necessary to begin closing down our mom's snowbird condo, due to the state of her health. But we got through it, & had some good quality time during our jaunt down there, including a night out to bring our mother a long craved for hot fudge sundae, & the night prior to our flight back, my brother wanted to be sure we brought her some take out Chinese food, which the three of us all enjoyed together for my mother's last time in the facility's dining room.

The next day, due to road construction on the highway, & a major detour, it was becoming iffy, if we were all going to make the departure on time, but we did, including my brother Dave who needed to return our rental car.

Thus life continued as we were making other plans...

We landed at around 7:10pm on Monday March 12th, & after our celebratory dinner at the deli, I was off to Guilford with my mother via I-91 towards Hartford, & Middletown. It was of course by that time good & dark & thankfully way past dusk, for I have always found dusk, though beautiful, to be my most challenging time of the day to drive. My mother & I arrived at her freshly cleaned & re carpeted condo in the hills at around 10:30pm. It was an excellent ride even on the dark country roads, & we took our time that evening watching some retro TV of The Golden Girls, as we interjected some fun discussions in between the show.

Tuesday of course was the next day, which began our week together with a slew of medical appointments for three consecutive days. Our first full day together was designated to meet with a new primary care doctor. Wednesday was to meet with her specialist, all the way into New Haven at Yale. On Thursday we had a break from traveling & the visiting nurse from the agency we were to meet with had the policy of meeting with new clients in the home in which they lived. All in all it all worked out very well. We kept all the appointments like clock work though challenging at times finding our way to new locations, but we were always punctual, & all the medical professionals my mother met with were excellent, & on target with giving her the best of care.

Everything continued to go extremely well. That Thursday evening during dinner my mother & I discussed the possibility of her having her hair done that evening at the local hairdressing school. I had called the school that afternoon, & as long as we were in route by 6:30pm at the latest it would be possible for her to have a long desired hair dresser's appointment. We were well poised for all of this, as we were done with dinner at just about 6pm, but at around 6:08 my mother very gently got up from her chair, took a few steps, & reached over to pick a bowl of rice up from the table. Next with the small bowl of rice in her hands she leaned slightly, & then dropped suddenly to the floor, landing on her right side. She thought at first that she would be able to get up, so we decided to have her stay in place, & for me to not move her in order to not cause any further injury. In ten minutes it was apparent that 911 needed to be called, for by then my poor mother was crying out in a most serious way from severe pain, brought on by this horrendous injury.

My mother is slowly, ever so slowly on a very slow road to recovery, as she is thankfully once again in a rehab/nursing home facility. These recent chapters for her have been most sad & tragic. She is a little less than a month away from reaching her 85th year. We are prayerfully hopeful that this comes to pass for her in a positive way, & that during this time we are all able to stay positive in body, mind & spirit; in order to stay healthy & to appreciate the moments, & the days of our lives that we are presently living, one day at a time.

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To all,~ every individual near & far, wishing everyone good healing, & for it to be truly in~ body, mind & spirit.

Amen

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© Mother Lightning of Mother Lightning's Peace Garden

Engulfed In This Nightime Garden~

It's been about a week since my last posting.  Since then it's been several thousand sky high miles that have been logged from Connecticut to Florida & back, in our sojourn for my brother & I to help bring our ill mother back home.

The trip was good both ways, & for starters once we were back there were no less than 3 days of consecutive appointments.  All of it went very well, almost like clockwork, from aspects of making it on time for our flight after pretty much closing down aspects of our mother's Florida home.  But all clocks have mechanisms that just plain tire out, & we human beings, the fragil creatures that we are tire &  break too.

My mother who is the oldest ever of any woman of her side of the family will be 85 on April 20th.  It's a delicate balance it all is, every aspect, as my mother had a terrible accident on the evening of her 3rd day back, & fell most suddenly to the floor.  She now joins millions of seniors all over the world with one of the most serious & prevelent injuries that afflict the elderly which is a fractured hip, for she too is now amongest the ranks of these brave seniors.

To say we're heart sick over this is an understatement, & trying not to worry is a daily exercise which I actively work at as we carry on this late winter night.  My mother according to all her nurses is doing great & as we head into spring that is certainly what we want to hear, as that is what healing is all about.  Taking care.

Daylight Savings

A new day for a new way~

Every One Has Their Mountain

It occurred to me this evening that though for some their mountain may be McKinley, for another individual who tries to be certain that what they say or do, or not say, does not hurt the other's feeling's, the one who is concerned must remind themselves, that what is their mountain is their mountain, and as long as they reconize that, that is all they'll need.

Getting Ready For Daylight Savings~

A Sunflower Cake With Sunshine In Our Hearts

As the stem & leaves were being squiggled the Dr. Seuss song was running through my mind sung to me by our two grandchildren. Also, dear Vincent, his lovely sunflowers too were an influence. To this day I can barely look at a sunflower without remembering his mark on their dignified, ruggered & graceful beauty.

Stevie Wonder said it about the best, so there's no debate on his choice of words. Our granddaughter turned eight years old on February 29th. Since a few days following the snowtober storm here in our neck of the woods, I was asked by my granddaughter to make a sunflower cake for the family birthday party. In all honesty I haven't made a themed cake since my sons were very young. At first it was a lttle daunting. Those little questions that tend to plague- Will the cake stick too much to the pan to make it a disasteour? Will it dry out & burn?Turn yucky baked in the new pan due to the fanning out of a spray of thin petals? Just a few questions, silly sounding I'm sure, but when you're a Nana, & your granddaughter is counting on you, there's no room for failure, & one must continue to bake on.

And thus we've arrived, & it was worth it, so very much so!

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© Mother Lightning of Mother Lightning's Peace Garden

What's Love Got To Do With It... Part I

What's love got to do with it.. when it comes to baking & decorating a birthday cake for one's granddaughter, everything!

So here we are on a relatively even keeled Friday night, we've got PBS on & they've just got done broadcasting The News Hour. Next it will be a few more public affairs type programs. My husband's all alert & he's in our family room taking in all the info. Me, well my attention is glued to the oven, oops there's the buzzer... It's looking good, but at least 8-10 minutes more, as the top of the cake is way wobbly, but pretty, real pretty. My husband said it's beginning to smell, & that of course is a good thing, as red velvet cake is really a chocolate cake loaded with, am feeling bad having to say this, red dye. If I should make another red velvet someday, I really could try it with beet juice, that could possibly bring out the red. But for now, this is the one, though beet juice could possibly be a solution if ever again. I do have another box of cake mix as a back up, hopefully I won't have to use it. These designer type pans are tricky because the level of depth is not even throughout the pan, so if you go ahead & test the center of the flower for doneness, by the time you test a petal it could be too done. We're in cooling-mode now, so all I can really say is time will tell.

Our granddaughter just turned 8 a few days ago on the 29th, & working on this convection this evening is a pure joy! I've loved to bake since my early grade school years though it's always a new experience each & every time. I'm not really very familiar with making cakes in some of these more creative shapes, but I'm game, & our grandaughter's request for a sunflower didn't seem out of the realm of possabilites, so we'll see how it grows & blooms from this kitchen. Opps there's the timer again... & it's out of the oven & done.

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© Mother Lightning of Mother Lightning's Peace Garden