Cardinal sighting.

My one assisted living client with disabilities always pays a lot of attention to trees and flowers and animals like the bunnies in her neighborhood, and the other day we were in her apartment and there was this loud bird call from outside, and she was like, "That's a cardinal," and then she started telling me about how lately there had been a cardinal around there, and how she knows its call.

Then, I put on the voice of a concerned parent and was like, "Quick Timmy, get in the basement, get in the basement!," and then she laughed and we started making a lot of jokes about how like whenever a cardinal shows up, the local parents start getting their kids inside off the street and locking their doors and windows, etc.

Another sign of an incipient economic downturn?

My father noted this year that on the lake that my parents live on, the tourists and the summer people only brought up around half the amount of fireworks that they usually do for the Fourth of July.

He thinks it's because the economy is so bad, people are trying to save a hundred dollars wherever they can.

I wouldn't doubt it!

A story of human kindness on the Fourth of July this year.

The other week, my one assisted living client with disabilities and I were talking about how crazy people get on the holidays here in the city, and I was saying that I hate going out anymore on Halloween and the Fourth of July and New Year's, since you just never know what's going to happen anymore.

"Yeah," she was like, "I totally get that."

She then said that on Fourth of July morning this year, her and her sister went out for a walk, with her sister pushing her in her wheelchair, and just everywhere people were setting off these extremely loud noisemakers, just one set after another after another, and it was just insane.

It really got to her, so they turned around to go home, and as they were doing that, this one guy who was out with a dog that was going crazy and he was trying to calm, took a moment and checked in on them, to make sure that she was okay.

"And his dog wasn't doing so well either," she made sure to point out, her voice getting all wavery as she said that, since she was so clearly touched by him taking time out of his troubles to check in on her in hers.

Comment of the one resthome resident who wants to die, on a change in her life.

The other week me and a coworker were helping to change the one resthome resident who wants to die before bed, and she laying on her bed with her nightgown up and her nighttime "pull up" (diaper) open while my one coworker was going to go get some wetwipes and some cream to make sure her skin was clean and good before her going to bed.

"I used to be bashful," she was like to me, as she lay there waiting with her nightgown up and her pants down.

. . .

Then, since she used to paint, I was like, "C'mon, don't give me that, you're an artist!".

That got a smile out of her.

Jigsaw puzzle approach of a resthome coworker.

My one (Mexican) resthome coworker always has to keep busy, and for the past few months residents have been doing jigsaw puzzles, but we've been forbidden to do it, since it's for the residents.

The other night I was by the room where they have the jigsaw puzzle, and she was sitting there looking at intently.

"I've found ten pieces," she was like. 

Then, she was like, "I'm not doing it, I look, and I find, and I count, but I'm not doing it, if we do it, we get in trouble."

Later that same night she told me that she got up to fifteen pieces, where she found out where they could fit.

Belly fat and fermented carrots.

For some reason I'm getting a little ring of belly fat around my middle, even more than normal, though I'm not quite sure why.

It's not my eating or exercise levels, so maybe it's age?

Those fermented carrots with dill and mustard seeds that I made up the other week are quite good and make for wonderful snacks, so I'm thinking I'll just keep a jar fermenting on the counter from now on.

Snacking on that is healthy and saves calories, and will be a good change in the short-term to get some of that belly fat to go away.

I put slits in a lot of the carrots so the bacteria get in easier and they ferment more, but I forgot to do that on some, and to me those taste even better.  So, from now on I'll just ferment unslitted carrots.

Memories of the one resthome resident who wants to die.

The other week, I was chatting more with the one resthome resident who wants to die.

Back in her childhood in Central Europe, her and her friends would go into the forest around her town a lot, and they'd pick mushrooms and berries.

She also didn't have a radio until her father bought a kit and assembled one for the family, and at that time there were only local stations.