Hurricane Update
Following the destruction all along the coast, and listening to all the flood warnings, we feel blessed. The rain and wind did not start until Friday afternoon, and all the storm drains on campus have been open after a thorough cleaning, so the water runs down the street on both sides and down the drains. Next to our house is an enormous catchment area, a drainage basin, which fills up when we have a lot of rain, like now. The water comes in through a cement tunnel on the street side. We don’t know what will happen when that basin gets full. Overflowing is not likely because it is very deep, but the water could go back into the cement tunnel and up to the street, and then we would get flooding. That is what happens along the coastline: the storm surge pushes the water back up the rivers which then causes flooding. But so far, it does not look like our basin will get that full. At the very bottom of our property water came rushing out of another cement tunnel like a whitewater river, and next to it was a narrower flow of water coming along the lawn from the back of the cottages. At the very bottom all the water takes a right turn and flows as a creek in the direction of the large pond in Wimbledon. I can’t wait to see if that creek overflowed: it is along that creek that I walk through “the divide” to Wimbledon. When our grandsons were over earlier this week, they tied orange duck tape on all the barbed wire that sticks up out of the ground along my path. I hope it will prove to be waterproof because I want to be able to see where not to walk when there is snow on the ground or when I am carrying my little puppy to safety.
Grandparents’ Day
Last week, the Club celebrated Grandparents’ Day. They offered hamburgers and hot dogs with all the trimmings for lunch, plus strawberry milkshakes, brownies and pop corn. Many of the Residents had their kids and grandkids over for lunch, and hop scotch and hula hoop on the driveway. Nobody did the sack hop on the lawn, but the whole area outside and inside was bustling, and they played music of the fifties. The staff was dressed in bright pink poodle skirts and shoes with bobby socks. My grandkids were all busy, so I went to the Café by myself and sat down at a table for two with my friend Jay, who is in his nineties. He did not have any grands with him either, and said to me that he would pretend I was his visiting great grandchild. We had fun with that. He told everyone who came to say hello that I was his great grandchild, and people stared at him and looked at me questioningly, is Jay developing Alzheimers? Then we told them it was just for the day 🙂
Pill Boxes
Grandparents’ Day happened to also be Janice’s 80th birthday. Janice and her husband Ben are the distant cousins, who moved here a year before us. We see them in the dining room and at special events, but, as Ben says, we are not joined at the hip. I took a vase of orange Alstroemerias up to their apartment and while I was there, their son Jim called. First Janice talked to him, then Ben got the phone. While he was talking, another bell kept ringing in the kitchen. On the counter stood a round plastic box the size of a breakfast plate, half full with a variety of pills. A red light was blinking and the bell kept ringing. It was eleven o’clock. I pushed the red light to no avail. Then I took the whole box to the living room and held it up in front of Ben, who kept talking and then made a motion of turning the box upside down. I did, and the bell stopped ringing, the light stopped blinking, but Ben’s eyes grew big as something fell out of the box: he pointed to the floor. Oh, I noticed a small yellow pill had fallen on the floor, like a vitamin C and picked it up. Ben held up three fingers. Three pills? A nod of his head, still talking to Jim. Bending down, I found another yellow pill and a long, orange one. That made three! I gave them to Ben, who then finished his phone conversation. I said, “You did tell me to turn this box upside down, didn’t you?”
“Yes, I did, but over the counter!” We all laughed as we had never laughed before! This large pill box has slots for different kinds of pills which he has to take at various times of day, and a bell reminds him that it is time for the next round. Turning the pillbox over on the counter puts out the exact medication for that time. Isn’t that fantastic? I will have to remember that for when the time comes that Mike or I need that many pills. For now, I dole out our vitamins three times a day, and Mike does not have to turn me upside down to dispense them!
This morning, passing the dining room at the club, I noticed that six ladies were still having breakfast at one table in the far corner. I walked up to say hello when Jenny, a spry 97 year old, got up, and, holding on to her walker turned around. “Oh, I dropped my pill box!” she cried. The only one being able to do that (but then, I am not even 80 yet), I went on hands and knees and found her small pill box in between chair and table legs. She counted them in her hand, “Half a green one, a pink one, a large white and a small white. They are all here! Thank you!” She is blessed to be able to keep all her pills in a small box. And that at 97! I am hoping I can keep using my grandmother’s small silver pill box until I am 97 or beyond. But after that, should I need many more medications, I will turn to Amazon to get me a big one!
It’s a Wonderful Life!
Until next time,
Ronny