Visiting with Doreen

First thing this morning I noticed that the handle on one set of jalousies over the kitchen sink was broken; the window was shut and could not be opened with the handle. Mom says its okay because she can grab the glass slats and open them. Which sort of works, it folds shut in about 10 seconds. I discovered that the head of the fastener had broken off. I also discovered as long as the shaft of the fastener was in the hole, the window could be operated with the handle. It took about 5 minutes to improvise this elegant solution.  

Did you know that Hass is not the only variety of avocado that there is? Growing up in Hawai'i I was not aware that most of the US only has Hass avocados; in fact, we had 2 avocado trees in our yard that were different varieties. In Hawai'i there are over a hundred varieties of avocados and you can get local-grown avocados year-round, as well as Hass avocados. And in Hawai'i, avocados are eaten in ways other than as guacamole or in salads or part of a California roll. This morning we had a Sharwil avocado with a little brown sugar on toast. Mom is wanting avocados on fresh, hot rice with a little shoyu. And avocados are split in half and eaten in the skin with either shoyu, sugar, or ketchup. Getting very hungry for avocados writing this!

Yum! Breakfast!

We went to see Doreen today. She is in a private assisted living home; Fran and her dad were very fortunate to find such a great caregiver. Because of Aunty Daisy's situation, we talked about her experiences with finding the right situation for Doreen. Today Doreen's caregiver, Janeth, fed us chicken curry for lunch; we brought desert from Napoleon's Bakery and Fran brought fresh strawberries.

Aunty Florence, Doreen, & Mom

It was interesting talking with Fran on the current condition of her mom's dementia. Fran's older brother Steven died about 17 years ago, her mom thinks he is still alive. There were several other people Doreen talked about today, that she believed were still alive. Mom was a little confused today also, she did not know we were in Waipahu. One of the things Fran and I agreed on was giving them things they like to eat as a treat, even if it wasn't 100% okay for their diet.

Fran gave us some great information on a thrift store to look for a walker for Mom, as well as another place for Holy Bakery pies, fresh mochi, Hawaiian food, and poi doughnuts! We'll be checking those places out on Tuesday.

Happy Birthday to Monikka!