Lunch at Steph's

A few weeks ago Steph invited several of us early morning walkers to her house for a lunch get together; today was the day! Lorraine and Ona were the other walkers she invited. Steph had various meats & cheeses for sandwiches, vegetables and hummus & dip, and desserts. Plus 2 types of flavored green teas. We had a great time getting to know each other! These are the ladies I will be talking to when I have time to travel; between the 3 of them they have been to Australia, China, Italy, Greece, South Africa, Peru, and Japan. In the coming year there will be trips to Portugal, China, and Japan! We're planning on getting together again, in the meanwhile, we'll see each other "on the hill."

L to R: Ona, Lorraine, Steph holding Mishka.

The view from Steph's lanai.

 


Sunrise is getting earlier faster. For 2 weeks in January it was at 7:11. On February 1st it was 7:08, then on the 3rd it was 7:07, today it was 7:06; by the end of the month it will be 6:52. I try to start my walk around 10 minutes before sunrise, it seems to be a good time for a lot of bird activity; earlier than that and they are not as active. Later and they disperse more and it is getting hotter towards the end. I saw both Ona and Lorraine during my morning walk. I also saw Caroline & Olive; they live on a property that the drainage system runs through. It turns out she was curious about the yard drain in her back yard. I will be printing a map of the drainage system for her.

Five minutes before sunrise on Maunalani.

Fourteen minutes past sunrise on Sierra.

SLP Brittany came by during breakfast to teach Dad how to mindfully chew and swallow to diminish problems with aspirating food & liquids. She also went over the importance of having a clean mouth to reduce the amount of oral bacteria that could get in to his lungs and cause problems; she brushed his teeth for him today. Brittany had Dad take small bites of his fried egg sandwich, do a dry swallow to clear anything that might still be in the valleculae, then take a small sip of the Breeze supplement, followed by another dry swallow. She watched for the motion of his hyoid bone to check his swallowing; if he didn't have a good response she had him do a throat clear. Curtis & I will now have to help remind him to do all these things. Brittany also left an instruction sheet for us; the CNAs & nurses will also get a copy so we're all on the same page.

SLP Brittany started by brushing Dad's teeth.

Brittany had Dad take a bite of his sandwich.

She talked to him about taking small sips to wash down the food.

For my mid-morning walk, I did it slightly differently; I walked down to Steph's house for our lunch.  It was 1.4 miles and took me about 30 minutes. I was the first one there.



I got back to Maunalani about an hour before I needed to start my afternoon walk. Steph gave me a ride back up; it felt like I was being dropped off at home! The afternoon walk was warm as usual.


After my cool down stretches I showed Curtis what Brittany had taught me in the morning about working with Dad on chewing and swallowing.

I checked out the garden when I got home. The orchids are doing great! The last orchid that Mom grew is flowering again! And the last orchid she received as a present while she was ill has a bunch of new buds.

The last orchid that Mom grew.

The last orchid that Mom got as a present.

Hauʻoli lā Hānau to Danielle & Zhara!