Makes sense to her.

Balloons, let the festival begin.  

It is balloon time in Albuquerque. They are back and filling the air. The crowds are not as large as times past. They are here and that is all that matters. 

The success of each Balloon Fiesta is dependent on the weather, and this year, it appears that Mother Nature is cooperating with us. No high winds, no heavy rain, just cool temperatures and people. 

Remembering those days when we would get up, go find a place to park and watch the balloons launch. Freckles in the sky. There are so many memories that are lifted out of the mire of Dementia when the balloons are lifted up. 

Memories of friends and families that have joined together when the launch was made. So glad to have these memories. A album filled with mental snapshots. 

Monday

Get Sweetie after the balloons have gone by. She doesn't recognize them anymore. Would love to attend a Mass Ascension one more time. Maybe I will, when I am unencumbered. Just me and her, one last time. Only time will tell. 

We're up, and sitting at the table, eating breakfast. Today is her second day with brain flacks for breakfast. She hasn't had a good BM in a few days, so I'm taking this time to see if I can get her body working. 

When it is time to head out to the golf course, she makes a bee line for her nest. I've tried to get her to come with me, no use. She is working more and more into the place of not wanting to leave the house. 

Two things happen now. One, is I tell her I'll be back, and leave. The second, I'm learning, is that when I'm gone, she comes looking for me, can't find me, and heads back to her nest. She repeats this action until I come back home. Once back, she will have to take a nap, because she expends so much mental and emotional energy looking for me that she needs to recharge herself. 

Had a great game. My golfing partner brought along a different putter for me to try. He won it a long time ago, and doesn't use it. I liked it. Shot a 5 over, best game in a long time. No double bogies, and was sinking puts almost automatically. He gave me the putter and now we'll see how much better my game gets. 

Back home, Sweetie has customized the folding and making the bed. This is one of the things that she does when she can't find me. For me, it is a good visualization of what is going on in her head. Can see what she is attempting to do, and at the same time seeing the confusion that is about her, and it makes sense to her. 

I have to do some work on our older car. Get a chair out so Sweetie can sit and watch. It doesn't work out that way. She either wants to wander out of the garage, or she is back into the house. So, back in the house it is, and I go to work on the car. 

Following what I saw on YouTube, am able to get the repairs done in a short time. It was easier then I thought. Even when I dropped a nut driver and it got caught on the bottom of the engine well. Found a solution and freed the nut driver, and the tool was just fine. 

Needed a test drive, so off to do some grocery shopping. Sweetie isn't drinking her water like she used to. So, I try reasoning with her, and get her to drink some, better some then none. 

At the grocery store, she, at first, doesn't want to get out of the car. So, getting out and walking around to her side, open the door, and she is ready to come with me. 

Bought a head of lettuce for the first time in over a year. Now that I'm feeding her, I felt that into introducing salads into our menu wouldn't hurt. 

She wasn't too excited about having a tuna salad for dinner, and would eat, then leave, or refuse the next bit. OK, then offer it again after she had finished what was in her mouth. Took awhile for her to eat the amount I felt was necessary for a good meal, but we got the job done. 

Off to our meeting, again, a difficult time getting her into the car. This time, I wouldn't let her go back to the house, so I herded her into the car, and off we went. 

Of course, once we got there, she was just fine. All went well, and home we went.

Home again, night pad in, TV on, and desert at the ready. Spoon for her, spoon for me, repeat until gone. Watched TV, found an old western series "Tombstone Territory". Out of the '50's. What fun to watch. Something Sweetie can handle and who knows, maybe even have some memory connected to shows like this one. 

As night becomes king for awhile, Driver pulls into the parking lot of the motel where we will spend the night. All in all it was a good day on the Road to Dementia Town. Not too many twist or turns, nothing to write about. While all the time we were Keeping our Shiny Side Up. C'ya, Luv Ya, and God Bless.    Arthur.