We three folks (me, BestBeloved and my father) had a cheerful and chatty time today visiting my mother at Homelands.
I took a little Victorian Father Christmas brooch along with me, as it is the Feast of St Nicholas today.
There are family stories concerning the brooch, about how it was lost, and how it was found, which brought back memories of maybe fifty years ago.
Also messages from friends to relay, and cards to read and talk over. After talking about a card from a very longstanding Dutch friend, she asked for copies of Libelle and Margriet, popular Dutch magazines. There's a challenge for us!
The flooding in Appleby brought back more memories - apparently we all stayed in a bed-and-breakfast there, probably when I was about ten years old. My father remembered playing with my brother and me near the bridge over the river; my mother had no memory of that (neither did I) but remembered how wonderfully the two men running the B and B looked after us, with hot-water bottles in our beds even (I don't remember that either). It was typical that their memories match their characters so well.
When we are talking about friends and family, her memory is as clear as ever, and she makes apposite and insightful comments about them all. Places from the past also have clarity.
She is more confused about where she is now, and why the doctor doesn't visit so often, and why they don't regularly take her blood pressure and temperature like they used to. We've explained that she isn't in the hospital anymore, and that's why everything is more relaxed, but I don't think she is sure of this change in her circumstances yet.
Tomorrow...
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