Oswego
Entries 527
Page 19 of 22
Leaving a trace (revisited) in Daydreaming on the Porch
(Note: Here is an entry from November 1, 2006 that I posted at Open Diary. I have re-read it twice now, and also the very thoughtful notes and comments, and I think I have finally decided what...
Where I find hope in Daydreaming on the Porch
There are many things that offer me hope in this life and when I recently thought about some of them and wrote them down on paper, I felt a sense of peace as they stirred such pleasant memories. ...
Threshold in Daydreaming on the Porch
I’ll never forget the day last Spring when I had to decide once and for all if I was going to retire from my job of 21 years. I could postpone it or I could do it. That afternoon I was schedule...
When a new life begins in Daydreaming on the Porch
I recently came across a letter in a file box written to my parents in 1979, one of the pivotal, if not most significant years of my life. In the course of that single year I experienced the si...
Dementia Journal, Jan. 18, 2018 — the hope of new beginnings in Daydreaming on the Porch
I feel there is a new beginning in my life now, the start of something I’ve hoped for, a confidence that my depression will continue to subside and that the intense and terrible anxiety I felt la...
Snowbound in Daydreaming on the Porch
Who would have imagined — the third heaviest snowfall in our city’s history descended on us Wednesday here in Charleston from a mighty Atlantic storm whipping up the Eastern seaboard. An unrelen...
The healing balm of night in Daydreaming on the Porch
Fortunately, the sun came out this week after several days of cold, wintry weather. A gray and wet Thanksgiving passed in a depressing haze. Just me and Mom. Holidays can be very difficult. ...
Caregiving in retirement: a new world in Daydreaming on the Porch
Fear not for the future, weep not for the past. Percy Bysshe Shelley It seems an eternity now since I was in the working world. Retirement still seems surreal to me. Five months after I carted...
Butterflies in Daydreaming on the Porch
Beauty is truth, truth beauty… John Keats Happiness is a butterfly, which when pursued, is always just beyond your grasp, but which, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you. Nathanial H...
Everyday awe and enchantment in Daydreaming on the Porch
There is enchantment right in front of you, waiting for you to notice. Janet Luhrs Come forth into the light of things. Let Nature be your teacher. William Wordsworth We do not see Nature with...
Of eclipses and dementia in Daydreaming on the Porch
August 21, 2017 It’s been almost three months since I retired, and my working years now seem like some distant past life. Even though I go back to visit my friends where I worked for the last 21...
Yearning for escape in Daydreaming on the Porch
It’s been two months now since I retired and yet I really can’t go anywhere or plan anything ambitious in the way of extended road trips and travel. My caregiving duties are now all concentrated...
Rest in peace, Ginger in Daydreaming on the Porch
We had a wrenchingly sad week as we had to put to sleep this past Friday our dear and deeply loved cat, Ginger, who was 20 years old. She slept all day next to Mom on the sofa and gave us such a...
Flowers in Daydreaming on the Porch
Flowers… are a proud assertion that a ray of beauty outvalues all the utilities of the world Ralph Waldo Emerson If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly, our whole life would chang...
Escape to Magnolia Gardens in Daydreaming on the Porch
The kiss of the sun for pardon. The song of the birds for mirth. One is nearer God’s heart in a garden than anywhere else on Earth. Dorothy Frances Gurney I have four places that are my favori...
Dementia Journal, June 22, 2017 in Daydreaming on the Porch
Dementia Storm and Transformation, June 18, 2017 The past couple of months Mom has been in what I might describe as a state of equilibrium, even, dare I say it, improvement, although that’s not s...
Retirement realities in Daydreaming on the Porch
The past two weeks have been an incredible transition period, really difficult psychologically as I’ve struggled with second thoughts and bouts of depression and anxiety. Retirement is liberatin...
New beginnings in Daydreaming on the Porch
In another week or so, I’ll just have one full-time job: caregiving. After May 31, I’ll have retired from the job I’ve held for 22 years. I made the decision a couple of months ago, but now i...
One of life's biggest transitions looms ahead in Daydreaming on the Porch
I’m facing one of the biggest transitions in my life – one everyone faces – but one which, in my case, I really haven’t had to even think about until recently. After 22 years of coming to the s...
Books and gardens in Daydreaming on the Porch
If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need. Cicero I must have several thousand books upstairs in my living quarters at the family home in downtown Charleston. Most have be...
Dementia Journal, March 15, 2017 in Daydreaming on the Porch
Mentally and emotionally it’s been a tumultuous couple of months. It starts to all seem like some sort of never ending story of an aging parent deteriorating more rapidly now from her dementia...
Azaleas, Spring 2017 in Daydreaming on the Porch
Study Nature, love Nature, stay close to Nature. It will never fail you. Frank Lloyd Wright This has been a glorious Spring, although early, and how we needed it after the Fall and Winter just p...
Dementia Journal, Jan. 30, 2017 in Daydreaming on the Porch
This week revealed such startling contrasts in Mom’s condition that it’s literally mind-boggling. Over the past two months her condition has deteriorated significantly, but with oasis moments of...
My favorite house in Daydreaming on the Porch
I think most of us have ideas about what our “dream” house would be if we could perfectly imagine it, find it, or or even build it . That’s because embedded deep within us is a rather ancient y...
Dementia Journal, Dec. 17, 2016 in Daydreaming on the Porch
“… Family caregiving is a profound and deeply personal experience. It touches on our mortality and our vulnerability, who we are as humans, as sons and daughters, husbands, wives, fathers and mo...
