Fall, my favorite time of year!

Wow! I can not believe its October! The summer was a blur. Dad insisted on going back to NY, and as I predicted, fell and broke his hip. He is in a nursing home, on a slow and shaky recovery. At 90 his chances of a full recovery are not good, but we sent sister #1 up to ask him where he wanted to be buried and his hunger strike was over. He is now starting to co-operate with his physical therapists and put 14 lbs of the 40 he lost back on. The news that his insurance company feels his progress is too slow and he now will be paying $260 per day out of his pocket for his “resort” stay has brought his motivation back!

We feared he wouldn’t make it and took mom up for a visit. Luckily we took a picture of the two of them together in the hospital, as she has no other memory of the visit. Her Alzheimer’s gets her stuck in her “bad dreams” and she flips between thinking that Dad died or that he is divorcing her. I wish the good thoughts could dominate her dreams, but she is sad that he is not with her. I hope he recovers to the point that he can come back here for her sake. When she gets down in the dumps about him, I tell her; when he’s here he makes you mad; when he’s gone he makes you sad. Go figure.

The summer here was record HOT! We had days on end of 98, 99, and 100+ degrees. I love the heat but this year the unending inferno had me missing the smell and snap of apples, the colorful leaves, and crisp cooler weather of fall in the North Country. We took a car trip to support my Erika and my Union, and to protest the lack of good paying jobs in DC on October 2nd. We took that opportunity to get back to WNY. Half way home, we got off the highway to get gas in Pennsylvania, and found Gettysburg by accident. What an interesting place. The history runs deep and monuments and historical sights are everywhere throughout the surrounding area. We followed signs along the road (fresh eggs from happy chickens!) and found a quirky roadside stand run by a hippy couple. The fruit was fresh, the cider delicious and the pottery beautiful. They were out of fresh eggs, but the stop was well worth the detour. I’d like to deliberately visit this area in the future.