Trees

Alene and Jeanne on the front porch.


 “Diane, help me. How do I do this?”

We went to breakfast this morning at the French Valley Airport Cafe. My brother, Leo, had flown his airplane into this small airport a few times.  The last time he did, it was the final time I flew with him before he died. He’s been gone 20 years this month. 😢

Alene insisted on paying for breakfast so when the check came, I suggested she use her credit card. I really don’t want her running out of cash. She said “okay “.  She pulled her wallet out of  her purse and couldn’t find her credit card. I told her it was with her license. Finally, she found it and handed both cards to me when she said “Diane, help me…”.  So we did the credit card transaction together.

A couple hours later, she was making a purchase in a small store and she was paying cash. She was struggling, so I stepped in to help. She handed me all of the cash in her wallet to pay the clerk what was owed. Confusion had set in again. 

We took a nice drive through Temecula wine country, stopped in Old Town Temecula to visit a few shops and drove through Murrieta where I owned a home. It was a good morning. 

She and Jeanne sat on the front porch this afternoon for awhile and visited while I took a short nap. Naps are nice- I should take them more often!

Throughout the drive this morning, Alene commented on the trees-how big, beautiful and green they were. She’s been obsessed with trees this whole trip. Seriously, it’s almost like she’s seeing the splendor of trees for the first time in her life. I told her there are nice trees in her neighborhood and she said, “There are?”  I said, “yes, there are”. 

Whenever she sees trees that have even the smallest amount of black bark on the trunk, she KNOWS they will be dead soon. I’m not 100% sure where this comes from in her head, but she’s bothered by all the dying trees.

All day, she thought today was July 4th. She asked a few times when the fireworks would be starting. She was stunned every time when told that it’s only July 1st. 

We’re currently watching Wheel of Fortune, which she loves and she’s pretty darn good at solving these puzzles! 

Writing in her journal tonight for the first time since the Funny Farm!

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