On Sunday morning I was up at 5AM and got the post up. Then I sat down for a while until I knew what had been decided for the day. My brother had decided to go to CT to see my mom and my sister and I were going with him.
So there was a flurry of getting ready after he got up at 6:30AM to make her favorite lemon squares.
My youngest brother was adamant we all gather for a last group photo while we could. He was also adamant we were in this order in it. This is a departure from previous photos where we lined up oldest to youngest.
While he was doing that I was preparing a lunch for everyone. There would be 6 of us for lunch. I’d picked up a pack of 6 hot dogs of very good quality so we decided hot dogs and a big salad, plus desserts.
So I started collecting salad ingredients from the garden. Everything was frozen out there, but it would thaw on the ride down and be fine.
In case you couldn’t read the recipe my brother makes….
As we were getting things loaded into my sister’s car, she found this big leaf in the yard. It came from the white oak tree. She thought my mom would like it so we brought it with us.
I had several pretty bright colored begonias that had survived all the frosts. So I dug up one of the smaller ones and potted it for my mom. She can’t see very well, but she can see the bright color.
She had come home from the hospital about a month ago, having been given 3 – 6 months, or maybe a week. Her heart valve is extremely poor and she is not able to survive surgery. So the family has gathered.
The lemon squares
We stopped at the co-op on the way out for more salad ingredients, cottage cheese, and midnight chocolate ice cream for my mom.
My middle sister is mostly staying here on her visit from New Mexico. She arrived late last Friday afternoon.
The girls came first in the family and I am the oldest, on the right. We are in birth order.
Then the 3 boys were born. My oldest brother is on the left, again in birth order. (My begonia for mom photobombing….)
When we got down there, I cleared off the dining room table as my mom was occupied getting ready. Then I started making the lunch and setting the table.
My youngest brother brought in some of the lemon squares for my mom. I found my oldest brother’s laptop and set it up so my mom could see the photos in the blog. The sister in the chair has read it to her over the phone every day for nearly a year. But she seldom saw the photos.
We each took turns sitting in the chair and visiting with my mom. She lives with my oldest brother in this log cabin. My youngest sister arrived on Wednesday and has been staying there.
They also have aides who come in for shifts during the day and hospice is involved.
December 1965
My mom really loved having us all there on Sunday. I’m not sure if we can manage it again. My middle sister is only able to be here for a couple weeks tops. She is going down on Tuesday and will stay until Thursday noon.
As I don’t drive I have to depend on others for rides. My youngest brother is going down on Thursday but I can’t go as my helper friend is here and we will be planting garlic in the Small garden.
We 3 left around 3PM to come back to the farm. We ordered Chinese food for supper and I was in bed at 8PM, totally exhausted.
On Monday I will harvest and process the celery. It had looked so poorly all summer I wasn’t going to bother with it, but since my helper friend started foliar feeding it in August, it had taken off and some of the plants were huge.
So I will process it to slurry for the dehydrator to make celery salt. I also have laundry to do.