10 January 2014: Friday ... sleety, slippery this morning as I let Dancer out ... will warm up to low 40s ... omelette maker in the making ... Skeesha, Hospice CNA, arrives ...

The day is grey and sleety and slippery as I walk outside, in my dad's slippers, to give Dancer her morning bathroom break. It is after 7, so the sun is up but it is a bit dismal. Today is Jean Rahaim's 58th birthday and I did wish her wonderful one on Facebook.

It is the day that Skeesha, a CNA from Delaware Hospice, arrived in the early afternoon and got acquainted with mom almost instantaneously and she is bathing her as I type this and there is a total comfort factor. Mom is at ease and loves the physical attention from a highly skilled person, who went straight to the closet and found what she needed. I remember her from her stopping by to deliver some breathing supplies for dad maybe two months ago. She was waiting in the driveway in the dimming light, so patient as I arrived after a trip to Pathmark, I believe, but it was a serendipitous arrival and allowed me to get a vital item for dad's oxygenator. She is a delightful person. 

I asked to take a picture of the two of them and got this picture on the bed and sent it to Doug. I did ask beforehand and Skeesha was more than willing. Mom was happy in this photo even though she looks a bit glum. She was purty and smelling good, in fact, as I type this I can smell the aroma of bath powder wafting into the television room all the way down the hall and up the stairs. It is distinctive and appealing. On a sober note, Skeesha just lost her Jamaican father. She is one of 11 children, six of whom are full blood siblings. I don't believe her father ever married her mother. She has siblings in England where he lived for a time. They are working to ship the body to Jamaica and have the funeral there, although there will be a service here in Delaware. Skeesha is hoping to be able to make it down to the Caribbean nation with her two children.  

Am listening to, and getting a heads up on the concert tomorrow with Serafin Quartet, on the Mendelssohn Quartet No. 1, Opus 12 with the music being flashed up on the screen as the playing progresses. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHgkyhh4S8I 

Felix Mendelssohn

Born: Feb­ru­a­ry 3, 1809, Ham­burg, Ger­ma­ny.

Died: No­vem­ber, 4, 1847, Leip­zig, Ger­ma­ny.

Just finished 33 minute workout on the elliptical -- Octane Express -- and wound up short of 5 miles at 4.97 with an avg. heart rate of 125 and maximum of 150.

I really like this machine at the Western "Y". 

Listened to a tried and true sales spiel, once again, only this time it was refined for the digital age -- a conference call and a web presentation. Pretty slick. A smooth, continuous talking sales rep went on for over 20 minutes and then hit you with the amount that removing, in "perpetuity", the maintenance fees from our time shares would cost for our unit, which came to over $800 this year, would be over $4,000 dollars. A call afterward from a slick and oily friendly salesperson, Kathleen Nichols (310-584-8409), who represents the company Interval Relief, promised a lower price but I said no go currently and had to speak to my ex-. She put me on her calendar to call back in May. I said fine. 

While on the net, I got industrious and finally logged onto my Chase Amazon Visa credit card site and got dad's checking account configured for payment. First had to remember the login -- it was in my Delicious bookmarking web site (a great site, by the way, they even have an overview of every site that I bookmarked over 2013 ... have not checked it entirely yet but could be enlightening and refreshing, memory wise) -- and then paid my bill, which included the aforementioned maintenance fees and the Nintendo Wii, for a total of over $1,100. Well, in the words of dad, it's paid for and I didn't delay any further. Good habits to remember from my dear father.