24 March 2015: Tuesday ... Harry Corriher passes away this morning at 10 a.m. ...

Picture posted on Emily's Facebook page ... the Corriher family, an integral role in the young Nyhoff family. We grew up with visits to the farm homes and Uncle Harry was always there in his unique way of sharing love and concern. He and Jane raised an amazing family.

12 February 2014: Wednesday ... "make a list" encouraged mom and I did and got a lot done, felt rested in the morning ... BodyPump w/Carla in early pm (nice conversation) ... snowlit walk with Dancer as storm moves in on Pecksniff ... lots of texts ... connection

19 January 2014: Sunday ... listening to Word Puzzle on NPR's Sunday Morning Edition ... "Wanda" Lynn, 51-year-old dynamo nurse visits ...

Why bother with writing down momentary thoughts, connections that seem so relevant, so prescient, so worthwhile if one never reads them again ... what is the purpose of memory if they are not shared and revisited. Today has been momentous ... so many treasures from Jane Frelick's entrance into church, a little late, to her front row seat, directly in front of our other nonagenarian, our Society founder (donated the land on which the church was built), Frank MacArtor.

This morning mom had some chest pain after eating all her hot cereal (a first), which I did not thicken too much, and her tea, and then I called Hospice. Spoke to the angelic Kim, who was getting off at 8 a.m. after working the night shift, and she gave my concern to the on-duty nurse, Lynn Boley, who called me twice. Once on her way from Bear and the second when she was at the door. What an immediate humanitarian who hugged my mother, who she did not know, and then proceed to take care of her needs including getting a prescription for an antibiotic for her chest cold (she'd been bringing things up). She also suggested she change into something with long sleeves. The one item was too long so she said, as a sewer, she could hem the garment and bring it back to her soon. Amazing. I have to do something as I'm single (she's been divorced for 20 years, her second, and has two children, one from the first marriage and one from the other, who adopted the other. The children are close.)

29 December 2013: Sunday ... dreary, rainy day but the sermon brought light into one's being, finding that inner sanctum of bliss ...

Starting this blog at 6:31 p.m. as Shawshank Redemption has just concluded and Red is embracing Andy on the Pacific beach in Mexico where he's come to be with his friend after his 40-year incarceration at Shawshank and Andy's amazing escape. Just a great, feel-good movie with really good guys and absolutely sinister bad guys. 

Where Andy tells Red about that Mexican town and where to find
a special stash under an obsidian rock by the tree where he first
made love to his wife.

It was a dreary day but church went well. I did coffee for the first time with Maggie McLaughlin, also a newbie, but wearing two other hats -- she was a greeter and the ministerial associate for the sparsely attended service. I sat next to one of my favorite people, someone I met on my return visit to UUSMC, who, along with Linda Lucero, invited me to the literary soiree at the latter's home. It was Susan Klugerman, the restaurateur extraordinaire, who had a fine eatery in San Francisco during the height of the AIDS epidemic. She lost many of her employees to the disease. It was nice to sit next to her and my really favorite person came, Jane Frelick, a few minutes after the start, seated, as always in the front row. She will have a 70th wedding anniversary in a couple of weeks but is unsure whether Robert, her iconic doctor husband, will make it. He is in a nursing home at present and not doing very well. Let's hope they make it, but we talked and she has such a healthy and positive attitude. They have lived an amazing and awesomely productive and wonderful life together. 

Jane and Bob Frelick 
http://www.flickr.com/photos/wilmingtonfriends/8159040222/

Drs. Robert Frelick, Nicholas Petrelli, Ruben Tiexido, and Les Whitney (left to right)
at the American Cancer Society's "A Night at the Museum" award event.WILMINGTON, DE  – June 4, 2010 – On Saturday, April 17, the American Cancer Society hosted “A Night at the Museum” at the Delaware Museum of Natural History in Wilmington to honor local hometown heroes who have helped the organization create a world with more birthdays and less cancer.
http://sacancernews.org/2010/06/american-cancer-society-honors-local-heroes-at-%E2%80%9Ca-night-at-the-museum%E2%80%9D-distinguished-event/

I am truly enjoy the services of Rev. Keith Goheen, who is a member of the congregation, but lives and is the chaplain at Beebe Healthcare in Lewes, Delaware. He drives about 90 minutes to get to the church and he does a wonderful job. He delivers a powerful sermon and has a deliberate and measured tone that engages. He spoke of being assaulted by comments all around oneself and then having to find that place within, the one where one can find all that is necessary. It is place to get your bearings and be able to come to some understanding. It is sacred space and there you may find wisdom. He made an interesting statement about his life, when he came to a point where his roots had shifted and had moved on: I resolve to live unresolved, he said.

And he also spoke about the sun and its bounty and how it has shined over all time with little recognition, so does generosity illumine the world. He was quoting from the Persian poet Rumi.
 On a big sports note, the Eagles beat the Cowboys in the last game of the NFL season when the backup QB for Dallas was intercepted with less than 2 minutes remaining for a 26-24 victory. They head to the playoffs against New Orleans at home next Sunday as winners of their division, even though N.O. has more victories. 

19 December 2013: Thursday ... getting set to leave for Bob & Alice's as I start this post ... it has been topsy-turvy day ...

This was mid-morning and I snuck up on her and got this angle with
the iPhone and posted it on FB. It was a quickie but thanks to the
photogenic nature of my dog, a true natural in front of the camera,
it always seems to come off, and the "loyal cadre" of Dancer devotees
love and "Like" the pics on my Facebook page.
 

• 
  Regina DePace That face just made this work day brighter 

  Yesterday at 9:32am · Unlike · 4
• 

  Carol Taylor Dancer in deep contemplation. 

  Yesterday at 10:57am via mobile · Unlike · 2
  
• 

  Harriet C. Brantley She's seen it all by now!

  Yesterday at 11:38am · Unlike · 2
  
• 

  Rudy Nyhoff Her loyal cadre of devoted followers. She thanks you in her own
  
  inimitable way ... sweetly contemplative.
  

  Yesterday at 12:03pm · Like · 2
  
• 

  Marykay Mills she could smell you a mile away! no sneaking up on em with those
  
   noses
  

  Yesterday at 3:49pm via mobile · Unlike · 3
  
• 

  
  Sue Peterson Smith Yeah, I get the same reaction from Charlie. He really just
  
  wants to know if I have treats.
  

  56 minutes ago via mobile · Unlike · 1

The day began miserably at 4 a.m. with mom agonizing in her room as she moved from the bathroom back to her bed. I was aroused and sleepy but I pulled myself together quickly and thought rationally and as a result, felt a little put out (let's be honest here) at her, what I felt, was hyperbolic pain expression. But what do I know? I can't put myself in her place. She was in agony and she took it out on me, especially after I said, loudly and angrily, after she said, "I'm dying." "WE'RE ALL DYING MOM," I exploded. Not a good thing because then she spiraled down and I realized I wasn't going back to bed. 

As the day moved forward, slowly in the morning but quicker after I had medicated her, at her request, with a Vicodin and two Xanax, and she'd calmed a little and rested. Did not feed her or bring her tea until about 7:30 a.m. I did not rest but at least got to calm in the kitchen reading the paper, making some coffee, and eating some Cheerios with Raisin Bran and a banana (which, rather than composting in the backyard by tossing the sections into the ivy, I placed in the trash). 

But I had something to look forward to at the end of the day but thought that I might need a sitter, especially after the morning fireworks. It proved unnecessary as mom rallied and we established a truce and actually she did some walking and actually worked on some crosswords. She is watching less television.

The evening jaunt to Bob and Alice's began about twenty minutes to seven and I didn't return till after 10:30. It was marvelous to see them all -- Bob, Alice, Caleb (for dinner), Ron, and Kathy. We had a grand time in their lovely, Christmassy home with a beautiful Fraser fur and a fire going and the house trimmed with lights. Made me realize, during our talk, how much I have missed in their lives as they talked about travels out West and to Europe -- Bob taught for four weeks in France, I think, and they stayed with Alice's Aunt Jane Eakin, a painter who had a love affair with Isaac Stern and traveled with him, in the town of Menebre in Provence.

http://www.jane-eakin.com/index.php

One of the portraits on the web site was taken by the famous Gjon Mili.