12 October 2012: Cassado, vicodin scare and find, new profile pic of us, ... Lohengrin, Tine, Sophie, Oma, Opa, Marli, Gerrit, Stam, Stam-Schouten

Day began with turmoil. The Vicodin in the pewter watering jar was missing and dad was frantic. I took it easy and felt that we needed to report the presumed theft (we could not find it), but cooler heads prevailed, called Doug and he said to just go to the pharmacy and get a refill, BUT, et voila, it was found, by dad as apparently it was sitting on the coffee table (doubtful?) all the time, in plain view. Well, I was playing detective and saying the only person who had access to it was Stacy since she was in the house doing mom's hair and later brought groceries into the house and placed them in the frig and freezer. Thank goodness we did not go any further. Will have to be more careful in the future with those dangerous and addictive and expensive narcotics.


"That was beautiful ... never knew this record," dad said ... (and probably never will as it is not available on Amazon and only found it on eBay where the bidding was complete and the purchase price was a whopping $33.00. Did find a great blog, "Vinyl Fatigue", where the writer, a vinyl record audiophile and collector like dad, extolled this recording. Dad agreed entirely with his opinions of the work after listening to it on YouTube. 
It truly is a classic.)

YouTube link is, as always, just fantastic: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=al7I97UsuYA

This is often his position as he listens to the YouTube audio and the video if he is up. More times than not, he is just too exhausted.

This photo below of mom is from yesterday before Stacy came over to do her hair. I gave her treats to give to Dancer, but not before she had her stay and listen. 

"Oh, please give me my treat," implores Dancer to her grandmother.
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Nothing wrong with Dad's hearing as he listens, again, to the Ravel Piano Trio with Menuhin, Cassado and Kentner on YouTube, but is bothered by Car Talk  on the Bose radio downstairs. I go downstairs and turn it off. He could, he says, continue to listen to this music all day but certainly not tainted by the intrusion of Click & Clack, the car guys, Tom and Ray Magliozzi. Both my parents still have extraordinary hearing.

I check out the blog by Lawrence Austin's, Vinyl Fatigue, and then send that link after sending the YouTube link to the Ravel Piano Trio to Ruth Berry Facebook page. 
Dashing fellow Joseph-Maurice Ravel (March 7, 1875 – December 28, 1937),
seen here by his piano.

Went on an hour plus walk with Dancer to DHS, now still with no people, and onto Carousel where I took a big loop and interacted with the horses, got a shot of Dancer by one and the same horse poking its head beyond the fence to grab some better looking grub. Both events got posted on FB, the former right away, the latter when I got home.
Kept their distance but were intrigued, momentarily, with interspecies communication.
Speaking of which I got a call from mom at about 12:45 when I was by the DHS band room and she said that she and dad were hungry. Took about 20 minutes to get home (walked over 3.5 miles), prepared both a single slice of cheese, ham and tomato and some hot tea which was served to them, both recumbent in the bed upstairs, like royal highnesses. Dad ate only 1/2 of his and brought his tea downstairs, wobbly  and spilled some as he headed for the couch in the addition with Heifetz playing favorites on the Bose, which I had selected and turned up rather loud (turned down posthaste because of his sensitive hearing).


Signed on to my Tumblr account (niclins) and usual password and placed 10 photos on the initial blog. It looks interesting. Nick says you can post anything on the web site, that it is very user friendly and accessible. Will try to experiment in the future. He said it was a great place to keep a blog.
 

As Lohengrin plays on WRTI, a SF Opera broadcast, and the 3rd Act fireworks begin ushering in the upcoming melody, here comes the theme that dad sang earlier and I doubted, ringing clearly, it is the tune - "Here Comes The Bride" sung by the chorus -- and I am chastened. I have returned from Bachetti's and Pathmark with goods totaling about $75.00 (left the receipts on kitchen table, he likes to tabulate and always asks if I need money, I tell him that I have over $1,100 in my checking account), but this is his routine of the day and the mail's arrival gets him up, slowly from the couch, and walking, hesitantly, to the table where he takes the letter opener and then brings the trash can to his side and then begins to open the mail, with one swift sweep for each envelope as Lohengrin plays on in the background.

A call from Gerrit this late afternoon and another request to stop by only this time they brought their daughter, Tine (pronounced Tina but it's Dutch spelling and the name of Marli's mother), and her daughter, Sophie, 2. Dad was initially annoyed because he was feeling the cancer today but pulled himself up and we had another delightful visit. Tine is lovely and her daughter is just a lovely handful. Brought Dancer in and she did some lovin' on the toddler and Sophie responded with some reserve but delighted in the dog. Gerrit went to the computer (he is a nerd and had a thumb drive with a number of Dutch TV shows that took nearly 20 minutes to download into the computer ... they are amazing and I think dad will love them. Also, some text files about the lives of Gerrit and Marli. Fascinating man this Gerrit, who is called Opa by his granddaughter. Marli is Oma. 

Oma and Opa with their granddaughter Sophie.


Dancer gets into the picture with Tine, her daughter Sophie and her Oma, Marli Stam-Schouten.


Tina checks out photos of Sophie on her iPad with Oma and Opa, aka Marli and Gerrit, watching.


And Marli's food, a sauerkraut (zuurkool) and onions and potato dish with beef sausage added, was consumed wholly.
I wrote in an e-mail to her:

"Dear Marli,

Not three minutes ago these words were spoken by my father:

"Thank you Marli, that was very good."

Simple food. That's what I love, he went on to say. And he ate two helpings. He finished the bowl (which I have to get back to you) and he so needed the calories. Your cooking is magical.

Again, you and Gerrit and now Tine and Sophie reaching out in so many ways to my parents is a gesture of great humanity and love. I cannot offer you enough thanks for your kindnesses.

All the best to you and yours,
rudy

P.S. What a treat it was to meet your daughter Tine and your granddaughter Sophie. You are such a lovely family and you just can't beat "Opa" and "Oma" for "Grandpa" and "Grandpa". So heartwarming to hear Sophie say those names."