Showing posts with label email. Show all posts
Showing posts with label email. Show all posts

Tuesday, July 1, 2014

1 July 2014: Tuesday ... Email on the iPad ... Andrea & dialectical behavior therapy ... Belgium beats US, 2-1, in OT (great game) ... Mom recalling boat trip home

She's learning and yes, I forced her to write a few short e-mails this morning on the iPad, return posts to Mary Picking, Norma Clara Nyhoff, and Lori Jones. It's slow going but she's getting the hang of it and learning the position of the letters on the keyboard. What it does do is take her mind off her symptoms and focus on another activity. When she was writing and composing the short responses, her physical complaints vanished. Now, I'm sure she's still feeling the pain but she didn't mention them. I think that's good. I also entered the cell number of Mary P. and made the phone call before I left for the Y and she had, I believe, a nice conversation with her longtime friend, not an unlikely outcome as Mom 2 is always endearing and connected on the phone.
She asked to sit at my table (the only one by the coffee station in the Y hallway between the youth center and toddler care rooms) to read her book, Doing Dialectical Behavior Therapy: A Practical Guide by Kelly Koerner, one about a form of psychotherapy that uses the word dialectical behavior therapy. Her name, Andrea, is from her French (she knows some but has worked to be fluent and has gained it in Spanish with trips to Barcelona and Costa Rica) mother and it comes with an accent aigu on the "e" and stress on the second syllable "dray" and not the first "Ahn" (phonetic spellings). She is a decade divorced with three kids and is now looking toward graduate school to expand her psychology degree from university. She is also a longtime practitioner of yoga and took the class with Christine, who sang to us beautifully, acapella, at its conclusion, just prior to three chimes. It was rewarding to meet her, she never got to read her book, but I have that effect on people. I'm a talker and am interested in people. I don't give them a break.

Well, the U.S. run in the World Cup is over in a thrilling game where a more talented Belgian team beat the U.S. team in overtime, 2-1. Goalie for the US, Tim Howard, made the most saves ever in a World Cup game. He was extraordinary but he couldn't keep them all out.

PHOTO: United States goalkeeper Tim Howard saves a shot by Belgium during the World Cup match between Belgium and the USA at the Arena Fonte Nova in Salvador, Brazil, July 1, 2014.

Goalkeeper Tim Howard played the match of his life, but in the end the U.S. 

couldn't win against Belgium.Belgium won 2-1 in today's World Cup match in Salvador, Brazil, 
eliminating the U.S. from the tournament. But it could have been worse had Howard not been 

the team's savior in the goal -- recording a spectacular 16 saves. (Just learned in an ABC News
feature that Howard suffered from Tourette's Syndrome as a child and soccer was a refuge, 
raised by a single mom.) 

Mom got to talking today while I watched a segment on the NewsHour, something I wanted to watch but I also listened to her talk about Holland and Doug turning two on the boat and Uncle Dick passing away soon after our boat left Holland for New York, a trip, she thought 4-5 days, but there was a play area which I was hesitant and unsure of and said no to, but they dropped me off there with my walking brother (he started at 9 months) and we were having a great time. Well, as Jeffrey Brown interviewed Evan Osnos of The New Yorker magazine, who has written a book on China, about the 17th anniversary of the turning over of Hong Kong to China (a period of time that I worked as a fill-in photojournalist at The Chronicle, before digital but where I scanned negatives and did not print photos, when the photo-j I replaced went to Hong Kong to cover the turnover). 


Certainly not the boat we took but it may have been Holland Lines. 

But it's good to listen when she talks and recalls, especially when I hurt my ankle in dad's bike, just a few days before the return trip. The wound was open and had to be changed regularly. I still have scar on my lower left ankle. 

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

26 February 2014: Wednesday ... productive at computer ... signed up for free online class in genetics ... ordered Genetics for Dummies ($.63) ... BodyCombat #2 w/Renee ...

Mom composed and sent her second e-mail today in response to a post from Marli Schouten-Stam. It was short and sweet and ended with "Love Jeanne". I left her working on a post to Norma Clara Nyhoff as I went to the "Y" to do BodyCombat with that warrior of the workout area Renee.

One of the participants, Heidi, in Body Combat I spoke to prior to entering the AR or Activity Room is a mother of three ages 12, 9, and 6 and she loves this group exercise. I could see it in her participation level. She is also a big supporter of the Y and has been a fundraiser for them and is one this year. Afterward, I suggested that she might enjoy putting bamboo slivers up her fingernails after this intense workout where Renee did not stop. She not only did the exercise, she shouted out the counts to us and sang lyrics of the music. Incroyable!


Mom had two visits today from hospice, both of which I failed to answer the door as I was resting (after that workout with Renee, possibly) and did not hear Kim and then Skeesha's entrance into the house. I became aware when I arose and saw their coats on the chair by the dining room table. 

Katia wants to get together after Church at the UU Fellowship in Newark this Sunday and get to know me a little better. I readily said "YES!" to the offer and am mulling ideas on where to go to possibly have a meal and maybe even go to the Delaware Art Museum, which is free in Sundays. We shall see as the week progresses what her schedule is like. I am beholden to her and her many responsibilities.

Bob called today and brought up the offer to get together for a Flyers hockey game, perhaps at his place, with a meal when Alice has off next week. They play on Wednesday evening, so I'll wait to hear from him. He gave me his working e-mail and I sent him and Alice the new gmail address of my mother (vertuccirose@gmail.com). 

A rarity tonight, I walk into a fellow dog walker at the corner of Nicholby and Cratchett and it's none other than Steve and his basset hounds, Kirby and Harriet. Unfortunately, Annie, his wife, is not with him due to the fact of a fall (over Kirby) and ACL tear that has not required surgery to date. Kirby went right up to Dancer, who was unusually standoffish initially (her tail raised and hair up), but Harriet, who was a bait dog in a dog fighting ring was a little aggressive but warmed after awhile but did bark when we resumed walking. Both dogs, the breed, have eye problems and each have an annual appointment with their dog ophthalmologist (go figure ... I informed him of Sunshine's $4,700 cataract surgery that provided some improvement but not permanent vision restoration to Doug & Norma's aging Wheatland terrier). 
  

25 February 2014: Tuesday ... two fitness classes today, a first (yoga with Christine and then BodyPump in the evening) ... vertuccirose@gmail.com IS BORN (Mom has email) ...

Felt a little out of sorts today but was revived by Christine's yoga class and then had the idea, which I should have had a long time ago, to get mom a gmail account and have her learn to receive and send basic email responses through the iPad. It's going to be a learning process but today it began and hopefully it will progress.

The account, which I pondered, is a mix of her maiden name and middle name as the first choice -- virginiarose  -- was not available, so I went to --- vertuccirose -- which was available. Hopefully, she'll get a charge out of it and enjoy using it. We shall see.