living with Alzheimer's....coping by gardening
It takes tons of patience and the ability to take care of oneself
or you WOULD go crazy....
Today, I finally had time to plant some perennials in my backyard. A couple of weeks ago, I paid someone an ~obscene~ amount of money to get some of my long neglected flowerbeds weeded and ready to plant. I decided I was willing to spend another ~obscene~ amount of money to buy the perennials to fill them up. I took my Aunt along because she loves going out. Our first stop was the bank to take the coins in to exchange them for paper money. We got in the line and the first thing she did was start handling the jacket of the man in front of us. She was pointing out the paint and holes. He was good-natured and just kept saying, 'It's all good' I wasn't sure what he meant but at least he didn't seem to be offended. My Aunt was fine at the garden center - she pushed the cart and carefully arranged my selections. She asked me how much I spent and I told her 'A LOT!' She said, '$50?' I said 'A lot more!' She said '$100?' I said 'more.' I ended up with about 20 large containers of perennials plus one very large peony that is a hybrid between the regular peony and the tree peony. It has yellow flowers.
I have been known to buy plants and then let them languish in the pots until I find the time to plant them, causing waste and stressed plants.
I was determined to get them all planted.
Which I did - now I am excited to see how they do.
After dinner, I decided to watch a movie. I still haven't found the remote to the dvd player. We found it necessary to hide the t.v. and dvd remotes because my Aunt kept screwing things up to the point that I had to call Comcast and have them reset from their end. I wish she weren't so willing to keep pressing buttons when she gets confused. Unfortunately, I couldn't remember where I hid these remotes! I did find the t.v. remote but have yet to find the dvd remote. I got one of those universal remotes and it has me stymied. I can't get the dvd menu to show up! Tonight's selection was a foreign film and without the menu, I couldn't get the subtitles to display. That would have been OK with my Aunt as she just thinks she is having a little extra trouble understanding what is going on. She had about 3 glasses of wine tonight which makes her very talkative. She started a non-stop monologue announcing every bit of action on the movie (the man is putting his hat on, he is smoking a pipe, he is leaving his room and going to the subway......). After discovering that I couldn't get the subtitles up, I abandoned the movie and put on another episode of Law and Order. She kept talking and finally, I left the room and started a rousing game of solitaire on the computer. She followed me into the computer room and when I told her what I was doing, she started laughing hysterically.
Such is a day in the life of an Alzheimer's caretaker.
Tomorrow - more plants more planting...less wine:)
or you WOULD go crazy....
Today, I finally had time to plant some perennials in my backyard. A couple of weeks ago, I paid someone an ~obscene~ amount of money to get some of my long neglected flowerbeds weeded and ready to plant. I decided I was willing to spend another ~obscene~ amount of money to buy the perennials to fill them up. I took my Aunt along because she loves going out. Our first stop was the bank to take the coins in to exchange them for paper money. We got in the line and the first thing she did was start handling the jacket of the man in front of us. She was pointing out the paint and holes. He was good-natured and just kept saying, 'It's all good' I wasn't sure what he meant but at least he didn't seem to be offended. My Aunt was fine at the garden center - she pushed the cart and carefully arranged my selections. She asked me how much I spent and I told her 'A LOT!' She said, '$50?' I said 'A lot more!' She said '$100?' I said 'more.' I ended up with about 20 large containers of perennials plus one very large peony that is a hybrid between the regular peony and the tree peony. It has yellow flowers.
I have been known to buy plants and then let them languish in the pots until I find the time to plant them, causing waste and stressed plants.
I was determined to get them all planted.
Which I did - now I am excited to see how they do.
After dinner, I decided to watch a movie. I still haven't found the remote to the dvd player. We found it necessary to hide the t.v. and dvd remotes because my Aunt kept screwing things up to the point that I had to call Comcast and have them reset from their end. I wish she weren't so willing to keep pressing buttons when she gets confused. Unfortunately, I couldn't remember where I hid these remotes! I did find the t.v. remote but have yet to find the dvd remote. I got one of those universal remotes and it has me stymied. I can't get the dvd menu to show up! Tonight's selection was a foreign film and without the menu, I couldn't get the subtitles to display. That would have been OK with my Aunt as she just thinks she is having a little extra trouble understanding what is going on. She had about 3 glasses of wine tonight which makes her very talkative. She started a non-stop monologue announcing every bit of action on the movie (the man is putting his hat on, he is smoking a pipe, he is leaving his room and going to the subway......). After discovering that I couldn't get the subtitles up, I abandoned the movie and put on another episode of Law and Order. She kept talking and finally, I left the room and started a rousing game of solitaire on the computer. She followed me into the computer room and when I told her what I was doing, she started laughing hysterically.
Such is a day in the life of an Alzheimer's caretaker.
Tomorrow - more plants more planting...less wine:)
posted by Ptelea @ 10:12 PM
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