Monday, May 26th, 2014.

Mondays have always been formed around the gardening show and Ed Lawrence on the CBC.  Around lunchtime, Jean gestured to her radio.  We turned it on and once I heard his voice I remembered – oh, right, it is Monday and it is time for her gardening program.

One caller had problems with scale on their Bergmansia plant.  He recommended a solution of water, soap, and alchohol – the alchohol being nessecary to cut through the scale and allow the soap to work – at least that is what I understood.  My mom looked at me, nodded and said, “That is what we have to do.”  She has a white flowering plant that has been gorgeous in past years, but since this past winter has been suffering from a bad case of scale.

For lunch, she wasn’t really that hungry for the main plate, but finished the soup and every crumb of the apple/brown sugar cake.  After a nap in the afternoon, I brought her back two scoops of ice cream – one ginger cream, and the other raspberry ice.  I thought I needed to help her out  – it was a lot of ice cream – but she polished off a fair amount on her own.  Every time I took a spoonful she was ready for her next mouthful.  Ginger was one of her favourite things to eat.  At dinner she didn’t seem to have a lot of appetite, I said that I was to blame for bringing so much ice cream.  I brought along some cooked squash from home – she loves squash – and she ate every little bit.

It was a beautiful day, and we were talking about going out soon with a wheelchair once the chest tube was out.