Duson, LA

OK, OK, I've been roundly and soundly rebuked for failure to keep up our travelogue. So I'm trying ANOTHER new tool. As usual, I work under the theory that if it's easy enough, maybe I'll keep up with it.

Anyway, it's about time I entered the "blogosphere." (Have you seen the new T-shirt with Samuel L. Jackson, pointing a pistol, with the quote, "Say blogosphere again..."? As usual, I'm a dollar short and a day late.)

It's not as if I don't have excuses ... at least recently, anyway. For those who don't know, I tripped over Murphy's dog food dish in early October, fell into the refrigerator, broke my right humerus in two places, up high near the shoulder. So for about six weeks, typing was a miserably slow, painful, left-handed affair. In fact, standing, sitting, lying down, walking -- all were miserably slow, painful affairs.

Broken bones suck. As Cory's Aunt Eva said, "The girl has to learn to look down."

Anyway, my resolution for '07 -- keep in touch. And keep my feet under me. The camera is charging.

On the way to the Soo

We've lost Uncle Al. Services will be Friday. We're on our way north.

Eagle River, WI

We're back in Wisconsin, hoping we'll get out of here by the end of the month. Cory's dad had his cast taken off Tuesday, but the orthopedist doesn't want him putting any weight on it for a while yet, so he'll be in the home for several weeks longer. We want to get him settled in, either at his old home or a new one, before we leave.

Elgin, IL

We took a break and headed to Chicago for a few days--trying to get some of our long-delayed doctor's appointments taken care of. PLUS we've been invited to a backyard barbeque at our "home address" -- hosted by friends JoAnn and Irene. Looking forward to having conversations that don't revolve around aging, relatives and long-term care...

Eagle River, WI

We checked Cory's Dad into a nursing home late last week and have spent the past few days trying to help him settle in.

In a couple weeks or so, after he's had some rehab and thorough evaluation, we'll have a better idea of what will happen next. Right now, the family is concerned about him going back to the house -- it's four levels, with no bathroom/bedroom on the same floor, too far out in the country for quick access to healthcare, and even a walk to the garage is about 300 feet away, all uphill. He fell last winter and, of course, there was the fall a few weeks ago. Everyone is concerned that at his age (90 in October), another fall could be disastrous.

Eagle River, WI

We rented the house in the Soo without problems, and were hanging out for a while so Cory could visit with Aunt Edith and Uncle Al. Then we got a phone call from brother Tom. Her dad Jim had fallen, broken his right arm, and Tom wanted us to come to Three Lakes ASAP to give him some reinforcement.

So we arrived here on Thursday. On Friday, Tom went to work at 6:30 am. When we got to the house that afternoon. Jim was asleep in his chair, so we didn't disturb him. Tom came home, we talked, then with Jim still asleep, we left. About 20 minutes later, Tom called to tell us he couldn't wake his dad. He called the ambulance right away.

It was a long, tough weekend, waiting at Jim's bedside. Last night, he finally woke up. This morning, he's sitting up in a chair, drinking from a cup and asking to walk to the bathroom.

Sault Ste Marie, MI

During our time in Sault Ste Marie, we visited the TenderCare facility almost daily to visit with Cory's Uncle Al. A sweetheart of a man, he's the proverbial "bachelor uncle" -- never married, never moved from the house where he was born. But his nieces and nephews revere him, as do hundreds of students at Lake Superior University (especially the hockey players!), where he worked as a maintenance man for many, many years.

(Sorry--the quality of photos taken with my phone is pretty sad.)

This is Aunt Eva's oldest daughter, Lucynda, with her nephew (sister Patti's son), Jack. Jack was a real pistol ... we had a great time with him.