And Then I Saw

I did a challenge on Facebook recently.  People were asked to post pictures of their 10 most influential films, in no particular order. Films that really made an impact personally, and are still on my rotation list, even if only now and then.  I thought I would share some of them.  I won't talk about A Star Is Born because I've done that enough.

The Seventh Veil.  I saw this in grammar school.  I know this because Ann Todd is a pianist and I was taking piano lessons at the time and one piece I played, by Haydn, always reminded me of this movie.

After attempting suicide Francesca, once a world-famed pianist undergoes psychotherapy, trying to figure out what drove her to that decision.  It is revealed that she was sent to live with her cousin, a stern taskmaster who controlled her life, and thwarted her attempt to marry a man she thought she loved.

Mason is the cousin, cold, distant, and cruel, hiding his feelings for her.  I developed a big crush on James Mason after seeing this movie I guess I always had a thing for this kind of character.

A Private Function.  I really don't remember a lot about this movie, except that it was one of the funniest movies I've ever seen.  It takes place in England during WWII when there is strict rationing and a couple become involved with the bacon black market. 

Somehow they come into possession of a pig, which is definitely against the law but they decide to slaughter him and eat him themselves.

The vision of Maggie Smith chasing this pig around the house with an exacto-knife, the only sharp implement she had available, still makes me laugh.

The Blue Veil. This is a real tear jerker about a woman whose husband dies in the war while she is expecting their first child.  Things go wrong during the delivery and the baby dies, and she herself is unable to have more children.

She finds a job as a nanny and throughout her life takes care of a succession of young children, leaving when they no longer need a nanny. When she is too old to be a nanny any more, one of her former charges meets her and arranges for many of those now adult kids to come back to honor her--and one of them has children for her to care for.

I always thought how neat it would be for there to be a gathering of a lot of foreign students who lived here back in the 1980s.

Interrupted Melody.  I drove my mother nuts after seeing this movie.  It's the story of Australian opera singer Marjorie Lawrence and her battle with polio, how she eventually overcomes it and returns to the stage.

The finale scene is from Gotterdammerung and she gets so emotionally involved playing the scene that she stands for the first time  Very climactic.

After that movie I decided I was going to become an opera singer, tho I had no talent whatsoever, and spent evenings while doing the dishes singing scales, trying to hit high notes until my mother begged me to stop.

The Nun's Story.  I don't remember if I wanted to be a nun before or only after seeing this movie, but I saw it during the period of time when I knew I wanted to go into the convent.  Ultimately I wanted to be a Daughter of Charity, who were my teachers (think "Flying Nun") but after seeing this movie, I wanted to be a missionary in Africa.

Of course I hate the way she is treated, as some sort of leper, after she decides to leave the convent (and a book I read recently about someone who left the Daughters of Charity) made me glad ultimately that I made a different decision.

The Quiet Man.  Is there any female who saw this movie in the 1950s who didn't love it? I felt my Irish roots tugging at me, I tried to dye my hair auburn to look like Maureen O'Hara (but it turned out more bronze-purple) and I just loved every minute of it.

Seeing it with eyes today, I see how little women are valued, how corporal punishment is encouraged and how, really, it's an awful story, but I still watch it if it comes on.  It did make me love Ireland, many years before I visited it, however.

Dave.  I love this movie and wish, frequently these days, that it were possible today.  The president has a stroke and his handlers don't want to let the country know, so they hire a look-alike to stand in for him until he recovers.  Only a very few people know what is going on (his wife eventually figures it out).

As Dave gets into the role of president, he begins to make changes in the government, cutting back expensive programs to give poor kids meals at school, calling his buddy to come in and help him balance the budget, etc.

He can't continue indefinitely, of course, but the conclusion is a good one and the president (who eventually dies without regaining consciousness) goes down in history as a good president, not the jerk he actually was.  Ahhh...if only....  But where could one find a Trump look-alike!

There were a few more on the list, but that's enough for this entry.  It was fun thinking about movies that affected me throughout my life--and why

Dylan Dreyer

I have watched The Today Show pretty much since it began in the 1950s, with Dave Garroway hosting.  There were times when I just watched it off and on, but for the last many years, I watch it every morning.  I've been through all the anchors and co-anchors, all the scandals, all the format changes.  I remember when Al Roker went through stomach stapling and dropped tons of weight.

I don't know exactly how long Al Roker has been doing the weather on The Today Show,but since the 1990s, replacing Willard Scott.  He has made the weather his own with his unique reporting.  When Roker is not there, Dylan Dreyer fills in for him.

I'm not sure how long she has been doing the weather on The Today Show, but for at least five years now.  I remember when she and Savannah Guthrie were pregnant together, their babies born just a couple of weeks apart.

Now I mention Dylan Dreyer because I had an interesting thought about her and about my mother this week.

I have noticed that my mother seems to have difficulty separating real food from photos of food.  When we have been to a restaurant lately, when she gets a menu she doesn't know what it is and tries to eat the food on the menu and has to be reminded that the menu is to give her the options of what she wants to order.

Even at that, when we were at Denny's lately, even after she had finished a bowl of ice cream, she still tried to eat the ice cream photo on the menu.

I thought about what could possibly be going on in her mind and then thought about it the last time I saw Dylan Dreyer doing the weather.

As I said, I have been a Today Show watcher for decades.  I can recognize pretty much everyone who has been on that show, from Jane Pauley to Bryant Gumble, and even Ann Curry, fired after such a short time as co-anchor.

But as I watched Dreyer's weather report, I realized that try as I might, if she showed up at our front door, I wouldn't have a clue who she was.

Is this the sort of thing that goes on in my mother's mind?  The inability to look at a thing (or in Dreyer's case, a person) and not recognize it for what it is, but to have no idea what it is?  I've been looking at Dylan Dreyer more closely in the last couple of days and I still can't actually picture her in my mind as I write this and I know I would never be able to identify her anywhere else.  Put the above picture in a line-up and I would not have a clue which one she was.

The brain is a strange and mysterious thing and the more I examine quirks of mine, the more I realize that the quirks become part of who I am and not a normal characteristic of the brain and that one day I am going to be one big quirk with no normal brain left at all.

Last night I watched Great American Read.  It will be interesting to see which book is chosen as the favorite out of the 1,000 that are on the list.  I have assumed it would be "To Kill a Mockingbird," but as I have watched the accolades given to a whole slew of books over the past few months, I'm not so sure any more.

Last night they were reviewing romance books, not my usual genre, but there was a lot of praise for Nicholas Sparks' "The Notebook," and people seemed to think it was the most beautiful love story ever.  I thought I would check it out because I knew that the woman in the book ends up with Alzheimer's and I'm always interested in stories about how people deal with Alzheimer's.  And it was a good book.  I read it just about in one sitting (now that I am TV news free during the day!)

It's a beautiful story of first love, heartbreaking loss, and what happens when the lovers meet again years later.  I guess it's not really a spoiler to say that Allie ends up with Noah, her first love, because that's what the book is all about--how he tries to help her remember their early life together by reading to her from his notebook after she begins to sink into the effects of Alzheimer's.

But my problem was that I just had difficulty relating to her Alzheimer's.  She only briefly knows who he is, though he is with her every day in the facility where they live.  He reads their story to her every day, and each day it's new story for her and she asks who he is and says she can't remember her name.

The problem is that with all of the other quirks of Alzheimer's, she never seems to lose her ability to speak eloquently and that is so far from where my mother is that I just can't believe it.  She was losing her ability to make coherent thoughts even before she started not knowing who I am.

For the story to work, Allie has to be able to speak eloquently, but I am curious to hear if anybody else has read this book who has a loved one with Alzheimer's and if they, too, are bothered by the depiction of the post-Alzheimer's Allie, though however implausible the ending of the book may seem, it's still a lovely way to end it.

I'll bet Allie couldn't recognize Dylan Dreyer either.

Smiles

Ned and I got a full day in yesterday.  He came by at 10:30 and we headed up to Atria.  My mother had an 11 a.m. appointment to finally get her hair cut, for which she is WAY overdue.

We got her upstairs to Lucy and Ned said he'd stay with her so I could get downstairs and take a shower.  I always resist doing that, but I have to admit it's SO much more satisfying than a sponge bath, and safer than trying to climb the stairs to the shower.

Ned brings a "spa kit" with him each time and gets me all set up in my mother's bathroom.  It also has towels, shampoo, a wash cloth, soap, and a back scrubber--he's thought of everything.

This week he went out and bought a holder for the shower head, which normally just hangs loose.  It makes all the difference in the world.

I got all showered and Ned brought my mother downstairs, looking SO much better for the shorter hair!

I don't know whose top she's wearing  I had never seen it before and realized, as she stood up, that she was wearing black paints.  I've never seen her wear black pants and they were very attractive!

(Ned told me that they had passed Tony in the hall coming back and she stopped and kissed him on the lips)

Jeri has been trying to call her since her birthday, a month ago, but is never able to get her, so I texted her and she called right away and they had a chat.

Oh, I just love this picture.  She was genuinely happy to talk with Jeri and though didn't make much sense, talked with her for about 5 minutes, which was good for Jeri too.

Then we packed everything up and went to the car.  I had to get my regular blood test and we decided to take her out to lunch at IHOP.

The blood test went well, except I walked out of there looking like I'd been in a war because they had to try 3 different locations before finding a cooperative vein.  I had bandages all over me!

Then we went to IHOP for lunch, with Ned's friend Brian, whom we met on the way in.  I didn't give my mother a chance to order any more; she is overwhelmed by menus, but I noticed that she again tried to eat the pictures of the food.

I ordered her 2 fried eggs, bacon, hash browns and toast.  She couldn't seem to understand the difference between "bacon" and "toast" and wasn't sure what to do with the slices of bacon so she used the bacon to spread jam on her toast, after she had tried to shake the jam over her eggs instead of salt.  But once again she ate every crumb (but not the napkin) and I think it was good to get her out.

Ned walked her back to her apartment and I went to the office of Jennifer, the director.  She wanted to go over changes in her care, all of which I approved.  They are going to be watching her more carefully, helping her with bathing, rather than just watching her, and trying to make sure she is eating, since she is losing weight. 

The "attack" of the other day was on a new roommate they had moved into the empty unit that my mother shares.  Since Marge moved out months ago, that unit has remained empty and we speculated  that maybe she thought the new person didn't belong there.  Anyway, they moved the new person to a different room and all seems to be going all right.

But then we'd done it all and came home.  Ned headed back to Sacramento and I went to sleep for about 2-1/2 hours, waking up just in time for Jeopardy.

Today is Walt's day.  Ned will be here at 8 to take him to Kaiser and we'll see what the report is now.

The New Season

Now that fall is here, favorite TV shows are returning and new ones are vying for my heart.  I've tried a few of them and am pleased that I seem to be liking a handful of them.

I'm sad that this is the last season for The Big Bang Theory but think they are very wise going out on top.  They have reached a point where the story line could become mundane and I would hate to get to the point where I felt "this isn't as good as it used to be."

Chicago Med is back but those guys are getting tricky. They are trying to con us into watching not only Chicago Med but also the other two Chicago shows, PD and Fire by making it a triple crossover plot.  Things started with Chicago Fire, which I've never watched before, moved on to Med and the plot ended, sort of, in PD.  I have enjoyed Chicago Med ever since it began 2 seasons ago.  As I have said before, I'm a sucker for a doctor show and this one is great.  I particularly like Oliver Platt, but I've enjoyed him in anything.

I also enjoyed Chicago Fire, but I think that  I'm not up to guys fighting fires every week.  I tried watching Chicago PD in its first season (5 seasons ago) and just couldn't get into it.  I watched its part of this triumverate, but again didn't feel drawn into it.  I hope it won't be necessary to watch it again.

New Amsterdam is another new doctor show.  I wonder how long it will last since the main character now has cancer.  But I like this show.  And, interestingly, I had just seen Ken Burns' story of the Mayo Clinic and the philosophy that started it and keeps it going and so recognized that this is what they are trying to do with this show--a doctor show where the focus is on the patient doctors are on salary so there is no incentive for ordering unnecessary tests or prescribing expensive meds, and they don't worry about the cost to the patient.  Totally impractical in this day and age, of course, but it will be fun to see how it develops.

The jury is still out on Manifest, that Lost - like show about a plane that has been missing for five years and suddenly shows up, the passengers and crew having no idea they have been gone for so long.  I've only seen one episode so far and I'm not sure how I feel about it.  I'm not sure where it's going and if it starts getting as "Lost-y" asLost I probably won't stick with it, but I'll give it a couple more weeks.

Out of curiosity, I checked out something called God Friended Me, which I thought was going to be pretty silly.

It turns out to be kind of a modern day Touched by an Angel, with an athiest pod caster whose father (Joe Morton, who used to be Olivia Pope's dad in Scandal) is a priest, gets a friend request from God which leads to all sorts of things that are too complicated to explain, but I find that I like it and have set the DVR to record it.

I'm still not sure how I feel about the new Jim Carrey show, Kidding.  With Carrey at the helm, the story about the TV host of a kids' program with a crazy hair style, and all the promos that I've seen, I expected it to be a comedy, but it's definitely not.  Carrey's character is suffering from depression over the break-up of his marriage and the possible loss of his show (his father, the producer, feels he's lost his edge and wants to replace him). The whole thing is actually very dark, and definitely R-rated, with some partial nudity

I think I'm enjoying the return of Murphy Brown, though I'm wondering if the writers for Rachel Maddow are in on the script writing of this show too!  The old Murphy Brown did battle with Dan Quayle over her becoming an unwed mother.  I am assuming that it is only a matter of time before Trump catches wind of this show and starts tweeting about it. So far I'm enjoying it, but it does feel like it's trying to get its footing again and I hope that it does because it would be fun to have this thorn in Trump's side.

A friend recommended A Million Little Things, which I had heard of but which sounded like a This is Us wannabe, so I didn't check it out but she had talked about a "twist" she had not expected and so today I decided to catch up on the two episodes that have already aired.  I liked it a lot.  The group reminds me a bit of our Pinata group, only in that they have been friends for many years but we definitely have not encountered the kinds of situations that they have in only two episodes  At least I don't think we have.  By the end of those two episodes, I was hooked and have set the DVR to record upcoming episodes.

And it was fun last night to see the return of Madam Secretary.  Best part of it of it was the finale with the reunion of secretaries of state, called to give Elizabeth advice -- Hillary Clinton, Madeline Albright, and Colin Powell.  In their scene, the trio suggested that what terrorists wanted was to divide the country over its diversity and advised her to seize this opportunity to highlight those differences instead.

“I think what we’re all saying is talk about what unites us. Even at this moment of peril, remind Americans of our nation’s original motto, something that I think about a lot and which seems more important today than ever,” Clinton says. “E Pluribus Unum. Out of many, one.”

Hmmmm.....  No tweet about that one either, though apparently there was much unhappiness on social medial.  “After last night, I’m no longer watching this show. It was disgusting to see Hillary in a position where she would be giving you advice! Then I have to listen to the bias script about nationalism? So what we should become globalists?? I’m DONE here,” one viewer wrote.

Owell...we'll see where it goes.  Personally, I loved it.

All in all, this is a more promising season than I have seen in a couple of years and we all know what I need is more TV to watch.

So...Kavanaugh

So he's been sworn in -- we all knew he would be eventually -- and the fight is over.  For now.

I have been glued to the TV since this all started and by the time the FBI report came back--after a whole day and a half of investigating, when it was blatantly obvious that they just OKd the "investigation" to pat women on the head and say "there, there, don't worry your pretty little head about it.  We'll take care of it."  They were only allowed to interview...what was it? 4? 6? people and the dozens who lined up to corroborate the stories of his drinking and sexual habits were ignored...and then the senators smirked and said there was no corroboration, so she must have been wrong.  

And then Trump, the bastard, went in front of thousands of people and made fun of Dr. Ford...remembering that the one thing that has haunted her all these years was the laughter of the two guys who attacked her. I was about at the exploding point.

I finally decided that it was going to happen, and I just didn't want to hear that voice from #45 one more time, I didn't want to hear the arguments in the full Senate, I didn't want to hear the excuses of the marginal Republicans we all held out hope would find balls and vote against him and I just couldn't bear to watch him approved.  Even Senator Collins, who I always thought was the one free thinker, drank the kool aid and talked about "no corroboration."  Nobody addressed the lies he told under oath.  They didn't even listen to Justice Kennedy, whom he replaces, who started out in favor of Kavanaugh and then recanted and said he didn't feel he should sit on the court.

So I turned the TV off.  And I limited Facebook.  I read two books, including one by my friend Alec Clayton, "This is Me, Debbi, David," which was very good and which I read almost in one sitting.

I also started a book which Caroline recommended, "Humans: a Brief History of How We Fu*ked It All Up," which is a fascinating book, in the style of one of my favorite authors, Bill Bryson, which talks about how our whole history of made up of mistakes we have made.

Lucy, for example, who was discovered in 1974 and is believed to be the first hominim species would never have been discovered if she hadn't fallen out of a tree.  The first official fu*k up.

It's a hopeful thing to think about, as we contemplate the disaster that is happening to our country, our ideals, and all the things we have worked so hard to achieve over the years, destroyed by a man who wants to be "president for life."

For many years, I have wondered how the good people of Germany could have sat by and let Hitler come to power, and now I see it happening in our own country--so I know the helplessness they must have felt, and the apathy they may have developed when they realized there was nothing they could do to stop him.

Vote, they say.  Yeah.  But that's every two years and if things go badly in November it will be 2020 before we get a chance again.  In the meantime, #45, who is brilliant at working a crowd, continues his policy of dividing this country into us and them and giving his base the red meat they long for.

But as for Justice Kavanaugh (the skin crawls) this is how I've been thinking.

I believe her.  As everyone said, she was very credible.  I also believe he desperately does not want to remember which is why, against the law, by the way, contacted potential witnesses and to get them to back up his story.

OK.  Let's say it happened.  And it was horrible.  And it should have been reported, but women are reluctant to report sexual assaults.  And even if you use the horrible excuse that "boys will be boys," which I think is a TERRIBLE message to send to our sons, and an even more terrible--not to say dangerous--message to send to our daughters, he seems to have lived a blameless life for several decades, so is youthful indiscretion enough to ruin his life.  Is there no allowing for cleaning up your act and going forward?  Are recovering alcoholics never to be considered reputable members of society?

So as horrendous as the accusations are, what has bothered me throughout this are the lies he has told.  We know that lying under oath is a crime.  Yet nobody has called him on his lies. 

That combined with his demeanor when confronted with the charges just shows that he does not have the temperament to be sit on what has been the most respected body in the country.  Who would approve someone who THREATENS half of the committee questioning him ("Just remember, what goes around comes around.")

But now the Supreme Court has two men accused of sexual assault, proving that sexual misconduct is no big thing in this country any more.  God forbid any woman should come forward with any sexual case again.  And I am sinking into depressive apathy. Yeah I'll vote and all the polls predicting a blue wave will be wrong and nothing will change and #45 will have two years to rev up his base to a adoring frenzy and he'll be on his way to being "president for life" like his buddy Kim Jong Un.

I probably should watch what I write here because rumor has it (not confirmed by anybody) that Trump wants to compile a list of anybody who has expressed anti-Trump sentiments on Facebook.  The fact that I could even consider this as true tells you where our country is now.

My poor grandchildren.

Learning Chinese

Before I prove myself an ugly American and make fun of someone from China attempting to communicate in English, let me say that I have the utmost admiration for anyone from any foreign country attempting to communicate in this crazy language.  I speak English just fine, and a smattering of French and Portuguese, but no more than a few words now.  Other than "thank you" I don't know a single word in Chinese.  Put me in a foreign environment and I would be totally lost.  However, it does not prevent me from having a little fun with instructions written in China for gadgets to be used by Americans.

Yesterday I came across reference to some sort of ultrasound gadget that would prevent your dog from barking.  I did a little research on Amazon and found there are lots of them.  I also found I had some cash in my Amazon account and I could use part of it to buy the cheapest of these gadgets, so if it didn't work, I wouldn't really be out any money.

Amazon calls this the "Anti Barking Stop Bark Handheld Pet Dog Training Device 3 in 1 LED Ultrasonic Dog Repeller and Trainer Device."  The company that produces it calls it "the cute dog."

The instructions are labeled "How to telecontrol ypur [sic] Lovely Dog" and begin:  Dog is a loyal friend of people.  It has a long history to feed, train and ues [sic] dog since original society.

There follows a lengthy list of accolades about how wonderful dogs are, then lets us know that "Dog's lofty abilities are relevant to scientific and patient training from people....On the basis of traditional training methods are some mysterious tips of advanced ultrasonic, which are executed by "cute dog."  Such a small machine can offer you twice the result with the half effort."

While this is supposed to be an anti-bark device, it doesn't mention barking, but does tell you about "Defecating at ordered places":  At the beginning of coming to your family it may defecate where it think convenient and ignore your frequent clear up.  Just because it is a dog, your lovely dog, you never would like to be anar [sic] with its acting up.  In generally dog always defecate after it eat enough or get up at early orning or long soeep.  at this time you can take some of the excretion to the place you order for it at washing room.  Take it there. Once it start to smell on ot then close the door.  make it smell where you set excretion until it finish here.  Then you can clap its head about its neck. Praise its clever but love sound."

And so it goes for four pages,  But nothing about barking.  I'll close by again saying kudos to whoever wrote these instructions, which have made me giggle throughout  I certainly could not give the same instructions them in Chinese!

HOWEVER, Caroline and her fiancé returned last night and as Polly set up her barking, I pushed the button on the "cute dog" and she stopped immediately, looking at me perplexed.  And I only had to push the button once more time during the evening.  She didn't even bark when very tall Tim, who is a stranger to her, stood up.  I am very encouraged.  It may be the best $0.00 I ever spent!

They seem to have had an enjoyable week, visiting the wine country (where Caroline went back to the Vincent Arroyo winery she liked so much last time...and bought me a bottle of balsamic vinegar, which I asked her to do, as I was almost out of the bottle I bought there before).

They spent several days at Tahoe but sadly it rained while they were there.  Still, Caroline was able to get in a couple of hiking days.  They also explored what they described as the grossest thrift store (where you could buy a spider-web covered half bowl of popcorn, with the butter dried on it!  But it was only $1.  Such a deal!)  She was pleased with her discovery of the dollar t-shirt bin where she picked up four shirts, one of which for a friend with whom she exchanges terrible t-shirts.  She was very tickled with this one.

 
We enjoyed visiting with them.  Today they are fixing brunch for us and then going on the grand tour of Davis before going back to San Francisco this afternoon.  They fly back to London tomorrow.  It certainly has been a delight having her back again, however briefly and very nice to meet Tim.

I can't beleve she ate the whole thing

Good lord...I'm getting dementia!  It wasn't until Ned mentioned it this morning that I realized I had not posted an entry yesterday!

It was on the whole for the most part, a quiet day yesterday.  Ned came over to install a new shade over the kitchen sink.  Silly to get so excited about it but it was a type of shade I had not seen before and, having lived with one that is very old and ripped for years, I was thrilled to have this new design brightening up the room.

Things went as every day, with Walt taking some time out to go to lunch with office buddies.  I don't even remember what I did, other than taking a nap.

But around 5:30 came a call from Atria.  My mother had gone into someone's room and "grabbed her" and since they have observed her behavior as "off" this week, they thought she might have a bladder infection.  I said I'd get her in to the doctor this morning, but they wanted her seen NOW.  Too late to get to the local Kaiser, so we drove her to the ER in Vacaville, where after extensive waiting, and lots of complaining, it was determined that there was no sign of infection.  I was pleased that the catheter insertion went well.  Last time she screamed so loud and kicked at the nurse and threatened her and I was just dreading it this time, but the nurse was great and it was over before my mother even knew it was happening.  And there is no sign of infection, which was good.

She was, of course, very unhappy to be out at the doctor's and complained a lot.  When we got into the car to go home, she said, very plaintively that all she wanted was for something nice to happen and that nothing nice ever happens to her.  She wants to go home, close her eyes, go to sleep and never wake up.  So I asked if she'd like to go out to dinner.  At first she said yes and then when I mentioned it again, she got that very submissive tone I hate and said "I'll do whatever you want." I just wanted to do something that might shake her out of her now-perpetual funk.

We went to Denny's and she was happy to be in some place new.  This was the placemat at our seats

My mother kept looking at it as if she knew she was supposed to eat the food, but couldn't figure out how.  She asked me which she should eat first and I told her we would order off the menu and then eat.

I ordered her a broiled chicken off the senior menu and hoped she could eat it all, since she seems to eat so little these days.  It came with soup, salad, bread and fruit and each thing came in a separate bowl.  She is easily overwhelmed, so when the soup came first and she started eating it (but didn't know what she was eating and wasn't sure she was eating it properly) and then two more plates arrived, I moved the soup out of the way and gave it to Walt because surely that would push her over the top and she couldn't eat it all.

Walt and I each had a cobb salad, which was huge

(shown with my mother's fruit bowl)

She started eating her salad and just kept putting one bite after the other in her mouth untilshe had finished everything, including dipping her bananas and grapes into the salad dressing and then eating the extra salad dressing with her spoon out of the bowl on the side, spreading it on her chicken and then picking up her chicken and eating it like a biscuit, etc.  

She started clearing away her place, including putting her napkin in what was left of her glass of water, then she lifted it out, spread it out, tore it into quarters and started eating it.  I told her it was a napkin.  "I KNOW it's a napkin," she said, continuing to put it into her mouth.  I took it away from her after she finished the first quarter.

Then she took her spoon and tried to eat the ice cream on the placemat.  I couldn't believe how much she had eaten already but asked her if she wanted ice cream and she said she did.  I ordered a sundae for the 3 of us to share and she ate most of that and then tried to eat the placemat ice cream again.  When I mentioned that she had already eaten ice cream and she said she didn't remember eating anything, but she would not object if someone gave her a bowl of ice cream.

I decided she didn't have an infection she was just starving!  Actually, I think she has lost the ability to feel hunger or to feel full.  Put it in front of her and she eats it.  No food in front of her and she doesn't feel hungry.  She obviously doesn't TASTE anything since she didn't know what she was eating with the soup and saw nothing odd about the taste of the napkin.

But I think it did perk up her spirits briefly to be in a restaurant and I told Walt we need to take her out every 3-4 weeks or so to a restaurant just to give her a change of scenery.  Preferably a place with linen napkins!!

As for my mother's attack on another "innmate," I don't know what to do.  I'm afraid she will be thrown out of Atria (as her own mother was thrown out of the rest home where she was living) for aggressive behavior...and if that happens I don't have a clue what to do or where to take her, given that we (she and I in the pre-dementia days) long ago realized that with Polly, the stairs, and the bathroom being upstairs this is not the ideal place for her to live, even if we created a bedroom out of the living room for her.