I didn't get to the nursing home yesterday, but I did talk to Renae, the speech therapist who was working on her swallowing problem. Seems Mother was trying to wash residual food down with her tea and getting strangled. They're using a cup that controls her sips and have ordered assistance with every meal for her. She described her appetite as fair; she wouldn't eat her green peas, which is strange, that was always her favorite vegetable. She really liked the pudding that has all the nutrients in it, kinda like Ensure, and wanted more applesauce, but about mid-way through her meal, she got distracted and lost interest in eating. Her weight is down to 165, 20 lbs lighter than when she was admitted 3 years ago.

When Renae told her she talked to her daughter, she smiled and said, "Was it Cathy?" About 10 minutes later, she asked Renae, "Didn't you say you talked to Cathy?" Her short-term memory must not be totally shot if she remembered that.

I'm going to try again today to get over there for a visit. Banking business tied me up yesterday, but at least we got a major nuisance resolved. My local "Suze Orman" has switched banks, but she still gives good advice.

My insurance agent, on the other hand, is letting his business rapidly disintegrate. I wish I knew how to help him, but I can't think of a tactful way to say, "fire your secretary before she destroys everything." The woman seems totally incompetent to me, but she's the only help he has until his wife recovers. I got another cancellation notice on my car's policy, and she said it was probably, "nothing."

Choir practice flew by last night because I was working on a Bible puzzle that David gave me before we started. "You're the only one who could find the rest of these," he said in a frustrated tone, handing me a paragraph that supposedly had 30 books of the Bible hidden in the text. I found 26 of them in between soprano parts. I won't rest 'til I've found the other 4. Everybody loved the new haircut.