Going Home Again

Laurel and I flew to Honolulu this morning. Laurel will stay for a week or so, and I will stay for the entire month of August. We had a sort of changing of the guard this evening, but I will still need to sit down with my brother and sister-in-law tomorrow and get all my mom's medicines, therapies, and house & garden help straight. Also trash days, doctor's appointments, and dietary restrictions.

Fortunately, the weather is not so bad - it's overcast and quite breezy, so is cooler than I anticipated. This is very good. Hot and humid, with no breeze is bad.

My brother rigged up an ethernet connection from his house to Mom's house, so I have Internet connectivity with a laptop. So, if you're reading this, feel free to comment. I don't remember whether comments are moderated. If they are, you may not be able to see your comment until I bless it.

What surprised me about coming here is how emotional I felt listening to some old Hawaiian music on Hawaiian Air Lines' entertainment channels. There's something about an Islander's relationship with the Islands that is very different from feelings for any other place. It's like the 'aina (island, generally) is personified and becomes a member of the family - or you are a member of its family - and you are coming home.

If you are thinking, "you can't go home again," you're only partly right. The roles change but the movie is the same, and the 'aina, dressed in different freeways, buildings, parking lots, and people, becomes the set for the next scene.

When You're Hot ...

It's still hot - 9th straight day of temperatures over 100. Today it was 108; yesterday and the day before, the high temperature in Sacramento was 111 degrees! The library was closed from Saturday afternoon through yesterday because of a broken air conditioner, and when I went in this morning, they said it would continue to be closed until Thursday. So I turned around and came home.

Now I have an unexpected week off! That's great for me, as I can concentrate on preparing for my month in Hawaii: reading and returning library books, laundry, cleaning the aquarium, packing, selecting projects to work on and recipes to bring, and spending time with Laurel.

I will go in on Thursday to wrap up, change my voicemail and e-mail messages, and turn in my timesheets; then it's off to the (hopefully cooler) subtropics!

Check it out at the Weather Underground:
Sacramento
Kailua

Six Gallons and Counting!

Today I went in to donate blood and the BloodSource staff told me this donation completes my 6th gallon! They presented me with a T-shirt and balloons! I hear that 10-gallon donors get invited to an annual party at the convention center. Guess I'll just keep going back every eight weeks ...

This summer, they've got a partnership with Baskin-Robbins - "give a pint, get a pint." So I also got a certificate for a free pint of ice cream!

It's hot and there's no AC

One of the four air conditioners at Central Library broke 10 days ago.  That means that one zone in the building, the central part of each floor from the basement to the 5th floor, like right where the elevators, OPACS and reference desks are, is hot. They said it would take about 2 weeks to order and replace the broken part.  The outside temperature in Sacramento today was 97 degrees at 2 p.m., and we expect it to continue to climb until about 5 p.m. So ... all those warm bodies come into the building and there's no air circulation to keep the air fresh ...

Ann
Life is Relative

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Mom - Update

Last night, David said Mom would be released from Castle Hospital this morning, and admitted to the Rehabilitation Hospital of the Pacific. Over the next week or two, she will be working with speech, occupational and physical therapists, and will then be discharged and allowed to go home when they are satisfied she has progressed as far as she is capable.

At that point, I will go to stay with her for several weeks, to make sure everything is working out satisfactorily and to give Dave and Lea some breathing space. They have been the heroes, spending time in the hospital and arranging for her diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation.

Shakespeare in the Park

Tonight was the opening performance of this year's Shakespeare in the Park series. We've driven by these plays several times over the years, but never attendend a performance. However, Joe, a security guard at Central Libary, has a part in this season's performance of "Two Gentlemen of Verona", so it seemed like a good time to check it out. Joe's the one with the dog on the play's web site.

Marty and I picked up some sushi, sandwiches, chocolate-covered fortune cookies and citrus-flavored bottled water at the deli and had a picnic in the park before the performance, which was fairly good - humorous and bawdy. Are we Californians now, or what?!

Since I will be going to Hawaii for a month to help Mom when she gets out of rehab, this is the only one of Joe's performances I will be able to attend, and I wanted to support him and his avocation.

Mom

On July 1st, I received word that my mom has probably had a mild stroke. She was taken to Castle Memorial Hospital, and is still there for observation and evaluation. We still don't know all the implications, but the general hope is that she will be able to return home. My brother and his wife are on the spot and are still waiting to talk to her doctor. Preliminary tests indicate the stroke was mild, as it seems to have affected mostly her speech; she understands conversation, knows what has happened, has the use of her limbs and is able to eat.