"I'm just here recruiting."

From a perfect timing
text message

The short version:

Little Sister, Brother-in-Law, Nephew, and RantWoman hung out at the Adult Family Home where RantMom BLESSEDLY landed just a few days ago. Beautiful facility. VERY kind caring centerd professional staff. If only...getting RantMom there sooner.

By today, RantMom's breathing had slowed from strong but fast on Friday to slower, calmer yesterday, and today barely perceptible except for occasional small gulps, kind of like sleep apnea only quieter.

Little sister said she had been playing hymns and reading Bible verses before RantWoman arrived.

Family hanging out brought stories, phone calls to one sister and a niece. Neice spoke of actually getting to spend time with some of RantMom's aunts and uncles, parents of what at one time was a 30+contingent of cousins.

Nephew and Sister left before RantWoman. As RantWoman was getting ready to leave, time to dab RantMom's lips with a wet hospice care sponge on a stick a couple times. RantMom's lips moved a little. RantWoman thanked RantMom for cultivating faith, love of learning, all the gifts whe has shared with so many people. Beyond the slight movement of lips, RantWoman was actually not paying attention to whether RantMom was still breathing.

Thank you to the Friend who saw RantWoman at the bus stop and offered a ride. Thank heavens for whatever combination of sleep, diet, exercise, pain meds kept some nasty leg cramps away for the walk from and to the bus stop.
 

As RantWoman was heating up supper, Little Sister called with the news. Moe a lovely gifted aide went in to check on RantMom after RantWoman left. He couldn't find a pulse.

"Well done good and faithful servant."

There will be a memorial, at Rainier Beach Presbyterian Church and probably on Facebook.

Youngest Cousin instructed rantMom to send love to all the family she will meet in heaven.

One more thing: Oh, those wacky RantParents. They "departed to other realms" exactly 30 years and 6 months apart and both on the 18th of the month.

Soulless SLOP

 Google Gemini has been "blessing" RantWoman with efforts to summarize email.

Does RantWoman WANT any random AI to learn the terminology of different religious traditions? 

Will AI conversant in the language of different religious traditions boil the spiritual guidance out of the AI offerings? 

Will it make it way to easy to generate deep fakes???

Enquiring minds are not even sure we want to know but since AI is definitely the fashion, we take note.

Also a RantWoman post on X in response to reading about how taxpayer investment in basic research  and then in Google has generate over 1000 views, a substantial increase over RantWoman's average  number of views, frequently in the low 10's or hundreds, RantWoman invites further meditation on the phrase "soulless SLOP."

RIP Nasturtiums in Salad Friend

 

Image from High Mowing
Organic Seed Company

Nasturtiums in Salad Friend has passed away. She came up in passing in a conversation about RantMom. Nasturtiums in Salad Friend has been failing for a number of years and in hospice for the last several months. Word is, Nasturtiums in Salad Friend had good conversations; other Friends later tried to call her the night before she was found. She was found when a retirement community staffperson knocked to take her for breakfast. Rest in Peace Friend

Readers who would, in memoriam, enjoy various RantWoman ramblings and reflections on Nasturtiums in Salad Friend and community life are invited to use the word nasturtiums in the search bar.

As luck and providence would have it, RantMom and Nasturtiums in Salad Friend lived in the same retirement community for a number of years including the years of #pandemic lockdown. Nasturtiums in Salad gardening proclivities were still going strong, though not on quite as grand a scale as when Nasturtiums in Salad Friend was working on a composting toilet project at the large community garden where she devoted a lot of time.

Nasturtiums in Salad Friend also continued her lifelong gift for growing community by creating space for people to make beaded jewelry, napkin rings, and other craft products in the retirement community where RantMom also lived. This fact makes RantWoman smile, all the more since Nasturtiums in Salad Friend evoked the kind of patient confidence that carried RantMom through the adventure of making a set of napkin rings in spite of RantMom's fingers not working well for quite a while.

RantMom's body has reached a point beyond the reach of magic wands to fix all that is not working. Today, after two rough days of changes, RantMom's hands flutter as if she is trying to do something though RantWoman cannot tell what. Maybe in addition to Christ among us here and now, there is an afterlife where both lovers of flowers can garden freely with no more pain and joyful results.

OK God, WHAT NOW??????

(Readers who are missing RantWoman's recent threads of vids about abundant "makes one's head explode" news items and trenchant commentary are invited to use your own dang search engines for now. RantWoman is accumulating lots of things in Drafts that may or may not get posted. Live rants often available along with piquant narrative about matters more personal)

"Give us this day our daily...mush?"

For the record, RantMom has been at the rehab now for TWENTY EIGHT DAYS and only today did Little Sister see big signs over RantMom's bed saying "Liquid thickened with fruit pulp and finely minced or chopped meat" and "One on one feeding." RantWoman did not see the signs yesterday and Little Sister assures RantWoman that the signs are Neon and hard to miss even with RantWoman's bad eyes. If this actually occurs this would be a WELCOME variant from the too spice sausages and meat too tough for someone with dental partials to chew.

Previous visitations from the dietician have brough spinach which RantMom apparently ate with enthusiasm and during one of RantWoman's visits a GIANT pile of cooked carrots and some kind of mystery casserole. The aide came in and fed RantMom about two bites. RantMom sweetly wanted to share with RantWoman and RantWoman induced RantMom to eat about one more bite of carrot but declined to share on multiple grounds. 

Fingers and bib?

That day RantMom had eaten part of a piece of pie before RantWoman came. While RantWoman was  there, RantMom at one point thought about eating more but did not ask to have the head of the bed raised. Using the fork was not working so RantWoman at one point moved the paper plate with the rest of the pie to where RantMom could reach it. RantMom ate a good bit more of it with her hands.

RantMom at the rehab has, for a time, sometimes trying to feed herself. Little Sister pointed out that there is supposed to be a bib each day, but the bib does not get put on and RantWoman did not even know it was there. Other times she was asking for help and the help was in a hurry. RantMom has been eating slowly and not big portions for a long time even before the latest rounds of "health care." RantMom has enthusiastically accepted both offers to be fed by family and offers of small servings of treats like roast yam and cranberry sauce. RantWoman happened to be visiting a grocery store that had several flavors of fruit mush packets to have on hand. Yesterday, after RantWoman figured out how to get the dang thing opened, RantMom drank about 2/3 of a packet, so keep a supply of those.

Trajectory and grey zone

RantWoman's food rant is part of a long thread of opportunities to beat oneself about not paying attention to LOTS of things. At the same time, after the second most recent trip to a hospital for IV antibiotics, RantMom disclosed that she has a DNR and gave RantWoman a copy of her POLST form, something to digest along with RantMom making excuses about not going to PT, falling asleep a lot, not always making it to meals... There would also be previous cycles of doing better after antibiotics, only to slump again. RantWoman is definitely grappling with the reality that RantMom's body is not in great shape even before getting dumped rambling incoherently at the Rehab. 

RantWoman is also wondering whether having the DNR on file, along with excuses about poor staffing over the holidays affected how people interacted with RantMom, even before one takes into account incentives from Medicare Advantage. In other words, RantWoman is having no trouble finding reasons just to be spitting nails.

For a while after the latest infection cleared and RantMom was getting IV fluids instead of antibiotics, RantMom was doing MUCH better. Speech therapy is making a difference and her speech is MUCH more intelligible. Some of the time she is coherent but that comes and goes. RantWoman is unclear how much the doctor has explained to RantMom about all the bodily systems that are running very thin. RantMom also has bleeding from something in her urinary tract so she is anemic. Little Sister and RantWoman have both declined suggestions about blood transfusions but have made sure RantMom is getting an iron supplement.

So where are we after all of the above "give us this day our daily bread" exposition?

Walking in faith

A couple days ago, RantMom said she wishes someone would tell her whether she will ever walk again. RantWoman was stilled from temptation to say "Well, if you eat better and drink your fluids and do your PT, maybe." Reality: PT exhausted RantMom when she went at it. RantWoman also did not soummon the words to say "well you're going to be walking with Jesus and we don't know where that is going to take you," more or less what her pastor said at her last visit.

Funny moment: neither RantMom nor RantWoman when she arrived while the pastor was visiting recognized the pastor. Turns out, the pastor's hair bleaches out a lot in the summertime, so it's not just a cognition test.

And speaking of the pastor, she is familiar with the Adult family home where RantMom is headed. Previously a parishioner had spent a good length of time there. The building is owned by a nearby Greek Orthodox church. This sounds lovely--well, except for the priest who needed to fly over one day and lecture the pastor about being a woman minister.

Lord help us all.

Blatant Surrender of US soft power

"We're a fallen empire, too weak to contribute to the world."

Let's talk about Trump’s budget embarrassing the US....

Christmas, Intuitions, new vocabulary.

Yo-Yo Ma, Alison Krauss - The Wexford Carol (Video)

This post is dedicated to RantMom. Family Christmas plans kept not coming together and not coming together and not coming together. This problem was making several people ANXIOUS. RantWoman had to put her foot down and say "We HAVE to give Christmas (celebration) to God.

RantWoman never quite knows what to make of such intuitions. 

RantWoman will play the video for RantMom tomorrow at the next visit to the rehab where RantMom and some IV antibiotics are spending as much of a spell as can be proven helpful. RantWoman has another electronic daily blessing to play. RantWoman is embarrassed that she cannot remember enough of the Lord's prayer, no matter how meaningful it would be to RantMom. RantWoman is profoundly grateful for other visitors who do remember.

In the event, RantWoman, Little Sister, and Irrepressible Nephewand his woman friend but not Brother-in-law and the undervaccinated hound gathered on Christmas eve. Laptop audio does not do justice to a pipe organ. RantMom wanted exactly two bites each of the roast yam and cranberry relish RantWoman brought but it all seemed to matter to RantMom.

Now the family is grappling with terms like "assisted living," occupational therapy, long-term care.

RantMom would not not not want all the piquant details of her situation all over the internet; RantWoman will be most grateful to all readers who pray, hold in the Light,,for RantMom, Little Sister, Irrepressible Nephew who is DARNED lucky to have a wonderful relationship with RantMom, aka :Grams."

Merry (?) Christmas from Stephen Miller, thank you FRANK SINATRA

#Immigration #FrankSinatra

Immigration is what makes us great!