New barbecue

Living here in California, barbecue is a big part of life. Our church has borrowed a barbecue from another organization every time we needed one. The barbecues are big events. The church decided that they needed one of their own. The priced out new ones and found them to be way more than we can afford for a big Santa Maria style barbecue. So a couple of the parishioners who are very skilled volunteered to make one! They pieced together pieces and found a donated trailer and they went to work. They did buy the actually pits but welded and installed everything else. Boy is it a doosie! It is a custom high end number. Wow!

Kitchen renovation

Our kitchen remodeling work has begun. The kitchen was demolished on Monday. Today the electrician was here putting in the new electrical lines and moving others. The appliances were delivered. It's all very exciting. Tomorrow they're supposed to come and start installing the lower cabinets. Fingers crossed!

Pajamas for critically ill children

For the last three years, my friend D and I have bought Christmas presents for a pediatric end of life care center. They ask for pajamas, sweat pants, t-shirts, socks, diapers, ensure, dvds, cds. Every year they ask for loose fitting stretchy cotton pajamas for the children as their skin is very sensitive. Well, you can find loose fitting stretchy cotton pajamas since children's pajamas have to be flame retardant and close fitting. So this year I decided to make 7 pairs of pajama bottoms. It was a lot of fun and as D says this year they'll get what they asked for.

Here is a recent story about the nurse who does this wonderful caring:
Safe haven

Sjany de Groot, RN, has been implementing a pediatric end-of-life care model in her San Luis Obispo, Calif., home nursery for more than 27 years. The large house, facing a quiet park, looks as if it were imported from Holland, de Groot's native country. Inside, the house opens to a large kitchen and a comfortable living room decorated with pictures, bric-a-brac from the Netherlands and a cage of parakeets.

Down a narrow corridor, the space opens into a smaller living area with a television and scores of dolls and other toys. Just around the corner is the literal and emotional heart of de Groot's home-a room with rows of cribs, which at this time is home to 13 children who range in age from 4 months old to 15 years. Most, if not all, will spend their last days here.

De Groot, a diminutive but hale 73-year-old woman with a ruddy complexion, looks like most people's conception of Mrs. Claus. She maintains an upbeat disposition, even while recounting one tragedy after another.

"We've had her since birth," she said, pointing to a 9-year-old, who stares at the ceiling with a vacant expression. "Her mother was a drug addict. She has seizures, she's been critical since she was born. They said she wouldn't live, but she's still here." Another child has spinal bifida, and a curly-haired boy was badly abused. Others were born prematurely, or were victims of drowning resuscitated too late to save them from severe brain damage. Others suffer from diseases.

Despite the children's health conditions, the de Groot home, funded through donations and some state assistance, is a cheery place. Light streams in from large windows, walls sport brightly colored pictures and a kindergarten-like decor, and the constant bustle and racket of children fills the air.

In addition to her own grown-up biological children, de Groot adopted two of her charges, one of whom is paraplegic but otherwise in good health.

The de Groot home nursery, a shoestring operation closely watched by cost-cutting government agencies, nonetheless gives its patients the palpable comfort of dying with a minimal amount of suffering, and under the most attentive, loving care.

"Elsewhere, these kids would wind up in some managed facility with lots of others, where there wouldn't be enough nurses to give them the proper attention," said de Groot, who runs her home nursery with a staff of 11, which includes herself and a handful of CNAs. "But here we take care of them no matter what. We give them the critical care they need right away if they have a seizure or need their meds."

Nevertheless, de Groot is embroiled in legal wrangling with Medi-Cal, which is demanding more than $200,000 that it claims the home nursery improperly billed to the agency.

Coming after several years of late payments, sporadic coverage and threats of closure from a slew of state agencies, this dispute may finally do in the nursery. But de Groot long ago learned to separate this aspect of business from the important work of care.

She picks up a microencephalic infant with a cleft palate and a tuft of brown hair on his head. "They tell me he doesn't feel anything, but when I hold him he likes it." The child emits a strained cry. "Good, good," she said. "I like it when he screams. It's good for him." She puts the infant back in his crib.

"We don't expect him to live much longer. But we'll take care of him until he's gone," de Groot said.

update

The last couple of weeks we went to the theater a number of times. We went to the Symphony with cousins P&S for a concert including a Beethoven piece Overture to Fidelio, Sibelius' 5 symphony (not my favorite) and a concerto with guest Violinist Roger Wilkie, featuring composer Max Bruch’s most famous work, Violin Concerto No.1 in G minor. Then they came with us to see a performance of "Ain't Misbehavin'" and lastly a performance of "the Stunt Dog Experience". All were great fun. We didn't work the last two shows but were able to get complimentary tickets in exchange for our work over the last year.

We have had some beautiful weather and have taken advantage of it by taking a few hikes and exploring areas we haven't visited before and others to see the beauty of the central coast once again.

We count our blessings on this Thanksgiving day for family, friends, good health and good weather.

Beautiful day

It was an absolutely beautiful day today with temperatures in the 70s at the beach. T and I went to the top of the hill behind the high school and hiked up the gravel path to get a panoramic view of our area. It was a spectacular view. That led us to explore one of the larger manufactured housing developments in the area. They have a beautiful view and very simple living. Then it was off to see the monarch butterfly migration is coming along. They are coming back but it's early days yet. On our way back a couple told us they had spotted a couple of whales breaching and we hung out on the board walk until we spotted them a couple of times. What a beautiful afternoon.

Marveling at imagination

Sunday afternoon the air was clean and clear after a good dousing of rain overnight. There were 2 little boys about 8 or 9 years old sitting on the bench in the little basketball court in our neighborhood like a couple of "old men" and I stopped to eavesdrop on their conversation. Imagine my surprise when their conversation sounded like it came out of a Charlie Brown script. They were looking up at the sky and the clouds and each one was one-upping the other on finding the most interesting shapes in the clouds. I heard the more typical - see the horse, yes, it does so look like a horse to the more esoteric - I see a warrior or some other name I didn't recognize. I walked away with a smile and was so glad to see how much these young boys were enjoying the simple things in life.

Abandoned tortoise

Monday was the church's senior luncheon day. We had a beautiful day with the fog clearing in plenty of time for a sunny barbecue atmosphere. We enjoyed a delicious chicken barbecue with home made potato salad and coleslaw followed by tasty ice cream novelty treats. There were over 60 very happy, well fed seniors. When we were leaving we noticed this very large tortoise hanging around the garden just outside the dining room door. Apparently four of these tortoises were abandoned on the road called Traffic Way (off the major highway) which leads up to our church. Two of them made it up to our church. Several people called the various animal rescue groups including 2 tortoise rescue groups. There's no room in the inn at the moment. They said that they would be fine if left alone at the church as there was plenty of food for them. The rescue groups would come get them once there was some space. Now who would do something like that?!