Miss Nancy, Mrs. Egbert, Nana, Mom (Part 3)

Mum loved music and Pike Lake in Minnesota. 

 Going places was something she enjoyed doing. Homer, Seward, Juneau, Anchorage, and points south!

 Mum's dog was incredibly important to her. Obi now lives with his new furever friend, Colleen. (he is also losing weight!)

 Sports were important to Nancy. Baseball, hockey, Rodeos, the Olympics, Curling, Golf, Ninja Warrior, and even gator hunting all things she loved to watch. We had a baseball game for her in 2017. (follow the link!)

Miss Nancy, Mrs. Egbert, Nana, Mom (Part 4)

Most of the photos of Nancy from 2018 were not very good. They can be found on the blog in different posts-This was Mom's Day in 2017.

 Mom got some help planting flowers from Rose. A woman she loved very much.

 Lucy took us to Anchorage for some tests mom needing and we stopped and visited with Jim and Nedra. (I'm not sure I spelled that correctly, I often don't....)

 Steve came up to visit in May of that year, Jon came up in September.

 Nancy absolutely loved to get presents! She was so excited last Christmas when a box arrived from Aunt Darlene!

 Minus her new teeth, but feeling fairly chipper, after one of her hospital stays at the end of this summer. (We had a tree fall, mom said it 'whomped')

Autumn Reflections

I've used this photo in a previous post, but it from the Kenai library parking lot and is a beautiful picture of fall leaves! 

Obi has eclectic taste buds. He'll eat veggies, fruit, meat, anything that falls to the floor, and nasturtiums! 

It seems one night Obi barked like crazy for a reason. It seems there was a moose altercation of some sort. Notice the bench is still in place, but the capstone from on top of the brick was knocked clear! 

The photos below are of one evening, around 645, out on the lake. 

 The North Kenai Methodist church has a resident moose. I didn't get close to it, it just looks that way! I was in the car for the first picture. I was outside the car for the second one.

It is wonderful what I can see now! Fall is brighter and so are words and all sorts of things out there. 

Last Days

I wasn't sure I wanted to add these pictures. Some of them might be disturbing, but well, they won't go on a facebook link! 

Mum lost ground quickly. This first photo is from September 15, about 10 days before she died. 

It was decided she needed to eat pureed foods. This meant they took the food, pureed it, then molded it into what it should have been. Mum said the potatoes and gravy were about the best things she'd been offered. The pancake was awful! The 'meat' was also dubious. Pureed and reformed sausage is just wrong. 

Mum's hens and chicks were budding, I sent the plant home with Janet to see if she could coax it into bloom. She does have quite a few chickens.....

Sunrise on the way to the hospital during a road construction stop. Mom would be impressed or maybe dismayed at the work they've done. 

Below is from the 21st. She'd moved to needing oxygen and was fighting every breath of the way to live. 

                                     
Her room was always full of visitors. The nurses were amazed at how many people knew her. Even some of the nursing staff knew her personally. One woman helped train Obi, another was, I think, the grandchild of one of mom's good friends from days gone by. There were lovely moments with each visitor. Below is a very old friend. Nikki and mom used to fish together ages ago. Nikki has Alzheimer and she remembered mom and they shared stories as best they could with bad hearing and an oxygen mask.

 Mom's body was full of liquid, they decreased her hydration, but she couldn't get rid of the water very well. Her legs were where it started. This arm also ended up with a blood clot.

 After mom was gone, I found this plate on a car next to mine in the parking lot. I'm not sure it is accurate, but it was comforting.

Aunt Darlene and Erin came up for a couple of days. Erin has photos of all of us, but she's not sent them to me yet. I'll share those once they arrive. It was incredibly lovely to have them here, they were such a tremendous help. Aunt Darlene stayed at the hospital and then the two of them helped move mom's yard stuff into storage for the winter.  

 Here is my cousin Erin residing on a log. The tide was really high on this evening and we even took Obi to the beach. He really liked Erin!

 JaLeen and Janet have been out several times, I managed to get a couple of very bad photos of Obi and JaLeen, this was the best of them. Obi is now with his new furever friend, Colleen.

As I was out and about this last week, I noticed mom's shoes were still on the front porch (it is the front door, but no one uses it as much as the back door). I'm trying to walk in her shoes, not to fill them, cuz I can't, but to walk a path close to hers and it has been a great deal of work. I'm fortunate for those angels around me who have helped. My sister and mom's church and my friends and my family. 

Nancy Mae Egbert

Above is a link to her obituary. 

September Stuff

We have had some stunning weather this month. Lots of sunshine and stellar sunsets. 

 I've eaten salads and dinners outside, although many more meals have been in the hospital cafeteria.

There is a salmon outside the window of her hospital room, thankfully, most of the other animals around are less metallic in their makeup. . 

Our fireweed is beautiful this fall. Normally, we see the leaves turn red and then the plants get ugly in the autumn rains. This year it has been dry, allowing the herb to keep the fire theme from flower to frost. 

I had a chance to watch waterfowl on Bishop Lake and earlier the same evening, I saw beluga playing just off the mouth of the Kenai. (there is a beluga count this weekend. There are only about 300 in the Inlet now.) 

In spite of moose season, there are any number of the creatures roaming around. I've been privileged to see cows with calves and even a young bull. 

Our local forecasts have heralded a change in the weather starting this weekend. I reckon our summer is almost over and is about to reach an end. In hindsight, I can honestly say it was a season to remember. I wonder what is around the corner???