‘A Man Named Pearl’, ‘The Diving Bell and the Butterfly’, Bethany Village visit

(posted from home)
(This post covers 4 – 8 May, 2009)

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Friday, 8 May-

Today I was working away on some office stuff when Labashi asked if I’d like to go to lunch at the Bethany Village retirement home—she had received tickets in the mail. The home sponsors a brunch every few weeks to introduce prospective customers to some of the residents of the home and today happened to be the day. We would be able to ask any questions we like of the residents.
Labashi has been doing quite a lot of research on the local facilities and facilities in Michigan for her parents and for us to better understand how the plans work.
Our visit today was an excellent one. After lunch the marketing person and six residents gave short talks and then opened up the floor to questions. Afterwards we joined an impromptu tour of an apartment, then had a personal tour of the parts of the facility further along the continuum-of-care line, i.e., the assisted-living and skilled-care facilities. We came away impressed and with a very good sense of what the residents and staff are like.
We didn’t get home until almost supper time and talked over our impressions. And of course Labashi took copious notes and generated even MORE questions. Pretty soon she’ll know what brand of detergent they use in their laundry service and whether they buy it in large or small containers!
That evening we watched more ‘Corner Gas’.

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Thursday, 7 May-

After a morning on the web, I had to get out on the Concours. I rode down to Gander Mountain, hoping to find a specific holster but of course they don’t have any left-handed ones. I hit the nearby Wal-mart for some covers for the motorcycles on the way home. I then walked my standard four-mile out-and-back route along the creek. The leg tolerated it but did swell a bit. I’ll have to get back into the swing of things slowly. Fortunately I have no pain and the xrays came back clear of any indication of a bone chip or bone problem. The lump looks like another knee cap, only an inch lower and an two inches to the left of the real one.
That evening we watched ‘Survivor’ then the DVD extras to “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly”.

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Wednesday, 6 May-

We had a bit of a break in the rain today and took advantage of it to get the lawn back in control. Labashi began mowing the lawn, thinking she’d have it all to do because of my tender leg. I thought I’d see how the leg reacts to all the walking and soon found I could mow with no problem. She did the upper section, I did the lower. That was about the right amount of activity for the leg, though. I was starting to feel it at the end.
I spent the afternoon working on a letter for the estate project.
That evening we watched ‘The Diving Bell and Butterfly’ by director Julian Schnabel. It’s the story of a French man who has a stroke, leading to a rare condition called ‘locked-in syndrome’. He was paralyzed and could hear and think just fine but he could not speak and could communicate only by blinking an eye. A therapist came up with the idea of speaking letters of the alphabet (in most-commonly-used sequence) and he’d blink when she came to the right letter. Using that frustrating and exhausting process, he dictated a book about his life. His book became a best-seller in France.
Director Schnabel and cinematographer Janusz Kaminski won multiple awards, including Oscar nominations. Very highly recommended. Note: the film is in French with English subtitles.

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Tuesday, 5 May –

Rain, rain, and more rain the last few days. Once again we woke to a foggy morning followed by a persistent light rain most of the day. The lawn needs mowing but it won’t be today!
I spent the day working on estate stuff, preparing to sell a house (that ought to be interesting in this economy).
That evening we watched ‘A Man Named Pearl’, a very nice little documentary about a Bishopville, South Carolina man, Pearl Fryar. Mr. Fryar decided he’d transform his property by taking discarded plants from the local nursery and turning them into topiaries. His vision and dedication to his project are incredible. And we learn something important about ourselves as we watch the film. Highly recommended.

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Monday, 4 May-

This morning I found my leg looked a little better though I’m not sure I didn’t just have better light to examine it. Yesterday I had done some internet searches about my problem last night which warned of the possibility of blood clots. I decided I’d better see my doctor—just in case.
My doctor said the bump appears to be a simple hematoma and the discoloration of my lower leg comes from the blood and other fluids which drain down from it by gravity. The bump will slowly re-absorb but he sent me for an xray to rule out a bone chip or some skeletal problem. I drove to the x-ray facility from my doctor’s office and had two x-ray views of the problem taken.
That rainy afternoon I caught up and posted my long-delayed blog entry.
That evening we watched two episodes of ‘Corner Gas- Season 2’.

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