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Lack of Enthusiasm

It is a pleasant Sunday morning. We arrived at Chautauqua around 3:00 yesterday afternoon. I had planned for us to get away a little earlier and have lunch at the Italian Fisherman at Bemus Point on the lake. It turned out that Kate was very tired. She had gone to bed just before 10:00 the night before and didn’t wake up until 8:45. She showered, ate a muffin I had brought to her, and got back into bed. She remained there until I got her up at 11:50 since check out time was noon.

The chattiness (that is an overstatement) of the previous night was gone. She didn’t say much until we got here. After we got to the apartment, she rested until time for dinner. After dinner, we took a short walk around the area, and I pointed out several places where we had stayed before. She was enjoying herself for the first time that day. She commented on the beauty of the place and how nice it was to be here. We talked about how much Chautauqua had meant to both of us over the years.

Last night’s entertainment was a performance of the Respighi’s L’Orfeo. Kate had planned on going and seemed excited (another overstatement) about going. About 7:30, she asked me if it would be all right if she skipped the opera. I told her it would. She went to bed before 8:00. She got up about 8:30 this morning. I had gotten her a muffin and orange juice. She ate the muffin and drank most of the juice. She worked on her iPad for a few minutes. Then she went back to bed. She has seemed very tired and hasn’t wanted to talk or for me to talk.

We have the Sunday morning church service at 10:45 a.m. We have always attended this service and plan to do so this morning although she has expressed no special excitement about being here or attending the service. I hope that she will find herself getting in to the spirit of things once the service begins.

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Sleep Again

About an hour ago, Kate woke up and ate a muffin along with some juice I had brought up for her. Then she went back to sleep where she is still resting. I woke her up a couple of minutes ago and told her it was about time for us to leave. She asked that I give her a few more minutes. I plan to wake her in the next fifteen minutes, and we’ll be on our way to Chautauqua via Bemus Point and the Italian Fisherman.

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Very Good Night’s Sleep

It is now 10:30 a.m. Kate is sleeping soundly. She got in bed last night before 10:00 and went to sleep quickly. She did awaken when I got in bed closer to 11:00. She was up around around 8:45 and took a shower. After the shower, she returned to bed. I waited on her for a while so that we could both go down to breakfast at our hotel. She was sleeping so well that I finally went down to breakfast on my own. When I returned, she was dressed but back in bed asleep. Check out time is noon; so I am going to let her sleep a while longer.

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A Good Day (10:36 pm)

I am writing from our hotel room in Buffalo, NY. We have had a long but leisurely trip from Knoxville. Kate was up early this morning and ready for Panera at 7:30. I had been up since 5:18 and had a walk. I was then taking care of those things that have to be done at the last minute. She wasn’t dressed exactly the way I had intended. I told her I would like for her to change the pants she was wearing. She was quite agreeable,

As it turned out, it worked out well that she was ready so early. That enabled us to get to Panera early and relax before leaving for the airport about 9:50. Our flight left on time. We had a planned layover of three hours in Atlanta. Our flight was delayed fifty minutes waiting on the incoming flight. That meant virtually four hours in the airport. We had nice lunch and then spent the balance of our time on our iPads.

When we arrived in Buffalo, we came directly to the hotel and checked into our room. We got a recommendation of a place to eat from a man at the front desk. We ate at Bravo Cucina. It was a good meal but not great. What made the whole thing special was that Kate was more talkative than I have seen her in a while. She talked about mostly about our marriage. She spoke about how fortunate we have been and how we recognized our good fortune. She also talked about the travel we had done and what a wide variety of travel experiences we had had. She said she was tired and would go right to bed when we got back to the hotel. She was right about that. She is sound asleep right now.

Tomorrow morning we will take it easy. I intend for us to have a light breakfast either here at the hotel or at a Starbucks that is across the parking lot. We are planning to stop for lunch at the Italian Fisherman at Bemus Point on Chautauqua Lake. We have done this each of the past four or five times we have come to Chautauqua.

Kate said several times that we are off to a good start on this trip to Chautauqua. I couldn’t agree more. I hope the balance of the trip goes as well.

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Pulling Leaves, Plants and Strange Behavior

We are now approaching the middle of the summer, and we have not made a trip to Lowe’s for plants. Last year and the year before we were making such trips almost twice weekly. The last time Kate expressed an interest was during the winter. We went there but found they didn’t have much and said they would start getting things in late February. On several occasions, I have asked Kate if she would like to go. She has said with a groan, “Not now.” I have even suggested that she might want to put some plants in the pots beside the spa as well as some others for the patio and front porch. She has unenthusiastically agreed that it would be nice but has never picked up it so as to take action. I take this as a critical sign in the progression of her illness. It is equivalent to her giving up her computer (email, Facebook, and finally, her photobooks). Fortunately, she is still pulling leaves although our recent weather has meant that she comes in after being outside for a short time. It also means for showers and changes of clothes.

I have also made a change. I am no longer suggesting that she wear work clothes outside. I just let her wear whatever she has on when she decides to pull leaves.

I have mentioned several strange behaviors of Kate’s, but I don’t think I have mentioned that she has been taking paper napkins from the restaurants we frequent. At first, she was doing this to have them in the car when she might need something for her salivation problem. Now, however, she is tearing them up (along with the paper towels she has used in the house) and put them in a basket in the garage. It is similar to her collecting hickory nuts and putting them in the basket on our island. The big difference is that she is using the nuts as a decorative effect. I didn’t realize what she was doing at first. I thought she was tearing up napkins to put in her compost. When checked the compost, I didn’t find any. I do find an occasional Dr. Pepper can and yogurt containers as well as the tops of the containers. I haven’t asked her to explain why she is doing this. She wouldn’t remember. On at least two occasions, I have been walking out the door of the kitchen on the way to the car when she starts to take a yogurt container to the compost. In those instances, I have pointed out that they go in recycling and not the compost.

The combination of the increasing problems she is having with her puzzles on the iPad and the heat is that she seems to be more restless (behaviorally speaking). What I mean is that she spends a little time at Panera until her frustration pushes her to go home. Then she works outside for a little while until she gets hot. That is exactly what has happened this morning. We were at Panera for a little less than an hour between 9:00 and 10:00. We went home where she pulled leaves. She came in and took a shower. She came into the family room where I was writing this post for my journal and said, “Are you coming?” She was ready to go back to Panera. That is where we are right now. It is 11:19 a.m. I think we will just work a while on our devices until around noon when we will have lunch. Then I imagine we will go back home. I feel sure she will pull leaves a while until we are back here since we don’t have any other plans until 5:00 when we have a visitation for a former neighbor.

In the car on the way over here, she pointed to her cup that was sitting in the cupholder and motioned to me as a way of asking if it were all right for her to take a drink. When we parked at Panera, she did the same thing only this time she was asking if she should take her cup into Panera, something we do every time we come here.