The Man I Remember

This is my dad, Dale Anderson. This is how I remember him most, as a younger man, fit and trim. He came home from work every day in a suit and tie and we sat at the dinner table and had meat and potatoes. Dinner was mandatory. Sunday night we watched “The Wonderful World of Disney” and “Bonanza” as a family. We did things together. He always had a project or hobby. From building a boat to fishing and camping, he was a doer. My parents belonged to couples club and VFW and every other club they heard about. My dad believed in our country and fought in the war to protect the values he cherished. He ran for public office at the age of 80 as a republican in a democrat state. He didn’t win, but he believed in trying to make a difference. He had the equivalent of two PhD’s, and his friends called him a human encyclopedia. He read massive amounts of information to produce the monthly magazine he put out for years, after retiring from the Dept of Agriculture. The highlight of his career there was helping to establish the barcode system used in grocery stores. He was accused of being the antichrist for that accomplishment! (The mark of the beast you know.) Dale Anderson passed away on 7/7/14 at the age of 91, peacefully after suffering a heart attack. Right up to the end he had projects he was trying to do, writing books and telling stories. I know he is with mom in heaven and he’s no longer blind or ill so I rejoice with him in that. I will miss him terribly, and mom, but I think I will miss the era that has passed away with this generation as much as them. The world is a different place now and many of the values they cherished are passing with them. We need to honor them and try to restore what has been lost. God Bless you Dale and Gene! I look to the day I will see you again.

Dad is installed in his broom closet

Today was the day that we have been building up to since the day my mother died, January 12, 2011. Dale Anderson entered an assisted living facility in Orlando Florida. He was like a frightened child going to his first day of school. With four mother hens setting up his room and doting on him til we walked out the door. He asked if the world was going to come to an end when we left. I’m sure he will be fine once the shock wears off and he makes a few friends. It was very difficult to pass the baton to a new group of women who will be taking care of his MANY needs. There are four nurses on staff and he has a button on his wrist he can page them with. I keep saying it takes a village to take care of him and now he is in a new one. I hope they will rise to the occasion. He calls his room a broom closet or phone booth depending on his mood. It is small, but he has an entire building with park and pool to wander around. We will wean him from our doting service, then I will be heading back to Virginia Dec 6 to try and have my own life again. God bless him and keep him safe.

Evolution of a painting

I was at a fellowship gathering  in a beautiful new log home with our church family and my dear friend had a photo  she had taken of a rowboat in some rushes. She wanted to enlarge the photo and put it over the mantle of her fireplace. I knew immediately I wanted to paint it for her and asked if I could make a stab at it. I took some photos along the way since I had never attempted a painting on canvas, especially so large (36″x48″). I should say that I have an extensive background in art with a BS in Advertising Design and a 10 year run as an Art Director for a life insurance company, but my painting experience has been on wood or watercolor paper and in very small dimensions. I have done some sign painting on 8’x20′ banners but not real art on a stretched canvas.

Anyway here are a few photos of my journey. This first picture is of the very       tight quarters I was working in. I finally moved it out of this four foot space into the living room to finish it.

This is almost finished. I still need to do some tweeking to get the grass right. I admit the photography is not very good and it was hard to get a good exposure, but I am pleased with the outcome and look forward to doing more projects like this one. I am trying to learn about the process of making giclee prints from this large painting. If anyone has any pointers on that process, I’d be delighted to learn from you. Thanks for sharing this journey with me. God Bless!

Trusting God

I have told my father I may start carting him home with me every week. Everytime I leave, something bad happens before I get back. This week I TRIED to leave and got over the Woodrow Wilson Bridge and had to turn around and go back to Maryland. The roads were closed in every direction. The capital beltway was closed on the inner and outer loop. Flash flooding was everywhere. People were stranded in buildings with water rising beneath them. I am fortunate I was able to get back to the house. I am going to brave the roads again this morning as soon as rush hour is over. The thing is, this weekend they are saying there have been terrorist threats made about Washington DC as well as New York on the 10th anniversary of 9/11. I can’t take my blind 88 year old father home with me. Whether it is natural or man made disasters threatening him, I have to trust the one who created him. God is our refuge.

I have been reading a book written in 1893 called “Touching incidents and remarkable answers to prayer” compiled by S B Shaw. The following quote on prayer is from the forward ” Prayer rises far above a mere form of words. These of themselves, are nothing. The soul of the utterer must be in them to give them life and power. God hears not my words, He hears me. I rise to Him on wings of prayer. I might recite good words forever, but unless my spirit is in them, they are nothing.” I know that God will watch over my father because my spirit is in the prayers over him. I am trusting God.

The latest drama

On my dad’s behalf, I will say that not everything that happens to him is his fault. No, Dale is not responsible for this latest drama. It is Irene that is the culprit. I am heading back to Maryland a day early this time because he is without power and there is a great deal of damage on his property. A Tulip Poplar, which is one of the larger tree varieties, has fallen in his backyard covering a large area of the yard, over the garage and right up to the back door. I’m not sure if you can even walk in the back door at all. There is no air conditioning or even a fan to stir the air so I’m not looking forward to this visit. There is no indication he is on the schedule to have power restored anytime soon. He is at the bottom of the food chain. There will be no internet or tv so I suspect I will be reading to him quite a bit.  Please  pray for his power to be restored as we can’t possibly eat all the food that will spoil, especially without a stove to cook it.  Heaven is looking very inviting these days. I am grateful for the privilege to be available to help. God is good!

Chiggers

It seems every week when I leave my 88-year-old father in excellent health and spirits, he manages to find some disturbing situation to get embroiled in. His most recent trials have included everything from raccoons invading his house, they were entering the cat door and searching for food, to squatters moving into his motor home and setting up house. When I left on Thursday he was healthy and happy. Since then I’ve had several calls from his care takers and he has chigger bites from his head to toe and everywhere in between. They have had to wash everything in the house, chairs, sheets, him and put away everything food related because they are bombing the house with insecticide. The cat has to be treated, and the homeless man (who is no longer homeless since dad has moved him into the basement) has to be scrubbed and disinfected. I am going back tomorrow and we will be going to the doctor to see if there’s any treatment that will keep his sores from getting infected. I only hope I can avoid bring this infestation home to my own house. God help us!!! There is never a dull moment in this adventure called care giving.

The journey continues

Here it is several days later and I still haven’t figured out how to post my blog to facebook. There is a big learning curve for me. I have had a full week off from being caregiver to my dad and I am feeling very refreshed. I have one more day to accomplish as much as possible. During this week off I worked on a very large painting for a friend, that will be another blog subject, (the evolution of a painting). I did a deep cleaning in the house, a calligraphy job, spent time with family (played a game of charades) and cooked, and got caught up on paperwork. Oh yeah, and I started a blog!! I think I’m ready to tackle Dad again. I’ll keep you posted on how that goes.

Here I am … Finally!

Nothing happens quickly when there are decisions to be made, and I have to make them.  Anyone that knows me very well knows I am not very decisive. When I tried to start this blog I thought “Ok, Just do it!”   My sister, who is amazing, decided to start a blog, and there it was. Just like that. I was not prepared for all the required decisions to be made. For instance, choosing a name for my site. I thought that would be easy and came up with some very creative names. Every one was already taken. It took several days to find something appropriate and so …Here I am. Then I was required to pick a theme. There are so many to choose from and they are  so interesting. Hence another delay. I decided to go ahead and post something so that I could say I actually did it. I hope it gets more attention than the Facebook page I started for my design business. It has one photo uploaded and seems so forlorn. I can visualize this amazing creative page, but of course I have to make decisions and choose which photos to take and then upload them on my sloooowww computer.  Anyway, I have made a start and  the first step is usually the hardest.