what i did on my summer vacation, part 2

while we stayed at Uncle Wayne and Aunt Sue's house, i got the opportunity to go see my Gramma (Corinne) Douillet, my mom's mom. she'd been in a nursing home for many years, with senile dementia, as well as a number of other problems. she was basically noncommunicative, though she did respond to the environment around her somewhat. when we walked in the room she lit up and became very animated for a few moments- she seemed very excited. the first thought that went through my head was that i look very much like her husband (my Grampa (Roger) Douillet, my mom's dad). but who knows, it's just as likely that she recognized my mom, or even me for that matter. i know she didn't recognize Loren, he'd never met her before, and her condition probably kept her from recognizing him in any pictures she might have been shown. Gramma took a turn for the worse while we were there, the day after the following pictures were taken, and never recovered from that. she passed away a few days ago. i'm really happy her suffering is over, and that i got to see her before she died, and that Mom did, and that Loren got to meet her too. i got to say goodbye to her, as it was at least somewhat likely she would be gone before i could get back to NY. it had been 15 years since the last time i was in NY, and more like 20 since i'd seen her- never thought she'd pass away a week after we left though. i want to mention how very much we all appreciate the care and attention Aunt Sue gave Gramma for her years in the nursing home, despite having serious health complications of her own. she's made of some serious stuff! i truly doubt i'd be as strong as her faced with similar circumstances. Gramma was, and the rest of us are, very lucky to have her.

these are some of the better shots i took in the nursing home, made even more precious since they're the last ones i had the opportunity to take. they may be the last ones anyone took, unless Aunt Sue took some during the week after my family left for camp. none of the pictures i took in the nursing home came out great- the lighting wasn't good, i was still figuring out the new camera, and i didn't want to disturb Gramma with the flash too much- but thankfully some things are somewhat correctable with decent software.

2005.07.01.19.06 (NY time until further notice)
Mom kissing Gramma on the forehead. i really like this shot.


2005.07.01.19.07
closeup of Mom and Gramma- see the resemblance?


2005.07.01.19.10
four generations. this will remain the only picture of Loren and Gramma. and it's the only one i know of with Gramma and me.


2005.07.01.19.17
Aunt Sue opening Gramma's curtains



as always, the full size pics are available to anyone that wants 'em. i'll send 'em on request. when i get everything assimilated i'll burn it all to CD and then i can make copies of that easily. i'm not going to crow about my online photo album (or should i call it my offline photo album?) until i'm sure it's up and running again, which takes outside help, because XP handles local traffic (read: from my computer) differently than it does outside traffic. there's no way to check if it's working from here. there was a window last night when it was working for someone 70 miles from here, and i haven't changed the setup at all, but the contents of the folders displayed has changed. it would be stupid to have to re-create the folder structure every time something in it changed, and i don't believe that to be the case....so i'm still working on it. growlz.

that's all for now i guess. editing these pictures has burned a lot of daylight. i'm feeling a lot better (been sick all week) so i'm going to try to put a dent in the chores for awhile.

more later when i have time to go through more pictures. only about 20 or 30 more to go through before i get to posting some from camp. then there's about 650 of those to go through....


PEACE OUT