We stopped at Starbucks on our way over to visit Til on Saturday, picking up a jumbo oreo cookie crumble mocha frappacino and a slice of lemon cake for Til! She absolutely loved the drink! We hooked her up on a facetime call with Merry, who sadly initially did not recognize her. Once she realized they were sisters the two chatted for almost an hour! Til kept describing little T Rex’s antics to Merry who replied that she knew all about Rex as she sees him all the time! (zoom meetings every Tuesday & Friday) Chris went to Chipotle at noon & got us each burrito bowls for lunch. Again, Til was delighted!

Chris & I toured two memory care facilities in Corvallis in the afternoon. Absolutely love Regent Court. A truly lovely cozy facility with only 24 residents per wing. Very, very nice place! Willamette Springs was the total opposite, and a clear No way in hell would we move Til there.

Sunday morning Anna & Tim are taking Til to the UU church so I’m doing laundry (much needed!). I’ve ordered Thai delivery for lunch for the five of us! And picked up a vanilla cupcake with rainbow sprinkles for Til to enjoy later!

Our gourmet plein aire luncheon was a lot of fun! We sat outside on the shady patio with pleasant breezes. Pupster again providing endless amusement! We stopped at the pet store & bought Rex his very own frosty mug of beer to enjoy at happy hour!

We got up at 7 east coast time (4am local!) to try to get ahead of the traffic, a plan that worked beautifully! We arrived at Peters Creek just after breakfast finished and presented Merry with a large caramel frappacino! We wandered back to her room with Rex and had a great visit until lunchtime when we left for camp.

Alzheimers is a bitch. Merry’s memory is really dropping off a cliff. She didn’t remember Tom was her husband, then asked if he was dead. She doesn’t know what zoom calls are, or that we have them twice a week. She (or someone) had unplugged her Nixplay photo frame so I restarted it. She didn’t remember she had one. She is delighted with her music box, but had forgotten it existed. She can only walk about 10 feet before getting exhausted & sitting on her walker pushing herself backwards down the hall. She has to stop & rest partway to her room.

On Tuesday we went to Carnation & snagged breakfast at Starbucks the took the little woof over to Snoqualmie Falls! Simply breathtaking!!! Exquisite!!! We took the nature hike thru the rain forest too! The floof was in heaven sniffing everything!

Then it was off to Peters Creek to do Merry’s zoom call & get thai food delivered for lunch! After a pleasant plein aire lunch on the patio we & Rex returned to Tolt MacDonald campground for a nice long stroll along the Tolt river!

There is another disturbing aspect that we are dealing with – Merry’s room reeks of piss & poo, and needs a good dusting. The pad in her lift chair was soiled also. There has been no change in Merry’s toileting needs, but clearly the level of care at Peters Creek is slipping. We contacted Brandie (she worked here until last year when she was promoted & sent to Oregon) to ask what we should do as we don’t want anyones nose getting bent out of joint and taking it out on Merry.

Wednesday we did another Starbucks frappacino for Merry and went thru her photo albums with her, reminding her who each person was and telling her the stories of her life! She was wearing the adorable mint green compression socks dotted with pink flamingos! I always say socks should be FUN!

At lunchtime Rex and we wandered over to the park by the bridge and walked the trails. The verges had wild lupine & foxglove blooming along with daisies, buttercups, and hedges of wild roses! The glacier melt rivers ran fast & deep, burbling over rocky sandbars! Very nourishing for the weary soul.

Our final morning with Merry we brought her an oreo cookie crumble frappacino and a double chocolate brownie! She was tickled to see us again and I was thrilled to see her wearing another pair of the cute compression socks I had bought her – little red foxes!

We also got to meet her palliative care nurse Margaret – such a sweet, funny, bubbly person! Kind of reminds of how Merry was. She will be so good for her! We felt really reassured that she is in good hands. ❤️ We said goodbye and slipped out so Maria & Margaret could take care of Merry. Tomorrow we start heading back east, taking the northern route for a change. It’s been a good visit with both Til and Merry.