Tag Archives: vist with my husband at the nursing home

Tuesday 9-29-2026

@slhoffman23 – “The Fine Art of Winging It” – Substack

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I have had a varied day today.

It started out with Ugly American not only being at the gym, but right beside me on the treadmill. He put his phone on the treadmill screen, then constantly messed with either the phone or the treadmill the entire time. It was more than distracting. I’m really trying not to get hostile and blow him out of the water, but it’s hard. Brian was referring to him as my ‘gym buddy’ on the way home, smiling.

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Our visit with Harvey was really challenging today. He didn’t know who I was, but was bragging about sharing his bed with one of my long time friends from Arkansas. He thought Brian was his brother, Bill. Harvey made no sense whatsoever the whole time we there there today. He insisted we turn off the air conditioner, take all the pillows off the bed, and kept talking about going home – though one time that was Tulsa, where we haven’t lived for over 50 years, another time that was a lake in Georgia, another time that was AR, but clearly didn’t realize we no longer had the shop there. Brian brought him an orange drink, which he drank. He bought him two really expensive magazines, but Harvey just told us to store them so we would have them when we left. We told his nurse that she needed to watch for him trying to ‘flee,’ and explained why the pillows and covers were off the bed. It was a depressing visit. I’m not even sure he was glad to see us today.

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I wore my new tee to visit Harvey. I just love the design and workmanship on it.

I had a great time at the cafe today. When I got there this afternoon, there was a ‘reserved’ sign on my favorite spot, so I started toward the back. My favorite server stopped me, indicating he had put that there for ME!

Can you believe it? I felt so special! I had a good time sketching. I finished one and started a second.

Here is the one I finished –

This man with the cart stopped in front of a shop, went in, and came out with an armful of ‘stuff’ he added to the cart. From the look of things, I THINK he’s gathering recyclables. It was obvious that he walks miles down the street, gathering things, then takes his cart, and then comes back for more. Enterprising, hard-working man. I just hope he has a tarp to protect his ‘finds’ for when the rain starts to come down…”

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I had another power blip overnight, so I was having to turn my air filters on again, reboot my computer, etc. first thing this morning. It’s been rainy here, but we haven’t had the awful flooding that Bangkok is experiencing.

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Purr.in.ink

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Saturday 8-29-2026

This makes my heart sing.

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I just got back from sketching at the cafe. It rained like crazy for a while, and then, when it let up, I made my way home. Brian texted me after I got to my place, telling me to look out the window. There was a gorgeous rainbow!

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We went to visit Harvey at the nursing home this morning. I think I told you before that each visit is different. After all the glowing reports and pictures from the staff there yesterday, Harvey had forgotten all of that happened. We had to show him the pictures, and then he only looked confused. He was talking about throwing the suction machine (he calls it the torture machine) out the window again and burning it. He also talked about burning down a house he can see from his bed. When I asked him why, he said, “Because it’s there.” He also said he was going to “wreck Walmart.” when we asked him why, he never answered us. He did ask to see my sketches, so that was something good, and he WAS comfortable and calm, other than wanting to be an arsonist….

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Here are the sketches I finished today –

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I did well at the gym this morning. I was able to walk my mile on the treadmill without holding on to the handlebars. It felt good, too. My energy lasted until we were on the way home from visiting Harvey, then I was like a deflated balloon, almost falling asleep in the GRAB. I took a nap when I got home before going to the cafe. I’m HOPING that my change in thyroid hormone dosage is beginning to make a difference, but it may just be my HOPING that is fooling me. Anyway, it was good to feel energetic until noon…

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