It's me again, summarizing my summer.

I am still passionate about visiting cemeteries (so far just one) to take pictures for www.findagrave.com   I go there before I visit my mother in a nursing home not far from there. She is on a unit for patients with advanced alzheimers. I swear that going to the cemetery keeps me sane. Yesterday, a lady was actively hallucinating about being on a boat, or at least near water. She was calling to some fishermen.  My 81-year-old father visits her 6-7 days a week. I am touched by his love and loyalty, but I am glad that he only stays for a short time. It drains the life out you, really. As a student nurse, I worked on a psych unit 20+ years ago. It wasn't really the 'snake pit', but it was before they had the new drugs that they have now.  As heartbreaking and frightening as it was to see people in that state, the alzheimer's unit is worse because these were people who probably functioned normally their entire lives. These are people who were lucky enough to live to old age and be mostly mobile, but yet were cheated.

Our new dog, Oreo (also known as Puppy, Little One, Oreo Puchini) is doing well. She still needs work with her housebreaking now that it is colder and I can't just leave the door open. She is fighting less with Juice. She is not chewing things that don't belong to her as much. She is very affectionate! Unfortunately, something went wrong with her socialization. She treats us like she treats other dogs: She greets us by sinking her teeth into us. There is no aggression, only tail-wagging, so I know she means well. We are working on it. Adopting dogs from shelters is so rewarding. There might be another whippet in our future, though.