Throwback Thursday - Sister Gibson



Christine A. Gibson (1879-1955)

Sister Gibson was the Founder of Zion Bible College in East Providence, RI, in 1924.  After high school, Dot went there for, I think, one year.  I never heard Dot talk much about Zion or Sister Gibson, but evidently she made a big impression on her.

When we brought Dot to the Atrium, it was a very difficult time, and something that she had no idea we were doing.  On the day of the move-in, she was very upset and friends of ours that go to our church were there visiting a relative.  They knew how upset Dot was and before leaving they went to her room and prayed with her.  I really believe that prayer was what caused Dot to think that the Atrium was a Christian organization.  She began to talk about Sister Gibson and how she built this place for people who needed a place to live.  Even now, a year and a half later, she still talks about her and what a wonderful thing she did to build this place, how she remembers it from when she was young.  I can see her thinking; it is kind of like a dorm!  I am so thankful that she thinks that, because I can tell it is a comfort to her.

This a picture of Dot (far left) at Zion, probably around 1941 or 1942. 

The Baking Club

The Atrium, where Dot lives, has a Facebook page and posted a picture of Dot mixing batter for muffins in the Baking Club.

The caption said "Members of the Atrium's Baking Club were hard at work this morning creating scrumptious confetti cupcakes for everyone to enjoy. Dot took the lead in mixing the ingredients while telling us that baking requires exact measurements unlike cooking where you can be a bit more creative with ingredients. We are looking forward to sampling the Baking Club's latest treat."

I was so thrilled so see this. It did my heart good. I love that they are so patient and kind to the residents there. Thank God that we found The Atrium!

Throwback Thursday - 42 Oleander St.

Over the last year, since Dot moved to the Atrium, we have been very slowly breaking up her home. It has been a sad process for me. The whole family, including my Dad and my aunt Ettie, have been to the condo, choosing things that they wanted.

This past week we met with a realtor, and the process is in motion to sell her condo.

Yesterday, we moved the last of her furniture out. One of the things that I took was the highboy that was in my room at 42 Oleander St. There were so many things in Dot's condo that go back to that home, things that I remember.

I wish that I had been into blogging and scrapbooking earlier in my life. I wish I had more pictures. My aunt Dot took a lot of pictures but, like most people, they were pictures that she took of events and people. If there was a picture of a room, it was just incidental. I wish I had more pictures of the rooms at 42 Oleander St. and what was in those rooms.

I am trying to take more pictures of everyday, ordinary life. Who knows, maybe someday my kids and grandchildren will find this interesting. Or, maybe I'm just weird and they will all wonder what in the world I took these pictures for. I'm not taking any chances though!

Dot's gift from Bethany

Tonight I brought Dot a gift from our church. Bethany honored all of their "50 years and over" members last week. It was a beautiful music box. Daisy received one also.

I am so thankful that Dot has such an old friend there with her at the Atrium. They both remember "the old days."

What a busy weekend....

On Friday, 3/16, my aunt Ettie and cousin Lynda came for a visit. Friday was actually Ettie's birthday, so I decided it would be nice to have the family over for a birthday dinner.

She was surprised when we had a birthday cake.



We all had a good time together, including Dot. We never left to bring her home until after 10 p.m. and she never asked to leave. She seemed so happy to be with all of her family.



The next day, Saturday, Ettie, Lynda and I went to visit her at The Atrium.



The weather was so nice we took a walk around the grounds, and then sat in the little garden that they have. Dot immediately went to work cleaning out the flower pots, weeding, pruning, etc. I'm so happy that they have a place where she can do this. She loves it.



Dad, Marge, and Ettie stayed and had dinner with her there, and Lynda and I went out for dinner. It was nice to catch up on each other. We don't do that enough. We all had a fun time that evening visiting with Dot in her "living room." At times I wondered if we were going to be asked to leave. My family is loud. We talk loud and laugh loud. At one time, one of the residents was in her room crying out and moaning a little. Dot went to see what was going on. She entered her room (the door was open) and ended up praying for the woman. Would you believe that in minutes the woman calmed down and fell asleep. I have noticed that the residents really do look out for each other; so nice to see that.

On Sunday, we all met at The Atrium again. Ettie and Lyn were leaving around 12:30 to go home. Dad and Marge were coming to take Dot back to their house for a corned beef and cabbage dinner. Dot seemed tired, but she was still up to going to Dad's house.

On the way home, the weather was so beautiful that I called Paul and asked him if he wanted to go to the Cape for today and tomorrow (Monday is his day off). The kids were all at the St. Patrick's Day Parade. Surprisingly he said yes, so we packed an overnight bag and off we went.

We stayed in Eastham at the Town Crier where we had stayed last year. The Cape was beautiful and warm enough that we were able to drive with the windows down.

The next day we headed up to the Provincetown area and went to Herring Cove Beach and Race Point Beach. The weather, again, was beautiful and the light was gorgeous. At Herring Cove Beach there were whales out by that NOAA boat. In this picture you can see two black dots on either side of the boat. Those are whales. We were told that they were Right and Humpback whales.



We worked our way back down the Cape, driving by all of our old haunts. What a fun day it was. Such a spur of the moment mini vacation.

Here are some pictures from today.



















P.S. More post offices. Be prepared - we went by a lot of post offices on the Cape!

East Sandwich


West Barnstable


Cummaquid


Yarmouth Port


Dennis


North Eastham


North Chatham


Chatham


Harwich Port


Dennisport


West Yarmouth


As I said, what a busy weekend!

Visiting Dot

Paul, Mason and I went to The Atrium to visit Dot tonight. She loves it when I bring Mason. It takes him a little while to warm up to her, but by the end of the visit he is talking and laughing with her. He always gives her hugs and kisses when we leave, and then he waves at the door to all of the other residents. They all seem to light up when he comes. Who doesn't love a toddler, especially one as cute as Mason!

Wednesday

Well, today I forgot to take a picture! Back in November when I got laid off I decided to take a picture of something that I did for the first year of my "retirement."

No picture...but it was a pretty normal Wednesday ~

- The Atrium called saying that Dot was quite anxious about wanting to leave there, she wanted to go for a walk and could we come and take her out for awhile? So, Paul and I went there and went for a walk with her. It was such a beautiful day, high 61degrees. Maybe she had Spring fever and just wanted to go for a walk by herself. She used to do that all the time at her home. Then we took her for a ride to get Mason at Junie's daycare. We got her home just in time for dinner. She seemed fine going back.

- Prims with Mason. He hasn't been there for a few weeks because Mark was on Christmas break. It's going to take a few weeks to get him back to where he doesn't want to be held the whole night.

- I should have taken a picture of Miss Pat. Her birthday was last Sunday. She turned 70! You would never know it. She is a very young 70. It must be because she is around kids so much. In addition to doing Prims, she also is a substitute teacher for 1st grade on Sunday, works in Super Church, and teaches Junior Bible Quiz. Happy Birthday Miss Pat!

Holiday Party at the Atrium

Tonight we went to the Annual Holiday Party at the Atrium. There was a holiday buffet, and then entertainment with a piano player and a saxophone player. We were also served from the dessert cart as we were enjoying the music. A lot of the residents were wearing various types of Happy New Year hats. It was very festive. It seemed so nice to see them interacting with their families. It was also nice to be able to meet family members of the some of the residents that we are getting to know. I just can't say enough about the Atrium.

Singing Christmas Tree

Tonight Paul, Marley and I went to the Singing Christmas Tree at Bethany.

This is the 37th year of the tree, and every year is different. This production was wonderful, with a lot of drama telling the story of Christ's birth. We have been bringing Marley since 2004.



As is our tradition, we went to Friendly's for sundaes afterwards. Marley had her usual "Build a Snowman" sundae. It was kind of weird in Friendly's tonight. Usually we go on the first night, a Friday night, and there are a lot of people from the tree there. Tonight, no one from church was at Friendly's, maybe because it was the last night and they were all tired, or maybe because it was a school night. It was still fun, but I missed the excitement of everyone coming in from the tree.



Back to the first Friday next year!!

Also......

Paul and I went to a Holiday Cookie Social at The Atrium.



They had homemade Christmas cookies and eggnog. They also had a little concert with a piano player singing Christmas Carols. Dot seemed to enjoy it, although she kept asking me how come I knew about this and she didn't. I just said maybe she was in her room when they announced it! That seemed to satisfy her.



The Atrium really goes all out to try to give their residents as good a life as they are able to enjoy, and I am thankful for that.

Ettie's visit with Dot, Day 2

Last night Kristen brought Marley over to visit Dot, etc. and today Mark brought Mason. We had our own little "living room" all to ourselves.




We all really had a good time together. There were a lot of laughs and, when leaving, a lot of tears. I hope that we can do this many more times for Dot and Ettie.

Ettie's visit with Dot, Day 1

My aunt Esther (I call her Ettie) came for a quick visit with Dot this weekend. She lives in Delaware, about 6 hours away, and doesn't make the drive by herself anymore, so her daughter-in-law Tammy brought her up.

Dot has been doing very well lately. She hasn't packed up her room or taken down her pictures in quite a while. Well.........today when we got there she said she was all packed up to go home...and she was. Pictures off the wall, closet empty, bathroom toiletries packed up. I couldn't believe it. I felt so bad for Ettie; I wanted her to see how well Dot was adjusting.

It was fleeting, though. They came around to get them into the dining room for snack, and by the time snack was over, Tammy and I had put her whole room back together, and Dot never mentioned it again for the rest of the weekend.

My family has always been known for being loud. Even when I was a kid my grandmother would go around shutting the windows in the summer because "what are the neighbors going to think." When my aunts and my father get together, we are loud. This evening during sing-a-long, we all got laughing because my dad and Esther were really getting into singing, but they couldn't hear the music well and were a couple of beats ahead of the music, which made the rest of us laugh. I think we were the entertainment for the whole place!



It was a good day!

Dot, Joe and Mason at the Atrium

We brought Mason to see Dot tonight. She and her friend Joe got quite a kick out of him. At first he was very shy but he came around eventually and even sat on Dot's lap.





When we left he gave Dot a big hug and kiss, blew Joe a kiss, and on the way out waved and said "Goodbye". I think everyone in the room had a smile on their face when we left. He sure is a sweetie!

Dot's birthday

Today is my aunt Dot's birthday, and we had a party for her at The Atrium. She has been there for 3 1/2 months and is doing really well. She seemed so happy to see everyone today.


Her best friend Steph came.




My whole family was there and our good friends Linda and Ralph.






We sang "Happy Birthday" and she blew out her candles.




The rest of the residents came in to have cake and celebrate with her.




She opened her presents and cards, and Steph read her cards to her.




We all went to see her room, and then we visited in the "living room."








Mason entertained us all with his "motorcross moves."





I was so happy to see Dot so happy. I love The Atrium. They have been so good to her there.

Happy Birthday Dot!