Many of my readers know that I once in a while write about my great-aunt Margot, who is 93. I am her caretaker and she had to move into an elderly home after a severe stroke and heart attack last summer. She is an awesome woman and I write about her because she is a huge part of my private life. So once in a while I share.

This week I went to visit aunt Margot, it is always a quite long trip as she lives about 4 1/2 hours away from here. When I arrived she was still taking her nap after lunch and so I had my usual meeting with the nurses first to talk about how she is doing, what her needs are and so on. So one of the nurses, who is organizing a lot of the social activities told me that aunt Margot is doing well, is very much-loved and that she is participating in a lot of those events. And then she told me that at a music gathering they took out my aunt’s guitar as she was talking so much that she wants to play guitar. And that aunt Margot was sitting there all of a sudden and didn’t know anymore how to play, and how she helplessly let her hands sink, the guitar still on her lap and said “I don’t know…I don’t know how to do this anymore”….and how this made her really upset. The nurse told me I should rather pack the guitar and take it with me as to not have this happening again.

I cannot even tell you how sad this made me. It felt as if someone had punched me hard into my stomach – I instantly started to tear up and I think that of all the things she has forgotten the last couple months, this made me the saddest. Ever since she was a teenager, she had played guitar. Her guitar and her- inseparable. There are gazillions of photos of her and her friend – later with her husband – doing bicycle tours – the guitar on the back -photos of her playing – memories of mine of many many family parties of her playing her guitar.

The photo above was taken at a friend of mine in 1996 where she just picked up his electric guitar and started playing. Just the thought of how she must have felt in that very moment made me sad.

So I went into her room and after lots of hugging and talking and laughing – I realized her guitar case in the corner. She followed my look and then she said: “ohh we had a thing last week and I played guitar – we had so much fun!”

I looked at her and she was all happy and told me of the songs she played and how she still knows them all and the lyrics to the songs too.

How can I have possible taken the guitar case with me at this moment?

What can I say…I just hope that she really doesn’t know that she forgot what she once knew!

have a wonderful day

hugs

Nat

After CHA I went to Santa Barbara on the tiniest plane (will show picture later) aka Barbie Jet ever. My hubs had left Hamburg earlier in January to work there and I was going to visit him for 3 days He picked me up at the tiniest airport ever – when I sent a short message “landed” , he replied with “I know- I can see you” – and that was not a joke- LOL. When I came out of the plane I saw him at the gate.

I love California- I am a summer and sun girl…looking out of the window to this…makes me happy!

3 days filled with the beach

yummie meals with and without friends and family

awesome street art which was even more awesome up close

and funky stuff

and some shopping for head bands and earrings

and sightseeing in the old court house of Santa Barbara

indulging the jurassic park feeling aka- vegetation

and did I mention beach? …

and a road trip to the mountain town Ojai – loved it

Visiting the coolest bookshop I have ever been to: Bart’s Books- which is in and out-side at the same time

spending time with cousin Beth and hubs

oh…and did I mention the beach?

And then it was time to leave Santa Barbara on my little Barbie jet again

to start a torture journey- which I didn’t know of at the beginning. As there was ice and snow in Frankfurt and the trip ended in a 27 hour trip with cancelled flights and 5 1/2 hour train trips in the end…and ….luggage that took 3 days to get home

here is the iced window of the plane we were waiting for kick off for an hour before they cancelled that one too and we had to leave the plane again. But in the end…who cares…LOL- I am home, I had an amazing time and it is good to be home with kitty and hubs…well technically speaking I am right now when you read this again in Frankfurt to work at Paperworld Convention…this time with carry on luggage…might be better

What was the smallest airport you have ever been to?

Have a gorgeous weekend

Nat

Not to lead you wrong with my title- but I kid you not, that was the sentence that Birgit and I heard most on the hop on-hop off bus we went on for sightseeing in Hollywood. It was hilarious, essentially there is also a Celebrity GPS…oh well… We didn’t see one celebrity although we were in all the “perfect” streets LOL.

I am so glad Birgit convinced me to get in a day earlier and do a little sightseeing day together. We had so much fun together. We stopped at Mel’s Dinner – love the interior!

We indulged in a huge breakfast after we traveled almost 24 hours and then woke up the first time at 11pm after going to bed at 9pm…and then hourly. Kind of like “hey, I don’t care you only slept only 2 hours and it is only 11pm now…it is 8 am in Germany and you gotta get up now”…it was pathetic.

BTW  taking food photos was our favorite…LOL- especially when you get a piece of chocolate cake which we had decided to split- that would feed about 20 people!

I think the waiter was laughing secretly at us as we repeatedly asked if that is really a portion for one person. We couldn’t even manage to eat half of this but it was delicious!

We did some shopping, well…actually read: I spent my yearly clothing budget in 50s dresses and I love every piece I bought and then we did the before mentioned hop on-hop off bus tour.

We saw some beautiful stuff – like this lamp-post sculpture at LACMA – love it!

So glad we did this extra day. We laughed so much and it got us in the right mood after some stressful weeks to go to CHA. That will be next

What Celebrity did you ever spot?

huge hugs

nat

It has become a tradition for me to wind down the year on my blog by posting some Top Ten Lists before the year ends. It makes me go back and look at what I have done and accomplished and it also makes me dwell in memories. Too often we forget about the things we did and accomplished throughout the year- often just bashing ourselves for not fulfilling all the wonderful new year’s resolutions from last year.  Maybe this makes you wanna do it too – if so – share

In the beginning of the year, right before CHA we did a little road trip and one stop was at Death Valley. It was such a cool trip and the landscape was just unbelievable.

This picture reminds me of the fortune that my great-aunt Margot survived a stroke and heart attack this year. This is a bit after it happened and it shows her recovered so much – it makes me still happy.

While stopping over in New Jersey in July, my brother-in-law took me on a bike ride. I loved it- riding on a Harley on streets in the States is pretty much a picture of freedom in my head…as well as a picture of a couple of friends in Germany I know too

Amalfi Coast – up on a hill after a pretty steep hike – what a reward to see this view.

And another one from the Amalfi Coast – here on Capri. It was an amazing day with hubs – and this reminds me on that…plus- I dislike photos with myself – I prefer being behind the camera – and that one is actual accepted

Memories of having a couple of evenings chatting and spending time together with my husband on a nice terrace in Rome.

This amazing double rainbow photo at Niagara will always remember me on this spectacular view and sight and afternoon with Barb in Canada!

I love this picture of a forest here in Hamburg- a wonderful walk on an autumn afternoon

And that one…I just love the decoration and the reflection in the window. It also reminds me of a wonderful day with my friend Julie in NYC.

Isn’t it amazing all those memories and emotions photos can trigger?…well probably not my photos in you – hahahha- but your own

Huge hugs

Nat

P.S. – don’t forget to sign up for CREATIVE JUMPSTART Summit 2013- it starts soon!

Attention: This Blog Post contains cursing by a 93-year-old lady, if you have a problem with this, you might be better off looking at something else  . Don’t email me to complain, don’t visit my blog anymore because I might post things like this again and for sure do not let your kids read this!

Last weekend my sweet great-aunt Margot had her birthday. It was the first one in her new home. As some of you know it was a hard summer for her having a heart attack and stroke and I had to move her into an elderly home as there is no way she can live alone anymore. She really adjusted well, she made a lot of new friends, she goes to Bingo and Quiz Hour (where she likes to prompt and spoil the game- LOL), she has rosy cheeks and gained quite some weight- which is good!. She has very light moments, and some not so light moments- but the best thing is she didn’t loose her optimistic happy and friendly mood and the nurses told me they love her and the other inhabitants too and that she is lifting the spirit in the home.

(here she is  (who has been an avid photographer all her life)  right before stating that whatever I have in my hand (iPhone) to take a “photo” looks a bit pathetic (insert huge laughter of all younger people at table and silent approving nodding by older people at table)

For a couple of months my sweet aunt gets visits by a nice mid-aged lady who is a volunteer for an organization to visit older people. I think it is wonderful that there are people doing this. She is good minded and nice but unfortunately a person who likes to control. The last months I had several complaints by the nurses, she is always telling them they do things wrong and she is constantly telling me the way I do things are not right either. She also thinks she knows my aunt very well…which makes me sometimes crazy too.  It is very hair flipping and it honestly starts to push me over the edge sometimes. Just to give you an example: my aunt is changing her clothes about 7 times a day…she just does, when she is alone in her room she wanders to her wardrobe and starts going through all stuff. But of course she is not able to put everything back orderly in her wardrobe the way it should be. So the visiting lady calls me and goes into this long tirade about how bad the nursing home is in keeping the wardrobe orderly and that I have to take care of this. Then the nurse calls and complaints that this lady was scolding them for not being tidy enough. I feel like a little punchball.

But my aunt likes her, and it is about my aunt and not all of the others and I am happy that there is someone who visits her regularly given the fact she lives far away from me and so I try everything to please them all.

I organized aunt Margot’s birthday party before I left for North America.When I talked to my aunt about it, she requested champagne to give a toast. And so I got two bottles for 16 people – because it’s her birthday party. So we sit at the table and my aunt raises her glass and everyone cheers, and after an hour she asks me to pour a second glass. I am thinking shortly about it and then think to myself- two small glasses are ok. But the visiting lady gives me the evil eye and says to my aunt that she should be careful with her diabetes (which is true) and that she thinks she shouldn’t drink this glass anymore. By this time everyone else is getting calm in the room and looks at my aunt who has already raised the glass and she looks at the visiting lady and says with a very firm voice

“I am 93 and I have my birthday today…I don’t give a flying shit about my diabetes today!”

Cheers, Aunt Margot!!! I hope you give a flying something on many more birthdays ! I love you! You can imagine we all rolled under the table…even visiting lady laughed, she left shortly after though.

And isn’t it true?…if you are in that age…you should be still able to decide on certain things and also when to give a flying something…!

Wishing you a wonderful day

huge hugs

nat