Neal Preserve

Yes, another walk in a Park or a Preserve! There are many of them in our area. This is a blessing and we are taking advantage of it. ;0)

In the photo collage, I'm at the top of an observation tower at Neal Preserve and Steve is heading down one of the boardwalks towards Anna Maria Sound. These photos were taken after we had a nice visit with my mom who lives near the Preserve. The weather was in the 70's with a nice breeze. We sat outside while Steve told us stories and we all enjoyed. For many months, Mom has often been stressed and agitated because of her dementia. She was happy and laughing at Steve's stories today. 

After the hurricane, when I was up north with my sister and also my son & family, Steve started going over daily to visit mom, check in with her, bring her some food, bring in her mail, deal with any needed household stuff like meeting the A/C people, the Tree service people and anyone else like that who caused mom to get stressed. It has made a world of difference and Steve is very happy to continue doing this, especially as it's helped the whole family so much. Mom trusts Steve and theirs is a much different relationship than what my sister and I have with mom.

Today we brought her a nice healthy salad with chicken and a piece of homemade banana bread (yummy, if I do say so myself!) We are saving the more traditional Thanksgiving dinner for mom's 90th birthday, less than 2 weeks away. My sister will be here then. Steve & I will roast a large chicken, he'll make his famous mashed potatoes, I will make a traditional family dish of dried corn (it's Pennsylvania Dutch) and make a small cake for mom's birthday... she said with just ONE candle! We'll do all of this here and bring it over to mom's to warm up. We look forward to it.