Temporary Bachelorhood

Evie saw an opportunity to spend a week in the Orlando area with no additional expense for the resort she's staying at. She and a niece drove down in two days and will return in, next Friday and Saturday.

The two of them plan, simply, to rest in the April Florida warmth.

Evie, her retirement notwithstanding, has a very full life with a part-time job and caring for my mom and dad who are sliding deeper and deeper into dementia. She needs the R and R.

So, I am at home, but not alone. Lizzie, our high-maintenance Golden Retriever is here.

Beside caring for Lizzie and working, my time is my own and I've been vegging.

We own the A & E series, A NERO WOLFE MYSTERY, on DVD and love it but I enjoy it much more than Evie. I've been watching it, in order, from beginning to end, when Evie's not around. I finished it last evening. I love the series. Its music is in my wheel house and the interior decorating is my dream. I think it's the best of TV ever. But, I thought it fizzled in the final two episodes.

We also own the BBC series, LEWIS, from beginning to end. The series is a sequel to MORSE, in which the Lewis character was second banana.

The series ended in 2015 very poignantly. One of the story lines in last series had Lewis' colleague, James Hathaway, dealing with his father's struggle with dementia.

Boy, does it hit home with me.

Hathaway needs to resolve father/son issues with a father whose body is sound but whose mind is gone. Interestingly, the father is at about the same stage of dementia that my dad is at, at the moment.

Often, a huge issue, when a parent has dementia, is tension between/among the children. And, that tension is an issue for Hathaway. It's not for us but seeing the heart breaking emotional angst between Hathaway and his sister gives me a reason to be thankful.

The series, appropriately, leaves all of the dementia related issues unresolved. At one point, the Lewis character leaves Hathaway with a one-sentence piece of wisdom. Evie and I have probably quoted that line to each other more than a dozen times.

Apparently, a writer of the last three episodes had gone or was going through a parent's dementia.

I using my time alone to watch the last episodes of LEWIS.

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I meet with an ERC pastor friend for lunch today and pick up mom and dad's taxes from the tax preparer, if they're finished.

Then, until Evie returns, it's back to the grind.