Sunday 16 September 2012

From a park bench


We sat on a park bench, with the lake before us, in the perfect spring sunshine; the world parading past. As he turned the pages, our joint pasts floated into the present, and we yarned. His demented understanding embroidering stories out of all reality. That is his current reality.


10 comments:

PerthDailyPhoto said...

I guess life changes Julie, for some of us much more than others. Your top image is beautifully sensitive and your collage is presented so much more professionally than mine this morning..man I am soooo technically challenged!

Ann said...

Surely those beautiful surroundings help him (and you) find some peace.

Joan Elizabeth said...

Oh hasn't the spring sunshine been just perfect for sitting, yarning and watching birds.

Julie said...

Totally! And here we even had the slap slap slap of water and a chap could be heard muttering as he sponged his boat moored at the pier.

Joe said...

I do like your phrase "embroidering stories from reality" Julie. Thank you for you insight into this side of life and for your photos. I'd love to take a spin in that tractor. I've just returned from a break at Byron Bay. Never been their before the sun, sea and surf provided some great photographic opportunities.

brattcat said...

thank you, julie, for these tender, bittersweet portraits of what barry experiences day by day.

LOLfromPasa said...

Gosh, I am speechless. Thank you.

Kay L. Davies said...

Oh, Julie, sometimes I just want to cry for you, what with Barry's embroidery and Kirsten's zebras. Then I think of Alannah, and I smile.
My mother used to embroider and/or completely misremember, but she stayed alive until her great-granddaughter was born, which thrilled all of us.
My father's dementia was such that he didn't know Mom had died. He thought she was still right beside him, so he was happy.
I'm determined never to put up with dementia myself, but my husband asked me how I would know when it's time for me to say "Stop the world, I want to get off" and I had no answer.
K

Anonymous said...

Sounds like a difficult time...

Julie said...

It is only difficult if one considers the larger picture, but life as I live it is image by image, and day by day. Rarely do the dots join. And one simply learns to adjust one's expectations.

As for putting up with dementia, I am determined not to either. If I get past 80 that is enough for me. I have experienced dementia enough now to recognise some of the symptoms in others. I hope to be able to recognise some of them in me, during the less-embroidered hours. Go early and be a boy-scout.