Redondo Ravioli

This might be my last post, but it is a good one. Aunt Donna always says she is over cooking, she does not want to cook any more. However early n this visit she said the one thing I have always wanted to make and have never made is ravioli. Well that was an invitTion that was impossible to ignore. So I said well we can make those tomorrow, no problem. 

Thursday morning happens to be farmers markets at Redondo so Dad and I visited those for vegetables and a few other goodies while Donna went to get her toe nails done. The mRkets picture does not include anything we used but was such a great picture of flowering artichokes. Then Aunt Donna and I went looking for a cheap pasta machine. If we could not find one my plan was to just mKe a handful with a rolling pin. Having even a basic machine would make the job look less daunting and allow us to make more. after going to many of the standRd dept stores we found one thanks to google at a small cooking store Donna has been to before that was closing down, all items discounted and 2 machines left, we bought the $26 one.

Before we started Donna changed to her special socks that she made to show off her newly done toenails. Noni would be so impressed with those, although I don't think she would have worn them to make ravs.

We made a 2 egg batch of dough and filling of silver beet, red onion, garlic, continental parsley, prociutto  and pRmeggiano.

Slow start as always, the first line seems to take forever, but we got faster and made 57 large ravioli. The husbands were coming in regularly to check progress and admire. 

Our sauce was cooked down tomatoes in olive oil with chopped basil and garlic. We cooked half the ravs for dinner and the result was spectacular. Uncle Jim said he had a new respect for ravioli, could never figure out why people ordered them. The other half Went into the freezer for another day. They are excited and said they would have to think ver hard about whether they invited someone over to share or just ate them themselves.

Just as we were finishing dinner Dads childhood buddy Joe DeRoss arrived for a visit. It was very fun to listen to them recount their yeArs and adventures at Transfiguration primary school, lots of classroom and classmate stories. It was definitely a different LA then. 

LA Days

Just sharing a few of the more special moments since we arrived in LA on Tueaday. First evening we were joined by Jenny, Lara and Chris for a restaurant outing. Destination was Moos Chinese but that was closed when we got there, luckily Scardinos was just next door so it was Italian. Lots of fun conversation and sharing of stories and wine and food tastes. The next morning Jim Dad $enny and I headed for Joes Diner, the classic joint that churns out many generous breakfasts and lunches each day. The brekfast plates were huge and mine was the biggest, I was too embarrassed to photograph it.  Post breakfast Jenny headed for a friends and then home and Dad and I took off on foot to find a surf shops that he remembered. He drooled over boards and chatted to all the guys. On the way home we wiggled through the old neighbourhoods in Hermosa Beach which used to be dominated by small holiday cottages and here and there you can still see a few. dad and Jim spent many happy hours here either hanging out at friends holiday places or just hanging out at the beach. 

Dinner was provided by Jim, bbq pork, and Donna, salad and wonderful fried veggies and rice. I always love their kitchen and even though Aunt Donna says she doesn't cook any more she can still put out a nice dinner. 

Gramps and Noni news

Here is a recap of the last few days, no pictures unfortunately and I know Dad has posted few emails along the way so this will be fill in. By Tuesday gramps had been moved out of ICU and into a normal ward. But not much changed in terms of people doing things for gramps. Basically the doctors said he was in good shape, lungs and breathing pretty good, infection under control. So what next Over Tuesday Wednesday and Thursday Linda had lots of discussions with the Atria people, with the hospital social worker and the VA social worker and long and short was that gramps needed to be able to get out of bed and be able to take care of personal things before he could come to Atria. It was clear that the hospital was not going to be the place for a recovery program. He needed another place that offered rehab in a residential setting. 

The answer to this was a short term (hopefully) stay at a nursing home. Gramps was not keen but Noni was in agreement and Linda pushed through on that plan with assurance from me that I was 100% behind any decision. Gramps was seriously unhappy and letting everyone know. But Thursday afternoon he was moved to the new place. On Thursday evening and Friday morning I spoke to Linda a few times and she was having a tough time, having to wear Dads anger and resentment, even though it was the right decision.  But low and behold, by the time Noni and Linda and mike arrived up there to St Francis heights this morning, he had changed his mind. They had got him up, showered and shaved and done his hair and he was sitting up. He had already spoken to the Dietician and put in a couple of orders, steak and fries, and was very happy. Thought the place was great, he said he felt better then he had in a long time, was positive and very coherent, very talkative. 

They predict that he will need two weeks of rehab. Linda sent me one picture so if I have managed to get this off phone and onto iPad it will be below.

On the Noni front she has continued to thrive and spread her wings. She has her regular breakfast early and usually sits with Paul the silent guy. She is enjoying selecting her clothes each day and really prefers to be back there for meal times. The other night Linda called her and she said can I call back, I have company. Mildrid and her friend had walked Noni to her room after dinner and the friend had come in a stayed for half an hour or so. Landmark stuff.

Noni loves what she calls her apartment and is always moving things around and told Linda not to bring over anything else from the house. She has now brought over ALL of her sweaters. More landmark stuff. 

So she is doing better than great. GRamps has gone around a corner and is sounding promising, just have to hope if gramps gets well enough to join her at Atria that this works out. So all still a waiting game but they are both in good or better places as of today.

Departure from SF

Very restless sleep for Dad and I on the last night at Miller Avenue, concern over  getting the last few items into our bags, one of my last tasks putting labels on the many bags of quality items in Nonis sewing room, gathering all of the scissors in one place, making sure that we had all of our own things, last clean out of fridge items, etc. since N&G left the building we have stayed in the sewing room on the blowup bed, just to keep all of our things in one place, so that proved to be useful on this last morning. 

Mike and Linda showed up to collect us at 6.45. We called Noni to say one last goodbye and once again she was a bit sad that she had thought that there was one more day before we left, just getting the days confused. But she sounded fine and was ready to go down for her breakfast. They will call the hospital this morning to see where gramps is and I am sure we will get a report later today, hope it is continued improvement, would love for him to get well enough to to have some time Atria with Noni.

See one last picture of Miller Avenue as we depart.

We had to pay for excess weight on one of the bags, $100. Dad was ready to unpack and juggle all three. I was not ready for that, the things that would have come tumbling out would have been worthy of a Tropfest video, so we just paid. 

Monday 30th May

Monday was the Memorial Day holiday and there were lots of games on, one Geiants game and then a hockey playoff and a basketall playoff. We had an early visit with Gramps and he was in good spirits although frustrated at not being able to walk around, hoping a Move out of ICU that day would allow some walking time. Noni was full of stories about the vRiuos people she was meeting at Atria.this was the only time we would be up to see Gramps that day and for me the last opportunity to see him. He knew we were going the next day and there would be no time to get to hospital before our flight. So that was a little bit hard but I had a good opportunity to say a personal goodbye and encourage him to be patient and get well so he could have some time with Noni in the new location.

The rest of the day was dominated with getting our bags ready, doing some last minute things in the house and getting up to Kristas for a Memorial Day gathering. Michelle's Patrick had his mother visiting from Utah was visiting that weekend so she was attending as well. 

The pictures tell the story, lots of food, Greg in his NSW jersey, lots of talking and laughing and different games in in every room. Uncle mike was really waiting for the Warriors game wiich was the last one and when it got to that point somehow they could not get the right channel on any of the 4 tvs. Noni was reDy to leave and so Linda and I took her back to her new home, which she is now calling home, and uncle mike got dropped off at his place so he did not miss the game.

Dropping off Noni was a little bit hard to as she had lost track of the days and did not realise the next day was Tuesday and so our deprture day. So she was a little bit confused, but happy enough to be back in her little rooms and said she was going to bed as soon as she could. 

Back at Kristas they had solved the Warriors game problem and  so Mike had us pick him up on the way back and so we were all there for the exciting conclusion. Noah was so excited that he decided now was the moment to release his hatched butterfly's which have been hanging for a few days.

I was dubious about whether this was in the best interests of the butterflys  as it was cold and getting darker outside and there were many little feet hovering near the hatching container and many observers. But they have done this before and all went well with the butterflies getting enough lift off to make it to a nearby shrub. 

Sunday 29th May

Sunday morning we had another early morning request from Noni for more clothes, mostly sweaters and the hangers she likes to use for them. This is all good. Dad did an early watering of the back garden and the beans are looking very healthy and happy. We did a few small jobs around the house before heading to Atria. We took Noni up to The hopsital and were not there very long before the Martinellis arrived. dad was still in ICU but they were talking about moving him upstairs later in the day because his condition had improved enough. But he is worried because he has not been out of bed since arriving in hospital. He has still not had the opportunity to fix his hearing aid so that makes discussing things with him more difficult. But in general he is chatting and joking and laughing so looking pretty good.  His lunch arrived and he promised that he would eat it but did not want us to stay. So we took off and dad and I took Noni for a burger as she had looked at the Atria menu that morning and was not keen on the options for lunch. Once back at Atria she was happy to have a rest so we took off do do more things at the house before heading back to bring a few more small items. Noni has one drawer that is giving her trouble as the sliding mechanism has popped out and needs to be nailed back in. At some stage someone has tried to do that but used the wrong nail. So we all can see what the problem is but it needs the right nail. We brought over Nonis small hammer in preparation for the arrival of the right nail. 

Close to dinner time and Noni was once again not keen on the special for the day, so we suggested dinner at Nüeve and Linda agreed to meet us ther. Shortly after we were all seated Greg and Krista walked in with Santino, who of course was delighted to see his Noni.