Northumbrian pipers at the care home

When Mummy hazelh first moved into her care home, I mentioned that she used to play the Northumbrian pipes. In response to this, the activities organiser arranged for a group of five pipers to give a wee concert at the care home this afternoon. It was wonderful - for Mummy hazelh, me, and my not-so-little sister. I particularly enjoyed it when many of the residents joined in singing some traditional songs from the north east. It brought a tear to my eye.

After the performance, I showed the pipers some photos of Mummy hazelh playing her pipes. In several pictures were shots of other pipers. At least one photo featured a member of this afternoon's band. When I asked them if they had ever met Mummy hazelh before, the leader (blipped on the right) said 'Oh yes, I played at her daughter's wedding'. I replied 'Oh, that would have been at my wedding!' On my iPhone I found two photographs of her at this event almost four decades ago.

My morning with Mummy hazelh also went well. She knew it was Thursday, was expecting to see me, wanted to chat, and was up to making jokes when we sat in her room together.

The big disappointment of the day, however, is that over the past few days Mummy hazelh's disruptive behaviour has increased. This is to the extent that the care home has received complaints from other residents and their relatives. For example, Mummy hazelh is keeping several residents awake at night with her shrieking and screaming. It looks like the three sisters will need to seek a place for Mummy hazelh in a unit that offers specialist care for 'challenging' dementia patients. This is such a pity because we all really like her current care home, and I feel like we have invested quite a lot in getting to know the staff and other residents there.

I'm posting this on the train back to Edinburgh, looking forward to catching up on Race across the world when I reach home.

Exercise today: walking (22,292 steps).