I haven’t posted here for a few days. A lot has gone on.

First of all, I attended a concert last Friday evening that blew me away. It was the Parker Quartet. I looked on YouTube to see if their current configuration of members has anything there. They have recently changed the second violinist. I couldn’t find anything with this new guy on second violin.

Anyway, the way these four people played together was mind boggling. I read a review that said they made some music sound as though they were making it up on the spot. Their ability to uniformly interpret Mendelssohn and Beethoven blew me away. I’ve never seen such fine playing.

Then when Eileen and I visited my Mom Saturday we found her in a much worse state. She was in bed murmuring over and over, “I can’t breathe.” We asked her if she had told the nurses. She nodded. We tried to distract her. Eileen showed her how her Valentine flowers were blooming. She looked but said nothing. After a bit, I went and talked to the nurses. Mom had been doing this for the last 24 hours or so.  All her vitals were good: oxygen normal, respiration normal.

The doctor’s best guess was that she was experiencing panic due to the worsening of her  myasthenia gravis. He gave her some Xanax.

Also, she was refusing food and drink.

It was the same thing Sunday. We didn’t get to chat with her because she was sleeping fitfully. My brother is making plans to come over and see her soon. We are meeting with her care team today but it doesn’t look good for Mom.

I’m prepared for my 91 year old Mom to die of course. I’d like to have her around as long as possible, but it does occur to me that she won’t last for ever. It bothers me to see her suffering. But there’s nothing much can be done about it since she is not actually physically struggling so much as she is very weak and deluded.

If she continues to refuse sustenance, I expect that will be the ultimate cause of her death. I just wish it was more comfortable for her at this point.

NYTimes: Three Lives, and the Tenuous Ties That Bind Them

I heard Lisa Halliday interviewed recently in a podcast. I thought she sounded interesting so I bookmarked this review to help me remember her book.

NYTimes: An Organ — and Soon Another — Lands on Broadway

This article mentions Peter Sykes who recently visited my church to check out our organ. I read this article with interest because I have decided to submit a full article on our organ installation to the Holland Sentinel. It’s kind of a pain because, of course, there’s no guarantee they will use it. But I thought I would try it since it’s so easy to submit online now.

NYTimes: The Tyranny of Convenience

I think a lot about how tech is designed and how I use it.

Outliers and American Vanguard Art

An article in the New York Times (I think) led me to this link where there are 22 pictures from a show. I love outlier stuff like this.