O Ye Jigs & Juleps

Found the cutest little booklet at Uncle's title above written in 1904 by Virginia Cary Hudson, a 10 year old.  Published in the 60's or before and must have belonged to Aunt Marge.  This little girl writes  about church, etiquette, life, sacraments  through  10 year old eyes.  Made me laugh out loud when she describes the final "sacrament" death...After  we get home I'll scan and share some pages, but for now... "And then you get carried back in the Church again.  But you are dead & it takes 6 people to lift you.  And everybody cries and that's the last sacrament you are going to get.  Mrs. Park was old and so sick she didn't even know her own children.  Maybe she was tired fooling with them all those years and just acted like she didn't know them.  When Mrs. Park died, I sure didn't cry because I bet when she waked up & found she was dead, she was just tickled to death." 

We went to Union cemetery here in Arnold PA trying to find Frank Ostrowski's grave, my great grandfather. You  all are quite familiar with him by now and his herd of descendants.   I learned that as in Poland the Polish mounded the early graves.  I never knew that,  reminds me of Indians.  We were unable to find the grave, many old markers are  illegible and  broken off or just gone.  They said there were vandals from time to time who would rampage the cemeteries.  That's  disgusting.   I will have to submit a written request to the cemetery to search through their more than  23,000  sites and pay the fee.  I noticed that descendants are having new marble markers erected  for their ancesotrs as several were new; I will do that for him next time after we do the location.  Today off to decorate my grandparents' graves, Mom's, Aunt Jinx and Aunt Marge. 

I'd thought Uncle Carl might come along but his dementia has  wavered and he has good and bad days.  He seems to be ok in his routine in the home but any variation throws him into a state of  disorientation.  Though he knows us and is  mostly glad to see us, he gets disturbed.  Took him to get  new  eye glasses and  on return he wanted to sit outside on the porch at the home, so we did.  But that must have kicked off his porch sitting days at home and he then thought we were to  take him home.  He went inside reluctantly but then was not clear and his mind wandered back and forth from "That's where I eat..to You  guys let me know when we are ready to leave...."   Saturday he packed up his toiletry articles and was ready to go home again.  He is much slower and weaker than when we were here  first of November.  I remind myself of what the doctors and the social worker said and what I know, "the dementia will decline and rise and come and go and the aging  progression may  make him weaker,  Do not  think that  placing him into the personal care assisted living caused this, but be assured that he is well as can be and safe, something that could not  be guaranteed at  his home without  24/7 help."  And yet still it makes me so sad that this is how this remarkable man will spend his last days.  He's 92 and who knows how much longer he has.  He has been sleeping   a lot in the afternoons now, something my granpap, his father, did  before he died peacefully in his sleep, never waking from a nap.  I  pray Uncle Carl has that same peace.   And again I wonder, why the mental decline.  Mom had Alzheimers, starting in her early 60's.  Jinx had some dementia with the cancer and Uncle Carl is now in decline.  Yet my grandparents, their parents had none of this and they  died  in their  mid and late 70's.  Why does this happen now so much more than in the past? 

Ahh well,  I am finding lots of things to get onto Sepia posts when we return home and I have my scanner. Even found Granpap's naturalization papers...  I just wanted to check in online and let  folks know what we are about.  Limited computer access here.  So I will not be posting much.