Since my last update in November 2024, we found a different housing solution for my parents. It is more suitable for older people (wider doors for people who use wheelchairs/walkers, handles to help move throughout the apartment, and there is an elevator). There are more people of their age around - so more chances for connection though most of the residents do not have a common language. Still - people are caring for plants, playing chess, celebrating birthdays, and sharing benches - and you do not need a common language for many of those activities.
My Mom has new hearing aids which help a lot with whatever language she is hearing. We are three more steps closer to getting her new glasses. She reads an art book with both French and English text for each drawing and enjoys finding discrepancies and sharing them with us. She stays in touch with family and friends dispersed throughout Ukraine and the world. And she writes in her diary.
My Dad plays chess every day - in the morning on his phone, in the afternoon - in person in their building. He continues to try all the new foods that cross his pass and if something tastes not exactly how he expected he adds some cayenne pepper to it - lately, I've seen him mix it into grape jelly, and orange juice and put some on the marshmallows. His new favorite vegetable is bok choy. His knees and back bother him a lot but we are trying some new meds and hoping that he will agree to go to physical therapy one of these days.
Dad is not happy when I draw him lately - so there are mostly portraits of Mom - but I think I have an idea for an argument that I might present to fix this for the next update :)
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