Red and I visited Art this morning for the first time, his room is on the upper floors of the Mansion. He is a man of great faith, and appreciates receiving messages from people of faith, he is a devout Christian. He sends tracts in return.

We brought a Honeywell portable air conditioner for Shirley and Robert, who live upstairs,  but when we arrived with it, it seems that Shirley’s sister brought some window fans and the room was better and Shirley forgot about our discussions.

Robert confided to me that Shirley doesn’t really care for air conditioners. I sensed it would be awkward to try to put the air conditioner in her room, yesterday was yesterday,  but I am used to this, at the Mansion, plans are fluid and ever evolving. People forget things, get sick, move on.

I went to Art’s room, which I know is also warm in the summer, and he said he would love the air conditioner, but he was moving to a room two floors down shortly,  his brother, who lived in that room, had passed away. He came to the Mansion to be near him. That room needed a window unit, not a portable.

I said I was sorry, and went searching for another home for the air conditioner, which we brought over and was unloaded into the Mansion basement by Kevin, the maintenance director. He installed Connie’s unit. I didn’t have to go far to find a need for the unit.

The Mansion Activity Room, presided over by Activity Director Julie Smith, is often boiling on warm days, there is a floor fan but it offers little relief from the heat. More  residents are in the Activity Room at any given moment than anywhere else in the Mansion besides the dining room at meals.

They attend religious services there, draw and sketch, watch movies and the news, sit and talk, paint and sew.

Julie said she would be thrilled to have the Honeywell there, and we agreed to give it to her.  It made perfect sense.

It will be installed later this week and will offer a cool and quiet respite for anyone in the Mansion who needs it, all day long. There are always people in the Activity Room. Curiously, this all turned out for the best.  Help for the residents requires flexibility and creativity. It always works out

We are doing our own survey of the upstairs rooms to see who might need a smaller, cheaper window air conditioning unit than the Honeywell, which cost $349 dollars. I can get a window unit for much less than that – about $122, and will begin working on this project. The room son the upper floors get especially warm in bright sun.I think $500 will do it.

If anyone wishes to contribute to that project, I think I will need four units, you can donate by sending a check to my post office box, P.O. Box 205, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816 or donate through Paypal Friends And Family, ID [email protected]

If anyone wishes to write Art or the residents of the Mansion, here are the first names of those who wish to receive messages.

Jean, Ellen, Mary, Gerry, Sylvie, Jane, Diane, Alice, Jean, Madeline, Joan, Allan, William, John K, Helen, Constance, Robert, Shirley, Alanna, Charlotte,  Barbara, Peggie, Dorothy, Arthur, John R., Brenda, Bruce, John Z.

Thanks for the good that you do. The residents have soap, everyone has books, the cards and letters are still coming.