(Due to technical problems with the blog photo uploading program, I can’t post pictures tonight, but I can post text. There’s always a way. This how the blog began – text only – so it will be interesting while Mannix Marketing tries to find the problem.)

After my radio show, I went to the Danforth Adult Care Center to read to the people I now call the “Mansion Refugees.” It was a powerful experience for me, they were uneasy and bored and eager to hear my stories, the residents love having stories read to them.

I read from my book “Saving Simon,”which the residents asked me to read,  and from a picture book called “Riptide,” a story of a brave Cape Cod dog,  and a book called “When You Love A Dog,” and “A Day In The Life of Marlon Bundo,” the story of a gay rabbit,  and “The King of The Birds.” Sorry  I don’t have the author’s names, I was going to get them from the photo.

I read for more than an hour, and I had a rapt and appreciative audience, they were exclaiming and commenting on the stories.

The residents are struggling to stay grounded and be patient as they wait to get “home” to the Mansion. I think reading is a good way to comfort and stimulate and ground them.

I’ve brought flowers, stuffed animals, cookies, and puzzles. Today, I bought $77 worth of photo books at the Battenkill book shop, I will get some more at a sale the town library is having and bring them all tomorrow. I think it’s essential to offer them activities and other kinds of stimulation.

I think some of the residents are having real struggles with the disruption in their lives. I love reading to them, there is something so personal and connecting in it for me.

This is, a time for radical acceptance. The state will move at its own pace and in its own way. I wonder if they know the toll this is taking on the residents. The Mansion aides are working with the residents at the Danforth, that is comforting to them.

There is a slim chance they will be back at the Mansion Friday, but that’s uncertain. I am healing from the families who have taken in some of the residents, they are struggling to adjust as well and also need the ritual and familiarity of the Mansion.

It is gratifying to feel needed, all the previous work comes into play now, there is trust and a bond. Red, always intuitive, is going from one resident to another (and to quite a few residents of the Danforth, he is doing a lot of great work.)