Helen Chronicles

Juan del Llano and the End of Nearly Everything

by John Hamilton Farr on April 7, 2012 · 11 comments

in Best o' the Blog, Helen Chronicles, Juan del Llano

By late afternoon, it was 45 °F colder than 24 hours before. Soon there were four inches of wet snow bending down the trees. After supper, the lights went out. Juan’s mother was dying in Tucson. It was just another day on the frontier. * * * There was more snow than Juan del Llano [...]

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Helen Virginia Farr,
1921-2012

by John Hamilton Farr on April 3, 2012 · 30 comments

in Helen Chronicles

My mother died this morning at 9:25 a.m. local time in Tucson, Arizona, a little over three hours ago. I received the news via text message, which has to be a first for me. We all knew it was coming, but it’s still a blow. I feel a huge, mysterious void. Suddenly I’m all exhausted, [...]

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One Foot in the Spirit World

by John Hamilton Farr on April 2, 2012 · 14 comments

in Helen Chronicles

The medium-sized black butterfly with yellow accents flew in low across the dirt patio behind the house where we were sitting, and then put on a show. It seemed to struggle mightily against the gusty southwest breeze, slowing to a stop and moving sideways, as if to gain more ground against the current there. Over [...]

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Possessed by Alien Gods

by John Hamilton Farr on March 11, 2012 · 6 comments

in Helen Chronicles

The anger is refined now, clouding my mind while lending strength to truth. I sip it like fine wine and grow impossible to be with. It’s the Tucson thing, of course: back and forth 600 miles each way for 10 long months to clean up Helen’s possessions in this vale of sclerotic madness. Everything I [...]

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Tucson Plague Week Chronicles

by John Hamilton Farr on January 23, 2012 · 14 comments

in Helen Chronicles, Personal

“Johnny,” my brother spoke up bravely from the back seat,”maybe if you came to Tucson more, you’d like it better.” I was much too quick and cutting in my reply, something along the lines of that being the funniest thing he’d said all day, but Tucson brings out the ugly in me. We were all [...]

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Nonagenarian’s Revenge

by John Hamilton Farr on October 31, 2011 · 5 comments

in Helen Chronicles

They tell me it’s not hot in Tucson in November. Maybe we can actually have a Sonoran hot dog at one of those outdoor restaurants with the picnic tables under a canopy flapping in the wind. Yes, we’re going back again. I have to. My 90-year-old mother is still with us, getting proper care, but [...]

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Arizona Otra Vez

by John Hamilton Farr on June 19, 2011 · 5 comments

in Helen Chronicles, Personal

Our heavily armed house sitter and the attack cat will once again be holding the fort. Yes, I’m taking off again, but what a difference this time. Back in late April, I had to go to Tucson because my 89-year-old mother was off the rails, officially diagnosed with dementia, Alzheimer’s, paranoia, schizophrenia, delusions, and hallucinations. [...]

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Whole New Deal

by John Hamilton Farr on May 23, 2011 · 8 comments

in Helen Chronicles

It just hit me: it’s like I became a parent! No wonder I’m waking up in the middle of the night. Isn’t that what you guys do? With 89-year-old Helen in a long-term care facility and me with the authority and cash, I’m suddenly responsible. Intellectually, I knew this, but now I feel it sinking [...]

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“You’re So Angry!”

by John Hamilton Farr on May 17, 2011 · 11 comments

in Helen Chronicles

That’s what my wife said to me yesterday as I was showing her photos of my Tucson trip. She was right, of course. The fun never stops with Helen, although we’ve got her where she belongs now. I woke up this morning feeling like I’d been thrown out of an airplane. There are circles under [...]

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Helen Street

by John Hamilton Farr on May 16, 2011 · 6 comments

in Helen Chronicles

Eighteen days of my life this Tucson expedition took, more than two whole weeks of rolling hell, panic, and relief. The period taken as a whole is like a recapitulation of my entire life. See that street sign? There were a total of three motels. I abandoned the first one after one night because the [...]

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