When it comes to dementia, misconceptions abound. However, as the number of sufferers is on the increase, more information is becoming available. Nonetheless, few people are going to be reading up on the subject unless it directly affects them. What they think about the disease and how they react to it could make life for … Continue reading ON BEHALF OF ALL THOSE LIVING WITH DEMENTIA
Category: Suggestions
COME OUTSIDE
A few days ago, Leaf and I spent several hours re-organising a messy part of the garden – sand, horse manure, branch cuttings and rotten plum slush (!) had us sorting, humping, bagging and sweeping. Sounds grim? Not at all, it was highly satisfying, even though I did most of the heavy stuff and Leaf … Continue reading COME OUTSIDE
GAMES PEOPLE PLAY
I’ve always been a game-player and I’m not talking about sports. My parents encouraged ‘mind’ games, such as patience, crosswords and puzzles. Nowadays we can buy magazines devoted solely to brainteasers. There are hundreds of different ones to keep us hooked.They are strongly recommended for older people. What is it that these games have in … Continue reading GAMES PEOPLE PLAY
MOVING ON …
Before Alzheimers or another form of Dementia touches our lives, many of us will have had the idea that sufferers are tragic people sitting hunched and drooling or ranting and raving like folk possessed. We have yet to learn that these diseases come on extremely gradually. In the early stages, often only family, friends and … Continue reading MOVING ON …
YOU’RE AS OLD AS …
‘Keep young and beautiful, It's your duty to be beautiful Keep young and beautiful, If you want to be loved.’ NOT JUST FOR THE YOUNG These lyrics from the Harry Warren song of the 1930’s, are particularly offensive to those of us who value people of all ages. In Westernised countries at least, we’re plagued … Continue reading YOU’RE AS OLD AS …
GET READY TO LIVE IN THE NOW
How often have we heard ‘we must live in the moment’, ‘live as though today is our last day’? Nowadays it’s called ‘living in the NOW’. For those who are lucky enough not to be suffering from a crumbling brain or other chronic or potentially fatal condition or disease, the message is straightforward - don’t … Continue reading GET READY TO LIVE IN THE NOW
ODD SOCKS – WHO CARES!
It’s something so many of us have in common – the odd sock, the one that got away, the one that’s destined never to meet up with its partner again. It’s a mystery. Of course, there may be a bright spark out there who never has this problem because they’ve found a way to keep … Continue reading ODD SOCKS – WHO CARES!
INCOMMUNICADO
Can’t you just picture them? That sad and colourless elderly couple sitting silently at the table by the restaurant window. They’ll look like they rarely go outside and that life is desperately dull. Most telling, or so we think, is they’re not talking to each other. She’ll eat slowly and self-consciously, he’ll be tucking in with … Continue reading INCOMMUNICADO
WHEN WE WERE VERY YOUNG
According to research carried out at the Memory Laboratory of Cambridge professor, Ucha Goswami, it is now accepted that the acoustic structures of nursery rhymes are crucial in the development of language, mainly because of their strong rhythmic regularity. This way of teaching young children can be found in almost all cultures. Even reciting rhymes … Continue reading WHEN WE WERE VERY YOUNG
IT COULD HAPPEN TO ME
Back in the late ‘80’s, not long after Terry, my first husband, had the car accident that left him mentally and physically handicapped, I wrote a screenplay. I called it ‘IT COULDN’T HAPPEN TO US’. The main character was an artist who was involved in a multiple pile-up at the Hanger Lane gyratory system in London. … Continue reading IT COULD HAPPEN TO ME
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