First flush

Like new love The first roses Seem the sweetest The first flush Of colour and scent Matching the twang Of our heartstrings Beating frantically With new love Rapturously circling Our brain and heart With wonder

Respecting and valuing our elders

Re-blogged – originally published here on 7 February 2012… The following is from an email I received yesterday. It is a wonderful poem about life and ageing, and tells its story with great clarity. It is about respecting and valuing our elders, and simply says I’m not just a cranky old man (or woman). “When an old man died in…

Glenn Campbell lives well with dementia

Glenn Campbell has not allowed Alzheimer’s Disease to stop him from living his pre-diagnosis life. His wife Kim and family have supported and enabled him to continue singing and recording, and Glenn is living well with dementia. His wife Kim said that his doctors are convinced his continuing to be physically active and remaining meaningfully…

Life and memories

“The business of life is really just the acquisition of memories; at the end of life, that’s all we’ve got left.” The quote above was in a television program I watched recently, and is a version of the one by Carson pictured here. My question is, where does that leave a person when they cannot…

Beaker and Dr Honeydew

… aka my husband and I. It seems I had an even more tragic childhood than I imagined as I did not see even one episode of The Muppets. I had thought I was too old for them, but my dear husband tells me I’m not! When he suggested on the phone today that he…

The Science of Older and Wiser

The following article is a very interesting read, and I highly recommend you follow the link through to the New York Times. The Science of Older and Wiser By PHYLLIS KORKKI, MARCH 12, 2014, NY Times “Since ancient times, the elusive concept of wisdom has figured prominently in philosophical and religious texts. The question remains…

Dementia, chess and life…

Last year I joined Quora a really interesting site with conversations about many things, including life in general. I really liked the analogy made between playing Chess and Life by Joe Blitzstein Professor in the Harvard Statistics Department. He has been playing chess for 25 years (his US Chess Federation Rating is about 2100, about midway through the…

Here I go again

  Here I go again Back to studying My days seem longer My brain is stronger It may not cure me But will sustain me With lots of thinking And not much drinking Except for herbal tea And lot of nuts and seeds More fun than silly games There may be brain drains But meaningful engagement Real…

Younger vs Older onset dementia?

Dementia is a syndrome, and is the gradual deterioration of functioning, such as thinking, concentration, memory, and judgment, which affects a person’s ability to perform normal daily activities. It is a terminal illness. There are approximately 100 types or causes of dementia; Alzheimer’s disease is one type of dementia, and is the most common type of…

The next Understanding Dementia MOOC

The University of Tasmania’s second Massive Open Online Course (MOOC), Understanding Dementia, is a 9-week online course that builds upon the latest in international research on dementia. It’s free and anyone can register. Many readers of this blog undertook the course, and found it incredibly valuable. Not just people working in the field, but consumers with…

Please use other floor…

Chatting with a friend recently, I heard a funny story… something I said (threatened?) I would probably blog about, but of course promised not to rat out the unsuspecting partner! It reminded me of one of my grandmothers, never using her best crockery and crystal. Not ever, not even for a special occasion. We talked…

New national online resource to promote advance care planning

Media release Advance care planning (ACP) is the process of a person thinking about and communicating to others their values and wishes about possible future care at a time when they still have capacity. ACP is relevant for everyone in the community, but especially for people with chronic health conditions or at risk of losing…

Changing the world

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world – indeed it is the only thing that ever does” Margaret Meade The Alzheimer’s Disease International (ADI) conference in London in 2012 is where I met with this group of truly amazing people with dementia, all advocating in their own countries. It…

Vacant spaces

Vacant spaces Tucked inside my head Rapturously entangled Around my thoughts Floating away Somewhere in the universe Never to be found again Or simply hiding from my Current existence Who knows