Thursday, May 22, 2014
Wednesday, July 17, 2013
Starry Starry Night, (Vincent) Secrets of Old Age
What a blessing to know that this mortal, earthbound experience of our eternal life is only one of the adventures in our journey and that we will take the lessons learned and the relationships of love and friendship with us into the next leg of our journey. This is a meditation that is refreshing when the body and spirit are tired or discouraged and in need of a rest stop along the way.
Tuesday, July 16, 2013
Friday, June 21, 2013
Just Swaying to the Music...and holding each other up!!
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY
Don & Carol
52 years and still dancing!
June 24th 2013 we will celebrate 52 years of marriage. The picture above is of us dancing at our granddaughter Alishia's wedding on June 1st 2013.
We have been blessed with 8 wonderful children; 16 grandchildren and 2 great grandchildren.
I'm not sure that you would call what we are doing, dancing, but we are swaying to the music and holding each other up.
I think that is how we have spent the last 52 years, and that is about all that any of us can do.
Our blessings are too numerous to count; we still pray that we can be of service to others.
Parkinson's has certainly slowed us down and we may not look pretty anymore, but we love being together and plan to enjoy an eternity together...swaying to the music and holding each other up!!
Thursday, June 20, 2013
DANCE for PD: SO MUCH FUN !! and a note about the National Parkinson's Foundation
THE WONDERFUL MARK MORRIS DANCE GROUP
&
THE BROOKLYN PARKINSON GROUP
This is our new FAVORITE THING!! Don and I have enrolled in the Dance for PD dance class at the Des Moines, WA Senior Acttivity Center. The classes are wonderful...IT'S FREE...New Friends...a REASON to GET OUT of the HOUSE...we enjoy the one hour drive to Des Moines and the chance to eat lunch at a restaurant...and best of all WE ARE MOVING and TOGETHER. If you know someone with a PD diagnosis please check the website at "Dance for PD" and watch clips of classes on YouTube "Why Dance for PD".
While we were in Florida for our granddaughter's wedding, we had a chance to visit with our son who has just been diagnosed with Parkinson's; he asked if we had visited the National Parkinson's Foundation website and I had to admit that I had not. I picked up my iPad and immediately searched and found so much wonderful information (don't know why I hadn't gone there before...duh!). Our son told us that he had recieved the ID braclet (Free) from contacting them and also a wonderful information kit (also Free)...we ordered two...one for me and one for Don. I was also able to link to the wesite for this fabulous Dance Program and found one in our area (1 hour away) at home in Washington...I can't tell you how much this has helped us already!! We knew we had had a workout after the first class, but felt stronger and able to move better right away. I ordered the DVD they offered for at home use even before we left Florida so it would be there when we arrived home. The other day Don's caregiver arrived at 9:00 a.m. and we were both still in bed and feeling like we wanted to stay there all day, but of course I had to get up and take care of the dog while Justina helped Don. It wasn't long before I was ready to lay down on the couch; I just wasn't moving well or feeling motivated to do anything and then I remembered that I hadn't told Justina about the dance class. I thought that she might like to see the DVD and use the program with some of her other clients, so I put it in the DVD player. It wasn't long before we had the dining room chairs out and we were doing the dances together. Two dances later and I had my ENERGY back and felt motivated to keep on moving through the day. THIS IS THE BEST THING WE HAVE DONE FOR OURSELVES and when the GRANDKIDS came yesterday they each got a chair and JOINED IN...GOOD EXERCISE for all of us and so much FUN...when their mom came to take them home they wanted to show her their favorite dances...QUALITY TIME spent together (even if it was "screen time" on the big TV). So here is the information...hope you will feel like joining us. There are many of these dance classes across the country; check out the website to see if there is one near you.
Wednesday, May 8, 2013
Out-Foxing Parkinson's: the PaGeR STUDY....we've been invited!
YOU MIGHT BE INVITED TOO.....We got our invitation today...NOT one we would have been interested in a year and a half ago, but as we all know .....THINGS change. I got a call from Erica Martinez at the University of Washington. She said that they would "love" to have our family take part in the study. I told her that I would contact all eight of our kids and give them her contact information (she already has Pamela's). Enrollment and testing takes between 1 or 2 hours, and can be done at many of the VA Medical Centers and other locations across the country...for those of us living in the Seattle area, the Puget Sound VA Med. Center on Beacon Hill is the location. If you have 2 or more members of your family who have been diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease you can contact Erica Martinez by leaving your contact information at the PaGeR Study website www.thepagerstudy.org or by telephone at 206-277-4592 (in the Seattle area) or 1-855-646-4221 (toll-free) and she will contact you ; you might be invited to join us....it's what we can contribute to the research efforts to find a cure for Parkinson's...I figure it's the least I can do with a pretty bad set of circumstances....
Monday, April 22, 2013
"Berry" Interesting...
According to an article published in WebMD (www.webmd.com) April 5, 2012, blueberries and strawberries may protect against Parkinson's Disease. In a study done with 130,000 participants, who were followed for 20 years, of whom 800 developed PD, those who consumed 2 or more servings of berries a week were nearly 25% less likely to develop PD than those who ate less than one serving per month. Men appear to have benefited the most. Men who had the most flavonoids in their diet were 40% less likely to develop Parkinson's disease than those who ate the least. Flavonoids are found in abundance in fruits and vegetables, especially berries and apples...also, tea and red wine.
MY COMMENT:
They may not be able to say definatively that berries protect one from developing PD, but this is a GREAT excuse to have berries on your cereal or ice cream ALL YEAR round....
...I'll take this kind of "medicine" any day!!
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