Seasons Of Our Life

A New Home Perched on My Wreath

Every time we open the door, we say bye-bye birdie to our new resident, the robin.

I could not believe my ears today as I heard a word that I thought was long gone, for awhile anyways.  The word was snow, the conversation went something like this "Did you hear that we are supposed to get snow at the end of this month?"  At that point I turned off my hearing and  refused to listen. Spring is here as far as I am concerned.  It was a long winter and even the end of that season dragged on with unpredictable weather, unexpected family issues and to top it all off -all the emotions involved with those events, the training for a new job added to the stress on top of adjusting to healing toes. With the recovery of my personal surgeries I must say I am happy to welcome a new season. 


Running...Oh How My Lungs Hurt

My expectations of becoming a runner this year did not come as easy as I first thought.  My feet did not agree with my expectations.  Better Late Than Never has become my motto concerning running.  Yesterday was my first attempt.  I was not able to run on the paved road as I first thought.  I quickly changed to the soft ground along the road side.  I was unable to keep my pace for this first attempt but was happy with my results in spite of the difficulty.  I will continue to attempt to run the whole distance without stopping. Once that has been achieved then I will up my distance. Welcome any advice from those with experience in this sport. 

In My Travels

My new job with hospice turned out to be a wonderful move for me.  I must  admit that continuing to work in this area of the health field has continued my interest in  the understanding of mental decline. Trying to understand what can be changed in our everyday lives to help prevent this illness from occurring has me continuously looking for new information.  Mount Sinai School of Medicine recently published an article titled Nine Ways To Keep Mental Decline at Bay.  The nine ways to preserve mental functioning consist of:
1.  Be selective with your attention by minimizing distractions

2.  Stimulate your brain: Doing, not sitting and watching

3. Recognize depression

4. Be physically active

5. Eat healthy

6. Interact with others

7. Adequate nutrition

8. Aid your memory by doing puzzles, taking notes, etc.,

9. Get sufficient sleep and eat a Mediterranean-style diet

         All these are thought to lower incidence of dementia.