Gerda Saunders's Blog: Field Notes on My Dementia, page 2

A snowball’s chance in hell? or How a (19-year-old) old soul “plays with and is fed by” a horrific accident

Featured image: Adoration of the Magi by  Giotto di Bondone (1267–1337). The Star of Bethlehem is shown as a comet above the christ child. Giotto witnessed an appearance of Halley’s Comet in 1301. Halley is visible from Earth every 74.7 years, or, more simply, every 75-79 years. Halley would orbit another 9 times—between Earth and […]

The post A snowball’s chance in hell? or How a (19-year-old) old soul “plays with and is fed by” a horrific accident first appeared on MY LIFE WITH DEMENTIA.

The post A snowball’s chance in hell? or How a (19-year-old) old soul “plays with and is fed by” a horrific accident appeared first on MY LIFE WITH DEMENTIA.

My Knight in Shining Armor read “Letter to Gerda” at AlzAuthor-Kensington zoom dementia discussion yesterday

Featured image: Joseph Christian Leyendecker (American, 1874-1951). Lune de miel (Honeymoon), The Saturday Evening Post cover, July 17, 1926. Peter sent me this remarkable letter the day before Thanksgiving after I had a bad patch of dementia trouble for a while. Peter, you are my Rock, my husband, my lover, my Love, without whom I […]

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The post My Knight in Shining Armor read “Letter to Gerda” at AlzAuthor-Kensington zoom dementia discussion yesterday appeared first on MY LIFE WITH DEMENTIA.

Updated link for Zoom talk with 2 dementers and 2 caregivers Wed Nov 29, 6 pm EST; 4 pm MT (Utah), 3 pm PST

Featured image: Thanks so much Peter for superimposing the photos of the discussion participants over Canadian Indigenous painter Norval Morrisseau‘s Androgyny (1983). Neuropsycholologists longitudinally studied the work of artists who would later suffer from cognitive decline, including that of Morrisseau ,who developed Parkinson’s disease. They found changes artists’ “fractals,” ie, the unique and repeated patterns […]

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The post Updated link for Zoom talk with 2 dementers and 2 caregivers Wed Nov 29, 6 pm EST; 4 pm MT (Utah), 3 pm PST appeared first on MY LIFE WITH DEMENTIA.

Wed Nov 29 Zoom discussion: Marianne Sciuccio (dementia caregiver), retired neurologist Daniel Gibbs (has dementia); Jane Dwinnell (caregiver); and Gerda (dementer)

Featured image: Thanks so much, Peter, for superimposing the panelists’ photos on the brain image from Your Brain on Art: How the Arts Transform Us by Susan Magsamen, Ivy Ross, et al. WHAT: Kensington Holiday Caregiver Book Club: Wisdom & Insight from Authors Living with Dementia: AlzAuthors is partnering with Kensington Senior Living for a […]

The post Wed Nov 29 Zoom discussion: Marianne Sciuccio (dementia caregiver), retired neurologist Daniel Gibbs (has dementia); Jane Dwinnell (caregiver); and Gerda (dementer) first appeared on MY LIFE WITH DEMENTIA.

The post Wed Nov 29 Zoom discussion: Marianne Sciuccio (dementia caregiver), retired neurologist Daniel Gibbs (has dementia); Jane Dwinnell (caregiver); and Gerda (dementer) appeared first on MY LIFE WITH DEMENTIA.

Wed Nov 29 Zoom discussion: Marianne Sciuccio (dementia caregiver), former neurologist Daniel Gibbs (has dementia); Jane Dwinnell (caregiver); and Gerda (dementer)

Featured image: Thanks so much, Peter, for superimposing the panelists’ photos on the brain image from Your Brain on Art: How the Arts Transform Us by Susan Magsamen, Ivy Ross, et al. WHAT: Kensington Holiday Caregiver Book Club: Wisdom & Insight from Authors Living with Dementia: AlzAuthors is partnering with Kensington Senior Living for a […]

The post Wed Nov 29 Zoom discussion: Marianne Sciuccio (dementia caregiver), former neurologist Daniel Gibbs (has dementia); Jane Dwinnell (caregiver); and Gerda (dementer) first appeared on MY LIFE WITH DEMENTIA.

The post Wed Nov 29 Zoom discussion: Marianne Sciuccio (dementia caregiver), former neurologist Daniel Gibbs (has dementia); Jane Dwinnell (caregiver); and Gerda (dementer) appeared first on MY LIFE WITH DEMENTIA.

Time, love, and the body: “The force that through the green fuse drives the flower,/ Drives my green age”

Title: Opening lines of Dylan Thomas’s 1933 poem “The force that through the green fuse drives the flower” Featured image: This shot of a Glistening-Green Tanager (Chlorochrysa phoenicotis) poised between two leaves on Ecuador’s Mashpi Amagusa Reserve, taken by Nicolas Reusens, was named Best Portrait at the 2023 Bird Photographer of the Year awards. There’s […]

The post Time, love, and the body: “The force that through the green fuse drives the flower,/ Drives my green age” first appeared on MY LIFE WITH DEMENTIA.

The post Time, love, and the body: “The force that through the green fuse drives the flower,/ Drives my green age” appeared first on MY LIFE WITH DEMENTIA.

You ask, Gerda & 4 dementia buddies tell “Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Living with Dementia”

As I mentioned in my previous blog post, in June, 2021, AlzAuthors hosted five of  us who are currently living with dementia to a virtual discussion where we shared our stories. That is where I first had “live” communication with my dementia buddies Peter Berry, Jennifer Bute, and Wendy Mitchell from the UK and Michael […]

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The post You ask, Gerda & 4 dementia buddies tell “Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Living with Dementia” appeared first on MY LIFE WITH DEMENTIA.

Failing toward the moon: as Doña Quixote tumbles toward the dark side, Gerda is gentled into a course correction

Featured image: Still from a 1902 French short film titled A Trip to the Moon ( Le Voyage dans la Lune) directed by Georges Méliès. Inspired by sources, including Jules Verne’s “moon” novels the film follows a group of astronomers who travel to the Moon in a cannon-propelled capsule, explore the Moon’s surface, escape from […]

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The post Failing toward the moon: as Doña Quixote tumbles toward the dark side, Gerda is gentled into a course correction appeared first on MY LIFE WITH DEMENTIA.

Failing toward the moon: as Doña Quixote tumbles toward the dark side, Gerda attempts a course correction

Featured image: Still from a 1902 French short film titled A Trip to the Moon ( Le Voyage dans la Lune) directed by Georges Méliès. Inspired by sources, including Jules Verne’s “moon” novels the film follows a group of astronomers who travel to the Moon in a cannon-propelled capsule, explore the Moon’s surface, escape from […]

The post Failing toward the moon: as Doña Quixote tumbles toward the dark side, Gerda attempts a course correction first appeared on MY LIFE WITH DEMENTIA.

The post Failing toward the moon: as Doña Quixote tumbles toward the dark side, Gerda attempts a course correction appeared first on MY LIFE WITH DEMENTIA.

“I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead; I lift my eyes and all is born again.”

Title quote: Sylvia Plath in The Bell Jar, a novel in which the protagonist descends into mental illness. Featured image: One of photographer Tony Luciani’s countless photos of his mother who had dementia. He had been a full-time, professional fine artist since post-graduate studies in Florence, Italy in 1978. He also later also took up […]

The post “I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead; I lift my eyes and all is born again.” first appeared on MY LIFE WITH DEMENTIA.

The post “I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead; I lift my eyes and all is born again.” appeared first on MY LIFE WITH DEMENTIA.