The natives are restless

Deer flee from turkeys winging onto the yard.




You'd think they wouldn't run, but those turkeys are a sight: 30 or so shuffling or flying in.

I guess the deer that didn't run got caught and didn't live to tell the tail, errr, tale!

Camera Critters

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Turkeys turn tail and feathers...

Day Hospice Week #3

 

Lanark County's Dignity House Day Hospice 

What a storm!

I love watching the weather. Preferably from indoors.
This is a satellite image from this morning.


Today's weather is brought to us by Texas!
'Major winter storm tonight into groundhog day. The major storm which was born in Texas late Monday is tracking northeast across Indiana accompanied by a huge shield of wintery precipitation.'

Last month it was an Alberta Clipper system!
' A "clipper" system (typically called an "Alberta Clipper" due to where the system originates) refers to a rather moisture starved weather system that gives between 5-10 cm of snow here in Ottawa.'

Hooray.

NWS - US realtime loop - W. coast

Franktown Radar

 

NWS - US realtime loop - here it comes!

And so, driving into town...

People driving too quickly.

One elderly man driving on the wrong side of the road on Gore Street. Truly! A two-way street!

Others driving without their lights on.

And then there is poor Australia... with a summer cyclone approaching Queensland.
Snow, we can deal with in Ontario...these extremes, cyclone, drought, floods, are petrifying.

Aussie's story

Fantasy - my escape mode

Click for more book review blogs @Barrie Summy!

I am excited to finally find a new author, and a new book. It's been awhile, as I was barrelling my way through hospice training, a couple of hospice clients, and a new volunteer load with Dignity House Day Hospice. Lately, it's been a tried and true author, Heather Graham, a bit simple, predictable, mysteries, but comforting when I'm working with clients with serious health issues. Hubby is preoccupied with two days a week coordinating Meals on Wheels. Some light-hearted fare was on the list.

Now, we be ready.
Fantasy. If you haven't tried it, you probably don't like it, sorry to say. I love it. I love magical thinking in my crafts and my reading! I like mysteries by strong women. I dread the blood and gore some male author create. When one deals with palliative clients...well, you can imagine! Freda Warrington is prolific, creative, and entertaining.

One of the fairy folk

This is a mature woman, our heroine. Something that appeals to me. The author doesn't sacharine us up in mental images of a perky Barbie girl figure, either. Like the strong heroine in the Nevada barr books, Anna Pigeon, our narrator is strong, too. A former Olympic athlete, she is now facing physical and emotional health issues, which lend some realism to her person.

With this character I can identify! Some prefer escapes into fantasy worlds where they create a goddess and paint them to be slim, supple, and perfect, but this really turns me off.

Another character in the book, a strong, divorced woman closer to my age than our heroine, is an artist who creates magical sculptural works. They are most incredible in one's imagination, and allows me to paint my own mental pictures and become an artist, too. Quite clever and creative.

I enjoyed the dark imagery, the thought of portals into other worlds, and supportive characters who are three-dimensional. The forest walks were as soothing and comforting to me as our heroine.

This book is deep and symbolic. Having moved to Perth, Ontario, and steeped in a place where Scots farmed and tamed the land, it felt positive learning to love the setting of the UK. Growing up in downtown Toronto, I love escaping to the woods with the fairy folk of my imagination.

This author is new to the New World. So it says on the book jacket. I'm glad she has now visited North America. I will be reading more!

Support groups - Day Hospice week #2

I cannot tell you how important groups are. I have given presentations to a wide variety of groups; Palliative Care Conference attendees: healthcare professionals (nurses and PSWs), managers, coordinators, and volunteers.

I have spoken to bereavement, women's, writing, caregiver groups, and Adult Day Away programs, as well as speaking to people who were meeting to resolve issues with various health issues: MS, stroke, Parkinson's, cancer, and chronic diseases. We can learn to live in dignity, and learn to live well, no matter our circumstances. In fact, many of us live with chronic conditions. We are not alone: this table is from a recent study:

Chronic Conditions	Age 45 – 64 %	Age 65+ %
High blood pressure arthritis Back problems Vision problems Heart disease Osteoporosis Diabetes Urinary incontinence COPD* Bowel disorder Stroke Alzheimer’s disease	24 20 25 4.6 6.9 6.1 8.6 3.3 4.6 5.1 1.1 0.1	52.9 43.4 28.6 27.9 22.6 18.1 17.2 11.7 8.8 6.4 4.2 1.6

*Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

"It is estimated that 40% of chronic illness can be prevented. Epidemiological studies indicate that
25% of all direct medical costs – or nearly $9.7 billion (C$2002) a year in Canadian costs of
chronic diseases – are attributable to a small number of excess risk factors such as smoking,
obesity, physical inactivity, and poor nutrition." (THE COST OF CHRONIC DISEASE CANADA)

One of the best ways to find support is, funnily enough, in a support group. Many caregiver groups exist. More info is available through your local CCAC Case Manager. Community Home Support offices abound in Ontario.
Community Home Support is an important part of the Canadian medical scene.

I am proud to be volunteering with Lanark County's Dignity House Day Hospice.
Here are photos of week two.

Today's schedule

I cannot explain how rewarding these groups can be.

We all work as a team. Our fearless leader, Alanna Scanlon, B.Sc.N., is inclusive, comforting, and professional.

As with any support group, we work together, we are all one. Sharing, commitment, energy and excitement to living each day to the fullest.

We are very excited to have more donations. Our latest includes a wheelchair.

For those with locomotor issues, it really helps the clients to move around easily.

Another donation, a table runner, which brightens the room. Not that the room isn't gorgeous. McMartin House is a delightful place. Once the renovations are completed it will be perfect!

The complimentary therapists do their wonderful work behind an antique screen. It was my mother's, a gift from me. I asked a Manotick antique dealer to find me one.

No matter your disability or issues, and we all have them, being together is an opportunity to talk and listen. To share our stories of empowerment or disempowerment.

In our group we all work at improving our self-esteem. The complimentary therapist gives us an opportunity to receive.
The activities allow us to relax, talk, play, work, share.

As I work with various hospice clients, I learn much about accepting help. I first learned this with my mother, who found it better to give than receive. Little did she show that she gave in receiving support from others with dignity and courage and strength.



To be in a group such as this, allows us to independent, creative, productive. For there is life in the living and doing.

Playing cards, reading a paper together, talking about our healthcare system, how to self-advocate, where to get more support, is an important part of being in a group. There is wisdom in the stories of others, as much as in the expertise of those in the medical field.

Thanks to Carolina Suites for our lunches!

Dessert!

Melanie Fyfe - reflexologist