Featured image: In the ruins of Pompeii, archeologists discovered a loaf of bread baked just before the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD and carbonized  during the eruption by the pyroclastic flow. Chemical analysis shows that it was a type of sourdough.The loaf was incised before being baked by dividing it into wedges to […] The post “Give me this day my daily…” first appeared on MY LIFE WITH DEMENTIA ..read more

Featured image: The Salt Lake City Women’s Shelter has supported unhoused women and their children since 1972. (Photo from their web page.) My now 14-year-old granddaughter Aliya and her same-age friends Anna and Ellie volunteered for a community service project at their school, Salt Lake Arts Academy. Their goal is to collect clothes for Salt […] The post My Gen Z granddaughter Aliya and friends Anna & Ellie are collecting clothes for the Salt Lake City Women’s Shelter first appeared on MY LIFE WITH DEMENTIA ..read more

Featured image: Wendy Mitchell (then 63) skydiving. Daily Mail. Wendy Mitchell was a force of nature. She was my role model of how to live fully and with joy even when dementia hamstrings your every action every day. After her death on Feb 22nd 2024 from voluntarily stopping eating and drinking (VSED), Wendy’s daughters Sarah […] The post In memoriam: Wendy Mitchell, my fellow dementer and zoom-panel buddy, died on Feb 22nd after voluntarily stopping eating and drinking (VSED) first appeared on MY LIFE WITH DEMENTIA ..read more

Featured image, adapted by Peter from two Escher artworks: 1), Relativity (1953), M. C. Escher’s classic lithograph that presents the visual imagery of a world where the laws of gravity have ceased to exist. 2), Hen with Egg, M.C. Escher (1917) So far in 2024, Doña Quixote has lost two major material things: 1), her […] The post Can Doña Quixote still cross the road? Only when Peter helps her plot an exit from the Escher stairs in her head first appeared on MY LIFE WITH DEMENTIA. The post Can Doña Quixote still cross the road? Only when Peter helps her plot an exit from the Escher stairs in h ..read more

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 ..read more

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

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 […] 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 first appeared on MY LIFE WITH DEMENTIA. The post Updated ..read more

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 discussio ..read more

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 driv ..read more

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