Great starts are easy, the goal is to finish well
Weaving walking into our daily lives adds benefits beyond simple exercise. One of the marvelous things about walking is that it doesn’t require a lot of specialized equipment. If you have comfortable shoes, a hat, and perhaps a walking stick, you’re good to go.
When Wayne and I were first married, I found myself doing a lot of baking, gardening, canning, and even sewing. It was an enjoyable necessity grown from our reality of having more time than money. Eventually, many of my domestic endeavors fell away as life and responsibilities shifted and changed. We refer to the activities done back then as things Wayne’s ‘first wife’ did.
One of my favorite childhood memories is of my Grandpa and I standing under his delightful Juneberry tree eating the delicious berries. I loved them. Juneberries look similar to a blueberry, only more burgundy than blue. They have a distinct taste – rather somewhere between the sweetness of a blueberry and the tartness of a raspberry.
Squirrels aren’t quite as ‘squirrelly’ as you might think. In fact, research conducted at the University of Exeter has shown that their memory for the locations of hidden nuts is excellent. My granddaughter agrees. She loves squirrels. We were watching a couple of them racing, chasing and hiding nuts in our backyard one day. I remarked that it must be hard for them to remember where all they hid them. She assured me that the little grey guys actually have very good memories. She is 11 now, but if she wishes to attend college in the UK, perhaps the University of Exeter would be a good choice.
I love this time of the year. Autumn, Fall, Holiday season – whatever you call it. Cooling trends begin as days get shorter. Trees begin dressing in their fall finery before decorating the ground with their orange, red and yellow jewels. We recently enjoyed a road trip that took us through several New England states…
The power of music to trigger memories is well documented in studies and by organizations such as Music and Memory . Singing with a loved one is a wonderful way to keep connected. Most folks have a song or two tucked away in their memory. A song learned when they were eight will remain with them when they are 80.
Those of us who have loved ones with memory loss, or want to keep ourselves from memory loss will be gratified to know that according to two recent studies, those who ate a cup of blueberries per day showed improvement in cognitive performance and brain function.
It turns out that there does seem to be a correlation between soda consumption and memory loss. Somehow, I have a sneaking suspicion that even die-hard soda drinkers might have suspected these beverages were not a health food.
And finally, a memorial service is also one more way to show honor to a parent. As God’s word tells us in Ecclesiastes, there is “A time to mourn.”
So it turns out that sleep may not be overrated after all. The amount of sleep you get may have an impact on whether or not you get Alzheimer’s disease.