Group members have regularly told us about their favourite pop stars. Today we added a new band to the list: Iron Maiden! – something of a departure from our usual jolly pop people.
Trees were in blossom again…
Gyda showed us a quick and very effective tree craft.
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You may now nominate Reflections as your charity when you buy items on Amazon. Click herefor more information. It does not cost you (or the retailer) anything and Reflections will receive 0.5% of what you spend.
You may now nominate Reflections as your charity when you buy items on Amazon. Click herefor more information. It does not cost you (or the retailer) anything and Reflections will receive 0.5% of what you spend.
You may now nominate Reflections as your charity when you buy items on Amazon. Click herefor more information. It does not cost you (or the retailer) anything and Reflections will receive 0.5% of what you spend.
Janet couldn’t vote, but she would have picked “Something funny” – her mum playing drums – to everyone’s surprise, while on holiday.
L – played with her mum’s jewellery, rouge and lippy.
M – her Mother was a brilliant accordion player and she liked poetry.
A – his mum taught him to cook and bake cakes.
P – recalls a trip to Ramsgate on a train with the tent loaded on a pram.
J – her Mother made toffee apples and toffee onions for prizes on camping holiday sports.
P – showed a photo of her mother aged about 75 playing the piano.
M – her mum was a knitter.
C – said her mum always stuck up for her (even when faced with a motorcycle gang).
Gyda was just a blur with her speedy flower basket craft. We expect great things from the group’s homework – no pressure.
Nikki, joined us again. She recalled a special dress, pink with yellow flowers. She went out to play, forgot how special the dress was, and it was cut while playing jungles in the garden with the boys.
Lynne produced another tricky quiz. Fortunately, we have some top quizzers.
Stay home, Protect the NHS, Save lives, have a jab, and a second jab (I’ve had mine).
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The government’s guidance state that from today (8th March) one carer should be able to visit the person they care for, in a care home.
A group carer had been identified, by her person’s care home, as a “designated visitor“. She understood she would need to have a lateral flow test and wear PPE when visiting.
In contrast, at a different care home, another carer had been told she needed to have: her first vaccination; lateral flow tests and a PCR test; and she would need to download an app to her smartphone so she could upload the results of her lateral flow tests. She would receive a ‘bundle’ and instructions for using the app. Pending the new arrangements, the “visiting room” was being used.
All care homes are trying to protect their residents, but getting the right safety balance is not easy.
Hospital
A member of our friendship Group joined this group for the first time. His wife had been admitted to hospital and, after some care, had been discharged. She was still not well so he phoned for an ambulance and she was readmitted. Over the last few days he has been trying to speak to a doctor to find ourt what is happening and what they plan to do. Unfortunately there is always a reason why the doctor cannot speak to him. Promises of ring-backs have not happened. The nurses report she is ok, but say nothing beyond that. He can’t see anyone to get an explanation and cannot visit his wife.
Tatiana suggested he talk to the nurse in change on the ward. Make sure they are aware of the unsafe discharge and that they make a note of what happened. Before she is discharged there should be a care plan in place (which may be different from the current one) and that social services in the hospital are involved.
Being stable
A regular carer was pleased to say his wife was more stable. Her drugs had been reduced, which was generally good news. Unfortunately, she was not sleeping, which meant he wasn’t sleeping. He will speak to the GP about a solution. On a very positive note – they are about to become grandparents.
The group suggested her mum get a mobile phone. This had been tried and she had mislaid three of them!
Spreading the load
A carer was still recovering from his experience with covid. His sister, who lives separately, had been visited by his daughter. Now the daughter had moved away and the caring duties returned fully to our member. He was managing, but finding it difficult.
Lewy bodies
“Lewy Bodies are clumps of protein that can form in the brain. When they build up, they can cause problems with the brain works. This may include: memory, movement, thinking skills, mood and behaviour.” People who have dementia with Lewy bodies can have visual hallucinations. Our member said her dad sometimes thought the people on the television were in his room and he would also talk to photographs. He was doing ok and the memory clinic aimed to get him into one of their cognitive stimulation groups – this will be an interesting challenge on Zoom! You can read more about dementia with Lewy Bodies here.
Carer care
One of the group told us about her struggle to cope with the issues in her life and particularly the change in her mum’s attitude towards her. Our member had decided she needed help, even though she believes she knows what to do to help herself. She knows she has made the right decision and the support was helping to put her in a better position.
Activity – it’s good for you
I did a short session on getting more active. While most of us know what we should be doing – there is often a disconnect between the theory and the practice.
Have goals and track you progress against the goals. This is useful for you and will provide evidence to others (for example if you need to involve your GP or hospital). Choose the things you like, but will also challenge you.
Things to do:
Yoga – it helps your mood and balance
Have your “Playlists for life” – very effective with managing moods
Exercise – with lockdown ending we need to be mobile and improve our general fitness
Reminisce – it works the memory and can help ease depression
Socialise (when you can) – raises the spirits and exercises the mind
Engage with nature – a quick way to feel better and do something useful (for example – watering plants)
Sit somewhere different – a change in perspective helps get us out of a rut
Pets are popular – especially with our group – from cats to snakes via tortoises. Some unusual pet behaviour included an Alsatian that jumped over a 7 foot fence and a black cat that bit people that tried to stroke it.
Our volunteers had some very friendly looking pets, which you can see below.
We ran our usual sessions today: homework, a chat about pets, quiz, jokes, songs, dancing, craft, poem Chi ball, and a reflection reading.
Janet was a bit slow seeing some of Pearl’s joke, but eventually… saw the funny side.
Gyda had a tricky craft – making a paper tortoise (based on Lynne’s pet). She also suggested drawing, and colouring-in a tortoise.
Pearl’s showed us her friend and shared a top joke selection:
I almost forgot to show one of our top homework crafts…
Stay home, Protect the NHS, Save lives, have a jab, get ready for emerging from lockdown!
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Boris has a plan – so we might all meet in person in the not too distant future…
But, for today, we were on Zoom and talking bicycles.
Our group had a lot of memories of biking escapades. Our friend in the West Country had stories of being a postman (bottom bike) and the miles of riding with a heavy sack of post. His other bikes had also done many miles of happy travelling.
Another member had come a cropper when distracted by an attractive young lady – he was riding his bike to work for the first time – speeding down a steep hill – and crashed into a car that he hadn’t notice had stopped. Oops.
We were told you could get a bike for no deposit, in the past, even an expensive one. Unfortunately, this one also found its way to the repair shop on its first outing. Our member saw her friends, took her hands off the handlebars to wave, hit a bump and had an expensive crash.
Lynne was back as quiz master. Here are a couple of brain teasers: “What is the largest country in Africa by area?” and “Which president has Richard Nixon as his Vice President?”.
Gyda had a crafty bike to make.
Pearl had to pay her bike off in weekly instalments. Joke selection:
Stay home, Protect the NHS, Save lives, have a jab (and a second jab).
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It’s Shrove Tuesday – anyone for pancakes? And… it is 50 years since we converted to decimal currency.
We are all of an age to recognise these notes and coins. No farthings – that would be too old for the group!
Our “Show and Tell” picture interlude is gaining momentum. This week we had 8 photos. These ranged from an enormous garage, that was in the (slow) process of being tidied – to a lovely bunch of flowers.
Our friends in the West Country sent this picture – apparently straw people are all around the local area – what a fun idea.
Sharon visited us for the last time today, she has a new job with the Greenwich re-enablement team. We must say “Thank you” to Sharon for her help and support – and joining in with the fun in the group. Gary from the Carers Centre joined today and will be coming in future. Gary is a former punk rocker from the 1970s, so he should fit in well.
David had been busy re-purposing some of Gyda’s crafts to make a valentine’s card for his wife. He also showed us this 3D creation. A talented man.
Eventually we got to Embarrassing Moments. The group were full of these. For example:
M – tripped over, carrying 4 open bottles of wine down some steps in front of her bosses. She didn’t spill a drop or get hurt – she was too drunk to notice!
J – when she was16, went to the pictures on a blind date to please her brother in law. Later she told the him what a drip the date was, at great length, the date was in the next room and heard it all.
C – after a very bad and busy start to the day, arrived at work to have a difficult moment in front of her boss. He gave her the news – she had come to work without a skirt on!!
Janet substituted for Lynne as quiz master today. I found the February questions very easy (I had done the quiz last Saturday). The others got on very well too.
Gyda invited us to make pancakes – fortunately, no cooking was required.
The vaccination programme is progressing in the Royal Greenwich borough. The number of local vaccination centres continues to grow.
The Queen Elizabeth hospital is the borough’s first mass vaccination centre. On 1st March the plan is to use Charlton Athletic football ground as the second. For more information go to Healthwatch Greenwich.
Stay home, Protect the NHS, Save lives, have a jab
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The chill was on – freezing cold, the snow everywhere. We were all warm in our Zoom windows.
Janet started the session with a reminder that, from this weekend, we will begin the Chinese The Year of the Ox.
Next was our picture “Show and Tell” interlude. We had photos of – Pearl’s knitted hat and an amaryllis – Peter and Janet’s 100 piece old fashioned shop puzzle – and J’s – snowy back garden, her beautiful orchids and Beware of Joe garden ornament.
We started our discussion on the theme of the week by chatting about how we survived childhood illnesses.
Additional illnesses included: A’s rickets, he was in hospital for 5 years and didn’t speak till he was 6 or 7 – G had problems with her kidneys – C got head butted and knocked unconscious by a ram – D had his tonsils out.
We also had some additional remedies: R’s gran told him to put pepper on all his food and said he wouldn’t get a cold – P alcohol to quieten him down when he was a baby – M cod liver oil, boiled milk with onions & pepper – D orange juice from the clinic with a spoonful of cod liver oil in it – N an egg up with a squeeze of lemon and honey.
Hospital stays seem to have changed a lot, as has child safety: D was playing with his elder brother, near the Sidcup bypass, when his brother fell on broken glass and had to go to hospital. D, age 4 or 5, was left behind. He managed to find his way home and was minded by a neighbour. The police were out searching for him for a long time before he was found with the neighbour.
Nikki couldn’t find any red clothes, but her red tea was in tune with the Valentine’s colour theme.
Lynne took us through a Valentine’s quiz. Try these questions… In which city did Romeo and Juliet meet? and Why do some people tie cans onto the back of wedding cars?
Gyda’s had the crafters making hearts from strips of paper. Several members had completed their Bunch of flowers homework from last week.
The requested tune for the week was “One day at a time” We then sang and danced to: “A spoon full of sugar” and “When you’re in love with a beautiful woman”.
Stay home, Protect the NHS, Save lives, don’t book a holiday.
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