I’m sitting in the car. It’s freezing outside. I’m on a hilltop, parked outside a gate. I’ve backed up to the gate because mama always said, “Always think of the getting out, before you think of the getting in.” My son is feeding a friend’s animals. I am waiting for him. It’s been ten minutes. …
My husband loves to build cairns on the banks of the Little Santiam River. It’s fun to help him fetch just the right rocks and watch him VERY patiently build these phenomenal structures. It still boggles me that they stand. He is not done until they are stable enough to dance around. To make this …
Part I: OXYTOCIN I took a magnificent Dementia class by fellow occupational therapist Teepa Snow. She taught a contact technique to use on people with dementia. She elaborated that it led to the release of Oxytocin, a hormone produced in mammalian brains. I call it our herd hormone. I later learned it controls social recognition …
So yellow the yellowness So black the polka dots So green the mowed lawn One beetle per blossom Each six bright spots. I was struck by the sunny dandelions in the lawn and stooped to admire their delicate unfurling petals. Nestled in the first one was a pretty ladybug. I looked at another, and another, and each one …