Category Archives: isolation

isolation, movement disorders, nature, Poetry, Seasons, trees, wildlife , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Snow and ice will suffice

by

It’s been nearly a third of a year since I last posted on this site. Advancing years, physical therapy, adjusting to changes in medications and dealing with sleep disorders has kept this off my list of priorities.

So, instead of getting into a list of what has or hasn’t happened during the hiatus, today we’ll look at today and yesterday, as Oklahoma and much of the nation is experiencing a winter storm.

This angular composition is the result opening the kitchen door. Interesting (to me, anyway) are the layers of the snow drift against the door, somewhat analogous to the rings of a tree. As can be seen, we had at least an initial overnight snowfall, followed by three snowfalls of lesser duration or intensity.

Raising our sights up a little, tracks of an unobserved critter are seen between a tree tentatively identified as Cedar Elm (Ulmus crassifolia). The critter leaving tracks is probably either an Eastern Fox Squirrel (Sciurus niger) or Eastern Gray Squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis). Because the Fox squirrel is adaptable to a variety of habitats and is listed as the most common species of squirrel in Oklahoma, it seems these are likely the tracks of a Fox squirrel. The Gray is smaller and prefers densely wooded forests, according to the OSU Gray and Fox Squirrels fact sheet.

Finally, a look out the front door and the texture of snow with a slight line of demarcation between the sidewalk and the minimal porch, providing an illusion of the overcast clouds in the sky.

And if you didn’t catch the allusion in the title…

###

Exercise, Improvisation, isolation, Research, Yes/And , , 2 Comments

Improv revisited

by

Today I’ll look back at a previous post: Pre-clinical trial starts February 26.

Or not.  Instead, I’ll do my best not to violate the NDA we signed about the trial, and look instead at oh, say, humor and Parkinson’s Disease (PD).

As one of my graduate professors mentioned to our class, humor is best when it is “in the moment,” spontaneous, and not planned, often helping to release the tension of what could be an awkward moment.

I’ll refer to the interview conducted by Power for Parkinson’s earlier this month with the PhD. candidate who was conducting the trial noted above. In it, he lays out the concepts and the parameters of the studies, and the three folks in the interview play some of the exercises.

Powerful People interview with Robert Cochrane

The home site for the program is yesandexercise.org.

I actually participated in the clinical trial noted in the previous post and felt that it helped me recognize some things about myself as a Person With Parkinson’s and my interactions with the rest of the world. Still have the same issue of people of thinking I’m serious when I’m jesting, and vice versa, though. And knowing just how far to go with it and when to shut my mouth (or press delete instead of send). It’s a work in progress… or an abandoned house/wisecrack house/fixer-upper. Take your pick.

and, just for today, we’ll end in a prayer:

Forgive, O Lord, my little jokes on Thee
And I’ll forgive Thy great big one on me.

      • Robert Frost

###