#CRAFTS WITH ANASTASIA--THE CONNECTION BETWEEN CRAFTING AND #DEMENTIA

Photo by Chuck Moravec

Can arts and crafts lower your risk of getting Alzheimer’s disease?

Various studies have shown the psychological, social, and physical benefits of crafting. Crafters often have a better quality of life.

Engaging in a craft is relaxing and relieves stress. Knitting, for example, has been referred to as the “new yoga”. People engaged in arts and crafts claim they feel calmer, happier, less depressed, less anxious, and more confident after engaging in their preferred craft.

Along with teaching patience and producing a sense of achievement and pride from a finished project, crafting has been known to improve problem solving abilities and spatial awareness as well as develop hand-eye coordination.

Now, according to Heather Snyder, PhD, senior director of medical and scientific operations for the Alzheimer’s Association, people who engage in arts and crafts at least once a week have a lower risk of developing various forms of dementia like Alzheimer’s disease.

I saw this firsthand when I moonlighted at the Sunnyside of Westfield Assisted Living and Rehabilitation Center in Revenge of the Crafty Corpse. The most active residents were the ones who spent a good deal of time in the arts and crafts room, and several vied for the title of Queen of the Crafters. The reigning queen was feisty 98-year-old Lyndella Wegner—at least until someone murdered her.

Revenge of the Crafty Corpse
Book 3 of the Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mysteries

Anastasia Pollack’s dead louse of a spouse has left her with more bills than you can shake a crochet hook at. Teaching craft classes at her mother-in-law’s assisted living center seems like an easy way to supplement her meager income. But when Lyndella Wegner—a 98-year-old know-it-all with a penchant for ruffles and lace—turns up dead, Anastasia’s cantankerous mother-in-law becomes the prime suspect in her murder. Upon discovering that Lyndella’s scandalous craft projects—and her scandalous behavior—made her plenty of enemies, Anastasia sets out to find the real killer before her mother-in-law ends up behind bars.

Buy Links

paperback
Nook
Kindle
iTunes
Kobo
Google Play 

HEALTHY LIVING WITH JANICE--GUEST AUTHOR SHARLEEN SCOTT ON ALZHEIMER'S

Alzheimer Flowers

Blue: I have Alzheimer’s. 

Purple: I have lost someone to Alzheimer’s disease. 

Yellow: I am supporting or caring for someone with Alzheimer’s. 

Orange: I support the cause and a vision of a world. without Alzheimer’s.

Romantic-suspense author Sharleen Scott is taking a brief detour from her CAUGHT series with the release of Tangles, a novel dedicated to her mother-in-law, Judy Scott, who succumbed to Alzheimer’s disease. Learn more about Sharleen and her books at her website. 

Why I wrote Tangles

Take a moment to form a mental picture. In this picture, imagine your family, friends, co-workers and acquaintances. Now for the hard reality: Someone in your mental snapshot has Alzheimer’s disease, will have it, or knows someone who does. Over five million Americans are afflicted with this mind-robbing disease right now, and that number will increase as the boomer generation ages.

Facts from the Alzheimer’s Association

Alzheimer’s disease is a type of dementia that causes problems with memory, thinking, and behavior. It is the most common form of dementia, but it isn’t a normal part of aging. There is no current cure. Almost two-thirds of Americans with Alzheimer’s disease are women. Alzheimer’s disease is the 6^th leading cause of death in the United States. To date, there are no survivors.

A Reason to Hope?

I recently attended the “Reason to Hope” breakfast, presented by the Alzheimer’s Association in my hometown, knowing the above facts. My family lost a loved one to this disease, and we know the feeling of hopelessness. But the name of the event intrigued me, and I went in search of a reason to hope.

The presentations were as expected. Videos of victims’ families relayed familiar pleas: this disease is fatal and a cure must be found. Families, activists, and Association volunteers told their stories of how this disease is personal to them, and that their goal is to someday have at least one survivor.

As I listened, I realized the reason to hope is in the research. The Alzheimer’s Association has a program called TrialMatch, which provides access to promising clinical studies being conducted across the country. Alzheimer’s patients today are getting involved in these vital studies to help find a cure for this devastating disease.

Research has also brought hope to families where early-onset Alzheimer’s is almost a certainty. Treatments are being tested on family members who test positive for the disease before symptoms even begin.

There are caregiver support groups to help those experiencing a heavy physical, emotional, and financial toll. Information gives caregivers hope.

What I’m doing to help

I’m forming a walk group, Team Tangles, and am participating in the Alzheimer’s Association’s Walk to End Alzheimer’s on September 19 in Yakima, Washington. I encourage you to join the fight either by joining a walk team (mine, if you are in the northwest) or donating to a team member. Visit www.alz.org for more information.

Together, we can make a difference.

Sharleen's Alzheimer’s Walk team page.

Tangles

Can tragedy mend a wounded family?

While faced with the challenge of his mother’s escalating Alzheimer’s disease, Logan McKinnon discovers secret journals that leave him questioning everything he knows about his family. With no one left to ask, Logan must find a man mentioned in the journals to discover a truth he may not want to know.

Buy Link

TRAVEL WITH SERENA--GUEST AUTHOR BEVERLEY BATEMAN

Puerto Rico

Author Beverley Bateman lvnes in Canadian wine country. She firmly believes it’s her obligation to taste all the world class wines  produced in the region and claims her imbibing helps her write better. (That’s her excuse, she says, and she’s sticking to it.) Learn more about Beverley and her books at her website and blog. Today she joins us to talk about cruising the Caribbean.

I love cruising, and our cruises provided the background for my Holly Devine, Assistant Private Investigator series. The first book, A Cruise To Remember, takes place on a cruise ship in the Caribbean.

I’ve taken several different Caribbean cruises on different cruise lines. You can leave from many different ports on these cruise—New Orleans (where we were mugged, but that’s another story); Galveston, Texas; Miami, Tampa and Ft Lauderdale in Florida and my favorite—San Juan, Puerto Rico.  When we left from San Juan, we flew in a few days early to explore the area. Some of the places are mentioned in A Cruise to Remember.

Old Town is a funky area of very narrow winding streets with many old shops. It’s fun to wander around that area, poking your head into shops filled with antiques and local crafts. There are still some of the remains of the old wall that surrounded the city.  After lunch we took a short walk out to the defensive fort, El Morro castle, at the head of the island. El Morro and the walls of the city were built to protect the island from attacks. Because of its prominence in the Caribbean, and the rich cargoes of gold and silver, San Juan became a target of the foreign powers of the time, so several fortifications were built to protect the city.

If you have time, and I recommend it, you can also take a tour to the El Yunque rainforest.  Return trip is about half an hour. On this fascinating tour, you'll pass typical native towns before ascending through rapidly changing vistas of amazing vegetation. The rainforest is home to more than 240 species of plants and wildlife, waterfalls, streams and hiking trails leading to enticing locations. You'll see tree orchids, giant ferns, wild flowers, tropical hardwoods and spectacular waterfalls. And after you return to San Juan, your ship will be ready to board.

Once on board your cruise ship, you’ll settle into your cabin, explore the ship and in the evening, head for the deck for sail away drinks as the ship chugs slowly out of the harbor. You pass the city, then watch El Morro fade away in the distance. Depending on your cruise, you’ll slice through the azure Caribbean Sea and visit islands such as Philipsburg, St. Maarten; St. John's, Antigua; Castries, St. Lucia, Oranjestad, Aruba; Willemstad, Curacao and/or Bridgetown, Barbados. I touch on several of these islands in my book. And at each stop there are a wide variety of activities you can do, tours of the island, shopping, beach excursions, river cruises, sometimes golf. If you head off the ship on your own, your guaranteed to find a line of taxis waiting to take you anywhere you want to go. Since the islands depend on the cruise ship visits for their economy, the drivers are usually safe. We did this on several islands, and the driver took us all around the island, showing us many of the interesting spots mentioned on the formal tours, and it was less crowded and more relaxing. If all else fails, you can lie by the pool drinking cute little drinks with umbrellas in them. 

Cruising is a wonderful and relaxing vacation. You travel, see different islands every day, and you don’t have to pack and unpack. There’s no driving involved, and I won’t even mention the marvellous food that’s always available of the ship and at the local restaurants on the islands.

A Cruise to Remember

She’s lost her memory; no one’s looking for her and someone is trying to kill her. Will Holly get her memory back before the killer succeeds?

Holly Devine, a wealthy, single socialite decides to leave behind the party lifestyle she devolved into after her parents' sudden deaths, become a private investigator and find out how her parents really died. Now she's on a cruise ship; her past is a blank; the cause of her amnesia is unknown. She's trying to find out who she is, how she got there and why someone is trying to kill her.

Eric Petersen, an Interpol agent tracking an international ring of jewel thieves, while posing as the ship's doctor finds himself falling for his prime suspect.

Can they stop the killer and both find what they are looking for?

Buy Link