1-on-1 with Ian @ South Gate Centre

Continued IT support for seniors and the Woodstock community.

November 2011 John Knox Christian School

Eight years ago, whilst working in the computer lab at John Knox Christian School (now Woodstock Christian School), I created a spelling list for the grade 1 class using the abcya software program.

 

1-on-1 with Ian @ South Gate Centre

Could you get into Hogwarts? Take this quiz and find out.

If there was an entrance exam for Hogwarts, 

would you be able to pass it?

You Won't Believe This

The number of bacterial species recently identified within an average belly button numbered 2,368.

Around half of those were new to science.

There are more life forms living on your skin than there are people on the planet.

You Won't Believe This

Mankind shares 50 per cent of the same DNA as a banana, of which seven billion are consumed annually.

Sunday Night in the Park HPBC

I agreed to produce promotional material for this Huron Park Church event. 

I also offered to proofread and edit other material. 

A P.S.A.L.M. May 2016 South Gate Nugget submission

Poster creations for The Alzheimer Society

BBC children's programmes

Muffin the Mule, Andy Pandy, Bill and Ben

Which programme is the oldest?

What's in a name?

What connects:

Abigail

Barney

Clodagh

Desmond

Eva

Frank

Gertrude

Henry

Vernon

Wendy

Conundrum

The Cost

!912 Olympics

What was unique about the 1912 Stockholm Summer Games opened by King Gustav V?

Venus

Venus is called the Evening Star and the Morning Star - True or False?

Dementia - recollection

My youngest daughter, Ellie, was studying health within her class at Woodstock Christian School. The initial topic she chose for her project was Abortion. Her form teacher did not believe she was of the age to undertake such an emotive subject. As her parent, and having talked with Ellie, I did not agree. However, we eventually decided to tackle Alzheimer's/dementia.
I had been a caregiver for my grandad who suffered from dementia. To supplement the project I wrote the following from the perspective of my grandad, based upon actual events.

My name is Frank. I am 84-years-old. A widower. My wife Nellie. short for Eleanor, had a severe stroke over seven years ago. She was hospitalised, and died shortly afterwards.
I live in Sowerby Bridge, but this two-up two-down house is becoming too much for me . I decide to sell. I move into Ladstone Towers. I live in a flat on the tenth floor.
I am struggling. I can't see very well, I have cataracts.
My grandson has arranged for me to move into sheltered accommodation in the town where he and his wife, Lesley, live. This is better. I can now spend time with my great grandchildren, Joshua and Sarah.
I am starting to forget things. It's more than, 'where did I put my key?' I don't know what day it is.
I can't look after my pension. I have signed my pension book so our Ian can collect it for me. Where is my pension book? I am sure I put it here, in this drawer! Oh yes, our Ian has it. But he shouldn't. He's stolen it. I am going to report him. I am trying to find my way to the Police Station, get lost and I am in the local court building.
I go to see our Ian. I sit at the kitchen table. I see my pension book. Our Ian explains to me that I have given him permission to collect the pension for me - I don't believe him. I grab the pension book and leave.
Our Ian and Lesley come to see me later. What are they doing in my fridge? They tell me that the food in the fridge is past its best before date. There is mould on the cheese. The milk is rancid.
My trousers smell, urine. I can't help it, I wet myself. Where is the toilet?
I am going with our Ian to see the doctor. I am told I have dementia. I can't answer questions asked by Doctor Robinson.
He admits me into hospital. I am confused. I do not know where I am a lot of the time. I open a door, I need the toilet, I need a wee. That wasn't the toilet I am told by a nurse. It was a wardrobe.
Our Ian comes to see me with Joshua and Sarah. He tells me Lesley has been killed. Something about cycling, but I'm not sure.
A man has come to see me. I am moving to a nursing home called Abbeymoor. I think that's where our Ian works.
I am settled. I like this place. Our Ian has bought me some clothes. These care assistants help me to dress, but I don't see our Ian.
Someone tells me he left, he's looking after two children. I didn't know he had children.
I am beginning to have headaches.
I have a stroke.
I am sleeping. I know there is someone by my bed, but I don't know who.
I open my eyes; I try to focus.
Then I close my eyes for the last time.

Ladybird

Why do we call a ladybird a ladybird? First of all why the 'lady' and secondly why a 'bird'? And if you look up in the OED, the historical dictionary, its first record of the word 'ladybird', you'll find a 1674 glossary of southern English dialect. And the author describes how the dialect word 'bishop' is the southern English term for the little spotted beetle commonly called the Lady cow 'or the Lady-bird.' And then 'ladybug' followed, and eventually 'ladybird' settled. But bot terms are preceded by this 'cow-lady' and 'ladycow' which is even stranger than a ladybird. There is a parallel going back even further of 'God's cow', which may have been the same insect. Neither a bird nor a lady, if you start with the 'bird', there is some idea that it might be an alteration of 'budde', which in Middle English was applied to quite a few different forms of insect. However, it's generally considered that 'bird' was simply a reference to the bug's winged nature and its flying abilities. 'Lady', apparently refers to the seven spots of the Coccinella septempunctata, the common (UK) native ladybird, that is being threatened by the harlequin ladybird. The spots are said to symbolise the seven pains of the Virgin Mary in the RC faith, which involved the flight to Egypt and the crucifixion of Christ. And so 'ladybird' was simply 'Our Lady's bird.'

Henry The Eighth

September Golden Nugget

Blue Whale

The heart of a blue whale weighs about 1,500 lb and it beats between
four and eight times a minute.