The Nun Study

Every morning is the same. Fred and Sheba demand that I get up, I feed them and Ethel, I have some toast, I light the fire, I visit news sites on the Internet, and I post on my blog. And lately, I’ve been going back to bed once all that is done. That’s what I did yesterday, and I woke just in time to get myself presentable before Dave arrived to help me with my computer and printer.

When Dave left, I took a gourmet hamper I got off Amazon over to Pete and Ali’s to thank Pete for helping me with the wood splitting and stacking and for cleaning my studio and shed rooves. He’s an amazing and generous man, so I like to reward him for all he does for me. He expects nothing and is so sincere in his desire to be helpful, but I really enjoy gifting him and Ali when he makes a big effort for me.

Then, finally, I took poor Sheba for a walk in wonderfully mild temperaures. It was long overdue, but I only rarely walk her as late as I did yesterday. When we got home, it was time for lunch and then I got to some chores. I used my blower to clear the back deck of the bazillion Fir needles that fell during the storm. Now, fewer of them will track into the house. I must vacuum every day to keep the place tidy. 

When we got home, I watched a movie while rain fell outside, but we bolted to walk in the afternoon when, for a brief period, the rain stopped. She was not having it, however. She did not want to walk. So, we came home, had dinner, and got on the chaise together while Fred and Ethel each had their own plush chair in front of the fire.

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I read about a highly interesting scientific research experiment called The Nun Study. Beginning in 1986, researcher David Snowdon undertook a scientific and personal mission to help understand the epidemiologic factors involved in Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). He did this with the help and commitment of 678 Catholic Sisters of the School Sisters of Notre Dame Order, an order devoted to education, teaching, and service. They took as one of their missions to help the researchers learn about AD, by opening their personal lives and histories, and by donating their brains for scientific study post-mortem.

Participants agreed to undergo annual physical and neuropsychological evaluations to track changes in memory, language, and cognitive function over time, and the sisters granted researchers full access to their comprehensive convent archives, medical histories, and lifestyle records. Because the participants shared a relatively uniform lifestyle—including similar housing, diet, healthcare access, and socioeconomic status throughout their adult lives—researchers could control for many confounding environmental variables that usually complicate aging.

An additional important component of the nun study is that each nun wrote a brief autobiography before taking her final vows to join the order. These writing samples were obtained, on average, from study participants when they were in their late teens or early twenties. This served as a critical point of reference concerning language usage by each of the study participants. One astounding finding from the Nun Study came from comparing language usage in their youth with the development of AD later in life. The analysis of the study data demonstrated that complex cognitive skills and abilities at a relatively young age correlate with a decreased likelihood of developing AD in late adulthood. 

This study made me feel safe. As a person oriented to writing at an early age and as the editor of Don’s writing for the newspaper, I used complex sentences and I had an adequately rich vocabulary.

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When I went out for wood this morning, the sky was clear and stars were twinkling. That was at 4:30. By 7:30, I was alerted to a change in the probable weather of the day by the sound of heavy rain in the roof. At 8:00, the sky was clear again. We have a wind warning today. Another storm is arriving; we are heading into a week of rain beginning tomorrow.

I’m meeting Kelly for breakfast at Mad Rona’s at 9:30, which will be wonderful. I am very fond of her, and I’ve not seen her as often since her bro and my friend, Jay, died this past Spring. IN the afternoon, I expect to finish the editing work on a fantastic SPACE article.

A Big Editing Job

It was like old times yesterday. Aidan asked me to edit a forty-page document that is in clinical language. It’s a guide for speech language therapists that SPACE is putting on our soon-to-be-done website redesign. I’ve been blown away by the content! It’s exceptional reading for anyone who stutters, and every parent of a child who develops a stutter. It’s not just for therapists. However, it’s exclusively about developmental stutterers, so my biggest criticism is the lack of information about us.

On a very wet and windy morning, Sheba and I went for our morning walk during a lull in the rain. Then I worked on the SPACE document before going to Ground Up for lunch with Bonnie and Sue. I was very happy to see them. They are upbeat lovely and interesting people who have opened their hearts to me. Unsurprisingly, they have an army of friends. Their stories are full of references to friends. 

I loved having our long lunch together, but when I came home, I felt tired and flat. I lay on the chaise and fell asleep. When I woke up, I took Sheba for our afternoon walk and then returned to the chaise. I had neither an appetite nor any energy to do anything. I just lay there. I had no interest in a movie. I just wanted time to go by so I could go to bed. But then, at 21:00, I felt myself again.

My experience yesterday suggests to me that I’ve become less able to sustain stimulation. I agree with my friends now, that my dreadful killer seizure was an aftershock of my weekend in Vancouver. And my lunch yesterday might have been too much stimulation and that’s why the rest of my day was so flat. In five days, I see Dr. Shoja. I expect that will be an enlightening session. We’ll have a lot to talk about.

All that is happening today is a visit from Dave, the computer guy. He’s a gem of a fellow, so I’m looking forward to his visit. He’s coming to get my printer working. It works, but only after a lot of hassle. Something is wrong, so he’s coming to fix it. The rest of the day will be slow and easy.

All this rain is like old times. I don’t think we’ve had rain like we’ve had this past week and expect in the coming week since the Fall of 2023. The Winter of the past two years were quite dry and mild. We had two brief cold snaps in 2024, but the rest of the past two years were unusually dry and warm. I wonder what we’re in for this Winter.

Just Another Day at Pinecone Park

Sheba this morning getting warm by the fire.

We have an atmospheric river coming our way according to Environment Canada. I hope it’s not like our first one which created a lake from my studio to Dave and Ursula’s house next door, and trail walking was out of the question for a week. I’m. not worried! The books I bought the other day are on their way.

My en suite bathroom is never warm. Heat from my fireplace doesn’t reach it. Both my bathroom and bedroom stay cool. I like the cool bedroom, but I’m not a fan of coming out of the shower into so cold a room, so yesterday I got a little heater to put in there, and I turn it on about ten minutes before I shower. And what a wonderful difference it makes! I’m a heat pussy, so this morning it was far less shocking to emerge from the shower. Progress!

We walked in the morning, then I Zoomed with my UK group, which was a particularly good session, and then we had lunch. Then I crashed. I felt very tired and so I napped on the chaise before we went for our afternoon walk, which was very nice because I came upon James Turner. He’s one of four Turner siblings living on the island. His sister Paula was a stage manager when I was working in theatre.

The clouds had begun rolling in at noon and it got progressively darker through the afternoon. I checked the weather website and the warning about an atmospheric river is gone. I guess we’ll just have a lot of rain. Soon, the stream running through the Elder Cedar grove will be running again. I like hearing the water as I walk the trail.

When I woke this morning, it was to the sound of rainfall on the roof. It has begun but the week ahead is not looking as dire. However, we have been issued with a wind warning, and that often means we’ll have a power failure. I hope we don’t! I’m addicted to watching movies and television at night.

Today will be a good day. I watch one of my favourite vloggers this morning, I’m having lunch with Sue and Bonnie and tonight I look forward to being on the chaise watching a movie while the fire roars and my pets cuddle up around me. 

Another weekend is upon me. The week went by like a day. I can’t believe it’s the weekend again already. 

A Big Book Buy ❤️

Yesterday began under clear bright skies. The sun, so low on the horizon, made all my trees glow with radiant colour. It’s such a gorgeous time of the year. I feel very good when it’s sunny. My mood is elevated, making walking the Trailhead 6 trail a spectacularly pleasant and fragrant. There was one place where the fragrance took me back immediately to days when I walked to elementary school and when I played soccer outside on Fall mornings. There’s a special fragrance that only comes in fall, and I love it as much as a beautifully fragrant flower.

I didn’t feel nearly as tired yesterday as I had on Monday. And my back wasn’t bothering me nearly as much either. I feel recovered from the splitting and stacking, but there’s more to come. All the big rounds I have stored in the shed need to be split with metal wedges. I can borrow some from Kevin. He told me it’s easier to split the wood when it is green. My plan was to do it next year, but now I reckon I must do it soon—with help.

At noon, the sky began clouding over, and it got dark. And I thought of the long days of little light ahead, and so, after a quick trip to the village, I bought some books online. I love Thriftbooks! I bought myself eleven used books, so I’m set for quite a while.

I stayed gently busy all day. I made a large batch of pasta sauce loaded with veggies, and then I tidied up, just ahead of my Zoom SPACE board meeting that convened at 17:00. It was a great meeting. We have fundraising to do. We are going to find out how committed board members are because we need each of them to do something. Thankfully, I love fundraising, and Aidan knows that.

Our evening together, the feline twins, Sheba and I, was lovely. Everyone loves the fire. After dinner they we are all close to the heat.

This morning, the sky was alive with stars when I went out to fetch wood, and toting the wood back into the house went smoothly. My body has recovered from the day of splitting and stacking with Pete. I Zoom with my fellow stutterers in the UK this morning, and the rest of the day will be for chillin’!

If I don’t have a seizure today, and I won’t, I will have gone a week without having one, and that is very good news. I am getting my confidence back about socializing. And that’s a good thing because Monday night I am going to dinner with Pete and Ali to the home of the woman for whom I baked eight cakes this past Summer. (That’s something I will never do again!)