Tease the brain. It may lower Alzheimer’s risk

Reblogged from Espy:

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Brain-stimulating habits over a lifetime are linked to lower levels of a key Alzheimer’s protein, new research shows. Brain scans show people with no symptoms of Alzheimer’s who engaged in cognitively stimulating activities throughout their lives had fewer deposits of beta-amyloid, a destructive protein that is the hallmark of the disease. Link Futurity

love my garden/wildlife

love my garden/wildlife.

January 2012, So far so good we have not had any snow up to now in fact the weather has been quite mild even the plants are flowering. the  white helebores as usual look stunning the plant has 11 heads this year it started to bud in november and now all the flowers are open. I even came across a tiny frog when sorting the garden very unusual.

One of the new beds i have changed for this summer  last year i had fushia’s this year its going to be a rockery with  the plants being from the blue end of the spectrum. the sunflowers did very well last year in pots so this year i going to plant them at the back along the fence hopefully they will get a good start before all the foliage around them starts to bloom. Can’t wait to start sowing seeds in the green house again.

The birds have been a wonderful site we have had goldfinches, wagtails, longtail tits, robins, hedge sparrows and the normal blackbirds of course.

Communicating in Alzheimer’s World

Reality in Alzheimer’s World is a reflection of what the person suffering from Alzheimer’s thinks and believes. It is this reality that you must focus on, not the way YOU think things are, or should be.

via Communicating in Alzheimer’s World.

My Mum

The ability to act differently for others, shows that the Alzheimer’s patient maintains social skills. When with the caregiver alone Alzheimer’s patients feels safe, and don’t have to exhaust themselves to present themselves as they would like to be seen.

The early summer Garden

I have  had 3 blackbird nests as far as i know, all the fledglings seemed to have come out of the nests early and spent time in the garden  before flying off, parents really worked hard to feed them however i did not see much of the female the male seemed to do all the work, also had 2 sparrow nests one egg did not hatch but all the others were fine and have fledged and left the garden. I am still puting mealworms out as the are birds still feeding their young.

I  re-designed the garden and took up the lawn to have more flower beds, i am pleased with the result and all plants growing well, some are growing better than others so i will keep a note and move them accordingly, it’s all trail and error.

My verybeautiful large acer that is in a big pot has suffered from all the wind, and looking quite sad a lot of the leaves have been damaged. i have moved it to a sheltered spot hopefully it will recover if not i will plant it in the ground in the autumn.

Tadpoles are doing well and have back legs hope to see some baby frogs soon.

I have ben making some homes for solitary bees which i hope will work. The outdoor tomaoes are doing ok not as good as last year, the leaves on the plants are splitting and due to the rain and then hot sun alot are burnt but they are still producing.

The strawberry are fabulous, they are so big this year and only one has been eaten by the birds.

I am off to the Gardeners world flower show next week, although i don’t have any space in the garden for more plants! but i do have lots of pots. One will always find room.

Tadpoles

Success again this year, lots of tadpoles int he pond, the numbers have dwindled so i presume some have been eaten, the ones left are either very big or very small.

I have started feeding them to help the situation.

I lost 5 frogs over the winter i found them dead at the bottom of the little pond once the weather thawed early on in the year, the little pond does not hold a lot of water so i presume they froze., such a shame, it was sad. But we have new stock so that’s pleasing.

Bird nests in garden

I have 4 nests in the garden, 3 blackbirds and one sparrow, the sparrow had 3 chicks, the blackbirds chicks are all out of the nests and dotted around the garden, the parents are feeding them all the time, they can’t fly yet but i’m sure it wont be long as they are trying.

fuel prices

http://www.fairfueluk.com/documents/petition.html

Frogs arrived

25th February i  heard the frogs croaking all through the night, so they are out of hibernation, it’s earlier than last year which i think is a good sign as the frogs know best. so spring is on it’s way

The garden in July

The weather, has been pretty awful this month of July, not a lot of sun at all, the sweet peas have done wonderful, although now mildew is setting in  i am still cutting a bucket full of flowers every day, they are covered in green fly  which always happens each year, speaying makes no difference as the plant is so big and the spray marks the flowers i wish i could upload a picture but there is a fault on this site and i can’t.

the duckweed in the pond is still there even after paying  pounds for a cure.

the lillies are on the last but there are a few gaint one to come out yet although in this weather they wont do so well. my roses are not flowering which i find odd

they are green and healthy but no flowers.

the petunia’s were really good this year, i have cut them down twice and they have flourished again. the rain has ruined the begonia flowers.

Dam Rat

I have tried everything now, the rat is still in the garden eating my frogs and birds, god knows how it catches them, it’s such a shame the frogs in my garden were safe and multiplying and i protected them as mch as i could but this foul rat is destroying all that i have put no end of poison down and the rat eat it but its not dead yet ! i have a rat trap but it wont go in it, i put meat in it and the wasps ate all that. Will it go in the pond i wonder? will it aet the rest of my tadpoles. my garden seems violated now by this killing machine.

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Rat

oh such a disaster, i saw a huge rat catching of of the big frogs, i could not help as the rat was to quick, i was so upset. i have been trying to catch the rat fro a few weeks now poison is not helping.

can’t seem to get any pictures on here anymore, when i upload they all go into the media file and i can’t post them on the site don’t know what to do about it

The pond

The pond is doing well, the plants keep the water very clear,   as i have not got a pump, the baby frogs are growing and i saw one today with a greenfly in it’s mouth.

Garden update

The sweet peas have done better than i ever expected, i have had to date 3 vase full every day the colors are lilac, white with amauve edge and purple and the smell is just intoxicating. they are about 10ft high going over an arched trellis going into the garden.

The Lilly bed is looking very colorful but they are all taller than i expected, the poppy were wonderful but when they opened the petals fell off after a day, they were the large fringe edged poppy’s in magenta.
the petunia’s have grown to tall really and are looking a bit straggly however thay are very pretty as i planted then very close together.

so sad, Micheal Jackson died today, wonderful star, the best.

such a shame the people could not have said the nice things to him when he was alive instead of now when he can’t hear!!

found 4 more little frogs

Oh they are so sweet and about 4 cm

Today we saw the first little frog

Today the 23rd June o9 we saw the Ist little frog, it was so tiny but perfect, i was so excited, i ran in the house to get the camera but
alas, it disappeared when i got back i have no doubt i will now be seeing more of them, i hope

legs at at last !

when will they be frogs?

Tadpoles have still not changed it’s been three and half months now, i wonder how much longer i have to wait.

Weather

The good weather last week really gave the garden a boost,however glad it did not last to long as the plants really don’t like to much heat. The bonsia really suffer in the heat due to the limited soil, i have moved some of them to the shady part of the garden.

Uk Gardens

Really upset to learn that they have taken UK Gardens  of sky TV,  I was an avid watcher of this channel. They say that they have not taken it of but just changed the name ! however the new “home” channel as it is now called has not as yet had any gardening programmes on it.

maybe summer at last

The weather has been fabulous this last couple of days so the garden is coming on a treat, most of the spring plants have finished now and the summer plants are in and growing well,The tadpoles have no legs yet! some are big some are small, i can’t wait untill they start to change.

The big frogs have been enjoying the sun yesterday there were 6 all lined up sunning themselves on a rock in the pond. they have been a godsend to my garden as the garden used to suffer alot due to slugs and snails, now i maybe see one or two here and there.

The wisteria flowers are now fading and we have an abundance of leaves, i will have to thin them soon.

What Bonsai means

Bonsai is just a tree in a pot, to be more specific, a bonsai is a miniature representation of a full grown tree cultivated in an aesthetically compatible container.

Any species of tree has the potential to be a bonsai although some are better than others. A misconception is that dwarf varieties make the best ones  but this is not the case as they are often weak growers and easy get disease. The foliage needs to match the scale of the tree.developing a bonsai takes a long time and discipline:  daily watering regular, feeding, trimming, repotting, wire-training and root care.

Beech, hawthorn, pine, larch and elm make  fine bonsai so do many garden shrubs. Bonsai are among the best cared- for plants in cultivation and often out live their full size counterparts.

Suzuki Azalea Bonsai

The top picture is the Suzuki Azalea Bonsai 2 years ago.        This is the same tree 2009

My Oldest Bonsai is a Maple

The picture below is my oldest and first Bonsai tree it is a maple, and my favorite.

I have always had a problem with it even though it is my favorite, no matter what i do i can not get the leaves to reduce in size i have tried for many years , last year i lost a few branches so i have put it back into a larger pot for now to redesign it and hopefully get back the branches i lost. I will take a photo of it at a closer angle so you can see what i mean.

At the moment i have it on the edge of my pond and it looks good even though the leaves are still huge.

i have taken advise on it but to no avail.

Maple

My Bonsia

Of  course my other passion are my Bonsia, i have been growing for many years mainly small as i have not always had the space, over the next few weeks i will post some pics of my plants. to share i am a member of many groups and through trail and error of which over the years i have had many errors and have learnt from these if you have any questions please feel free to ask.

my maple