2018 Editions

 

Mind Matters

Brain Games

 

What is the word? The first two letters and the last two letters are the same. Try solving them without looking at the letter pairs below. If you need to take a peek, go ahead, but do not fill in the letters right away. Come back to it several hours later. How many did you remember?

EXAMPLE     _ _ u c a t _ _    ANSWER (ed): educated

 

•      _ _ i  _ _

•      _ _ m a _ _

•      _ _ r m i  _ _

•      _ _ u r _ _

•      _ _ e l l f i _ _

•      _ _ a s _  _

 

 

 

•         _ _ t i _ _

•         _ _ a d a c _ _

•         _ _ e p s a _ _

 

OPTIONS    he  te  sh   er   ke   re  on   to   ch   

ANSWERS  

1    o n i o n
2    t o m a t o
3    t e r m i t e
4    c h u r c h
5    s h e l l f i s h
6    e r a s e r

7    r e t i r e
8    h e a d a c h e
9    k e e p s a k e

KEEP YOUR BRAIN SHARP

Improving your focus is important for enhancing your remembering skills. Distractions are not your friend.  Practice periodically just being in the present moment. Give something your full attention. Eat a meal and do not do anything else. When driving in your car alone, do not listen to any audio.  
  This puzzle and memory tip is provided by Kathryn Kilpatrick, a speech-language pathologist. She is available for Memory Fitness and Keep Your Brain Sharp programs and private consultations.

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Book Shelf

 

Renewal, rejuvenation, gardening, hiking and baseball. Sure sounds like spring, doesn’t it? Here are book suggestions that suit the season, provided by Carol Tuttle, collection services librarian for the Willoughby-Eastlake Public Library.

 

“Spring Fever” by Mary Kay Andrews

Love, deception and second chances are wrapped in this plot-twisting novel set in the Deep South. Advertising executive Annajane Hudgens finds that leaving her rural North Carolina hometown and traveling to Atlanta for a new job and a promising life is complicated. This is an enjoyable escape for spring.

 

“Room with a View” by E.M. Forster

In this classic book (that became a movie) sheltered Englishwoman Lucy Honeychurch and her older cousin, Miss Bartlett, tour Italy in the springtime. Lucy meets interesting characters who call into question her dull, repressed Edwardian life. Spring, Tuscany and enlightenment all in one luscious novel.

 

“How It All Began” by Penelope Lively

In this novel of new beginnings, one random event (the mugging of the very independent 77-year-old Charlotte) cascades into multiple outcomes: marriages disrupted, lovers united and lives changed. This is Penelope Lively at her best in an ingenious and absorbing story about human nature.

 

“Shoeless Joe” by W.P. Kinsella

Mysterious words inspire the construction of a cornfield baseball diamond. This classic novel, the basis for the film “Field of Dreams,” speaks a story about fathers and sons, family, and our cherished American pastime. Written in lovely prose, it evokes the nostalgia of family life and features a lovable hero.

 

“One Shot at Forever: A Small town, an Unlikely Coach, and a Magical Baseball Season” by Chris Ballard

Sportswriter Chris Ballard captures an Illinois high school baseball team’s improbable run at the state finals as poor farm boys from a small, rural town take on the privileged kids in this true-story account.

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QUESTION

I suffer from constant, dull lower back pain. Is surgery my only option for relief?

ANSWER

Back and neck pain are, unfortunately, one of the most common reasons patients visit our office. There are many causes of neck and back pain, and about 95 percent of patients can manage conservatively with physical therapy, cortisone injections, massage, osteopathic or chiropractic manipulation, medications and time.

When these treatments have failed to alleviate the pain, conventional treatment may turn to surgery to take away the pain. In many cases, however, surgery is not the best answer and sometimes may not even help a patient.

Advanced Stem Cell Treatments Can Help

Early research has shown that treatment with non-surgical regenerative therapies such as bone marrow concentrate (stem cell) injections and prolotherapy have been helpful for treating a number of conditions for the spine. Regenerative medicine treatments activate your body’s own adult stem cells and blood platelets to stimulate healing and speed repair for bone, muscle, joint, soft tissue and nerve injuries.

We all have healing stem cells in our bodies. Primarily found in bone marrow and fatty tissue, these cells act as repairmen and can regenerate into the type of cell that is needed when injected into an injured area. There are several kinds of stem cells. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) are the type that we use in orthopedic treatments.

MSCs have the strongest potential to repair muscle, bone, joint and soft tissue injuries.

These cells have the ability to self-replicate, reduce inflammation and differentiate into cartilage, bone, muscle and fat cells to help the body regenerate the lost tissue in the injured area.

They can activate your body’s ability to heal itself.

Healing Back Pain

For example, when these cells are placed in an injured environment, such as a degenerated disc of the back, the cells will recognize that the disc cells have started to break down and will help to regenerate them to give the discs more water content and volume.

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Life coach, therapist, counselor, psychologist. Who do you need, and when do you need them? Here's a start: a therapist answers clients’ questions. A coach questions clients’ answers. ...

“Every time I step into this garden, I’m transported to a place of green that inspires me to be strong and beautiful, like the plants growing here. My garden has been a huge mentor. It has helped me to slow down, slough off the cares of the day, and remind me of the joy of seeing the first blossom on the tomato plant. I experience renewed joy and awe every time I see another one.” — Argerie Vasilakes ...

By Kathryn Kilpatrick

What do these words have in common?  

Example: Snow, popsicles, wax melt

 

1. Cards, porch, ship a deck
2. Checks, baseball, emails bounce
3. Clothes, paper, towels fold
4. Safes, codes, walnuts crack
5. Toy, car, door knob rattle
6. Butterfly, flavor, situation delicate
7. Meeting, mind, book open and close
8. Superman, time, squirrel fly
9. Nose, paint, faucet drip
10. Maine, Georgia, Oregon border an ocean

 

Challenge your brain with a variety of activities.  

Start with a four- or five- letter word and spell it forward then backward. For example, clock would be kcolc.
When that becomes easier for you, try doing longer words. Another idea is to pair the letters of the alphabet from A to Z  with a corresponding number.
Start with A1, B2, etc. If that is too easy, try it in reverse: A26, B25, etc.

 

This puzzle and memory tip is provided by Kathryn Kilpatrick, a speech-language pathologist. She is available for Memory Fitness and Keep Your Brain Sharp programs and private consultations. Visit memoryfitnessmatters.com for more brain game resources.

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Boom! Pop Culture Chronicles

So, here we are, a new year and the usual list of resolutions that didn’t last a week. I have noticed changes in our generation that may not be evident and are happening before our very eyes. We are uncluttering our lives. We’re getting rid of stuff.

Steve Madonna is a big-time Beatles collector. He’s a local guy who travels the world finding rare John, Paul, George and Ringo memorabilia. Liverpool, New York, anywhere.

Steve said we are the last generation of collectors. Younger people have access to what they need on their phones, and many don’t see the value in a lot of the stuff we see as important.

What happens to our collections when we say our last goodbye? Something you worked your whole life on could end up in a garage sale or on the curb. If your family isn’t interested, they’ll get rid of it in the most efficient way possible. Pez dispensers, Precious Moments figurines and Beanie Babies beware.

There are plenty of folks who are already leaving collections behind. George Shuba is Cleveland’s first rock and roll photographer and has thousands of negatives on the block. He also knows what they are worth, but for the right price, you can buy a photography gold mine.

I saw it at the Cinevent movie convention, too. Every Memorial Day weekend, movie fans from around the country head to Columbus for one of the oldest conventions of its kind anywhere. You see a lot of the same dealers, and I noticed one had a lot of new stuff. He’s been around for a while, and when I asked where all the extra films and programs came from, he gave me an interesting answer: “I’ve enjoyed them for a long time, and it’s time for someone else to enjoy them.

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