#ourcreativejourneylivingwithdementia

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Finished! Thanks @lorna.jewitt for the inspiring postcard and @zakfoster.quilts @amandanadigart for initiating and coordinating this online community quilt making thing! The Newness theme got us jumping into an old friend (patching fabric randomly that is) but from an entirely different angle. This said, one cannot escape their true nature so the bear came out to play under a wavy pinky blue sky and pixelated mountain. However this time a shadowy bearess made her appearance... I wonder who she is?! #postcardquilt #ourcreativejourneylivingwithdementia #stiching #textures #landscape #newness #renewal #patchwork #reinventing #selfcare https://www.instagram.com/p/COFj16xH0di/?igshid=4ti69gqcssye

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How do you translate hope in Portuguese? Just ask Joana (44) @joanacabraloliveira ~ Catarina (9) ~ Eduardo (7), and Carlos (46) a lovely family from Lisbon in Portugal 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 . They’ll just show you that all it takes is a big open heart, a little jump in the unknown, and lots of carefully chosen colours. Weave them all together with your favourite people and send them away across the pond to bring a smile on the face of a warm hearted bear and his side~chick ! Thank you so much guys! You’ve spoiled us. Be sure that we’ll cherish every bit of your magical parcel !👜🪄🪅🌟🥰🌻🥰More from the bear in vidéos 🎬👉🏾 Ps:Your colors work beautifully with the Cabral family’s. And I don’t think it is a coincidence! #supercolouringin #hope #connection #creativedementiacare #ourcreativejourneylivingwithdementia https://www.instagram.com/p/COAaicXnWat/?igshid=7m6dkxt7zzrh

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Well worth the wait! 😉 🙏🏼Thanks to @amyjeastwood and her little Jesse for bringing this 21/36 of our mural of hope to life! D’s reaction in the vid 🎬👉🏾 🌈🌼💖🌼🌈 #ourcreativejourneylivingwithdementia #creativedementiacare #supercolouringin #muralofhope #murmuration #smallthingsmatter #smile https://www.instagram.com/p/CNpd3iTHBcw/?igshid=1edb8csrq3oek

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🥳 We completed our second tile! 🍭 14 are on their way back to us 20 are already on the mural, giving us so much joy 🤩 💞🙏🏼 2 are left waiting patiently to be fostered. Any good family out there or individual ready to give them some colourful ❤️ ? Update : they found a home! 🙏🏼 Almost there! We hope you all have a good week out there facing all the challenges that keep on popping up no matter what! Thanks again for all the 💖! You know who you are. It does make a difference! #ourcreativejourneylivingwithdementia #creativedementiacare #fosteringhope #nurturing #supercolouringin #murmuration https://www.instagram.com/p/CNm9rahn1TS/?igshid=18kj64djtapzk

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We give you mother and daughter, Chris & Rosa, création! This is an off the whole, earthy delight! We did say there was no rules and they went for it! We love them so much for bringing us a bit of them and of the glorious spring in! Reactions from 🧸 in videos😁 🙌🏼😆 We ❤️ you ! Oh and I almost forgot! Thank you for the fab calendar with delicious seasonal recipes! Women of my 🫀! 🌈🌼💖🌼🌈 #supercolouringin #creativedementiacare #ourcreativejourneylivingwithdementia https://www.instagram.com/p/CNhTdb1Hnr6/?igshid=157palreipoqa

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A third ray of sunshine has hit our wall and brought an enchanted forest scene to life in our dark little corner. A warm thanks to Elspeth and her daughter Elinor (16) who where one of the first to offer their help! D and I only met Elspeth once, roughly three years ago at a workshop on how to build dementia friendly communities at the Quakers meeting House in Euston. She was the researcher assigned to our table. Her gentle and kind aura stayed with me. I found that honesty of heart rare to encounter particularly emanating from people in her line of work. In my experience many *researchers* (disclaimer: I am a researcher broadly speaking even though I never quite had that title) end up boosting an unwelcoming over-reaching ego, full of veneer rather than genuine empathy. Fir some it might be a way to avoid being crushed by the pressures of the daily academic grind or else... but I diverge so back to the kindness and all path. In any case that genuine gentleness of heart did make a long lasting impression. So when she sent me a message via Twitter offering her help I was not that surprised. And the fact that she enjoyed spending a bit of daughter/mother creative time , as she explained in her lovely Frida Kahlo card ( what a great choice!), make their contribution all the more special. And the bear fully endorsed this message! As you can hear in his little thank you vid. Thank you again @e.j.mathie and Elinor for brightening up our day and corridor for days to come! 💖 R&D 🌈🌻💖🌻🌈 #supercolouringin #ourcreativejourneylivingwithdementia #colourfulconnections https://www.instagram.com/p/CMCcbY1nROd/?igshid=1nz1tofe9tyyk

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Happy News! Abbie @abbiebiscoe , a wonderful dance artist, yoga instructor, an all round lovely human being, surprised us with a 💌parcel full of lovely surprises. The sparkling eyes cat took his place on our wall of hope. And David could not resist wearing the rainbow around his neck (stand reassure, not on any other part of his anatomy, as his video message may suggest 🤣😂😅) Can’t wait to read the happy news 📰 @thehappynewspaper but I’ll have to wait as the bear is devouring it first! Merci merci merci Abbie. 🙏🏼 You truly are our little sunshine ☀️ today! Ps: as you can see we still have a few tiles to fill on our wall. So if you fancy helping us bringing hope in dark corners, DM me your postal address! Happy day to all! 🌻 The bear 🐻 & I 🌈🌻💖🌻🌈 #supercolouringin #ourcreativejourneylivingwithdementia #bringinglightinthedarkness #hope https://www.instagram.com/p/CL6i0yAn9Oh/?igshid=eyvd5zaq9pga

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🌈Amazing! 🌈 First tile from our collaborative #supercolouringin mural master piece has arrived, and it is from no other than gorgeous Marina 🌈🌻🌈! @marina_crs2018 💖 It has taken pride place at the heart of the mural and already made us very happy! The bear loves touching the many textures you blended together with love! And thanks for the bumper pack too! You really made our day you incredible 💎 of a lady! Ps: and if you wondered it’s @moragmyerscough and @supermundane posters for @ingoodcompanyleeds in the background! We didn’t have a space to hang them out but we absolutely ❤️ them! #ourcreativejourneylivingwithdementia #collaboration #hopeful #colourfulhomevibe #aztec #queen # https://www.instagram.com/p/CLpYD7AH8He/?igshid=1cbpan2nitql7

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Bear > child > husband > father > lover > Human > light > ❤️... #drawinglife #ourcreativejourneylivingwithdementia #iwanttobewithyoueverywhere https://www.instagram.com/p/CLeTH7cnLii/?igshid=50nxu2h0z31p

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That’s my bear, singing his heart out after dancing at Ballet Rambert in 2018. @abbiebiscoe and @kmason15 , you’ll be happy to hear that no later than this lunchtime he was doing just the same listening to one of his favourite playlist accompanying Julie Andrews with his xylophone! You planted the seed! #playlistforlife #musicfordementia #creativecare #creativeseeds #growing #dancefordementia #ourcreativejourneylivingwithdementia #wonderbear #momentofjoy #gratitude #musicaltheatre #performeratheart #mylove https://www.instagram.com/p/CK4MeYnHg3R/?igshid=woyip006gx4g

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May Wickert and her dog looking like a dear ( her own words found on a postcard she sent to her mom Sarah Coulson, David’s Great grandma) Prompted by the Illuminate project run by @richmixlondon with light artist Martin Richman @smartinthewick , we grasped an opportunity to dig again into David’s rich family archives. With the precious help of D’s sister, Alison, we rediscovered objects and pictures from his grandmother May, grandfather Jacob, and great-grandmother Sarah. All had a link with East London, the subject of the project. Unfortunately the format of Illuminate doesn’t allow us to fully participate and share our story with the lovely group of people via zoom. But it was great to trace back D’s roots one more time. We used our hands and imagination to create shared moments of meaning. You know us, we don’t like to waste an opportunity to do just that. But sometimes it means we have to restrain ourselves from engaging into activities too. We had to do that much more because current restrictions mean they are just not suitable for D’s current abilities, and mine! I.e my ability to protect him from the stress and potential harm caused by Lewy Body messing up the impact of a new social interaction. A friend of ours @marina_crs2018 shared an article on ways to shift the care partnership using the arts so it’s mutually beneficial. It reminded me that as much as I am keen to participate in creative projects, not all are suitable. As the illness progresses I have to adapt in an ever uncertain outside environment. Here is an extract: “ [...] besides the shift from memory to imagination—is the shift away from “I’m doing this for you” to it being mutually beneficial. This process nurtures both sides of the care partnership so that you can feel yourself receiving the gift of someone’s imagination and the gift of opening the door for someone to walk through to meet you through imagination. It’s nurturing in both directions. From Psychology today online article @psych_today : How the Arts Can Reshape Dementia Care. Artist Anne Basting explains how to connect to people with dementia. Posted Dec 08, 2020 #ourcreativejourneylivingwithdementia https://www.instagram.com/p/CKv3hcBn-Rb/?igshid=12coliwnv8a1n

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The first theme of Grayson’s Art club 2 is family. So we looked at some of the family related drawings we did since last March. Here is our alternative family tree which interestingly also looks like a brain or a cell 🧠 🤔 There is still time to submit so go to @alanmeasles ‘s art club website to do just that! Grayson's Art Club, is a series for Channel 4. We loved the first series. I’m sure the second will be fab too! #ourcreativejourneylivingwithdementia #montessoridementiacare #familytree #extentedbrain https://www.instagram.com/p/CKo9AVvna6b/?igshid=kc9nvjlev5a

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You can tell we were watching the bbc one series #HiddenKingdoms when drawing this. How amazing are these Wolf mice are! #ourcreativejourneylivingwithdementia #montessoridementiacare #togetherness #cocreation #grasshoppermouse #freeflow #drawing https://www.instagram.com/p/CKmMt8eHwsa/?igshid=7xc3xmuezpxx

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Pot of the day! We used air dry clay gifted by Russia Lane Day center before Christmas. It was pretty dry but we salvaged it. David started by reading some random Bob Dylan to me on Alexa, and he mentioned how relevant the words were today. Then lightness and laugher ensued when we switched to watching a favourite of ours: Much ado about nothing with Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson. D is very found of Kenneth who he met during his Upstream Theatre days. I love how much D loves and engages with that kind of musical poetry. Note to self: I should test ways to inject more of it in our daily routine. And we shall have another go but with fresh clay. David enjoyed rolling the clay almost as much as me! And grumpy flappy ears is desperate for a friend to brighten up his mood. #montessoridementiacare #ourcreativejourneylivingwithdementia #cocreate #playtime #pothead https://www.instagram.com/p/CKhaAzWnjWx/?igshid=1lq9ntf9amx56

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We love this beautiful gift from @story.wagon so very much! We couldn’t wait to get back home and dive into this exquisitely made companion to creative writing. The first page on Rhythm is pure delight! And the notebooks are truly magical! Thank you Luke for opening the door to a new and exciting adventure! #creativewriting #montessoridementiacare #ourcreativejourneylivingwithdementia https://www.instagram.com/p/CKeS9cRHX9T/?igshid=1rotknznxnky1

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Beautiful people who we love and love us back...simple 💖 #cocreation #ArtConnects #bricolagemadewithlove #ourcreativejourneylivingwithdementia #moonpeople #englishwoods #offcuts https://www.instagram.com/p/CJ_wvT3nY5f/?igshid=1sx9bs2s3q2b3