Quiet and Loud #elderlyissues #atozchallenge

Its an odd pace

 elderly and sound

Some need quiet

others quite loud

With aging comes the issue of hearing loss. It is not the case with every person, however.

I also notice that hard of hearing people can hear things when they really want to hear what you are saying.

“I know you are talking about me so no need to whisper,” one of my clients hollered recently.

“The shift went well. She seemed really tired today.” I whisper to the woman replacing me.

“What did you say?”

“We were just talking about how your day went.” I say much louder.

“Well you don’t need to be huffy about it,”

 

I make an effort to speak slowly and clearly without yelling at my clients or I will soon be deaf.

Most of my clients enjoy a quiet environment. It seems as we grow older we grow less tolerant to “noise.”

Scientists believe that elderly have a harder time “filtering out noises” than younger people do. Too many sounds in a room mingle into one distracting humm.

I remember my dad when we visited (with small children) would turn off his hearing aids. I knew he was on noise overload.

So rule of thumb if you are trying to give an elderly friend or family member instructions (or want to have a conversation) mute or better yet turn off the TV or music. For someone with Alzheimers or any memory deficit, we want them to feel as clear minded as possible.

 

Thanks to the hosts for another week of the A to Z challenge.

Do like a quiet or a loud environment?

 

 

 

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The Case of the Absent Q #atozchallenge #Uganda #acholi

A beautiful language

almost like a song

letters and accents

sounds short, some long

*

this old tribal tongue

I looked hard didn’t see

the Q is missing

oh woe, woe is me

*

quite lost without questions

as are kings without Queens

kids never Quiet or Quick

a Quandary I can’t see

*

I’ll manage without Quakes

but Quiche a sad day

cold nights without Quilt

no Quails fly away

*

scribe’s Quill never broken

duck’s Quack you won’t hear

author never to be Quoted

Quinine Quashed dear , oh dear

*

and so I end

my absent Q song

grab a letter

sing along

In the spirit of a favorite writer Doctor Seuss, I ponder the case (with little or no quantum leap) of the lost or absent “Q”

Acholi Alphabet (thanks to Acholi-Luo folk Culture blog site)

 

Thanks to the A to Z folks for letting me have some fun today with the letter Q

 

Quirky #atozchallenge #life’slessons #photography #napowrimo

Violet had one leg that was slightly shorter than the other

so she hobbled in PE class

one eye was half brown half blue

her accent was English/ other times German

when the sun caught her hair it was golden then fiery red

she told interesting stories about her life

everyone laughed no one believed

“they hold a parade in my honor each year at my home

my name is a household name,” so she said

the girls roared on the ground as they heard this silliness

 the half brown half blue eye got a tear

Violet invited me to her home

“you will be my guest of honor”

Not sure what to expect I went because she was my friend

now my name is a household name in her home town as well

This is a fictionalized story about a real person. There are those who are out of step with their  community, school, or workplace; society too readily draws the line ostracizing  people even bullying them. I like quirky, non-conformist; they make life spicy where otherwise everything would be just the same.

Photography: “Violet” copyright L. Moon 2011

This year for  A to Z challenge, I am using the Nautilus as my inspiration all month. The shell has many chambers (at least enough to fit all the letters.)  You will find poetry,  You will find some dark stuff (as I am attempting to branch into the horror genre), You will also see a smattering of short stories or prose (some with children in mind) others as lessons that we can all learn from. I look forward to  meeting you and getting to know some talented writers over this month long writing journey. Please check over at the A to Z challenge and see what they are up to; they are a fine bunch of folks.

Meet me at the Quad #atozchallenge #stanford #flashfiction

The note was cryptic all it said was:” meet me at the quad.”

“The Quad” I mused where so many discussions had taken place.

As scientists, we had seen the world through a different aperature

viewed things few would ever see…

“Who is it I am to meet?” I stood looking at a name in stone.

****

The Stanford Quad is an historic place for myself and many others. If your know anything about Stanford University as an institute for higher learning it was ( and is ) the place where rules were broken and new discoveries emerged. I am going to break a rule and extend this story into next Friday Flash Fiction 55. Please forgive me this one time Mr G.

I am also submitting this piece to the month long A to Z challenge that I am part of. Today’s challenge was “Q” and coming up with a Q was a challenge…