Dementia and hobbies

[KenC]

I would like to know what hobbies people with dementia have, what they enjoy doing on a daily basis, and what they do enjoy trying, if not succeeeding, to do.

Many of us have hobbies which vary from gardening, painting, photography, walking, watching sport and Singing in Choirs.

As many of us loose the ability to control our hobbies it would be very interesting to see what everyone gets up to, and if there are any limits as far as you are concerned.

I personally used to like wood turning, but that had to stop as it was too dangerous for me to carry on with.

I also like walking and photography, as I have noticed things since my diagnosis, that I had never seen before.

I used to be in a Church choir, but now I struggle to sing the tunes and keep up with the words.

I would love to hear about the hobbies other people cope with when they have this illness, as it always intrigues me when I hear that some like a friend of mine still sings in the Halle Choir and travels to practises every week.

Ken

 

[beech mount]

Hi KenC,
My wife has AZ and can no longer do anything realy,however,as a former Cabinet maker i used to do a lot of wood turning as part of my trade and i remember reading of a blind man who did wood turning!.Personaly,i never had any accidents and i think it is one of the safer aspects of woodwork.
Ken,when you are turning something six foot long and twelve inches diamater it looks scary and no one comes near,but its not.
Best wishes,
John.

 

[Barry]

Hi Ken,

You raise a very good point about hobbies as I’m convinced that we must try to keep some type of ongoing activity in our daily life to keep the brain actively thinking.

As many of the readers might know by profession I was a Master Baker and Confectioner but my real speciality within that line of work was with Cake design and Decorating and my hands could make and decorate just about anything conceivable into a cake such as musical instruments, churches, animals, books, animation caricatures in fact the more intricate the work the more of a challenge I found it and now even with my dementia a Parkinson’s I still like to try and practice my past skills with cake decorating although my hands aren’t as steady as they use to be, the fact is it wasn’t just a job to me as it was the love of my life and a hobby.

Also what I now do everyday is to use the computer as a hobby but the strange thing is it wasn’t until I was first diagnosed with my dementia problems that my interest in the computer came to the forefront which I now find to be a great means of daily brain stimulation even though it can become very frustrating at times typing but then sheer determination not to give in takes over and drives me on.

I also like to devise my own Kriss Kross Word Puzzles that are now appearing on TP; again this is all done on the computer and without the use of any special computer Puzzle programs as I have devised all the puzzle grids myself, do all the word formulating and inputting without any assistance, the only bit of help I do have is with the final checking for word correctness of the puzzles which is done by my stepdaughter but the strange thing is that even though I have written and devised all the puzzles when I try to do the puzzles myself as relaxation I cant remember where the correct answers should go!

Also I now enjoy writing my own poems which again is very strange as before my illness I had no interest in poetry but I now find it to be a great way of expressing my inner feeling relating to our illness, not only that as it also pushes me to use the dictionary for word searching which again keeps the brain actively thinking.

At the moment I can still keep pushing myself with my old and new found hobbies although realistically I do realize that in time they will slowly deplete but it won’t be without a lot of effort/fight on my part as I’m determined to keep the gremlins at bay for as long as possible and to my mind that means keeping the brain active no matter how difficult it might be.

By the way was your thread typed up by hand or done using you voice activated system?

Barry

 

[KenC]

I read the article about wood turning with great interest, and I say that for a good reason.

I was as an engineer, always aware of safety and after all it was my job to do all safety work, including assessments, but this soon went out of the window when I realised that I was no longer in control.

Most hobbies are classed as safe until this illness starts, and then they can "become deadly", because many like me, loose the ability to judge speeds distances as well as other things which most normal healthy people take for granted.

This is something that many can not understand, and it must cause a lot of frustration between carers and those in there care.

But there are many others with different hobbies, such as Barry who writes poems and brain games, and we need to hear from them so that we can help others who are starting on the dementia journey

Ken

 

[carrie99]

Hobbies

I sing in an unaccompanied choir. I have been singing for so long that I can still read the music first time. But what I cannot do now is to organise all the different sheet music into the right order - it is a mixture of books and loose sheets. My friend who sings next to me does all that now for me and it allows me to keep up my favourite pastime.
Other hobbies include gardening, walking and playing the piano, but not as well as I used to.
Today I am going to try to teach a friend how to read music
1st lesson in an hour's time!
T0ny and I love cooking and we are going to France soon. the Tour de france is the highlight of the day.

 

[KenC]

Hi Carrie,

Its wonderful to hear from someone who can still sing in a large choir when they have this illness. I was in a church choir for 10 years, but now I struggle to cope with matching the words to the music.

Its also nice to hear that you can still teach someone to Read music these days.
I hope you enjoy France when you get there.

Keep up the good work.

Ken

 

[shelagh]

Hobbies

I have had to cut down on reading - I used to be voracious and read about eight books a week, but can rarely manage more than one.Audio books are good. I still lecture at adult education colleges and occasionally at university. I have to be helped with things like powerpoint as I get the buttons confused, and I have to have my handouts carfefully proof read. But they keep asking me back. The best thinbg has been Facebook. My grandchildren enrolled me and I chat to them and to other friends and I play a very addictive game called Farmville with people from all over the world. Very good when IO am feeling low, There is always someone to connect with,

 

[KenC]

Hi Shelagh

I can understand how you feel and it is very hard at times.

Over the last few days I have struggled with the computer, as I can still read, but I am now having problems with answers to e-mails etc, and this is starting to hurt me now.

I have tried the voice activated software but my accent is getting in the way, so I ended up back on the computer keyboard again.

Talking about "Face book" I am amazed how many people have contacted me through this website. I do know that the Society has a section on there as do other dementia disease charities so it a marvellous way to get people involved whee dementia is concerned. I must confess that I looked at this to see what my son was doing one night, and then I started to get messages through it which was a surprise.

People like you inspire others to keep going so please keep posting

Best Wishes

Ken