year-of-adventure

More labyrinth uses and African Food

You've been reading along with my adventures with the shopbot making labyrinths.  I wanted to update you on some of the possible uses in patient care. I went to the Hope Lodge in Greenville, a house with full housekeeping capability for people undergoing chemotherapy, who are over 18 years old and live more than 40 miles away.  David Roscoe, the Director gave me a tour of the place and it is impressive.  Funded by the American Cancer Society and my friends Bill McConnell and Mary Raab, it provides kitchen space and living apartments that ease the burden of chemotherapy.  The Lodge is always in need of volunteers or donations and if you are so inclined, give it a look!  I wanted to see if there may be a space for my finger labyrinths in helping people lessen their stress during chemo and so i donated several to the lodge.  I'll be anxious to read any comments they may have.  In preparing the journal article we submitted with Kristen and Tammy, I've done some digging to find how walking a labyrinth may help.  There is considerable literature about the similarities between meditation and hypnosis.  In both states the person is able to enter a peaceful space either by themselves or with a hypnotist. Walking a labyrinth is said to be a meditative technique.  Maybe a goal with the finger labyrinths is to allow people who do not have experience in the complex discipline of meditation to undergo something I'll call "therapeutic distraction" during the time they use the labyrinth. I'm planning to look a bit further into studies in acute rehabilitation and chemotherapy - more to follow on those topics as they develop.

We've done quite a bit of fun stuff with Groupons or their counterpart, Living Social.  The format is the same, buy usually a half price something and get the other half free. We love to try new places and got to one in Raleigh - Mawa's Taste of Africa recently (Mawa's). Got there just after the lunch crowd and Abdou, chef, owner and waiter guided us through the menu and prepared an excellent lunch - spicy yes, very spicy, perhaps, but the color and texture of these new tastes were exceptional.

See for yourself in the following photos from Mawa's  The first is Sipakh - grilled shrimp in a spciy and creamy sauce with rice and a beef-shrimp roll wrapped in lettuce leaf.  Abdou in his finest outfit - he changed outfits for the photo!

Kathryn had a chef's sampler of maffeh guerteh (lamb) and chicken and vegetarian dishes as specials of the day.  The ginger lemonade was spectacular! 

Continuing labyrinths

I've been privileged to work with two dedicated women in bringing labyrinths to the patients at our hospital. Tammy (recreational therapist) and Kristen, administrator for the Division, have helped me complete a study of the finger labyrinth in patients with stress in the hospital - not surprisingly, the prime reason for Recreational Therapy consultations is stress reduction. The labyrinth seems to help quite a bit, even with as few as 2 sessions, but a bit better in up to 5 sessions.  Tammy and Kristen:

Of course, this promoted a whole new line of thought and I decided to go all out and join The Labyrinth Society and attend their annual gathering to see what might be up with the clinical use of labyrinths.  A very interesting group of people and my sessions included "Walking the Virtual Chartres Labyrinth" where an intrepid minister Father Paul has memorized the pattern of the Chartres labyrinth and he walked it with us in a very small space - his use is for prisoners confined to a small space.  His thought is for them to use a relaxation tool to decrease the stress of confinement.  I went to a keynote by Lucy Pringle, one of the premier researchers and authors in the world on crop circles Lucy's website - strange and beautiful images and an attempt at serious science, but still no explanation for the appearance in a short time by apparent nonhuman intervention.   One of the gratifying uses of walking labyrinths is by Turning Point Consultants in communities where there has been intense personal stress - the group continues work at New York's ground zero, Katrina-ravaged New Orleans and with various populations of abused teens and young adults.

According to the Labyrinth Society organizers, there were nearly a hundred applications to present sessions and only a fraction could be presented at the 3 day conference.

The conference was in Taos New Mexico, a labyrinth mecca, but a desolate drive from Santa Fe in the dark. Images of some of the conference labyrinths 

 On the drive back to Santa Fe I got a good view of the stark desert countryside between Taos and Santa Fe.  I prefer a bit more green, but these are the true open spaces. 

In November, Kathryn and I went to Asheville for a wonderful hot air balloon ride.  It was a nice crisp fall morning and even though the leaves had passed their peak, the 8 person balloon was spectacular and we got just over an hour flight over farmland with a peak altitude of just over 3000 feet. The balloon was new and made by the Cameron Ballon Company.  Next on the to-do list - hang gliding as I've done skydiving.  More to follow on the clinical use of labyrinths as things develop.  Balloons over Asheville.....

labyrinths and shopbotting

In a previous post I shared my interest in the shop bot - a highly specialized computerized router that can create virtually any figure or object.  On my first visit to the campus of Lorain Community college and their fablab, I tried various types of fish designs in wood - the intent was a fish plaque for the river mailbox. 

With a little experimentation I made some interesting (but not very useful) pieces).  The learning curve to go from concept to production is not too bad.  It helps to take a course in shop bot training in nearby Durham, NC. The fish on the right  is "in production" - I have the fish cut but trying to decide how best to finish it so that it will hold up the UV light and elements of outdoor hanging at the river is another challenge.

On the visit to Nova Scotia last year, I walked the outdoor labyrinth at a B&B The Inn at Glyndyer and was impressed with the calming effect - that sparked a more useful idea for the shop bot.  Patients in the hospital have a bunch of stress not only with their illness, but with the health care system and personnel - no matter how caring a nurse or doctor is, it's still someone new.  Many health care facilities across the country have placed walking labyrinths on their campuses and the studies show that use by staff and patients is about equal - for the same reasons - stress relief, calming.  I did some research and found that there are finger labyrinths - smaller versions of classical labyrinths used in private meditation.  I thought this would be a perfect possibility for patient care.  Although there have been some publications on use of labyrinths in diseases states (mainly cancer), there have been no applications in general patient care. 

Back to the shop bot with designs for the classical Chartres labyrinth in a 24x24 inch size and contact with the acute Recreational Therapy department at my hospital for their interest.  I needed to do it in acrylic for patient cleanliness and with some tweaks got two units  for the Rec Therapists to try.   The units are pretty good, but using them in acute patients suggested several modifications that are in process.  It's been really fascinating to watch patients of all walks of life use this tool.  Awaiting surveys of patient results on the unit's we have in process now.

One of the most common patient questions - what are those etchings around the outside edge?  Answer: they are lunations - used in the original Chartres labyrinth as a lunar cycle calculator - 28/quarter the timing of the lunar cycle.  Not much use in our application and they are gone in the next designs.

Going to the Lorain shopbot is nice, but there are others closer such as the one offered by Techshop RDU, but for now the Lorain unit seems to work best for me.

More to follow on labyrinths in patient care.  Headed off to a  Maine Windjammer Cruise and hope to post after return with some great scenery.

 

Fiddling, Red Shoes and a labyrinth

Moving on from Baddeck to small town Mabou - on the West Coast on a slow trip back toward Halifax.  I chose Mabou and Jill's B&B Inn at Glendyer because of the world famous Red Shoe Pub , and fiddling.  On this afternoon we had the talented Robbie Frazier  You TUBE of Robbie and his brother Issac.    There are many You Tube videos of Robbie, and I was fascinated by his left heel banging the floor.  A typical fiddle tune is 7-10 minutes of fast-paced fiddling.  He saw my camera and looked over with a performer's smile to a tourist.  It was a pretty lively crowd at 6 PM; imagine a lot livelier with the evening bunch.

The day was perfect, the beer was cold, and the talent was free.  The best dish of the trip was a seared scallop and a bacon sauce with peas and leeks.  The Pub has a small kitchen, but makes up for it with a limited menu they do extremely well.    Jill is an adventurous woman as many of the B&B owners are.  A former tax attny in California, she chucked it all to come north  to Mabou, developed a massage business, painting and felting, and built a labyrinth.  Labyrinths are walking paths for meditation and problem solving in addition to the great fantasy film by Jim Henson The film.  Jill decided to build hers as a slightly smaller version of the famous labyrinth in Chartres Cathedral.  Walking it is a soothing experience.  The lore is that you enter with a question or problem that becomes clearer as you reach the center, and possible solutions come to you as you re-walk the labyrinth to exit - worked for me and I felt much better.   

Starting the trip back to Halifax and our nicest B&B at Terry and Wanda's Kenora B.  Local knowledge is so valuable and they directed us to a great tavern for a famous steak and lobster feast at reasonable prices (on average, lobster dinners were upwards of $28). This one was $19.99, and the lobster was precut so all you had to do was grab the meat, dip in butter and enjoy.   A benign flight home, and preparing to go back to work for a few final days.

Let me know if you have questions about Nova Scotia and I'll try to answer them - a GREAT trip in a wonderful place.  Next time we'll focus on one area and do some in depth exploring and hiking