Delaying Dementia ... maybe

Okay, friends. We have some puzzles for you. Please give us your best ideas!

Some years ago, a friend of ours suspected she had experienced several TIAs. Neurological imaging showed small spots of damage in several areas of her brain. “It’s normal for someone your age,” the neurologist assured her. She was only 50! To develop new neural pathways, he advised that she learn a new language. We joke that learning Portuguese keeps our brains younger, but maybe that’s a possibility.

Living here offers us an additional super-power strategy: learning to use European appliances and deciphering the instructions. Most instruction booklets are in 20 or more languages but are limited to safety measures, warnings, and icons. All in teeny fonts.

The washing machine displays tiny images on the dial. I guess that the butterfly means delicate. Eventually I recognized the hand image, so concluded that indicates hand wash. If you can decipher the other icons, I would appreciate your writing to me. Help me with your collective brain power, friends!

We have a solar/wind power clothes dryer with a wonderful view. But today we are using another energy-saving apparatus to dry clothes.

The gas range and oven are supplied by bottles gas snuggled between the cistern and house. Blue for the colder season, orange for warm weather. On the oven, I was able to identify one essential oven setting by trial and error. Please offer your ideas on the icons. Well, I get the pizza icon is not a painter's pallette. What do rain drops mean?

Setting the clock on the oven has stymied everyone, including our Portuguese friends. If you are bold, you can take on that challenge when you visit us.

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At about 12 cubic feet, our refrigerator/freezer is large by European standards. Narrow and tall makes sense where floor space is limited and where people shop for fresh foods in local markets several times a week. The freezer holds drawers, not shelves, which I suspect is a European Union standard for energy efficiency. As you can see, the fridge doubles as a Portuguese language teacher.

As a Portuguese proverb advises, “Quem não arrisca, não petisca,” which means that “he who does not risk, does not snack.” Indeed, Tim and I must risk sounding like fools when ordering food in Portuguese -- or conversing with anyone in public. We must blunder in Portuguese to develop friendships. We must be willing to be uncomfortable to grow as people and to stretch our brains. And here we are.

Love from Tim and Penelope Imaging a better world for all