On Friday, June 6, I had the pleasure of meeting with a dozen residents in the colourful art studio at River Ridge. The workshop was part of an outreach program sponsored by the Creative Age Festival and allowed me to connect with these lovely folks from Memory Lane, a unit that caters to people with different levels of dementia. We had a great time drinking coffee, eating snacks, sharing laughs, and looking at photos from their amazing lives to come up with inspiration for character, setting, plot, and theme in various writing genres. At the end of the session, the artist in residence, Carly, suggested we work together to brainstorm details from one photo. I chose the following image from a series I discovered online, and these creative minds came up with great ideas, some drawn from their own experiences (Uncle Frank, sen-sen candies) and others out of their imaginations. 
The Creative Expression Director at River Ridge, Nicole Collyer, was kind to say the following: “I just wanted to say THANK YOU for sharing your workshop with our residents and staff. They definitely had a wonderful time. It was nice to see the collaboration between you and Carly to help our residents get the most out of the Art Workshop.” p.s. Thanks to Christina for her help as well!