I was wondering if anybody was going to mention the hideous storm we just had. It was one of those 'could go any way' deals. Warm wet front from the south pulling up moisture hitting the icy clipper dropping down from the north. It moved through pretty much in two days and is headed east, I guess. I'm in S.E. Ohio Ohiomom and we got a really good drenching of icy rain then more snow on top of that. I had to pour hot water on my car doors to get in it today when the roads were starting to get driveable. I've seen a lot worse here, but the ice/rain/snow thing makes me nervous. Miraculously we did not lose our power at my place. Nor many trees in the area. I can tell you one thing, with my mother living halfway down a nasty hill in the city, and us living out in the country, I could never go without a 4WD again. It would be the first option I'd get in a vehicle.

Thanks Alexa, I do use the Liquid Fence spray but they still manage to get a few blooms and buds when I am late getting it put out. I use it at least once or twice a month during the summer. Judy

Gina--That was the first thing I thought of, too! I'm going to email her links to a couple online "concentration" games. I'm not sure how much it will help, but it sure can't hurt. Talley Sue--Your description of looking at a scene is almost exactly what my friend has to do. It is a combination of observing and memorizing. The only pattern is that the six or so objects are chosen from the same group of about a dozen. But they are in a different place each time and arranged in a different way. And there's not enough to put them into groups or clusters. I never knew that about typing--how interesting! No wonder I can't type more than about 50 wpm; I'm still doing it letter by letter. Seeking--I learned about spatial organization in college (I'm a writer/editor) as one way of organizing a description. That's exactly what my friend has to do--remember how the objects are placed within the space. But unlike writing, in which you have time to organize your thoughts, she needs to do it in a matter of about ten minutes. I know from working with her on documents that it takes her a long time to organize her thoughts, so having to do it in a few minutes is causing her some trouble. Flyleft--Here's an analogy: You are the boss of a cook. You walk into the kitchen (for about 10 minutes) and have to remember where each piece of equipment is, what it is used for, and where it's positioned in the room. Then you have to instruct the cook what to do on each piece of equipment and the sequence in which to use each piece. The speed and ability to use each piece of equipment are timed, and points are deducted if the cook does something wrong (the cook does exactly what you tell him to do, in the order you tell him). So not only do you need to know where the equipment is and what it's for, you have to tell someone else to use it properly. (A similar analogy would be a doctor doing triage in a room full of accident victims.) Chiefneil--Are you saying you can teach an old dog new tricks? ;-) I didn't know that visualizing an activity will cause the same brain function as actually doing the activity. I think that's the key. I suggested that she "practice" by making a 3D model that she can work with at home. I tried to come up with a "story" situation like you describe, but she didn't seem to understand what I was getting at, and I think it confused her further. But I hadn't thought about involving other senses. I'll have to give that some more thought. Thanks everyone for your responses and suggestions. I have a feeling that the best method will be practice, practice, practice.

Paul Harvey's world was like a warm blanket when I came to the U.S., I was learning what people thought and how they lived. Unfamiliar with American literature I got a Library card and started to get acquainted with a great variety of books and their authors, learned about the edgy ones, African American writers, Naive American writers and out of the main-stream writers of all sorts. Latched onto Science Fiction & Fantasy for a while. That weekly walk to the Library was the best education I had about America.