Lockeddown

From Friday to a week and the next Monday, Dec 17, 2012, our community has had meals delivered to the residents in their rooms. That is ten days' lock down. A stomach bacteria is making people sick. It happened last January too.  I understand two other group homes are badly infected at this time. I had vomirehha Friday, but got over it in 24 hours. I used the home-time to send Christmas emails to most folks, and had only nine or ten letters to mail to people who have no email. Fortunately, I have streaming Netflix, and a couple DVDs as well as books from the library.  I am reading Caleb's Crossing, a well-researched account of life in 1660 Massachusetts Colony.
 I can still get out for my Senior Center exercise class and do some chores. It is possible on the non-driving day to walk to the library, only a couple blocks away. I am anxious awaiting the Teachers' annual annuity with which to buy three new tires for my car. The Dunlop tires have always been slippery on wet roads.
I make much progress studying the Learning Channel's Great Courses set of DVDs about Zen Buddhism and meditation.
On Saturday Dec 15, the breakfast was delivered at 8.30 AM, a change from the usual 9.15.  It is hard to eat lunch at noon when the breakfast comes so late.  Dinner is delivered at 4.30 but I can spoon it into one of my microwave dishes and save it until 5.30 or 6, a more palatable alternative.
I received the usual invitation, heaped with ridicule, to the family Christmas dinner. The specialty of the day is inevitable ridicule, and it had always been thus, even from the Milford days.  It is the chief sport of the family.

Festivals

After the Blessings festival, we hosted our friends at a "Music Live with Lunch" great concert at church.  The lunch that followed was a huge success.  Altogether a super celebration.
 Here is Sunday and I am preparing for the printing at Staples of my yearly highlights for the annual Christmas letter. All I need is one good color photo of the showboat Majestic.
At the same time I defrost the refrigerator, a good day to do that, because I put the frozen items on the porch where the weather is almost freezing.  Too cold to ride. Family is back from Florida, where they visit the other mother.  Surgery due on daughter's ears Thursday,  Friday I drive her in for a bandage change.  Wednesday the senior club is driving us downtown to have lunch at Palomino's and I may have time to look for $30.00 perfume in Macy's.  It makes me unhappy to pay 60-100 $ for fragrance.  I am looking for Patchoulli  (Savon/Bordeaux) or Jasmin+Sandalwwod (Smasara).  This schedule means I must hurry to the 9 AM history class, world history I audit at the University.

Haloween 2012

28.Okt at St Barnabas church, 10345 Montgomery Rd South of Pfeffer  at 2PM
The Wagner Society hosted a German music Musicale, 10 dollars.
I was here. Then, Monday, the Senior Center took a bus load of us to the Golden Lamb for a nice lunch.

• My history professor allows me to sit in a 9 AM class so not to interfere with the trip, as also, Friday is the early symphony concert debut of Louis Langree' conducting!

We are hosting the children with trick of treats made this afternoon.  I hope I can attach a photo. We used plastic gloves having candy corn in each digit (fingernails) then filled the digits and gloves with fresh popcorn,finished with a ribbon tie-   At 2 PM Wednesday there will be an afternoon Halloween Party in house.
One new lady appeared at the workshop but all she did was eat our product, so J moved her out of the way.
Our luck ran out at our dining table. This person now eats with us twice a day. She is attractive, one blessing.
All our video tapes have been removed!  Sold on Ebay, probably.  Staff showed us how to switch the SOURCE button on the player in the living room.  Last Saturday evening the player would not operate.  I hope this trick will allow us another movie .

Survival cooking from the room.

October 6 2012.  I keep chopped garlic and curry paste in the refrigerator to stir into the cans of salt-free soup. The company provides very nice herbs on our table which I sprinkle on everything except desserts.  The Bavarian sauerkraut from Krogers adds piquancy to soups and meat.  Whole Grains, either cooked downstairs in the crafts room, or supplied by heavy-duty bread, is a must.  Fiber here is in short supply. The bread is soft and puffy. We have lots of apples and bananas for snacks, or I mix Cheerios with unsalted peanuts. Now that I must avoid chocolate, coffee, tea, phosphates, tomatoes and oranges as well as milk, I eat more fruit sauces or hummus.
     I have seen the amusing Korean Pop video on Youtube. The producer/star is Park Jae Sang, a graduate of Berklee School of Music.  I remember that Marc wanted  to study music at Berklee. The name of the video is Gangnam Style, because Gangnam is a trendy South Korean suburb like Beverly Hills, California. 

The anti virus Norton system I had been using expired, and I did not renew it.  Now the AOL and YAHOO email accounts are loaded with unwanted messages.  I am using Gmail to send emails, as I believe it is impervious to spam.  Class work at the university suffered a serious blow when I could not find an UNDO button on MS WORD ( there is no toolbar to see! ) and so I lost an entire assignment by mistake and could not retrieve it. I did find two clean pages from a proof, which I stapled and turned in! Now there is a little quiz online to do before Friday. Classwork on Friday will suffer:  I have a ticket to the symphony to hear the new conductor, Louis Landgree.  Yesterday's Wagner Society meeting, devoted to the Flying Dutchman, was a pleasure.

New flag donated

I also hear that some money is available from the VA that can be applied to retirement home care.

Heads up:  20% of the oldies here are mentally handicapped , aggressive, delusional etc. 20% are stone-deaf and the rest just very old.   I am OK because I have a car and can get to the senior center where folks are more talkative. 

Wait until you are 90 years old to move into a home, if you can!  Diet is a big issue:  if you cannot eat army food, your diet cannot be accommodated.

The rates are good:  meals, housekeeping, yard work and washer-dryer for $90.00 a day, less than a motel. 

   Yesterday we had a bus trip to a local spot where I saw area not usually available to the public, and that was a good trip. 

   One of the new residents donated a new "Veteran:s Flag" to Amber Park.   My Veteran's Flag is tattered and torn and will be retired at the cemetery ceremony next Memorial Day.  I want to go out today with the donor and my camera to record her hoisting the new flag. 

Helping at Computer Lab March 6 012

I spend Wednesday afternoons helping the instructor at our senior center, instruct seniors in computer basics. I enjoy helping folks because I know how much I owe to the lessons I took at the Mayerson Jewish Center.
Now Tuesday evening I have been asked to drive up to a Blue Ash residence, to lend support to one particular lady who needs time and encouragement.

Let the light shine in!

Welcome 2012 July 16

Can you make a telephone call in the next day or two? A call from the family usually gets results, after my attempts have failed.  My  repair man

 "cannot get to the hardware store to get a ceiling fan light switch" with chain.  There is another housekeeper  here  who might be able to get the repair part.  The ceiling light switch has been broken since July 5.

Fortunately, I can read my newspaper in the daylight. The ceiling light fixture has never had all three bulbs working, only two, even though I inserted a new bulb into the failing socket last winter

PEACE reigns at mealtime. The kitchen chief separated the jailhouse gang so the quarreling ended and everyone eats in elegant ease- HURRAH

Laundry Debacle

July 10.  I was up early on laundry day and had my laundry in the dryer by 6.30 AM.  I set my alarm to pick up the dry clothing.  But  some retard had emptied the dryer entirely and inserted her own 2 pieces to dry!  So I exchanged the intruder's pieces for my wet wash and sat there to apprehend the criminal.  It was a well known aide what had interfered with my routine. She said she wanted to de-wrinkle an outfit for a sad case to wear to breakfast!  Same aide who had set me up badly with the nurse's station in October! Now we can guess who has been interfering with the proper laundry routines before (aides rotate floor on a schedule) when there had been an uproar about "someone" putting their soiled laundry into a tub already-full-and-running.  That was SO BAD but now we can attribute the malfeasances to a steady worker who cannot be trusted in the laundry rooms! I must camp out in the laundry as long as this twit has my floor on her shift.
O je.
     I am preparing the clean car and hair care for a party at Trio's Saturday @ 6.30 PM

Still fighting at mealtime Not

July 4 2012.  Our "full service dining room" is becoming more like a prison mess hall!  The speedy-scooter knocked into the oxygen carrier again fourth time, and sparked a ruckus because when the victim complains the aides yell at the victim.  I left my table with baked beans in hand to find a quiet corner.  When the ruckus quited down, I returned for dessert, but  the nurse on duty who had been spoon feeding the Alzheimer's-case, had left him so he started to pull himself away, grabbing on to the Oxygen carrier again causing more loud protest. The waitress would/could not move the Alzheimers but had to wait for the nurse.  More shouting among aides and victim. I took my pie to a corner to finish in peace. The staff is busy defending themselves instead of moving the oxygen victim to a safer spot.  What to do?  Maybe I should eat earlier to avoid the melee?
  JULY  24 THE WARRING FACTIONS HAVE ALL BEEN SEPARATED; AND PEACE AT MEALS IS RESTORED.

Speed limit for Power scooters!

July1 2012 The 80.000 in Cincinnati still without electricity from the wind-storm, are unhappy, but here at home, it is convenient. Yesterday by 18 hours came to us in the home, 14 old people from such a dark place, that must stay here (many sleep on the floors in our empty rooms) and eat here until repair of electricity is finished. 
  From these guests, I learned something important: their motor scooters move at a slow-walk pace!  It is hard to hurt someone when the chair is moving so slowly. I hope our staff will reset the dial for speed on the scooters in this house so that it will impossible for the heavy appliance to whiz around so frightfully fast.

Fights at Mealtime

June 27, 2012,  After the last post (June 23) Mr M again backed his motor scooter for the third time into the man next to him at table, causing his victim to yell out loud.  The victim was then firmly berated by the light-skinned aid.  This morning I told victim I would witness if he needed to complain that the perpetrator cannot handle his motor scooter.  Besides that, last evening I had to watch the Alzheimers patient at the next table being fed.  He needs to be spoon fed, and we have no separate dining room for people who cannot eat on their own.  Then we were served "roasted root vegetables" - potatoes, onions, a mushroom, a bit of left over sweet potato,a a few carrot slices--it was very tasty, but there were a couple loud complaints about this new type of cooking.  One man even went to talk to the cook.  I left my table before dessert was served, having no more appetite. Our newest resident did not even come to dinner.  There is not much diplomacy going on in the dining room, and the waitress at the next table looked very stressed. I offered to carry the Alzheimer's plate to his room so he could eat at leisure, but maybe the staff wants close supervision of his chewing and swallowing his food.

Hitting the Wall

June 23 2012.  As I left my room June 19 I saw Mr M in his motor scooter , followed by his daughter on foot.  The were on their way to the noon meal.  Mr M ran his motor scooter into the wall.  This man may have an affect of Huntingtons or Parkinsons disease, because he is noticeably unable to control his scooter.  On the following day he backed the scooter into an empty chair at the table behind him, knocking the chair into a lady dining next to it.  Then I learned, that two weeks prior to this, he had run the scooter into  little Miss S getting out of the elevator, sending her to the doctor with a n injured leg.  Ms S reported the injury to the bookkeeper ! but did not notify her attorney.  This is a frightful situation, this big man has one eye missing and not in control of that motorized machine.

A lady down the hall sat on the floor in her room a long time after falling but we heard her banging her walker against the door and we "rescued her" .  The alarm button she wears did not work!  I think I shall find out how to get her one of those emergency Tracfones.    
     I had a chance to meet the two men working in the newly installed basement therapy room and I enjoyed the conversation.  One said to me, of all the institutions he visits on behalf of medicare, this one is the best:  the big windows in the dining room and in the atrium let in more light, and the people here are friendlier. This is good to hear  In many other homes, the floor plan is identical, and even the pictures on the wall are the same!

Who has been in my bed? launderers!

June 18 2012.  The maid came to the room last week to wash sheets.  I told her I wash my own linen.  The, Friday I found my bed changed and made up, my imported bedspread gone.  I followed her to the laundry and she showed me a list with my name added.  I was perplexed.  The office manager knew nothing about the laundry list and said there would be no extra charge.  Them´n, it occurred to me that Terminix had instituted regular laundry for pest-control.  That I can understand.  JULY 24 MYSTERY SOLVED: ONE OF THE MAIDS HAS BEEN TRYING TO LAUDER MY BED LINENS:.
Friday I sampled the Hamilton County Parks' steak cook out at Lake Isabella near Loveland.  I arrived at 5PM and he steaks/ribs/hamburgers had been cooked and set out in a nice complete buffet.  For $10.00 I had an 8 oz strip steak dinner which was very tasty.  The ambiance, while hot, was pretty.

More Daylight Means Less Sleep

June 9, 2012- It gets dark at 9.30 PM and dawn begins at 4.30 AM, so I wake up early. I regret waking up early, but there is nothing do but listen to the radio. Fortunately we find BBC on the Public Broadcasting system.
Our tiny book club is dead:  four members cannot keep it going, because if someone is ill or out of town, one or two people cannot keep the meeting exciting enough.  We have decided to blend in with the library book club at the same location in September to see how that turns out.  There are three other locations available but not suitable for our folks, so we picked the book club using the same location. Today is the last meeting before we regroup-

Where have the rooming-houses gone?

June 3 2012.  So now I am wondering if there are any other rooming houses in the area?  In 1950 there were residences available with dining  and housekeeping services:  the Girls' Friendly Society, The YWCA and others like that in Chicago for working women. I Washington DC, I had a fair-sized room with two meals a day on Dupont Circle. The rents were scaled to a worker's wages.  Now even our best residence hotel has been closed down. Why is that?  Is there really no alternative to living in this upscale boarding house being bothered by aides and nurses that I am not using?  But I like my room with microwave and refrigerator, plus private bath.  And I am in my familiar neighborhood, close to the recreation center!
     I am still waiting for last month's order of a replacement for the torn ironing board cover.  My own ironing board I had to hide for fear our stellar housekeeping would whisk it away.  I am closeted in quarantine for the fourth day because of a bod cold.  Glad to have my meals packed up so that I can eat in my room. 
I may go to the history class tomorrow. 

Beware Sunday morning!

Do not sun-bathe on Sunday in this residence.!  I wore my bathing suit for ten minutes on the patio at 9.30 in order to get a little sunshine.  At lunchtime later, two people told me they had a good view of me while they were in the Chapel!. O je! I didn't' remember that there is an RC service every Sunday morning in the chapel. 

Yesterday we had a not publicized gourmet meal. So my table ordered various and shared:  lamb, Brazilian fish stew, chicken empanadas ( big eggy  ravioli pockets),soft manioe polenta , okra and tomatoes, coconut rice and coconut tres.leches cake with a dried banana slice stuck in the top.  The meal was the comparable to Sardi's fare! 

Activities

May 26 2012.  Two more grave sites to visit before Memorial Day, the great-grandparents and the great-great-grandparents!  I am going out early because the temperature today will reach 90F.  Yesterday at the craft hour the residents were given little boxes paint, purportedly jewelry boxes.  The acrylic paint from China was slow to cover cardboard, but some delightful llittle boxes were produced, and then topped with glued.on jewels.  Our leader spends significant amount of money on crafts and has delightful ideas. I am putting newspaper on the tables to protect nice tables from glue and paints. This was followed by the monthly birthday celebration when our grand piano is used as a table to serve cake by the philitines. AARGH.
     Another activity is sewing together knitted squares to make "lap rugs" for the hospice patients.  This is done 1.30 Monday or Tuesday and I enjoy the simple stitching  of beautifully colored squares. Sewing circles are good for talking, too! I posted pictures on Facebook of the messes we have to live with at the home, and will add two more of unintended storage chaos.  One of our lovely aides is taking a leave of absense and gave each us a warm little scarf she had knitted!  That was so thoughtful of her!

Attention needed

May 25 2012

Überall geht alles gut, nicht wahr? (statt in Griechenland.) Es was besser, dass alle Schulden soll je 50 Jahre vergeben werden, so in der Bibel!) dann beginnen wir wieder neu. Leute sind immer schuldig! So ist das Leben. Jetzt die Banken unsere Geld nehmen werden. .O je. 

Hier im Heim wohnt eine alte Frau, die mir das Fenster Magazin gegeben hat. Es hat mir gefreut Das Fenster wieder zu sehen.  Normalerweise, lese ich „Geliebte Freundin“, die Geschichte der P I Tschaikowsky und Frau Natasha von Meck.
Ich bin unterwegs mit gymnastik M W F, eine Universitäts Klasse World History III, und mit Senioren zu helfen im Computer Labor. H 13-15. In USA gibt Toten Sonntag für den Gefallenen 28 Mai, einen Feiertag. .Viele Samstage werden wir im Kino die neue digetal NY Metropolitan Opera der Ring des Niebelungen zu hören/sehen!  Ganz toll.

Bleib gesund liebe Freundinnen, und denke an mir: 

Mothers' Day, and Undershirts at Meals

We had a  party downstairs
for early Mothers Day.  Iced  or hot drinks, and bologna and cheese sandwiches
and hostess cakes. 
..- the paper cups were a step up from Styrofoam!
But nice music on a keyboard! 
We had a good crowd and ate up the sandwiches in 30 minutes.
My daughter did not show because her newly-busy husband has her cutting
the grass today.  
      I bought Mr X two knit shirts, extra large, hoping he will wear them
to meals.  He prefers appearing in his undershirt:   AARGH  He accepted the shirts, 
with thanks, then sat on a sofa by the elevator and slept there until the next meal!

No coffee maker. No cake.

On April 18, the coffee maker failed. The waitresses had to walk to the Cafe/Store next door and use
the tiny one cup machine to fill a carafe - with decaffinated coffee! AARGH!
Then on the morning of the 19th, there was no coffee of any kind, because the Cafe door had been left locked.
     We had tea bags, and a stack of insulated carafes are sitting unused in the kitchen, but our waitress said she was too busy to bring us hot water.  I had depended on Instant coffee in my room to sustain me through the dearth of coffee service,
        A new coffee maker has been ordered and should arrive next Monday.
        Today was the monthly birthday party, but I could not eat cake at 3.30 after ingesting chicken-fried -steak-salad at noon. (It was tasty).  The cake left overs were not saved for the dinner hour, as was previously done by the kitchen staff. Now that Amy is in charge of the birthdays, she "takes the cake" away.

Saturday is slow in the dining room-

Feb 25. 012.  Once this month I got no service at breakfast!  I went to my room and ate from the refrigerator.   Another Saturday we waited an hour for breakfast.  For some reason our regular waiters do not come in on Saturday. Yesterday, the cook helped serve coffee (at one dinner this week the book-keeper  was serving coffee!) and we were eating after a forty-five minute wait. So at an early lunch yesterday I saw one waitress on the floor, and Jerry and I were due at the opera "Ernani" in Springfield at 12-55 PM-  So Jerry and I went quickly to Frisches for a hot soup and did get to the opera on time.  At dinner I asked Shanda if she was the only server at lunch and she said "Yes".  Jerry and I had a good dinner at 5.30 no problem. I now take a newspaper with me to deal with delays at meal time.

Gardening and housekeeping

April 20 2012 emails

E:    Will you come to my room Saturday and watch me discard a pile of
  EIGHT state and Aetna health-related mail?

T:  I assume this is old stuff? You have a shredder? 

You could add it to the pile that sue has from her mother that is "To Be Burned." Of course, when that will happen... Meanwhile, there it sits.

Nah. Just catalogs and tons of printed material sent to folks
who supposedly could never deal with single payer insurance! 

T.  See you tomorrow morning. Around 9 I suppose.

The irises from the cemetery have had a year to grow on a bit and can be transplanted. If you are available would you like to go to the cemetery and we can see about replanting them? I have a selection of pots of different sizes to sink into the ground to confine them. With some good rain Friday night, we should be able to dig. We can choose whatever seems best depending on the effort! Let me know by Friday night. We can stop for lunch somewhere. 

E:  I am available to plant but not strong to dig.  I had no success in 2011 finding the person
to talk to in the Township  Cemetery.
.. I was told the person to talk to was Jack or Johnny.
  After my flowers were destroyed by spray, I wanted assurance
some would be left after I replanted. Can I hire someone to dig?

It should rain tonight and we shall get things done tomorrow,

Neighborhood Watch

This week I have not had to chase down loud talkers in the hallway: originally it was a neighbor dressed and ready, getting her friend out of bed to go to breakfast at 4.30 AM. Duh! After that it was a 2.30 wake-up call by loud people caring for a woman across the hall. I shut their door and went back to bed. Last week, it sounded like a football stadium crowd, when aides were carousing in the laundry room down the hall. O je. I need to be allowed to sleep from 10 PM to 7 AM.
2. Aides (or who else) sneaking up to the third floor to do laundry in our nice machines and then leaving the laundry room filthy, is becoming a regular although not very frequent development. I don't blame anyone for hating the first floor laundry room. It is the pits. But, please, dining room staff, take your dining room linens to the basement where your soap powder is....I saw soap powder spilled in the west-side elevator and I bet someone was transporting soap powder upstairs when they spilled it!
3. Why doesn't Amber Park clean our room air filters? Doesn't management know about changing air filters at their homes? Same process applies here. I had to hire a service to do mine . That cost me $78.00.
4. Does someone out there not know about recycling? We do no recycling.
5. The sun also rises at breakfast time, highlighting a very disfigured east glass door in the dining room.
6. Good news. This Spring, trash cans at the awning-entrance and in the Post Office are being emptied on Mondays, hindering overflow onto the ground/floor.
7. I have checked on the availability of inexpensive "Living will- Do NOT Resuscitate" bracelets and cannot locate any. I wish I could wear
such a conspicuous waterproof bracelet. Do YOU know where my medical directives are? Does any one look at, or for, a living will in an emergency? Spare me the kisses and broken ribs if I am not breathing. Is anyone listening?

Slow Sewing and Steaming

April 6. 2012, I did not get my fancy suit for Easter, because the seamstress
had ten brides maids's dresses to be fitted this week, when her car transmission broke down. So I have to wait, again. When the price is right, you can't expect 100% score on the other requirements!
I came back from 5/3 bank with a heavy heart. I went in March 28 to get $US 300.00 from my Canadian savings. The Blue Ash teller calculated that I write a Canadian check for 360.00 Canadian dollars ($60.00 was their fee, as the exchange rates are nearly equal now.) But the 17% overage taxed me sorely, so I stopped in the Reading OH 5/3 Bank today to inquire. IT IS TRUE: THE COST FOR HANDLING A FOREIGN CHECK RANGES FROM $50.00 to $150.00! I am a confirmed user now of the local grocery store ATM machine, where I pay §3.00 per 200.00 service.

Speak up! Dress up!

At the residence is a nearly-monthly Town Hall and at this, The Town Hall March 26-12, monthly meeting, there was a goodly crowd of twenty residents talking to the Chief and the Executive chef. I am promoting the use of a TYY phone for one severely impaired, (read DEAF), person who cannot use a telephone and is constantly calling for repairs, You would think he would know by now that he cannot hear telephonic communications. Our staff seemed never to have heard about TYY, but I hope one will call the telephone company and inquire. Hearing loss is a great problem for most of us.
And then there are the men who are shirtless: one new fellow wears only an undershirt, and he is really out of place in the community. His table-mate wears the same dark t-shirt and jeans, day in and day out. I had become accustomed to one old lady who wears an overcoat to hide her nightgown. She does not eat with us in the one, large dining room, but wanders through to pick up something to drink at the drink station. But one eccentric is enough. Residents at the drink station make our executive chef crazy. Fluids get spilled and he does not want us in there. The table service can be slow, so that some (myself included) don't have patience to wait.

Culinary Arts March 21 12

Sorry to miss the Wednesday lunch but I went to the Palm Court at the Netherland Hilton Hotel with the 
other group  for lunch, and missed this afternoon at the church. 
Our seniors had buffet lunch in the Grille where the kitchens have 40 cooks working every day, under the
Culinary Arts Institute of America 2011 First Prize winner, Todd Kelley, and it shows! Yum.
Mr Kelley was kind enough to introduce himself at our table and that was a thrill.
   We were sick at Amber Park and on that icy Saturday in January,  when the help could not get to work so our Executive Chef shut the dining room down.
Food was delivered to our rooms three times a day and the aides wore gloves and masks.  It was scary-
Finally we were out after two weeks.
   Now daughter and I are wobbly from the Meniers brought on by allergies in this wild srping!  I take
Meclazine and drive her to the head doctors Friday.  She is having a really hard time with it and
 has to keep working (except this Friday).   Hope to see you April 18, but that conflicts with a trip to the Art Museum.  Think of a solution, please

Our Fashion Show

March 23, 2012. This afternoon ten of us residents of the Independent Living facility went to the chapel to dress for a "fashion show". A rack of borrowed formal wear was brought in for us to wear, or we could wear our own items. Ms. Rice, down the hall, let me borrow two of her beaded sweaters for which we gave her credit and won a prize. The other prizes went to a tall striking blond and another from third floor who wore a black bathing suit with black hose under her fur coat. It was the biggest hit, as she danced in it like a soubrette! These two, plus me won the most applause. Next year I shall paint on cups "Most Appreciated" so that all the volunteers can receive a trophy. I spent some time writing up the script for three costumes. I gave the scripts to the coordinator but she did not present them to the announcer. Expecting that, I carried extra scripts to present to the announcer as I entered. I hope this was a help to the audience, too. For my new suit I wrote:
The fashion galleries on the third floor Ha Ha!!
present the newest style which zips and buttons faultlessly (I hope).
This is a REPLACEMENT item, that is to say, is intended to
REPLACE my favorite blue evening suit that I could NOT zip or button!. It is bright blue rayon satin worn in the cooler evenings with a mink vest. ( Vest comes off) The vest was made from a mink stole dating 1966. The buttons are classic filigree. (show buttons)
This costume was created from a Burda pattern by SEW MUCH salon on Benson Street in Reading. The Burda family actually bought, in Germany, an ancestral home of my Dad's family, which they renovated into a weekend company retreat!
To make the suit presentable for daytime wear, a nice fluted scarf (show) is wrapped around the neck and covers the buttons.
For daytime, instead of gold or glass ear rings, enameled blue earrings are worn. Purse, hat or gloves may be co-coordinated perhaps repeating the colors in the scarf. EXIT

The project could have used help with hair, make-up and selection in the dressing-room. A mirror would help, too. Our coordinator did a great job doing all of that and taking movies, too. At the end, she had hurting feet and was padding around in house slippers. The event was moved to afternoons to eliminate parking problems, but then few relatives were here to help. pictures later!

How do I Like The Senior Residence March 17 2012

We have recovered from our sale to a different company in September 2011.
There is now an activities director who, alas, puts ice in beer, and the food service has almost reached its prior excellence so we are back to a B+ grade
I like my room which allows me to sleep in peace 97% of the time (exceptions being loud caretakers with loud radios which wake me between 10P and 7A, or neighbors who think Breakfast is served at 4.00 AM, or more noisy attendants working with doors open when I should be asleep). But it is not as constant as the barking dogs I suffered in previous home. I have transportation when I cannot or should not drive. And this is my old neighborhood, so I feel at home. Make an appointment to bring your friend for lunch anytime and have the staff show you through. The first floor laundry is usually a catch-all and the library needs care but the impression is generally good. There is one large dining room for all sorts of residents, and one generally has to carefully choose people with whom it is pleasant to dine.
I am still smarting for being castigated by staff, nurses, and the bookkeeper when I was caught sunbathing in my underwear on a sunny undisclosed, hidden balcony! You would have thought I was promoting Spring Break on the floor! But that's group living. vitamin D is not important?

Sleepless on the floor

I am waging a war to promote quiet hours between 
10 PM and 7 A M.
Usually the aides walk by my door in the middle of the night listening to their radios and talking, but quickly.
This week Wednesday night the chatter went on and on and on.  I got up to investigate.  There were two care takers across the hall consulting loudly  at 1.30 AM and I asked them to close the door. I finally closed their door and went back to bed.  I have two neighbors who don't seem to know much.  Nice ladies and all that. Monday they woke me up chatting from their opposite rooms.  Same aide as Wednesday had one resident loudly conversing with her door wide open.  I reminded them "Quiet time from 10 until 7 please", and closed their door  for them.  I hope repetition will convince my neighbors and their helpers to be quiet between 
10 and 7.  At least the distractions and wake ups are less frequent than they used to be with neighbors' dogs by my house!

Rake's Progress March 18 2012

Mirable Dictu!  The New Activities Director has scheduled the bus to take us downtown for a Vocal Arts Ensemble and orchestra performance of  "The Rake's Progress"!  I saw Stravinsky on stage in Boston 1952, rehearing one of his works. This outing will be a debut serious-music item for our residents.
I am also negotiating for a "bridge lamp" to set in the card-corner near our post office.  It is an agreeable little nook with card table, but without good lighting. Jane is not here today, maybe I see her later, and we can haul in a good lamp.
       After four years!  Today I decided to use my microphone ( which has been useless) on the CONVERSATIONS part of my Berltiz Premier Learning System  (July 03, 2011),  And it worked.  I can replay my voice within the dialog in the program!  Hurrah!

The BIG DAY, March 18:  Three of us were to be driven in the company car to the opera today,         but
the schedule was changed because "the brakes went out and the car will be in the garage all week-end."  I worried when I heard who our driver was going to be:  she is not this sort of music-lover needed for this event.  Last year when she was to take a busload to Metamora, she wouldn't let the seniors off the bus there.  It didn't mean anything to her!  We had to proceed to an all-you-can-eat buffet which was a visitation to a Quentin Blake (Illustrator of Fantastic Mr Fox) venue in Indiana. O je,

New recreation person March 2012

We have in our senior residence a new full-time recreation director! And there is a concert scheduled for the bus to take us downtown to hear Stravinsky's "Rake's Progress"!  This is a great change for us, to have classical music scheduled, and I was the first to sign up for the program.  "Jane" was also in attendance at the "town hall" meeting this week, where she took written notes.  This is good because Mr. Brown is so hard of hearing he will not attend meetings, but he could READ the meeting minutes.  And minutes would be accommodation for the hearing-handicapped, of which help for the handicapped is generally slow to happen.
I offered to make buttonholes on the sleeves of Mr. Brown's blue shirt if he will get big buttons.  He had trouble with tiny shirt-sleeve buttons.  I had had practice making cuff link button holes in a blouse last year, but the blouse and more clothes were accidentally washed with an ink pen during my trip to Florida last year, and I lost a lot of clothes. Oh je.

Library services

The Public Library offers a monthly pick up and delivery service,  A person can order specific library materials on their library card, or just specific genres, such as DVD movies, classics or biography or adventure.  The delivery is in a red plastic bag.  When materials are due the following month, the bag is set out by the room door, and a new delivery is made concurrently.  I think this is a great service.
For the in-house library, The Public Library brings at least five shelves of large-print books and changes the selection once a monht.  I have found a Hugh Walpole novel , and am now reading a biography of Gen W T Sherman, from these shelves.
But our library room is a wreck.  People have brought in four cartons of "donation" books that are sitting on the floor and there is nowhere for these books to go. I need 2 men and a truck to empyt  a top shelf (donate these to the Library warehouse book sale, fill the top shelves with older books, place new donations on center shelves. A day's work, but the shambles are unhealthy. If people will not recirculate material, then we shall have to curtail accepting "donations" of books and clean out all rubbish.

Saturday night movies

25 Feb 012.  Mr Connif brought us another library DVD to entertain Saturday evening    In the audience was the lady who over sleeps in the comfortable new living room chairs.  She was out of the way, shaped like Tweedle-dee, then slept, snoring and quacking while we watched Casablanca. Occasionally the chair cushions have to be laundered and the cushions aired because the staff is not always able to put protectors under her bottom. After an hour an attendant took her to her room.
There is movie seating for six people on large sofas.  If it is a good movie next week I could borrow one of the wheel chairs stored in the lobby and use that to sit in, instead of sitting under the TV and  twisting my neck.  I was interested in seeing Peter Lorre in Casablanca.
March 10, At this Saturday night movie our snoring lady was not in attendance.
The room was quiet, doors were shut. I think someone is watching over the movie audience.

Good new recreation director Feb 24 012

At this senior home I have worked ten months to start collecting money to replace eight trees destroyed by disease.  After making inquiries of staff, I visited a local bank, then I sent a letter to  our director and two other staff in 2011:

Do you need another purse? Or more ice cream? 

Has it occurred to give gifts

for Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Birthdays, etc

that will be permanently useful to the residents?

Eight sheltering trees

between our home and XXX Road

have been cut down!

This means dirt, dust and noise reach us

relentlessly.

The  bank has offered to act as custodian

for a tree fund if families

want to donate in behalf of a resident.

Jane might act as agent and keep a list

Of contributors on the bulletin boards

….”From the family of:____________

in honor of his/her_________-”

Thursday last week I asked the new recreation director I shall name Jane, about my taking up this project again.  She came later with the reply, "The company will replace all those trees in the spring!"  This makes me very happy, and why did no one answer my queries last summer, before I went to the bank, etc.?

Independent Living

It is February 23, 2012,  already and at breakfast we are out of brown sugar.  I like
brown sugar on my oatmeal in the morning.  Sometimes, we are out of fiber
drink, or danish rolls, or EGGS. I believe the company saves money by being
"out of" food. Good news this week is, we have new towel dispensers in the
public restrooms.  The old round towel dispensers were often stuck so the towels
would not come out. This is better.
And the new lighting in the hallways is brighter,