Thursday, July 29, 2010

I Think Bob Lives Here...



One family's creative use of the "view" from their apartment window.

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Blossom, smile some sunshine down my way...

The title of this blog comes from lyrics to a James Taylor song.

No, we did not see James Taylor. But, we did go to Blossom!

Blossom Music Center is large outdoor venue which is the summer home of the world famous Cleveland Orchestra and the Blossom Music festival. The Orchestra and Blossom provided excellent customer service and made our outing a smashing success! We were able to take a tram all the way down to our section and reach our seats in the pavilion with no difficulty at all.

The weather was perfect - Blossom did smile some sunshine down our way - but not too much.

We were privileged to be able to see and hear Jahja Ling conduct Tchaikovsky's First Piano Concerto and Shostakovich's Symphony No.1.
Everyone had a wonderful time!

Cantor Concert

Cantor Garry Paller from Congregation Saarey Tikvah in Beachwood entertained us last Friday as part of our Monthly Cantor Concerts. The concerts are made possible by a generous donation from the Gelb and Klein families in memory of David Gelb.

Monday, July 26, 2010

Campfire #2

I'm a "Wise" kid. That is, I went to Camp Wise, the JCC camp here in NE Ohio, and I learned the proper way to build a real campfire. No lighter fluid for me!

Fist, I walk around the grounds collecting dead wood (which is hard to find because our groundskeepers do a pretty good job). Then I sort it into three piles - tinder, kindling and fuel. (I don't collect the fuel. That's the big stuff and we buy most of that.) I make an "A" frame with two of the pieces of fuel, and gently lay some tinder at the inside point of the A.
Here I am about to light my famous
"One Match Fire."




We sing songs, tell stories and, of course,
roast marshmallows.

We've Got a Lot of Blogging To Do

I'm a little behind in my blogging and have much to post. So, I'll probably do this in two or three separate posts. (If you subscribe, you'll get them all in one email.)

I'll let the pictures do most of the talking:


We have several beautiful outdoor spaces, such as this one - the Sadie Fisher Garden on the south side of our building.



We had a "Wine and Roses" cocktail party in our Rose Garden (in front of the building) last week.




Friday, July 23, 2010

Bailey's Blog Brings Buzz


Bailey the Bingo playing dog, featured in an earlier blog post, sort of went "viral." Which, in the blogosphere, can be a good thing. (As opposed to something like the flu, which is a bad thing.)

Channels 3 and 5 (NBC and ABC) sent news cameras out last night to film Bailey playing Bingo with the residents. (One cameraman actually seemed disappointed when I told him that Bailey didn't actually play Bingo, but just sat in the chair.)

Anyway, it aired this morning on Channel 5. I haven't seen the video, but here's a link to a little story about it on their site. http://www.newsnet5.com/dpp/news/local_news/bailey-the-dog-likes-to-play-bingo

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Newsletter Teaser

Coming up in next month's Montage (our monthly newsletter): The "Getting To Know You" column will feature Resident Associate Juanita Moore. Juanita has been a member of our team for 8 years and has a son starting college next month. Find out more in our August Montage.


If you don't already get the email version of the Montage, please consider it. There are several advantages: it's much better looking in color, You don't have to wait for the USPS and usually get it much quicker, and it's "greener" (uses less natural resources). And it saves us on postage! Just send you email address to Donna at dhead@menorahpark.org.

We also use your email addresses to send out important reminders and information. We will never sell or give your email to anyone, send spam, or otherwise use your email address for evil.

Monday, July 19, 2010

Assisted Living Tip of the Day


...Or you'll need the wheelchair again.

Friday, July 16, 2010

Yes, We Also Play Bingo

We play Bingo just about every Monday and Thursday evening. Pictured is our Thursday night volunteer. Zane is 13 years old and began his volunteering last year as a community service project leading up to his Bar Mitzvah. Zane became a Bar Mitzvah in November and, fortunately for us, he's continued coming most Thursday nights to call Bingo.

Zane, you have a fine career as a caller ahead of you. It's nice to know your life's path at such a young age, isn't it?



As you can see, EVERYONE likes Bingo. (By the way, Bingo is not her name-o. It's Bailey.)

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Lunch Outing to the Winking Lizard

We ate lunch at the Winking Lizard on Miles Rd. on Wednesday.

Each location has an actual lizard - an iguana - in residence. This one's name is Lola.


These were our two amazing and excellent servers Lisa (L) and Renee (R). Thank you, ladies! You made our visit most enjoyable!

Congratulations to Us!


Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Send Me Stuff!

If you have any pictures you've taken of our residents engaged in activities of any sort, or you have an idea for a blog post you'd like to see, please email Noah at nbudin@menorahpark.org

Thanks!



Bennett at Stone


Michael Bennett, the Publisher and Editor of the Cleveland Jewish News
spoke and held a q & a session at Stone Gardens for our residents. Mr. Bennett spoke on "The State of the Cleveland Jewish News and its new 'Archiving History' Program."

Thank you to board member Mark Doris for making this possible.

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Beautiful VIdeo on YouTube


Just wanted to share a short, powerful, beautiful, moving video about Menorah Park. It's up on YouTube. You can find it here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-mUfnTkHek

Monday, July 12, 2010

Many Ways to Feel Good

We offer many different kinds of therapeutic activities at Stone Gardens which aid in stress management and improving overall wellness. In addition to traditional Physical and Occupational Therapies and exercise programs (including a new Walking Club), we also offer (or have offered) Massage Therapy, Aroma Therapy, Laughter Therapy, and Dance Therapy, Horticulture Therapy, Art Therapy and Music Therapy.

Most of the time these alternative therapies are not labeled as such. They are just part of our regular calendar and are often not viewed as "therapy" by our residents, (which is a really good way to engage in some therapies!).

Here are two more ways we work to help our residents achieve maximum wellness:

We've just added a program called "Drum Circle" to our roster. Last week was our first session. "Drum therapy is an ancient approach that uses rhythm to promote healing and self-expression," is the first sentence in a good article about Therapeutic Drumming which you can find here http://healing.about.com/od/drums/a/drumtherapy.htm




We also have various kinds of Pet Therapy. The dog pictured is a Therapy Dog named Montana and belongs to Sandy Waters, the daughter of two of our residents. She brings Montana nearly every day to interact with our residents.



Celebrating the 4th of July

Pics from July 4th...