Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Winder Wonderland

Oh, the weather outside is frightful...

Well, it's not really so bad. We had a little rain, and then a little snow, which turned the rain into ice, which is still clinging to every blade of grass and tree branch. Thanks goodness the roads are all clear and we can all get to work. Hurray.

As one of my Facebook friends said: It's so beautiful outside today, like a magical fairy realm. After I teased her about that, I went right outside and took some pictures. These photos were taken in the immediate vicinity of Stone Gardens.

As Mark Twain said: "Everybody complains about the weather, but nobody does anything about it!" I use instances of bad weather to remind me that, in the big picture, I'm not really in charge. And to find the beauty in it.











Tuesday, February 22, 2011

What A Mitzvah! Temple Emanu El Visits SG.

Last month, we were visited by 4th graders (and parents and teachers) from Temple Emanu El. They came prepared to interact and be the lucky recipients of hundreds of combined years of wisdom that our residents have to offer.






Some found relatives who live here.





 Our rresident Jokester and Lollipop Giver was in his element.
Here he is astounding the children by "removing" his finger.

And here he is preparing a new generation of finger removers and mood lighteners.


As Rabbi Baroka in the Talmud said:
A clown may be first in the Kingdom of Heaven,
if he has helped lessen the sadness of life.


Here is budding artist Sonia learning from a master.




Thursday, February 17, 2011

Teen Philanthropy

This is Barbara Gross. She works with the Foundation here at Menorah Park. (She raises money.)
She also helps give money away. When I give money away, I don't smile that big.
But, she gives it away for good purposes. Actually, she gives other people's money away. (OK, I guess I'd smile, too.) On the day that this picture was taken, last Sunday, she spent her entire day at work locked in a small room with about 20 teenagers. She's also very brave.

The teens are members of the Teen Philanthropy Board.

Barbara Gross


Here are most of them.



Every year, any department on campus can submit grant requests to the Teen Philanthropy Board. The teens consider all of the grants,  make follow up phone calls, and then hear pitches from all of the people who submitted grants. That's what they were doing this Sunday.
They will meet again to determine how to divide the total sum they have. It's a difficult job. The total sum of all of the grant requests always exceeds the total sum they have to give. They need to make some hard choices and award grants to the projects they deem most deserving. It's difficult because, pretty much, all of the grant requests are deserving.


In this way, Menorah Park is not only serving our elders, but helping to shape the future. We are helping today's teens become tomorrow's leaders by giving them the tools they need to understand some difficult financial concepts, and the importance of giving. We are helping to cultivate a generation of philanthropists as their grandparents did for their parents.

L'dor v'dor.


Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Always Check Snopes!

Well, I apologize. I was duped. And by my own mother!

The clip I posted yesterday was not a 92 year old Ginger Rogers. It was,  in fact, a 75 year old Sarah "Paddy" Jones dancing with her Salsa instructor. Here's the Snopes link: http://www.snopes.com/photos/arts/salsadance.asp

 (Snopes is a terrific hoax debunking website. I use it often. Apparently, not often enough.)

Still, at 75, Sarah "Paddy" Jones moves much better than I can at 50. Who am I kidding? Much better than I could at any time of my life.

Here is the real Ginger Rogers who passed away in 1995 at the age of 83.


And here is a real Ginger Root, which can aid digestion. (It just came up in my search for Ginger Rogers, so  thought I'd...honestly, I don't even know.)

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Everybody Dance Now

Just had to share this with you. It's the incomparable Ginger Rogers dancing at age 92! And I mean DANCING. It starts out slow, but stay with it. It's inspiring.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3O-o5gwi4HI


BTW, I first saw this on Facebook, posted by my mother, who will be 88 years old this year. Thanks, mom!

Friday, February 11, 2011

Winter Ice Cream

Earlier this week, we had a unique opportunity to preview two new ice cream flavors from Pierre's. Pat Lehrer, a Pierre's rep, dropped by with a short video about the making of Pierre's Ice Cream, lots of stories and history about the company, and lots of free samples of the product!

Pat Lehrer

Pat Lehrer and David Walker, Stone Gardens Dietary Manager


The two new flavors we samples were Banana Cream Pie and Rays Root Beer Float.





Family Fun Day

Skippy and Dave paid us another visit for our Family Fun Day this year. They were a big hit last year, and were enjoyed just as much this time around. They drive down from Michigan to do this performance for us, but it's not so bad because they share the driving.