Tuesday, November 3, 2015

It's the Little Things

Some of the best moments where I work are small and often go unnoticed. As Mother Teresa said, "We can do no great things, only small things with great love."


Friday, October 30, 2015

Challah Baking

Last week we participated in the World-Wide Shabbos Project. We joined the menorah Park Campus, the greater Jewish community of Cleveland, and over 465 cities around the world in celebrating Shabbos. One of the ways that we celebrated was by making our own challah from scratch. It turns out we have a master challah baker among our residents. (I'll bet we have more, but she was the one who showed up.) They looked great, and guess what...? They tasted as good as they looked.










Our Trip to The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame


Friday, July 17, 2015

Gone Fishing


One of the great things about my job is that I get to spend time with residents in places like this.


These photos are from our fishing trip to Punderson last month.
We took a picnic lunch, ate outdoors, and went to the water's edge to cast our lines. We couldn't have done it without Larry Betlejewski our Director of Environmental Services, who knows how to bait the hooks, cast the lines, and reel 'em in (he reeled in all two of them).

The trip was so popular and enjoyable that we're repeating it again this month, possibly in a different location, possibly at Lake Erie. We've hit the big time.





There's never a bad time to pull out the cell phone and tell your family in Michigan what you're doing.




That's our old friend Sandy who met us there and stopped by to join in the fun. She knows how to handle the bait and line, too.



 Here's one of our residents, um, "admiring" her catch.


And this is the one that got away.



Tuesday, June 16, 2015

The Cavs Aren't the Only Ones on Fire

I was looking back through the posts on this blog and it wasn't too many posts ago that I posted some very similar pictures. That tells me two things:
1. We love our campfires and have them every summer, and
2. I have not been posting nearly enough on this blog.

I'm sure both of my followers have noticed this. Mom?

Well, anyway, here is a picture of our trusty fire pit, ready and waiting for the first match of the season. In case you were wondering, I collect most of this wood - the tinder and kindling -  from around our grounds before the program, and then sort it into neat piles to use very carefully to build a "one-match-fire." 


Here is the beginning of my one-match-fire. It was going along fine and then Ross, who happened to be there, and who happens to be an Eagle Scout, said, "You want me to show you how to make that fire real big, real fast?"

Before I could say, "We don't really need a real big fire because we're not going to be out here that long..." he had piled up all the wood I had collected, plus all the fuel (large wood purchased from the Giant Eagle) all at once, tepee style. The doctor says my eyebrows should grow back in about three weeks. 

Just kidding about the eyebrows, but the fire did get very big very quickly.
We told stories, sang songs, and roasted marshmallows. The weather was perfect.






Friday, June 12, 2015

Oh, Say Can You See

Flag Day Ceremony
June 12, 2015
Stone Gardens Rose Garden

Three of our residents who are vets presented the flag. Up it went while we sang the Star Spangled Banner, said the Pledge of Allegiance, and then sang patriotic songs.










How Does Our Garden Grow?

It's gardening time again!

The top picture is Katie Harbage, our Horticulturist. Katie comes about twice a month to work with residents. Residents also go out to work in (or just enjoy) the garden on their own, or with the Activities Staff.









This is the first year we've planted Blueberries. We can't wait for the harvest!




Thursday, March 12, 2015

A Fairy Nice Purim

OK. let's just get this out of the way. Yes, I was the Tooth Fairy for Purim this year. Now you may wash your eyes out and go on with the rest of this post.



So, here are some pictures from the rest of Purim.
They include a visit from 7th graders from Gross Schechter Day School who made masks with us, 2nd grade boys from Hebrew Academy who came to sing with us, and our own Purim party here where staff and residents got into the spirit by dressing up, wearing silly hats, noses and balloons, and generally having a great time!