Photos submitted by Lisa Bloomquist

August 27, 2020

Yes, we still wonder when we can gather for group activities.  Yes, Essential Caregivers have been greatly appreciated. Yes, we are still angling through our day. Yes, we still wish the world would go back to normal and we could do something wild and crazy like go out for a car ride. Well, let’s not go overboard!

Starting with August we are featuring resident of the month. Our August spot light is on one of our married couples Ray and Eleanor Sjoberg. It was so sweet gathering information as they sat side by side interjecting into each other’s memories. Ray was born in Duluth, MN on March 23, 1929. Ray’s mom was a fifth grade teacher and his dad was the Registrar of Deeds at the courthouse. Eleanor was born in Duluth, MN on June 1, 1928. Eleanor’s mother was a housewife and her father was a commercial herring fisherman and a carpenter. Ray met Eleanor while sitting next to each other during their Christmas program. Ray was in first grade and Eleanor was in second.  They didn’t see each other again until Ray was twelve as Eleanor lived in Lutsen and Ray lived in Grand Marais. One day Eleanor’s father Mogens Jentoft told Eleanor she could stir the boat to town. Along came Ray (a little whipper snapper according to Eleanor) with his father to catch a ride. Mogens, liking boys better, told Ray he could stir the boat instead. Eleanor said she was so mad she could have tossed Ray overboard. Ray said with a laugh, “she wasn’t very happy with me.”  It really added fuel to the fire with Ray not coming from a fishing background. I asked them what were fun memories of their childhoods and they both said everything was good. Eleanor talked about Christmas and not getting much, but the food sure was good. Ray reminisced about sledding down hills in Grand Marais after roads were closed off by the Court House. Ray was trying to remember what type of sled he had and Eleanor chimed in and said he was just a regular guy with a regular sled. They were married in 1950 in Grand Marais where they made their home with their two children Steven and Kristi. They ran ElRay Café for 20 plus years. Somewhere in there they found time to attend Young Old Timers dances. They both were trying to think of the name of a band that used to come up to play. I said the only one I knew about was the Chmielewski’s. That’s it they both said simultaneously. Eleanor said Ray never really learned to dance. He just wiggled his hips and they both laughed. They have been married 70 years and they still love spending time with each other.  They meet up most days to play cards while eating Cheetos or peanuts and drinking  Root Beer. They have 4 grandchildren and 5 great grandchildren. Ray said one of his fondest memories was spending 14 years in Apache Junction playing golf every day.  One of Eleanor’s favorite memories is going to Norway a couple of times and meeting family over there. At age 91 Ray’s daily pleasure is sleeping. He is an avid computer and FaceTime Portal user. His passion in life is his family. When asked what is something you have always wanted to do Ray said with a smile “My bucket list is full”.  Eleanor’s daily pleasure is spending time with Ray, eating Cheetos and drinking Root Beer.

According to “The Perk” on August 15th which was National Relaxation Day we learned chewing gum has been proven to lower cortisol and improve mood. Listening to classical music lowers our blood pressure, having a plant increases oxygen and clears out toxins, eating bananas helps to keep our blood pressure under control, munching on dark chocolate helps us de-stress and laughing is good for releasing endorphins.

National Tell a Joke Day was Sunday, August 16th. While passing out the Daily Perk I asked residents if they could tell me a joke. Delores told me a joke about a lady who was getting a recipe from her friend Ethel. The lady was repeatedly told to double everything, double everything. When it came time to put the cake in the oven and the lady realized she couldn’t possibly make the cake because her oven didn’t go up to 700 degrees.

Speaking of baking, we are still looking for family favorite recipes. Do any of you have a recipe you would like to share with us? We would like to try some of those true tested recipes.

We have been busy playing Hall Way Bingo twice a week, soaking up sun on the patio, enjoying our Happy Hour snacks, learning Perk facts, enjoying Perk related snacks such as Lemon Bars, Creamsicle Floats, S’mores bars, Banana Bread and Fajita’s for supper. Thank you so much to the kitchen staff with helping us out on these new escapades. We appreciate you. We have also been enjoying patio visits with our friends and family, Essential Caregiver visits, FaceTime and Skyping.

Diane Bennett, Bill Butz, Donna Anderson and Robert Haring were birthday celebrants this month.  We all enjoyed Root Beer Floats for the big event. We sure miss getting together for parties with Doug Sanders at the piano and lots of volunteers joining in on the comradery.

Residents who participate in the Perk Puzzle drawings have chances to win fabulous prizes. Fern Lovaas drew the names of this month’s winners. Mary Liebsch won a bag of Dove chocolates and Iris Shepard won a Word Search book.

Mary Meyers, a sweet friend, passed away this month. She was well loved and well known for her love of music. The faster the beat the better as far as she was concerned.

At this time, we continue to limit visitors inside our doors to all but essential healthcare personnel, and designated essential caregivers.  This policy is based on the current guidance from the CDC, CMS and MDH.  We will refine and update our policy as more information becomes available and as guidelines change.  If you have questions regarding our visitation policy, please contact Amy James at 218-387-3282; Robert McGregor at 218-387-3799 or Kimber Wraalstad at 218-387-3260, or you may call the Ombudsman for Long-Term Care at 651-431-2555 or 1-800-657-3591.

 We still offer patio visits by calling 218-387-3040 ex. 0. Visits start at 10 am and go through 6 pm with no visits over meal times. Up to 3 people can visit at a time.  Stay tuned for indoor visiting information as we are working on how to best fill this need and yet keep everyone safe which doesn’t rely on the weather to make these visits happen.

You can also visit a resident by Skype, FaceTime or Zoom. Contact the Activity Department to set up a time to visit face to face with your loved one. 218-387-3518

Thank you to all the health care personnel at North Shore Health for keeping us safe. Thank to those who have donated candy for bingo and flowers to brighten our world. A really big thank you to the kids and staff at the YMCA Kids Camp for thinking of us and coming over with fun signs to encourage us and for the great songs. It was really fun having you here.

This month’s funny: I was chatting with a resident and she told me, “Get out of here!” I asked her where I should go and she said, “Anywhere but here!” Gotta love them and we do.