Nothing came to me as a witty opening line for this month’s North Shore Living newsletter so I decided to unfold the January activity calendar I had in my pocket and use the first thing I saw as the title. Well the first thing I saw as I gazed upon it is that it unfolded, upside down. That’s how life has been for me on a personal level, but life is still good.

As January was National Bread Machine month, of course one of the things I do when making the activity calendar is throw in lots of days to bake bread. Well wouldn’t ya know it, but there wasn’t any rapid rise yeast in the fridge and as the bread machine was turned on, instead of it making our home smelling mouthwatering delicious, the place started taking on a thick melting wire odor. I unplugged the machine and headed for left over Christmas cookies for our afternoon snack.

Speaking of things not going as planned, one fine morning in January as I headed off to work, I didn’t make it very far before my flashy yellow Jeep hit an enormous amount of slush and starting doing some whoop-di-dos in the middle of the highway, hitting the snowbank on the opposite side and rolled from passenger side to roof landing on my driver side door. I am thanking God there was no oncoming traffic and that two real fine fellers stopped to help me get out. The most amazing event in of all of this was I had a car battery on the passenger side floor which never moved or you possibly wouldn’t be reading any more seriously witty columns from yours truly. Sorry to say the yellow bee didn’t survive the tumble so you won’t be seeing her buzzing around town any longer.

Birthdays and a resident passing

We celebrated January birthdays with Doug Sanders on the piano and pies from the Rustic Inn donated by Kelly Swearingen. Pat Backlund celebrated her birthday with family. Irene Peterson, who turned 102, also celebrated her birthday with family. Irene said when mentioning how old she was, “Isn’t that something. Who would have ever thought it?” Did you ever imagine back when you were ten or twenty that you would to live to be over one hundred years old?

Our sweet spunk fun-loving Anna Speck passed away on January 8th. She always had a story, a laugh and a song in her heart. At the Portage Band dance in December Anna said as she’s tapping her toes to the music, “My parents used to play some real good music.”

Other Goings On and Exciting News

Al Alexander, a retired Pastor, has started coming in to do Bible Study on Wednesday mornings. We have started having regular church services again which is a blessing. If your church would like to commit to a service or the third, fourth or fifth Sunday of each month we would really appreciate it.

We started two new activities this past month. Morning stretch helps get the old bones a moving and Kitchen Creations. A few residents made tuna salad which we had for dinner that night. The ladies preparing the salad were reminiscing about how many bowls of tuna salad they had made in their lives. Joyce Hagen figured she had made hundreds of bowls being a cook at the school for so long.

The Cook County middle and high school choir came over and shared some songs with us. They were greatly appreciated.

We are getting to know a couple new residents as we have been able to start admitting people on our wait list.

We planned on making a big gauge to track our donations we receive for our Elctro-bike. Thankfully we received a huge anonymous check for our bicycle built for two and we are now able to purchase our bike. I am so excited for residents to be able to get out and have a change of scenery, have the wind on their face and feel like a kid again. To whoever gave us such a great gift and to all who have given towards our bicycle project thank you so much. You are all amazing.

Does anyone have a working bread maker collecting dust? We will put it to good use.

Volunteer needs

Volunteers make a huge difference in resident’s lives. If you would like to volunteer by play a game, read to a group or to a single resident, help with crafts, bake for us or bake with a resident give me a call: 218-387-3518. 

I can mail out an activity calendar to anyone interested in receiving one. You can stop by and pick up a calendar near the entrance of the Care Center or you can look on look us up on the computer at North Shore Health GM.org/news.

Not Everything Goes as Planned, but thankfully some things turn out better. Remember to wear clean underwear when you leave your house, old age ain’t for sissies, and you are appreciated.

"When everything seems to be going against you, remember that a plane takes off against the wind, not with it" -Henry Ford.