St. Luke Living Center correspondent
Believe it or not, the living center bakers did not bake Friday morning. We decided to “rest on our laurels” and consume the remaining holiday goodies still in our larder, giving our mixing arms a well-deserved rest.
It wasn’t difficult to make good use of the extra hours. We seemed to have a plethora of loose ends to tie such as sending some post-Christmas cards, a box of 2009 calendars from which to choose and display, and thank you notes to write and post.
Goals accomplished, we were ready to play bingo that afternoon with Elsie Reiswig and Bill Schimpf. And that gave us a wonderful excuse to serve a plate full of our cookies and other treats when the “bingo-ing” was over.
Reverend Brett Huebner of Our Savior Lutheran Church was our guest minister Sunday afternoon. Norma Riggs not only played a musical “call to worship,” but accompanied on the piano for the singing of hymns.
We did some personal pretty-up Monday morning and then went into an un-decorating mode. Our beautiful tree came down as well as nativity scenes, a dancing Santa, and our large, homemade, cardboard fireplace.
We were defeated in the undoing department by Beautician Bonnie who had her Christmas décor down and wintery silver and blue sparkles in place before New Year’s Day, including tiny lights around the large mirror.
Some of us packed-up holiday stuff for the maintenance guys Tuesday morning to cart-off for storage. Others took their time, visiting Bonnie in the bright and shiny shop.
Taking their turn in an ongoing process, Lydia and Ruby were displaced in the morning while the contents of their apartment were removed and the floors were stripped, neutralized, sealed, and covered with three applications of wax. Shortly after lunch they were back home in time for an afternoon siesta, unless the glistening floor prevented sleep.
We retrieved our sack of pennies from “lock-up” that afternoon and played some seasonal penny-ante. We learned that Amelia has rode in a horse-drawn sleigh and also knows where the Rose Bowl game is played. Sadie has baked a goose. Frances knew Scrooge’s first name. Edmund was a last-minute shopper, and all of us have worn long underwear. Frances had to ante-up fewer pennies than anyone and was declared the game’s big winner before we put all of the copper coins back into “lock-up.”
We used our new song books Thursday morning during hymn singing with Lois. The large spiral-bound books we have been using were easy to read but the pages were “losing their grip.” We’re hoping the new books also will be easier to hold.
The “Heavenly Highways Hymns” were a gift from the family of Ruth Kissel, using money contributed in her memory. During the time Ruth lived with us, we became accustomed to her help as a pianist when needed and other times, with glasses low on her nose. She played purely for pleasure, hers and ours as well.
The Lunch Bunch went out for the first time this year which included Florence, Betty, Ruth, Martin, Edmund, Melvin, Olinda, Esther, volunteer Joann Fitzpatrick, and nurse Cindy behind the wheel. The Big Scoop was our primary destination and then, with additional weight, we re-boarded the bus for a trip around the county lake before returning home.
Later in the afternoon, Frances helped as we designed a cork-board display with pictures of animals in the snow, winged and the four-legged variety.