St. Luke Living Center correspondent
Living center bakers veered toward “the gourmet” Friday morning when we prepared a recipe shared by Jane Darling of Simi Valley, Calif., for “Mom’s Buttermilk Cookies.” Don’t be fooled by the name. The tender treats jazzed up with thick frosting and a sprinkling of chopped walnuts were quickly made, including the frosting, and delicious.
Pat Smith and Bill Schimpf were in charge of the bingo games in the afternoon. We enjoyed slices of homemade sweet bread Pat brought along with our choices of four fruit drinks.
As a conclusion to the day’s activities, we were rigorously involved in some exer-therapy when Agnes’ great- and grandchildren Michele Regnier, Devin, Michaela, and Erin slipped in and joined us.
The Florence and Aulne United Methodist churches, a dual parish, provided our Sunday afternoon service for a full house. The scripture readings were provided by Florence parishioners and the music by Aulne.
Our little beauty shop accommodated a bevy of pretty-up prospects Monday morning.
After lunch we gathered in the chapel for a long sing-a-long with Shirley Bowers, who has made booklets filled with familiar songs of yesteryear and beyond.
Resident Council met Tuesday morning with 11 members present. Janet Bowers, dietary supervisor, visited with us about menu rotation and summer and winter menu differences. She also thanked us for our patience during the training of new staff.
We discussed taking lunch bunch outings again, possibly once or twice a month and meal destinations. The possibility of a fall family potluck meal was raised. It was gently noted that corn has not been popped in a while. Playing bingo twice a week was debated and it was decided a second session occasionally would be tried.
During book club in the afternoon, we felt the joy as young Joe Caraclough, unbelievingly, found his collie, Lassie, waiting at the school gate. The dog was very thin, unkempt, weak, and seriously ill with pneumonia.
Thursday morning we acknowledged our resident artisans by exhibiting their work in our large windowed dining room. Ninety percent of these projects have been completed while their creators lived here. There were two tables of beautiful felt-tipped paintings by Lu Fredrickson and Don Viets, mounted jigsaw puzzles by Ruby Vinduska (taken right off her wall), and a table of embroidery work by Amelia Vinduska and Lydia Batt including a set of tea towels, pillow cases, table runners, and an embroidered Bible cover.
Our afternoon outing took us over the reservoir dam, through Pilsen, past Jirak Brothers Produce and their nice new sign, south on the Durham side of Marion Reservoir to K-256 and home. We observed farming activity at a standstill.