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We started North Shore Living Olympics on Tuesday, July 20, with Armchair Travel to Tokyo and enjoyed a snack of Japanese treats provided by Barb Heideman and Duane Hasegawa.
Friday, July 23, we held a homemade hobby horse race, and it was Barb Heideman riding Ms. Nelly for the win on this smoke-filled sweltering day. Residents rolled a giant dice and the horses had to move backwards or forwards with a gallop, hop, trot, canter, etc. depending on the number rolled. Residents placed their bets and if their horse won, they received 25 points. Rose Hasegawa and Bill Butz both picked the winner. We had a great time and many laughs playing this game.
We shot Nerf guns at targets on Saturday, July 24, for our version of Skeet shooting. Sunday, we kicked back with root beer floats. Monday, July 26, we began our Olympic High Stakes Bingo tournament. Each participant receives 5 points for playing; 10 points for each Bingo win and 25 points for cover all. We play Bingo on Mondays and Thursdays, so there are a lot of chances to rack up the points.
Trudy Boyd enjoying Lilacs, one of her favorite things to do. Photos courtesy of Lisa Bloomquist
Other Olympic-themed events we have planned are bean bag basketball, balloon volleyball and our version of shot put which will be water balloon toss. Points are tallied throughout our North Shore Living Olympics and medals will be awarded on Tuesday, August 3.
It is better to give than receive
According to The Daily Perk Newsletter, July 21 was National Give Something Away Day. This day was created to give people the opportunity to share their plentiful bounties with others without expectations. It is a day to remember the adage, ”it is better to give than to receive.” Blessings of zucchinis and yellow squash abounded on this very day and we plan to bake zucchini bars in August.
At North Shore Living, we have been busy giving our time away. We started a community service project called “Baby Blessings”. We are making polar fleece blankets and will be giving them to Star of the North maternity home in Duluth. Star of the North is a place where ladies and their babies can stay up to one year. It is a great ministry. We have enjoyed getting together tying blankets and gabbing just like in the old days when the ladies held their quilting bees.
Resident Spotlight of the Month is our dear friend Trudy Boyd.
Barb Heideman and Rose Hasegawa sitting in the winner’s circle exhausted after their big win at the hobby horse race.
Some people come into your life and they go deep into your heart and will remain there forever. Trudy Boyd was one of the forever in your heart type of ladies. Trudy passed away on Sunday, July 11, and left a huge hole in a lot of our hearts here at the Care Center. I was listening to Vince Gill’s Go Rest High On That Mountain and crying while I was trying to get work done. It is very hard on us when we lose a family member, yet we have to carry on.
Trudy has been a resident at the care center since 2013. She had a smile that lit up a room. She was a talented artist, loved gardening, animals, babies and music. You could always see her tapping her toes or dancing with her walker if she heard the slightest of music. She also loved Coke, strawberry ice cream, chocolate, and any dessert you put in front of her. She had what seemed to be endless energy, could do the “two wheeled walker two step” better than Ginger Rogers, and put more miles on that walker than an Olympic marathon runner. She was one of the kindest souls most people would ever meet. She had the best smile and gave the best hugs. Please keep her family and the care center staff in your thoughts and prayers. She will be missed.
Baby Blessings, a community service project.
Thank you and humor
Delores Saethre, Eleanor Sjoberg, Iris Shepard, and Harold Husby celebrated their birthdays this month. Thank you to Sharon Bloomquist, who made yet another delicious cake we gobbled up along with ice cream. We played a fun game of hangman. Our hangman theme was Party Themes. One of the answers was skinny-dipping to which one of the residents said with a big chuckle “I don’t look good with clothes on” to which everyone laughed.
Great news
IF you have been fully vaccinated and are interested in volunteering at North Shore Living we would absolutely love to have you join us. Please call the Activity Department at 218-387-3518 or email me at Lisa.bloomquist@northshorehealthgm.org
Houston, we have volunteers
Fantastic volunteers have started coming back into North Shore Living and we couldn’t be more excited to see at least part of their sun shiny faces. Chester Lindskog is back to calling Bingo, Penny Ortman reading once a month and Doug Sanders playing keyboard for our monthly birthday parties. Linda Harsdorf, Kay Rosenthal, Lorri Peterson, Barb Heideman, Duane Hasegawa and Diane Nowers are assisting as needed.
Thank you for all you do. We hope all of you are having a great summer.
Lisa and activity staff.
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