North Shore Living March 2025 Newsletter
By: Jean Marie Modl
Spring Surprises
It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light and winter in the shade. Charles Dickens
Our spring embraces several important religious events: Ramadan ends on Saturday, March 29th. Passover begins at sundown on Saturday, April 12th, and ends at nightfall on Sunday, April 20th. Holy Week begins on Palm Sunday, April 13th, and ends on Easter Sunday, April 20th. The lunar cycle of the moon and the solar cycle of the sun define these dates. With the Dietary crew, we will host a special lunch on Easter Sunday and look forward to setting up family tables again with pretty linens and pretty dishes.
Music Man Tom Novotny treated us to a special Happy Hour on March 17th, to celebrate Saint Patrick’s Day. The kitchen crew put together a nice tray of pub food for us: salami, cheese, pickles, olives, puff cheese snacks and crackers. Our volunteer Barb Wright baked some wonderful chocolate mint melt away cookies and Erik Pignolet treated us to delicious lemon cross cookies. Tom’s amazing Irish music got everyone’s toes a tapping.
Lisa Bloomquist surprised us with a special visit during Happy Hour on Friday. She brought along her sweet little dog Molly and each of our resident animal lovers got some loving attention from Molly too.
We are hosting a special Spring Tea Party on Wednesday, April 30, to honor our dedicated volunteers. Three volunteers have joined us recently: Chris Gillis plays jazz piano, Harris Mills sings and plays his guitar, and Kate Kelnberger helps us out with BINGO and cards on Monday afternoons.
Residents have been enjoying some fun art and craft projects with Katelyn, Nassima, and Olivia: paper quilt collages, water color sketches, and lucky shamrocks.
The NSH 2025 Hockey season ends on March 25th. It has been a good first season for the Bears and the Wolves.
The Portage Band dance is a special event for everyone each month. It is a reason to dress up a bit, put on a little make-up, and find your favorite dancing shoes. We all become drummers at the dance, tapping our toes, slapping our knees, clapping our hands, swinging our arms and hands, all to the beat of the music.
Our six little birds in the aviary enjoyed the attention and favors of a dedicated volunteer (Anne Marie Deneen) for a very long time, but now they depend on me. I have taken care of chickens in the past, but this is my first experience with small indoor birds. Springtime means baby birds and the finches are busy laying eggs. Three small white eggs, each about the size of a jelly bean, have fallen out of the nests and have been held in my hand; they are delicate miracles. The Lions Club purchased the aviary in 1995 for the care center and some of the Lions are interested in helping with the birds again.
Spring brings warm sunshine and gardening adventures. We will be spending time outside whenever we can on the nice days, just soaking up the sun and also planting seeds and flowers. There is always spring clean-up to do with gardens too. Daffodils and tulips should be peeking out of our garden boxes soon.
A flower blossoms for its own joy. Oscar Wilde