By Laura Kadlec Activities Director & Music Therapist

Monday morning music began with questions about why so many polkas don’t have lyrics. The consensus was that it’s because everyone is dancing too much and too fast to sing! We thought that was a pretty good answer. After lunch, folks had some “down time” for napping, reading mail, watching television, or sitting outside enjoying the sun. Many of our farmers talked about the lack of rain and questioned the staff about how much rain we all had in our rain gauges. The simple answer is, “not enough!” The popcorn social brightened up the afternoon followed by a great game of bucket ball. A dozen folks joined us to try their luck (or skill) at getting the ball into the bucket with the most points. Winners were Lorraine Anderson in fourth place, Penny Stafford, third; Frances White, second; and first place champion Alvin Bergmark. We had time to squeeze in supper be fore bingo. Joyce and Marie Berger led the bingo game solo and did a great job! Everyone won lots of candy.

Tuesday welcomed Father Jojo and Terry Pelzel for weekly mass and communion. It is always a joyful time of inspiration for our folks. Soon after, we had a fun game of Name That Tune. We started off with songs of the Beatles. They were a little “new” to some of us but still recognizable. Then on to the oldies. Winners were Shirley Klinski, Barb Smith, fourth place; Mary Ellen Coulson, third place; Barb Gruwe, second place; and Carol Bauer, first place. Our afternoon filled up after mail delivery. Our crafters were busy designing beautiful flowers for a wall art pierce using bottle caps! We painted the bottle caps and the boards to which they would be glued. Then we arranged them just so and placed the yarn on the back to hang our creations. Everyone’s project was different, but each one was cute. A quick clean up and it was time for church with Pastor Paul from Sabylund Lutheran Church. Our evening concluded with a fun game of Climb the Mountain!

Stacey started off a wild Wednesday with folks gathered to play Uno. The “natives” get annoyed if there is too much chatter and not enough concentration with the play. But we managed to stay on task and finished up the game with Irene Converse winning the entire game. Wanda Ebensperger strolled in after lunch and quickly set up the bingo cards and chips. There is a mystery upon us with one of the bingo marbles missing! I know now, I really have lost my marbles. Well, marble anyway. I would suppose it has rolled under something or slipped into a pocket somewhere. So until it is located, N41 may be the last number called each week.

Black out winner this week was Carol Bauer. Cards were cleaned up and everyone was treated to an ice cream treat; chocolate or strawberry.

News, coffee and cookies joined Marlene Zimmer for our Thursday morning. We listened to the news about town and also checked out the pictures in the paper. It is so much fun when we see ourselves featured in print! Manicures were on the agenda just before Brad Richardson brought his adorable fur babies. We never tire of holding these critters, talking and singing to them. They are certainly calming to everyone. Supper soon arrived and a few folks stayed up to play Pokeno. This week’s big winner was Marlys.

Drumming kicked off the morning on Friday. The tunes kept the momentum for the morning although some folks manage to sleep through it! The snack makers were busy after lunch putting together a delicious mix of corn chips, nuts, and rice chex all smothered in brown sugar and karo syrup and baked to perfection. They dished it up into cups and let’s just say it was finger lick ing good! We had a wonderful treat from the Blue Note Saxophone Quartet, our own local talent! They were phenomenal and we can’t wait to have them back! The quartet includes Merlyn Aude, Amy Fetzer, Maria Gilles, and Teresa Davis. Supper was served and soon after we settled in for our Friday night movie. This week’s movie was “The Sandlot.” We encourage you to stop by for a visit. See you soon!