When I was a little girl my neighbor had a white flowering bush and I remember asking her what it was. She told me that’s a “school bus bush”. She then explained when the bush bloomed, the school buses followed. I’ve always remembered that as sort of the end of summer when the “School Bus Bush” bloomed. What I later learned is they are actually Hydrangeas bushes.
They are in full bloom now, but summer isn’t officially over yet, it can’t be, there is still fun to be had! We start of the “school bus bush season” with an amazing trip all the way up to Rangeley and into Oquossoc. We will be enjoying the “Oquossoc Experience”. Which consists of a cruise on Rangeley Lake aboard the Oquossoc Lady II from Rangeley Region Lake Cruises, lunch at the 45th Parallel Wood fired Grille and then tour the Rangeley Outdoor Sporting Heritage Museum. It’s sure to be a long, but incredibly fun filled day. Plus the scenery really is stunning; they don’t call it “God’s Country” for nothing!
September 7th is the 3rd Annual Millay Fall Arts and Poetry Festival, in honor of Rockland’s own Edna St. Vincent Millay. This year Bartlett Woods will be hosting a screening of “Burning the Candle: The Life of Edna St. Vincent Millay”. There will be a volunteer here from the Millay House to lead a discussion as well. This event is open to the public, so mark your calendars!
We are excited to host an event with David Grima of the Maine Department of Labor with an interesting topic, “Retirees and Rejoining the Workforce”. This event will be on Tuesday, September 10th @ 2:00 pm on the 3rd floor here at Bartlett Woods.
There are so many places here in the Midcoast to explore so we will take a short drive up the coast a bit to Northport, located between Lincolnville and Belfast; this little town really has some unique places to visit. Northport Landings Gallery and Espresso Bar has some one of kind Maine made items and let’s face it, who doesn’t love a good Espresso when you are curio shopping? From there we will go just down the road and check out the Maine Alpaca Experience. This is a shop where you can find many useful and beautiful items all made from Alpaca yarns, we might even get lucky and get to see a few of these beautiful creatures. This will be a fun trip.
In keeping with our something new every month for 2019, we have invited Nancy Lubbin to come teach a class in Zen tangle. What is Zen tangle? Zen tangle is an intuitive art from, yoga for your brain, a creativity exercise, a focusing technique, a relaxation/meditation experience. And most of all, its fun!
September brings back our Knox County Knitters group. This is a group of ladies who had been meeting at a local yarn store every week, when the store closed; we invited them to meet here. We have many knitters in house and they all love sharing their projects. It’s a fun afternoon and there is always someone there to help you if you get stuck.
We are so excited to welcome back Compass Rose Images, two sisters, who are photographers, based in Greenville Maine who travel the world to get the most incredible shots of wild animals I’ve ever seen. They will be here on Wednesday, September 18th @ 2:00 pm, please join us, you won’t be disappointed.
Sometimes as an Activities Director you get lucky and find a real “gem” of a speaker or singer. Well a few years ago we did just that. We found Bess Jacques and her husband Tom. Together they are “The Cat & the Canary”. We just love their music and their energy and that they are willing to travel from Portland to come play for our residents. They pack the house and everyone leaves with smiles! We can’t wait for their return on the 20th!
September 9th brings “National Housekeepers Appreciation Week”. We love to celebrate all the amazing people who work and make Bartlett Woods so special!
We will close out this month with a trip inland to Augusta for a little shopping and lunch at Kume’, the Japanese Hibachi Grill. Always fun to get out of town and do a little shopping.
As with every month, we have our exercise classes, shopping trips, ice cream outings, card games, social hours, discussion groups, craft projects, church services, movies and more.
We’re saving a seat just for you!
Karen Tooley
Activities Director