Month: November 2019

Well…we made it to another December! Hard to believe another year is coming to a close. But what a year it has been. We have been so many places, seen so many sights and made some great memories along the way. But wait…it’s not over yet!

We will be sending 2019 out with a bang!! We start the month off with a trip to the Opera AHKNATEN at the Strand Theater.   From there we must get in some Christmas shopping so a trip to Wal-Mart and Bixby & Company are in on the list.

Later in the month we will back at the Strand for the Bolshoi’s Ballet “The Nutcracker”. Always a Christmas favorite!

Friday the 6^th we head to Camden for the kick off to their Christmas by the Sea celebration with a beautiful Christmas concert at the First Congregational Church. We attended last year and had a wonderful time. It’s a very festive event. After the concert gets us in the Christmas spirit we return to Bartlett Woods to put up our own Christmas tree in the parlor. If you’ve never visited Bartlett Woods during the holidays, you should make plans to come see our beautiful coastal themed tree and decorations. The house just gleams with Christmas!

I have always felt music brings out the Christmas Spirit in even the coldest of “Grinch sized hearts” therefore every December our calendar is jam packed with music. Just look at the list of entertainers we have this year: The Davis Violin Duo, All that Jazz, The Cat & the Canary, Fiddlers-Owen & Madelyn Kennedy, Celtic Harpist Alex Bigney, Route 17 Ramblers and singer Kat Logan. Plus, we will be attending the Pine Tree Academy Bell Ringers AND Magic of Christmas at the Portland Symphony Orchestra on December 12^th! Phew….that’s a lot of music!

But it’s not just music…we will also be making some vintage cookie cutter ornaments, Christmas Birds’ Nests and Salt Shaker Snowmen as well as Christmas Floral Arrangements. Lots of fun crafts happening this month.

With all of this happening we also managed to squeeze in a few speakers. The Penobscot Marine Museums photo archivist, Kevin Johnson will be here with another fabulous slide show presentation. Compass Rose Images, a sister photography team, from Greenville, Maine will be here to share some of their incredible wildlife photos taken around the world!

And we can’t forget Bartlett Woods’ own Christmas celebration “Friends and Family” This event is one of the most enjoyable evenings ever here. Chef Aaron and his team go all out with appetizers in all the common rooms around the house, with a different theme to each room. Then he serves a phenomenal, multi-course, dinner and then dessert! We also have live music to make the evening even more festive! This year, because we have grown so much and welcomed so many new residents, the event is being divided into a two night event. Each resident can invite 2 guests to bring!

Our residents are very appreciative of the amazing staff we have here and they all contribute to the “Employee Appreciation” fund. This fund pays for a beautiful staff Christmas Party. It’s the event we all look forward to and enjoy so much. We are grateful to all our residents for their donations that make this event possible.

Christmas Eve, ironically, is also National Egg Nog Day. So of course we must celebrate this yummy occasion. Christmas Eve afternoon, we will be showing the Movie White Christmas…complete with Christmas cookies and EGG NOG!

Once Christmas is over we turn our attention to New Year’s Eve! We will once again be hosting a New Year’s Eve cocktail party, with appetizers and Champagne. It also happens to be National Champagne Day! We thought we might add some fun to this event this year and throw in some Karaoke.

This year has been full of fun and exploration. I have loved every minute of creating excitement for our residents.   My job is so very rewarding!

2020 is sure to be a great year! We have some great ideas we will be putting into place for the New Year! See you in 2020!

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and Happy New Year!

Karen Tooley~Activites Director

Well here we are approaching the holiday season again already. I’m really not sure how that happened so quickly, but it did and we are going to really enjoy the last two months of 2019.

We kick off November with some furry fun! Pope Memorial Humane Society will be here for a visit with some of their cats and dogs. It’s always a good way for the animals to get a little more socialized and our residents just love being able to cuddle a little fluff ball.

We have some serious wine lovers here at Bartlett Woods, therefore every year we take a trip to Lincolnville to enjoy a little wine tasting at Cellar Door Winery. It’s always a fun trip with some beautiful views to enjoy while sampling their delicious wines.

Camden Hills Regional High School has an amazing drama department and each year they put on a fall musical. This year it is Mary Poppins. Our residents have once again been invited to the dress rehearsal. We like to make an evening of it and enjoy dinner before the show. It’s always a fun evening out with some incredibly talented students.

In October the activities team welcomed a new assistant, Karry. She has been with us for a few weeks now getting the lay of the land and learning the ropes. Now she wants to get to know our residents. Karry will host a tea on Saturday the 9th for the residents. It should be a lovely afternoon of tea, cookies and conversation.

November means Veteran’s Day, a day to honor all who have served and are serving our great country. Every year we try to find a way to honor our own veterans. This year, we will have our honor roll as well as a house wide ‘Ice Cream Social” to show our appreciation for all they have done for their country.

November 11th is also National Origami Day. Just so happens we have a local lady who is no stranger to Bartlett Woods, Nan Haid will be here for a little Origami fun!

We have several entertainers who have been coming to Bartlett Woods for many years, but none quite as long as pianist, Arlene Gamble. Arlene has been playing at Bartlett Woods for 15 years! So this month on her regularly scheduled visit we will be surprising her with a cake and celebration of all her years of entertainment!

If you grew up in Maine, chances are you’ve been to Moody’s Diner at least once! Well, lucky for us it’s just a 20 minute drive away and even luckier for us, the owner is a friend of our new assistant, Karry. Dan Moody has offered to give a brief history of the diner when we visit for lunch on the 18th. It will be interesting to hear how the diner got its start, not to mention enjoy some of their delicious food!

It just wouldn’t be right to skip National Play Monopoly Day! So if you are looking for your loved one here at Bartlett Woods on November 19th, chances are they will be in the game room playing this iconic game!

With the weather turning colder, we tend to find more indoor activities to keep our days full. We have many movie buffs, so we like to take advantage of the matinees at Flagship Cinema. This month we will be going to see the newly released “Harriet”. A story about the life of Harriet Tubman, this looks to be an incredible movie.

Another long time entertainer, Michael Perry will be here with a slide show presentation of his 32 years of traveling around New England, complete with history and stories. He is always a crowd pleaser and usually has a packed house for his shows.

We have some great music this month also, All that Jazz, Harborside Harmony as well as the Finnish Lap Harp group.

Lastly, Chef Aaron will be preparing an incredible Thanksgiving Dinner for our residents. We will also have the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade on the big screen and after dinner we will show the traditional Thanksgiving night movie “Home Alone” in our media room.
As always we have our exercise classes, discussion groups, dining out, shopping trips, games, cocktail parties, church services, knitting groups and in house movies. We saved a seat for you!

 

Karen Tooley
Activities Director