Author: Mary Eads

It certainly seemed like May took its sweet old time getting here didn’t it?  But, now that it’s here, we plan on getting out there and enjoying it! 

We are starting the month off with a trip to the Farnsworth Art Museum to check out their new exhibit “Slab City Rendezvous”.   You should check out their website and see what all the buzz is about, this show is sure to be fantastic.  We always have a great time at the Farnsworth! 

 We are so excited to bring the Chewonki Traveling Natural History Program to Bartlett Woods.  This program is all about “Biomes-Connecting climate and geography”.  I believe we will all leave this presentation with some new knowledge.  It is sure to be a full house for this event. 

With the warmer weather upon us, we are taking to the Boardwalk!  The Rockland Boardwalk that is, during the warmer months we often enjoy a stroll along the boardwalk and take in the sights and smells of Rockland Harbor.  It’s a great, safe walking environment with a view that is amazing! 

May also brings Mother’s Day.  Each year we try to find some special way to show the Mom’s here how much they are appreciated.  This year we will be hosting a Garden themed party in our sunroom and on our patio.  This event will be complete with floral cupcakes from a local bakery, lemonade, tea and possibly a few surprise treats as well.   

In keeping with our “something new every month” goal this year, we will be traveling to Unity on Saturday, May 18th to enjoy a scenic ride on the Belfast, Moosehead Lake Railroad.  We plan on enjoying lunch in Unity as well and we hear there is a pretty amazing Amish bakery we don’t want to miss!   

It’s picnic season!  Our first picnic of the year will be at Breezemere Park on Norton’s Pond in Lincolnville.  Our kitchen prepares a delicious brown bag lunch for everyone along with some tasty cookies too!  Who doesn’t love a good picnic? 

At the request of several residents, and a few of their family members, we will be traveling to the Oxford Casino on May 29th.  This will be an all day trip with lunch at the casino.  Fingers crossed we all win big!! 

As with every month here at Bartlett Woods, we have our exercise classes, card games, Bingo, knitting, shopping trips, movies, trivia, discussion groups, music and lots of fun! 

Oops, almost forgot to mention one of our favorite activities…ICE CREAM!  This month we will take a scenic ride to Appleton and enjoy some ice cream at Bray Brook Farm!  They are always so welcoming and accommodating for us.  This is one of those “full bus” trips, everyone wants to go!  But don’t worry; we saved a seat for you! 

Karen Tooley 

Activities Director 

We made it! Spring is here; at least that’s what the calendar says. Here at Bartlett Woods, most of our snow is gone and it won’t be long before our beautiful gardens will be in bloom again. We are all watching for signs of the first Crocus to pop up out of the ground. It’s a much talked about event at breakfast each morning.
While we are waiting for the flowers to bloom, we have come up with some pretty fun stuff to keep everyone busy. We will start with a new series we’ve added to our monthly calendar. Our nurse Chelsea Carr, who is the Director of Resident Care Services, will host an education session every month with varying topics. The residents will give input on the topics they would like to learn more about. Chelsea’s first group was very well attended.

We are very excited to bring some new speakers to Bartlett Woods this month. On Thursday April 11th at 6:00 PM we have photographer Mike Taylor of Taylor Photography coming to share some of his incredible photographs and give some insight into how and where he does these amazing photo shoots. We certainly hope you will come join us for what is going to be a great event.

From the night sky we will go to Penobscot Bay with Penobscot Bay Pilot, Captain David Gelinas joining us on Wednesday, April 17th @ 2:30. Capt. Gelinas will come and share some stories of the PenBay Pilots. This is sure to be an interesting afternoon, make sure you mark your calendars and come join us.

From Penobscot Bay we go to small town USA with “Average Joe Wright”. Average Joe is the curmudgeon in the book by author Brian Daniels, author of “It seemed like a compliment to me”. Brian will be here to talk about his book on Monday, April 22nd at 2:00 pm. He will have copies of his book available for purchase.

We love to offer a wide variety of speakers and I think this month we really did. Along with speakers we have some great music too. One of our very favorites “All that Jazz” will be playing here again with us. Our residents just love this band; it is always a full house when they come.

Spring means flowers and we will be holding another flower arranging class where the residents get to create their own floral arrangement to display in their apartments. Flowers make everyone smile!

We have a tradition here at Bartlett Woods, where the first trip of the year to Dorman’s Ice Cream shop in Thomaston is on us! That’s right we treat every resident that joins us to a free ice cream. I don’t need to tell you the bus is ALWAYS full for this trip!

We will hit up some of our favorite restaurants this month as well, such as Moody’s Diner in Waldoboro, Camden Island Chinese Restaurant in Camden and breakfast at Hole in the Wall Bagel shop here in Rockland.

As always we have our regularly scheduled activities every month like Bingo, exercise classes, games, movies, documentaries, church services, writing groups, discussion groups, knitting groups and of course cocktail hour!

April is going to be a very fun month; maybe you should come join the fun! We saved a seat for you!

Karen Tooley
Activities Director

While Valentine’s Day is the ‘Heart” of February (pun intended), and we make sure everyone feels the love that day, there is so much more to enjoy this month.

We kick off the month with the National “Go Red for Women Day”.   This is the National Heart Association’s annual campaign to help bring awareness to heart disease in women.  We will be sporting our red attire to show our support.

One of the fun things we like to do is celebrate obscure little holidays, this month we will celebrate “National Send a Friend a Card Day”, after we make our own cards.  “National Plum Pudding Day”, with you guessed it…Plum Pudding!  And lastly how can we not celebrate “National Gum Drop Day”?

On the 15^th we will be dancing to the music of the RT 17 Ramblers in our sunroom.  We are so fortunate to have a local group of dancers who come and help our residents get their groove back by getting out onto the dance floor with a little help.  The residents have so much fun dancing the afternoon away.

We are very excited to invite the community to join us in welcoming Kevin Johnson, who is the photo archivist for the Penobscot Marine Museum in Searsport. Monday, February 25^th @ 10:30 am Kevin will be bringing the museums newest collection from Kosti Ruohomaa; who was from Rockland and went on to be a photographer for Life, Look and National Geographic magazines in the 1940s and 50s.  This should be a great show.

In keeping with our trying something new every month theme, we will be having lunch at the St. George River café in Warren this month.  First time for us, we are looking forward to it.  We will also be showing our support for the Midcoast School of Technologies culinary arts program by dining in their World Café this month.  The students do such a good job of running the café and preparing a delicious lunch.

As always we have our regular exercise classes five days a week, games, movies, music, shopping trips, cocktail hours, scenic rides, knitting, church services and more fun than you can imagine.

We are saving a seat for you!

Karen Tooley/Activities Director

December!  Wow, this month seem to get here really quickly this year.  We have had an incredible year here in Activities, and it’s not over yet!

The holidays are always a fun time here at Bartlett Woods.  We start the month with music and keeps it going right up to the end of the month.  We have seven different musical programs this month ranging from Jazz, to swing, to Celtic Harp to Violin Duos to some good ole down home folk music!   Plus the always popular Christmas Carol sing-a-long by the Christmas tree!

Festive is the only way to describe how our house looks at Christmas.  The decorations are elegant and beautiful, with a nod to our coastal setting.  It is really a sight to see.

Bartlett Woods celebrates Christmas with a Friends and Family event, where the residents can invite their families to come enjoy an absolutely fabulous holiday meal with appetizers, drinks and carolers strolling the halls.  This event is truly the highlight of our holiday season.

Along with the holidays, we have all of our regular entertainment, including some fun Christmas crafts, such as making edible ornaments for the birds to adorn our tree outside of the dining room.  Exercise, shopping, speakers and few scenic rides round out our calendar this month.

Lastly we will send off 2018 with an intimate cocktail party on New Year’s Eve.

This year has been loads of fun for our residents as well as Darlene and myself, we truly enjoy bringing happiness and fulfillment to our residents through the activities we provide.  We can’t wait to bring even more fun in 2019!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Karen Tooley

Activities Director

12/18

November brings the start of the busy holiday season. While retail stores are pushing the Christmas season upon us, we want to take some time to enjoy the last bit of fall and the Thanksgiving holiday.

Once again, we have graciously been invited to Strom Auditorium to watch the dress rehearsal for “Anything Goes.” The students at Camden Hills Regional High School always put on a fabulous fall musical, and we’re delighted to participate.

We are excited to have yet another great author, Mark Leslie, at Bartlett Woods to talk about his book True North. Please join us as we explore Midcoast Maine’s connection to the Underground Railroad on Monday, November 5^th at 2:00 pm.  The author will be available for a book signing following his presentation.

We have upcoming trips to Augusta, the State of Maine Cheese Company, CMCA, and lunch at Archer’s on the Pier.  Art class with local artist Randy Fein and our full array of exercise classes is just part of what daily life is like here at Bartlett Woods.  We saved a seat for you. Come join the fun.

Sincerely,

Karen

November 2018

The average American man outlives his ability to drive by six years; the average American woman, by 10 years.

(Consumer Reports, by Michael Tortorello, June 01, 2017)

Our aging residents need to know they can reliably travel to see their doctor, have tests performed, or receive life-enhancing therapy. Can you help give them that peace of mind?

As a not-for-profit organization, one of the many services Bartlett Woods provides is one of the most important: transportation to doctors’ offices and hospitals. In the past, contracted vendors have driven residents, often several times daily. Today, most of our approximately 50 residents – with an average age of 88 – increasingly need more rides.

With your financial help, I believe we have a solution. It is the Bartlett Woods Medical Transport, a new vehicle driven by our own Transportation Coordinator. Please join Bartlett Woods as a fundraising partner in the new campaign we call “BWDrivesU.” The goal is to raise $30,000 this fall to purchase a new vehicle from a local auto dealership. The vehicle will accommodate several residents at a time, including their mobility equipment. It will offer easy entry and exit, and include safety features like seat belts and handholds.

The great news is . . . we are so close to our goal! “To date, through the generosity of our residents, Board and Staff, community groups, and vendors we support, we have currently raised $19,222,” says Mary Eads, Executive Director of Bartlett Woods. Once we have completed the campaign, we will issue a public thank you to all those who will have made this project a success.

Think about it for just a moment — your mother or father, an 85 year-old person just getting out of a cardiology appointment, exhausted from the ordeal. The new Bartlett Woods Medical Transport is right outside waiting for them, rather than vice versa. The driver is poised to provide a short and smooth ride back home, where your parent can relax and recover from a stressful day. That’s peace of mind for all.

Can we count on you today? Please call or write to me at 207-594-1163 or meads@bartlettwoods.com.

Thank you!

Mary Eads

Executive Director

Bartlett Woods