Thanksgiving at The Highlands -- 2011

Thanksgiving is special at The Highlands because many of our residents entertain their family and friends for the special Thanksgiving Dinner. In addition to holiday beverages and tasteful appetizers in the Activities Room, the menu this year consisted of a full course turkey dinner, a baked ham with raisin sauce dinner or a ginger glazed salmon entree. Apple, mincemeat and pumpkin pies, with or without ice cream or whipped cream, rounded out the special meal.

Here are some of the family groups:

Ruth Grand with daughter Lorna and son-in-law

Bill Bond with daughter Kate and her family

Gloria Cown entertaining Bill Bond's kinfolk

Fran Fossett was happy to entertain a large family group

Being Sick Is No Fun!

After a couple of days of not feeling well, I went to The Emergency Ward of the Mid-Coast Hospital on Sunday, August 21.

I was quickly admitted and surprised to learn that I had a pneumonia. It really laid me low and required lots of IV fluids and IV antibiolics. I gradually improved and was well enough to leave the hospital six days later. I can't say enough good about the care I received in the hospital -- the nursing, the medical care, the CNAs, the dining service --  all were first class.

I was delighted by the many cards I received, a couple of which I have reproduced here.




This and the cards below brought me greetings from so many of my Highlands "family"

   

I was especially pleased that so many of the waitstaff sent their good wishes




I have been told that Louise Cornman was the stimulus behind at least one of these cards



I'm improved and ready to leave the hospital and return
to Jean and The Highlands

A Visit to Pineland Farms by Highlands Residents

On August 4, 2011 a group of Highlands residents visited Pineland Farms in the New Gloucester/Pownal area. This is the site of the former Maine School for the Feeble Minded until 40 or 50 years ago when the state moved patients to smaller, scattered settings around the state. The buildings were vacant and deteriorating until Betty Noyce and her Libra Foundation bought the whole campus and has since  redeveloped it into model farms, a business and conference center and a sports venue. It is extremely well done and we enjoyed the visit pictured below.



The Welcome Center is the start for visitors and a place for lunch.





An escorted tour of the Pineland properties, with a well-informed guide, 
is available for $6.



I can see Barbara Thompson, Lois & Bud Simpson, Betty Gibson,
Isabel & Spike Selinger, John Tyler, Marilyn & Don Crandlemire
and Jean Sylvester aboard the tour van.





Jo Atlass couldn't wait to pat one of the cows.





The tour guide is explaining the milking and milk processing procedure. Some of the visitors pictured are Mercie Dunfee, Jeanne Whitten, Louise Cook, Peg Fischer and Peg Fearon.




The cheese making process is being described.




Cheese making has been so successful that it is now a profit making enterprise with cheeses being distributed in many parts of the United States.




This is a panorama of the whole Pineland Farms campus. There are trails which are maintained for hiking and cycling in the summer and groomed for skiing in the winter.



A Great Day for a Strawberry Festival

Each year, during the height of the strawberry season, The Highlands entertains us with a special "Strawberry Festival" with lots of strawberry shortcake topped with lucious whipped cream. Here are a few of the residents who attended the July 2011 event.



Marilyn & Don Crandlemire




Helene Linenthal




Louise Cornman & Vera Halter




Evelyn Leeman




Dot Papiernik & Helen Atkinson




Lilyan Forbes




. . . and our hostesses: Su, Joanne & Sandy



Our Fellow Residents at The Highlands are so kind!

In July 2011 Jean and I were visited by two of my daughters and one granddaughter. They enjoyed staying in the guest suite of the Holden Frost House which I described in my blog posting of April 2011. I am a great believer in having new residents or guests wear name tags so I prepared suitable ones for our family members to wear as they interacted with folks here at The Highlands at meal and other times.

Geting back to the title of this blog:  four of our fellow residents have come up to me and given me meal tickets for us to use to defray some of the dining costs associated with our guests. I was very touched by these acts of friendship and kindness; they are specific examples of what we've experienced before and since moving here -- the friendliness of both residents and staff make The Highlands a wonderful place to live.



I think name tags should be worn by visitors and new residents

 

Jean Sylvester with granddaughter Sarah Kenney and daughter Susan Sylvester Kenney at Dolphin Marina Restaurant after lunch on July 16, 2011




Daughter Ann Sylvester Billings from Virginia, granddaughter Sarah Kenney, and daughter Susan Sylvester Kenney, both from Seattle, enjoying a rare family get-together





Any family resemblance betwen granddaughter and grandfather?



July 4 is LOBSTER DAY at The Highlands

Each year, on July 4, lobsters are served to all residents of the Maine Lodge.



This is the decoration on the shelf outside the Farner apartment celebrating Independence Day.

 

Florence Call enjoying her lobster




Bill Small likes the corn on the cob, too




It's good that Bob Waterman is wearing a bib




Karl Sandbo likes the whole lobster




Alice & Bruce Kinney holding hands while waiting for their clams and lobster




Carmen L'Heureux was served a large lobster




Jean Sylvester has yet to try her steamed clams




Dorothy Farner seems happy with her shore dinner




Stephanie, the new hostess, is introduced by Ellen Miller




George Parker wore an apron and a bib, too!




Frank Farner in his special Fourth of July shirt




Doris LeTarte is half-way through




We're happy that Edith McDiarmid is back with us in the dining room after a long illness



2011 Maine State Music Theater special luncheon & performance at The Highlands

Each year, in June, The Highlands sponsors a big event under a tent adjacent to the Maine Lodge. Invitations are extended to all residents of The Highlands and their guests, to prospective residents and to those folks who "might, sometime" be interested in joining us.

It's a fun time for all, with great entertainment by professionals from the Maine State Music Theater, with fine food from the chefs of The Highlands, and with a raffle of many excellent prizes.  This year, June 17th was the date of the event.

Greetings were extended by Susan Sorg, Don Wessels and Lorie Keller of the Marketing Team. Deane Lanphear, Chairman of the Highlands Resident Executive Board, then welcomed all the visitors and introduced Steve Peterson, Executive Director of the theater who in turn, presented the various performers.

Bob Waterman & Pat Knoll ready for the performance

Betty & Bill Gannon from Baxter Lane, recent newcomers from Tennesee

Bud & Lois Simpson came to the tent from Hill Drive

Frank Farner, Alice Kinney and Dorothy Farner

Mikie, the dog who plays "Sandy" in the MSMT production of "Annie"

Helen Atkinson & Dot Papiernik from the Maine Lodge

Helene Linenthal & Dot Livingston

Chefs from The Highlands ready to prepare lunch

Mildred Tucker & Louise Cornman

Phyllis Fernald (half of her, at least) with Roma Cook & Jane Chapin

Ron and Norma Wise who recently moved to the Maine Lodge from their Elm Street home

John Tyler overlooking the newly refurbished pond