Here's the bulletin board on my floor for September

My neighbor Galina shared the three pictures on the left, and I found the dog picture on an old calendar.  All that was left was to flip the calendar on the right to September, and voilà!  That calendar was supplied by our neighbor Sharon, who also lives on our floor.  It's a community effort!

Adult coloring pages from Donna

I decorated the bulletin board at the elevators on my floor for September with the pages my friend Donna had colored and taped to the door to her apartment.**  After she died in July, I kind of adopted these colored sheets of paper as I helped her sister Jane clean out Donna's apartment.  Here's what those with writing say:

Top row:

• Keep calm and read.
• Don't be afraid to start over.
• Be the reason someone smiles today.
• You are the best.

Bottom row:

• (shows an arbor covered with flowers)
• Re-examine all that you have been told ... dismiss that which insults your soul.
• (shows a hummingbird)
• Coloring done by Donna Carey (a small page added by me).

** Click twice on the photo to enlarge it, to help you see the words better.

Volunteers at Crown Center

One of the things I like about living at the Crown Center for Senior Living is the fact that we can volunteer for all sorts of jobs that help keep the place functioning beautifully.  Before the pandemic halted our gathering together, volunteers (from the community, as well as residents) brought the evening meals to our tables from the kitchen where food is prepared.

Some residents volunteered at what we call the Link Desk, which is at the entrance located between our two high-rise buildings.  Their job was to direct visitors to the management office or to the correct building to find those they came to see, as well as having them sign the visitors book upon entering.  Some of us agreed to be "ambassadors," whose job was to orient newcomers who had just moved in.  We showed them where to find our little library, the fitness center, the laundry rooms, the culinary kitchen, the media center, the dining room.  We accompanied them to events or explained how to sign up for bus trips, and so forth.

Another volunteer position is changing the bulletin boards located at the elevators on each floor.  This may be the only volunteer job currently being done, since one person does each job.  I've been doing the board on the sixth floor in my building, and occasionally I have blogged about whatever I've put there.  Last week, I went to the seventh floor of my building to do laundry and noticed not only the bulletin board at the elevator, but the one inside the laundry room.  So I'm sharing those three today.  Clicking on the pictures should enlarge them.

Top photo:  Laundry room on the 7th floor.

That's the November 2020 calendar hanging lowest.

Middle photo:  By the elevator on the 7th floor.

At the center is original art painted by artist David Kaskowitz, who lives on that floor.

Bottom photo:  At the elevator on the 6th floor.

These animals and birds came from calendars.  The one at top center has words that say something like, "If you don't know where you're going, any path will get you there."

Coloring pages ~ about women

As I posted yesterday, March is Women's History Month.  Today, I changed the bulletin board by the elevators on my floor to reflect this (using the image above).  I also gave my friends and neighbors a challenge:

"Color a page, and share it here."

Click to enlarge image

See those words under the image?  I hung the coloring pages I shared in yesterday's post.  Folks can choose any of the five (as of right now).  At top left is the image of Rosie the Riveter that I talked my friend Donna into coloring yesterday.  Gail, who lives on my floor, took a copy of the Jane Goodall picture.  Which one would YOU color?

By the way, Rosalind P. Walter, the original inspiration for "Rosie the Riveter," died Wednesday at the age of 95.  According to NBC News, when the United States was in the midst of World War II in the 1940s, 19-year-old "Roz" wanted to join in the war effort and became a welder at the Sikorsky aircraft plant, a job usually reserved for men.

Bulletin board volunteers

Click to enlarge the photos

Have you ever thought about who does the bulletin boards you see around you?  I live in a ten-story building (attached on the ground floor to an eight-story building, but that's another story).  Each floor has a bulletin board beside the elevators, and volunteers change them periodically.  I change the one on my floor once a month, though occasionally I add or exchange things.  Notices from the office are also put up as needed, telling us about sign-ups and inspections and pest control.  The photo above shows what's on our floor this morning.

Top center is the December "happiness" calendar, which you can read in my earlier post.  At top right is a list of residents on our floor.  The rest of the board is filled with puns; if you groan about puns, you'd better quit reading right now.

At top left is one I left from late November because so many people have told me they love it.  Under a photo of Romaine lettuce are these words:  "The Romaine empire has fallen.  Caesar is dead.  Lettuce pray."  You know, of course, that romaine lettuce was pulled from grocery shelves just before Thanksgiving.  Across the bottom of the bulletin board are three more punny pictures:

• Over a sleeping dog:  "iTired."  Below the dog:  "There's a nap for that."
• Subway sign:  "Lettuce meat olive your eggspectations."
• A family of bullets, Mom wearing an apron with two little bullets behind her:  "What happened to you?"  A flattened bullet with a briefcase:  "I got fired."

I didn't start out with puns, but when I posted "Tearable Puns" a few months ago, people tore them off and shared the humor with others.  They hadn't had such fun since April 2017 when I featured Earth Day and said "Take One" with word puzzles along the bottom of the board.

Do Good December

Click on the calendar to enlarge it.

We've had Happy January, Friendly February, Mindful March, Active April, Meaningful May, Joyful June, Jump Back July, Altruistic August, Self-Care September, Optimistic October, and New Things November.  Now it's time for Do Good December, found by searching for "calendar" on the Action for Happiness (AfH) web site.  Here are the first seven days of this new month.

December 1
~ Encourage more kindness.  Share this calendar with others.
December 2
~ Support a charity, cause, or campaign you really care about.
December 3
~ Give kind comments to as many people as possible today.
December 4
~ Listen wholeheartedly to others without judging them.
December 5
~ Leave a positive message for someone else to find.
December 6
~ Notice when you're hard on yourself or others and be kind instead.
December 7
~ Be generous.  Feed someone with food, love, or kindness today.

"Together we can change the world,

just one act of kindness at a time." ~ Ron Hall

Update:  Today's suggestion is "Encourage more kindness.  Share this calendar with others."  As the one on my floor who changes the bulletin board near the elevators, I've been including these calendars each month.  This is a current picture with the colorful calendar at center top.

These Wednesday words are pun-derful

When I changed the bulletin board beside the elevators on my floor in the wee hours this morning, I posted these "tearable puns."  By the end of this first day, people have torn off four of them:

(1)  A bicycle can't stand on its own because it is two-tired.
(2)  Time flies like an arrow.  Fruit flies like a banana.
(3)  When a clock is hungry, it goes back four seconds.
(4)  The short fortuneteller who escaped from prison was a small medium at large.

"Tearable puns" is itself a terrible pun.  Click to enlarge the illustration so you can read the fine print.  Do any of these tickle your funny bone?  I kind of like "poultry in motion."

Mindful March

Click on the calendar to enlarge it.

March 1
~ Start today by appreciating that you're alive and have a body.
March 2
~ When someone is speaking, take a full breath before you reply.
March 3
~ Stay fully present while drinking your cup of tea or coffee.
March 4
~ Go nature spotting today.  Even in a city, life is all around.

Here are the suggested actions through this weekend.  What my "body" will do today is change the bulletin board on my floor, updating it for March.  I included copies of the January and February calendars on our board during those months and will continue by posting this mindfulness calendar during March.

Sunday Salon ~ busy, busy, busy

My life in books

Currently reading

Vinegar Girl ~ by Anne Tyler, 2016, fiction

Kate Battista feels stuck.  How did she end up running house and home for her eccentric scientist father and uppity, pretty younger sister Bunny?  Plus, she’s always in trouble at work ― her pre-school charges adore her, but their parents don’t always appreciate her unusual opinions and forthright manner.  Dr. Battista has other problems.  After years out in the academic wilderness, he is on the verge of a breakthrough.  His research could help millions.  There’s only one problem:  his brilliant young lab assistant, Pyotr, is about to be deported.  And without Pyotr, all would be lost.  When Dr. Battista cooks up an outrageous plan that will enable Pyotr to stay in the country, he’s relying ― as usual ― on Kate to help him.  Kate is furious:  this time he’s really asking too much.  But will she be able to resist the two men’s touchingly ludicrous campaign to bring her around?

Completed so far in June

50.  This Fight Is Our Fight: The Battle to Save America's Middle Class ~ by Elizabeth Warren, 2017, politics, 10/10

GOVERNMENT WORKED FOR MOST AMERICANS
       From the 1930s through the 1970s, America deliberately invested in opportunity.  The government worked hard to expand chances for millions of people:  the chance for children to get a good education, the chance for workers to build economic security, and the chance for seniors to retire with dignity.
       And here's the best part:  this dynamic investment in the future worked.  We made it work for all of us, not just those at the top.
       It wasn't perfect, but for almost half a century, incomes in our country grew across the board.  (p. 105).

51.  Flora ~ by Gail Godwin, 2013, fiction (North Carolina), 9/10

"There are things we can't undo, but perhaps there is a kind of constructive remorse that could transform regrettable acts into something of service to life" (p. 1).

"When did remorse fall into disfavor?  It was sometime during the second half of my life" (p. 152).

52.  The Forgotten Seamstress ~ by Liz Trenow, 2014, fiction (Britain), 10/10

"I've stitched my love into this quilt,
sewn it neatly, proud and true.
Though you have gone, I must live on,
and this will hold me close to you" (loc. 362).

53.  The Cape Ann ~ by Faith Sullivan, 1988, 2010, fiction (Minnesota), 8/10

"Sister never congratulated us.  Why would one make a fuss over a child learning that which was needed in order to be spared the tortures of hell, torments so heinous they could only be devised by a God of infinite ingenuity and love?" (p. 28).

"Whatever they tell you, deep thinker, God loves us all.  Me, you, and your aunt's baby."  Wouldn't it be lovely if God was that simple?  (p. 202).

54.  Leave Me ~ by Gayle Forman, 2016, fiction (Pennsylvania), 9/10

"Maribeth Klein was working late, waiting to sign off on the final page proofs of the December issue, when she had a heart attack" (p. 3).

My life outside books

Exercise report

Donna and I have decided to exercise together, rather than try to keep up with the groups that are too energetic, for me at least.  I found Balance Exercises for Seniors online which aim to "strengthen your foundation to avoid a fall."  It makes sense to me and includes ten balance exercises:  heel-to-toe walk, stand on one foot, weight shift, leg raise walk, side leg raise, back leg raise, heel raise, chair stand, side step, and balance with closed eyes.  These are done with a sturdy chair nearby to hold onto, while developing better core strength.

Food

The insert in the clear cover of my handy-dandy notebook shows a woman with an exercise weight in one hand and a plate of food in the other (see above).  Below that I've added:  Exercise and Eat Right.  I'm still working on the DASH Diet, which is partly about colorful meals, like the one here that Donna made a couple of weeks ago.  I need to get back to planning meals better, tracking my exercise, and recording things like my blood pressure and weight.  That really does help me keep up the good habits.  By the way, I joined the DASH Diet group on Facebook to see what others do and to get good ideas.

Bulletin board

June is rather minimalist, though people have added other bits over these first couple of weeks, rearranging the pages each time.

Bloggers gather in the Sunday Salon — at separate computers in different time zones — to talk about our lives and our reading.

Sunday Salon ~ art, food, and books

Art

It doesn't usually occur to me to photograph what I'm eating, but while having lunch with my friend Donna this week at The Shack where people are given markers to write on the walls, I made an exception.  Next to me was a magnificent, small dragon which was too low for Donna to see from her side of the table.  So I whipped out my camera to show it to her ― and now to you.  A black-and-green dragon amidst the graffiti.

Food

While I had the cell-phone camera in hand, I also snapped what we had ordered because it arrived at that moment.  Serendipity?  I guess.  Anyway, I had this huge burrito on chili covered in cheese and Fritos, full of bacon and hash browns.

Donna had a croissant with scrambled eggs and sausage called "Why the French Hate Us."  Donna's hash browns were on the side.  We both took half home for the next day's lunch.

 More Art

And now for the art of the bulletin board.  I've started changing the board by the elevator on my floor, the 6th floor, every month.  It's a volunteer thing, which I've done three times so far, as you can see.  For March, my neighbor Tiny added St. Patrick to my two nature pictures.

The focus for April was Earth Day, with "Take One" word-search puzzles hanging from the bottom of the bulletin board.

For May, I decided to unclutter the board and open it up for a breath of fresh air.  By the way, most floors have an extra push-pin or so for events that come along during the month.  At the bottom in this one is information about the Resident Council meeting for that Thursday, and (if you click to enlarge the photo) maybe you can see the announcement is in English, Russian, and Chinese. We're a very diverse community, here in our retirement center.

Books

In these first three weeks of May, I've completed these seven books:

39.  Golden State ~ by Michelle Richmond, 2014, fiction (California), 9/10

"Without a child, are we even a family?" (loc. 2194)

40.  Off the Page ~ by Jodi Picoult and Samantha van Leer, 2015, fiction (New Hampshire), 8/10

"If a character sits in a book and no one reads it, is he truly alive?" (p. 4).

41.  Jerusalem: One City, Three Faiths ~ by Karen Armstrong, 1997, history, 8/10

"Mythology was never designed to describe historically verifiable events that actually happened.  It was an attempt to express their inner significance or to draw attention to realities that were too elusive to be discussed in a logically coherent way" (loc. 209).

42.  Still Time ~ by Jean Hegland, 2015, fiction, 8/10

"I keep thinking his mind is like a broken necklace ― some beads are lost forever while the rest are just scattered everywhere" (loc. 1230).

"He has studied Shakespeare's work for the length of Shakespeare's lifetime, but he has forgotten how King Lear ends" (loc. 2990).

43.  I Shall Be Near to You ~ by Erin Lindsay McCabe, 2014, fiction, 10/10

"I never had so much of nothing to do before in my whole life" (p. 76).

44. The Tenth Justice ~ by Brad Meltzer, 2011, fiction (Washington, DC), 8/10

"Every day, the Court is flooded with petitions seeking certiorari, or 'cert.'  When four justices grant cert, it means the Court will hear the case.  To save time, we [Supreme Court clerks] read through the cert petitions, put them into a standard memo format, and recommend whether the justice should grant or deny cert" (p. 16).

45.  A Pain in the Tuchis: A Mrs. Kaplan Mystery ~ by Mark Reutlinger, 2015, mystery, 9/10

"As I have said before, death at the Julius and Rebecca Cohen Home for Jewish Seniors is not what you would call an unusual event.  Sad, yes.  Unusual, no.  Given the average age and state of health of the residents, it is perhaps surprising we are not having memorial services on a daily basis" (loc. 74).

"Listen, we're not getting any younger, you and I, and we should be having all the new experiences we can, while we can" (loc. 2149).

Bloggers gather in the Sunday Salon — at separate computers in different time zones — to talk about our lives and our reading.

What's the kitty thinking?

Sherry left a comment on my Book Beginnings on Fridays post yesterday:  "I'm wondering what the kitty's thinking.  LOL."  Since nothing in that post is about a cat, I assume she meant this photo of Clawdia.  It was at the top of my blog until I changed it just now so we wouldn't be looking at two identical pictures.  Caturday is a good day to try to answer Sherry's question, so ... "What was Clawdia thinking?"

I have a very strange cat, though some would say all cats are strange.  Clawdia likes to get out of our apartment, where I often leave her alone when I go out with friends or join activities here in the retirement center where we live.  She gets lonely, so I take her for a walk in our hallway late every evening.  She has made friends with several people and runs to be petted, like in this photo with a neighbor at the other end of our hall.  You may ask why I don't have her on a leash.  Please take a moment to read about Clawdia, the Drama Queen.

That day she sat staring up at the ceiling, I took a second picture as we came back by that corner.  This one shows her once again sitting and staring at that ... um, thing ... from a different angle.  I'm not sure if it's a security camera (perhaps she heard a whirring sound?) or if it's something else.  But it fascinated her, and she often glances at it now as we take our nightly walks.  She isn't really interested in the brightly-lit exit sign that's visible over her head.  Just that strange boxy thing aimed down the long part of the hall.

Oh, yeah, what was the kitty thinking?  She usually checks out the bulletin board next to the elevators, peers up at decorations people hang on their doors in different seasons, and studies anything dropped on the carpet.  Maybe she wondered how anything got so high up the wall, but probably she was simply trying to decide how to get up there and check out the strange thing more closely.  That's my best guess.