St. Luke Living Center correspondent
Our bakers began Friday the 13th activities by mixing and baking what was billed as Billy Goat Cookies. It was a recipe from Mrs. Tom Martin. The instructions called for brown sugar, cinnamon, nuts, and dates plus the usual ingredients. We cannot vouch for any gender of goat, but the humans here, including volunteer Mary Smithhart, certainly enjoyed them.
Non-bakers could be heard at the opposite end of the corridor while engaged in hitting and dodging balloons and noodles, all in good fun, of course.
After lunch, with our recipe books and “weapons” stowed away, we played bingo with Lois Winter and Bill Schimpf.
With a “tip of the hat” to St. Patrick, we chose to make a recipe of Irish Soda Bread Saturday morning, which came all the way from Tipperary where the great-grandmother of Anne Flannagan of Laguna Beach, Calif., has lived. This lightly sweetened bread contained raisins and caraway seeds. After removing the picture-perfect loaves from the oven, we served the still-warm buttered slices at lunch.
We experienced a musical treat late afternoon Saturday when pianist Anita Hancock accompanied her student, Jessica Vogel, as she played the flute for us.
The living center was fortunate to have tandem guest ministers Sunday afternoon from Valley United Methodist Church. The Reverend Phil Smith brought the spoken word and guitarist Ralph Noriega provided instrumental music.
A smorgasbord of activities was offered Monday. We baked cookies in the morning, played pitch with Marie after lunch, and later we kicked inflated balls, waved noodles, and did exercises from our routine resume.
The gals of Flint Hills Barbershop Chorus provided our Monday evening dining entertainment. It proved to be a very enjoyable dinner hour.
Although not originally on Tuesday’s itinerary, resident council met primarily to discuss a gift of thanks for Debbie Craig. Debbie had been our advocate as director of residence services for many years.
In the afternoon, five children, all boys, from Tot’s Landing Day Care with their provider, Sherri Lubber of Hillsboro, joined our group in the large dining area. The oldest young man read to us from books he brought, thinking we might enjoy them. The boys helped serve sherbet punch and cookies we had made the previous morning.
We unexpectedly benefited from spring break when Phyllis’ grandchildren, Jacob, Elizabeth, Abby, and Ryan, and Kristie Wright stopped by on their way home from Wichita. They had purchased a bassoon, a new musical instrument for Jacob. We were honored to host his first public performance, rich-bodied scales at this stage of his blossoming career.
The perfect afternoon weather “forced” us outdoors where we exercised under our translucent patio cover.
Our prayer group leader, Dick Pracht, came in to a standing room only chapel Wednesday morning and even considered standing on the register.
We got together again in the afternoon anticipating a visit from the Herbels of Durham. The children, whose parents are Kevin and Paula, played the bells and one of them played a guitar. They also tried to answer our questions and allowed us to look more closely at their instruments.
We sang hymns with Lois Winter Thursday morning and noticed plans for a come and go reception for Debbie Craig being put into place. By 1 p.m., plates of “home grown” cookies were in place on a cloth-covered table alongside napkins and candles. Many friends, associates, and residents expressed their gratitude and best wishes to Debbie. Her girls, Karson Craig and Kelsey and Kaelynn Metro, her son, Jessey Hiebert, and her husband, Kevin, shared the afternoon. We, of the living center, were especially happy to meet two-month-old Kaelynn.
Our afternoon outing to Maxwell Game Preserve provided no buffalo sightings except for those on Main Street corners in downtown Canton. We did observe a long-legged crane and a couple of geese taking a swim.