St. Luke Living Center
By SUE GUTSCH
St. Luke Living Center reporter
Living center cooks mixed up molasses sugar cookies Friday morning, a recipe by Pat Breem of Miltonvale. Our bakers shaped each of the three baking sheets of dark, russet-colored cookies differently. We had molasses balls, tine-patterned, and hand flattened — something for every preference.
Pat Smith not only came to call bingo that afternoon, but brought sucker valentines for all the players and homemade banana bread to share. Bill Schimpf had come in earlier to help ready the dining room and alert residents.
Saturday morning we acknowledged Presidents Day by reviewing a newspaper article on the Feb. 18 opening of a new exhibit at the Eisenhower Library at Abilene, "Presidential Treasures: From George to George." We read a magazine article concerning George Washington, "The Man Who Refused to be King," "A Picture Book of Abraham Lincoln" was enjoyed and some "did you know?" questions from "Who Broke Lincoln's Thumb?" revealed that if Lincoln's marble statue in front of his memorial could stand, it would be 28 feet tall. Amelia added some very cute jokes relating to our theme.
The Aulne United Methodist Church brought Sunday afternoon's service, a wonderful mix of songs of faith, vocal as well as instrumental.
Presidents Day involved pretty-up, pitch, and cherry crunch — four pans full to be exact. We prepared and baked the dessert after lunch and served the presidential-inspired snack to staff as a small-time fund-raiser for a charity dear to our hearts, "The Smile Train."
Tuesday morning we added color to pictures intended to illustrate wintertime activities such as baking, sewing, and needlework, artistic painting and making men and balls of snow. We even attempted to solve a lion maze inspired by the weather and nearness of March 1.
That afternoon it was summer on the Dakota Plains and so was Mary Ingalls able to travel home for a visit, her first since leaving to attend college for the blind in Iowa. It was a delight for her family to witness Mary's confidence and accomplishments. We book clubbers also enjoyed the family together again.
Taking advantage of decent weather, a group of residents, Shirley Bowers, and Khrista drove to Kechi Wednesday afternoon for a minor maintenance check on our van and stopped in Park City for drinks. Hot chocolate seemed to be the beverage of choice. We called this an official "outing," therefore killing two birds with one stone.
We filled Thursday afternoon and ourselves with freshly popped corn, the Marion County Record, a heartwarming movie, "Fluke," a shaggy dog fable for all ages, and of course, group exercise.
