St. Luke Living Center
By SUE GUTSCH
St. Luke Living Center reporter
When residents gathered Thursday morning in the chapel for hymn sing with Lois Winter, we were privileged to hear her beautiful voice as she accompanied the group during the singing of "How Great Thou Art."
We played a Halloween version of "20 Questions" that afternoon. While using "mental muscle" to answer the yes or no questions concerning bats, we discovered we were poorly equipped. With resolve to be more informed on the subject, we immediately checked out the delightful book "Stellaluna," a little fruit bat, from Marion City Library. It's a start.
The beautiful autumn weather influenced our decision to make apple-oatmeal cookies Friday morning. They were good, but the living center bakers believe adding English walnuts would have made them "very" good.
Nearly one-half of our residents played bingo in the afternoon and were pleased to have volunteer Bill Schimpf back this week. His help is a big asset to the players and the caller.
Our guest minister Sunday afternoon was Jeremiah Lange, pastor of Marion Presbyterian Church.
Following Monday morning's pretty-up, the afternoon was a potpourri of activities. We worked some word puzzles, verbally shared "a few of my favorite things," devoured chocolate kisses, and read some short stories from "Whispers from Heaven."
Tuesday morning book club read while Ma Ingalls literally baked "4 and 20 blackbirds" in a pie. After losing their corn and oats crop to the marauding fowl, the family ate all the plump birds Pa could shoot.
The first Tuesday p.m. following the first Thursday of each month is St. Luke Auxiliary tea (or coffee) time and always is well-attended by our residents. Part of the lure is the food — like the wonderful finger sandwiches in a variety of breads and fillings, the baby carrots and several kinds of chips served on leaf-covered plates and napkins of fall colors.
Another attraction is the fellowship of the auxiliary members which this week included Jean Case, Evelyn and Dick Bredemeier, Joann Fitzpatrick, Iris Summers, Penny Marler, and Mary Kay Classen. We also were joined by Lynn Watts, Donna Kottwitz, and Mark Larsen, daughters of Frances and Agnes' son, Ray Bina. Our home added some hot coffee and iced tea to the mix, as any grateful host should.
Later in the afternoon Amanda and Tony Gardner, Dakota and his friend Madison, brought their six-week-old German shepherd-mix puppies to visit. The four babies experienced plenty of love and attention while they were here — we would have liked to adopt them all.
Anita Brookens "answered the call" and led a full house of residents in singing hymns Thursday morning. We appreciated Anita coming on short notice and enjoyed visiting with her as well as her music.
The afternoon was spent making angel wings of the cookie species. Many were familiar with these baked treats, but to some of us it was a new experience. Other than rolling out the first cookies too thickly, and dusting some bakers liberally with powdered sugar, the project was a success.
