March 28, 2021 — April 3, 2021

HELLO AND GOODBYE

During the “Pandemic Year” March 2020-

March 2021, Lathrop was happy to be able to

recruit some new employees in most every department! Here are the majority

of people you may see:

Concierge: Due to schedule changes and department shifts the front desk had

the most newcomers:

Wellness: Two new CNA’s:

Samara (1), works mostly days

and

Theresa (2)can

be seen in the

evening.

COMMUNITY LIFE

Dining:

Hailey(1) and Halia

(2) are two of the

newer servers in the

Dining Room and Jose

(Joey) can be found behind the scenes

cooking up a storm in the kitchen.

Life Enrichment:

Matt works varied

hours but you can find

him running many of

the activities!

1. Maya works overnight Saturday - Wednesday 2. Dawn works days Thursday - Sunday 3. Donna works days Monday—Wednesday 4. Nay worked weekdays but became per-diem when she took on a

role elsewhere as a contact Tracer, better utilizing her degree in Pub-lic Health.

In addition to a few CNA’s, servers, and per-diem drivers that left early on in the pandemic, Lathrop wishes Nick and Eric, both from Maintenance all the best in their new posi-tions as they move on from their roles at Lathrop.

FOCUSING ON OUR NATIVE PLANTS

Brought to you by the Land Conservation Committee

It’s just mid-March and Salix discolor already has its large buds! These buds are covered with soft light gray fuzz which makes them look like litters of tiny Siamese kittens lined up on the branches of this leafless shrub (or small tree). Its roots are standing in wet, wet soil which still has pockets of melting snow. Susan Boone photographed this one yesterday, March 15, at the edge of Cranberry Meadow which is behind Cranberry Lane in Easthampton. Boggy land like this is home to many species of willows including this one. So, no surprise, the common name for Salix discolor is Pussy Willow.

The ‘kittens’ are the Pussy Willow’s immature catkins. They will mature in a few days to be-come pistillate and staminate catkins covered with yellow pollen. (They will look much like an oval version of a photographed corona virus …with stalks of material covering its surface.)

All of this activity will have taken place before the Pussy Willow’s leaves emerge. For now the leaves are tucked in the smaller buds on the branch.

The leaves will become lunch for many moth and butterfly caterpillars. Research shows that the cater-pillars of over 400 different species of insects are happy to include available Pussy Willows in their diet. And many of these fat-and-protein-laden caterpillars will be hunted by bird parents who will feed the caterpillars to their newly hatched chicks. All in all, the Pussy Willow is a very valuable native plant!

In the photograph note the beautiful red stems of another one of our native shrubs: Cornus sericea, Red Osier Dogwood. Wonderful winter color.! When leafed out it too will support moth and butter-fly caterpillars. Only a 115 species, however, find it edible.

MUSIC ON YOUTUBE In opera the most passion-filled moments in a character’s life can inspire the most exquisite, fervent singing in the whole vocal repertoire. This coming Sun-day, March 28th, the Music Committee will bring you a program of arias from well-known operas that cover the emotional range of an adolescent’s attempt to understand his awakening sexual passion to a cuckolded husband’s despair and fury at learning of his wife’s infidelity, and a woman’s fantasies about the return of her lover as she watches his ship pull out pf the harbor. The arias will be sung by such internationally famous stars as Luciano Pavarotti and Re-

nata Tebaldi. So come experience the emotional rollercoaster and even hum along with some Great Operatic Arias. Residents can visit view the compilation at anytime on https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLD9LfXVYgsgQQGbF9_ZRdgpZN6KYap_Ch

COMMUNITY LIFE

ACTIVITIES AT THE INN

Starting Wednesday March 31: Shopping at CVS @ 10am, limit 6, call the front desk at

413-586-0006 to sign up.

Some locations to programs have changed, please check the calendar. The Program “Why Do We Say It” run by Sandy Loiterstein needs a new facilitator. We are

looking for volunteers. If you are interested in where some words and phrases came from, you’re the person we are looking for! This doesn’t have to be every week, it can be every oth-

er week or even once a month. Call Marilyn if you are interested at 413-437-5895.

TIME CHANGE: Sunday, March 28th Movement class is at 11:30; Music Committee Program is

at 1:30

One Day University has started in the Life Enrichment Center: Tuesdays will be History; Thurs-days will be The Arts; Friday will be Psychology; Saturday will be Miscellaneous (Business/

Science maybe like a pot luck day).

EAST COMMUNITY CHANNEL 901 PROGRAM LINE-UP (Changes Weekly on Tuesday)

8:00am – Nature Programming 9:00am - Documentary 10:00am – Healthy Bones and Balance 11:00am – Chair Yoga with Matt 11:30am – History Documentary 12:30pm – Guided Meditation 1:00pm – Oprah Winfrey’s “Super Soul Sunday” 2:00pm – Nature Programming 3:00pm – Travel Programming (coinciding with Julie’s weekly program)

4:00pm – Concert Series: Celine Dion in Las Vegas 5:30pm - Inspirational Documentary 6:00pm – Hello, Neighbors! 7:00pm – Movie of the Week: 12 Angry Men, 1997 version

Riddle: What word is that which, if you add a syllable, it will make it shorter?

COMMUNITY LIFE

Residents 1st “official” outing was breakfast at the North Hadley Sug-ar Shack.

SPRING HIKE PART 1 by Peter Armstrong

On the first day of spring, March 20, Tinka and I hiked 4 miles of the 30 miles of the system of trails of the Holyoke Range State Park. The park occupies the eastern portions of the Holyoke Mountain Range. The western portions of that mountain range are contained within the nearby N.A. Skinner State Park. We started at the Bachelor Brook Trailhead on Bachelor Street (Figure 1) in Gran-by. We hiked in on the Lower Access Trail, passing a small lake (Figure 2), still partially frozen. I can find the lake on the Mount Holyoke topographic map, but it is not named there. We turned right on

the Pond Trail and soon became lost in a maze of trails. We caught glimpses of Mount Norwottuck, the highest point of the park, 1106’, then passed by a large rocky cliff (Figure 3) richly decorated with moss and lichens (Figure 4). We eventually made it to the T Rex trail, then some-how, we don’t know how, made it back to the familiar territory of the Lower Access Trail. The park is lovely, largely devoted to mixed woodland of deciduous trees, beech, birch, oak, and hickory, and of conifers, white pine, and

hemlock. In places, the understory is Mountain Laurel, which will be in flower in early May. Generally dense forest in this part of New Eng-land has little or no poison ivy, the woods of Lathrop Easthampton be-ing an exception, so I assume that this hike would be largely poison ivy-free, but March 20 is well before poison ivy season begins.

Because we started late and were running short on time, we did not yield to temptation this time, but I recommend Flavours of Cook Farm, 129 South Maple St, Hadley for really good ice cream after a long and demanding hike.

The park has four parking areas/trail heads. The Batchelor Brook Trailhead is at the southern face of the park, and there are other trailheads on the east, west, and north park borders. Maybe our next visit will be the hike to the top of Mount Norwottuck, parking at the Notch Visitor Center, which is a short drive off Route 116, and taking the Metacomet-Monadnock Trail heading east. A warning, the trail system for the park features an interconnecting maze of trails that are shown on the map and other trails, some with names painted on little wooden plaques, that may or may not be shown the official trails map. The official trails map can be accessed at https://www.mass.gov/locations/mount-holyoke-range-state-park.

I thank Tinka for the illustrations for this report. Happy Hiking!

Our part of western Massachusetts offers an abundance of lovely parcels of land set aside with State Park or Conservation Easement protection that have public access hiking trails. I have set up a Google Drive site that identifies a selection of these public hiking trails, usually with trail maps and directions for driving or bicycling to the trail heads. Text Peter Armstrong, for access to this Google drive site, 413-320-3490. I am always interested in advice for other hiking trails to visit, so please let me know of your favorite sites that are not yet listed on the Google Drive site. I hope that this report will be the first of a

series that identifies nearby places for hiking.

COMMUNITY LIFE

(Figure captions: Figure 1, Batchelor Brook Trailhead sign along Batchelor Road, Gran-by. Figure 2, The pond just west of the Low-er Access Trail. Figure 3, The rocky cliff found in our exploration of the park. Fig-ure 4, A luxuriant mix of moss (bright green) and lichens (blue gray) cover broad areas of the rocky cliff.)

CALL TO ARMS!

HELP OUT IF YOU CAN

By Barbara Walvoord

It’s time to start pulling invasive garlic mustard in the woods of both campuses. If you are able, please help us save our forests from this European invasive, which would crowd out our native wildflowers-- trillium, trout lily, Canada mayflower, hepatica—even tree seedlings.

North campus: Garlic mustard appears throughout the forest. East campus: concentrations are at the top of Bassett Brook Drive across from Dianne’s, on the forest side of Mulberry bridge, by the community garden, and behind the Inn.

PROGRESS! Wood anemone survives at top of Bassett Brook Drive because we have pulled garlic mustard for several years. Seeds viable in the soil for many years will keep sprouting, as here, but in diminishing numbers, and we CAN win the battle. If there were no garlic mus-tard here, wood anemone could form a breathtakingly beautiful carpet, nourishing our wildlife.

LATHROP LAND

Kidney-shaped leaves that smell like garlic when crushed. Pull it by the roots. If it has no blossom, leave it in the woods on a rock or log, where its roots do not touch the soil.

When garlic mustard has

flowers, remove it from the

woods because it can still pro-

duce seeds.

This forest (not ours) shows what can happen: nothing but invasive garlic mustard from Europe. It crowds out native wild flowers, even tree seedlings, but offers little sustenance for bees, birds, and other wildlife.

MEETING HOUSE SCHEDULE

MARCH 28— APRIL 2 The Meeting House is now be open full-time for resident use. Residents are still being asked to enter through the main door and sign in on the clipboard at the table. Please continue to make reservations at the desk in Easthampton 413-586-0006 to use the Fitness Room, Art Studio and the library.

Sun. March 28 2:00 Movie with Dave: Promising Young Woman

Mon. March 29 Trash and Recycling pick up

2:00 Healthy Bones and Balance on ZOOM

Tues. March 30 10:00-2:00 Fitness with Jen Call her at 437-5893 to schedule a session.

Wed. March 31 1:00 Rob Olmsted Office Hours

2:00 Handicraft group on ZOOM. contact Carol Neubert cpneubert@gmail.com

3:30 Walk Around. Go Left!

Thurs. April 1 Happy Birthday Sid Moss and Mary Alice Wilson!

10:00-2:00 with Jen Call her at 437-5893 to schedule a session

2:00 Healthy Bones and Balance on ZOOM

Sat. April 3 Happy Birthday Sid Moss

10:00 Poker in the Library

2:00 Walk Around. Go Right

NORTH HAPPENINGS

MOVIES WITH DAVE Sunday, March 28, 2:00: Promising Young

Woman

**Nominated for an Acad-emy Award** Nothing in Cassie's life is what it appears to be -- she's wickedly smart, tan-talizingly cunning, and she's living a secret double life by night. Now, an un-expected encounter is about to give Cassie a

chance to right the wrongs from the past.

“I can’t wait to forget everything I learned about

myself during quarantine.” Answer: Short