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NEWS FROM

PARKLAND LODGE

2018

February

UPCOMING ACTIVITES:

03 - Crib Tournament

06 - Legends Café

and Pizza

13 - Dollarama

14 - Valentines Party

15 - Independent

Grocer's

22 - Shopper's

24 - Piano Recital

27 - Walmart

ACTIVITY AIDE

A musical Thank You to Michelle for bringing

her students for a

recital, it's always lovely!

And a musical thank you to Brian and Fran as well, for being a new musical duo, it sounds

awesome!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO OUR FEBRUARY

BABIES:

02 - Grace Vanderveen

06 - Doris Schram, Della

07 - Russel Kolasa

10 - Muriel Sembal

14 - Gerhardt Apelt

15 - Vivian Valentine

21 - Barney Dyck

22 - Patsy Thompson

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FEBRUARY

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QUOTE OF THE

MONTH

Good Clean Humor!

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­

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Quote of the Month: Life is not always a matter of hold-

ing good cards, but sometimes, playing a poor hand well.

Birthstone of the Month: Amethyst

Amethyst, the gemstone believed by ancient Greeks and Romans to ward off the intoxication from drink. It was said to keep the wearer clear-headed and quick-witted. Amethyst jewelry has been found and dated as early as 2000 BC. Leonard da Vinci once said that amethyst helps to quicken intelligence and get rid of evil thoughts. Other qualities like peace, stability, courage and strength are said to

be derived from this gemstone. The Flower of The Month: Violet Violets have been around for centuries and were first cultivated by the Greeks around 500 BC. Vi-olets symbolize modesty. According to Greek mythology, violets

were created when one of Artemis’ nymphs, who had all sworn to stay maidens, was being pursued by her twin brother, Apollo. To protect her nymph, Artemis transformed her into a violet, which in turn led the vi-olet to become a symbol of modesty. violet also repre-sents spiritual wisdom, faithfulness and humility which are meanings that can be seen depicted in religious

works of art.

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Blurb from Ali

I always wondered why we say Feb-u-ary instead of pronouncing February how it is spelled. I just looked it up, and here is what I found out. In Roman times the month of February was the last month of the year - they felt it was a good time for purification of the soul and atonement for sins in order to start fresh the

new year. The word Februa is Latin for "purification," so it was then applied as the name of the month.

When Christianity came to England, the names of the months followed as well. Because the Anglo-Saxons had such difficulty pronouncing both "r" sounds an unconscious phenomenon called Dissimilation occurred over time. In this case, Dissimilation resulted in the first "r" becoming silent. Thanks to dissimilation, our Anglo-Saxon history and the fact that it rhymes better with January, we normally say Feb-u-ary. But,

thanks to our etymological history we still spell it February.

Along with our other monthly trips to the Dollarama, Walmart and Shoppers, we will be going to Legends Café and Pizza. Are there any restaurants you would like to go to? Smitty's and the Castle Restaurant are the two favorites but going to the same places all the time gets a bit boring. If there is somewhere else

you like to go or would like to try please let me know!

As per requests I have scheduled a trip to Independent Grocers. Independent differs from Sobey's in the variety of stock as well as pricing. Time may also contribute to this addition, rather than trying to balance time at both Sobey's and Shopper's during our Shopper's trip, we will have a full hour in Independent Gro-

cers.

We have something musically new on our calendar! Every Sunday Brian will be coming to play music from 6:30 to 8:30. Due to scheduling conflicts our music schedule is now fixed. This means that if a musician cannot come to play on their night, there will be no music that night. Calling in musicians to fill in for oth-

ers was causing too much confusion.

Another new item on the calendar you'll see is the Smart TV activity at 1:00 every Tuesday. I will be put-ting on videos such as Andre Rieu, Celtic Women, Ted Talks, and other informative and otherwise enter-

taining videos on the Smart TV in my Activity room.

Don't forget, this month there is a Crib Tournament on Saturday, February 3rd! The Crib Tournament differs from the In-House crib we play here in that the tournament has much bigger prizes ($20 winnings or more!), lunch is provided and many more people outside the lodge come to play. The Tournament will

be held in the green area at 1pm!

The In-House crib we play once a week here is a much smaller operation, we charge $2 to play for an hour, we play 3 rounds, use score cards, and we switch tables every game - similar to the Cabin crib games but tailored to our players here. Our In-House crib will be held in the Green area at 3:00, every Tuesday. You do not need to have a partner pre-arranged but it might help ensure we have enough peo-

ple to play.

Let me end on an exciting note. We will be having a Valentines party the evening of Wednesday the 14th! There will be food, music and of course sugary goodies like cupcakes and candy - a staple for this celebra-

tion! No plus one Valentines necessary, so you now have no excuse to miss out on the fun!

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Friday, February 2nd

At 10:30 we will be making puzzle wreaths! Because Valen-tines day is right around the corner we'll work with a heart shaped frame. Afterwards we'll use some spray paint and

sealant to wash them in colour and preserve them.

1:30 we will be hosting Social Hour. This is a fundraising activity for us and the proceeds go the Parkland Lodge. We serve drinks (water, juice, soft drinks, wine,

beer) and chips while selling Nevada pull-tab tickets.

At 3:00 we will have our Sister Stichers knitting group meet by the fire. If you do or have done any needle work (sewing, cross stitch, crochet, knit, etc.) come join

us! Feel free to bring your projects, your patterns, or your conversation!

Friday, February16th

February 17th is Random Act of Kindness day, this typically involves people going out of their way to perform random acts of kindness for others. With that in mind, I thought we could make some thing that we can share on Saturday. If you mix Elmer's Glue with food colouring and paint clean dry glass with this mix it creates a sea glass effect! I will have jars, flower vases and bowls we can paint. Then we can share the vases with everyone (but if you want to keep yours that's okay too!) and we can even give some to our

friends in Long Term Care !

At 1:30 we'll be holding out Social Hour in my Activity room, don't forget to come support the Lodge! You might win it big, but only if you play. Then at 3:00

the Sister Stichers knitting group meet once again by the fire!

Bonus Craft

I will be setting up a work station in my activity office (where we do exercise) for making bookmarks! I will provide patterns and materials for these small and easy to do, crafts. You can make as many as you like, whenever you like. I thought we

could sell some of these in the craft sale for an added fundraiser bonus!

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PaShort Story: One Word

A woman dies after a long illness, and finds herself just outside of heaven, at the pearly gates. As she peers inside, she sees people she knew from her life on earth enjoying themselves, laughing, and looking quite happy. Just then, St Peter comes along, and she asks him:

"Is this heaven? How can I enter the gates?"

St Peter replies: "Yes, this is heaven. All you have to do is spell one word for me, and you'll be free to enter."

"What word?," she asks. "Please tell me!"

"Spell LOVE," and you can enter, replied St Peter.

Relieved, she spells the word correctly, and St Peter opens the gates for her.

After she had been in heaven for some time, the woman became quite comfortable and happy, but she still missed her beloved husband who she left on the earth. As an extra way of being of service, she asked to become a helper of St Peter, along with others who greet the newcomers to heaven and usher them through the pearly gates.

Imagine her surprise one day when her husband appeared at the gates.

"Darling! I thought you'd never get here," she says in greeting. "I have missed you so much...tell me, what have you been doing all this time? Was life hard for you after I left?"

Her husband replied: "Well, it's good to see you, too! Yes, I have been quite busy. I was very sorry when you left, but I was quite attracted to that cute nurse who helped you through your last days, and we ended up getting married a few months after your passing. And then - I won the lottery! Can you imagine? I was able to buy a large mansion, a new car, retired from my job, and my new wife and I traveled the world and we have had a grand life. We were on a vacation in the Greek isles and while I was water-skiing, my ski fell off and hit me in the head...so, here I am! I was sorry to leave her and the earth, but it's really great to see you again. Gee, it looks so nice in there. Is this heaven?"

The woman looked at him, smiled sweetly, and says: "Well, imagine that! I have missed you so much, and hoped that you missed me, too...but, well, I guess life goes on - right?"

"Right!," he said. "So, tell me...how do you like heaven? I never dreamed I'd get here. Is it easy to get in?"

"Oh, yes," she replied. "All you have to do is spell one word"

"Okay!" he said excitedly. "What word?"

"Czechoslovakia."

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NEWSLETTER TITLE

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Short Story: Jesus Is Watching You

A burglar broke into a house one night. He shined his flashlight around, looking for valuables, and when he picked up a CD player to place in his sack, a strange, dis-embodied voice echoed from the dark saying, "Jesus is watching you."

He nearly jumped out of his skin, clicked his flashlight out, and froze. When he heard nothing more after a bit, he shook his head, promised himself a vacation after the next big score, then clicked the light on and began searching for more valuables.

Just as he pulled the stereo out so he could disconnect the wires, clear as a bell he heard, "Jesus is watching you."

Freaked out, he shone his light around frantically, looking for the source of the voice. Finally, in the corner of the room, his flashlight beam came to rest on a parrot.

"Did you say that?" He hissed at the parrot.

"Yep," the parrot confessed, then squawked, "I'm just try-ing to warn you."

The burglar relaxed. "Warn me, huh? Who in the world are you?"

"Moses," replied the bird.

"Moses?" the burglar laughed. "What kind of person would name a bird Moses?"

"The kind of person that would name a Rottweiler, Jesus."

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