Winter festivities

Well Christmas came and went and it's been busy up here at the South Shore Villa. We start most days by reading the Guardian Newspaper www.theguardian.pe.ca/ and discussing any and all issues especially politics. And then we read the Journal Pioneer www.journalpioneer.com.It's a wonderful little paper that tries hard.

We had our super Christmas with tons of wonderful entertainment and  all the decorations and even a visit from Santa. Here is Bea M. and Florence Mc sitting on Santa's knee.

   And then we had to take it all down again. But that's all part of the fun of Christmas. And now it's time to talk about February.

On Valentines Day we had a wonderful theatre company come in and perform a musical for us. Young At Heart Musical Theatre for Seniors www.yahtheatre.com/ Three talented performers April Cook and Kevin Morris with Sean Ferris put on an amazing show with dance, song and story line with live accompaniment with Sean. The audience was spell bound and after we savour what we saw and heard this time we await the next show. Thanks for a grand show. 

JMP

November 2011

Dear readers,

We have been enjoying the autumn weather of late. The beautiful cobalt blue skies of autumn behind the rusty orange and yellows of the season never fail to impress residents when  out for a walk. We have a walking club and we try to get out every fine day that we have.

The hills around Crapaud are fit for a poem. We will start up the writing club again in winter. We can't get out as much in winter and writing is something any resident can do with assistance.As you know the Haiku employs five syllables in the first line, seven in the second and the third line uses five syllables also.  Here is one of the Haikus from last year.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            Crows

Appear from nowhere

Noisy, huge and black as night.

Geedy crows swoop down. 

Eileen MacLean
age 88

This poem is  in the haiku format and was  written by Eileen MacLean last year recalling how when she would step outside her appartment to feed the birds a few crumbs, crows would suddenly fly in to grab all of the spoils.

Winter

Winter is on its way out,

The trees are naked.

thanks to the good Lord.

http://web.mac.com/zenbird/Site/Welcome.html 

This was a residents first  winter haiku and she certainly got her point across. The Haiku is a national passtime in Japan. Haiku clubs are common throughout that  country and have a competive spirit. If you are interested in trying your own check out this useful and friendly  site at http://blinkhaiku.blogspot.com/

We also recorded stories from times past and we got some really good material recorded. This is an ongoing project and over time we will have enough to put together a little jounal with recipes and photos.

Of course we did Halloween and the staff got into the spirit. Here is Rachel M and Kelly S being good sports and setting a fine example.

Director of Nursing at work

Residents aren't the only creative ones at the Villa

Regards,

Julia 

Autumn has arrived

Hi dear readers,

Well I see that it's ages in blog time since I made a post. I was keeping things up to date until I fell off the blog path. Last time I wrote, was in July. Well I am happy to say we had a nice number of family make visits at the Villa over the summer. We could use more though. There is no subsitute for family or old friends coming in to visit. We do have a few regulars and it is much appreciated by all.

 Above you see one of the two  wonderful old cars  that the PEI Antique Car Society brought  up for us to view and admire. It was a first meeting of the Old Boys Club, which we hope to get going. This was a fun afternoon an  enjoyed by all.

 Above is Elma Birt which two of her seven  brothers. One is Ollie Birt who lives down in the US and hadn't seem Elma for ten years. Welcome home Ollie.

That's all for now. We are still having lots of wonderful entertainment and try to keep busy and make the most of each day.

Regards,
Julia

July entertainment

Well we did have a spectacular month of entertainment. We had our own version of "So You Think You Can Dance"  www.fox.com/dance/ except ours would be called " So You Love To Dance".

We had Scottish Country Dancers from Charlottetown

and then we had a Belly Dancing Troupe from Summerside and then

the following week we had the Dancing Sweethearts from Charlottetown. It was wonderful and much enjoyed by all. Thankyou so much to everyone who came out here to share their talents.

JMP

A good night's rest

Sleep is the golden chain that ties health and our bodies together." We are following the person- centered care approach  at the South Shore Villa and  if a resident is sound asleep at the usual wake up time, we now have the option of leaving them sleeping. Later in the morning, when their natural circadian rhythm cycle causes them to wake up and want their breakfast, staff will prepare them for the day and feed them their breakfast if needed.

The toast of the Villa and Person Centred Care

The Villa is moving forward with our version of person centred care and it is demonstrated in all sorts of ways.The girls on the floor decided that fresh toast in the mornings would be popular with the residents. So every morning the Villa wafts with the scent of fresh toast. In a new four slice toaster, the staff go through two loaves of bread!!!Hot toast, freshly buttered is one of lifes' great comfort foods. The little things add up to  make a big difference.

Regards,
Julia

Royal Watchers at the South Shore Villa

We put on a longish but enjoyable day watching the young royals visiting PEI between all of the usual activities. It would have been grand if we could have gone to see the action in person but that wasn't really feasible. We all agreed we saw more and in comfort by watching TV than if we had been there. What a great day it was inspite of the rain and wonderful exposure for our beloved PEI. Priscilla Myers hosted the viewing in her handsome sitting room.
Regards,
Julia