Southern Living - Musings from The Manor

  Greetings from South Carolina! We are sending an update from our recent move to The Manor in Florence, SC.   The (Methodist) Manor is a life care community, with levels of care from independent living in single homes and apartments, assisted living, skilled nursing care, and memory care.   We decided to make this move now before one of us has a medical crisis! (Yes, “when,” not “if!”)         As of today, we’ve unpacked most boxes with the exception of our books.   Our plan at The Manor includes one meal daily, and so far we’ve enjoyed meals in the dining room or ordered take out.   Neither of us has used the electric range and oven since we moved in on June 19.               The residents are very welcoming.   Most are from South Carolina. Many like us have chosen The Manor to be close to one or more children or grandchildren.    But none is closer than we are to our son Tom and daughter-...

 Let It Snow “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” Luke 10:41-42 The weather forecast for Lewes, DE called for blizzard conditions starting in the evening of Friday, January 28, through the day on Saturday January 29.  After a quick trip to Aldi to stock up on a short grocery list, we were ready! When Connie and I awoke on Saturday we saw the storm in progress.  The wind gusts sculpted the dry snow into snow dunes in the "backyard" common area at the back of our condo.  Persistent in their search for food, our usual community of birds clung to the feeders.  And we were warm indoors. In the midst of the storm, I was conflicted about the need to spend an entire day indoors. My usual Saturday schedule begins with more than a few hours of homework from my job at Clear Space Theatre. Some of you may be ...

 I have been thinking a lot about Thanksgiving as I do every year. One of the fun parts about Thanksgiving is recalling the chaos and love surrounding the annual dinner at my grandparents home on 23rd Avenue in the Lewisdale community in West Hyattsville.   My beloved Grandmother Gross was a certified Kitchen Martyr.  She worked hard to present a proper table and made sure we all knew it.  The meal included fresh mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans (plain, before the famous soup casserole entered our lives), and sauerkraut - since Grandma was a Baltimore girl.  The setting was finished off by a four-section cut-glass dish piled with celery, carrot sticks, olives, and gherkin pickles.  Grandma knew how to plan a meal and set the table. The Martyr part usually began with her enlisting my Grandfather's help with the words "John, must I do everything for this meal - would you PLEASE ask people what they want to drink!"  You see, the beverage ...

Today I wanted to follow up on the health of Queen Elizabeth.  Maybe it is because she has a physical resemblance to my late Grandmother Gross who lived to age 96.  You can be the judge.   In the news article about the real Queen, the reporter noted the doctors advised Her Majesty to "cut back on alcohol consumption."  I found this amusing for two reasons: 1) just how much alcohol is the Queen drinking that she needs medical advice to cut back, and 2) at her age, what does it matter? Along the same parallel, in her late 80s, my Grandmother Gross became concerned about cutting down on cholesterol.  In her case, 2) above seemed to apply at the time. My immediate family were staunch Methodists and thus alcoholic beverages were not part of our menu.  My mother told stories of how my Great-Grandfather Webb would hide his beer under the porch steps when they spent summers at Piney Point in southern Maryland. Our most adventuresome relative was "cousin" Eunic...

  “When through the woods and forest glades I wander, and hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees…then sings my soul…how great thou art” Connie and I are camping at Trap Pond State Park. The park is 45 minutes from home, yet seems miles away from work, local traffic and the news. So far the biggest excitement is swatting away the yellow jackets.  We are camped on a site on a peninsula at the end of a loop. Last evening a blue heron joined us at dinner. We sat at our picnic table as the heron dined in the small inlet next to our site.  After almost two years of dealing with the effects of multiple Important Issues at work (a growing regional theatre), including city zoning politics for our proposed new building, Covid, and a series of HR issues this summer, I give God thanks for a few days in the woods and forest glade, comforted by the gentle breeze.  Wesley