A Publication of the Mountain Meadows 55+ Community, Ashland, Oregon Mountain Meadows News Income Taxes Due April 15 April 2013 World Parkinson’s Day April 11 Shakespeare’s Birthday April 23 April Fools’ Day April 1 LET YOUR VOICES BE HEARD! Gideon Wizansky, MMOA Board We want to hear from you. In its February meeting, the Board decided to change our meeting procedures so residents can express opinions on motions before we vote. This will increase resident impact on the decision- making process. The Board also welcomes your input by email, telephone, and personal communication with individual Board members. Now our new website provides direct communication channels with each Board member. Take a look at our new website: www.MountainMeadowsAshland.com Let your voices be heard! FILM STARS AMONG US! Lola Egan, Community Marketing Senior Year film producer James Twyman was amazed to learn that 38 Mountain Meadows residents had completed applications to participate in his new documentary. On March 11, after reviewing the applications, James held a group gathering to meet and chat with each person and learn about their interest in being in the film. He was thrilled to have so many great candidates, and also challenged with the task of selecting just ten. The “film stars” from Mountain Meadows are: Carol Rae Anapolsky, Harriet and Alan Berman, Virgil Butler, Barbara Fitch, Gayle Jurickovich, Susanne Krieg, Richard Newman, and Roy Sutton. The tenth person in the group is from outside Mountain Meadows. Filming has begun. Their first monthly meeting with James and leader Jean Houston was on Thursday, March 14, and the feedback is very positive. Everyone is anticipating an exciting experience and opportunities for personal growth. Many thanks to everyone who expressed an interest in being part of Senior Year. It is just more evidence of what a marvelous community this is. We’ll be providing progress reports as the film production moves ahead. And you can all look forward to a “Senior Prom,” which promises to be quite a party! GETTING TO KNOW YOU: APRIL TOWN HALL Sandy Tracy, Community Manager Come join the conversation on Tuesday, April 30 at 2:00 p.m. in the Mt. Ashland Room. The fourth in our series of Mountain Meadows Town Hall Meetings will be a chance for you to ask me about changes in the community since Siskiyou Retirement came on board, and a chance for me to ask you questions, too. Let’s get to know each other better! At this meeting, we will develop an agenda for the next four to six monthly Town Halls, so bring ideas for discussion topics. Let’s make these Town Hall meetings work for all of us to build an open, easy relationship among residents and your management company staff. Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul. ~Samuel Ullman
Transcript
A Publication of the Mountain Meadows 55+ Community, Ashland, Oregon
Mountain Meadows News
Income Taxes Due April 15
April 2013
World Parkinson’s Day April 11
Shakespeare’s Birthday April 23
April Fools’ DayApril 1
LET YOUR VOICESBE HEARD! Gideon Wizansky, MMOA Board
We want to hear from you. In its February meeting, the Board decided to change our meeting procedures so residents can express opinions on motions before we vote. This will increase resident impact on the decision-making process.
The Board also welcomes your input by email, telephone, and personal communication with individual Board members. Now our new website provides direct communication channels with each Board member.
Take a look at our new website: www.MountainMeadowsAshland.com
Let your voices be heard!
FILM STARS AMONG US!Lola Egan, Community Marketing
Senior Year film producer James Twyman was amazed to learn that 38 Mountain Meadows residents had completed applications to participate in his new documentary. On March 11, after reviewing the applications, James held a group gathering to meet and chat with each person and learn about their interest in being in the film. He was thrilled to have so many great candidates, and also challenged with the task of selecting just ten.
The “film stars” from Mountain Meadows are: Carol Rae Anapolsky, Harriet and Alan Berman, Virgil Butler, Barbara Fitch, Gayle Jurickovich, Susanne Krieg, Richard Newman, and Roy Sutton. The tenth person in the group is from outside Mountain Meadows. Filming has begun. Their first monthly meeting with James and leader Jean Houston was on Thursday, March 14, and the feedback is very positive. Everyone is anticipating an exciting experience and opportunities for personal growth.
Many thanks to everyone who expressed an interest in being part of Senior Year. It is just more evidence of what a marvelous community this is. We’ll be providing progress reports as the film production moves ahead. And you can all look forward to a “Senior Prom,” which promises to be quite a party!
GETTING TO KNOW YOU:APRIL TOWN HALL Sandy Tracy, Community Manager
Come join the conversation on Tuesday, April 30 at 2:00 p.m. in the Mt. Ashland Room. The fourth in our series of Mountain Meadows Town Hall Meetings will be a chance for you to ask me about changes in the community since Siskiyou Retirement came on board, and a chance for me to ask you questions, too. Let’s get to know each other better!
At this meeting, we will develop an agenda for the next four to six monthly Town Halls, so bring ideas for discussion topics. Let’s make these Town Hall meetings work for all of us to build an open, easy relationship among residents and your management company staff.
Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul. ~Samuel Ullman
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MM WEBSITE DEMONSTRATION Harriet Berman, MM Website Editorial Board
On Friday, April 12 at 3:00 p.m. in the Mt. Ashland Room, we’ll use the big-screen TV to introduce our new community website: www.MountainMeadowsAshland.com.
It has the Weekly Update and MM News, menus, a monthly schedule of MM events, and the agendas and minutes of MM committee and board meetings. There are links to Ashland community re-sources and schedules of theatres and movies. Much of the website is private, just for us, and you can use it to contact residents and staff, ask for or offer a ride, join discussions, and enjoy resident blogs and photos. Just log in and explore!
Come let us know what you think of it: do you find the new website great or frustrating? Is there something we should add?
MM DEMOCRATS:A CHAT WITH CAROL VOISINVictor and Arlene Rogers
Wow! We hit paydirt again. Ashland City Council member Carol Voisin is our guest speaker on Tuesday, April 9 at 7:00 p.m. Carol is excited to talk about the Ashland Community Hospital merger with Asante, Parks & Recreation, loss of revenue stream, bus service to North Mountain Avenue, SOU Transformation, and the city budget. You will not want to miss this presentation and the scrumptious goodies and conversation following the meeting. All residents are welcome.
MUSIC AT THE MEADOWS Roy Sutton
The Friends of Music group in Brookings, Oregon, held a competition last year for all Oregon college and university music majors, and two of the winners were from SOU. Tatsiana Asheichyk, winner of the piano category, was our March performer for Music at the Meadows. Now we’ll have the instrumental winner, classical guitarist Tye Austin, as our soloist on Thursday, April 11 at 4:00 p.m. in the Mt. Ashland Room.
You may have seen Tye on the cover of “Tempo” in the Mail Tribune. He was a winner of the 2013 American Protégé International Piano & Strings Competition and performed with the other winners in Carnegie Hall in March. Tye graduated from Crater High School planning to be a professional BMX bicyclist. Instead, he happened to attend a concert featuring a classical guitarist—and found his passion. He bought a classical guitar at a pawnshop and only six months later was accepted as a music major at SOU! He is currently auditioning for masters programs at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music,
London’s Royal Academy of Music, and the Juilliard School. O u r s e c o n d concert this month will feature the wonderful Easy Valley Eight, “the small group with the big band sound.” They’ll be here on Thursday, April 25 at 4:00 p.m. in the Mt. Ashland Room. The band’s members are some of Southern Oregon’s finest veteran jazz musicians and vocalists. They specialize in swing music from the 30s, 40s, and 50s—if only the Mt. Ashland Room had room to dance! This band was a monthly regular at Standing Stone Brewery for over 14 years.
The current lineup includes bandleader Warren Moore on tenor sax (he’ll be 90 on April 30) and MM resident Alan Berman on piano and vocals. Alan says the band has the best arrangements he’s ever played—very creative and interesting treatments. Don’t miss this concert!
Tye Austin
Bandleader Warren Moore, tenor sax
A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools. ~Douglas Adams
GREEN BAG PICKUP: ASHLAND FOOD PROJECTVictor Rogers
Our next pickup time for the Ashland Food Project (AFP) is Saturday, April 13 at 10:00 a.m. Mountain Meadows residents are generous participants in this program, donating many pounds of non-perishable food and toiletries every two months. The AFP helps stock our local emergency services year-round by sending volunteers to collect our contributions right at our doorsteps. If you’d like to participate, please call me! I’ll bring you a green bag and tell you about the program. Please help by having your donations outside your door by 10:00 a.m. on collection day. Our AFP
volunteer picks up in several areas of Ashland and may not get to your house by 10:00 a.m., but please have your bags waiting for her.
We’ll still have the collection bins in the Clubhouse lobby for a week before pickup day for your convenience, but please do not take your bags to the lobby on Saturday morning. If you’re going to be away on the pickup day, call me, and I will come by to get your bag at your convenience. So keep up the good work. Chat with your neighbors and encourage them to be a “Green Bagger,” too. Give them my name and number so I can get them started. Thank you!
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SUPPORT OUR SCHOLARSHIPRoy Sutton
We’ve had so much pleasure from performances by students and faculty of SOU in our Music at the Meadows concerts! Through the university’s Chamber Music Concerts (CMC) program we fund a four-year music scholarship. Our first scholarship student (flutist Lisa Nichols) has graduated in just three years, and now we are rebuilding the fund to support our second student.
We recently received a very appreciative letter of thanks from David R. Humphrey, Director of the Performing Arts Department of Southern Oregon University. (It will be posted on the Clubhouse bulletin board.) He wrote, “I want to thank you and Mountain Meadows Community for providing a $5,000 per year, four-year Mountain Meadows Community CMC Scholarship for a total commitment of $20,000 beginning in the 2013-2014 academic year.”
Our current goal is $15,000—we had $5,000 left over from the four-year scholarship we provided for Lisa. We hope to have reached our goal by the time that you read this, but donations are still very welcome. If you can’t find the scholarship pledge form that was placed in your message box, you can pick one up from the Clubhouse receptionist. The MM Weekly Update will keep you up to date on our progress.
Any questions? Please contact Harriet Berman, Temple Ashbrook, or Roy Sutton.
AT HILLTOP GALLERY
Richard Newman
Once again, the Hilltop Gallery is participating in the Ashland Gallery Association’s annual Taste of Ashland. It’s on Saturday and Sunday, April 27 and 28 from noon to 4:00 p.m. each day. This citywide event is located in 17 unique galleries, each catered by a restaurant and winery. It’s one big overall delicious art experience.
Our Mountain Meadows bus will run between the Clubhouse and the corner of Fourth and A Streets every 30 to 40 minutes to shuttle Taste ticketholders, both residents or visitors.
You can order tickets online at:www.ATasteofAshland.com or by calling 541-488-5072, and advance tickets will be on sale at Illahe Gallery.
“DOUBLE TAKE” AT HILLTOP GALLERY Richard Newman
Please join us at a reception on Sunday, April 7 from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. to open a new exhibit we’ve titled “Double Take.” It will feature the art of Richard and Rochelle Newman and will include examples of fiber art, mixed media collage, sculpture, and digital montages. The exhibit will run through May, 27, 2013.
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HANDS-ON ENERGY BALANCINGArlene Rogers and Eva Fugitt
Wondering what goes on in the Rogue Room on Saturdays? Join us on Saturday, April 20 at 2:00 p.m. and 2:45 p.m. for an opportunity to observe and/or participate in a complimentary energy balancing session. Our trained and dedicated practitioners have been offering the sessions since 2005 at community clinics, Ashland Community Hospital, Ashland Senior Center, and other facilities. Many Mountain Meadows residents have participated in these sessions and enjoyed the benefits.
On April 20 we will facilitate the experience of relaxation and well-being in a group setting, using simple light-touch techniques. Starting in May, free sessions by appointment will be held once a month on the third Saturday in the Rogue Room at 2:00 p.m. and 2:45 p.m. Space is limited and the number of appointments will be based on Practitioner availability.
For more information call Arlene or Eva.
CALL FOR NEW GARDENERSTO WELCOME SPRING!Lee Bowman
Would you like to grow your own juicy, fresh tomatoes? Pick your own fresh flowers for your table? The Kitchen Creek Cooperative Garden is beginning its growing season for 2013. There are still garden beds available! If you don’t think that you can manage a garden bed by yourself, you could share a bed with another resident gardener.
If you’re interested or just curious, come on down to the garden on Saturday morning, April 6 at 9:00 a.m. and see how the garden is run. If you have any questions, call Roberta Bowman.
FRIDAY FORUM:ASHLAND AT HOMEMary Jane Tonge and Steve Neuberger
Ashland At Home (AAH) is an important new program to support aging in place for seniors living on their own. MM residents could benefit.
Launched this year, AAH is an independent non-profit modeled on the nationwide Village movement begun in Boston in the 1960s. AARP notes that participation in a Village reduces isolation, creates community, and lets members choose the types of services they want. In addition to providing services, AAH organizes social programs, finds speakers to address health and safety needs, and plans group outings based on members’ interests.
Mary Jane has invited Steve Neuberger of AAH for our April Friday Forum on Friday, April 19 from 3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. in the Mt. Ashland Room. Come hear about Ashland At Home, and join the discussion with Steve.
A SPECIAL REQUEST Victor and Arlene Rogers
The Ashland Food Project requests your help on behalf of the Ashland Emergency Food Bank, part of our region’s essential network of assistance organizations. The Food Bank has had to move several times in its history here in Ashland, but now has the opportunity to purchase a permanent home in its current location. Ownership of the property will ensure its ability to provide food to those in need for many years to come. It is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, so your donation will be tax deductible. We invite you to join this effort—please consider making a significant contribution to their capital fund. Thank you.Donations can be mailed to: AEFB PO Box 3578 Ashland OR 97520Credit card donations may be made online at:www.AshlandEmergencyFoodBank.org
photo: Ashland EmergencyFood Bank
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WILDLIFE IMAGES FUNDRAISER: A BIG SUCCESS! Celia Moss
On March 10, MM residents and guests were treated to an afternoon of animals, art, and elegant refreshments at a fundraiser to help Wildlife Images repair the damage sustained in a mid-December storm. Trees were uprooted and knocked over, damaging buildings, fencing, and a van. Many thanks to Rochelle and Richard Newman for hosting the event at their Hilltop Gallery and offering to donate a percentage of sales to the Restoration Fund. The visiting animal ambassadors were Nubs, an American badger (who entertained us doing what comes naturally–digging in the dirt parking lot); Aurora, the turkey vulture (who spread her wings to take in the sunshine); Beauty, the red-tailed hawk (who appeared ever so majestic); Berry, the crow (whose feathers were radiant and iridescent); and Van Gogh, the wee little screech owl (who charmed us with his serenity and cuteness). Thanks also to the four Wildlife Images volunteer handlers who gave up a Sunday afternoon to show off these critters and answer all our questions. Candy Wooding created beautiful folded paper art for those who made at least a minimum donation. We collected a total of $829 at the event, and many folks took contribution envelopes to mail in checks, which so far have added another $610. That raises the total received by Wildlife Images from this event to $1439. In their words, “Yahoo!” In addition, $237 was sold in products from their gift shop. If you missed the fundraiser and would like to donate to Wildlife Images, envelopes are available at the reception desk in the Clubhouse. Other MM residents who helped plan and run the event were Roberta Bowman, Lola Egan, Carolyn Mitchell, Celia Moss, Arlene Rogers, and Donna Taylor. Wildlife Images reopened in mid-March, and we hope to arrange a visit to the rehabilitation center this summer.
VIDEO VIEWPOINTS:UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT!Video Viewpoints Team
Since 2007 the resident-run series “Video Viewpoints” has offered excellent documentary films, discussions, and the occasional fact-based fiction on alternate and fifth Wednesday nights in the Clubhouse. Elizabeth Hallett is now the chief organizer of the series, having stepped in when Christine Menefee, who started the series along with Cindy Earle and Marti Koch, moved recently from Mountain Meadows to another part of Ashland.
Elizabeth and Christine will continue to collaborate on obtaining films, Gayle Jurickovich is setting up the furniture, Marti Koch is printing posters, Elizabeth is posting them, and Elizabeth also deals with the challenges of running the new electronics. Lola Egan is taking over communications with our friends at Southern Oregon Public Television, presenting such events as the sneak previews they offer us several times a year. We have a team!
For anyone who’d like to help out, there are still job opportunities. Someone is needed for both poster design (if you don’t have a printer, Marti Koch can help with that) and for the writing of brief Weekly Update film descriptions. Also, Video Viewpoints offers a time slot for special programs featuring residents or local service groups who have a film to present and a timely topic they’d like to discuss with people here. If you’d like to host such a program, contact Elizabeth to arrange for the date. Finally, anyone with an opinion, suggestion, or information on resources or titles is encouraged to contact Elizabeth, who continues the Video Viewpoints tradition of howelcoming your viewpoint on what to see and share. Christine, a lifelong movie and news buff, will continue to advise us on content (and come back for the occasional screening) as “Viewpoints” moves forward. She comments, “This is a golden age for documentary films, which have come to replace mainstream media as one of the best sources of traditional, independent investigative journalism and honestly-presented advocacy on issues (that’s where the ‘viewpoints’ in the series name comes in). The more films we show, the more new ones we discover, and Mountain Meadows residents are a great audience to see them with.”
Photo: Lee Bowman
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GO GREEN, MOUNTAIN MEADOWS!Susanne Krieg
City of Ashland’s Conservation Division—what could an individual there do for you? Perhaps something like it did for me.
My education about energy conservation began with the program at the Clubhouse initiated by Peter Arnold, whose primary drive, I think, was to wake us up to the challenge of Mountain Meadows going Green. To that end, he invited members of Ashland’s Department of Conservation to introduce us to possibilities. All praise to the engineering minds of our community who know energy vocabulary and could question the experts and can envision ways to curb our community’s shared energy use. A pool user, I can easily support the idea of covering the pool each evening to conserve its heat.
The group heard from Dan Cunningham, Conservation Analyst and Inspector, who made the offer of a free inspection of one’s home. He would come to your home to discover heat loss areas and educate you on heat pump and water heater energy use options. Dan arrived, as scheduled, at 9:00 a.m. He trotted upstairs and down, aiming his thermal imaging camera at every wall. With this marvel of technology he could spy behind the sheetrock to the studs and surrounding insulation, “All beautifully better than code required and masterfully installed,” Dan proclaimed. Multi-tasking, he asked, “Where is your HRV (Heat Recovery Ventilators)?” “Uh ?” I replied, “You mean the monster in the dungeon that growls?”
“Yes, that’s your air circulator. It has a setting of high, low, and medium. You’ve got it set on high. Do what you want,” he suggested tentatively, “but your HRV running all the time uses electricity. Why don’t you just open a window when necessary or turn on your bathroom fan?”
Upon my request, Dan pulled the plug on the HRV.
Then pausing in his run-around-look-at-everything mode, Dan politely asked, “You have a fireplace—is the damper closed? Having the damper open is like keeping a window open.”
“Duh, no.” I banged the thing shut. How dumb can a person get!
INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY Jill Mackie It’s important, I think, for seniors to be active in the wider community. We Mountain Meadows residents do our part! We volunteer at the animal shelter, in the schools, with recycling, at our place of worship, with SOU, in political campaigns, and in organizations that take action on social issues. I’d like to share with you an event I participated in last month.
International Women’s Day is a global celebration of the economic, political, and social achievements of all women—past, present, and future. In some countries like China, Russia, Vietnam, and Bulgaria, it is a national holiday. This celebration of modern women began 1908, and in 1913, on the eve of World War I, Russian women set the date as March 8. It’s been the global date ever since. Ashland’s branch of Women’s International League For Peace and Freedom (WILPF) observed International Women’s Day with our first-ever essay contest. We asked students at Ashland
The following Sunday, Peter, the initiator of all this, Geneie, and Millie came for a farewell dinner. For sure, between courses, I needed the atmosphere of a real fire. Yikes! Smoke filled all rooms and the fire alarms screeched. Air circulation! My guests rushed around opening windows and doors while I released the dang damper so my cheery fire could breathe. Nothing like a vigorous run-around-opening-windows-between-courses to stimulate appetites for my delicious upside-down birthday cake. Happy trails, Peter and Geneie, and please keep on prodding your friends, wherever they are, to Go Green however they can.
For an evaluation of your home for possible heat loss areas and an analysis of ways you can save dollars and conserve energy, call Ashland’s Conservation Analyst and Inspector Dan Cunningham at (541) 552-2063.
WELCOME, LISBETH WYNN-OWENTeri Stember
Lisbeth moved into her perfect new home with two prized pieces of family furniture, a Welsh dresser and her oak hope chest, both from the early 1700s. You will most likely find bright yellow daffodils, the flower of Wales, on her coffee table when you walk in. Chances are, you’ve heard, if not seen Lisbeth Wynn-Owen around Mountain Meadows already. Yes, she’s the one with the delightful British accent, Luv! And if there were a slogan that summarized her life it would be “Have Two Suitcases, Will Travel.”
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Middle School and Ashland Senior High to write an essay of 500 to 600 words to answer this question: Women around the world do not have equal access to education. How does their experience compare to yours?” On March 8, we hosted a reception for the winners at the UCC Church and presented them with cash prizes in an awards ceremony. Guests gave a thumbs-up to 6th graders Sierra Repp and Alexandra Westrick, and 11th grader Malaika Boschin. Two others who were unable to attend—12th grader Sara Tahvili Shaw and 10th grader Adara Lanning—will be honored at a later date. WILPF women have opened a new door for students to express the importance of equal education as a human right. If you’re interested in the activities of our group and would like to know more, I’m the current facilitator of the Ashland branch—please get in touch!
Lisbeth was born in Wales but her family moved to Chester, England when she and her two beloved brothers started their education. After college in Liverpool studying French and business, she made the big move to London to begin LIFE at the age of eighteen. From there, it was onward to Paris as an au pair, followed by three months in Israel including a month on a kibbutz. In 1966, she booked passage on a ship from Le Havre to Toronto and secured a job at the Expo 67 World’s Fair in Montreal. Once she obtained her green card, Lisbeth was off on a Greyhound bus to San Antonio, Texas, with the princely sum of $300 in her backpack. There she worked at the 1968 HemisFair as a press secretary. She met politicians such as LBJ, Hubert Humphrey, and Richard Nixon. More thrilling, she saw the Bolshoi Ballet.
After working in San Francisco and San Diego, her contact with Richard Nixon’s staff led to a call from the White House to work in Georgia on a documentary about malnutrition in the U.S. That job ultimately led to her most recent and very rewarding career in the film industry in Los Angeles. Lisbeth worked as a Production Coordinator on some of the most well-known movies and with some of the most famous actors of our time, like Paul Newman, Bob DeNiro, Jane Fonda and Tom Cruise. She loved her work and loved the fact that once a movie had been completed, usually in about nine months, she was able to return home to Wales to see her family. This lifestyle suited her to a “T.” Speaking of tea, and being British, she admits freely to being naturally “addicted to tea.” After she retired, Lisbeth moved to the Island of Hawaii, but it made the trip back to Wales too far and too long. Searching for the perfect place to re-retire, she joined a friend on a trip through Oregon in the summer of 2012 and insisted that they have a short stay in Ashland. They arrived here just at teatime. Who could resist wanting to move to Ashland in the summer—and just at teatime? She met with a realtor and found the perfect home. Unfortunately for her (but fortunately for us at MM), it sold before she could buy it. Searching online for another home to buy, she found 803 Plum Ridge. The rest is history. We are so glad you found us, Luv, and still can’t believe you did all of that traveling with only two suitcases! Jolly good, Lisbeth, jolly good!
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MEET COLLEEN HELTZEL, NEW PAVILION RESIDENTTeri Stember
If Colleen says the words “deal with it” to you, she is not being harsh, she is inviting you to come to the monthly Monday Game Night here at MM and learn how to play the card game “Deal With It,” which she learned in one of her OLLI classes. She is a very kind and compassionate person who has fit in with her neighborhood “Pavilion Pals” extremely well. Born in Oklahoma, Colleen was the oldest of three “C” sisters—Colleen, Charlotte and Carolyn—and remains very close to them and their families. She attended the University of Missouri and majored in English literature. After college, she became a stewardess for TWA, first doing national flights and later international flights. Of course, that was before there were jet engines. The bad part was the flights were very long, but the good part was that she got to stay for a week in cities such as Rome, Lisbon, and Limerick. After eight years of flying around the globe, she decided to settle down and change careers. She went to San Francisco State University for a year and earned her Elementary Teaching Credential. For a number of years Colleen commuted in her little yellow Volkswagen bug between the Carmel Valley and Hollister where she taught. It was there that she met her soulmate, Gary, who was also a teacher. In 1978, she attended a summer course for teachers at SOU, learning how to teach Shakespeare to her students. She was the type of teacher who always introduced creative new projects into the regular curriculum. Now let me remind you that at the time she was teaching second grade, but that didn’t stop her from teaching and having her students perform “Richard III,” using refrigerator boxes for scenery. She knew that her students comprehended what she was teaching them when she heard one student exclaim, “A horse, a horse! My kingdom for a horse!” at an appropriate time. After attending that summer workshop and
talking with volunteers in the Tudor Guild, she decided then and there that she wanted to move to Ashland when she retired. That’s exactly what she did. She bought a house in the Millpond area. In fact, Colleen bought Marge Hief’s house before Marge and Jack built their own house in Mountain Meadows! Shortly after Colleen moved into her new home, Ashland was hit by the Great Flood of 1997 and the town had to do without water, including toilets and showers, for nine days! After living in her Millpond home for seventeen years, Colleen decided that it was time to move to Mountain Meadows, which she did in November, 2012. Now when the deer eat the plants and the raccoons dig up grubs around her place at 832 Pavilion Place, she doesn’t worry about it so much. She just tells herself that some wonderful person here at MM will “deal with it” and she can get on with her own fun activities. Welcome, Colleen. We look forward to getting to know you.
TATSIANA’S FIERY FINGERSJohn M. Fugitt
Her fiery fingers set the keys ablazeSparks flew, fingers racing across the keysWildfire music swept through the room
Sending a firestorm of musical flamesThrough our ears into our mesmerized minds
Where the music sent synapses dancing with glee
Fiery fingers flying faster, fasterWith a blur of perfect timing the firestorm continued
She set our hearts aglow with her flaming music
The fuse was lit, the music ended, the audience exploded We were thrilled by the gift so audaciously served
Ringing still in our memory, her gift goes on and on
Tatsiana Asheichyk
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SINFUL SUMMERJoan Hertzberg
In the summer of 1939 my mother worried that her daughter’s projected two months in Kentucky might not leave her quite as pure as the driven snow. Meanwhile, said daughter was planning a summer’s trial marriage with Ed Hertzberg—a project which, in those days, was considered more than unusually enterprising.
Ed was supervising a dig under the aegis of the University of Kentucky. It was part of President Franklin Roosevelt’s welfare program, the WPA. Ed’s crew of workers were excavating and reassembling some 3,000 prehistoric Indian skeletons from burial mounds, cave shelters, and the kitchen middens where discarded mussel shells, potsherds, and arrowheads provided a picture of the daily life of the Adena Indians along the Ohio River.
Ed’s pay was mere subsistence level, but in those discouraging jobless Depression days he was in his real profession, archaeology.
To give my trip the appearance of respectability, I had signed up for two courses in archaeology at the University of Kentucky’s summer school. I had been assigned a room on the top floor in the dormitory. It was under the sloping slate roof, which stored heat like an oven. The only way I could sleep was naked with a fan gyrating over me all night long. It practically guaranteed that, for survival’s sake, I would have to shack up with Ed in his hot, but endurable, crummy little apartment.
The only time I was comfortably cool was when we ate at a nice little restaurant, the Canary Cottage, but since I couldn’t afford to eat there on a daily basis and Ed couldn’t afford to eat there at all, we didn’t get cooled off very often.
Ed worked five days a week while I studied. But evenings and weekends were free. We explored Kentucky in Hulda, Ed’s old “high-bosomed-Betsy” of a car. It had been born in the twenties, bought for $50, and kept alive by faith and Ed’s enormous know-how with tools.
The summer passed quickly. We picnicked, we waded in cool mountain streams. We got to Mammoth Caves, where for a few hours we enjoyed the supreme luxury of being really cold.
One of Ed’s digs was reached by a new WPA road cut deep into the wilderness. Its gravel was
knife-edge sharp. Here, Ed introduced me to the legendary Whit Brenham, a sweet soft-spoken old man, whom all the local backwoods types reported to have shot his first wife to death in a drunken rage. No mention was made of police risking their lives anywhere near there. Whit invited us into his two-room, dirt-floored cabin, where the only seats were packing boxes. Then he treated us to a nip of whisky from his still. It was legal, prohibition being already over, but he had never paid what he owed to the federal “revenuers.” If they were found snooping around, they would get shot.
Ed, however, was a favorite with him. Ed had once given him a 50-cent set of guitar strings. Remembering it brought tears to the old man’s eyes. Never in his life had he had better than the 25-cent kind.
As we sat there nipping, Whit’s present wife returned from a shopping trip in the nearby village, a sack of groceries in one hand and her only shoes in the other. She was walking barefoot, leaving bloody footsteps in the knife-sharp gravel. Shrugging off our protests, she said that her feet would heal, but the shoes would not.
In spite of all its sweaty discomfort, this was by far my most memorable summer.
In August, Ed and I were properly married in New York.
And presumably absolved of all our sins.
RECYCLING TIP: ROGUE VALLEY EARTH DAYCatherine Cortelyou, Master Recycler
The annual Rogue Valley Earth Day is Saturday, April 20 from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on the grounds of the ScienceWorks Museum on East Main. The theme is Take the Next Step— a challenge to make our lives greener, one step at a time. Learn more about recycling, sustainable living, and clever re-use of “stuff.” There will be over 70 exhibits, entertainment, food vendors, and a zero-waste policy (bring your own non-throwaway beverage container). Admission is free. One advisory: most of the exhibit is on the lawn, and footing can be uneven.
“SUPREME” DONATIONS TOBOOKMARK-A-MILESTONE by Donna Taylor, MM Library Committee
The Library gra teful ly acknowledges two “Milestone” gifts of books selected from our “Wish List.” An anonymous donation of Jeffrey Toobin’s The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court was made in honor of our Librarians. Machiko Kakutani of The New York Times says that Toobin “not only provides a vivid narrative history of the court’s recent history but also gives the reader an intimate look at individual justices, showing how personality, judicial philosophy and personal alliances can inform decisions that have huge consequences for the entire country.”
Another book about the Supreme Court, My Beloved World, written by current Justice Sonia Sotomayor, has been donated by Donna and Joel Taylor to honor and thank departing librarians, Lee Symonds and Christine Menefee, for their immeasurable contributions to the Mountain Meadows Library.
Praise for this memoir has been generous: “Sotomayor turns out to be a writer of depth and literary flair…My Beloved World is steeped in vivid memories of New York City, and it is an exceptionally frank account of the challenges that she faced during her ascent from a public housing project to the court’s marble palace on First Street.” (Adam Liptak, The New York Times.)
Look for the green bookplate that identifies all Bookmark-a-Milestone donations and their honorees. Instructions on how you can honor someone special with a gift to the Library can be found on a bulletin board in the Library.
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BOOK REVIEW: GIONGMillie Kim
This is the first novel by Vietnam veteran Larry Bramblett, the brother of Mountain Meadows resident Sharon Cockrell. It is not just another war story. It is a compelling and thoughtfully laid-out sequence of happenings with strong descriptions of the characters and the environment in which these events take place through a very fine interweaving of the hundreds of conflicting threads of the Vietnam War: military ineptitude, political ambition; government confusion, religious and culture conflicts, mountain people and city people, officers and spin-doctoring journalists in ambiguous international settings.
These strands are revealed through the adventures of an unusual man, a giong, as he makes his way through human greed, cruelty and ignorance, and how these variables occur in stark contrast with the serenity and wisdom of a very ancient culture, where, despite enormous upheavals from external forces, “they will always plant rice.” Extraordinary bonds of human loyalty and understanding emerge from the morass of this ill-conceived war, where at all levels, the left hand never knew what the right hand was doing. You will not be disappointed and will be looking forward to the sequel.
SHORT STORIES: TENTH OF DECEMBERPaula Phillips
George Saunders’ short story collection Tenth of December combines perfectly crafted writing with a contemporary edge. His main characters, young or not so, are far from perfect creatures whose dilemmas are moral and social. The intensity this provides each story compelled me to re-read it before going on to the next. The story “Sticks,” barely two pages long, is the perfect example of how effectively compressed the form can be: a life in a nutshell. This month, other short story collections will be available in our Library for your enjoyment. But don’t miss Tenth of December.
The month of the tax begins with April Fools’ Day and ends with cries of May Day! ~ Author Unknown
A complete list of all books received in February is in a folder on the counter in the Library.
LIBRARY COMMITTEE CHANGESAnnette Pirie, MM Library Committee
We’d like everyone to know that with the departure of two Library Committee members, we’re now working on creative ways to deal with some big changes. We’re devastated that our highly professional and dedicated chairperson, Lee Symonds, will be moving soon; Lee has been an outstanding leader and we have loved working with her! We also regret the departure of Christine Menefee, who served on this committee for many years with constancy and versatility; she wrote the monthly “Library News” column, book reviews, and more for this newsletter.
So to all our library users—whose loyal support we always so appreciate—thanks in advance for “not minding the dust” as we adjust and move forward. Watch for further news as we make our transition. And keep reading!
LIBRARY CORNERShirley Larson
BIOGRAPHYAtkins, Vera Spy MistressRusso, Richard ElsewhereScottoline, Lisa Best Friends, Occasional EnemiesVerghese, Abraham My Own CountryWallach, Janet Desert Queen
CURRENT AFFAIRS/POLITICSBaker, Nicholson Way the World WorksBoo, Katherine Behind the Beautiful Forevers
FICTIONAdams, Alice Superior WomenAlvarez, Julia Saving the WorldBenioff, David City of ThievesBradford, Barbara T. Everything to GainBrown, Carrie Hatbox BabyJacobson, Howard Zoo TimeKuhn, William Mrs. Queen Takes the TrainLesley, Craig WinterkillProulx, Annie Accordian CrimesRoss, Joanne Out of the MistSteel, Danielle KaleidoscopeSteel, Danielle To Love AgainStraub, Emma Laura Lamont's Life in PicturesWouk, Herman Lawgiver
HEALTHSomers, Suzanne Bombshell
HUMORBrilliant, Ashleigh Appreciate Me Now and Avoid the Rush
LARGE PRINT-FICTIONCoulter, Catherine Backfire
MYSTERYEvanovich, Janet Plum SpookyKing, Stephen Under the DomePatterson, Richard N. Devil's Light
OREGONSullivan, William Oregon's Greatest Natural Disaster
REFERENCEMaltin, Leonard Leonard Maltin's 2010 Movie Guide
Written and published monthly in a collaboration of Mountain Meadows residents and management staff.
Managing Editor: Catherine CortelyouAssistant Editors: Loretta Ashbrook, Roberta Bowman, Jerry Garland, Laura O’Bryon, Barbara Rosen, Donna Taylor, Julia Tucker
Submit Material To: Laura O’BryonTelephone: 482-6352Fax: 488-6609Email: [email protected]
Mountain Meadows News Guidelines:• No advertising is accepted
• Material is due by the 15th of each month
• Letters to the editor should be brief; all material should be as concise as possible.
• Mountain Meadows News encourages the submission of cartoons, drawings, poems, and accounts of amazing, comic or terrifying life-experiences (past or present)
Cheers for Lola Egan, the Cookie Lady! Her Monday morning delivery of home-baked cookies to the Clubhouse lobby has become an important social occasion with 20 or more of us happily gathered around for coffee and conversation. And cookies!
It has been said that Lola is one smart cookie, a good cookie, a cheery cookie, and a regular cookie. No doubt those descriptions are all accurate, but above all else she is a dedicated cookie.
So much so, that when the ceiling of her kitchen recently caved in due to water damage and she and Bob had to relocate to temporary quarters, Lola thought to rescue her mixing bowls and cookie-baking sheets along with a small hand mixer. She continued her Monday Cookie Service from the motel kitchenette.
Thank you, Lola. You are one special cookie!
MM “GOOD PROLIX WRITING” CONTESTBy Seymour Collins
The winner of the first and probably last Mountain Meadows Good Prolix Writing Contest is: Temple Ashbrook. “When I looked into her satirical eyes and saw her pupils were lousy students who seldom opened a textbook, but travelled vicariously in their dreams to forbidden places and partook of prolix illicit activities, I surmised she was obviously oblivious to her wandering pupils, which twitched all the more nervously as I penetrated deeper into their whereabouts, and saw the deep hollowness of her sockets and her entire life, and it was then that I realized the futility of my pursuit.”
MORE APRIL FOOLISNESS
I sometimes wonder if the manufacturers of foolproof items keep a fool or two on their payroll to test things. ~ Alan Coren
