Meals on Wheels- Programs and Services of Rockland, Inc.
Thorpe Senior Activity Center
Newsletter
November/December 2018
Our Forty-third Anniversary Year
October 1975 - 2018Thorpe Senior Center
“Where everybody knows your name”
Dominican Convent
175 Route 340
Sparkill, New York 10976
Calling all seniors …
We are looking for you
We invite you and those you know to be part of Thorpe Center. Invite a friend, tell a neighbor that they
will find a warm welcome.
Like to play cards, scrabble, take part in history, literature, exercise, yoga, art or ceramic classes?
Then we are the place for you.
Like company when you dine? Then we are the place for you. Delicious fare, transportation too. Come
join the fun. Call 359-5801 or 359-4058. We’re waiting for you!Sister Maureen
Meals on Wheels- Programs and Services of R.C. Inc.
Published by Thorpe Senior Center, Sparkill Meals on Wheels – Programs and Services
Dominican Convent , 175 Route 340, Sparkill, NY 10976 845-624-6325(845) 359-5801 OR (845) 359-4058 www.mowrockland.orgTransportation provided
Vol. 8 – November 2018
Birthstone ~ Turquoise
Flower ~ Chrysanthemum
December 2018
Birthstone – Topaz
Flower - Narcissus
“Life is not measured by
the number of breathes we
take, but by the moments
that take our breathe away”
Thorpe Senior Activity Center NewsletterWhere people come together …
My “Romance” with Nature Sister Jude Miriam
Over the years I’ve had a “romance” with nature. I find for me, nature sees me
through difficult times and continually makes me aware of the beauty all around
me. I marvel at the sky and watch the different phases of the moon, each one
speaking to me of the vastness of the heavens. Recently, I saw the most
breathtaking sunset. It was a day that started overcast and chilly and as evening
time came the sun began to make its presence known. In a few short minutes, the
sky went from gray to magnificent hues of pink, lavender and yellow. The sunset
was so brilliant that the trees took on an orange glow. People stopped to look at the
magnificence of the sky. I was so taken by the scene that I stood still and simply
inhaled it. There was a reminder to me that although things do not always look as I
think they should look, eventually there will be an opportunity to see brightness I
was not aware there was.
Have you ever looked at a tree and seen its beauty? The oak tree’s leaves seem
to wrap themselves around the branches attempting to protect next spring’s buds.
Snow seems to be a blanket over the tree, keeping life alive but hidden. The words
of William Carlos Williams come to mind. “Thus having prepared their buds
against a sure winter, the wise trees stand sleeping in the cold.”
Page 2
ACTIVITIES AT THORPE
In these uncertain times …When you’d like to dine out …
HISTORY WITH SISTER MAUREEN -
Mondays at 10:00
LITERATURE GROUPWednesdays at 10:15
CERAMICS – Mondays 12:45
EXERCISE – Fridays 10:00
CARDS - SCRABBLE – BINGO –WALKING CLUB
BLOOD PRESSURE SCREENING(Check calendar for dates and times)
SHOPPING - Shop Rite Northvale
Mondays 1 PM
Orangeburg -Fridays 1 PM
- check calendar
Thorpe Senior Activity
Center is waiting for you !
Lunch every day …Great food …
Warm conversation … New Friends
For a menu and to make a reservationCall 359-4058 or 359-5801
Transportation provided
Come to the place where everybody knows your name!
Roselle White Thanks
Program Coordinator
Three Cheers go out to Francine,
our activities coordinator and Neil
our transporter for a beautiful day at
the Brownstone, in Patterson, New
Jersey. It is a beautiful Mansion
decorated in Holiday fashion. For our
pleasure they had a boutique table of
various items to purchase. We were
given two tickets to receive drinks of
our choice and a home style meal
with plenty to eat. The musicians
kept us up on the dance floor and the
comedian kept you laughing. Those
of us who missed this treat, hopefully
will be able to go next year. Sister
Maureen was needed to critique the
comedian for the extra treat.
MOW presents Giddy
Pat O’Donnell
About every month Giddy pays
Thorpe Center a visit. She is so
much fun. As she teaches us about
food and nutrition, she creates
games for us to participate in. You
learn and have fun at the same
time. I’m a “game addict”, so I
look forward to Giddy’s visits.
She’s extremely good at her job
and that makes for a job well done!
Page 3
TRADITIONS By Albert Piscitelli
Struffoli
My family doesn’t have many traditions.
We make baskets for Easter, dressed the
children in costumes and give out candy for
Halloween, and raise the flag on national
holidays but these were more social events
than anything else. All our traditions centered
around Christmas.
My wife was a great cook but an even
better baker. On the Saturday before
Christmas we would make “struffoli.” These
are small fried dough balls covered in honey.
My Catherine would sift 6 cups of flour, mix
with12 eggs, 2 tablespoons of pure vanilla
extract and salt to taste, roll into a loaf until
silky smooth and let it rest for about an hour.
At about 1 o’clock whoever was around
would come over to make the honey balls.
Some would roll out a piece of the dough
into string about one half inch in diameter,
others would cut the strings into one half
inch balls, while I fried them in hot oil. All
the time everyone was gabbing, joking and
having a good time. The fried balls were then
put in a paper bag to soak up the excess oil.
Sugar was dissolved in honey and mixed
with sliced almonds and candied fruit and the
dough balls. The struffoli were placed in pie
plates and distributed to all. When we were
about 3/4 of the way done cutting and frying,
my son-in-law filled up brandy glasses of
Harvey’s crème sherry for all, young and
old.
This became a tradition within a tradition.
I can’t imagine how a British practice
became part of an Italian tradition but it
is good Globalization at its best.
Christmas Eve Dinner
The greatest tradition in our family is the
Christmas Eve fish dinner. I know people
talk about the seven fish’s tradition but
the Piscitelli family just like fish. (Well!
maybe most of us) As long as I can
remember we had a large dinner on
Christmas Eve that contained fish and no
meat and plenty of wine. Even during the
depression when we had no money we
would go to my well- to -do aunt for this
feast. Now I make 40 to 50 pounds of
different species of fish. Four salads—
Baccala (Dried cod fish that is softened),
Scungili (conch), Pulpa (octopus) and
whiting. We make a tomato sauce with
stuffed squid that is poured over pasta.
We make shrimp three different
ways—Scampi, breaded and fried, and
the large shrimp are stuffed and baked.
We also bread and fry scallops and the
sweetest of all fish, smelts. We also have
stuffed clams and stuffed mussels. This
year we will be about 25 people around
the table, three of whom are Jewish. For
them, we make a white fish such as
flounder. Naturally the wine really flows.
After stuffing ourselves we all happily
sing the “Twelve Days of Christmas”
song and I being the patriarch and have
the best voice (that gives you an idea
how bad we sound) gets to sing “And a
partridge in a pear tree.” Wine makes
everything enjoyable.
Page 4
We remember those who are ill
and in need of cheery thoughts....
Carmen Abreu, Marion O’Leary,
Jimmy Grennan, Judy Peaks, Diane
McCarthy, Cecilia Harlan, Kevin
Lixfield, Timothy Lixfield, Rabbi Paula
Mack-Drill, Doris Blauvelt, Lilliana
Lopez, Ellie Robertson, Mary Bradshaw,
Christopher Bradshaw, Patricia Lawler,
Anne Lenzinger,, Gerry Hershkob,
James Buckley, Mary Hastings, Lisa
Stevens, Harold Schulman,, Jeannette
Celli, Susan Celli, Billy Keenan, Mary
Stella, Ray Smith, Dot Morris, Nicole &
Darren Beamon, Anita Sonia Perez,
Jeanette Vasquez, Ann Wilhelm Seeger,
Cathy Nachman, and Sisters of St.
Dominic (Blauvelt) and Sparkill
Dominican Sisters in need of healing.
We extend our sympathy to the family
and friends of Sylvia Friedman who
died this past month. Sylvia was a long
time member, whose quiet, patient ways
touched everyone she met. She is
missed.
Happy November Birthdays
11-2 – Sister Jude Miriam
11-2 – Robert Burr
11-12 Jimmy Grennan
Christmas DayAl Piscitelli
Our traditions continue beyond Christmas Eve. On Christmas day most of my family gathers for a big dinner and the sharing and opening of gifts. Everyone gets in the holiday spirit. Wine and beer and other libations flow generously and there is joy in the Piscitelli family.
“New Year’s EveNew Year’s is a sedate holiday for
most of my family. The only tradition is the custom of making Zeppoli. My Catherine would make yeast dough that is enriched with eggs beaten into the dough. This makes the batter semi loose. A handful of dough is picked up with the thumb and the three larger fingers and dropped in hot oil left over from making the struffoli the week before. The browned zeppoli are placed in a bowl and drizzled with honey or powdered sugar. No wine is drunk with them (as far as I know) but none the less they are absolutely delicious.
Page 5
A Trip to Habitat for Humanity Store
Pat O’Donnell
Thanks to Carolyn for telling me about
the store, It was a blessing. Livingston St
was closed where we needed to go,
Carolyn asked me to show her another
way to go to Habitat in Westwood, N.J.
So, we decided we’d go on our 2nd trip
before Thanksgiving to check out
Christmas decorations. Previously, I
passed up 2 Oak Rocking Chairs priced at
only $20 each.
Today’s visit on Nov 14th brought quite
a better surprise. I found a White Glider
Rocker with multicolor pastel cushions at
an unbelievable price of $10. I made sure
I was leaving with that chair. And I have
Carolyn to thank for telling me about this
wonderful and enjoyable store. It’s filled
to capacity with a lot of furniture lots of
kitchen items, chandeliers and tile. Items
are priced along with the day it arrived at
the store. Week by week, the price is
reduced. I even found a small black round
table and 4 wrought iron chairs for
…..only $30. I hope to go back and I
hope it is still there. As a brand new
grandma, I will put my new rocker-glider
to the joy of rocking my grandson,
Matthew!
December Birthdays
12 –1 - Nora Buckley
12 – 4 – Sheila Lilly
12 - 8 Dianne Cozzi
12 – 8 Francine Fevola
12 – 9 Lottie Crawford
12 – 13 Helen Schwarzler
12 -16 Lucille Hanlon
12 – 24 Rosemarie Mills
12 – 25 Donna Stephens
12 – 28 Teofila Ponsades
12 – 30 Carmen Abreu
December Activities
Donna Stephens
The month of December was
very busy It started off with our
Holiday Boutique. Three days
of Christmas shopping, Raffles
and fun. We had our Chanukah
party. Food was delicious.
We celebrated the December
birthdays and it was the most
members 11 people. Fun Time
had by all. We ended the month
with our New Year luncheon.
Happy and Healthy New Year to
all!!
Holiday Boutique – 2018
The annual holiday boutique
was Dec. 5,6,7. A special thanks
goes to those seniors who
volunteered to bake delicious hoe
cooked cookies, cupcakes, and loaf
cakes. We receive so many
compliments on the tasty fare
offered.
A great deal of work is done
behind the scene, the unnamed
workers, who continually pitch-in
to help are to be congratulated on a
job well done!.
SPECIAL THANKS go to
“our” sisters who support the fair
by taking raffle tickets and doing
their Holiday Shopping with us.
Winners of the Gift Cards/Stamps
raffle were 25 in number – Donna
Stephens, Eileen Fortis, Sister
Lorraine LaRocca, Mary Ryan,
Sister Stephen Gerard, Sister Anne
Foley, Sister Elizabeth David, Sister
Mary Brinn, Harriet Mezzasalma,
Sister Nancy Richter, Sister
Dorothy Farley, Shirley Swann,
Stella Molfetas, Mickie Parisi, Pat
Durando, Sister Annmarie Fischer,
Sister Mary Fleming, Jean
LaBosco, Bella Whalen, Sister
Maureen Bradshaw, and Sister
Patricia McLoughlin
The Baskets of Cheer were won by
Sister Elizabeth David, and Sister
Dorothy Farley.
the 50/50 winners were Sister
Annette Bate, Sister Mary Casey
and Sister Marie Peter.. Each
winner received $88.00.
As the saying goes, “You have
to be in it to win it”. We are
sincerely grateful for all “that were
in it” Thorpe Senior Activity
Center is the real winner, $1,120,.
supported by “Family and
Friends”.
Gratefully,
Sisters Maureen, Jude, Marie,
and Eileen and the staff at Thorpe
Senior Activity Center.
Christmas Party
Yvonne Beaman
In December Randy Accardi
came to our Christmas Party.
Randy sings, dances and twirls
with his cane. He enjoys coming
to the center and entertaining us.
He sings popular songs that we
all know and can sing along with
him. He is an entertainer “par
excellence”.
Page 6
History Lesson
Roselle White
God bless Sister Jude, for her
history lesson on celebration of
Hanukah.
Some of us concentrating only
on our own religion, neglect to take
into consideration that America
celebrates many religious holidays
at various times, or a few weeks
apart.
We have one Almighty
regardless of what we call him or
her. Happy Holiday to all, no
matter when you celebrate it, just
celebrate!
January Birthdays
1 -2 Bessie Anderson
1 - 3 Diane McCarthy
1 - 9 Dave Plump
1 -11 Ellen Bondulich
1- 12 Teresa Lynch
1-18 Roselle White
Special Thanks to the following who,
month after month help to make Thorpe “a
second home – where everybody knows
your name”.
The Decorating Committee, Carolyn
McErlean, Pat O’Donnell, and all the
members that decorated the center for each
celebration in such colorful, good taste.
Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas, New
Year’s were outstanding.
The Keeping in Touch Committee,
with Sister Eileen Richard and Yvonne
Beamon for sending get well cards, and
thinking of you to missing members.
The Serving committee, Mickie Parisi,
Bessie Anderson, Stella Molfetas, Lucy
Bosco, Marie Lucas, Sheila Lilly and
Harriet Mezzasalma, John Buckley who
helps out without having to be asked as does
Neil, our dependable van driver.
The Newsletter Committee Typist –
Nora Buckley for pulling it all together.
To the Officers- Mickie Parisi, Marion
O’Leary, Evelyn D’Angelo and Pat
O’Donnell for all their help.
Our very faithful volunteers Sister
Patricia McLoughlin, Sister Diane Kane,
Sister Eileen Richard, Sister Peggy
Scarano, Mark Litwak, and John
Buckley.
Very special thanks go to Sister Marie
Peter , who is an extraordinary
volunteer- nothing seems too much for
her, always with a smile and helping hand
– no task is too big or too small to do,
Sister just does it.
Page 7
Thorpe Senior Activity Center’s
Thanksgiving Party
Pat O’Donnell
Since Turkey day is early
this year we celebrated 1 week
before. It became special for
the main reason of Rabbi Paula
Drill joining us. That made it a
happy day to see her again. We
also had to have this wonderful
celebration without Sister
Maureen which made the day
not the same. We all send our
thoughts and prayers to her as
she begins to heal after surgery
and to tell her how much she is
missed.
Sister Jude was so special
and thoughtful to arrange with
Casa Mia Manor House to
prepare our Turkey Dinner!
Thank you, Ralph, the turkey
was delicious.
Thank you to Sister Jude,
Sister Marie, Sister Eileen,
Sister Pat and Francine for
working extra hard to help out
with all the work with Sister Maureen being out recovering. You all are so very much appreciated.
NEW MEMBERS
For information
PLEASE CALL
845-359-4058
Thorpe Senior
Activity Center
Page 8
Surprise!! Mickie Parisi
Well, for all of you who
decided to stay home New Year’s
Eve Day. You missed a great
treat!
We had Chinese food. Great
spare ribs and egg rolls. They
were outstanding!!
Many thanks to Sister
Maureen, Sister Marie, Sister
Jude and Sister Eileen. We had a
great lunch to send out 2018.
Happy and healthy New Year to
all of you.
Ceramics Etta Murphy
I wanted to write about our
ceramics class to say what a
wonderful way to spend an afternoon.
We all enjoy and look forward to
one another’s creativity as each piece
goes from start to finish.
When complete and the artist spots
their piece there are oohs and aahs
and smiles all around.
The best thing about our happy
group is the comraderies we share. A
great group of people who enjoy each
other’s company.
Sister Jude completes our group
and is a superb teacher. We always
look forward to Monday’s.
THORPE SENIOR ACTIVITY CENTER
STAFF
Sr. Maureen Bradshaw, Manager
Francine Fevola, Program Coordinator
Sr. Jude Miriam,Community Service Coordinator
Michael Gorkowski, Custodian
Neil Di Lorenzo, our Driver
OFFICERS 2016 - 2018
Co-Presidents - Mickie Parisi and Marion O’Leary
Co - Secretaries - Patricia O'Donnell
Co-Treasurer -Evelyn D’Angelo
SPECIAL ADVISOR: , Nora Buckley This lovely lady
will work with the Officers and Staff
Page 9
Christmas Concert
Pat O’Donnell
Aquinas High.School. from the Bronx
came to Thorpe to put on their yearly
concert.
They have a string orchestra, a girl’s
chorus, a boy’s chorus, a dance group
and a play acting group.
Every year we enjoy the pleasure of
seeing and hearing these delightful and
talented young people who are truly
gifted. We are so grateful for that special
performance. We look forward to them
returning every year!Alert and Alive - Pat O’Donnell
Every now and then we have
the pleasure of enjoying a special
presentation by persons in various
areas of interest.
Teresa Grimm returned on
12/17, her 2nd visit to Thorpe
Center. Teresa is an excellent
chef. We get to sample whatever
she whips up….and let me tell
you it is wonderful. What a
treat. And as a bonus, we learn a
lot. We look forward to her
return visit. Well done, Teresa!