Category: newsletter

By Linda Ohlsen, Recreation Director

Our two volunteer performers, Frank and Bob, helped get us in an Irish mood at the beginning of March. Treating us to a variety of Irish songs, played on piano and accordian. They offererd a morning that both Rachel Nason and Noreen Doohan found to be most enjoyable. Gilda Messina and Ruth Faustich sang many of the songs played and if we didn’t know better, we’d have sworn they were Irish.

We all worked together to get our recreration room looking like an Irish pub in time for St. Patrick’s Day. Our clever “beer filled” glasses were made by Chris Orth and Julette Gerlach. They looked great on our mantel along with along with the pitcher of frosty brew created by Nick Mazzillo. We hung up green and white signs announcing ownership of our pubs and those bearing the names of kitty Keegan and Robert Hall were among the best. To celebrate our fine work we had a photo taken with our glasses raised high and then enjoyed some beer (root, that is) and pretzels, while we payed our remininscing game. There were lots of interesting memories shared at the game and a wee bit of blarney too, I’m sure.

Josephine D’Elia had the luck of the Irish when she won our March raffle. Josephie won a cute green Teddy Bear which she quickly put aside for her great granddaughter, Emma.

Our Irish wreathes featuring four leaf clovers and lots of gold coins were fun to make and looked gorgeous when done. We were fortunate to have Muriel Lizak and Madeline Pedota helping us with these lovely decorations. These ladies, along with Carmela Delisi and Joe D’Angelo also made the Celtic crosses which looked so beautiful dispalyed in our hallway. Irish trivia was fun to play and Fran Schadock had the answers to all the questions asked. Jo Caputo was a winner at the games and selected a nice bottle of perfume for her prize as did Ruth Beal. We all won at our Irish scavenger hunt and enjoyed the tiny tubs of “Irish Potato” chips that serve as prizes. Fun too was our Irish bingo, at which we each received a small green derby which we used to collec gold foil wrapped kisses. The kisses were found in a special black pot left behind by a tiny leprechan and were given to those having the lucky number for each round. Kitty Keegan and Lee Kulakowski both had their hats filled to the brim by the game’s end. St. Patrick’s Day morning found us baking an Irish apple cake. Julia Manganiello was a great help measuring and mixing our ingredient and Tess Brana and Juliette Gerlach peeled and chopped our apples to perfection/ The finished product was simply delicious and certainly helped to get our Irish eyes smiling.

Pastor Bonfiglio visited on St. Patrick’s day morning, blessing the house and all within. It was nice to see Pauline Bovino and Therese Trembly at the service as well as regulars, bobbie Smith and Hazel Nargi. Lunch was the traditional corned beef, cabbage and potatoes and the best Irish soda bread that Juliette Gerlach had ever tasted. Everyone loved the meal and the fine Irish music that played as they dined.Green carnations were worn by all at our afternoon St. Pat’s party. Tony Grant gave a fine performance singing, playing the keyboards and engaging us in a great Irish sing along. Stories of Irish history were interjected between the music and there was no absence of Irish humor during Ton’s program. We sang, laughed and had a totally wonderful March 17th. Entertaining also this past month was Everett Green. Everett’s fantastic singing voice was definately appreciated by all. Songs of the 50″s and 60’s were lively and fun to recall and his Italian numbers were well received too. Hazel Siegel did her share of dancing during the afternoon as did Pauline Bovino and Terry Iacontino.

Our special bingo drew a larg crowd as always. Everyone was nxious to try their luck at the rounds and win one of our terrific prizes. Naturally, all our prizes followed a holiday theme with pots of shamrocks to win, Irish Sprin gsoap, green scarves, flowers ans plush. Adelaide McKasty was a winner at the games as were Robert Hall, Madeline Pedota and Josephone D’Elia.

At the end of March, we were pleased to welcome back guitarist George Missali. George has an extensive repetoire which would seem to include each and every one of our favrite songs. From the 40’s to rock and roll, ethnic to patriotic, George was right on target. Judging from the smiles on the faces of Paula Shore ans Artie Johnson, another engagement by Mr. Missali is a must. We would like to thank Muriel Lizak for the fine job she has done as our Resident Council CHairperson for the past 2 years. As Muriel’s term ends, we would like to welcome new chairperson, Nick Mazzillo. We are sure tat Nick will do very well in this position and will bring the same caring and concern to the job as did Muriel.

Congratulations to Bob Hall who was our monthly bingo winner for March. Bob is a relatively new palyer, but certainly a lucky one. HIs score for the month was a fantastic 56 wins which out beat the totals of of Gilda Messina and Lee Kulakowski who are close competitors. Congratulations, Bob and keep playin and winning. We love the fun and friendly competition.

We look forward now, not to April showers, but sunny skies as we get ready for Easter in the weeks ahead. There will be bunnies to craft, eggs to color and a visit from the Patchogue/Medford Youth Group. Also fun will be our annual Easter Egg roll and our staff/resident bowling tournament.

By Linda Ohlsen, Recreation Director

The beginning of February had us all talking about that curious little fellow- the groundhog. At our word games morning we discussed the furry fellow and learned all about his size, weight and eating habits. We conducted a poll to see how many of us felt the groundhog’s predictions were usually accurate and found that 60% of us felt he was wrong most of the time. On the 2nd, we were amused to find that the predictions for spring were somewhat divided, depending on the individual groundhog. Our hope was that those predicting an early spring were the accurate ones!

After the groundhog we moved on to celebrate the rabbit which was the ruling animal for this year’s Chinese New Year. To begin our new year’s celebration we had a “Tea Ceremony”. Selecting one tea from the large assortment was difficult but fun. Robert Hall loved the orange spice blend and Fran Schadock found the pumpkin flavored tea to be outstanding. We all had our pick of fortune cookies too and are now most anxious to see if Ruth Faustich will be going to a wedding soon as per her fortune cookie prediction.

We studied the Chinese zodiac and the 12 animals used to represent the years of birth. We learned which animal represented each of us and the characteristics ascribed to our sign. Josephine D’Elia felt she was definitely true to her sign of the dog, being honest, loyal and a good secret keeper. Bobbie Smith also felt that the vibrant, energetic dragon was an accurate representation of herself. We have to agree, having seen Bobbie dancing at all our parties and helping out at recreation.

The Chinese people are fond of giving out red envelopes filled with coins for their new year, so on the 3rd each of us found a red envelope waiting at our place as we arrived for bingo. Each envelope contained a coin and if it was purple, you were a lucky winner of one of our year of the rabbit rabbits. Winners selecting one of our cute plush bunnies included Lee Kulakowski, Josephine Caputo, Madeline Pedota and Gilda Messina. There was a special rabbit too which went to our only guest born in the year of the rabbit, Chris Orth.

All our ladies were encouraged to wear red for wear red for women day on February 4th. Mary Morris was sporting a pretty red top that morning and I do believe it brought her extra luck at our “Ladies Trivia” game. Mary Pascale also wore red and looked stunning out on the dance floor as she danced to the keyboard selections of Freddie Prinz who was our afternoon entertainment.

We all spent much of the month creating the many beautiful Valentine’s decorations that made McPeak’s look lovely for the holiday. Colorful vases that were crafted by Juliette Gerlach and Julia Manganiello looked beautiful filled with red and pink roses and placed upon our recreation room mantel. We enjoyed reading and eating our tiny conversation hearts as we worked on Victorian valentine’s for our recreation room wall. Tess Brana and Kitty Keegan did an outstanding job on their creations.

We discussed the many forms of love as we crafted our photo filled hearts for display in our hallway. Robert Hall did a very nice job with his as did Madeline Pedota.

Frank and Bob our 2 volunteer piano players were our special Valentine’s, playing all our favorite romantic tunes and being sure to include “My Funny Valentine” in their selections. They also played the Happy Birthday song for Carmela Delisi plus a variety of Italian selections as their gift to her on her special day.

We treated ourselves to some chocolate hearts as we played our special bingo games. Prizes included perfumes, lotions, flowers and some very loveable stuffed animals. Ruth Beal left with a bag full of goodies as did Juliette Gerlach and Mary Pascale. Winners at our magazine scavenger hunt won some cute prizes too. Small plastic hearts filled with candies were passed out to all, beginning with Muriel Lizak’s first place team. Muriel herself led the team to victory with some creative thinking by using a picture of a cat to qualify as the fur coat photo needed to win the game.

Everyone was saying “I Love Lucy” as we watched a biographical video of Lucille Ball. Lucy’s crazy antics delighted viewers Frank Hartmann and Fran Schadock and had us all identifying the many celebrity guests she had on her shows.

For Valentine’s Day we welcomed Sasha’s Belly dancers. Our 3 performers were dressed in red and pink outfits with lots of gold and silver sequins and looked just gorgeous. Their dance routines were outstanding and we had fun clapping and chanting to exotic music they played. Near the end of their performance guests were invited to learn a few dance moves from the girls and join in on the fun. Hazel Siegel was first to grab a veil and get shakin’ on the floor. She was so good that several other guests including Mary Pascale, Noreen Doohan and Carmela Delisi also gave it a try. All our dancers were fantastic and helped to win our hearts this past Valentine’s Day.

Also fun this past month was our baking project, a delicious banana cake, which was made with the help of Jay Mercogliano and Nick Mazzillo. As always, we all felt this was the best baked treat we’d ever made. It was truly fantastic and we’ll be holding on to this recipe and using it again I’m sure.

At the end of the month we were joined by two groups whose visits always delight us. The first was the Patchogue/Medford High School Key Club who brought their smiles, enthusiasm and lots of fun games for us to play. Josephine D’Elia and Ruth Faustich had fun using their creative thinking to play “Apples to Apples” and Josephine Caputo won all three games of “Dominoes” that she played with Fran Schadock and Joe D’Angelo. Rachel Nason and Juliette Gerlach went head to head at “Scrabble” and Nick Mazzillo was our “Connect Four” champ of the morning.

Our dear friends from the Seventh Day Adventist Church brought Valentine’s greetings and a message of love to us all on the 26th. A beautiful hour long program of prayer, music and poetry was presented by about 25 choir members and delighted us all. We look forward to their next visit which will be for Easter.

Julia Manganiello was a true bowling champ this month, scoring one of her top games ever, a 202. Bobbie Smith also had some great scores this month as did Ruth Faustich and Kitty Keegan. Gilda Messina showed her experience at not bowling but bingo. Gilda took the top score for the month with 58 wins. Nick Mazzillo also did well as did new guest Juliette Gerlach who we note is a very lucky player.

As March roars in, we’ll be setting our Irish eyes upon a variety of crafts and games for St. Patrick’s Day. Our recreation room will become an Irish pub for the holiday and we’ll be welcoming a visit or two from a friendly Leprechaun. There will be games and entertainment with an Irish flair plus lots of good fun and that’s no blarney!

By Linda Ohlsen, Recreation Director

With autumn in the air, we cleared away our summer things and readied ourselves for a new season. In early September we dusted off our mantel, lining it with some pretty lace doilies that helped us recall our pantry shelves of years ago. Mason jars were brought down from the attic and we set to work filling them with some very special “homemade preserves”. Jay Mercogliano contributed some strawberry jam and Noreen Doohan made grape jelly. Josephine D’elia confessed she only knew how to make spaghetti sauce and so that would be her offering to our decorative display. All our jars looked very tempting and realistic enough to prompt Louise Principe to ask if we had sterilized them before beginning.

We continued our old fashioned kitchen look with some delightful gingham creations featuring plump, delicious apples surrounding a sign for Grandma’s Apple Pie. Those made by Julia Manganiello and Fran Schadock were just perfect and offered a polished look to our recreation room.

While getting our home in apple pie order, we tasted some of the fruits too, deciding the Macintosh was our favorite variety. Word games had us discussing apples and reminiscing about our favorite recipes such as baked apples, apple sauce and apple compote. We discovered that most of us had made an apple pie now and then and laughed as Josephine Caputo told us that thought she didn’t know how to make one, she knew how to pick out a good one in the grocery store.

We paid homage to the first day of autumn by creating a lovely seasonal display for our hallway. Using cork, autumn leaves and tiny pumpkins, Tess Brana and Chris Orth crafted a spectacular display for all to enjoy. Equally pretty were the multicolored autumn leaf arrangements put on display by Nick Mazzillo and Nina Sutter.

It was fun this past month when teams went on a magazine scavenger hunt looking for signs of the season, including apples, pumpkins, sweaters and the harvest moon. With neither team able to locate a picture of a scarecrow, a tie match was called with both teams receiving tiny autumn baskets filled with goodies as prizes.

Reminiscing is a sure way for us to get to know each other better and this month we learned that Mary Morris was once stuck in an elevator and Frank Hartman once found quite a bit of money. The raffle which always follows was won by Josephine Caputo who received a lovely large afghan made and donated by the family of Alfred Welsh. Jo was delighted and looked forward to it keeping her warm on chilly autumn nights.

Special bingo games brought other autumn prizes including some lovely gloves won by Madeline Pedota. Halloween witches went to Robert Hall and Muriel Lizak, (who has a Halloween birthday), and Jo Delia selected a cute scarecrow for her win. Winning prizes also were Ruth Beal and Carmela Delisi, who got lucky at our Mother Goose trivia. Kitty Keegan and Mary Conforti also did well at the games and, I might add, were able to complete the rhymes without a second thought.

Not Mother Goose, but real live geese were the subject of discussion as we watched a beautiful video entitled “Winged Migration”. Annette Dunne and Donald Farley loved the film and we all offered our opinions on how birds that travel such a long distance do not get lost.

Visiting us this month was Pastor Bonfiglio and Carmine. Hazel Nargi always appreciates the pastor’s service, as do Therese Tremblay and Jay Mercogliano. Hazel Siegel is a fan of our two volunteer Piano Players Frank and Bob and Terry Iacontino also enjoys their musical selections.

Freddie Prinz gave us a lively afternoon using his keyboard talents to get us all singing and dancing too. I had fun dancing the Lindy with Mary Pascale and Bobbie Smith.

Joyce Simanton entertained us during September too and we all loved her songs from the 50’s and 60’s. We loved the ice cream that was served too and it was nice to see Madeline Pedota and Terry Iacontino sharing a dish together.

Congratulations to Ruth Faustich, who bowled an awesome game this month Ruth always does great at the game, but her score of 209 was just outstanding. Joe D’Angelo also had a noteworthy score, finishing the frames with a 173. Congratulations also to Carmen Delisi and Gilda Messina who shared the honor of being our top bingo players for September. Both ladies scored 58 wins during the month, beating some strong competition from Nick Mazzillo and Mary Pascale, who each had 54 games.

Halloween is just around the corner and there will be plenty of treats and a few tricks too to enjoy during October. There’ll be spooky crafts, spine chilling games and some magical performances all conjured up for a month that’s designed to be wicked good!

By Linda Ohlsen, Recreation Director

It’s hard to believe that summer has come and gone, but with so much to do here at McPeak’s it’s no wonder it passed so quickly.

Our team bowling offered a summer workout that had residents having fun while making new friends. There were many good twosomes during July and August including Julia Manganiello and Tess Brana, Josephine D’Elia and Ruth Faustich and Hazel Siegel and Muriel Lizak. The top team of the summer though was the team of Bobbie Smith and Donald Farley. Their outstanding scores earned them each a beautiful Afghan made and donated by the family of Alfred Welsh. Congratulations to both and special thanks to the Welsh family for their lovely donation.

Bingo is fun no matter what the season and we were pleased to have Jerry, our cook Blanca’s son, join us for the games this summer. Jerry, who was working on a community service project for his communion he was delighted to play with Annette Dunne and Jay Mercogliano helped them to win their share of the games. Josephine Caputo was lucky at our special bingo rounds when prizes are available for selection by our winners. Jo was delighted to be a winner several times during the game and opted to select some very nice perfumes for her wins. Lee Kulakowski won some cute plush animals at the games and Nina Sutter left with an adorable summer bag.

Our Pet Therapy dogs Star and Liberty Bell didn’t mind the dog days of summer one bit as long as they could come here and visit. Our two favorite girls were eager to say hello to everyone and especially enjoyed the wonderful belly rubs given by Bea Missakian and Ruth Faustich.

Louise Principe truly enjoyed our trivia game which had us recalling the titles of songs from the 30’s, 40’s and 50’s. Louise was just fantastic as she called off title after title of many famous tunes. Bringing back many memories too were our word games and reminiscing programs which Rachel Nason just loves. Our summer topics included vegetable gardening and amusement parks. Josephine D’Elia recalled all the fun she had at Coney Island while Fran Schadock said she preferred Rye Beach and Ruth Beal loved Rockaway. Some personal questions brought a blush or two from the group but no so Mary Pascale whose reply to “the first man you ever kissed” was Santa Claus. We all delighted in Mary’s clever answer and found delightful too her beautiful singing voice as she did a solo of Patsy Cline’s “Crazy” with Ray Lani accompanying her on guitar. Ray, who visited throughout the summer, treated us to some wonderful musical programs and singalongs and both Madeline Pedota and Terry Iacontino commented on how much they enjoyed his performances.

The piano talents of Frank and Bob who visit monthly did not go unnoticed by Gilda Messina and Mabel Cosher who loved their August visit. Enjoyable too was the lovely voice of Muriel Lizak who sang “Again”.

John Goff and Vivian Donges are regulars here and we all just love this adorable couple who sing and dance so well together. Julia Manganiello and Lee Kulakowski loved the show and were happy they had good seats for the performance.

Tony Grant offered a musical salute to Hawaii on the anniversary of its statehood. Nina Sutter and Bobbie Smith did some fine Hula dancing to his songs bringing lots of smiles from Noreen Doohan and Irene Huether.

Lou Paioli was a big hit with Kitty Keegan and Carlton Davidson. Kitty knew the words to many of the songs played and sang along beautifully. When Lou got going with some of his Italian numbers, it was Carmela Delisi, Josephine D’Elia and Tess Brana who took center stage, singing not only in English but in Italian too! I also enjoyed the afternoon, dancing with Donald Farley, Terry Iacontino, Hazel Siegel and Louise Principe.

Also visiting this month were our dear friends from the Church of The Nazarine, Pastor Bonfiglio and Carmine. Their wonderful songs and service were appreciated by Therese Tremblay and Walter Colligan.

Mary Ann Conforti and Nick Mazzillo helped us make some delicious Toll House Cookie Bars which were an absolute treat with our afternoon bingo games. Nick never misses the games and always does quite well but never so well as in August when he won 66 games and became our monthly winner- maybe there was some magic in those Toll House treats Nick!

Speaking of magic, they’ll be more in September as we have lots of great arts and crafts projects to enjoy, new games, entertainment and more baking too.

By Linda Ohlsen, Recreation Director

April showers couldn’t wash away the good spirits and fun we enjoyed during the month here at McPeak’s. On hand to chase away the clouds were a variety of entertainers who were real crowd pleasers.

Joyce Simanton joined us early in the month with a lively program featuring music of the 1960’s. Joyce is quite skilled on the keyboard and has a great singing voice as well. Noreen Doohan and I had fun dancing together to her songs and Hazel Siegel and Walter Colligan made a great duo on the dance floor.

Bruce Schneider and Company offered a fun afternoon of music and comedy. Their rendition of “Josephina Please No Leaner on the Bell” was a delightful and dedicated by them to three very special ladies here- Josephine D’elia, Josephine Caputo and Josephine Mercogliano. The group also played lots of Italian songs for their many friends in the audience. Carmela Delisi couldn’t have been happier with their choices and mike in hand, joined them in singing “O Sole Mio”.

Our piano/accordion players Frank and Bob had Mary Billott and Jeanette Yackel singing beautifully all the songs of days gone by. These two charming gentlemen visit us monthly, volunteering their time and talents much to our delight.

Musical entertainment was also provided this month by a new performer to McPeak’s, Gail Storm. Gail’s keyboard Jazz performance was most popular with Adelaide McKasty, Lee Kulakowski, and Alfred Welsh. Gail’s musical selections were a nice change too from what we usually enjoy.

Besides being formally entertained during the month we kept ourselves entertained as well, engaging in a variety of games, arts, crafts and video presentations. Since April was Earth Month, our crafts reflected the beauty of our natural surroundings and our obligation to maintain them.

Earthly orbs were turned into daises by Josephine Caputo and Kitty Keegan decorating our recreation room while reminding us to cheerfully care for our planet.

Reminding us to renew, reuse and recycle were our tiny reuseable shopping bags filled with nature’s bounty by Ruth Beal and Estelle Nordmeier.

Tree branches that were made by Nick Mazzillo and Jay Mercogliano surrounded a sign that reminded us that someone sits in the shade today because someone years ago planted a tree. Our acorns above the single word hope carried a similar message and were part of a cute craft made by Nina Sutter and Rachel Nason.

Our word games and reminiscing programs throughout the month were dedicated to going green. Therese Tremblay and Josphine D’ELIA recalled the many ways we recycled years ago such as using old newspapers to shine our windows and saving buttons from garments for future use. Fran Schadock recalled using brown paper bags to cover school books. In short, we are a generation that truly re- use and recycle and our ideas though old fashioned are back in style.

Protecting our planet and the animals we share it with was the topic of conversation as we played our animal trivia game. Tess Brana, a true animal lover, was one of the winners at our game as were Mary Morris and Annette Dunne. A winner also this month was Josephine Caputo whose name was picked from our April raffle. Jo won a cute plush frog and a notepad made from recycled paper.

Frank Hartman and Rachel Nason appreciated a wonderful video entitled “America the Beautiful”. Views of our country from the city to farmland had us all remarking on how fortunate we are to live in such a diverse and lovely country. Using some of the products from both city and farmland were Joe D’Angelo and Julia Manganiello who helped us turn out two Sprite pound cakes. We ate them during afternoon bingo time and found them to be one of our most successful baking projects ever. They were just delicious!

Also fun this month were our special bingo games with lots of fantastic prizes to be won. Mary Ferrantello and Bobbie Smith were big winners at the games as were Lee Kulakowski and Robert Hall. Our monthly winner was Gilda Messina who had the highest score of all our winners and who also broke a record this month with 11 wins in one session alone. Congratulations Gilda!

As we look forward to the month ahead we see those April showers giving way to lots of May flowers that will decorate our recreation room and hallways. We are also looking forward to our resident/staff bowling tournament and are eager to see who among us will have the highest averages and make the team.

By Linda Ohlsen, Recreation Director

March was a busy month filled with lots of special events and activities. To begin, we went on an armchair tour of Ireland. Our video visit, which was enjoyed by Rachel Nason and Annette Dunne, gave us all an opportunity to learn more about the country that gave us our favorite March holiday- St. Patricks Day.

We had fun decorating our home for the holiday with lots of craft projects, including some very clever pots of gold made by Julia Manganiello and Therese Tremblay. Our four leaf clover wreaths, done by Tess Brana and Josephine D’Elia were a visual delight that were fun to make.

Fran Schadock was the first to figure out our Shamrock Puzzler. Using only the four pieces provided, Fran assembled her Shamrock faster than you could say “top of the morning”. Mary Morris also did well creating her Shamrock and all our finished projects made a great holiday decoration.

Muriel Lizak and Ruth Faustich were singing along with our Irish CD as we all worked on our Irish Pub signs. Our signs had an Irish look, but also displayed our family names which represent a variety of nationalities- proving you don’t have to be Irish to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day.

Ruth Beal had the luck of the Irish when her raffle ticket was drawn making her the winner of some Irish Spring soap and green tissues. Lucky too were Lee Kulakowski and Gilda Messina who were big winners at our “Irish I’s bingo”. Their cute leprechaun pots were filled with lots of gold foiled kisses, awarded by the Leprechaun for having the lucky number on each round, by game’s end.

Just when we thought we’d had about as much fun as our Irish hearts could hold it was the big day to celebrate- March 17. A delicious meal of corned beef, cabbage, potatoes and Irish soda bread was prepared by our cooks Sue and Diane and ice cold beer was served. After we’d eaten our fill, we put on our green and white leis and sat back to enjoy the many talents of entertainer Tony Grant. Tony played many Irish songs on his keyboard which had Mary Billot singing along and Kitty Keegan and I up and trying to dance the Irish Jig.

Henry Koleski was interested in the Irish folklore Tony shared with us and Alfred Welsh found Tony’s Irish wit to be delightful. Rachel Nason said she’d definitely welcome another visit from Tony and that more of the green ice cream that we served would be welcomed too!

No sooner than the Leprechaun had waved goodbye the Easter bunny was at our door. The most adorable bunny baskets filled with colored eggs were made by Nick Mazzillo and Estelle Nordmeier. They were admired by all and added lots of spring color to our recreation room. Our bunnies demanded carrots and we were eager to please them.

Frank Hartman and Hazel Nargi helped craft our bunny treats. Using their artistic talents too were Julia Manganiello and Ruth Faustich who made our “eggceptional” colored eggs display.

The religious significance of the holiday was not to be denied and Tess Brana and Josephine Caputo helped make some of the beautiful crosses that were hung in our hallway.

My Easter egg roll is an annual event here at McPeak’s and it was just terrific this year with some outstanding distances set. As guests rolled their egg down our longest hallway its stopping point was tagged with their name. Going the farthest was Bobbie Smith’s, followed by the egg of Carmela’s Delisi and Ruth Beal. The ladies all won colorful Easter baskets filled with grooming goodies and a bit of Easter chocolate too. Everyone had a great time participating in or just watching this event.

We colored over five dozen eggs for Easter. Estelle Nordmeier and Hazel Siegel made some beauties which added to a cheerful display we enjoyed all morning. They were appreciated at dinnertime too as we all enjoyed our delicious egg salad sandwiches.

We found the entertainment provided by Vic Victorrio to be a treat. Vic’s wonderful singing voice was appreciated by Adelaide McKasty and Noreen Doohan’s and Hazel Siegel’s dancing skills were applauded by all.

Freddie Prinz also gave a fantastic show this past month and his music had Jeanette Yackel singing along to many of his songs. Therese Tremblay loved the show also especially since Freddie dedicated his rendition of “La Vie En Rose” to her.

Also included in our March activities was our celebration of women in history month. We viewed a short film on the subject, discussing it as we watched. We also talked about changing roles of women over the years during our word games and reminiscing program. Josephine Caputo and Muriel Lizak gave lots of input during the program which was definitely of interest to all.

Our top bowlers for the past month were Julia Managniello (191), Muriel Lizak (179) and Bobbie Smith (175). Josephine D’Elia’s game gets better every week and Hazel Siegel and Frank Hartman continue to impress.

Our bingo winner for March was Nick Mazzillo. Nick had quite a lucky streak during the month and was able to best Gilda Messina and Estelle Nordmeier who also had high scores.

April is Earth month and we’ll be recalling the many ways we recycled years ago. Our crafts and games will provide lots of fun while placing an emphasis on renewing and reusing our resources. Lots of good entertainment is on the calendar too with performances by two old favorites and a new guest vocalist.

Frank and John will be back to wow us with their piano favorites and our Pet Therapy pals will be here to give lots of lovin’ as always.

By Linda Ohlsen, Recreation Director

Like everyone, January began with us rolling up our sleeves, taking down all our holiday decorations and packing them away for another year. Carmela Delisi gave me some much appreciated help as we took down our two large Christmas trees together carefully removing each of the beautiful ornaments we’d all made. We all took down the mini trees that had looked lovely on our mantel. We talked about our favorite holiday happenings as we worked and before we knew it we were done and ready to begin some new projects.

The cold January days had us all watching and waiting for snow and we weren’t disappointed. Lovely snowflakes made by Annette Dunne and Ruth Faustich graced our recreation room wall. Their simple elegance was a visual delight and a nice compliment to the snow covered trees done by Josephine Caputo and Tess Brana.

The snow showers Mother Nature sent our way led us all to agree that we do indeed love snow. The adorable “we love snow” plaques made by Therese Tremblay and Rachel Nason expressed our sentiments perfectly. Our snowflakes plaques were fun to make too and we enjoyed singing “Let It Snow” while sprinkling on lots of white glitter to make our flakes really sparkle.

Our monthly scavenger hunt followed a winter theme with everyone hunting through magazines for pictures of mittens, sleds and ice skates. Our two teams had great fun at the hunt and were evenly tied till Nina Sutter found the snowman and brought victory to her team. The winning team got first pick from from my bag of tissue wrapped prizes which included lotions, perfumes, pens, and room spray. The opposing team followed with their selections and when all were done we used the tissue paper wrappings to make snowballs. Tossing our snowballs into the waste basket I held was fun and both Frank Hartman and Hazel Siegel scored direct hits. Frank and Hazel also enjoyed the ice skating video I showed during the month and were amazed by the performances of the many talented Olympic skaters the film featured.

Cocoa was the secret ingredient in the tasty cake we made this month. Joe D’Angelo and Carmela Delisi helped our black bottom cake to turn out perfectly and we enjoyed every bite we took of it at our afternoon games.

Warming up our winter days were entertainers Vivian Dongers and John Goff. The couple’s song and dance routines were delightful and Adelaide McKasty and Lee Kulakowski appreciated every second of their performance.

Mary Billott was a big fan also and sang along to many of the Patsy Cline numbers Vivian performed.

Muriel Lizak and Alfred Welsh sang out when Everett Green was here. Everett has a fantastic voice and is a very talented keyboard artist. His music included many songs done by Frank Sinatra and Perry Como. Josephine Caputo said she could listen to him all day and Hazel Siegel felt she could dance to his music forever. Hazel Siegel and I had a lot of fun dancing together and Bobbie Smith was a great partner as well.

Estelle Nordmeier and Nicholas Mazzillo were big winners at our special bingo rounds this month and both choose some lovely gifts from our prize table. Muriel Lizak won the most games for the month and enjoyed the prize that was chosen especially for her.

As February neared we talked about Ground Hog’s Day at our word games and reminiscing program. Hazel Nargi was surprised to find that the little fellow only had a 30% success rate in predicting the coming of spring while Mary Morris was interested in learning more about this rodent’s physical attributes.

February will bring many holidays our way including our favorite- Valentine’s Day. We’re already had our first Valentine’s program which began with guests having to name the song Frank Sinatra was singing on our CD. Fran Schadock supplied the answer,” My Funny Valentine.”

Guests were then given the opportunity to make their own funny Valentines. Our cute S.W.A.K. (sealed with a kiss) Valentines were very cute, filled with lip outlines in red and hot pink. Ruth Beal did a great job with hers, even adding some of her own lipstick kisses to the design. Hot lips appeared again at our lucky number bingo games where chocolates wrapped to look like lips were prizes. Gilda Messina thought they were just adorable.

Our pet therapy dogs Star and Liberty Bell brought early Valentine’s wishes to us. Their owner Tom tells us his “2 Girls” just love visiting here where they receive so much attention from everyone. The “girls” also love the cookies that Alex Gorsline and Mary Ferrantello always have waiting for them and the extra special tummy rub provided by Muriel Lizak.

More Valentine’s crafts, games and fun are on the way, plus visits from church groups, girl scouts and a performance by Sasha’s Belly Dancers. Indeed, they’ll be so much to warm our hearts during the next six weeks that despite the ground hog’s prediction it will seem like spring here.

By Linda Ohlsen, Recreation Director

We welcomed 2008 with a fantastic New Year’s Eve party complete with noise makers, hats and entertainment by singer Vic Victorrio. Vic sang some wonderful songs that got Bobbie Smith and Tess Donovan up and dancing. Vic also led our countdown to the New Year which ended with a sparkling “champagne” toast to all.

The cold weather and snow flurries at the beginning of January were a perfect accompaniment to our craft projects. Polar bears made by Julia Manganiello and Hazel Nargi looked wonderful in our recreation room.

Sitting atop our faux ice and snow they reminded us of what a warm and cozy spot we have here at McPeak’s . Snowflakes and snow laden trees added to our wintery scene and were made by Gilda Messina and Russell Smith.

Our snowmen looked ever so real with their eyes of coal and carrot noses. These cute gentlemen were made by Anna Potter and Marie Giuri and brought lots of smiles as they decorated our hallway.

Ruth Faustich and Annette Dunne did a wonderful job with our fuzzy mittens. They looked like something we might very well want to slip on on a cold January day and just looking at them warmed our hands and hearts.

There’s nothing like mixing up a batch of homemade cookies to get your mind off the gray clouds that sometimes overwhelm us in the winter. Josephine Crispo and Mary Morris mixed and measured all our cookie ingredients to a tee and our Snickerdoodles were a delicious treat at our afternoon bingo.

“The Anticipations,” Vivian Dongers and John Goff, gave a memorable performance here in mid-January. Their comedy routines were appreciated by Jimmy Hopper and John Sharpe and Florence Lamke and Irene Huether were delighted by their wonderful singing voices.

Special bingo games were enjoyed by Bertha Mazzillo who took home a cute plush puppy. Her husband Nick was a winner too, as was Nina Sutter who shared her prize of boxed chocolates with all her fellow players.

Our month ended with a visit from members of the Seventh Day Adventist Church Choir. Their songs of inspiration moved us all and their charming personalities made us feel very special and very loved. We are all eagerly anticipating another visit from them in the spring.

February found us eagerly waiting to see if the ground hog would call an end to the winter. He didn’t and instead gave us the promise of six more weeks of cold weather. Making the most of his prediction we enjoyed some hot cocoa topped with whipped cream as we reveled in one of the nicer aspects of winter.

We found lots more to celebrate in February too. We learned our Chinese Zodiac signs and their related characteristics as we celebrated Chinese New Year. We now know Anna Potter and Muriel Lizak are dogs, Russell Smith is a tiger and Bobbie Smith was born in the year of the dragon.

Mardi Gras found us playing word games with a Louisiana flair and discussing past promises of what we would give up for lent.

Abraham Lincoln’s birthday found us waving American flags and singing along with our favorite entertainer here at McPeak’s, Trina Janura. Trina’s program was just fantastic. Lacking neither energy nor enthusiasm, Trina was able to consolidate all the February dates of importance into one fabulous hour. Chinese fortune cookies were passed around, Mardi Gras beads were thrown to the crowd and love songs were sung. Perhaps Trina’s finest moment was when she sang “Happy Birthday Mr. President” while dressed as Marilyn Monroe. It was a great afternoon and we are most certain honest Abe wound agree.

Of course, the most outstanding of February holidays is Valentine’s Day and we had lots of fun with our special preparations for the holiday of love. Emily Rubacka and Nina Sutter made gorgeous vases covered with hot pink paper, red ribbon and lots of hearts. Filled with red, white and pink roses they were a visual treat to all entering the recreation room.

Conversation hearts were fun to snack on as we made our lacey Valentines. Those done by Joan Mason and Hank Koleski were ever so lovely.

Mary Garbarino and Muriel Lizak made the gorgeous cut out hearts for our recreation room while singing along to some romantic tunes crooned by Perry Como and Frank Sinatra. Their projects and voices were both lovely. These two ladies were also leaders for our magazine scavenger hunt. Each led a team of guests on a search for various items needed to complete a Valentine’s Day shopping list. Mary Garbarino’s team thought they had it made when Hank Koleski found the elusive red rose bouquet, but in the end, it was Muriel’s team who completed their list first. First place team members received large chocolate hearts for their victory while others received smaller chocolate lips as prizes.

Valentine’s Day itself had us receiving a very special message of love as Pastor Bonfiglio and his assistant Janet visited. Besides the beautiful service, the pastor and Janet brought red Valentine’s necklaces for all the ladies and special heart covered ties for the men. Everyone wore them to our special bingo rounds later in the day where everyone found a single red rose carefully placed across their bingo card waiting for them. Special games, entitled “Prisoner of Love”, “Victoria’s Secret” and “25th Wedding Anniversary” were played with all winners having their choice of one of our many red items as a prize. Julia Managaniello won a red scarf. Josephine Crispo a red teddy bear and Bobbie Smith a red can of hair spray.

From start to finish our Valentine’s Day was filled with love and laughter and couldn’t have been nicer. Still to come is our salute to leap year when we’ll be leaping into a variety of active games and enjoying some crazy competitions and prizes.

Congratulations to our monthly bingo winners:
Nick Mazzillo – December
Tess Donovan – January

Our bowling team has been having some very fine games these past weeks. Nina Sutter has been coming in first at most of our games and as always Bobbie Smith, Julia Manganiello and Tess Donovan are doing well. Agnes O’Shea and Ruth Faustich have been getting their share of spares and strikes and the games of Gilda Messina and Marie Giuri continue to improve. New bowlers Hank Koleski and Joan Mason are doing great and we expect to see their scores continue to rise.

By Linda Ohlsen, Recreation Director

WHAT’S NEW

Resident’s all agree that they are very happy to be here. They feel that the facility is “lovely” and that the staff is very nice and accommodating as well.

Hazel Nargi compliments Katelyn for the fine job she does and thanks Janet also for “going out of her way to be extra helpful.”

HOLIDAY NEWS

We had so much fun during September. We embraced our back to school theme, allowing ourselves to be kids again through shared memories, crafts and activities.

Our first back to school assignment was to cover our books with brown paper. Those belonging to Muriel Lizak and Dorothy Moore were very well done, earning them an A+. Apples for the teacher were proudly displayed in our recreation room. Russell Smith made a delicious looking one as did Tess Donovan and Agnes O’Shea.

We all had a good time making our slates and writing messages on them in chalk. Rachel Jones and Anna Potter certainly did an outstanding job with this craft project.

Julia Manganiello’s team won our back to school scavenger hunt. It was a close race, with Julia herself, finding the tie breaking picture of a yellow school bus. Julia’s team won pocket sized manicure sets and the opposing team won combs, both perfect for those school health inspections of years gone by.

Colorful Autumn leaves turned into works of art by Marie Giuri and Katherine Walsh. Beautiful to view too were the artful seasonal creations of Josephine Caligiuri and Ruth Faustich.

Lots of apples found their way into two delicious apple cakes we made during the month. We all took turns peeling and dicing our apples and did a good job.

Freddie Prinz brought his keyboard to mcpeak’s in September and lots of talent too. His songs were a pleasure to listen to and to dance to also. Kay Vorrasi and I had fun dancing to one of his numbers and it was great to see Bobbie Smith and Tess Donovan out on the dance floor too!

Trina Janura was a delight when she visited on the 28th. Her infatable Bavarian tavern girl costume was outrageous and her lively songs and antics kept our party moving. Trina’s “dancing girls” for the afternoon were Julia Manganiello, Marie Giuri, Rachel Jones, Kay Vorrasi, Tess Donovan and Bobbie Smith.

Josephine Crispo who was celebrating her 84th birthday that day was feted with an eight foot tall inflatable cake complete with candles. We all sang the Happy Birthday song to Josephine who was delighted to have her special day made extra special.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Happy Birthday to these guests who have a October Birthday:

Nina Sutter – 10/14
Joseph D’angelo – 10/17
Rose LaMonica – 10/27
Helen Leaming – 10/29
Muriel Lizak – 10/31

B-I-N-G-O
Autumn themed prizes were won and appreciated at our special bingo rounds. Mary Morris was pleased with the apple scented hand lotion she won and Nina Sutter enjoyed her new fall handbag.

Dorothy Moore won an adorable teddy bear in a pumpkin and Nick Mazzillo just won all sorts of goodies to share with his wife Bertha.

Our bingo games are always fun and something we look forward to. We enjoy our hour of “gambling” and being with good friends. Win or lose, we always come away happy.

BOWLING NEWS

We had lots of fun with our bowling and have watched players Gilda Messina’s and Hazel Nargi’s scores improve.

Nina Sutter continues to top the bowling charts with scores into the 190’s. Russell Smith is also doing great with a high of 160 and new bowlers Rachel Jones and Harry Ike are just amazing.