This year the transition from summer to fall has felt especially dramatic. The good news is, we love the fall! It gives us a chance to celebrate and ready ourselves for all kind of wonderful seasonal celebrations.
Resident appreciation week started things off. We had such a wonderful time. Thank you all for your participation and for the many cards and thank you notes that you sent to the staff. We feel blessed to work here. It was an honor to celebrate you during your special week.
Looking ahead, Karen has cooked up an especially inviting slate of October activities. You will have the opportunity to visit the Pendleton Woolen Mills, the pumpkin patch at Firpoint Farms in Canby, and a quilt show in Aurora, to name a few of the highlights.
Another item related to the season has to do with our grounds. We have a beautiful setting that we all benefit from every day. I am pleased to let you know that Tom McCoy will be dedicating more of his time to the care and tending of our plants and trees. This additional help will allow us to take greater advantage of some of the specialty services that Proscape, our contracted grounds maintenance vendor, can offer. We are currently planning to add more perennial color spots throughout the property, heavier pruning of the Leland Cypress on the north side of the building, and more regular ivy removal in our wooded area. I am also delighted to let you know that Karen has forged a relationship with the forestry students from Sabin Center located here in Clackamas County. They have taken on Homewoods for the annual classroom project and will be “blazing” new trails for us down in our wooded area adjacent to the lawn. They will remove ivy, invasive non-native species, and old firewood, as well as create a new walking trail. I am looking forward to their presence here on our grounds throughout this school year.
Because we do love to celebrate our beautiful setting and pursue what it means to live well, I wanted to share a poem that Alice Deming wrote in the writing class last month and shared with the staff. I think it is beautiful, and it sums up life here better than I ever could.
The Rose
A pink glow on the clouds
As the sun rises at dawn,
A quiet morning without crowds,
No activity, no birds on the lawn.
Peaceful thoughts conjure in my mind,
Favorite old rocking chair for sitting.
Looking out on the deck, joy I find,
Humming birds sipping and flitting.
The rose, shimmering thread it weaves,
A gift from the staff at Homewoods.
Colors, stillness and the shape of the leaves,
Whisper to residents, soothe many moods.
Rose stands in her vase, so proud, so tall,
“Be patient, be kind, have no fears,
For when my bud will droop and fall,
Nature is what it is, shed no tears.”