March Program at Shore Pointe

Yesterday was the monthly tea and program at Shorepointe Assisted Living.  Since St. Patrick's Day had just been celebrated three days earlier, my program focused on Ireland and all things associated with the Emerald Isle including, of course, St. Patrick.

I always like to take the residents a treat so this month's treat was a bag of peppermint patties.

I took a leprechaun flag and statue of St. Patrick for my display table.

The photograph below was taken as the residents began arriving.  Clara, in the lower right is 101 years old and very sharp.  Last month [when the topic was American Presidents] I turned facts into questions and made the program a game. Each resident who answered correctly got a Hershey chocolate kiss. Clara answered correctly several times and accumulated quite a stash of candy to take back to her apartment.

Since they enjoyed the format last month, I repeated it again this month only this time I gave individually wrapped pieces of Chocolate Easter candy for correct answers.

We had 12 attendees, including a new male resident.  He was also pretty sharp, and gave Clara competition.  Both of them won several pieces of Easter candy.  

Did you know...

• The island of Ireland is just slightly larger than the State of West Virginia?
• Ireland gets up to 225 days of rainfall every year.  The rain makes the island landscape lush and green which is how it got it's nickname, Emerald Isle.
• Over 400,000 people kiss the Blarney stone every year.
• St. Patrick really wasn't Irish - he was born in a Roman ruled province of Great Britain.
• St. Patrick's Day is celebrated on March 17th because that's the date he died.
• St. Patrick used the shamrock to explain the Trinity to the pagan inhabitants of Ireland.
• It's estimated that 80 million people claim Irish ancestry world-wide.
• The people of Ireland are the second largest consumers of tea in the world.

They also had fun discovering what their Leprechaun name was. Mine was 'Playful O'Gratin'!  ;-) 

My Irish uncle [recently deceased] used to love to tell Irish jokes, so I concluded my program with an Irish joke. Ironically the name of the priest in the joke is the same last name as my uncle's!  Hopefully it'll bring a smile to your face.  The residents laughed.

As soon as she had finished convent school, a bright young girl named Lena shook the dust of Ireland off her shoes and made her way to New York where before long, she became a successful performer in show business.  Eventually she returned to her home town for a visit and on a Saturday night went to confession at the Catholic church she always attended as a child.  In the confessional Father Sullivan recognized her and began asking about her work.  She explained that she was an acrobatic dancer, and he wanted to know what that meant.  She said she'd be happy to show him the kind of acrobatic stunts she did on stage.  Stepping out of the confessional, but within sight of Father Sullivan, she began a series of cartwheels, leaping splits, handsprings and backflips. Kneeling near the confessional waiting their turn, were two middle-aged ladies. Witnessing Lena's acrobatics with wide eyes, one said to the other:  "Will you just look at the penance Father Sullivan is givin' out tonight, and me without me bloomers on!"

It was a fun afternoon and the residents said they had a good time!