Quill of the Hill

We have something colorful to look forward to this spring. Three Redbuds and two Dogwoods have been planted near the front fence on the south side. They are an auction package purchased at Western Days by Vickie Mackey and her two sisters, Sherry Schwarz and Darlene Ash, and planted in memory of their mother, Grace Cousins, a former resident who lived in the Memory Center. A memorial plaque is being made and will be hung on the wall in the Common Room.

Adelle Graves collected 18 seeds from the Dogwood tree in front of her cottage. We have them in the refrigerator for now but will see if we can actually sprout a tree in the spring.

St. Simeon's is certainly popular with the birds. Olive Specht counted seven Cardinals at her feeder at one time! That's got to be a record. She uses strictly sunflower seeds and they love it. So do the Chickadees which she also enjoys watching.

And one more bird story. Angela Jones, who works here in Housekeeping, once saw her mother, Kum Yon Jones who works in the Health Care Center, catch a humming bird in her hand! That is moving pretty darn fast.

St. Simeon's is now a tourist site. Not a day goes by that a family doesn't turn in here wanting to take their picture with Pat the Penguin - we were on the final list that came out in "The Tulsa World". Our very own Life Enrichment employee, Teresa Reno, was our artist. Pat made his/her debut at cocktail hour Friday, Jan 17^th. As soon as the paint is fully dry, it will be ready to go outside.

I bet you didn't know that we raised our own cotton at St. Simeon's. We used cottonseed hull mulch this year in the Butterfly Garden around the fountain in the Gazebo Courtyard. Well there must have been a seed

in there with all those hulls because when we cleaned out the dead plants in that area recently we uncovered a single cotton plant complete with cotton balls. Come by the Education Office for the proof!

Thanks to Jessie Hatcher, private sitter for Dolphus Schirmer, for donating some Aloe Vera plants for Roots n' Shoots. These plants multiply like crazy and he had a whole box of "babies" to share. Known as the healing plant, it is reputed to be good for burns and scrapes. Jessie can testify from personal experience how effective it is for sunburn.

Since it is too cold to go outside, Roots n' Shoots brought nature inside using two flowers famous for their fragrance. The Paperwhite Narcissus bulbs that were planted in dishes have all finished blooming but filled the indoors with their distinctive aroma. In honor of the Rose Bowl Parade, residents used Roses to create vases and corsages and then wore the corsages to our New Year's Eve Party.

From flowers to peanuts. In recognition of the birthday of George Washington Carver, Roots n' Shoots had a peanut party. After learning about the hundreds of uses Mr. Carver discovered for peanuts, they then enjoyed peanut games, peanut food (peanut butter, cookies, etc) and made peanut people pins - decorating peanuts with faces and clothes - bows for girls, ties for boys. How many of you knew that Durant (my hometown) claims to be the peanut capitol and has a huge golden peanut displayed on the front lawn of city hall?