May, 2017 Issue V April Showers bring May Flowers... Courtyard Coordinators Tina Overton, Manager manager1@courtyard-estates.net Open Healthcare Coordinator nurse@courtyard-estates.net Shana Plumbeck nurse3@courtyard-estates.net Gayla Gilliland Community Relations Coordinator community@courtyard-estates.net Stephanie Harris, Chef culinary@courtyard-estates.net Chris Wood Life Enrichment Coordinator BDLife@Courtyard-estates.net Dennis Mein Maintenance Technician If you haven't signed up for ACH yet, and want your $25..there is still time! Stop by Tina s office to get the paperwork.. We have move-in specials for May and June! Call or text Gayla (515-250-0222) for details.. Light Up the Night will be on Saturday in September If you would like to help with this event to End Alzheimer s,, See Shana in the Garden.. COURTYARD CARES About your health! Our Live 2B Healthy Exercise class is open to the public on Wednesdays. We will even pick you up and bring you home! Come early and join us for breakfast The showers of April have paid off! Is there anything more beautiful than the early flowers of May making their spring debut? April said good-bye with a hearty damp and cold exit, but we are looking forward to a warmer and brighter month ahead. Have you selected your May flowers for planting? Planned your vegetable garden? If you removed your winter s waste from your yard in April, then you should be prepared to don your planting gloves, grab those knee pads, trowel and other planting tools. Treat your lawn with eco-friendly care, and hopefully you will have a yard (and checkbook!) ready for the high school graduation tours of May. During your spare time, there are May Day baskets and Mother s Day. Still have time to fill? Build your Maypole, top it with plenty of crepe paper, get those vocal cords (and lyrics) prepared for endless versions of John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt as the kids weave the pole until the crepe paper strips have reached the bottom. EARN 3 CYE BUCKS: From what country did John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt originate? Return your answer to Chris and earn your Bucks! (HINT: Dudley DoRight) Were you able to get to your loved ones apartment to do spring cleaning? BONDURANT S CLEAN-UP DAY IS SATURDAY, MAY 20 8AM TO 6PM. If you have large items you would like removed from your loved one s room, then you must have it ready to go by Noon, Friday May 19th. If you miss this annual clean-up date, it will be your responsibility to take care of it unless you have made prior arrangements with me. We have a great May line-up planned for you. Be On the Look Out for ways to earn Courtyard Bucks this month, including games in this newsletter. Hold on to your bucks - we made changes to the Country Store and added some new gifts beginning in May, after our Grand Opening. (We did have an April goal, but sometimes the best intentions require adjustment). It will be worth the wait - stay tune! Tina Overton
Gayla Gilliland Community Relations Coordinator Courtyard Estates-Pleasant Hill and Bondurant 515-250-0222 Help spread the news It s that time of year to show your support to end Alzheimer s. Courtyard Estates is going to Paint the Town Purple on on the longest day of the year, June 21 st, to kick off our awareness and fundraising campaign to help find a cure for Alzheimer s. It is the 6 th leading cause of death in Iowa. Join us in Painting the Town Purple with information about our upcoming events to help increase awareness and raise funds to find a cure for Alzheimer's. I will have more information as we get closer to the date. If you can t join us on this day, create your own longest day event. About The Longest Day. The Longest Day is all about love. Love for all those affected by Alzheimer's disease. On the summer solstice, team up with the Alzheimer s Association and select an activity you love or an activity loved by those affected to help end Alzheimer s. Together, we will raise funds and awareness for care and support while advancing research toward the first survivor of Alzheimer s-alz Association. Gayla Gilliland Go to the Alzheimer s website to learn more about how to plan your longest day event. www.alz.org
NATIONAL BRAIN MONTH May is national brain month and there are many ways to help exercise and save our brain. Healthy eating and exercise is the starting point not only for our bodies, but for our brains as well. Simple thing like brushing our teeth with the other hand, getting dressed one day from the bottom up, then the next day the top down. Playing with board games, cards, dominos and participating in adult coloring. These are excellent ways to exercise our brains. Simple thoughts of Gratitude and Appreciation helps to keep our brain healthy. Negativity shrinks the temporal lobe (learning and memory) and the cerebellum (coordination). Where you bring your attention determines how you feel and how your brain performs. If you think positive thoughts, it can result in feeling great. Start with when you get out of bed in the morning. Practice the following to start your day on a happy note: Say to yourself, Today is a GREAT day! I am grateful for. (fill in the blank) One person I am grateful for in my life is. (fill in the blank) Do this for yourself! The good news is that it s never too early or too late to have a better brain and a better life! CONTEST CONTEST FOR OUR TROOPS CONTEST CONTEST Beginning in May, we are collecting pop tops of any size, such as pop can, cans of soup, fruits & veggies. We are also collecting MANUFACTURER S only coupons from the newspaper, shopper s magazines, etc. We are competing with other buildings for the total amounts at face value of the coupons. We will be colleting until November. Our troops will be reimbursed for the face amount total of all the coupons collected. No need to cut them out! Our friends in the Garden will be participating by helping us cut them out and packaging them. I will have a box where you can place the MANUFACTURER S only coupons. Let s show our troops at Courtyard Estates - We Care! Chris Wood
AUNT MARY S EASTER BREAD RECIPE Jackie Comito made (and delivered to us from Ames) Easter bread for us to eat on Easter morning. There have been requests for the recipe. This is not an easy bread recipe to make. If you have made bread before, it won t be as difficult to make. We have made Easter bread for years with Aunt Mary and it was more than bread for us, it is the gift and memories she gave us every Holy Saturday when we made this bread with her. She was a baker unlike any other, and instilled in us a love for baking. She was 92 when she passed away; but to us she never aged. She used to tell us it was her body that got old, but inside, she was still young. How true. Thank you Jackie, for this gift of life, the bread of life and the Risen Christ, and keeping this tradition alive. 1 package (1 tbls) active dry yeast 1/4-cup water 1-cup milk, scalded (can make one 1/2 cup half-n-half and ½ milk. 1/2 cup softened butter 2 beaten eggs Lemon or orange zest 4 1/2 to 5 cups all purpose flour 1/2-cup sugar 2-teaspoon salt 2 teaspoons grated lemon (or orange or both) peel Sugar Glaze Soften dry yeast in warm water. Combine milk, sugar, salt, and butter (melt butter in scalded milk). Cool until lukewarm (so as not to kill the yeast). (Add eggs when milk is ready.) Stir in about 2 cups of the flour (mix dry ingredients in a large bowl first). Stir in softened yeast. Add lemon (or orange) zest before adding the remaining flour to make soft dough. Turn out on a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic (about 8 to 10 minutes). Place in a lightly greased bowl, turning once to grease surface. BLESS THE BREAD BY MAKING A CROSS WITH THE SIDE OF YOUR PALM. (Aunt Mary always blesses any bread recipe she makes) (heat oven a little bit first to make the over warm, turn it off and then but the bowl in the oven. A metal bowl works best). Cover with a wet towel and let rise in a warm place until double (about 1-1/2 hours. If you use rapid rise yeast it will raise faster). Punch down in the middle once. Divide the dough in half and roll the dough into 2 balls, one for each loaf. Cover and let rest for 10 minutes. For each loaf: Divide one of the balls in thirds. Shape parts into strands 12 inches long, tapering the ends. Line up the strands 1 inch apart on a lightly greased baking sheet. Braid loosely without stretching the dough, beginning in the middle, and working toward the ends. Seal the ends well or they will come apart. (Aunt Mary does this process on the table instead and then moves the braided loaf to a baking sheet that has been cover with corn meal to prevent sticking. Once on the baking sheet, add uncooked dyed eggs in different colors. You do this by gently creating a gap in different places in the braid. Be careful not to press egg too hard and break it on the bread.) Repeat the process with second dough ball. Cover and let rise again in a warm place until double. (Brush both loaves completely with an egg white wash.) Bake in moderate oven (350º) about 25 to 30 minutes (depending on size of loaf). DO NOT OVERBAKE) While warm, spread with Sugar Glaze. This recipe makes 2 large braided loaves. Sugar Glaze: Two 2 cups sifted confectioners (powdered) sugar, add 1/4-cup hot water and 1 teaspoon soft, not melted, butter; mix until well blended. Thin the glaze with a teaspoon or so more hot water to drizzle over warm Easter Bread. Easter bread is a religious Italian tradition made on Holy Saturday and delivered to friends and family and eaten Easter Morning. It represents new life (eggs) bread of life and the risen Christ. The tradition goes back centuries. It is never made on Good Friday.
HOW OUR GARDEN GROWS Brain Works Conference Dr Allen Powers - Dementia Beyond Disease - Enhancing Well-Being The Brain Works Conference was filled with so much information, I thought I would provide to you the salient points from Dr. Allen Powers, who emphasizes enhancing well-being as a primary goal for those who have dementia/ Alzheimer's illnesses. To fully understand this approach, he poses these questions: If the time should come when you could no longer speak for yourself, what are two to three important things you would want others to know about you? What gives YOU a sense of well-being? *The Eden Alternative Domains of Well-Being Adapted from FOX et al (2005 White Paper) Shana Plumbeck
MARG, HER RED NOSE AND THE FLOWER QUIZ! MARG remembered National Red Nose Day and stopped to take a pose in her Red Nose. The Flower Quiz is T/F and Multiple Choice. SIGN YOUR NAME ON THE BACK! Complete the quiz & return it to Marg for 3 CYE bucks. Marg, as the Keeper of the Bucks for this quiz, gets an EXTRA 2 bucks just because..(she IS helping!)