Senior Living at Country Meadows Retirement Communities
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June 5, 2018

There is so much more to do at Country Meadows than play Bingo. MUCH, much more!

Several months ago, when I first considered coming to Country Meadows, several of my friends questioned my sanity. They said such things as “Why would you want to go to a place where old people live? You’ll probably be bored and not have anything to do except watch television and sleep all day.”

Residents enjoy learning to make new things such as pottery.

Boy, have I fooled them? I’m overwhelmed with the variety of activities and programs we have here at Country Meadows and will try to share some of them with you.

It began my first evening here— after dinner one of the residents sighed, slowly removed herself from the dinner table and said, “Well, there’s nothing to do so I guess I’ll go back to my apartment and read a book, maybe watch some TV and go to bed.”

Uh oh – maybe my friends were right— there is nothing to do. I asked if there was a program or movie or something, but the answer was “No – nothing!”

Celebrations of culture are common at Country Meadows, including playing African djembe drums in drum circles and special events.

I had brought several videos with me, and found many more in the library. Why not see a movie at least once a week? I approached our Community Life director with the idea, and she agreed to give it a try. We decided that Friday night right after dinner would be a good time, and promoted “Let’s Go to the Movies with Judy.” The first movie night only three residents showed up, and I felt a bit discouraged. The second Friday three more came, and gradually the attendance grew until now, every Friday night, we have anywhere from 12 to 15 movie goers, with new ones showing up on occasion. It’s gratifying to hear the comments at the end of the movie: “I saw that years ago and forgot all about it.” “I liked it the second time around.” “Thanks for showing it again.” I think I’ve managed to provide something many residents enjoy.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the wonderful LIVE entertainment that comes to us—singers, dancers, speakers, artists, musicians, authors—and we don’t have to buy tickets for the shows! Now, how great is that?

We get to be creative, too, and there are several art/craft classes on the community calendar like ceramics, beaded decorative bottles, color me calm and oil painting.

Many of the activities help us make our brains work – besides our bodies (as in exercises). When I first heard about the Daily Cranium Crunch, I was a bit concerned! I didn’t want my brain squashed! But I soon learned that those were daily various forms of paper puzzles–pretty tricky and I had to work hard at most of them. (I’m happy to report that I’m getting better at doing them.) And I must admit I’m thinking and able to solve problems better.

A residents holds a tarantula during a presentation by a bug expert.

Other mind activities are “Word in A Word,” iPad brain teasers, book club, trivia time, news currents and Scrabble. Have you ever heard of Banagrams? Or Jingo? Now I have.

Country Meadows has many daytime activities and games —most were foreign to me but each draws a crowd. Of course Bingo is the biggest contender, although I don’t engage in that game, I thoroughly enjoying watching the intense look on the faces of the players. And nothing surpasses the happy looks of a winner who yells out BINGO!

Besides games using cards, there are several fun things to play – balloon volleyball, Wii® bowling, progressive bingo, bocce ball, greed dice game, checkers, chess, corn hole, billiards, dominoes, putt-putt golf and even croquet!

And as if that weren’t enough, we also have onsite fitness centers to take exercise classes, have personal training sessions and gather for fun physical activities.

So, do you get the picture? Could someone be bored with all of these options of things to do? I suppose that could happen, depending on the person. The biggest problem, though, is making choices and decisions. A person could run from one activity to another and get worn out! But it’s fun to try different ones and decide what you like to do best!

Whew! Give it a go – try some of the things listed – you might find something new and different to do. If nothing appeals to you, get a friend and make up a new activity or program. Let me know what you do and I’ll pass it on.

Whatever you choose to do – have fun!


Judy Wolfman / Resident Author

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