docThe Kensington Club News April 2016
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The Kensington Club News April 2016
1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Kensington Club News April 2016 Volume 6 Issue 4 The Samuel J. Gorlitz Kensington Club@Parklawn ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jewish Council for the Aging 12320 Rockville, MD 20852 (301) 255-4204 Manager: Colleen M. Kemp, CTRS ckemp@accessjca.org _____________________________________________________________________________ From the Manager’‛s Desk… We adore April at the Kensington Club@Parklawn for numerous reasons (National Humor Month, patio time once again and National Poetry Month) but the best reason of all is National Volunteer Appreciation Month. We do believe at Kensington Club, we have the BEST volunteers in the world! To give one’s time and talent month after month is invaluable. Without our volunteers, our Club would be satisfactory, but with our volunteers, our Club is STUPENDOUS. Our annual Volunteer Appreciation Breakfast will actually be agency-wide this year and held in the JCA Training Room on May 10. I think Erma Bombeck says it best, “Volunteers are the only human beings on the face of the earth who reflect this nation's compassion, unselfish caring, patience, and just plain loving one another.” If you are reading this issue as a volunteer, you will soon be receiving an invitation to KC’s Annual Volunteer Appreciation Breakfast by U.S. mail or email. This is a chance for JCA administration, staff and members to thank you for helping continue to make Kensington Club a “stupendous” place of friendship and lifelong learning. In Friendship, Colleen, Louise, Ellis, Lily, Dana, Diana, Regeana, Aurora and Wanda IMPORTANT DATES: Friday April 22: Early release for Passover Eve 1pm Friday April 29: Closed for 7th day of Passover Monday May 30: Closed for Memorial Day Happy Pesach! Gut Yomtov! Upcoming Field Trips: Happy Easter! Mon, April 4 - Bus Happy Spring Tour to see the last of the Equinox! cherry blossoms Wed, April 13 - College THANK YOU TO THE Park Aviation Museum JANIS FAMILY FOR THE GENEROUS STARBUCKS Brown Bag Lunch & Learn GIFT CARD FOR OUR NEXT Lecture “Soaring Over COMMUNITY OUTING! IT Washington.” WAS VERY MUCH APPRECIATED! 2 Why Is Kensington Club Closed for Passover? Submitted by Louise Schneider, Activity Leader The Bible mentions High Holy Days (Rosh Hashanah, & Yom Kippur) and three festivals (Sukkot, Passover, and Shavuot) on which no work may be performed by Jews. The first day and the last day of the festivals are considered holidays which is why KC will be closed on April 10th and dismiss early April 2nd. On Friday, April 2, 2015 the holiday of Passover begins in the evening because as it's written in Genesis "it was evening and then it was morning, the first day" and therefore Jewish days begin in the evening. Spring is one of the most beautiful seasons of the year with the rebirth of nature, greenery surrounding us and brilliant colors on bushes and trees welcoming this growth. It is an especially busy time for Jewish cooks to clean kitchens (as well as the rest of the house and cars) of chametz--the leavened food eaten during the rest of the year, but prohibited during Passover. The reason for its exclusion during this holiday is to remind us of the almost 300 years our ancestors were slaves in Egypt. It is incumbent on Jewish people to try our best to relate to our ancestors by refraining from eating any foods with leavened flour in order to remember our hasty exodus from Egypt during which time the dough had no time to rise and bake into bread. For more complete information about the holiday as well as laws and customs, go to www.Chabad.org. Save The Date! KC Volunteers: Please join us for the 2016 Jewish Council for the Aging Volunteer Appreciation Breakfast To Allow Us To Honor Those Who Faithfully Give Of Their Time, Their Talent and Their Caring Heart! Tuesday, May 10 8:30 - 10:30am JCA Training Room Continental Breakfast & Short Program RSVP 3 Passover Recipe Corner By Louise Schneider The following recipe is an easy way to make delicious Gefilte Fish which I came upon some years ago. It is best served chilled with horseradish. Enjoy. The Passover Seder Plate "GEFILTE FISH" By Louise Schneider 1 jar 24 ozs. Gefilte fish, drained of liquid or gel (any brand) 1 extra large egg, beaten 1 TBSP sugar 1/4 c. Matzoh meal 1/4 c. Mayonnaise (kosher for Passover) Gefilte Fish Apple Cake In medium bowl mash drained fish. Add egg, sugar, matzoh meal, and mayonnaise. Mix well. Spread into small pan and bake at 350 for 35-45 minutes or until top is lightly golden. Cool and cut into 6 appetizer sized pieces. This recipe doubles and triples well. "Florence Golden’s Apple Cake” By Pearl Lake Florence Golden, Mother of Pearl Lake, KC Volunteer, was born in the border Hungary and Czechoslovakia in June 1925. She survived the Holocaust along with her two sisters and has lived in the D.C. area since 1956. Florence always loved to cook and bake, especially for friends and family. This is her original Apple Cake recipe and is well-known and revered by all who know her. 3 Granny Smith apples, peeled and sliced thin 5 Tbsp of sugar 2 Tbsp of cinnamon 4 eggs 2 cups of sugar 1 cup of oil ¼ cup of orange juice 2 ½ tsp of vanilla 3 cups of flour 3 tsp of baking powder ½ tsp of salt Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix together apples, 5 tbs of sugar and cinnamon in a medium size bowl and set aside. Beat eggs, 2 cups of sugar, oil, orange juice and vanilla together in a large bowl until smooth. In a separate bowl, measure out and combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture in the large bowl. Beat batter until smooth. Pour ½ the batter into a greased 10 inch tube pan. Then add a layer of apple, sugar and cinnamon on top of the batter. Pour remaining batter on top of the apple mixture. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour and 20 minutes or until done. 4 CARE PARTNER CORNER Poetry Corner ~ Dana Tate, Activity Leader Haiku is a traditional form of Japanese poetry that consists of three lines. The first and last lines of a Haiku have 5 syllables and the middle line has 7 syllables. The lines rarely rhyme. Here at Kensington Club, we enjoy our monthly poetry workshops. Here’s a lovely tribute to winter that was created by our prolific KC members: JCA Dual Model Support Group for Early-Stage Memory Loss - Free! Blue ice cold stillness. Pristine snow melts in the creek. Pine branches sway. For those living with the diagnosis and their care partner…. 1st and 3rd . . . Thursdays Ingleside@King Farm 701 King Farm Blvd An acrostic is a poem in which the first letters of each line spell out a word or phrase. The word or phrase can be a name, a thing, or whatever you like. Our Monday members created a Passover acrostic to share the smells, sounds, and spirit of the holiday. Rockville For info: Call 301-255-4222 Plenty of matzoh Apples for charoset Scent of the Seder's chicken Some of us eat Gefilte fish Often recounting our history Vicariously experiencing our ancestors' slavery Eating a holiday meal Reciting the four questions 5 Transportation For KC@Parklawn and the Misler Center (located at the Misler Center) 301-468-1740 Remember that if you will not be attending KC on your scheduled day, you need to call the KC office first and then call the Transportation number at the Misler Center to let them know. Calls are taken up to 8:30 in the morning. This is the phone number for the Misler Center and it is your contact number for the JCA bus . Please call this number to add/change/cancel the JCA bus. Please call as soon as you require a change. You can leave a voicemail message if you call after hours. The messages are checked until 5pm and beginning at 8:30am the following morning. Please leave a message, speaking slowly and clearly, leaving the member’s name and the change. CANCELING/MAKING UP AT THE KENSINGTON CLUB: 301-255-4204 If you want to add a day as a makeup, you need to get approval from Colleen first, to arrange for a day that works for the Club. We have room for two members to make-up, per day when we are at full census. If you leave a message or an email after hours or on the weekend, Colleen will not get it until business hours on Monday. Please try to let her know about the change as soon as you can during the week. We strive to keep the daily attendance to 12 at KC to maintain quality programming and for safety. Thank you for helping us with this goal. TAKING THE JCA BUS 101: If you would like, JCA staff can call you to give a “heads-up - the bus is on the way call” in the morning and afternoon. Since we all know that traffic in the area can be quite a challenge, we ask that you wait for the heads-up call in the morning before going outside to wait for the bus. The most important thing is to wait for the call before proceeding to your lobby or outside. Safety is our main concern. In the afternoon, you are picked up at the Kensington Club and then your driver will pick up participants from our “sister program”, the Misler Center. Please allow time for the drivers to assist the Misler Center participants to board the bus, then your driver will continue on his/her route and return you home safely. The bus costs $5. The fee is added to the monthly dues. INCLEMENT WEATHER POLICY When the Montgomery County Schools or the Fed Government closes, Kensington Club@Parklawn is closed. If there is bad weather on a day when the schools are not in session, you can call the KC line for the latest update. If the Mont. County schools are late, we open on time. If we are in session, but you are not coming because of the weather, please call the office and the transportation switchboard to let us know. 6 “Volunteers are love in motion” Take a look at the many volunteers of kensington club! Thank you from all of us! 7 “If It’s April It Must Be Spring” By Ellis Schlossenberg, Activity Leader I n my opinion, the best thing about April is the start of the baseball season. In the year 2016, Easter falls at the end of March and Passover is a few weeks after. Both holidays almost always fall in the Spring. As a kid, (just a few years ago, say about 54 years ago, when I was 8) I always loved April because it was the start of baseball season and it was also the decline of my grades in school. Of course when you weren’t a very good student (as I was not), your grades couldn’t go down much further. Every night around 7:30 I would turn my radio on to WTOP (not all news back then and on the AM dial) and I would listen to John McLean & Dan Daniels the voice of my beloved Washington Senators. I always had high hopes for them going to the World Series but at the end of the month, you could always bring out the old saying about Washington: “First in war, first in peace and last in the American League.” Still to this day, baseball is the greatest of all sports at least to me. As a Jewish Boy, I never liked the fact that Easter and Passover usually came around the same time. I was never into the Easter Bunny or rolling eggs. I also was never into eating matzo and gefilte fish. Of course being Jewish, I did follow the holiday reluctantly (my mother said I had too) but always questioned why the Jews could not wait 10 more minutes for the bread to rise and thus their would probably be no Matzo and gefilte fish (although Louise, if you had been around then and made your gefilte fish, my opinion may be a little different). I could have enjoyed the delicious candies of Easter, like Jelly Beans, chocolate marshmallow bunnies and Chicks and Rabbits. Nowadays you can get Jelly Beans and Chicks and Rabbits year round, but of course they are loaded with sugar and no longer good for you since you are no longer a kid! However as an adult who still acts like a child at times, (contrary to what my friend Lily might say) there is a Passover candy called Marshmallow Twist, that is much better than those marshmallow bunnies and are KP (Kosher for Passover) with only 23 grams of sugar X 12 which means I shouldn’t be eating them, but I do anyway. Have a Happy Easter or Passover and a great Spring! If all goes according to my plan, my two favorite teams (and yes Lily, I can have two favorite baseball teams) the Washington Nationals (National League) and the Baltimore Orioles (American League) could very well be playing in the World Series in October. Let the warm weather and games begin. -E.S. 8 15 Reasons To Enjoy April’s Spring Arrival! by Louise Schneider March has passed by, and we at K.C.are excited about turning the calendar page to April. By this time, we hope the “snow days” have been made up and routines are back to normal. What is your favorite sign of spring? Warmer weather, lighter clothing, or maybe it’s fresh asparagus on the dinnerplate? Personally, it’s any chance to wear sandals! Below are some scientific reasons to enjoy this month. Hopefully you will agree with some or all of these. 1. TEMPERATURES ARE MODERATE Spring marks the end of blistering winter and the transitional period to scorching summer. The Earth's axis is angled between its closest and furthest position from the Sun, when temperatures are the most extreme. You can finally ditch the winter layers. 2. THERE ARE MORE HOURS IN THE DAY Following the spring equinox, when the Earth’s horizon is perfectly aligned with the Sun, the days begin lasting longer and the nights get shorter. That means you have more time in the day to get things done. 3. ALL THE ANIMALS COME BACK Many species of animals migrated south to follow their food supply during the winter. Once the spring returns, these animals do too. There is no better indicator of spring than birds chirping outside your window. 4. THERE ARE BABY ANIMALS EVERYWHERE Animals reproduce in the spring when food is plentiful. Farms are overrun with adorable chicks, bleating kids, and frolicking calves. 5. YOU’RE ACTUALLY HAPPIER Exposure to sunlight increases the hormone serotonin in your brain, which makes you feel happy. 6. YOU FEEL ENERGIZED Exposure to sunlight decreases the chemical melatonin in your body during the day and increases it at night, which helps you sleep better. 7. TREES SUDDENLY HAVE LEAVES Spring brings growth back to plants and trees. A successful spring leaf growth ensures a cool canopy to relax under during the hot summer. 8. PLANTS TURN GREEN It’s amazing what a little sunlight, moisture and warm soil can do for plants and grass. Plants convert sunlight into energy and produce the pigment chlorophyll, which turns them green. And it’s not just nice to look at—a 2012 study found. that people who saw green before a challenge came up with more creative solutions. Spring’s green plant life will hopefully do the same! 9. FRUITS AND VEGGIES ARE READY TO EAT After staying dormant all winter and conserving energy underground, many fruits and vegetables sprout in the spring. There is nothing more pleasant than eating a peach right off a tree or a string bean from the pod. 10. FLOWERS BLOOM After months spent conserving energy, colorful flowers bloom in the spring, signaling to the bees that they are ready for pollination. And science has proven that looking at buttercups can make you happy. A 2007 study found that people in yellow rooms at cocktail parties were more lively and talkative. Spring’s yellow flowers could also lift your mood. 9 15 Reasons To Enjoy April’s Spring Arrival! (continued) 11. THE SNOW IS GONE Increasing temperatures means that snow and ice will no longer plague your commute or lawn. 12. YOUR PETS SHED Pets grown extra thick fur to keep themselves warm during the winter. As messy as it can be, when pets shed their winter coats, they are lighter and more full of life. 13. NO MORE DRY AIR More moisture in the air means more precipitation in the form of rain. Sit under a metal roof during the rain for a relaxing evening. 14. YOU CAN OPEN YOUR WINDOWS With warm weather comes warm air. Open your windows to allow the breeze to refresh your home. 15. YOU CAN GET YOUR VITAMINS NATURALLY Sunlight triggers your body to produce the vitamin D3, which keeps your bones strong. The above list is courtesy of the website: http://mentalfloss.com/article/55573/15-scientific-reasons-spring-most-delightful-season _______________________________________________________________ Winter Quarterly KC “Friends & Family” Sing-a-long on February 28. Thank you to Liz Kruger and all families who joined us! Who knew we had so many great dancers at KC!? Jamaica Farewell 10 The Hora! Hokey Pokey!
