Patchwork ...a work in progress!

 

Sheila and Di brought the patchwork in to show me today- its still a 'work in progress' but it is looking stunning.  it was the residents' idea to use octagonal shapes (which is really tricky) and now its all tacked together the next stage is sewing it all together!  the girls hope to have it finished in time for the summer garden party (craft stall) fingers crossed...

WELCOME BACK NIKITA!

Nikita's first day back at work after maternity leave; everyone was pleased to see her and it was almost like she had never been away!

sorry about the photo Nikita I was trying to find one with you and baby Evie.... still looking!

Monday -another busy start to the week

Monday started with interview panel - residents and senior staff interview prospective new staff and today we had applicants for carer and kitchen positions. marie, phyl and Eileen made up the panel this morning and peggy joined this afternoon in place of Eileen who was busy

Elizabeth and joan came to entertain residents in the library - over coffee, they recite poetry and read favourite passages and anecdotes - lots of laughter could be heard this morning...denis, marise, mary p and others, enjoy this fun start to the week.

 

mary f was out shopping and lunch with jenny and roy, and susan took communion.  ive been taking lots of photo's today of the garden - the mosaics were done by some of the residents a few months ago and I thought they would look nice along the wall.  Julian has put out some old butler sinks for residents to plant up with flowers - patty has decided on hers and we need to go to the garden centre soon to buy them.

 

after lunch, peggy continued to work on her collage (sorry no photo yet) patty got to work on her colouring and marise, mary and phyl came in for a chat.  Eileen is helping to sort out the library and we have made some progress today...then Lucille arrived to water her pots!  the water butt is full at the moment and makes life easier to fill the watering cans.

Garden chores

Marise braves the cold!

!

brave marise agreed to pose on the patio so I could show her the photo on the blog instantly- she is well impressed!

 

The sun has gone in...

And so have the residents!

 

Patty keeping awake

Here is party doing some colouring to keep her awake she says - its been a busy day!

Just testing

We now have an iPod and this is an experiment ...to see how easy it is to update the blog! this is a picture of my laptop, with essential supplies to keep me going!

 

the ipod was a prize from SIMPLY UNITE to Mount Ephraim House for winning 'HOME OF THE YEAR' award and its only taken me about 6 weeks to get the hang of it!  we can take photos of the residents and instantly send them to their relatives too... if you have an ipod/ipad or iphone..let us know and we can send photos etc directly to you.

all aboard....

...on the Kingfisher;

perfect day for a trip on the river.
today it was the turn of Lucille,Joan, Doreen,Hester, Eileen and Sheila b
plus mary, di and Sheila and Hilary, with help from Joan & Doreen's daughters'
the crew supplied the tea and Sheila and Di brought homemade cakes!

au revoir to vera...

vera's last day today, after a week of respite care - her cousin came to collect her and brought in her little dog, Millie, to meet everyone.  while vera said her goodbyes, patty was left charge of millie, which i think she was very happy about!

hoping that vera will return soon, as a 'day girl' - she will be missed by the residents at meh, having settled in well and made a lasting impression!

above, patty in charge of millie, phyl coming to help, vera departing (with her bill !)

fun in the sun

these photos were taken yesterday, when we had a heatwave and some of our more adventurous residents came outside!  jean and helen, chatting together on the bench, vera striking a pose (whilst knitting) eileen concentrating on her knitting and mary enjoying a snuzzle with thomas the PAT dog, brought in each week by volunteer Pam.

after lunch, mary enjoyed a game of scrabble with christine.

 

 

friday bingo, and marise very much into her art!

anne and her daughter enjoying the sunshine..

knit and natter...

new group started yesterday- inspired by marie (she couldnt join us today) to get the 'knitters' together.  we are making squares to sew into blankets to sell at the summer garden party.  new lady vera pictured here with eileen, mary and her friend who was visiting today.

              Happy birthday Karen!

We welcome Karen back and wish her a very happy birthday.
Residents and staff sang happy birthday to Karen and enjoyed a lovely  birthday cake made by Daniel together.

hobbycraft re-visited

following a successful visit last year to hobbycraft in tunbridge wells, we decided to arrange another trip, this time with ann, iris, jean, who hadn't been before, and marie and marise who enjoyed it so much last time they wanted to return.

manager Louise, made sure the residents had a very creative time and helped everyone individually to achieve a work of art to bring home!

 

and here are the finished works of art which we shall not only display but make copies of and use to make more greeting cards.

certificates for the 'walkers'

during lunch today, the residents and staff who took part in the sponsored walk on saturday, were presented with a Certificate (hand written by patty) in recognition of their contribution to meh fund raising.

SPONSORED WALK 2013

 

a good turnout of staff, residents and supporters (some in fancy dress!!) for the annual sponsored walk, a Greensleeves Head Office initiative which sees all 17 homes in the group taking part on the same day. pictured here: Tim and his grandson, heidi (aka Alice) Karen (queen of hearts) Gary (white rabbit) sheila, helen, jean, hilary(the knave) marjorie, diana, jenny and family and Philip.

the group walked across the common to the Pantiles, and raised nearly £50 in their buckets with sponsor money to come!  well done everyone who took part and thankyou to all who donated.

along the way, the group bumped into local celebrity Rosemary Shrager, who was happy to pose with the 'white rabbit'- we have invited her to our summer fayre in july....!

after all that walking, it was back to MEH for tea and home-made cakes, courtesy of the lovely Jenny.

peggy 'picasso'

lovely afternoon, chance to put up our new parasol!  tried to encourage the residents to join us on the patio for some sun and fresh air... but while some were happy to watch a film in the lounge, peggy, lucille, eileen and patty were the only ones brave enough to come outside! we were joined by some of the staff, had tea and chocolate biscuits and  peggy  surprised herself by trying some 'modern' art - we framed one piece and started a collage from her original canvas- a work in progress! 

the sun is going down now and peggy has gone along to the salon to have her hair done! lucille offered to wash up the tea cups and patty has gone to watch 'pointless'

end of a perfect day

 

 

 

tuesday treats

 

 

after a busy morning of 'keeping fit' with sue,

lilo sits down with jean to share some time colouring - a very therapeutic exercise - patty certainly thinks so!

eileen starts on a new puzzle - 500 pieces but my goodness its a challenge!
ann had some dear friends visit....

and

the ladies in the lounge enjoyed a relaxing afternoon!

happy birthday Peggy & Marise

may 13th - two birthday girls... Peggy who celebrated at MEH today and Marise who has gone to Eastbourne for the week with relatives and missed out on her cake!

these gorgeous flowers arrived for Marise today; we will have to keep them in water and look after them until she returns from holiday!  maybe her hosts will check the blog!

encaustic art...

just thought i would show the 'encaustic' artwork produced by our residents last saturday, with the help of sheila and di.  really fun art pieces, may be made into greeting cards,,,