A Few of the December Collington Events…

Contributed by Marian Fuchs

December is one of our community’s busiest months.  In the past handful of days, for instance, we’ve had the following three memorable events:

A Taste of the Holidays – a special event put on by Kim Rivers, our Vitalize 360 coach, the Culinary Services team and Corinne Pearce, our dietician.

The purpose was to present residents with healthy options for party food for the holidays.  In addition to a range of foods and a punch drink, there were talks and printed information and some useful recipes.  Some 60 – 70 residents attended.

Here are Kim, Corinne, and three of the ‘healthy nibbles’: endives with walnuts and blue cheese, crispy spiced chickpeas and a Margherita Flatbread from the Landing.

A Talk about a Lovely Boat Collection

 Sue Regen talked to a group of about 30 residents about the charming collection of boats from around the world that she and her husband Rich and their families had collected over the years.  This collection has been delighting viewers for many weeks now.

Here are Sue, Rich, and a tiny part of their collection.

 

 

 

MaCCRA Meeting with Collington’s Local Government Representatives

 Lorrie Rogers, Collington’s MCCRA leader, organized this meeting, introducing our four representatives.  They are State Senator Joann Benson, and State Representatives Erek Barron, Jazz Lewis and Andrea Harrison, shown below.

Each representative spoke about their priorities for the coming session, and answered audience questions.  The newest representative, Andrea Harrison said the least, stressing that she was on a learning curve and would have to read bills and talk to others before making pronouncements.  All the others shared progressive agendas, with plans to try to craft bills and win support for all of the following:

  • tackling the unreasonably steep rise in the cost of some prescription drugs
  • Education funding, especially for school construction and maintenance
  • Cutting health care costs, by e.g. cutting out middlemen, and advocating for a State-wide individual mandate for the Affordable Care Act.
  • Making a dent in opioid addiction, by e.g. strengthening the legal uses of the existing database on overdoses
  • Treating substance abuse in jail, seeking to build on a successful project underway in Rhode Island
  • Making major changes to the juvenile justice system in Maryland
  • Reducing the use of solitary confinement in prison in place of mental health treatment
  • Making efforts to reduce drunk driving in Maryland by strengthening the existing NOAH program
  • Providing tax incentives to lure one or more grocery stores to the ‘food desert’ in the part of the country inside the Beltway.
  • Capping the premiums on long term care insurance policies.

This was a lively and informative meeting, with much goodwill between audience and speakers.  Thanks to Lorrie Rogers, this was the third visit to Collington of this group, which augers well for future good relations with our representatives.

Memorial Day Weekend – The Collington Way

By Marian Fuchs and Lois Brown

regatta
There was more wind this year and more action in the five-boat regatta on the Collington Lake on the Saturday of Memorial Weekend 2018.  The crowd enthusiastically cheered or groaned as the sturdy little boats made their rounds. Meanwhile, hamburgers, hotdogs, and trimmings were available to bolster spectators’ energies.  Cluster 1000’s boat, the Priscilla, skippered by Dick Garrison, came in first.  He received the trophy that evening at the Commodore’s Ball.
The Ball was to have started with cocktails and canapes in the courtyard, but fearing the predicted downpours (which in fact never came), the goodies were on offer in the Clocktower and corridors instead.  Much-praised raw oysters, shrimp, and other offerings were enjoyed to the background of the Kollington Katz doing their thing.  Their ‘thing’ is getting better and better with every performance — some attendees couldn’t resist the chance to start dancing early.
Katz
Ball-goers moved to the auditorium for a scallops appetizer, lobster-tail and steak entree, and a hand-made fruit tart dessert.   Wine was flowing, inhibitions lowering, and the eight Big Band players attracted dancers right away.   The best dancers of the night were by no means the youngest, but were certainly the most fun to watch. A very good start to the Memorial Weekend was had by all, including the foot-tapping servers!
dancers
As Memorial Day approached Collington became more serious. Sunday afternoon, Jessica Bateman on flute and Sherry Anaveson on piano presented their program “A Tempo.” The audience was moved by the patriotic, spiritual, and classical music. During “The Armed Forces Salute” Ms. Bateman gave her piccolo a real work out. The audience showed their appreciation as they stood for their branch of service.


Memorial Day brought Collington’s own unique service. Mary Ann Pellerin, in honor of her mother, has constructed our own “Memorial Wall” of remembrance. Going back to 1988, by year, the names of those late Collingtonians are written with their date of death.

The service included prayers and music and concluded with the naming out loud of Collingtonians who passed from January 2017 through May 2018. The audience then added other loved ones to the recital. Taps was played and the service concluded with a benediction.

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The weekend ended on a high note with a Memorial Day brunch prepared and served by our dedicated culinary staff and enjoyed by residents, friends, and family.