Senior Center Update

Did you get a chance to go to the Rummage Sale at the Senior Center this past weekend?  I hope so, because if you didn’t, you missed a GREAT sale!  I couldn’t believe all the items that were for sale, it was amazing.  I also couldn’t believe all the hard work the staff and volunteers did to put it all together.  They were amazing!  There were hundreds and hundreds of bargains and that’s not even including the clothing.  I think pretty much everyone who came to the sale left with a bag full of stuff!  I found a knit pattern book that had some cool sweaters.  Was perfect for me since I’m always looking for different sweater patterns to knit.  The funniest part of the sale was when Gail locked her keys in the cabinet Friday night!   Well, it wasn’t funny then, but it pretty much is now.  I wasn’t there on Sunday for “Bag” day and then the clean-up, but I heard there were some great kids from St. John’s who came to help and they did a fantastic job.  There were so many people involved to make this sale perfect!   It was yet another successful Rummage Sale–3rd year at the Senior Center.

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Have you ever heard of “flocking?” Well, I didn’t until a few weeks ago! You know those plastick pink flamingos that people put on their lawns? A few weeks ago, I was taking my father to the drs. in Natick when I noticed a house on 135 that had a ton of these flamingos on the front lawn. I thought it was pretty funny. Well, about a week later, while at a Veteran’s Celebration Committee, Ray Gendreau asked us if we knew what “frocking” was. I had no idea, so he started telling us about about this great fundraiser idea that the Historical Society was thinking of. It’s when your group buys a bunch of these plastic flamingos and people in the town pay to have these flamingos secretly put on someone’s lawn overnight. Then someone else could pay to have it done, etc. etc. He said one town that does it is Natick. I said, “Ohmigod, I SAW some the other day!!! So, that’s why they were there, that house was being frocked!” I actually thought Ray was saying “frocked” but when I heard Della say it a couple days later, it sounded more like FLOCKED!! Ahhhh, so that made more sense!! LOL!! A FLOCK of flamingos!! Anyway, to continue on….the next time I drove my father to Natick, about a week or so later, there was yet another house with these flamingos on them. So, I went back later and talked to the owner of the house to ask if I could take a picture. She started telling me all about it…this was the First Cong. Church of Natick Youth Group’s fundraiser and the kids wore pink flamingo hats and came out in the middle of the night to put these flamingos on the front lawn. She said it was different prices, depending on how many flamingo’s you ordered, etc. So, I was telling the receptionist at the drs. office about it and she happened to be from Natick…she said, “Oh yes, they’re all over the town, just this week I saw three different houses on my street with them.” Isn’t this the coolest thing? I think it was be so funny to wake up in the morning, look out your window and see a ton of plastic flamingos on your lawn. I really hope the Historical Society plans this for a fundraiser. I’m sure they’d get a LOT of business! Here’s a photo of the house in Natick:

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Has anyone out there ever eaten a fiddlehead? I was up at the center today to take some pictures of the guys playing pool, but ended up having lunch first–meatloaf–yummy! Anyway, before lunch, while a few of us were sitting in the lounge area, Barbara Sullivan came over to ask June Mackin how she cooks her fiddleheads. June said she boils them with either bacon or salt pork. “What in the heck is a fiddlehead?” I asked. I think I had heard of them before, but couldn’t remember. June explained how they were these green spiraly plant things that grew inside big leaves and they were usually found in pond marshy areas. “And you EAT them?” I asked. She said, “Of course, they are delicious.” She compared them to collard greens, spinach, etc. “Where on earth do you get them?” I wanted to know. She said her sister sends them down from Maine, but Barbara said she has them growing in her back yard. I think she said she has a pond out there. Anyway, a few other people were listening and they also said they’ve had them before and said how good they are. Hmmm. okay…..I’m not much of a spinach or collard green eater, so I bet I wouldn’t like them. Bill Mackin likes them with vinegar–you can have them, Bill! So, when I got home, I looked them up on the internet. Here’s a picture of them:

Don’t they look just lovely? Haa! I guess I’d have to eat one without looking at them, sort of like on the show Survivor. I promise though, that if I do ever get a chance, I WILL try them and then let you know.
PS…did you see the column in the Metrowest News today on the front page of the local section? It’s all about the Blog Page on Hcam! Great Job Michael Morton!

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Wednesday is a “happening” day at the Senior Center. There’s lots of cool things going on! (Hi Gail in the Thrift Shop–she said not to mention her name, so I’m letting her off easy this time!) I also told Bill M. that I was going to talk about him because he had been sick for a while and just wasn’t the same–he was too quiet. I’m so glad he’s feeling better because the old Bill is back, joking and fooling around again! Today was the Daisy Tea for the seniors, but I’ll probably write about that in next week’s column, so I’ll save it until then. Tonight was also the Lion’s Spaghetti Dinner and I’ve already heard from a few people that it was just as good as always! I bet the “Red Shirt” ladies were there too. For those of you who don’t know why they have that name, it’s because they all wear red shirts in case they spill sauce–it won’t show up. Makes sense, right? They don’t serve a full breakfast on Wednesdays anymore, but that’s okay because there’s still coffee, toast and danish, etc. Sometimes Mary even bakes something special, like today–she had made banana bread! Okay, I’ll write more later since it’s probably after 1 am. See you soon!

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I hope everyone had a nice Easter! Next important thing here in town is Marathon Day! One time a few years ago, I walked up to watch it and stood by the corrals in front of the Town Hall. The runners started and soon it slowed to just a sea of heads bobbing up and down. “Sea” is the key word here because after watching them for a few minutes, I got a real bad case of motion sickness. Can you believe it? I was so dizzy that I went into Bill’s and got a soda, thinking that might help me, but it really didn’t, so I had to go home. That’s not going to happen again! Last year, I got to watch it from the bleachers since my father was one of the five veteran’s honored and they’re allowed to bring a guest. Well, bad luck there too–it was FREEZING out!! Better than getting motion sickness though! Then there were the times I volunteered at the high school. The first year, Big Ruth, my friend Susan from Pittsburgh and I passed out water. I said, “Who in the heck is going to want water at 6:30 am?” Well, the busses arrived and thousands of runners came grabbing the cups of water–it was too funny! Then there was the year we passed out bagels—well, the boxes they came in had dust on them and even though the bagels were tightly packaged inside, we still had to wash the tops of the boxes. (If anyone from the Board of Health is reading this, don’t worry, we were all approved by the BOH after). Then one year we passed out Energy bars–we weren’t very popular at all, so we snuck back to bagels again. The runners are so appreciative–it was fun! Oh, except for the really bad sunburn part. My eyelids were even burning! I think we must have volunteered for four years because we each have one red jacket, one yellow, and two blue. Oh, and Susan got some really nice tarps to bring home–she didn’t steal them, the runners left them behind. Now it’s fun walking around the common and watching all the people. Okay, I got sidetracked, so this is one of those blogs I told you about that would have nothing to do with the Senior Center, so check the next blog and I’ll get back to the matter at hand here.

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Haaaaa, I just noticed that my little lego person on the main blog page has an “H” for Hopkinton on my shirt. I’m sitting here laughing; it’s so cute!

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Did you know we have a “Big Ruth” and a “Little Ruth” at the senior center? Ruth Ziglear had been volunteering for ages, when along came Ruth Soglia. Ruth Soglia gets picked up by the van a few days a week and spends the day at the center. After a while, when we mentioned the name Ruth, people would say, “Which Ruth?” Their last names were similar, so it was a bit confusing. Well, since Ruth Z. is taller than Ruth S., I started calling Ruth S., “Little Ruth.” The name stuck and now she’s known as “Little Ruth” by everyone. It was still a bit confusing, so Ruth Z. just became “Big Ruth.” So now you know the true and never before published story!

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This is my first time trying this–adding a photo to my blog, so I hope it works! It’s the picture of the Senior Center that I took for the front of the calendar. I’ll be back! Punky

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Hi everyone!  It’s Monday morning around 10:15 and today’s the day I’m starting a new senior center blog page on the hcam.tv website.   This will be lots of fun because  it won’t be the same as writing the actual columns for the paper; it’ll be kind of a “behind the scenes” type of writing.  Nothing fancy, just different thoughts and ideas that come to my head while I’m writing.  In fact, if you know me, you might even think, “Oh yeah, I can just picture her saying that!”  It’ll mostly be all about the senior center and things I see, people I talk to, activities that go on, etc., I can even add pictures!   I said mostly because maybe once in a while I’ll talk about something else, who knows!   You’ll never know what I’m going to say, so beware!   Ha, only kidding!   You can even add comments (hopefully all good), and I hope everyone will write something back.   Thanks to Jim Cozzens, the station manager for giving me a lesson on how to do this; hopefully I’ll get it right.   Okay, that’s it for now, I just wanted to introduce this page before I actually start writing stuff.   See you later!  Punky

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