Aging Well in the Gorge January 24th 2017

This is a time when I wish I was spry enough to do cartwheels! Because thirty years after the Center was built; and eight years since funds were first raised to remodel the Center, it’s celebration time. Why? Because with the Building Permit taped to the front window, Jeff Cochenour and his team will start construction to install the elevator this week. And that’s exciting!

The first stage is to frame in the new addition to the front of the building, north of the entrance. This will be the new space for the NU-2-U Shop which is being displaced by the elevator.

This will include removing the snow in front of the Center - which should be completed by the time you read this; laying the concrete for the foundation of the new addition - which should start on Wednesday; and leveling the exterior walkway that borders the front of the Center and goes to the stairs – which could occur as early as February 1^st.

But to accommodate this construction, we will need to make several adjustments. There will be the temporary loss of three parking spaces to the north of the entrance; and the exterior stairway to the downstairs will be blocked off forcing anyone who wants to enter the downstairs to use the lower parking area and entrances at the back of the Center.

I will post signs showing how to navigate around the construction and the best way to get downstairs. But please watch out for the workers and equipment.

Joan Silver, who has done an outstanding job as chairperson of the project, will be providing updates which I will email out to everyone on the Center’s email list. If you want to receive the updates electronically, email me and I will make sure you are on the list.

I know these changes are inconvenient for all of us – I’ll be getting in more steps during this time.  But we ask for your patience as we do our very best to keep the inconveniences to a minimum.

And hopefully by May, we will be able to celebrate again when the elevator is operational and the downstairs is then easily accessible to everyone.

I imagine many of you watched or listened to the Presidential Inauguration with either excitement or despair. But there is no argument, big changes were promised. And I suggest we all keep a watchful eye on the legislative proposals that emerge to make sure there will be adequate funding for services to protect and support older adults, particularly the most vulnerable, as well as our children when they reach their retirement age.

Last Tuesday, the weather was better, but wasn’t good enough to ask the Simcoe Boys to drive all the way from Goldendale. But the long-range forecast doesn’t show any precipitation, although it still won’t get much above freezing. So, the weather shouldn’t be your excuse for missing the Center’s Tuesday Night Music on January 31^st. But there is a problem. I’m not sure who’s playing. But there will be somebody, so you and your partner can warm yourselves up on the dance floor. Doors open at 6:00, music starts at 6:30 and donations are appreciated.

Continuing the countdown of “40 Great Things about Growing Older”. # 14 – You’ve mellowed like a fine wine. Or as Rose Kennedy once said, “I'm like old wine. They don't bring me out very often - but I'm well preserved.”

It was in the 1942 movie Casablanca that Humphrey Bogart said "Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine." (The winners of a quilt raffle ticket each are Caroline Wood, Lucille Stephens and Sandy Haechrel.)

For this second week of movie quotes, it’s another Humphrey Bogart quote, but I hope more challenging than last week’s. (We’ll see how many answers I receive this time.) So, for this week’s “Remember When” question, in what movie did Humphrey Bogart say "If there's anything in the world I hate, it's leeches - filthy little devils!"? Email your answer to www.mcseniorcenter@gmail.com, leave a message at 541-296-4788 or have two Methodist missionaries deliver it.

Well, it’s been another week, feeling like a bear looking for a cave to hibernate. Until we meet again, don’t let one bad day ruin your whole week.

"When I was young, I loved summer and hated winter. When I got older I loved winter and hated summer. Now that I'm even older, and wiser, I hate both summer and winter."

Jarod Kintz