Beacon Hill witnesses the Royal Wedding!

Would you believe? I was invited to witness the Royal Wedding! Well, not exactly in London, but on the telly in Beacon Hill at Eastgate. Nola Watherbee, a self acknowledged follower of English Royals, invited all the women from Beacon Hill to a wedding breakfast, followed by a delayed viewing of the BBC filming of the event.

So, I tied a scarf on my summer straw hat, put on the pearls that Stan gave me for our wedding, and went to the party this morning. Here I am with the wedding cake which our chef created for the event. We are hoping that he will serve it to us as dessert at this evening's dinner.

Another WZZM 13 video

Here's another video that was seen on WZZM 13 in the Grand Rapids area. I'm actually going to try embedding it into my blog on my own!!!! Peggy is sitting next to me in case I need help (and I did).

WZZM Interviews Beacon Hill's Chef

I'm out in Seattle visiting my daughter, who found this video about our chef and she's teaching me how to embed it in my blog. Better enjoy it when you read my blog today, because I may not remember how to do this when I return to Grand Rapids.

Keeping Up With the News of the World

Is it just our age, or have we always been interested in the news of the world? As we age, we worry about the future for our children and grandchildren. Life seems to be more complex and full of dangers.

At any rate, 23 residents of Beacon Hill gathered last Saturday morning for an informal discussion of current events. Of course we wanted to talk about Egypt, but other issues came up as well. There was a lot of energy for what was an honest and open conversation.

Everyone was appreciative of the opportunity to get together for discussion of serious issues and we decided to meet every Saturday morning to do this. Life at Beacon Hill at Eastgate is full of opportunities. We're happy we made the decision to live here.

Overnight at Beacon Hill

Our son came down to visit us last weekend and check out our new "digs". We reserved the guest suite for him and these photos tell a partial story of the two bedroom, two bath apartment that is currently used for guests of residents at Beacon Hill. The apartment layout is identical to ours and just two floors below us. Others in our family better get their reservations in early, because this place is a really great place to visit.

Stan and Jim played golf on the golf simulator in the Club Room. Jim was able to figure out how to program the computer so that the balls went where they were supposed to. Must have been fun because they spent several hours on it!

Super Bowl Widow - At Last!

Yesterday, the long awaited 2011 Super Bowl game was played. Residents of Beacon Hill were invited to watch it on a big screen TV in the Club Room. Not being big football fans, we didn't attend the event, but I did over hear a comment this morning from one of the women whose husband was part of the group watching the game in the Club Room. She said that for the first time in her married life she was able to spend the evening doing what she wanted to do, which did not include watching the game! I suspect there may have been other Super Bowl Widows enjoying their evenings alone as well.

By the way, those folks in the Grand Rapids metro viewing area saw a commercial featuring Beacon Hill at Eastgate during the game. Next year, national advertising anyone?

Shall We Dance?

We were entertained yesterday by a line dancing group from another Retirement Community in our city. They looked like they were having fun as they danced to a variety of songs, changing their "looks" to fit the music. Here they are dancing to a Hawaiian tune.

The question we asked ourselves was, "Would we like to do line dancing at Beacon Hill?" Many thought they would like to try it. You know, it just might help with the balance issues that many of us have.

Execising in the Community Room

We had our first exercise class this morning. Nikki, the Wellness Coordinator, put us through a series of stretches which we all agreed felt good. At least, many of the stretches were challenging, and I guess that was good for us!


We sat in chairs to do the stretches today, but next week, we'll do some while lying on the floor, also. My old yoga mat will come in handy for those exercises. I must remember to bring my water bottle next time.

Getting Acquainted

A group of residents thought it would be fun to meet in the library at Beacon Hill with our needlework projects. We did this today and pictured here are some of the women who showed up with needles and threads of various sorts.

We got acquainted as we visited while "needling". Everyone enjoyed the time together, so we decided to make it a weekly event, every Tuesday afternoon from 2-4 pm. It will be a casual gathering, just bring your needle work and prepare to make new friends as we get acquainted here at Beacon Hill.

I guess we need a name for the group. How about "The Beacon Hill Needlers"? If you have a suggestion for a better name, please leave a comment on this blog post. Maybe we'll actually get organized next Tuesday and take a vote on a name for the group!

Meeting our Neighbors at Beacon Hill

Shortly after we moved into Beacon Hill at Eastgate, Dave and Judy Carpenter moved into the apartment next door to us. I recently sat down with them to get acquainted and learned that they have two kids who must have gone to East Grand Schools at the time that our kids were there. While they have lived in the Grand Rapids area since 1965, they actually met in kindergarten in the Upper Peninsula town of Iron Mountain. When I asked Judy if Dave used to pull her pigtails, Dave said Judy chased him. I didn’t ask if she kept chasing him through the years, but evidently she caught him!
Dave started out as an attorney in the trust department of a bank and soon established a law office with a partner. Together they had a general law practice, and Dave says he did a lot of estate planning.
Judy told me that she worked as a nurse at Blodgett Hospital. Having experienced the loss of a baby before its birth, she wanted to help others through that loss. So, she founded the Resolve Through Sharing program which still exists at Blodgett Hospital. Judy is also a Master Gardener. It was perhaps Judy’s interest in gardening that led the two of them to volunteer at Meijer Gardens where Dave learned to love sculpture as well as the gardens.
Dave and Judy say they played bridge “long ago” and are hoping to take up the game again with a group of casual, forgiving bridge players. While they looked at many Retirement Communities, they chose Beacon Hill because they felt it was the most welcoming. Now that they are here, it feels like family to them.

Meeting our Neighbors at Beacon Hill

When I sat down to dinner with George Anne and Dick recently, she told me that they had moved to Beacon Hill from Greensboro, North Carolina. Since they lived so far away they were not able to attend any of the seminars and social gatherings that were held during the time that this community was being built. They had decided to move here because they have a daughter in the area. I happened to meet their daughter at one of the Beacon Hill seminars. She told her mother about my blog. George Anne said that reading this Blog helped her feel connected to Beacon Hill.

Dick retired after a 35 year career as an engineer with Dow Corning. That job took him all over the world and I imagine he has lots of stories to share. Incidentally, he is looking for a partner to play the golf simulator here at Beacon Hill. George Anne is a seamstress who used to make all of her own clothes. She came by this skill naturally as her grandfather was a tailor. She and Dick are looking forward to having the Beacon Hill bus take them to cultural events in this city.

George Anne and Dick will spend May through September at their cottage on Bass Lake near Traverse City where Dick will be on the water most of the time, fishing. I imagine that is when George Anne will enjoy reading and being Up North.

Keeping Fit at Beacon Hill

It may be cold and wintry outside, but inside Beacon Hill at Eastgate we can keep fit while using the exercise machines. Stan and I have never used fitness machines, so we met with the wellness director who showed us how to use the various machines and made a note of the settings that were right for each of us. I'm using the machines three days a week and taking 25 minute walks in the hallways on alternate days.

Here's a photo of Carol Garey, one of the residents, on the treadmill. Beyond the windows in front of her is the swimming pool. The other photo shows Stan putting in some time on a machine.

Each time that we exercise we record how many "reps" we did and the time spent on the cardio machines. After a few weeks of this, we'll be increasing the weights on the strengthening machines as well as the time spent.

Have I mentioned that the food here is really good? I justified eating tonight's yummy brownie because I did my walking this morning!