United Presbyterian Home News:

January hails as National Puzzle Month including the National Puzzle Day held on January 29. It makes sense that a winter month would be designated as puzzle month with inclement weather and freezing temperatures conducive to more indoor activities and time to work the mind with crosswords, jigsaws, trivia, Sudoku, word searches and brain teasers. Many residents at the United Presbyterian Home are addicted to puzzles all year long. Stanley Burkholder has a puzzle going at all times and finds that it is a good way to pass the time. Gertie Loder has her own little puzzle niche set up and a communal jigsaw puzzle is always in process near the Town Center where regulars, Betty Beenblossom, Jean Cousins, Jim Davison, Dave Henderson, Mary Oviatt, Mary Schantz and others stop by each day to add a few pieces or sometimes many pieces depending on the day. Numerous puzzles provide great mind exercise.

Mary Redlinger enjoys a colorful bouquet of flowers delivered to her for no reason. Mary reports that her son, Matt often times sends her flowers for no other reason than just to say, 'thinking of you.” Mary raised a thoughtful family.

Andrew Zuehlke has stated a new book study based upon A. W. Tozer's book entitled The Pursuit of God. According to Wikipedia, Tozer converted to Christianity as a teenager in Akron, Ohio: while on his way home from work at a tire company, he overheard a street preacher say, 'If you don't know how to be saved ... just call on God, saying, ‘Lord, be merciful to me a sinner.'” Upon returning home, he climbed into the attic and heeded the preacher's advice. In 1919, five years after his conversion and without formal education in Christian theology, Tozer accepted an offer to serve as pastor of his first church. That began 44 years of ministry associated with the Christian and Missionary Alliance, a Protestant Evangelical denomination. He later ministered to churches in Chicago, Illinois and Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Born into poverty, Tozer was self-educated and taught himself what he missed in high school and university. Among the more than 60 books that bear his name, most of which were compiled after his death from sermons he preached and articles he wrote, at least two are regarded as Christian classics: The Pursuit of God and The Knowledge of the Holy. Many of his books impress on the reader the possibility and necessity for a deeper relationship with God. Andrew's book study is open to the public with the next meeting on Friday, February 7, 2020 beginning at 10 a.m. in Stewart Hall.

Classics Et Cetera for January 23, 2020 included the overture to 'The Night Camp in Granada” by Conradin Kruetzer; 'The Dying Poet” by Louis Moreau Gottschalk; the Prologue from 'Pagliacci” by Ruggiero Leoncavallo; Preamble from 'Scènes de Ballet Suite” by Alexander Glazunov; 'Funeral March of a Marionette” by Charles Gounod; 1st Movement of Symphony No. 88 by Franz Joseph Haydn; 'World Events,” march by J. S. Zamecnik.

The opera 'Pagliacci” ('Clowns”) by Ruggiero Leoncavallo (1857-1919) is introduced by a Prologue sung by the character Tonio, a clown played by a baritone. Tonio's part is considerably smaller than the tenor's part, the clown Canio. The original baritone in 1892 asked Leoncavallo to change the opera's title from the original 'Il Pagliacco” ('The Clown”) to its plural form, 'Pagliacci,” so as to include his character in the title, making his smaller role in the opera seem more significant. 'Pagliacci” is by far Leoncavallo's most popular work.