UP Home hosted guests from Africa

Ted Stewart entertained five gests from Africa over the holidays. They all arrived on Dec. 18, 2018. Ted's adopted son, Herbert, his wife Patricia, and his 2-year-old grandson Theo stayed with Ted in his cottage. Ted's former student, Thoko and his wife Watipa, spent nights in Gwen Ying's cottage. All five ate most meals with Ted. Ted and his guests spent a day visiting Abraham Lincoln sites in Springfield, Illinois. Thoko and Watipa went back to New Jersey Dec. 30, 2018 and Thoko began working again at Pfizer headquarters in New York City. Herbert, Patricia and Little Theo stayed until Jan. 12, 2019. Then they flew back to New Jersey, where Herbert is attending Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken.

Nine very active people participated in the inaugural Cardio Conditioning Class Thursday to sweat it out while getting in shape. This class uses various pieces of exercise equipment including the treadmill, elliptical, NuStep and indoor walking track to raise their heart rate and condition their cardiovascular system in the process.

Eleven residents gathered for Saturday movie night to watch Forrest Gump starring Tom Hanks and winner of six Academy Awards. This 1994 film outlines the life and simple innocence of Forrest which appeals to all generations with his life's lessons and famous quotes such as: 'Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get.”

The United Presbyterian Home Wellness Center hosted a Mississippi Valley Blood Drive Monday, Jan. 14, 2019 with the coordination of Amy Kleese and Stefanie Tschantz. Fifteen units of blood were collected which has the ability to improve the lives of up to 60 patients in Washington County and the surrounding region. There was one first-time donor, which is critically important to the continued sustainability of the community blood supply. It was a super way for UPH staff members to give back to the community and add to the much-needed blood supply which is in short supply following the holidays and cold weather.

Classics Et Cetera for Jan. 17, 2019 included the overture to 'The Flying Dutchman” by Richard Wagner; 'Chanson triste” by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky; 'Åse's Death” from 'Peer Gynt Suite No. 1” by Edvard Grieg; 'Saltarello” by Henri Wieniawski; 'The Junk Man Rag” by Charles Luckyth ('Luckey”) Roberts; first third of'Gaîté Parisienne” by Jacques Offenbach, arranged by Manuel Rosenthal; 'The Children's March” by Edwin Franko Goldman.

In his later years Jacques Offenbach (1819-1880) found his mission in life: writing operettas. The music he wrote in his 97 operettas is delightful, happy and irreverent, culminating in the cancan. Sadly, however, even his most successful operettas are seldom produced today. Not to worry! An obscure French composer, Manuel Rosenthal (1904-2003), chose selections from seven of Offenbach's operettas and his single opera and arranged it into a 40-minute ballet called 'Gaîté Parisienne,” thereby saving Offenbach's wonderful music for posterity. 'The ballet's plot is silly,” wrote one critic, but who cares when it's the music that is so important.