Richmond Manor News | December 2022

By Doris Beck on November 28, 2022 in Richmond Manor News

wHope everyone had a great Thanksgiving, we did. Ours was very quiet and laid back. Now it is time to get ready for the big one. The month will be busy with all kinds of events and celebrations. There are even predictions for some snow, maybe we will have a “White Christmas” unusual for us but would be nice, but I would still prefer it to stay up in the mountains.

Traveling Neighbors

Seems Hawaii is a popular destination to get some sunshine, Kaare and Laurie have been there recently and Donna last month.

Edy recently traveled to New Orleans to attend the American Speech and Hearing Association annual convention. While she was there, she was awarded the Frank R. Kleffner Lifetime Clinical Career Award.

Frank R.Kleffner Lifetime Clinical Career Award
Edith A. Strand, Mayo Clinic (Minnesota): University of Washington

Strand has more than three decades of exemplary service as a clinical practitioner, researcher, and educator. A world-renowned expert in neurogenic speech disorders, she has advanced clinical practice in the areas of dysarthria, progressive apraxia, and childhood apraxia of speech.

At the University of Washington, Strand established a clinically oriented research program to study acquired and developmental motor speech disorders while providing intervention services. As a consultant and professor for 15 years at the Mayo Clinic, Strand served 850-1,000 patients annually, and her treatment program for children with severe apraxia of speech attracted families from around the world. Her groundbreaking work has advanced treatment for motor speech disorders—she created the evidence-based Dynamic Evaluation of Motor Speech Skills to diagnose childhood apraxia of speech and developed the Dynamic Temporal and Tactile Curing technique to treat it. In a career dedicated to education, she taught more than 200 courses to practicing clinicians and taught and mentored students from undergraduates to medical residents. Strand’s lifetime of clinical service and research has advanced neurogenic communication treatments, improved the lives of patients and their families, and created a legacy for future clinicians.

Submitted by David

Both Helen and Sherri and Bill Manson are also being snowbirds for a while spending time in California.

Book club meeting at Carole’s unit, we talked about The Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead. There some who liked the book and some that expressed it wasn’t their favorite. Carole put out a spread of food that looked like it came from a very good caterer, it was not only beautiful, but very tasty. We were all very impressed. Our next Book Club get together will be on Jan 9^th at Cheri’s, #213. We are skipping Dec. because of everyone’s schedule during this time of year. We will be chatting about a couple of books; An Elderly Lady is up to no Good and An Elderly Lady must Not be Crossed by Helene Tursten. Let Cheri know if you’re going to attend.

Annual Christmas Party

Hope you already to have a good time at our annual Christmas party. Best be hungry because we usually have an abundant of wonderful food to enjoy. Again, the date is Dec. 4^th starting about 5:00 Pm and going to whenever. See you in the Book nook. We will have a couple of signup sheets out, one on the 3^rd floor meeting room window and one on the Book nook window.

Recipe Dejour

Ammonia cookies

These cookies are a bit unusual; the recipe uses neither baking soda nor baking powder as a leveler. The baking ammonia is ammonia Bicarbonate, it was used as the primary leavening agent bakers used before the advent of baking soda or baking powder in the 19^th century. It is often used in European and Middle Eastern cookies.

Preheat oven 350 F.

Ingredients
½ C Crisco
½ C salted butter
2 C Powder sugar
2 tsp baking ammonia
2 T. boiling water
2 ¾ C flour
1 C coconut

Mix Crisco and butter at high speed until it is fluffy. Add the sifted powder sugar at medium speed. Dissolve ammonia in boiling water. Add flour and water/ammonia mixture and coconut into the mixer. The mixture will look a bit dry, but it will be fine when you roll them into a ball the size of a large marble or cherry tomato. Place on a cookie sheet then press slightly. Bake 7-10 minutes. They will expend then fall, don’t brown them, they will be light and crunchy.

The ammonia is a bit hard to find, I have friends who have purchased it at a pharmacy, and you might be able to find it at Walmart. I ordered it from Amazon, it was about $8.00 for 4 oz. If you want to try it check with me, I might have enough to share.

Recipe by Doris

Ice (Part 2)

Around the 1900 turn-of-the-century, technology advances gave us big refrigeration units. They were too expensive for individuals, and private homes didn’t have electricity anyway. Ice houses were built all over America to provide blocks of ice. The dinky (Population 500) little town of Echo, LA where Mom grew up had its own icehouse. (They didn’t have electricity, so I’m not sure how the house there operated. It could have been just a storage house, with the ice being delivered from Alexandria.) A block of ice that weighs 25 lb. is a cube about 10 to 12” on each side. Ice houses were well insulated with thick walls of cork, I believe. They had thick doors to give access into the cold insides and were built with a loading dock in front that was the height of the flat-bed trucks that were used to deliver the ice. The ice was made in metal molds of 100 or 200 lb. block size, 10 to 12” wide and about 24” high. The molds must have been sectioned off in 25 lb. blocks in some way, because the big blocks were scored at that size, and there was a “bubble” in the center of each. Ice freezes along the edges first, and then towards the center. My Uncle Vic worked as a mechanic for a dairy in Alexandria, LA, and told me all this ice technology. He said that the freezing ice pushed impurities and particulate to the center bubble, and, at the appropriate time, the cruddy water there was drawn off and replaced with distilled water. You can easily see this “bubble” in block ice. Most of the thickness of the block ice is perfectly clear, but the bubble will be a little frosted looking. Your refrigerator ice forms in a similar manner, and the building pressure in the center of each little cube eventually blows out the top of the cube, forming a little spike sticking up in the center…. At least I think that’s what happens.

(My Uncle Vic and Aunt Irma used to drive from Louisiana through Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California to visit relatives during the late 40’s and early 50’s before the days of air-conditioned cars. This was a super-hot drive, and their solution was to put a pan with a 25 lb. block of ice on the front floorboard and let the dashboard wind blow over it. This worked well until the ice melted. I found out recently that in Minnesota they would harvest big blocks of ice from the frozen lakes/rivers and use them with fan air to cool movie houses in the summer!)

In the icehouse, the molds are removed from the ice blocks, and the ice is then stored until someone takes delivery. The ice trucks were flatbed trucks with “staked” sides to contain the ice. Often, they were insulated, covered with a big tarp to keep the sun off, and the bed maybe covered with metal for ease in sliding the blocks. The ice trucks ran on regular routes, like the milk man, and the “Iceman” was typically a very buff guy, used to handling 100 and 200 lb. blocks of ice, and regularly lifting 50 and 25 lb. blocks with ice tongs and then slung over his back onto a leather bib that kept him dry and uncut by the raw ice.

The availability of ice resulted in refrigerated rail cars. The larger blocks of ice were funneled into the cars through holes in the top and replenished as they melted away on their trip across America. For the first time, it was possible to get fresh vegetables in Louisiana in the wintertime. Lettuce from California, known as “Iceberg,” lettuce, held up well to shipping over long distances. Fruits from Florida, southern Texas, and California became available. The opposite became true, too. In Shreveport we complained about not being able to get Louisiana strawberries, grown north of New Orleans, because Chicago produce handlers had contracted for the entire crop and had them shipped in refrigerated rail cars somewhere out of the state. (All of this shipping could have worked in trucks as well as rail cars, but roads were not good enough to handle cross-country shipping. The inter-state highways were not started until about 1952.)

Nearly every home in the first part of the 20th century had an “Ice Box”. This was the refrigerator of the day. They came in a variety of sizes, but the typical home had one that was about 3’ x 3’ x 16”. They were insulated, usually made of oak, had brass handles and hinges, and often had galvanized metal lining inside. The ice was stored at the bottom and melt water was drained underneath to a pan or to a hose that would lead outside. The ice company gave a square card to its customers to display when you wanted ice delivered. It had different weights of ice printed on each of the four sides, and you simply turned the square so the weight you wanted was on the upside and placed it for the iceman to see. The icebox at our home in the early 1940’s was kept on our back porch because of the draining and so the iceman could get to it easily. The upper part of the icebox had racks for storing whatever needed to be kept cold. Many people today have these iceboxes in their homes as an “antique” décor, and you can find them at antique stores everywhere since they were so sturdy.

When I was in grade school in the 40’s during the WWII years, without electric fans or air conditioning, Louisiana summers were hot, humid, and particularly brutal. The iceman was the favorite of every kid around. He wouldn’t allow anyone in the bed of the truck, but he would give splinters of ice to anyone around him. I always loved it when we had some ice remaining from the last delivery, and mom would only order half of a block, 12 ½ lb. The iceman would have to take his ice pick and chip a block into two pieces, and there would be many splinters left over! Every kid knew the iceman’s route and schedule….

Around 1947, two years after World War II was over, appliances became available again. My folks bought our first electrical refrigerator about that time, and it was very dear. It was a small Westinghouse, as I remember, and, other than the house, the first thing we had ever bought on time. Its cost was about $400 when Dad was making about $1500 a year. I think we paid on this device for 5 years and were overjoyed to have it. I looked at Sears recently. Here, 60 years later, you can buy a small refrigerator for ….$400. How’s that for technology advancements? And what did we call this appliance?……..an ice box!

We had just a few ice houses left around in the 1950’s, although they were going out of business fast. We still visited them, though, to get crushed ice for our hand-turned ice cream churn…everyone’s favorite then…and now. I don’t know if home-churned ice cream is better, or if it just seems so because it was so much work turning the crank. For those who don’t know…the ice cream churn was a wooden bucket with a metal container inside. The container had paddles inside, a gearbox on top, and a crank on the side that turned the gears and paddles. You would put the ice cream mix inside the container and surround the area between the container and the bucket with ice and salt. The ice would melt, and the salt would reduce the temperature of the water, cool the metal can, and the ice cream would get chilled and firm. The paddles stirred the ice cream mix so it would get next to the cold metal container and be uniformly iced….and maybe because it just needed to be continually mixed so you wouldn’t wind up with a solid block of frozen stuff. Anyway, the crank turned easy at first, but as the mixture got colder, the cranking got tougher. Eventually the grown-ups had to come in to turn the crank and finish the ice cream.

I didn’t really appreciate ice until late 1965 when hurricane “Betsy” devastated New Orleans, where I was living at the time. Staying with friends on the West side of N.O., we had to clean out the refrigerators, cook all the meat, and eat all the spoilable items the first day after the storm…all our power was off, and the refrigerators were warming up. As usual, the days after a hurricane were hot, and with all the water around, extremely humid. Air conditioning and fans disappeared with the electricity. Four days after the hurricane, we heard someone had brought in a truckload of ice to north New Orleans. We drove 10 miles, through water at times, around downed trees, and got a bag of ice. Everyone at our apartment building got some ice, and I can’t tell you how good it was…. enough so I still remember it vividly! I don’t know how much we had to pay, but I think we were ready to sign over our soul…for a piece of ice.

Submitted by David R.

Up Coming community Events

Edmonds Holiday Trolley

Edmonds Holiday Trolley offers a relaxing way to explore the seaside town of Edmonds from 11:00 AM to 6:00 PM. Take a ride, scope out the best places to eat and shop, then hop off for a stroll. The Trolley runs every 30 minutes, and it’s free.

Edmondsholidays.com

Wild Lanterns – Woodland Park Zoo

Wood lawn park Zoo has a light show that looks beautiful. Give it a try.

Nov 11, 2022WildLanterns Wild Lanterns presented by BECU November 11, 2022 – January 22, 2023, 4:00 to 9:00 p.m. *Last entry at 8:30 p.m. A NEW LIGHTS FESTIVAL BUY TICKETS Get your tickets now! Nonpeak Weekday Tuesday – Thursday $29.95 for Adults (Ages 13+) $25.95 for Children (Ages 3-12) Toddlers (Ages 2 and under) are free Nonpeak Weekend Friday – Sunday

Shoreline Farmers Market – Harvest Market

Sat. Dec 17^th
10:00 AM -2:00 PM
192^nd & Aurora Ave N.

Local crafts and artisanal foods for great holiday gifts. Live holiday music and food trucks.

Winter Porch Light Parade for 2022

Bothell, Kenmore, Lake Forest Park, and Shoreline have transformed into a magical wonderland of lights. Take a tour of the displays during the month of December. Dec. 1^st -31^st.

https://bit.ly/winterporchlightparade

Shoreline Area News: Big crowd for the Turkey Day Fun Run

Nov 26, 2021Big crowd for the Turkey Day Fun Run Friday, November 26, 2021 A large crowd of runners participated in the Turkey Day Fun Run, on Thanksgiving Day 2021, sponsored by the Richmond Beach Community Association (RBCA). Runners gathered at the entrance to Richmond Beach Saltwater Park and were sent out in groups.

Photo by Kayoko, #302

Good TV

Jerry and I found something that is good on the TV, sometimes you must look hard to find these kinds of things.

Yellowstone on Fox Nation, narrated and produced by Keven Costner. If you don’t belong to Fox Nation, they have a free period so you can get a chance to enjoy this documentary.

We also watched Where the Crawdads Sing, a movie based on one of the books we read in our book club. We found the movie on Netflix.

We found this quite interesting, I know it is a bit long, but hope enjoy it too.

The Human Body is a treasure trove of mysteries — one that still confounds doctors and scientists about the details of its working. It’s not an overstatement to say that every part of your body is a miracle.

Here are 50 comments about your body, some of which may leave you stunned.

It’s possible for your body to survive without a surprisingly large fraction of its internal organs. Even if you lose your stomach, your spleen, 75% of your liver, 80% of your intestines, one kidney, one lung, and virtually every organ from your pelvic and groin area, you wouldn’t be very healthy, but you would live.
During your lifetime, you will produce enough saliva to fill two swimming pools. Saliva is more important than you realize. If your saliva cannot dissolve something, you cannot taste it.
The largest cell in the human body is the female egg and the smallest is the male sperm. The egg is actually the only cell in the body visible by the naked eye.
The strongest muscle in the human body is the tongue and the hardest bone is the jawbone.
Human feet have 52 bones, accounting for one quarter of all the human body’s bones.
Feet have 500,000 sweat glands and can produce more than a pint of sweat a day.
The acid in your stomach is strong enough to dissolve razor blades. The reason it doesn’t eat away at your stomach is that the cells of your stomach wall renew themselves so frequently that you get a new stomach lining every three to four days.
The human lungs contain approximately 2,400 kilometers (1,500 mi) of airways and 300 to 500 million hollow cavities, having a total surface area of about 70 square meters, roughly the same area as one side of a tennis court. Furthermore, if all of the capillaries that surround the lung cavities were unwound and laid end to end, they would extend for about 992 kilometers. Also, your left lung is smaller than your right lung to make room for your heart.
Sneezes regularly exceed 100 mph, while coughs clock in at about 60 mph.
Your body gives off enough heat in 30 minutes to bring half a gallon of water to a boil.
Your body has enough iron in it to make a nail 3 inches long.
Ear wax production is necessary for good ear health. It protects the delicate inner ear from bacteria, fungus, dirt and even insects. It also cleans and lubricates the ear canal.
Everyone has a unique smell, except for identical twins, who smell the same.
Your teeth start growing 6 months before you are born. This is why one out of every 2,000 newborn infants has a tooth when they are born.
A baby’s head is one-quarter of its total length, but by the age of 25 will only be one-eighth of its total length. This is because people’s heads grow at a much slower rate than the rest of their bodies.
Babies are born with 300 bones, but by adulthood the number is reduced to 206. Some of the bones, like skull bones, get fused into each other, bringing down the total number.
It’s not possible to tickle yourself. This is because when you attempt to tickle yourself you are totally aware of the exact time and manner in which the tickling will occur, unlike when someone else tickles you.
Less than one third of the human race has 20-20 vision. This means that two out of three people cannot see perfectly.
Your nose can remember 50,000 different scents. But if you are a woman, you are a better smeller than men, and will remain a better smeller throughout your life.
The human body is estimated to have 60,000 miles of blood vessels.
21 The three things pregnant women dream most of during their first trimester are frogs, worms and potted plants. Scientists have no idea why this is so, but attribute it to the growing imbalance of hormones in the body during pregnancy.
The life span of a human hair is 3 to 7 years on average. Every day the average person loses 60-100 strands of hair. But don’t worry, you must lose over 50% of your scalp hairs before it is apparent to anyone.
The human brain cell can hold 5 times as much information as an encyclopedia. Your brain uses 20% of the oxygen that enters your bloodstream, and is itself made up of 80% water. Though it interprets pain signals from the rest of the body, the brain itself cannot feel pain.
The tooth is the only part of the human body that can’t repair itself.
Your eyes are always the same size from birth but your nose and ears never stop growing.
By 60 years of age, 60% of men and 40% of women will snore.
We are about 1 cm taller in the morning than in the evening, because during normal activities during the day, the cartilage in our knees and other areas slowly compress.
The brain operates on the same amount of power as 10-watt light bulb, even while you are sleeping. In fact, the brain is much more active at night than during the day.
Nerve impulses to and from the brain travel as fast as 170 miles per hour. Neurons continue to grow throughout human life. Information travels at different speeds within different types of neurons.
It is a fact that people who dream more often and more vividly, on an average have a higher Intelligence Quotient.
The fastest growing nail is on the middle finger.
Facial hair grows faster than any other hair on the body. This is true for men as well as women.
There are as many hairs per square inch on your body as a chimpanzee.
A human fetus acquires fingerprints at the age of three months.
By the age of 60, most people will have lost about half their taste buds.
About 32 million bacteria call every inch of your skin home. But don’t worry, a majority of these are harmless or even helpful bacteria.
The colder the room you sleep in, the higher the chances are that you’ll have a bad dream.
Human lips have a reddish color because of the great concentration of tiny capillaries just below the skin.
Three hundred million cells die in the human body every minute.
Like fingerprints, every individual has a unique tongue print that can be used for identification.
A human head remains conscious for about 15 to 20 seconds after it has been decapitated.
It takes 17 muscles to smile and 43 to frown.
Humans can make do longer without food than sleep. Provided there is water, the average human could survive a month to two months without food depending on their body fat and other factors. Sleep deprived people, however, start experiencing radical personality and psychological changes after only a few sleepless days. The longest recorded time anyone has ever gone without sleep is 11 days, at the end of which the experimenter was awake, but stumbled over words, hallucinated and frequently forgot what he was doing.
The most common blood type in the world is Type O. The rarest blood type, A-H or Bombay blood, due to the location of its discovery, has been found in less than hundred people since it was discovered.
Every human spent about half an hour after being conceived, as a single cell. Shortly afterward, the cells begin rapidly dividing and begin forming the components of a tiny embryo.
Right-handed people live on average, nine years longer than left-handed people do.
Your ears secrete more earwax when you are afraid than when you aren’t.
Koalas and primates are the only animals with unique fingerprints.
Humans are the only animals to produce emotional tears.
The human heart creates enough pressure to squirt blood 30 feet in the air.

Now. Enjoy this video from David R.

Restaurant in France

This is a sequel to the video that came out years earlier for the main course. Now to the dessert menu.

This is a 90-second video from a small country restaurant in France that keeps its customers entertained while they are waiting for dessert.

The French restaurant, “Le Petit Chef” (Little Chef), came up with an original way to entertain guests while waiting for their order by using an overhead projector on the ceiling. The animation is on the table and your plate. There is a small chef who appears on your plate. Watch what he does in the attached video.

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Richmond Manor News | December 2022

Traveling Neighbors

Annual Christmas Party