Franke Tobey Jones – Retreading for Retirement

Snow Day!

We don’t get much snow, except for occasional flurries, here near sea level on the coast of Washington. So when a storm hits, we make the most of it. Yesterday afternoon through this afternoon we got about 10 inches, which is quite a lot for this area.

The Seattle Weather Blog noted that 8.9 inches that fell at Seattle Tacoma International Airport on Saturday was the fifth-snowiest single day at that location, and the most snow on one day since 1969, when nearly 15 inches fell there.
The Seattle Times

The last time this area got a significant amount of snow was February 9, 2019, when about 5 inches fell. We were traveling in the southern hemisphere then and missed it, so we took full advantage of this storm.

Weather Service tweet about snowfall in Seattle area

My husband went out to get the mail while snow was still falling.

man standing in snow, waving, while snow continues to fall

houses, bushes, and trees already covered as snow continues to fall

Once the snow stopped, we got all bundled up and went outside to take some photos.

bushes, trees, and houses covered with snow

We have several lion statues like this one around campus, but they were all camouflaged today:

One of the reasons we moved into Franke Tobey Jones Retirement Community was to avoid having to do chores like mowing the lawn and shoveling snow. We are very lucky that we have such a dedicated staff here. They got to work immediately:

Because we had plenty of warning that this storm was on the way, we were able to lay in enough supplies to last us for several days. Our outdoor photography trip reminded us of our childhood in New England and was a welcome break from the seemingly endless routine of the past 10 months.

Wherever you are, we hope you are safe, healthy, warm, and well supplied.

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Our great staff here at Franke Tobey Jones provided a Cinco de Mayo party at yesterday’s weekly tailgate happy hour. We are indeed lucky to live in such a caring retirement community.

woman wearing sombrero and carry chips, guacamole, and salsa

More Holiday Trees

Here are some more of the many holiday trees around the campus here at Franke Tobey Jones.

I find the angel tree particularly gorgeous:

Christmas decorated with angel ornaments

The sports tree stands in a corner of the Wellness Center and encourages us to remember the importance of exercise. Notice the angel holding a barbell at the very top:

Christmas tree decorated with sports-related ornaments

Here’s a closer look at a couple of the ornaments on the sports tree:

close-up of sports tree decorations: basketball and karate

The plaid tree stands welcomingly in the entry lobby of our brand new Health Care Center:

A closer look reveals red cardinal birds and blue ornaments nestled in among the plaid frames:

close-up of the plaid tree: red cardinal bird & plaid ornaments

Oh Christmas Tree

We have about 20 holiday trees all around the campus here at Franke Tobey Jones retirement community. Our activities director and her staff have been busily and creatively decorating them all, and the are all different. Let me show you three of them.

Here’s the rose gold tree in the corner of the lobby in the main building:

The snowman tree greets diners as they enter the dining room of the main building:

Christmas tree decorated with snowman ornaments

And in the corner of that dining room is the red tree:

Seahawks Holiday Tree

This tree inside the main building at Franke Tobey Jones Retirement Community features the Seahawks’ colors, blue and green. We take our football very seriously around here!

Season’s Greetings!

Saint Nicholas stands just inside the entrance to the main building here at our retirement community, Franke Tobey Jones, to greet visitors.

Three Things Thursday

Thanks to Natalie for hosting Three Things Thursday, “three things big or small, that have made you happy this week.”

Our enrichment activities director from Franke Tobey Jones Retirement Community planned an exciting eclipse-viewing trip for us. Last Friday we left Tacoma, WA, for the 150-mile trip south to Portland, OR. Here are three highlights of our trip.

Friday: Powell’s Books

No trip to Portland is complete without a visit to Powell’s Books, the mother ship of bookstores. I only got this quick shot of the store’s exterior as we were crossing the street to enter. Once I got inside, I was much too excited to bother with photos. But trust me, if you’re ever in Portland, you’ll want to include this landmark on places-to-visit list.

Saturday Market

Equally as famous as Powell’s Books is Portland’s Saturday Market, which is now open on both Saturdays and Sundays. You can find just about anything you want there. We had a lovely day to browse, and I came home with a number of holiday gifts.

Monday: Eclipse Viewing

The highlight of the trip was our view of Monday’s total solar eclipse. Many of our fellow trip participants had made viewers by taping a piece of welder’s glass to a box top, but my husband and I were lazier: We just bought the glasses. Most of us stayed at our hotel in Portland, where we had 99% of totality:

A few of our fellow travelers made the short trip to a park in a town a bit south of Portland, where they saw the whole thing: 100% totality.

Even at not-quite-complete totality, seeing the eclipse was an amazing experience. In just seven years another total solar eclipse will cross the Eastern part of the United States, and I’m thinking that might be a good time to visit some friends and family members…

Three Things Thursday

Thanks to Natalie for hosting Three Things Thursday, “three things big or small, that have made you happy this week.”

Last week was a busy one here at Frank Tobey Jones retirement community. Here are the three events we attended.

(Click on any photo to see a larger version.)

Wednesday: Lunch Bunch at Marzano

We revisited one of our most popular places to eat, Marzano Italian restaurant.

I especially appreciate that everything on the menu except the lasagna was available in a gluten-free version. I had the highly recommended spaghetti bolognese on gluten-free pasta, and my husband had a pizza with gluten-free crust. Both were delicious, as was my dessert: chocolate torte made without wheat flour.

Thursday: Concert on the Lawn with Scott Cossu

The annual Concert on the Lawn series takes place on Thursday evenings during August. These free concerts are open to people in the nearby community as well as residents of Franke Tobey Jones. They are always popular. People bring lawn chairs or blankets and relax on the front lawn with a picnic dinner and/or whatever drinks and snacks they choose to bring along. People who live in the houses closest to FTJ just sit out in their front yards. A lot of children always attend, and they enjoy running around on the spacious lawn.

Last week’s performance was by composer and performer—and Northwest resident—Scott Cossu and friends.

Friday: Family Picnic

There was lots of food and fun, along with outstanding entertainment by the Filipiniana Multicultural Dance Troupe.

Three Things Thursday

Thanks to Natalie for hosting Three Things Thursday, “three things big or small, that have made you happy this week.”

(Click on any photo to see a larger version.)

One

One thing that fascinates me is how words can be used to manipulate meaning. Prunes have gotten such a bad name because … well, you know. So why not call them something else:

Sure, you see the word prunes on this bag, but the phrase dried plums is bigger so you’ll notice that first and maybe overlook the fact that this bag actually contains prunes.

Be honest now: Wouldn’t you much rather admit to eating dried plums than to eating prunes?

Two

The activities director at our retirement community has planned a great trip to Oregon for us to view the total solar eclipse next month. We’re so excited! We even bought some special glasses for watching the eclipse safely.

These are my husband’s glasses, which he plans to wear over his eyeglasses:

I won’t be wearing mine over eyeglasses, so I opted for the wrap-around style:

Which one of us do you think will be more fashionable?

Warning!

Do NOT view the eclipse with regular sunglasses.

The glasses pictured here are specially made for eclipse viewing.

The American Astronomical Society has information about the eclipse, including eye safety, here.

Three

If Mount Rainier erupts in the near future, we can say, “I saw this coming”:

I hope you all have a remarkable week between now and next Thursday.

Three Things Thursday

Thanks to Natalie for hosting Three Things Thursday, “three things big or small, that have made you happy this week.”

(Click on any photo to see a larger version.)

One

We spent 40+ years in the midwest, where dramatic thunder and lightning storms are a way of life. When we moved to the Pacific Northwest four years ago, I was surprised to learn that thunder storms are so rare here that they draw discussion.

That’s why, at a recent dinner party at a neighbor’s house, everyone went into the kitchen to see this view:

The double rainbow was an added benefit that well complemented the magnificent sky.

Thanks to my husband for sharing his photo.

Two

Every summer our retirement community holds a dinner party in the resident gardens at which awards are presented for the best hats. Here are this year’s first- and second-place winners in the women’s category:

That’s Sharon on the left, in her second-place hat featuring a gardening theme. I like to think she’s planting those seeds to feed the birds on Pat’s (right) impressive first-place aviary.

Well done, ladies!

Three

Last week I mentioned that I was reading this book:

And what a dramatic roller coaster of an experience that reading was!

I don’t give out many five-star ratings, but this book certainly earned one. The first few pages aren’t exactly a suck-you-right-in opening, but as soon as the meat of the story began, I couldn’t put this book down.

I don’t read a lot of science fiction, but this novel does exactly what good science fiction should do: It uses science (in this case, a problem from quantum mechanics) to explore the deepest questions of human existence. And don’t be scared off by the phrase quantum physics. The novel gives an excellent visual explanation of the situation at its heart on page 113.

This would be a good book to read on a long airplane flight, but, like me, you can read it right in your own living room. But do read it. I’d love to hear if it mesmerized you as much as it did me.

I hope everyone has a good week!

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Friday: Powell’s Books

Saturday Market

Monday: Eclipse Viewing

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Wednesday: Lunch Bunch at Marzano

Thursday: Concert on the Lawn with Scott Cossu

Friday: Family Picnic

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