Are you ready for #ElimInBloom ? Some people may not have much thyme for gardening these days, but at Elim, we do!

Elim Village Fleetwood is currently on a 20-acre campus, with over 50% of that being landscape. We take pride in maintaining our green space. There are various resident-led Horticulture clubs where they are responsible for maintaining individual plots around the property or tending to potted plants in shared patio spaces, and it’s even part of our regular Spring programming in our residential care buildings. Over the next few weeks we will focus on a different area of the Village to provide you with insight on how our residents are involved in beautifying our campus! Today, we will feature gardening activities in Independent Living.

There is an Independent Living Gardening Committee made up of eight members that work as a team to look after several areas around the campus. In preparation for bedding plants in mid-May, the Committee is in the process of gathering supplies and meticulously selecting the perfect bedding plants to ensure the greenery around the Village blends seamlessly together while adding a vibrant pop of colour. Clancy, one of our Independent Living residents is an avid gardener. Gifted with a green thumb, you can almost always find him maintaining his beautiful front and backyard. Interested in gardening? Here is a beginners gardening tip from Elim Village:Want the chance of greater growing success? Start you seedlings inside and then move them to the outdoor when the weather is right. Many seed packets will tell you the best time to start the process. Bonus tip: Standing toilet paper rolls on their and using them as a starter pot is a great way to start the seedlings!

Interested in more gardening tips? Head over to our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/elimvillage/

As graduation day approached, I watched with some apprehension as my granddaughter was ironing her gown. In typical fashion she was always side-tracked, and before long the rising smoke awakened her olfactory sensibilities revealing a perfectly etched, iron-shaped cut-out in the navy tulle. Not to worry; Andrea was not one to stress the small stuff. There are always more grad dresses to be found.

Andrea was multi-faceted: intense, high-spirited, a gifted pianist–later that summer she wrote, performed and recorded a song that spoke to her deep, newly-renewed faith. And in a moment of subliminal musing, she wrote a passionate tribute to her two younger sisters expressing admiration of their character qualities and traits she envied in herself. She was also brutally self-assured and painfully honest; no opinion was out of bounds when prefaced with the phrase, “No offense but..,” which if inserted strategically legitimised any comment otherwise deemed an insult. And since she was incapable of carrying a grudge, she assumed others were also. How could anyone be offended with, “No offence, but your dress is ugly?”

I marvelled at this granddaughter as weeks later she headed out the door in her multi-coloured wrap to join her friends for an afternoon of tubing on the river. Reminiscent of my own ‘multi-coloured wrap’, I recalled an event that attracted some unexpected attention in Florida. The sun was beating down and I was feeling the effects as my north-of-the-49^th skin screamed for protection. Fortunately, nearby wrap vendors stood by to oblige. One caught my attention: a linear colour wheel that would match anything; I wore that wrap with ‘pride’. Driving home through a particular neighbourhood

I was smugly satisfied with my purchase when I realized how popular it was; identical specimens graced the windows of apartments and store fronts, hung from flag poles, and fluttered from car antennas—until the symbolism of the rainbow- coloured banner was pointed out to me. Don’t laugh, we’ve all been there. Which of us has not experienced that moment that still blushes the memory? Years later Andrea might have enlightened me with, “No offence, Nan, but your wrap is…”

The shady ‘wrap’ remained in the bottom drawer–until after grad. Taking a cue from Andrea, I boldly sliced it into two sections. The first ‘scarf’ would match any hue of reds and yellows, the second with greens and blues. I had paid good money for it; and now it was a two-fer.

Do you ever wonder who the people are on the covers of The Elim Connection?

All of our covers have featured our very own residents! If you read the Winter 2018 issue, the cover featured a resident with a beaming smile, by the name of Rose. She has called Elim Village Fleetwood her home for 14 years!

As Rose mentioned, “Since I was on the cover of the Elim Magazine, people tell me, Rose, Rose, you’re are a star!!” Rose married her husband of 50 years when she was 18 and had four children. We asked Rose, “What would you like people to know about you?” She replied saying, “I want everyone to know how much I love the people that care for me; they are wonderful in so many ways. I also want to tell you and others, how ‘awfully proud’ I am to have had my picture on the cover of a magazine! A Star at 88! Who would have thought it would be possible!”

Stay tuned for the upcoming ‘Behind The Cover’ piece from our new issue.