February Lifesavers

 

 

 

 

 When I lived in a suburb of Philadelphia one of the local television weathermen used to always say about February, “It’s the longest month of the year when it comes to weather.”  Never was that statement truer than this past month setting all kinds of new records of the sort we could very well have done without.

 

Fortunately here at Kendal at Granville we had two really bright spots which warmed our hearts and brightened our spirits.  The first was a gift from our dining staff who served us a sumptuous Valentine Dinner. Our tables were set with tablecloths and napkins in the traditional colors or the day.  At each place there was a special favor – a chocolate heart on a paper lace doily.

 

The meal began with a choice of crab bisque or cream of mushroom barley soup along with shrimp cocktail.  The entrees were filet mignon with sautéed mushrooms, portobello mushroom stuffed with cheddar and poblano pepper., chicken breast stuffed with goat cheese served with mushroom wine sauce, grilled salmon with pistachio basil butter.  Along with the entrees came offerings of asparagus spears, roasted fresh red beets with pine nuts, twice baked potatoes, and baked fresh yams.  All of this was topped off by a chocolate fountain with fruit kebobs and marshmallows.  Of course, there were, as always several flavors of ice cream available.  Like many of the menu items we ended up “stuffed.” In deed we were kings and queens for the evening thanks to our thoughtful cooks, servers, and wait staff.

 

The second event occurred on the last Sunday of the month when our Diversity and Inclusion Committee as a part of our observance of Black History Month brought to us Stafford C. Berry, Jr  a nationally known performing artist and educator.  As an Assistant Professor at Denison University, Granville, Ohio he teaches Dance and Black Studies classes. His many credentials include Associate Artistic  Director of the African American Dance Ensemble of the North Carolina Dance Institute and as a member of Kariamu & Company Traditions he has taught, choreographed, and performed African rooted dance and theater throughout the United States.



 

This very tall man with a deep compelling voice dressed in his African dance costume brought with him a group of his students who provided us with an exciting and interesting presentation consisting of a lecture demonstration featuring African dance and music.  The announcement of the program promised that we would be entertained, educated, and engaged in a rich African cultural experience and we were not disappointed.  The energy in the room was electrifying and left us both energized and exhausted just watching all of those young students respond so enthusiastically to their charismatic teacher.  I suspect that many others felt as I did that it ended too soon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



The second event occurred on the last Sunday of the month when our Diversity and Inclusion Committee as a part of our observance of Black History Month brought to us Stafford C. Berry, Jr  a nationally known performing artist and educator.  As an Assistant Professor at Denison University, Granville, Ohio he teaches Dance and Black Studies classes. His many credentials include Associate Artistic  Director of the African American Dance Ensemble of the North Carolina Dance Institute and as a member of Kariamu & Cmpany Traditions he has taught, choreographed, and performed African rooted dance and theater throughout the United States.