Elf Mischief
The Elf on the Shelf has been making mischief in the Manor auditorium. Picture taken Thursday morning December 2.
Posted in A&I
December Library Display
by Anne Newins
The library volunteers have identified an eclectic group of nearly eighty books for your holiday reading. Spanning a variety of genres, one common feature in the collection seems to be snow. Below is a sampling of some of the books on display.
Cindy Bollens and Julie Mahoney
| Romance:
The Snow Bride, by Debbie Macomber Nantucket White Christmas, by Pamela Kelley The Wish, by Nicolas Sparks |
Historical:
Log Cabin Christmas Collection, various authors Snow Falling on Cedars, by David Guterson The Winter Soldier, by Daniel Mason |
| Mystery:
A Fine and Bitter Snow, by Dana Stabenow Blood on Snow, by Jo Nesbo Arctic Chill, by Arnaldur Indridason |
Books about polar exploration, poetry, and short stories are also included. The display is located in front of the fireplace near the main entrance to the library.
Fuzz – a book review
by Anne Newins
Anne Newins
A new book by Mary Roach is guaranteed to bring a smile to your face. Author of six other intriguing books, including Bonk, Stiff, Spook, Gulp, Grunt, and Packing for Mars, Roach has an unusual ability to bring humor, science, and readability into one package. Her penchant for picking off beat topics adds to the fun.
Fuzz examines how various plant and animal species get into conflicts with humans, and in turn, how people try to control their predations. Spoiler alert: this is not a book for the squeamish. Animal control efforts often are barbaric. It also does not discuss the effect of climate change on animal populations.
Much of the book describes the efforts of professionals who attempt, almost always unsuccessfully, to control natural predators. Roach points out that humans often exaggerate the risk of dreaded species, noting that one’s odds of being killed by a cougar are less than being killed by a filing cabinet, and snowplows kill twice as many Canadians as grizzlies.
She quickly embeds herself with a wide selection of authorities across the world, including the Himalayas (leopards), India (macaques), Canada (Douglas firs), the Vatican (gulls and rats), New Zealand (invasive species), as well as numerous locations in the United States. Plant poisons, especially ricin, are described at length.
Many, many, many efforts are made to attempt to control many, many, many animals, especially in the United State—the list is too long to include here. Some countries, particularly Asian ones, are more philosophical and try to come to some level of acceptance of animals that move into their towns and cities. On a more positive note, there seems to be a growing effort to deal with the situation more humanely in the West.
Of course, I wanted to see if she researched some of our more perplexing Manor wildlife. I could not find anything about wild turkeys. But in a chapter subtitled “futile military actions against birds” she recounts an Australian effort to eliminate rampaging emus. In 1932, the Australian Minster of Defense dispatched machine gunners to Western Australia, where the emus quickly got the best of them. After six days, the machine gunners left in defeat, and “emus appeared in huge flocks along the road” to watch them leave. Somehow, this sounded strangely familiar.
Some of us have had unhappy experiences with ground squirrels this summer. Evidently, this is not new. During World War I, ground squirrels were portrayed as enemy sympathizers, and in a California squirrel eradication campaign, posters featured them in tiny spiked German helmets. The effort does not seem to have worked.
Fuzz is a more serious book than some of Roach’s others, although it can be side-slappingly funny. She is sympathetic to the animals and abhors the cruel methods used to control them. On the other hand, she recognizes that it is not realistic to simply ignore the problems they may create. Describing herself as a “vertebrate pest,” she is respectful of the efforts being made by the many scientists, wildlife officers, and others who attempt to cope with the challenges our fuzzy friends create, as well as their willingness to share knowledge and, often, their terrain with her.
A copy of Fuzz may be found at the RVM library as well as the County library. Many of her other books also may be borrowed from the County library.
MEDFORD TO PARIS —BY RAIL?
NIT WIT NEWZ
(Nit Wit Newz is an unauthorized, often unreliable, on-line news source designed to keep Manor residents abreast of the inconsequential, trifling, and superficial events that dramatically shape and inform our everyday lives here at Rogue Valley Manor.)
MEDFORD TO PARIS —BY RAIL?
Scene: International Olympic Headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Date: The Present
Under Discussion: The possible addition of new events to the 2024 Summer Games of the XXXIII Olympiad in Paris, France.
Participants: Thomas Bach, president of the International Olympic Committee; nine committee members; a committee assistant; Jordan Mo, de facto manager of a delegation from the U.S.A; several U.S.A delegate members.
(The sound of a gavel.)
Thomas Bach: This meeting will come to order. Who is our first applicant?
Committee Assistant: Ms. Jordan Mo from the United States.
TB: Welcome, Ms. Mo, please introduce yourself to the committee.
JM: My name is Jordan Mo, and I’m from Medford, Oregon.
TB: Medford?
JM: That’s right, Medford—the fruit basket of the Pacific Northwest. It’s where Harry met David.
TB: I’m not sure we’re acquainted with Harry and…
JM: In fact, we have for you, Mr. President, a Harry and David Holiday Gift Pack of their sumptuous pears. You may wish to share them with the committee.
TB: Thank you Ms. Mo, but it is our policy not to accept gifts from those who are petitioning us. Please proceed with your proposal.
JM: I shall. We would like the game, Mexican Train, to be added to the events in the upcoming 2024 Olympics in Paris.
TB: I’m afraid this committee is not familiar with that event; can you give us a few details?
JM: Mexican Train is a board game that can be played by…
TB: Let me interrupt you, Ms. Mo. The Olympic Games have never included board games in our competitions.
JM: We are fully aware of that, Mr. President. That is why we came here today to make our case. We are almost a quarter of the way through the twenty-first century and it is well past time that the most important and prestigious sporting event on our planet, the Olympic Games, begin nurturing and promoting mental acuity as well as physical agility.
TB: Whoa, Ms. Mo. What exactly are you proposing?
JM: Healthy minds, Mr.President, healthy minds. I needn’t remind you that they are just as important as healthy bodies. Mexican Train, like most board games, requires the disciplined application of a person’s mental powers. But that’s not all, there’s another equally important argument to add board games to the roster of Olympic events.
TB: Really? And what might that be?
JM: Adding Mexican Train to your menu of events would eliminate the specter that the Olympics discriminates against one of the world’s sizeable demographic groups that heretofore has been disinvited to participate in the games.
TB: Ms. Mo, the Olympics have made a conscious effort through the years to include all nations, genders, ethnic and racial groups. We are an all-inclusive organization.
JM: Not quite, Mr. President. The Olympics have ignored the mature among us. I’m talking about seniors, yes, seniors like you and me. Age-ism is a terrible thing. Certainly the Olympic Committee does not want to appear to discriminate against this large and influential group—the world’s seniors.
TB: Well, no, of course not, but…
JM: Seniors can, and do, play board games. And they play them well, very well—I might add. Ignore us no longer. Mr. President, GRAY MINDS MATTER!
TB: Well, I did notice that message on the T-shirts your delegation is wearing.
JM: So you see, the inclusion in the Olympics of the Mexican Train board game not only promotes the importance of brain power, it provides the Olympics with a full spectrum of worldwide participation among all age groups, not just the young and restless. No longer would you be vulnerable to age discrimination allegations.
TB: Hmm.
JM: Moreover, you might consider this. I’m sure it has not escaped your attention, Mr. President, that there has been a steady erosion of television viewership of the games in recent Olympiads. That trend accelerated at the Tokyo events last summer. If I’m not mistaken, the sale of television rights is the largest source of the committee’s income. The addition of events that include older participants would certainly increase viewership among that large and significant cohort. Put simply: more viewers mean higher future television rights. Merely a reminder, sir.
TB: We’ll take that point under advisement. I must ask you: do you or any of your delegation have a financial interest in Mexican Train?
JM: Oh no, no. I live at a senior community in Medford and introduced the game to a number of my fellow residents. We are all merely amateurs and have no connection to the Mexican Train Company. The game has not only taken off in interest among my community, but their level of skill has raised our players to world class status. Frankly, our team is ready to display their talents on the world stage. As an aside, I like to think that should you accept our proposal, our team stands a good chance of bringing home gold to Medford in 2024.
TB: Well, I suppose…
JM: Just imagine, Mr. President. If Mexican Train proves to be a success in Paris, you can look forward to adding chess, cribbage, Monopoly—all sorts of games to future Olympics. You now have the Summer Olympics and the Winter Olympics, why not an Autumn Olympics devoted exclusively to board games?
TB: Now, now, Ms Mo, as we say in the Alps—let’s not get too far over our bob-sleds. Your proposal represents a seismic change in the Olympics as we know it. And, in fact, it would present us with massive logistical headaches should it be implemented. Off hand, I’d say your chances are not that good. But, in fairness, you can be assured that the committee will give your proposal all due consideration.
JM: We ask no more than that. Thank you, Mr. President.
Committee Member #7: Ms. Mo, excuse me. I wouldn’t mind having one of those Larry and Davis pears.
TB: Ignore that request please, Ms Mo.
Committee Member #7: Sorry.
TB: Now, it appears that we just may have time for one more applicant proposal. Who would be next?
Committee Assistant: That would be a Ms.Jeanette Bournival. She’s from Oregon—Medford, Oregon. Her proposed event is a game called Rummikue—it’s a board game.
(A gavel raps three times)
TB: Meeting adjourned.
—A. Looney
Let Me (Try To) Entertain You
RVM Programs and the Pandemic
by Bob Buddemeier
Remember when? Back in the (pre-COVID) day, almost every Thursday evening and some Tuesdays, there would be live entertainment in the Manor auditorium. Mostly a wide variety of kinds of music, but also occasional dance, lectures, or other performances. Programs are funded by the Residents Council, with occasional chip-ins from the RVM Foundation
All were booked and arranged by Mary Jane Morrison, chair of the Program committee. Bert Chumbler handled the technical set up and advertising, and Ollie Sontag looked after seating and getting in the residents from the licensed facilities. Jo Ann Basin and I helped out around the edges with programs, thank-yous, etc. It was a comfortable routine, with auditorium-only shows – “live performers deserve a live audience” was Mary Jane’s position.
L to R: Mary Jane Morrison, Performer Marty Davis, Bert Chumbler, Ollie Sontag
Then — the dreaded virus. Suddenly, a whole new dimension was added to the “live” in live audience and live performers, and keeping them literally alive meant not having them present alive in person.
And yet, a locked down community needed entertainment and distraction more than ever.
As the saying goes, when the going got tough, the tough got going, and as soon as Mary Jane could get approval to have outsiders back in the auditorium, we started having Thursday evening programs broadcast on Channel 900. The process, over more than a year and a half of the pandemic, went through multiple stages as shown in the chart. From the original regime, we went through the initial shut-down and then into the televised restart.
Restarting programs involved major booking problems – since people could not get together to rehearse, almost the only groups available were solo performers or husband and wife teams. Until social distancing and lockdown controls relaxed, we could get no orchestras, choruses, dance studios, etc. Fortunately, some of the local performers were ready to step in on short notice, and Sarah Karnatz graciously shared her list of Bistro performers, some of whom accepted auditorium gigs. Although artists are permitted to remove their masks while performing, all performers must be vaccinated in order to be booked.
An important contributor to the shift to Channel 900 presentations was Mike House, RVM staff AV technician. He had always seen to the sound quality for the auditorium show, but now he took over the tasks of broadcast and recording quality control as well as on-stage sound.
When restrictions loosened up somewhat, more groups became available for booking, but the auditorium was pressed into use as a dining venue. Both the shows and the dinners managed to get done, but it was sometimes an uneasy compromise. While the auditorium was being used for dining, there were difficulty adjusting sound levels, and sometimes competing noise from the diners. Some performers found dining sounds (dishes & chatter) bothersome and felt it lessened the quality of their performance.
As it sometimes will, progress happened, and RVM began to transition to new video equipment and software. And as is almost always the case, progress was not smooth and simple – for a number of weeks it was necessary to record the performance on one Thursday, and play the recorded version on Channel 900 the next Thursday. This arrangement was generally confusing and frustrating for all involved.
However, we are now back to relative normality – the broadcast system is working, the auditorium isn’t used for dining, and we are able to bring in medium-sized groups. But set aside relative normality – will it ever be absolute? Mary Jane says she hopes that we can go back to live audiences by September 2022 at latest – maybe Spring, with luck. In the meantime, she says that “What is missed most is feedback from the viewing audience. Performers often tell us how much harder it is to perform to no audience.”
As long as occupancy restrictions are in effect, we will stick with broadcast only rather than trying to ration a limited number of seats among the residents. When restrictions are finally lifted, Mary Jane plans to try an experiment: “When we open up to a full audience (100-150) we’ll still broadcast over Ch 900 provided that there is still a respectable size audience in the auditorium – otherwise we’ll have to limit it to auditorium only.”
One of the other problems with broadcast-only is that we have no idea about the size or reaction of the audience. If you are watching and enjoying the program, let one of the Committee members know. It helps to ensure that the show goes on.
NIT WIT NEWZ
(Nit Wit Newz is an unauthorized, often unreliable, on-line news source designed to keep Manor residents abreast of the inconsequential, trifling, and superficial events that dramatically shape and inform our everyday lives here at Rogue Valley Manor.)
THE MEAN STREETS OF ROGUE VALLEY MANOR
Hi Mom.
Harold, is that you, dear? I was beginning to get worried. I thought you’d be here by now.
Well, I just got off the freeway and discovered my GPS is on the fritz, so I don’t know how to get to your place. I’m hoping you can phone-talk me there.
Of course, of course it’s very simple. Oh, I’m so happy you could make it up here for Thanksgiving and see my cottage. Now tell me, where you are?
I’m parked on, let’s see, Barnett Street just past Highland and I’m pointed east.
Yes, yes, I know exactly where you are—you’re less than five minutes from me. I’m so excited. I ran across an old photo album of mine with dozens of pictures of you and Betsy as kids. You both were so…
Yeah, that sounds fun, but I should move off this shoulder and get out of traffic. Barnett’s pretty busy.
Oh, for sure. As I say, you’re practically here. One right turn and then just follow your nose.
Sounds good.
The first street you’ll come to, just a few yards ahead of where you are is, oh dear me, it’s— Ellendale, yes, that’s it, Ellendale. It winds a bit, but that’s the only turn you’ll have to get to my place. So, there on Ellendale, turn right.
O.K., I’m making the turn. Ah yes, I can see the entrance to the Manor straight ahead.
Perfect. Now just follow Ellendale into the Manor and you’re on the way.
Yep, I’m driving through the entrance and looking out over a well-tended golf course. Boy Mom, it looks like you and Betsy picked out a great place for you to live. I should have brought my golf clu…
Yes, I love it, it’s just wonderful.
Hey, five, no six turkeys just crossed in front of me. Is this a service the Manor provides the residents on Thanksgiving? Everyone gets to pick and dress their own turkey?
No, don’t be silly, the Manor is delivering a turkey dinner for the three of us right here to my place. Where are you now?
I’m going up the hill past the golf course and, oh, oh. I must have taken the wrong turn looking at those turkeys.
No, you can’t take a wrong turn.
Mom, the street sign says I’m on Rogue Valley Manor Drive not Ellendale.
That’s where you should be. Don’t worry.
You mean the street changes its name willy nilly from Ellendale to Rogue Valley Manor Drive just like that?
My dear, just keep following that road. You’re doing fine. I told you it winds a bit.
Umm, well…hey, I can see some cottages here on my right. How nice. Trees, lawns, well-trimmed shrubs, and, look at that, a huge, handsome park. You did yourself proud picking this place, Mom. Oh, my gosh, there’s a family of deer over there. I suppose you’re going to tell me the Manor brings in reindeer for Christmas. Pretty good, 
turkeys for Thanksgiving, reindeer for Christmas— what happens on Groundhog Day? But, what the…? I’ve got to keep my eyes on the road—look, the street sign says I’m now on Shannon Drive! I swear I didn’t make a turn.
Harold, you’re fine, just fine. Don’t pay any attention to those street signs. They’ll just confuse you.
Are you sure? I thought they were designed to un-confuse you.
Harold, I hear a woman’s voice. Did you bring a girlfriend with you? How nice. I can set another place…
No mom, my GPS just kicked in. She’s giving me directions to your place.
Well, she certainly has a beautiful voice. I’ll bet she’s a lovely young lady…
Holy smoke, she just told me that I’m no longer on Shannon Drive. How could that…
And she sure seems to know her way around here. If I were you I’d…
Mom, she’s not in my car. She’s just a voice on my GPS. It’s as if she was, you know, on my radio. I don’t know who she is. She just gives me directions.
Well, maybe when you get here you can tell me what CBS station she’s on. I sometimes get a little confused driving around this….
That’s GPS, not CBS. But Mom, can you believe it? Now she’s telling me I’m on something called Malama Way. What’s a Malama?
You know, I asked Dorthea that very same question a couple of days ago—she’s my new neighbor from Maui— she says it’s a Hawaiian word that means, if I can remember— to take care of, or to serve.
Well, the signs up here would do me a service if they wouldn’t keep changing their names.
Just be patient, dear, you’re almost here. I’m standing out on my front lawn in my blue jersey dress—the one you always liked.
But you don’t live on Malama Way, you said you live on Lake Village Drive. Oh wait, there’s a big sign here. It looks like Malama stops and turns into four different streets. And, my gosh, three of the streets have the same name—Lake Village Drive! I don’t get it! Whoever’s in charge of naming streets around here should be charged with malpractice. First Ellendale changes its name four times and then it empties into three streets—all with the same name. You’d think Ellendale could share some of its names with the three Lake Village Drive streets?
Harold, just take the Lake Village Drive that’s on your right. Ignore 
those other two. Half way down the block, look for me. I’ve got a new hairdo, that’s why I’m wearing that blue dress so you’ll be sure it’s me. Oh, I see your car now. You hoo! Here I am. And here you are. Now, wasn’t that simple, sweetie? Those pilgrims didn’t need silly street signs to find Plymouth Rock, did they?
Well, ’m not so sure. You know the Mayflower was supposed to land somewhere in Virginia not Cape Cod. But never mind. It’s so great to see you, Mom! I love your cottage. I think I’ll park over there across the street.
Betsy should show up any minute now. She’s been here before so she won’t have any trouble finding us. This is going to be such a marvelous…oh, that’s my phone again. Betsy, Is that you?
Hi Mom, I know I’m right close to your cottage, but I don’t think I took the right Lake Village Drive road. Is it the one in the middle or the one on the left?
No, no dear, it’s the one on the right.
Yes, of course. You know, I think I made that same mistake before. Did Harold get there O.K.?
Oh my, yes. It was just like I told him, once you get to the Manor, you can just follow your nose.
—-A. Looney
November Library Display
by Anne Newins
Manor Library volunteer Liz Caldwell recently compiled a list of the hundred most read books during the past year. We thought the list might spur residents to see what others are reading and check them out themselves. It became the inspiration for our November display.
Ellie Cannon, former Library volunteer
The books include an eclectic mixture of non-fiction, mysteries, thrillers and literary novels. A complete list of authors is too long to include here, but they include best seller authors, as well as ones who may be less familiar. One of my personal favorites Is Maggie O’Farrell, author of Hamnet. The most read book so far this year is The Sentinel (Lee Child), closely followed by Anxious People (Fredrik Backman), All the Devils are Here (Louise Penny), and The Four Winds (Kristin Hannah).
Isabel Wilkerson’s Caste: the origins of our discontents, was the most popular non-fiction book, followed by Walter Isaacson’s The Code Breaker. I can’t resist mentioning a large print volume titled The Secret Life of Groceries, by Benjamin Lorr.
Finally, mention should be made of the most circulated RVM publication over time: Vision With a View, by our own Faye Isaak. This history of Rogue Valley Manor has been read by many library users as well as people who have purchased or been given their own personal copies.
What Goes Around, Comes Around
Finishing a Novel during Covid Time
By Madge Walls
My novels have routinely taken six years to finish. Why? Working fulltime, many other distractions, and sheer laziness. Add in my favorite activity of reading other author’s novels, and you get the picture.
When Covid-19 hit in the spring of 2019 and Rogue Valley Manor closed down all group activities and began delivering all meals to our doors, we had to make peace with being basically shut-ins. How, then, to keep busy?
There in my computer lay my unfinished work, The Visiting Girl, inspired by the early life of movie star Katharine Hepburn’s mother, a suffragist who’d had to fight her guardian/uncle to attend Bryn Mawr College according to her late mother’s will and wishes.
I’d become bored with the novel after working on it for those six years. But when I went back to it, I realized I had unwittingly set the tale in 1900 through 1923 (reflecting the elder Kate’s young life), when my characters’ lives would have been impacted by the Spanish flu pandemic, The Great War, Prohibition, and the women’s suffrage movement.
As I dove deeper into my research, I saw more and more how our life today seems an echo of that era: our own Covid-19 pandemic; the wars of our adulthood—Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan; efforts to prohibit mask and vaccine mandates; and women’s rights that we are still fighting for. I was blown away by the similarities—do we never learn anything?
Guiding my characters (or having them guide me!) through their perilous times a century ago in Philadelphia and Portland led me to take a deeper look at our own dilemmas. The exercise was fascinating and opened my eyes to our recent history as never before (how bored I was with US History in high school!). Not only did I finish the novel, but I gained a whole new and evolving understanding of NOW.
Big thanks to Joanie Fotheringham for the perfect title of this essay: What Goes Around, Comes Around.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Editor’s Note: Copies of Madge’s new novel will be available at the Craft Fair on November 1 in the Auditorium.