Bickford of Moline

How Halloween Began Nearly 2,000 years ago, an ancient people called the Celts lived in Ireland. Every year around the time of Halloween, the Celts held a fire festival called Samhain (pronounced 'sah-win'), which means 'summer's end.' They were celebrating the end of the harvest. Legend has it that Samhain was the time of year when spirits were most likely to pass into our realm and visit the living. The spirits of loved ones were invited to come home, and people prepared food for both the living and the dead. People wore masks and lit bonfires to ward off evil spirits. As Christianity swept through Europe, the Celtic traditions spread across Europe but changed slightly to adopt to Christian principles. Rather than celebrating Samhain, Europeans celebrated All Saints' Day, otherwise known as All Hallows' Day, on November 1. But the celebrations actually began the day before on October 31, the holiday when people dressed in masks known as All Hallows' Eve. s a large number of Europeans traveled to the United States in the 1800s, they brought the tradition of All Hallows' Eve with them. With time, the holiday became known for costumes and candy, and it took on the name 'Halloween.' All Hallows' Day also spread to Mexico, where they celebrate a holiday called Day of the Dead. This celebration, held on the first two days of November, combines All Saints' Day with the Mexican tradition of honoring the dead. Families set up altars in homes that are beautifully decorated with flowers, candles and food to honor loved ones who have passed on. It is believed that loved ones' spirits will be released from heaven to come and visit the family. Parties are held in the cemeteries, and people dress up in costume to celebrate life and ward of evil. My grandsons love the Disney movie depicting this called "Coco" - it takes this day and weaves it into a young boy's adventure with his family. I have five grandsons ranging in age from 22 months, 2 years, 4 years, 6 years and 8 years - all boys! They all love this movie! Our residents love to see the youngsters come from various school classes and they sit by the doors and hand out candy - it is such a joy to see their smiles both young and old alike! So enjoy this day, however you celebrate - some trick or treat, some go to Fall Festivals at local churches and of course there is Clinton's very own Mardi Gras Parade! So whatever you do - be safe!

Today is National Nut Day! No, we aren't celebrating that crazy person down the street, we are celebrating yummy and nutritious nuts of all varieties. We sampled different flavors of food with different types of nuts in them, we also made our own trail mix using different varieties of nuts and other yummy goodness.

We had a yummy Chili lunch for our Fall Festival! We hope you enjoyed it. If your chili sparked your interest to make your own, we have the perfect excuse to make it. We are having a Chili Cook Off This coming Wednesday. We have a sign up sheet in the living room for you to enter your chili. Then on Wednesday afternoon, bring your chili in a crock pot and we will have tables set up for everyone to taste different chili's and vote on their favorite. We will be giving away 3 prizes for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place chili's. It is going to be a fun event. So be sure to bring a spoon and an appetite on Wednesday, October 24th! Chili Tasting will be from 2:30p-4:00pm. Prizes will be announced after.

For Family History Day we took part in an outing to Midland Historical Museum. Marion found a picture of her grandfather. Ed found the history of the Dow Chemical where he worked for over 30 years. Joe was engaged as he recalled the famous bank robbery that happened when he was a young boy in school. We all had a great time at the Midland History Museum.

We had a great Family History Day!!! Our Resident's family members came out and help us make amazing family trees and told us stories of great events in their life! Thank you all that came out and made this night amazing!!! ** In this picture, we have the cutest couple, Tom and Betty with 3 out of 5 of their children!**

It's that time of year... Fall has arrived!!! The trees are beginning to turn which means two things. #1 We all get to look at the beautiful colors of all the changing trees in our community. #2 We have to worry about cleaning out our gutters and yard maintenance. Here at Bickford of Quincy let us take care of the outside. Living at Bickford of Quincy means living Maintenance Free!!!! Let us do all the work so that you can kick back, relax, and enjoy the changing of the season

Friday was road trip day! It was time to hit the pumpkin patch! Our lively group traveled to Oakland to Harvest Moon. It was sunny, pumpkins every where ! Kids riding zip lines, chatter and laughter all around us! We returned with a bucket load of pumpkins, and will be decorating them soon. Great way to wind up the week!

Not only did i get to dye Cindy And Jan's hair but they were also brave enough to do with my to dinner that day. Wacky Hair day was a success last week. Today we have new music by Jim Waydula and tomorrow we will be watching the Vikings game in the living room. Speaking of the Vikings.... don't forget, November 4th we have Vikings bingo at 1pm. We have never done this at Bickford before. Victor the Viking will be here giving out vikings prizes and taking pictures!

Hello again, I hope all is well with everyone. I want to make you aware of Medication-Related Problems in the elderly. Side affects of medications can cause abnormal thinking and balance problems. Drug interactions of blood thinners, diabetic medications, anti-acids and diuretics (water pills) can affect the absorption of other medications. Cost of medications may affect how it is taken vs. as ordered by MD. Some people may take their medications all at one time once a day, or if they missed a dose they may take a double dose. Monitor and know the medications you or a loved one is taking. Make sure drug levels are being checked regularly to monitor the correct dose. If you are concerned about how a loved one is taking their medications, notify their MD and let them. This can help prevent falls, overdose, drug toxicity and organ failure.

What an enjoyable week we have had. Jim and Joyce two of our wonderful volunteers started out the week. On Tuesday, I took a group out to Homer's Deli for lunch. We really had a good time. Fringe benefit, the restaurant is connected to their bakery! Yummy! Wednesday, we took advantage of the warm temperatures and stopped by our favorite ice cream shop. Thursday and Friday we went on a leaf looking adventure. We all agree the change in the seasons never gets old.