Opera New Jersey comes to Meadow Lakes through the courtesy of the
SpringpointSL Foundation
Each year for the past four years, Meadow Lakes residents have had the pleasure of watching operatic artists at work. They come to Meadow Lakes to live with us during January and February while they rehearse the current season's opera. This year we enjoyed Madama Butterfly. In prior years we saw Carmen, Die Fledermaus, and The Mikado.
Brought to us by the Springpoint SL Foundation, this Artists in Residence program gives Meadow Lakes residents an unparalleled opportunity to observe the planning and execution of an opera, from beginning to end. Through general discussion programs, roundtables, costume presentations, and room rehearsals, we learn more about opera than any of us have ever known. Questions such as "What are the challenges for opera companies in the current environment? How do we decide what we are going to do? How do we find our singers? " are answered for us by Richard Russell the General Director of the company, Opera New Jersey. The production team for Madama Butterfly, conductor Valery Ryvkin, director David Grabarkewitz, costume designer Patricia Hibbert also talked about the unique challenges of putting together the production of Madama Butterfly.
OTHER SPECIAL EVENTS
AND PRESENTATIONS
Time, date and locations of programs sponsored by the Resident Activities Department in the coming month are listed on the Schedule Page. (Click here.) It is Resident Activities Director, Judith Hawk, who makes possible the many activities redients enjoy.
Residents are truly excited by the many opportunities provided by Judith and her committees. To see a schedule of current events, please turn to the "Schedule" page.
OUR LIBRARY
The Meadow Lakes Library includes about 7,000 books, not all recent but of great interest. There are, in addition, books on tape, current DVD's and some VHS tapes, as well as paperbacks that may be taken away on trips. Resources also include encyclopaedias and archived Meadow Lark issues from previous years. Books by current residents are available too.
Residents enjoy the privilege of communicating online with the Mercer County Library. In alternate weeks, Librarian Jennifer Woringer comes to Meadow Lakes from the local branch, bringing us books not available here. Jennifer is an expert resource for online information as well.
The Hightstown Librarian comes to Meadow Lakes on Fridays at 10:00 a.m. Look for her in the auditorium and ask her about downloading audio books from the Mercer County Library to a CD or MP3 player for temporary use.
RESIDENT ACTIVITIES
"The vibrancy of a community can be measured by checking out the variety of its activities."
Judith Hawk
At a recent Forum meeting, Chris Harman and Judith Hawk, Resident Activities Directors, described several programs that deserve residents' attention.
Judith will continue to host Memoir Writing and Favorite Poems. Judith directed the second Meadow Lakes Follies written and scored by Doris Kaplan and Don Smith. Other programs since, also by Doris Willens Kaplan and Don Smith, have included "War of the Worlds" and "Shakespeare Potpourri." (Please see the "Events" and "About Us" pages for photos.) Also, for a schedule of coming attractions, please click on the following links to look at the "Books and Literature" and the "Schedule" pages. Books & Literature Schedule
Several exciting trips have been scheduled and are listed on the Trips page. Judith does such a good job of planning these events that we know there are many more we haven't yet heard about. So, Stay Tuned!
COMPUTER GROUP
Located in Lower 13, the Computer Room is available 24/7 for use by all residents (except between 9:30 and 11:30 am on Sunday when it is closed for maintenance). Everyone is asked to attend a brief orientation before using the equipment in the computer room.
The Computer Group meets monthly 1:30 p.m. on the first (non-holiday) Monday of each month. At each meeting the program is addressed to the interests of our users.
In addition, a member of the Computer Group is available in the Computer Room every Tuesday and Thursday from 11:00 a.m. until 12:00 noon to offer help and answer computer questions.
Resident Joel May has begun offering classes for residents who have requested lessons tailored for beginning computer users. Classes, consisting of four 1-hour sessions were offered in July, August, September and November. New courses, based on the expressed interests of the residents will be offered during the coming year. If you are interested, call Joel at x1939 and sign up for a future session.
Here's Joel, fielding questions at a recent session.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Here is the group in rapt attention, computers out of sight for the moment.
Questions or to volunteer, Contact Irwin Merker, x6789 or Joel May x1939.
Jay Zimmer, Executive Director, is shown here cutting the ribbon at the opening of the computer room.
CROQUET
Croquet, more correctly known as Wimbledon or Six Wickets, is the championship sport of Meadow Lakes. Groups play all year on a schedule of their own choosing, in fair weather on one of our three well-manicured courts or, during cold and rainy weather, on the indoor court in Hallway 48L.
On Memorial Day, July 4th and Labor Day residents gather on the croquet courts for a mixer. In a mixer, experienced and inexperienced players play together and at the end of the morning receive small prizes in recognition of the day. Audrey Jasper coaches croquet players each Monday morning.
Gloria Mineo addresses the ball as Eunice Gallena, Edythe Masten, and Bob Kendall look on.