N E W S L E T T E R
D A T E
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UPCOMING EVENTS
Wednesday 2/1
3:30
Entertainment With Comedian Chester Garret
Wednesday 2/1
10:30
Shopping –Harris Teeter
Friday
2/3
3:30
Happy Hour With Live Entertainment
Saturday
2/3
10 :00
Front Porch Singers
Sunday
2/5
6:30
Super Bowl Party
Monday
2/6
10:30
Groovercise With Karen
Monday
2/6
2:30
Dr Roger Presents “Chocolate”
Tuesday
2/7
10:00
OUTING –Air And Space Museum
Tuesday
2/7
1:30
Art mobile Presentation
Wednesday 2/8
2:30
Sing Along With Christine
Wednesday 2/8
3:30
Cheese And Wine With Live Entertainment
Thursday
2/9
10:30
Smithsonian Speaker Presents "Everyone talks about the weather”
Thursday
2/9
3:00
Echo Of Nature-Live animal show
Friday
2/10
3:30
Happy Hour With Live Entertainment
Saturday
2/11
10:30
Yoga With Kevin
Sunday
2/11
10:30
Hymn Sing With John
Sunday
2/12
2:00
Valentines Dance
Monday
2/13
1:30
Groovercise With Karen
Tuesday
2/14
10:30
Entertainment With Brian Rudolph
Tuesday
2/14
3:00
Valentines Dance With Morrie Kelsey
Wednesday 2/15
3:30
Birthday Celebrations With Entertainment From Gurda
Thursday
2/16
10:30
Drama Club With Patti
Thursday
2/16
2:30
Arts And Crafts With Nadine
Thursday
2/16
3:30
Memory Fitness With Natalie
Friday
2/17
3:30
Happy Hour With Live Entertainment
Sunday
2/19
3:30
Entertainment With Dave Lovins Accordionist
Monday
2/20
10:00
Groovercise With Karen
Tuesday
2/21
10:30
Outing-Bowling And Pizza
Wednesday 2/22
3:30
Cheese And Wine With Entertainment –Comedian Chester Garrett
Friday
2/24
3:30
Happy Hour With Live Entertainment-Pam Butler
Sunday
2/26
3:30
Entertainment-Arlington Opera
Monday
2/27
2:00
Wandering Docent Presents “Music And Musicians In Art”
Tuesday
12/28
2:30
Mardi Gras Celebrations
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We welcome February….the month of love, we have so many exciting things happening this month
from valentine celebrations to great entertainers such as Brian Rudolph in the building. On 13th at
2:pm we will be having a “you are special” ice cream social….many favorite toppings and great variety
of ice cream will be served to you by the Tall Oaks Management Team….Please Join Us.
A reminder that our monthly outing to Bowtie movie theatre in Reston will be February 22nd leaving at
9:am promptly. There is no cost involved. The Movie showing this month will be “sully”……. On January 15, 2009, the world witnessed the "Miracle on the Hudson" when Captain "Sully" Sullenberger
glided his disabled plane onto the frigid waters of the Hudson River, saving the lives of all 155 aboard.
However, even as Sully was being heralded by the public and the media for his unprecedented feat of
aviation skill, an investigation was unfolding that threatened to destroy his reputation and his career.
Please see Reenu or Joelle in the activities dept. to sign up.
We would like you all to join us in welcoming our many new residents this month...Please join us in welcoming them on Friday 17th in the front lobby at 3:pm
Paul
Phyllis
Moose
Robert
Patricia
Yvette
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WHAT IS THE HISTORY OF VALENTINE'S DAY?
Valentine's Day was regularly celebrated in the Middle Ages, with the first Valentine appearing in 1415 in the form of a
poem by the Duke of Orleans to his wife. By this time it had become associated
with love, and St. Valentine, a murky historical figure, became the patron saint.
Several legends are associated with the origin of St. Valentine. One legend
claims that St. Valentine was a martyred priest during the reign of the Roman
emperor Claudius II. The story says that the emperor outlawed marriage so that
soldiers could not be tied down by families. St. Valentine refused to honor this
decree and continued to marry couples until he was imprisoned and put to death.
Another legend suggests that St. Valentine met and fell in love with a girl while
he was imprisoned. At his death, he wrote a love letter to the girl, which said "From your Valentine."
WHY DO WE CELEBRATE VALENTINE'S DAY?
Historians trace the origins of Valentine's Day to the ancient Roman feast of Lupercalia, which was celebrated each year between Feb. 13 and Feb. 15. During the feast, men sacrificed a dog and a goat and then
used the skins to strike women who believed the whippings would make them fertile. As time went on, Christian leaders superimposed a celebration of the martyred St. Valentine on the feast of Lupercalia also featured a
tradition in which names were drawn and young men and young women paired off for the duration of the celebration. If they took to one another, they would marry soon after the feast was over.
Meanwhile, in the third century, St. Valentine ignored Roman Emperor Claudius II's ban on marriage for
young men in his army. The saint presided over their marriages anyway, an act of defiance for which he was
executed. However, the Catholic Church later honored him with his own holiday.
In the fifth century, Pope Gelasius I combined St. Valentine's Day with Lupercalia in hopes of quashing the
pagan rituals and drawing more attention to the Church. Despite the pope's intentions, the day continued to be
celebrated with romantic love in mind. William Shakespeare further romanticized Valentine's Day in
"Hamlet" and "A Midsummer Night's Dream," causing it to gain traction throughout Europe.
In the Middle Ages, the exchange of cards between lovers became a tradition. This practice made its way to
the New World, where factory-made cards eventually took the celebration of Valentine's
Day to a mass-marketing level.
HAVE HEARTS ALWAYS BEEN A SYMBOL FOR VALENTINE'S DAY?
heart shape as a love symbol are unclear, it is difficult to know whether the shape has 'always' been a
symbol for the holiday. There are a variety of theories about the origins of the heart symbol in connection
with Valentine's Day. Some theories trace the origins of the symmetrical heart shape as a symbol for love to a
heart-shaped leaf used for seasoning and birth control in the seventh century B.C.E., while other theories suggest that the heart shape is an incorrect rendering of the shape of the human heart Though there may have
been earlier uses, the use of hearts in connection with Valentine's Day can be traced back at least as far as
17th century England, when the practice of exchanging written and decorated cards for the holiday became
more popular. These were handmade and not commercially produced cards. Commercial valentines originated
in America during the mid-1800s, and within about 50 years, images of Cupid and hearts were the popular
iconography associated with this holiday.
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WHY DO PEOPLE SEND ROSES ON VALENTINE'S DAY?
Roses are the Valentine's Day flower of choice for a variety of reasons, from the perceived symbolism of the flower to the widespread availability and the personal preference of the recipient. Hundreds of millions of roses are
grown for Valentine's Day each year, meaning there is a large supply of the flowers availableAmongst different
varieties of roses, the most popular color is red, followed by mixed color bouquets and purple or lavender hues.
According to the floral retailer ProFlowers, red roses represent a feeling of passionate love, while purple can signify enduring love. The floral industry has developed other symbolic meanings to different colors and quantities of
roses.
WHEN WAS VALENTINE'S DAY FIRST CELEBRATED?
The exact origins of Valentine's Day are difficult to determine, but there are indications that the holiday
may have roots in both Roman and Norman tradition dating back to ancient Roman history and about 300
C.E. Between February 13 and 15 in ancient Rome, a holiday known as Lupercalia was celebrated. This was a rather brutal and violent festival during which men would slaughter animals, consume them and then use the animals' hides to whip women as part of a fertility ritual. The festival also included a matchmaking process in which
men and women would be paired up based on a random lottery
The Norman holiday known as Galatin's Day was celebrated around the same time in the calendar year, and this
holiday's similarity to the word 'Valentine' may also provide clues as to the modern holiday's origins. Additionally,
the word 'Galatin' means 'lover of women,' which points to the more romantic side of the modern Valentine's Day.
Famous British authors such as Chaucer and Shakespeare may have been at least partially responsible for the holiday's evolution into something sweet and romantic in spite of its dark Saturnalian origins. However, the modern
Valentine's Day is likely the responsibility of Hallmark, which started mass-producing cards for the holiday in
1913.
WHAT ARE SOME CLASSIC EXAMPLES OF LOVE POEMS?
"Sonnet 18" by Shakespeare was written in 1609. The first two lines of this poem
are "Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? / Thou art more lovely and more
temperate." This poem compares the beloved to a summer's day by stating the reasons
why the beloved is more beautiful, specifically because the beauty of the beloved lasts forever, while summer is
fleeting. This is one of Shakespeare's' most well know sonnets. Compared to other sonnets by Shakespeare, the
language used in this one is a little less adorned.
William Butler Yeats wrote "A Poet to His Beloved" in 1899. This poem is actually an excerpt from "The Wind
Among the Reeds." The first couple of lines in this poem are "I bring you with reverent hands / The books of my
numberless dreams." This poem depicts a sense of lovers who have loved each other for a long time. William Butler Yeats was an Irish poet and playwright who received a Nobel Prize for Literature in 1923.
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Residents Highlights
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Resident Highlights
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RESIDENTS CORNER
DAVID AND VIRGINIA BOOKER
Married: February 20, 1941
David was born in 1920 in Alexandria and grew up there.
They are one year apart.
They met on a blind date at Glen Echo. David’s coworker introduced them.
David was a navigator on a B-24. He served during WWII. His wife followed him around Virginia during his
military training. He was sent to England but did not have to bomb anyone; they formed a screen for the
planes that were bombing. Then he was sent to the West Coast to get involved in the war in the Pacific but by
the time he got there the war was over.
David has a bachelor’s and master’s degree. He received his master’s degree in Organizational Development
from George Washington University, all while raising his children. He later taught business courses at Strayer
University, which led him to start his own company, “Booker Associates.” His company traveled around the
U.S. and Haiti training employees for the government and various companies. Part of the training involved
teaching the Myer’s Brigg’s psychological type indicator. He has written at least 50 poems and daily reads
them to our residents.
Virginia worked as a preschool teacher in Annandale. She also worked as a secretary and managed a “new
age” boutique in North Carolina.
David and Virginia built a house in Annandale where they resided until they moved to Reston in 1967. They
have been married twice. They had four children but currently have Judi, Brian, and Gary. Judi has been very
active in the Tall Oaks community.
David has written many poems over the years and shares them with us daily at 11:15 am ...please join us in the
terrace solarium to listen to them .
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THE VOYAGE OF THE BEAGLE
When Charles Darwin left England in 1831, he could not have known that his observations discoveries
and deductions made in the following voyage would shake the foundations of science and religion or cause
the controversy they did. He was a recent graduate of Cambridge University, intended for further studies in
theology, and life as a country parson. He was the grandson of Josiah Wedgwood, the wealthy pottery manufacturer, and was a keen amateur naturalist in the great Victorian tradition of collecting and cataloguing plants
and animals. He was on a geological trip to Wales when he received a letter from his mentor John Stevens
Henslow about a hydrographic expedition to chart the coast of South America. He was taken on as a supernumerary passenger, a gentleman philosopher. He was 22 years old, energetic, observant and intelligent. He
went for the adventure, and to postpone the theological courses. The trip was supposed to be for two years, it
lasted for five. He came back knowing that he would devote his life to science.
The Beagle under Captain Fitzroy sailed from Plymouth at the end of 1831, and stopping briefly at the
Cape Verde Islands, reached Brazil where the officers took soundings on the coast and Darwin explored on
land. He was thrilled by the profuse variety of life he found in the jungle. The Beagle continued southwest to
Argentina and Patagonia. Darwin travelled the pampas with gauchos and observed animals native to South
America, rheas, tapirs, opossums, peccaries, and armadillos. His major discovery was of fossilized giant
bones in sandstone at a beach in Punta Alta, and these he excavated and shipped to Henslow. There were also
scutes, giant scales, which eventually proved to represent the remains of glyptodonts, an extinct giant relative
of present day armadillos. The bones were eventually determined to be those of another extinct animal a giant
sloth and it was named Megatherium.
The fossils were a sensational finding and led to his ideas on the origin of species, the basic concept of
survival of the fittest and evolution of plants and animals because of changes in the environment. This was in
direct opposition to the established view of creationism held by the church, but formulation of his theory was
yet to come. There was now further travel and exploration, including a journey into the Andes, and observation of volcanoes and earthquakes in Chile. The upheavals in the earth’s crust and the finding of seashells at
several thousand feet led him to believe that the Andes were being pushed up by subterranean forces. This
was a brilliant deduction for an amateur geologist, and made long before tectonic plates were understood.
On the return from the South American continent, the Beagle stopped at the Galapagos Islands for a
few weeks. There Darwin was fascinated by the giant tortoise and the fact that tortoise from each island were
distinctly recognizably different from those from the other islands there were animals seen also on the mainland such as the blue footed booby, a type of tern, and some seen only on Galapagos. There were mocking
birds distinct to each island, and there were finches with various shapes of beaks, which were key to his concept of the mutability of species in response to the environment.
The Beagle sailed on in its circumnavigation of the globe. In Australia Darwin saw kangaroos and
wallabies, marsupials native to the continent and different from marsupials in South America as they had
evolved separately after the supercontinent Pangea had broken up. The Beagle visited Tahiti, and other pacific
islands. Darwin developed a theory on the nature of the formation of pacific atolls and lagoons, also part of
changes in elevation of the earth’s surface, and published later the Beagle called at Capetown and then headed
for home.
Darwin arrived back in England to find that Henslow had published his letters from the voyage and
they were a popular success, as were his contributions to Fitzroy’s journal of the voyage. He married his
cousin Ema Wedgwood, settled at Down House in Kent and raised a family. He continued to experiment. He
raised pigeons, observed selective breeding of cattle by local farmers and wrote a definitive work on barnacles. His book, the Origin of Species by Natural Selection, was not published for two decades, and then only
because a fellow naturalist, Alfred Russel Wallace had arrived at the same conclusion and Darwin was forced
to
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make his work known. It took another hundred years before Watson and Crick deciphered the structure of
DNA and the mechanism of inheritance. Darwin’s theories were based on observation and experiment.
The Voyage of the Beagle: a trip around the world, and a voyage into new realms of scientific thought. What
an adventure for a young man! What a journey for science! Article written by resident PEP.
Machrauchenia patachonica
HMS Beagle
Galapagos Mockingbird
Galapagos tortoise
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A Blue-Footed Booby
Megatherium
Charles Darwin and a Finch
Darwin Rhea
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February, along with January, was added to the Roman calendar by Numa Pompilius when
the calendar was extended from 10 to 12 months (around 700 BC). February takes its name
from the Latin word februare, which means “to purify.” The Romans purified themselves in
February—a ritual undertaken in preparation for the arrival of spring. The Anglo-Saxons called
the month Sol-monath (“cake month”) because cakes were offered to the gods during the
month. In Spanish, February is Febrero; in French, it is Fevrier, and in German, it is Februar.
Special Days
Groundhog Day
February 2
Super Bowl
February 5
Tu B’Shevat
February 11
Valentine’s Day
February 14
Canada Flag Day
February 15
Presidents’ Day
February 20
Mardi Gras
February 28
RESIDENTS BIRTHDAYS
4
4
5
14
24
25
28
ROSE TANGREDI
CHRIS COOK
EVA TENENHAUS
CHARLENE KEENER
PETE TRELOGAN
SHIRLEY COCHRAN
FREDERICK GLADECK
What’s Lucky in February?
Lucky Colors – White and Violet
Lucky Day – Monday
Lucky Numbers – 7 and 9
Lucky Letters – L and V
Lucky Plant – African violet
Lucky Bird – Robin
Weather or Not
It is said that if the weather is fair and mild
in January and at the beginning of February,
there is more winter ahead than behind.
“If the cat lies in the sun in February, she
will creep behind the stove in March.”
~ Weather Folklore
Humorous Quotes
Do not take life too seriously. You will never get out of it alive.
I'm sorry, if you were right, I'd agree with you.
Progress is man's ability to complicate simplicity.
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WELCOME WAGON
CONCIERGE TRIPS
The Tall Oaks bus is available for personal use on Mondays from 9am—4pm and Fridays
from 9am to 4pm.
Wednesdays are our weekly shopping trips.
2/1 10:30 Giants
2/8 10:30 Wegmans
2/15 10:30 CVS/Safeway
2/22 10:30 Giants
Please call the front desk to arrange for a trip. All trips must be verified by the Director of
Nursing and/or the Director of Resident Relations before they are approved.
Instead of just heading out for doctor’s appointments, the bank and running errands though,
consider trying something fun.
The Reston Community Center has many great activities and events that are available to all
Reston residents. You can even head over to the Herndon Senior Center (they charge a
small fee) or take advantage of Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) which offers free
classes.
For more information about each activity, and/or to see a copy of the brochures for each of
the centers, please see Reenu in the activity office.
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IMPORTANT PHONE NUMBERS
14
TALL OAKS ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF
Eileen Anatra
Claire Behrman
Ella Thomas
Patty Canas
Dale York
Ellen Dooley
Judy Kraner
Reenu Gill
Robert McKeon
Mike Halpeny
Emilijah Krostikj
Executive Director
Director Of Nursing
Ast Director Of Nursing
Director of Environmental Services
Director of Admissions & Marketing
Director of Community Relations
Director Of Resident Relations
Director of Activities
Director Of Food Services
Director Of Maintenance
Business Manager
OTHER IN-HOUSE NUMBERS
2nd Floor Nurses Station
4th Floor Nurses Station
Barber/Beauty Shop
Genesis Rehabilitation
Health Clinic
Receptionist
Rose Memory Care Center
Terrace Solarium
420
487
430 (Open on Thursdays & Fridays)
703 481-0528
435
410
482
501
422
888
453
503
436
453
434
630
431
427
425