V o lu me T h i rt y T wo , N umber 3
March 2018 MARCH CAME ROARING IN on schedule and on script for once this year with a nor’easter that brought down trees and power lines and left behind unexpected inches of heavy, wet snow. Richard Stephens, out with his camera early in the morning after the storm had passed, captured this typical scene on North Ithan Avenue. Within Beaumont, Grounds Director Mark Hritz and his crew manned snowplows and blowers to keep streets, sidewalks and driveways clear. As the snow melted away over the next few days, revealing again the first green shoots and early blossoms of spring, one could imagine them thinking, “OK, that was the lion, now please bring on the lamb!”
Underground ‘slow-draining puddles’ are planned to help control rainwater flow
Attention Gardeners: a passionate legacy has begun to bloom
By Irene Borgogno for the Green Committee
By Joe Peduzzi, President & CEO
Pond Lane residents are accustomed, during rainstorms, to the sight of ankle-deep water rushing down the lane toward the Pond and presumably from there out to sea. Less obvious have been Beaumont’s step-by-step efforts to capture this water and direct it into the ground, where it can serve useful purposes and even, perhaps, eventually, spare the shoes of pedestrians crossing Pond Lane in the rain. A continuing effort to establish rain gardens (see November 2017 BN) is one such step; installation of some modest but high-performing holes in the ground is another such step now being planned. Sometime this spring, the first two “groundwater recharge systems” will be installed, one near the Health Center garden and another off Middle Road near the A-1 entrance to the Austin garage. Other sites will be identified as the year progresses. What is groundwater recharge? It is the movement
The first educational presentation to be made possible by the John Gregg Memorial Fund will take place March 22 at 4:30 p.m. in the Beaumont Room, open to all residents and the Grounds staff. “Berries, Bark and Buds—Plants for Four Seasons of Interest” will be presented by Kathleen V. Salisbury, director of the Ambler Arboretum at Temple University and adjunct instructor at the Temple Department of Landscape Architecture and Horticulture. More than 90 contributions, totaling more than $15,000, have been received to date since the John Gregg Memorial Fund was established within the Beaumont Fund. The donors have been family members and friends who wanted to honor John Gregg’s memory in general and in particular his love of gardening and his “Courtyard Garden,” about which he was passionate.
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A Post-Renovations Toast to Our Host By Mary Schnabel
One by one they were deplete The places where we usually eat The Grill Room that we counted on Was suddenly completely gone We weren’t quite sure from day to day Exactly where our tables lay What will we do, both day and night? And who will help us in this plight? RING THE BELLS AND SAY HOORAY… FOR DINING SERVICES SAVED THE DAY!!! They called upon their top command And thought and thought and planned and planned
Photo by Lynn Ayres
A JUBILANT DIAMOND JUBILEE: On February 25, Bunny and Ed Solomon’s 75th wedding anniversary celebration filled the Beaumont Room with friends, neighbors and family members from all over the country. On display was an enlargement of their wedding picture from February 19, 1943. It was wartime, and like many other wartime weddings, theirs was a simple ceremony.
They saw what worked and didn’t work And quietly fixed each nightly quirk Plus miles and miles of halls they’d roam To those who wished to dine at home! We’re one and all keenly aware Of their constant vigilance and care! We’ve rolled with the punches and grumbled a bit But it’s been an adventure, we have to admit And summing it up, we owe a big thanks To the Dining Crew and its gallant ranks! Whose feet must hurt, whose heads must ache And they did it all for Beaumont’s sake! Photo by Colleen Kennedy, Occupational Therapy; Text by Peter Abel
TWO NONAGENARIANS astride their temporary scooters celebrate passing Beaumont’s qualifying examination, including a rigorous “road test.” Mary Schnabel and Peter Abel (rhyme intended) haven’t had so much fun on wheels since their first two-wheeled bikes. They were licensed automobile drivers before World War II, and they continue on a roll.
ASSISTANT VICE PRESIDENT OF OPERATIONS BROCK A. NICHOLS has been promoted to full vice president (no longer assistant).
BEAUMONT NEWS The Beaumont News is published by the residents and staff of the Beaumont Retirement Community, 601 N. Ithan Avenue, Bryn Mawr, PA 19010 Executive Editor Mary Graff Lynn Ayres Managing Editor Deputy Executive Editor and Production Manager John Hall Graphic Designer TJ Walsh Louise Hughes Photo Editor Contributing Editor Linda Madara Jennifer Frankel Quality Control Index Manager Nancy Harris Consulting Assistant Editors Mary Schnabel, Jean Homeier, Peggy Wolcott, Sis Ziesing and Wistie Miller
In Memoriam John F. Hentz March 3, 2018 Members of the Beaumont Community extend deepest sympathy to his families and friends.
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Hard-to-please reviewer ‘enraptured’ by Kim concert Text and photo by Lynn Ayres I’ve never developed much enthusiasm for classical music, but when Philadelphia Orchestra Concertmaster David Kim returned to Beaumont on February 13 for a concert in the Beaumont Room, I felt I had to attend. The chamber music ensemble included Kim (violin), Meng Wang (viola), Yumi Kendall (cello) and Jeffrey DeVault (piano). When Kim entered, he commented on the big change in the room since the last time he was here, before the renovations. At that time the stage was in front; this time the performers were placed 90 degrees to the right, with the audience stretched out in front of them in a wide arc. They began with Mozart’s Divertimento in E flat major for String Trio, K 563. For the first time, I could really hear and appreciate the individual instruments. I prefer mellow sounds (thus cello to violin), but the viola harmonized so well that I was enraptured. Their second presentation was Bach’s Violin Concerto No. 2 in E Major, BWV 1042. Violin soloist David Kim was accompanied by piano. When the group first entered the room, I noticed a bright light emanating from two of the musicians.
NO MORE STRUGGLING to turn pages as you play a complex piece. Musicians have embraced the computer age.
At the end of the concert, David commented that he and Meng Wang were using iPads instead of paper to read their music. All of their music was downloaded and organized. No more shuffling through papers or forgetting to bring a crucial piece of music. David seemed to imply that his less enlightened colleagues were still in the Dark Ages. A pedal on the floor communicates to the iPad when to “turn the page.” It’s a perfect system—unless the battery fails. In that case, he said, they would simply break for refreshments a little early.
New Medicare Cards on their way in 2018 By Lynn Plasha, Vice President of Health Services
The Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 requires Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to remove all Social Security Numbers from all Medicare cards by April 2019. WHY? By replacing the cards there will be better protection of your private health care and financial information as well as your federal health benefits and service payments. HOW? A new Medicare Beneficiary Identifier (MBI) will replace the Social Security number on the new cards for Medicare transactions like billing, eligibility status and claim status. Under the new system each person enrolled in Medicare will be assigned a new Medicare Beneficiary Identifier (MBI) and receive a new Medicare card. The MBI is confidential and should be protected as Personally Identifiable Information. The MBI will be 11 characters in length, made up only of numbers and uppercase
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letters (no special characters). Your MBI is unique, randomly generated, and the characters will have no hidden or special meaning. The most important thing is that the MBI will not change Medicare benefits. WHEN? Cards are expected to begin arriving in April of 2018 and will be mailed randomly by geographic location throughout the next 12 months. Begin using your new Medicare cards as soon as you receive them.
Why do Beaumont residents use computers? Do you have to love your computer to get it to work for you? Two BN writers tell their tales.
By Irene Borgogno
By Lynn Ayres
Computers have long been my bête noir. My mind just does not follow a computer’s path of logic. This lack of synchrony goes way back to my freshman year in college. In my first physics course, we were introduced to programming, which included an assignment to write a very short Fortran program. Following instructions, I wrote my program, punched my cards and submitted the deck for processing. Next day, I went back to get my deck and my printout. My deck was there, but there was no printout. How strange. I checked the cards: they were all there and in order. Assuming I had erred in submission, I re-submitted, being careful to follow instructions precisely. Next day, I returned to collect my materials. Still no printout. I turned to my secret resource: “Frank,” I said. “Help!” I handed him the deck, which he perused and then asked, “Where’s your print statement?” Me: “My what?” Frank: “Your print statement. The card that tells the computer to print what it did.” Me: “Why do I have to tell the computer to print what it did? Why would I ask it to do something but not want to see what it did? That’s ridiculous.” Ridiculous or not, that was the problem. It has been like that ever since. Time and again, I have encountered problems when trying to use a computer, only to discover that I had been oblivious to the obvious. I remember my first efforts to order something on line. I could not understand why selections of alternative features were not available online. They were present in the catalogue. Frustrated, I took a break and called my friend Lynn. I complained to her about my problem, and she said, “There were no choices on the drop-down menu?” Me: “The what?” Lynn: “The drop-down menu.” Me: “What’s that?” Lynn: “The little arrowhead next to the characteristic you want to select.” Me: “Oh. Drop-down menu, hmmm? I will check.” And so it goes. It is all so obvious…but
What’s that contraption on my desk? Is it friend or is it foe? Will it cause a muddled mess, or take me where I want to go? For me, computers are a faster, easier way of working. As an English major, I wrote hundreds of papers in college and graduate school. Thank goodness I had taken typing in high school. But correcting typos was sloppy and tedious. My first clue that something better was on the horizon occurred at a Star Trek convention, where a guest speaker described his supercharged typewriter. He said that modifications on his IBM Selectric allowed him to type an entire page, retype mistakes as he went, and then press a button to print out the corrected page. My eyes lit up and my imagination went wild. Wow! When personal computers finally appeared, schools had to keep up—which meant training teachers. I took every course the school district offered— both programming and word processing. I quickly discovered that I was in a very small minority. Most of my colleagues were absolutely terrified of the new machines, but when my school needed teachers for new computer classes, I was ready for the challenge. Later, software programs were developed for drawing, desktop publishing and photo editing. Whee! If Microsoft Word is my right arm, Photoshop Elements is my left. Dark photo? Brighten it. Tilted photo? Straighten it. Unwanted object? Crop it out. I love it. My electronic workhorse became my favorite toy—and a practical one. The Internet has replaced a bookcase full of reference books. Google makes the world go round, or at least its information takes me around the world to any time and place. Do I run into problems from time to time? Of course I do. I either figure them out, approach the problem some other way, or ask someone more knowledgeable than I am. I was surprised that my friend Irene did not take more interest in computers. She was always the scientific one with interests in astronomy and degrees in archaeology. On the other hand, I had been told
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IT survey gets mixed results but finds most of us IT savvy
By Virginia Rivers
How popular with our 287 residents are modern electronic information and communication devices, as compared with the old printed standbys? Our IT survey last November aimed to find out. IS OLDER BETTER? Despite the popularity of TV and the Internet, Beaumont residents still get most of their news from the old standards: newspapers and magazines. When the survey asked if TV, Internet, radio or print provided residents’ news, print proved the most popular news source. Of the 139 residents responding, 94 read news from print, followed by 41 using both TV and print, and small numbers who use only the Internet, only TV or only radio for news.
65 percent of residents online daily or almost daily. When separated from the general population, 83 percent of our Portal users report being “always” online. As for social media, one third of us are using Facebook, six use Instagram and only one reports using Twitter. Cell phone and smart phone use has increased. Most responders, 129 of 139, now use these devices, compared with 119 of 141 two years back. E-book and tablet use has remained about the same.
WHICH DO YOU TRUST? Many of us take our news with critical eyes and ears. Print and TV news were both judged “very reliable” as national news sources by 45 percent of those responding, while 51 percent saw TV news as “somewhat reliable.” The Internet, radio and print won similar “somewhat reliable” ratings of 45 percent, while TV was considered “unreliable” by ten respondents, radio by five. The 34 residents who responded via the Portal put more trust in their news sources than the residents who used pencil and paper.
CONCLUSIONS? Not surprisingly, residents who have used print media for most of their lives continue to prefer it. However, they are slowly embracing electronic media, perhaps as a result of pressure from children, who urge phones for safety reasons, and grandchildren, who keep in touch via social media. Our surveys were returned by twice as many women as men, and far more were age 80-plus than were younger. No surprise here: these percentages reflect the demographics of the overall population of Beaumont.
WHAT ABOUT ELECTRONIC MEDIA? Internet use has risen only slightly since our survey two years ago, from 78 to 80 percent. Frequency of Internet use is steady overall, with BORGOGNO continued from page 4
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never for me. Why then do I continue with computers? Because they are so handy for purchasing and for keeping track of finances…and because they have proven to be my salvation. Parkinson’s has stolen my fine motor skills, including cursive handwriting. I can print, but the process is painfully slow if I want the product to be legible. The computer and I may never think alike, but with a computer, I can write. Without a computer, I could only read.
by a math teacher, “You can’t teach computer. You’re an English teacher!” But word processing has nothing to do with math or science, and computer programming does not require much math—just logic. And programming languages are languages, after all. *** Dear readers: Do you have strong feelings one way or another about your computer? Please write us a letter!
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Barbara Ladd and Daisy now at home in Austin
By Wistie Miller
Dressed impeccably for our interview with a pink bow in her hair, it was Daisy—a small Yorkshire terrier with a big voice—who welcomed me into Barbara Ladd’s attractive ground-floor apartment in Austin. Originally from Atlanta, Barbara moved to Philadelphia with her then new husband Barbara Ladd Joe and their blended family of five children ranging in age from 6 to 12. (She lovingly referred to them as “The Brady Brunch.”) They settled down for the next 50 years in a house on
Beech Road in Bryn Mawr, just around the corner from Beaumont. Her husband was president of the Fidelity Mutual Life Insurance Company, in the Art Deco building at Fairmount and Pennsylvania avenues, across from the Philadelphia Museum of Art. In 1999 the building was acquired by our museum to house special traveling exhibitions as well as more permanent ones. It was renamed the Perelman Building in honor of its most generous benefactors during acquisition. Barbara likes to attend concerts given by the Philadelphia Orchestra and enjoys playing bridge— but not duplicate. She is fond of knitting, especially baby clothes, and you guessed it, making costumes for Daisy, who is a very stylish-minded pooch! Most of all, Barbara says, she is happy to be here at Beaumont and loves never having had to leave her old neighborhood.
Dining Committee lifts veil, reveals the hidden foods of Beaumont!
Did you know that milkshakes, french fries, biscuits and mini muffins are available in the Mansion, even on Sundays? Though it is not always on the menu, you can always order asparagus. Angel hair pasta may be ordered as a side dish, with or without marinara sauce. The staff will grill your grapefruit with or without sugar and substitute homemade potato chips for packaged ones. Also, you may ask for strawberries or grapes or any specific fruit from the fruit bowl for dessert. Except for Tuesday and Wednesday evenings, your wait person can fetch cappuccino or expresso from the Bistro. Cinnamon toast is also a possibility for breakfast. Finally, if you run out of staples like milk, eggs, butter, bread or orange juice, Photos by Lynn Ayres just slip into the kitchen and ask one of the gracious staff members for the needed item. These are some of the “hidden” foods of Beaumont. I am sure there are others. Just ask!
By Evelyn Rosen, Dining Committee Chair Recently, dining in the Mansion with a friend, I ordered custard with raspberry sauce for dessert. When the moist yellow custard, shimmering in its scarlet sauce, arrived, she asked, “How did you get that?’ “It’s on the dessert menu.” “Really?” Yes, the custard plus 20 other desserts, including rice pudding, English toffee ice cream, and angel food cake have been on the dessert menu ever since it was instituted about a year ago by the Dining Committee. Another resident, who went onto the portal and found the dessert menu, emailed that she was “astonished” by what she found. “Where have those been hiding the past almost two years that I have lived here?” she said. Until a few months ago, the dessert menus were tucked away in their leather covers on food trays, shelves and nooks and crannies in the various Mansion dining rooms. Thus, most residents believed they were restricted to two nightly special desserts and a variety of ice creams. This is no longer the case. We have moved the dessert list to the second page of the Mansion menu, where curious residents may discover these hidden foods:
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PUDDLES continued from page 1
be slowly absorbed into the ground. Once the void is filled to capacity (capacity varies), it overflows onto the surface. Simply put, this is a large, planned-but-hidden, slow-draining puddle, on permeable ground. Supporting structures, often called lobster pots (because that’s what they look like), keep the dirt from falling in and filling up the holes. A closely related technology was used under our putting green, to provide a very large holding basin for the water that runs off the Fitness Center roof. That installation involved stacked “lobster pots.” However, with the addition of plastic sheeting, the putting green installation does not allow absorption into the soil. Instead, the water is drained from the holding area and transported to the pond through underground pipes. Little or no recharging takes place. These systems will reduce the amount of surface water observed at Beaumont during rainfalls and after snow melt. They will reduce erosion of down-sloping ground and road edges. In cold weather, they will reduce opportunities for formation of black ice on roadways. Expect to hear more about recharge system plans as the year progresses.
of rainwater from the ground surface to the subsurface area below the plant root zone. It is a means for maintaining groundwater and replenishing the aquifers that are the primary sources for drinking water and irrigation. Replenishment is hindered by paved surfaces, compacted soil, dense turf and even just plain poor soil. Rainwater runs off these surfaces and into storm drains and bodies of water like our Pond. The rest evaporates. For replenishment to occur, water must sit on the ground. Water that puddles on a permeable surface is absorbed through plant-root-mediated passageways. This is the natural method of water recharge. Because built-up areas have limited areas available for natural recharge, this common problem has led to the development of artificial systems for capturing surface water. Rain gardens offset a small amount of the run-off loss, but artificial groundwater recharge systems have become the key players for capturing large amounts of surface water. An artificial recharge system consists of a strategically located, protected, usually underground space or void designed to collect surface water and allow it to
Photo by Linda Madara
“MR. GREGG’S GARDEN” enhances the south-facing side of the Fitness Center, from its southwest corner, past the patio, to the corner leading to Geranium Alley.
GARDENERS continued from page 1 Mr. Gregg’s first activity at Beaumont was to improve and care for an overlooked garden in the Greenhouse Courtyard. After the addition of the Fitness and Aquatics Center, Mr. Gregg, together with the Grounds Committee, re-designed and planted the
garden by the courtyard patio, which he continued to maintain. Mr. Gregg’s last activity before he left us, in fact, was watering “his garden.” The funds will continue to be used for education for the Grounds Department, along with the annual purchase of plants for “Mr. Gregg’s Garden.” AT THE ANNUAL BRIDGE PART Y: Duplicate winners (by the fireplace) were Sally and Roland Morris (left to right, positions 1 and 3), and Devie Andrews (position 2) and Marion Snyder, all first-place winners. Party bridge winners were (left to right) Nelly Lincoln and John Mather (future resident) and Charlotte Steinberg and Norma Fabian. Photos by Linda Madara
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‘Go, Eagles,’ Beaumont cried, and of course the Eagles went!
The Beaumont Room was abuzz. The staff competed in a closely fought beanbag-toss game. Staff and residents alike danced with abandon to the wild music that kept everyone cheering, clapping, and on their feet. Then different music could be heard coming from somewhere. “That sounds like Mummers!” the cry went out. And there they were in glittering splendor—eight Fralinger Club string band members, each in a different costume! Live!! The band took Beaumont’s enthusiastic audience on a musical adventure, pumping up the assembled multitude even higher with their traditional music—“I’m Lookin’ over a Four-Leaf Clover!”—as well as the beloved Eagles’ fight song, “Fly, Eagles, fly on the road to victory!” Everyone sang along in the keys of their choice. Even Beaumont’s “Underdog” was there to help ensure that the “underdog” Eagles would win their first-ever Super Bowl victory 41-33 in the game in Minneapolis February 4. Driver Rich Smyth said it was hot under that mask, and he couldn’t see very well, but still he performed manfully and came out smiling. Of course!
Text and most photos by Linda Madara
Of course it worked! They won! Yes, the Eagles were the better team. They won because of drive, courage, strength and skill. But also because of the great vibes sent from the Beaumont Pep Rally! How else could they have beaten the New England Patriots? With our positive mental telepathy streaming out to Minneapolis, a win for the Eagles was a sure thing! Jim’s heavenly steak sandwiches, cooked under the portico in bitter cold weather, were part of a spread of food fit to feed the whole Eagles team, and everyone plunged in. The pièce de résistance? Dessert! Huge football-shaped cookies with Eagles green frosting and cupcakes with the Eagles logo atop each.
Above left: Hot food on a very cold day; “first ever” cheesesteak for Ann Reed (photo by Louise Hughes); Joe Peduzzi tosses bean-bag. Above right: Dancers Rose-Marie Hines, Curtis Laupheimer and Audrey Walsh. Below: Fralinger String Band and “Underdog” Richard Smyth.
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