JULY 2017 — TAMMUZ-AV 5777 — VOL 17 NO 10

JFCS ................................................. 2Resident of the Month ................... 3President’s Message ...................... 4Reflection and Gardens ....................5July Activities ......................................6

July Activities, cont. ...........................7RGP Outings .......................................8Health Notes ........................................9Dining .................................................10Marketing ........................................... 11

Gardens and Gardening Edition

Stephanie DiGiorgio in RGP’s garden

page 2 The Olive Press

Staff

Adrienne Fair, Assistant Executive Director 415-345-5077Ira Kurtz, Executive Director 415-345-5080Eric Luu, CFO 415-345-5083Van Ly, Business Office Manager 415-345-5073Ron Martinez, Director of Facilities 415-345-5088 Candiece Milford, Managing Director of Marketing 415-345-5072Peggy O'Brien, Director of Resident Services 415-345-5082Emily Steen, Director of Programming 415-345-5084Corey Weiner, Director of Food and Beverage 415-345-5069

2180 Post Street San Francisco, CA 94115

415.345.5060 415.345.5061 (fax) www.RGPlaza.org RCFE #385600125

Rhoda goldman plaza

Don AbramsonKaren Aidem Carla BuchananDavid DossetterNancy GoldbergDr. Carl GrunfeldDr. Lawrence HillJoan Levison David Melnick Raquel Newman Paul SiegelVera SteinRonna StoneDr. Anita FriedmanKaren Staller

Board of Directors

JFCS -Seniors At HomeJewish Family and Children’s Services (JFCS) is one of the oldest and largest human service agencies in the United States. JFCS is guided by the Jewish traditions of advancing human dignity, community responsibility, inter-generational ties, and repairing the world.

Through Seniors At Home, our award-winning senior services division, we help older adults live independently, safely, and with dignity. Highly trained, compassionate caregivers provide extra support through personal care, assistance after an illness or hospitalization, or just for a little company.

To find out more about JFCS or Seniors At Home, call 415-449-1200 or visit us online at www.jfcs.org .

Jewish Family and Children’s Services and Rhoda Goldman Plaza share the commitment to help older adults live with dignity and work together to promote their quality of life.

Café by the BayA Weekly Social Event for Holocaust Survivors

Café by the Bay offers Holocaust survivors weekly gatherings in which they enjoy social, cultural and educational activities, such as concerts, lectures, and other live presentations. It also offers survivors a space to discuss issues of concern and gain strength and support from one another.

Café by the Bay takes place at Jewish Family and Children’s Services, right next door to Rhoda Goldman Plaza! It happens every Friday, with a catered Shabbat luncheon and special program on the last Friday of every other month.

For more information or to RSVP, call Bobbi Bornstein at 415-449-3843

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Resident of the Month—Naomi Lauter

“I love flowers, gardening, and growing things. My gardening passion started as a child through my father who loved to garden. When I was young, we lived in the Marina, and as a child, I would follow him and help in the garden and he would take me with him to buy plants. When I was seventeen, we moved to Marin where we had a big garden and my father began to grow everything. He loved flowers, so he grew lots of flowers, but also berries, fruit, and vegetables. Apparently he got his love of gardening from his father who had a grocery store and a garden when they lived in Illinois.

From a young age, I learned to do flower arrangements; when I married, I learned a Japanese way of flower arrangements, called Ikebana. (Ikebana is the Japanese art of flower arrangement. .... It is a disciplined art form in which the arrangement is a living thing where nature and humanity are brought together. It is steeped in the philosophy of developing a closeness with nature. http://www.ikebanahq.org/whatis.php).

Most of my married life, I lived in Presidio Terrace, San Francisco, but moved to Marin when my grandchildren were growing up. There I had a real garden. I designed it and continuously thought about what I would plant, where I would plant it. I picked every plant for its effect, and planned where to put the plants needing the sun, and where to put plants needing shade. Roses and tomatoes competed for sunny space since they both like sun. I love roses; they are exceptionally beautiful, and have a wonderful fragrance. In fact, I grew roses and other plants chosen for their fragrance.

If I had a philosophy of a garden, I would say that a beautiful garden needs all kinds of flowers; trees are important too. I planted redwood trees in the front of the Marin house, and a plum, persimmon, and fig tree in the back. There were also camellias, rhododendrons, hydrangeas, snapdragons, a mixture of annuals and perennials. Every garden must have a structure and, of course, fragrance, and color.

Three things have been important in my life, my family—children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren—my work, and my garden. I put my creative energies into designing and developing an entirely beautiful garden—a place to rest, to appreciate, a place where the world falls away.

Which is to say, that there is a fine and uncertain line between people and plants, those whom we have nurtured,

trained, raised, cheered into adulthood and whose offspring we cherish. I am gratified beyond words that my children love flowers and gardening; my daughter provides me continuously with fresh flowers and my sons are gardeners. They too, spent time with my father in his garden, just as I did, and absorbed his love of the land. He grew berries which my daughter said were the best in the world. He grew cucumbers and made pickles in a big barrel which my children loved to eat. The joy of gardening, feelings mixed with fruit, many years of gardens and gardeners have gotten into my genes which has been passed to my children and their children....

I have brought roses to RGP and the Garden Club planted them on the third floor terrace where, I’ve heard, residents really enjoy them. These roses all have a scent, so it’s more than metaphorical to encourage people to come up to the outdoor terrace and smell the roses.”

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RGP Resident Council President Hal Auerbach's Message

Just suppose you were assigned to write this column, that you want it to be consistent with this month’s theme, and you are told that this month’s theme is “Urban Gardens”, a subject about which you know absolutely nothing. What would

you do? My answer came from the advice given by an old Tennessee football coach: “When in doubt, punt!” There is much about that important and interesting topic elsewhere in this issue, but not here!

The terms of your officers and board members expire this month. Of the five officers and board members, three will seek a second term, but two are termed out, having completed their two years of service. Those two, Warde Laidman and Bea Robin, will be sorely missed. Warde has been a diligent and hard-working Secretary, whose precise and complete minutes create lasting easy to read records of our proceedings. Bea, as our Treasurer, has gently but persistently kept us informed of the status of our Employee Appreciation Fund, ever reminding us of the reason for that fund and our need to contribute to it, and she deserves much of the credit for the record-setting amount distributed to our employees last year. In their roles as board members, Warde and Bea have contributed much to our efforts to achieve closer communication with all residents and greater cooperation with the administrative staff. Thank you both!!

Thanks also to our vice-president Stephanie DiGiorgio and at-large board member Len Sperry who greatly helped in your board’s efforts to listen to and try to resolve all your concerns.

July BirthdaysHadley Hall 8Shirley Drexler 13Anna Meyer 17Diana Variakojis 17Moritz Altman 21Bill MacColl 28Joyce Silver 31

Fromm Lectures at RGPThe Fromm Institute is a “University within a University” Now RGP will be offering two weekly Frommcasts (video broadcast from the classroom). The courses are The History of Presidential Elections and the History of Islam, Part 1. We will watch forty-five minutes of each lecture followed by a brief discussion.

History of Presidential Elections, 1789 — 2016.

Prof. Chris Sullivan

This course will take us through the history of American presidential elections, from George Washington in 1789 to Donald Trump in 2016. This course reveals that presidential campaigns have always been tenaciously contested and often nasty, yet they reveal much about our history and ourselves.

History of Islam, Part One

Prof. Nicolaus Hohmann

In Part One, we will look at the ancient city of Mecca and the world of Arabia. Other topics include: Mohammed, the new prophet of old teachings; the Successors — conquest, schism, and conversion; the marvels of the Caliphate as a Muslim world empire at its zenith; the wars of brothers and the collapse of the Caliphate; the Old Man of the Mountain and the Assassins and, Moghul India and new traumas for the Hindu world. Throughout this study our primary focus will be on understanding the Islam of today.

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Gardens for Repose, Reflection, and Rejuvenation

What is a garden? For me, it’s a place to look

at the sky, enjoy the colors of flowers, appreciate nature quietly. I like the semi-private aspect; horizontally closed in, but

vertically open to the sky. In a garden, thus enclosed, I feel free to relax, to take a break as a place between things-done and things-yet-to-do.

There is a wonderful word, somewhat obscure, which defines this ‘between-space’—liminality. This term is used to define intermediate conditions—personal, societal, epochal, psycosocial and physical. MirriamWebster defines it “of, relating to, or being an intermediate state, phase, or condition”. Liminal places are beaches, bridges, tidelands, volcanos, and marshes. Liminal times are early morning and twilight. Liminal periods are between stages of life, large social changes, or more personally, between what we know and what we imagine. In some aspects, liminal periods are a time of growth.

What if we thought about gardens as being liminal spaces—existing between a personal inside and a public outside, between man-made and wild, between controlled and randomly growing. A guided nature. Thinking about gardens and our relationship to them, I remember that humanity was created in Eden, as the story goes. At the other end of Life is Gan Eden, the Garden of Paradise. These mythologically significant markers of humankind are both located in gardens.

We live our lives between those mythological places in present-day gardens, more mundane, nevertheless, a place in-between.We can consciusly

use liminal space to become more of what we aspire to be. Gardens provide a personal liminal space, a place to reflect, to think,

relax, rejuvinate, and to enjoy life and each other.

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July Activities

Special Events 1 Sat Fillmore Jazz Festival 4 Tues 1:30 4th of July Celebration 10,17 Mon 7:00 Poker Club 11 Tues 10:15 Tigges Jewelry Repair 20 Thurs 10:30 Bread Baking 28 Fri 10:30 Camp Gan Israel Students’ Visit

Outings 6 Thurs 1:30 Outing: Stonestown Galleria 8 Sat 3:00 Outing: Scenic Drive 11 Tues 1:30 Outing: CJM: Roz Chast: Cartoon Memoirs 13 Thurs 11:30 Outing: Muir Woods 18 Tues 1:15 Outing: Presidio Visitors Center 20 Thurs 1:30 Outing: Legion of Honor 25 1:30 Tues Outing: HopMonk Tavern in Novato 27 Thurs 1:30 Outing: Worlds Rare Plants- Half Moon Bay 29 Sat 2:00 Outing: Flower Mart

Lectures/Discussion 1,8,15, 29 Sat 3:30 Native American Peoples of North America Fridays 10:30 FrommCast on Islam 2,9,16 Sun 4:15 Current Events with Jim Mondays 3:00 FrommCast on Presidential Elections 5 Wed 10:30 Dr. Vella Health Lecture 13 Thurs 10:30 John Rothmann Lecture 13, 27 Thurs 3:30 Jewish Women in the 20th Century 15 Sat 3:00 TED Talk with Discussion

Literature 1, 8, 29 Sat 1:15 Joke Telling Tuesdays 10:30 Writing Exercises 12 Wed. 10:30 Poetry with Elizabeth 18 Tues 10:30 Writing Exercises 22 Sat 2:00 Amy and Josiah Theater Performance 27 Thurs 10:30 Short Story Group

Committees/Resident Council/Clubs 5, 26 Wed 3:15 Memory Loss Support Group 12 Wed 1:30 Activities Committee 19 Wed 10:30 Gardening with Elizabeth 19 Wed 1:30 History Committee 20 Thurs 10:00 Dining Room Committee 22 Sat 1:00 Movie Committee 26 Wed 2:00 Resident Council

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July Activities

Art Classes 2 Sun 10:30 Craft with Bethany Mondays 1:15 Ceramics with Jeannie Tuesdays 3:30 Painting with Kimberly 12, 19 Wed 3:00 Knitting with Max 6, 20 Thurs 3:30 Beading with Melanie 7 Fri 2:00 Mask Making 26 Wed 10:30 Bird Houses with Mallory 21,28 Fri 1:00 Open Art Studio

Music 2 Sun 3:00 Yakov Violin Concert 7 Fri 2:00 Brandon Piano Recital 9 Sun 3:00 Moon Glow Duo 16 Sun 3:00 Kathy Kline Piano Concert 19 Wed 3:30 Frank Cefalu Sing a Long 23 Sun 3:00 Charged Particles 30 Sun 3:00 Herbie One Jazz

Games Saturdays 1:30 RummiKub Sundays 1:00 Card Games with Eric Mondays 10:30 Bingo Mondays 4:30 Crossword Tuesdays 1:00 Rummikub 5,12,19 Wed. 2:00 Scrabble 14 Fri 3:00 Apples to Apples 21 Fri. 1:30 Bingo 25 Tues 2:30 Black Jack with Ira

Exercise Classes 3,10 Mon 10:00 Walking Club 9,16,23,30 Sun 10:00 Exercise with Phil 3,9 Mon 9:00 Walking Club 17,24,31 Mon 9:00 Exercise with Rowena Tuesdays 9:15 Tai Chi with Janet 5,12 Wed 9:00 Exercise with Mallory 5 Wed 1:15 Joy of Dance with Bruce 19,26 Wed 9:00 Exercise with Rowena Thursdays 9:30 Walking Club Fridays 9:00 Exercise with Phil Saturdays 9:30 Chair Yoga Ilya

Shabbat Services Fridays 4:00 Shabbat Services with Rabbi Me’irah

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RGP Outings to SF Gardens

Residents Plant RGP ‘s Garden

Hedy Krasnobrod replants lantana Shirley Drexler puts tomato plants into a supporting cage

Candiece Milford, Director of Marketing with Harriet Marder and Jack Leibman at The Sequoia’s garden

Evelyn and Barry Adler at the Samsome Roof Garden

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Adrienne Fair, MSN, RN, Assistant Executive Director

Health Notes

Getting Your Dose of Vitamin D: The “Sunshine Vitamin”A practical reason to spend time in a garden

When I was a teenager, I had an opportunity to travel to Russia with my grandparents In Saint Petersburg, we were visiting the Peter and Paul Fortress and I was surprised by a large group of stocky Russian men in speedos, soaking in the sun along the thick walls of the fortress. Afterwards I learned that this was a popular spot for locals to catch some sun (and Vitamin D) all year round—even in the winter. The area was protected from the wind, and the rays of the sun heated up the stone – the effect was almost tropical!

Compared to other vitamins and minerals, vitamin D is difficult to process in the body. Vitamin D3 requires skin exposure to sunlight and enzymatic conversion in the liver and kidneys. As we age, this is compounded by less frequent exposure to sunlight, decreased ability of the skin to synthesize vitamin D, and a decreased capacity of the kidneys to break down vitamin D to its active form1.

At one point, physicians were prescribing high doses of Vitamin D supplements for seniors—in part to strengthen bones and prevent fractures.

Recently, a Swiss study showed that higher doses of Vitamin D (2000 IU or more daily) actually increased the risk of falls2. In addition, Vitamin D is stored in fat and can build up to toxic levels in the body. If you are interested in Vitamin D supplements, please work with your primary care provider so you can reach the “sweet spot” for the dosage: not too high and not too low.

Dietary Vitamin D can be obtained via milk (fortified) and fatty fish such as salmon and tuna. The best way for your body to absorb additional

vitamin D, however, is via supplements3. Getting outside in the sun, even for fifteen minutes, will help your body to synthesize Vitamin D. Why not enjoy some sun on our

third floor patio? You could even break out your swimsuit and pretend you’re in Saint Petersburg.

1. International Osteoporosis Foundation (2014). Why seniors are more vulnerable to calcium and vitamin D deficiency. www.iofbonehealth.org2. Bischoff-Ferrari et al. (2016). Monthly high-dose vitamin D treatment for the prevention of functional decline: A randomized clinical trial. Journal of the American Medical Association 176(2): 175-183.3 Nair and Maseeh (2012). Vitamin D: The “sunshine” vitamin. Journal of Pharmacology and Pharmacotherapeutics 3(2): 118-126.

page 10 The Olive Press

Corey Weiner,Director of Food and Beverage

Dining—Eat to your heart’s content

Urban Gardens

Did I mention that I am against urban farming? Never one to be contrary, (moi?), but seriously folks, I suggest leaving farming to the pros.

In his book The Sixty-four Dollar Tomato, William Alexander points out the high cost of urban farming, and yet remains enthralled with the concept, as do many of us. It’s a lovely concept, and I think our own efforts are producing wonderful herbs (thank you Mrs. Krasnobrod) are wildly successful, but I say fruit and vegetables grow best on the supermarket shelf. I am unsure how they get that packaging to grow around some of that produce, but that is one thing I can do without.

It is likely that my peers are waxing poetic about the pros of urban gardening, so of course I must go to the dark side.

The price of space being what it is in the City, urban farming may not be the best economic use of land. Additionally, using public water supplies can contribute to water shortages in cities. Only four out of ten households active in gardening use some gray water for irrigation. I looked into the gray water business personally and I could not find anyone to do a viable job of capturing gray water and getting it to my yard. After I fell down the stairs with my bucket of shower water, I cut back on my water conservation somewhat. Farmer Corey bites the dust.

I did think about pulling a couple of tables out of the dining room and laying down some soil, but Ira and Ron got a little fussy, something about water damage and pest control.

I could go on about foodborne illnesses and soil, air and water pollution, but then we would never eat again. Instead, let’s look to the summer farmer’s market and produce. This year we will have a summer intern, and I am hoping to set her up with a farmers market four days a week in the café. (I haven’t told her yet…..)

It will be a six-week project; I will give her a week to set up a concept and a plan, and then we should be in business by June 27th, just in time for you to buy all your favorite summer produce. Think of it! Cherries, plums! Stone fruit is just around the corner! Not finding enough fiber in your diet? We are bringing the market to you.

You know, there are many recipes that require no cooking at all. You can still have dinner parties in your room. You can make Gazpacho, Kale Salad, how about …Collard Green Wraps! And Smoothies, green ones! Who doesn’t love green drinks. Maybe we will include some recipes that you can use. I’m seeing a nice green cocktail with my guacamole, it’s called the Adios Mother Iced Tea (it has Vodka, gin, rum, tequila, blue curacao, sweet/sour, 7-Up, and …no kale?

However, if our farmers market does not meet your specs we have a fabulous produce company that will. Greenleaf produce, started small and local 40 years ago and is now one of the major suppliers in the bay area. We have used a number of companies over time, but we have been with Greenleaf the longest.

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Candiece Milford,Managing Director of Marketing

My Love of Gardening Embedded in a Nursery Rhyme .

. . . starting with “how does your garden grow? With silver bells and cockleshells . . .” Remember that? As a child it inspired me to attempt to make perfume out of the flowers flourishing in our large backyard, even committing

to being a flower illustrator “when I grew up.” In 4th grade I relentlessly drew the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, and in high school, had my own vegetable garden. Later in life, I tackled fifty rose bushes – whew. Worth the effort, but a real effort of love to lure out those blossoms. What would one expect when both my parents grew up on farms, while I wound up being raised in the Hollywood hills!

And here we are right in the middle of this beautiful city, dotted with parks and full of buildings and high rises with more being built daily. Yet, make no mistake. Urban landscape designers and others have, and are being commissioned, to utilize tops of garages for gardens (Portsmouth Square, the “Heart of Chinatown”), “interstitial spaces” such as Cottage Row (the brick lane that runs mid-block between Fillmore and Webster from Bush to Sutter, created in 1882 by Col. Charles L. Taylor), and

of course the many rooftop gardens, too numerous to name. And I can’t also help but mention bee-keeping that is vigorously alive on many rooftops including that of the Fairmont Hotel (with 200,000 honeybees living in four beehives, those “busy bees” make over 600 pounds of honey a year!)

At Rhoda Goldman Plaza we have two beautiful gardens: one more cool and meditative on the ground level, shady with ferns, and the sunny Terrace Gardens on the third floor. There, resident Hedy grows spices such as rosemary, mint and thyme, lovers of roses have planted several extraordinarily fragrant rose bushes such as Sedona, April in Paris and Double Delight, and a gardening group regularly meets. A recent stroll has revealed newly-planted tomatoes although I have found carrots, radishes and even snap peas growing there in the past.

So what’s the “scoop” about gardens and gardening that I hear from our residents who love to garden? Besides the satisfaction of growing plants and enjoying nature, gardening is about connection with the living earth, remembrance of the gardens of our youth and the many memories created in them. Here at RGP, we continue to make new memories in our gardens, to socialize and just to enjoy taking time to “smell the roses!”

Illustration by William Wallace Denslow c. 1744

Rhoda Goldman Plaza

Rhoda goldman plaza 2180 Post Street San Francisco, CA 94115

415.345.5060 415.345.5061 (fax)

www.RGPlaza.org RCFE #385600125

Founded by Jewish Family and Children’s Services and Mount Zion Health Fund

The appeal of Rhoda Goldman Plaza is undeniable. Older adults and their families prefer our unsurpassed assisted living and memory care community enriched by culture and tradition.Residents enjoy superb, “made-from-scratch” cuisine that is always well reviewed by our most vocal critics; our residents! While our dining selections please the appetite, accommodations showcase spacious, private apartments designed to maximize space and comfort. In fact, we’re re-defining your life as Living Well With Assistance — we believe our community is every bit as good as a five-star hotel. And, professionally trained, courteous staff promotes your health and well-being with choices of activity programs both on and off-site.

Our Terrace Memory program provides specialized memory care to residents through therapeutic activities that enhance physical, mental, and emotional health. Both privacy and companionship are afforded on our self-contained Terrace. Living Well With Assistance is more than a promise, but a way of life for our like-minded residents and staff who share the vision of our upscale community.

Visit Rhoda Goldman Plaza today by calling 415.345.5072.

Founded by Jewish Family and Children’s Services and Mt. Zion Health Fund in 2000, Rhoda Goldman Plaza (RGP) was established as a non-profit assisted living facility to provide a better and more secure life for older adults.