Events

Buffalo Senior Center Center Director: Tommy Atkinson (304) 937-3352 48 Wrights Lane Buffalo, WV 25033

John Henson Senior Center Center Director: LuAnn Willis (304) 562-9451 2800 Putnam Avenue Hurricane, WV 25526

Hometown Senior Center Center Director: Cindy Bright (304) 586-2745 40 First Avenue North Hometown, WV 25109

 

2023

Check out our Facebook for more information about upcoming events!

| Buffalo Senior Center | John Henson Center | Hometown Senior Center |

| Putnam Aging |

May 1 – Do you remember the Lewis and Clark expedition in which they explored the western portion of the US after the Louisiana Purchase?  The grandson of “Clark” (coincidentally named “Lewis Clark, Jr”) founded the Kentucky Derby after seeing England’s Epson Derby.

• The race is called “Run for the Roses” as the winner is awarded a 400 roses blanket, which weighs 40 pounds, after the race.
• “Mint julep” is the traditional drink at the race each year.
• Winner of the derby takes home a 3.5-pound trophy. The first-place winner takes home 1.86 million, $600,00 for second place, $300,000 for third place and $150,000 forth place and $90,000 fifth place.
• Only 3-year-old horses run in the Derby.
• Only 3 female horses (fillies) have won the Derby so far.

National Fitness Day – See suggested exercises included.  These exercises will engage you in gentle stretching that will help keep you limber and less likely to injure yourself.

May 2 – World Laughter Day – Benefits of laughter:

Helps the body relax

Boosts the immune system

Triggers the release of endorphins, the body’s natural feel-good chemicals

Protects the heart

Burns calories (10-15 minutes of laughter can burn 50 or more calories) and can tighten your abs (even slightly is of some befit!)

Lightens anger’s heavy load

May even help you to live longer – up to 8 years longer per a study that was done.

Here is something to make you laugh:

Did you hear about the man who went to the doctor? He said, Doc, there is something wrong with my leg!  Put your ear on my thigh and you will hear my concern!  With hesitation, the doctor puts his ear to the man’s thigh and hears “Give me 20 bucks – please! Please!  Then then man says for the doctor to next put his ear to his knee.  The doctor hears “I need 10 bucks man! $10 bucks, $10 bucks!”  Then finally the man tells the doctor to put his ear to his ankle.  There the doctor hears “5 bucks.  I need 5 bucks NOW!”.  The doctor then reports to his patient that he has no idea medically what is going on, but his best educated guess is that his leg appears to be broke in 3 places! ????

1^st Good Housekeeping magazine 1885 – The magazine’s full title is Good Housekeeping: Conducted in the Interests of the Higher Life of the Household. The magazine includes articles about food safety and food adulteration as well as tips for maintaining an orderly safe home, health, travel, decorating and safe and helpful products for use.

May 3 – Wordsmith Day – a wordsmith is a skilled user of words.  If you want to be more knowledgeable of words, sign up for wordsmith.org and get a “word for the day”. There is also info about the following:

Panagrams- A pangram is a piece of text that uses all the letters of the alphabet. Example: “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog

Anagrams – a rearranging of words to make other words.

Example: Clint Eastwood is an anagram of Old West Action.

Palindromes – words that read the same forward and backward.

Example:  Madam.

Bonus joke about words:

When I was in school, my teacher called on me and asked, “Name two pronouns!”

I replied, “Who, me?”

May 4 – OJ Day and “May the 4^th” be with you – Star Wars Day!

Some food facts from Star Wars:

• The Millennium Falcon was designed based partly on a hamburger Lucas had eaten.
• Some of the distant asteroids in the first movie were spray-painted potatoes.
• In 1977, Burger King gave out commemorative collectible “Star Wars” drinking glasses with the purchase of a Coke at the cost of .59 cents plus tax. These glasses are now collectible items.

May 5 –Tammy Wynette is born in 1942. Wynette is famous for her songs “Stand by Your Man″ and   D-I-V-O-R-C-E.  Her life was rather turbulent and sad overall even up to her untimely death at 55.

National Hoagie Day

May 6 – National Nurses Day – Nurses are always there. You care for us from the earliest years.  You look after us in our happiest and saddest times. And for many, you look after us and our families at the end of our lives.  Your dedication and professionalism are awe-inspiring. (HRH Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge) Take the time to thank a nurse you know today.

May 7 – National Tourism Day –Want to do something local?  Check out any of the following for starters on attractions nearby:

The Clay Center for the Arts which has planetarium shows and IMAX films

J.Q. Dickinson Salt-Works tour 4797 Midland Dr. Charleston WV  304-925-7918 (a 7-generation salt making family harvests an all-natural salt by hand from an ancient ocean trapped below the Appalachian Mountains of Kanawha Valley in WV.

Capitol Market will be bursting with flowers in time for garden planting and Mother’s Day!

Blenko Glass where you can watch the staff blow glass and tour the gift shop and even feed the fish and ducks that are there as well.

The Heritage Farm Village and Museum where you learn about Appalachian heritage, located in Huntington WV.

Huntington Museum of Art which houses WV only plant conservatory.

May 8 – No Socks Day – get your sandals and flip flops out as we enjoy the warmer temps of spring.

May 9– Lost Sock Memorial Day – take today to say good-bye to all those single socks whose mates have been lost. Tips for lessening sock loss issues.

• Consider wearing solid white or black socks so if you lose one, there is still a matching shock for use.
• As you take your socks off to put in the wash, fold them together. Then when putting them in the wash, unfold and clean them.  Should limit any losses.
• Pin your socks together or Amazon sells “sock clips”, 32 clips for $19.95.
• Put socks in a laundry washing bag when washing them.
• Or in celebration of May 8^th, just don’t wear socks! (They are pretty nice in the winter though so I wouldn’t give them up completely.)

Mother’s Day has its roots in WV.  Anna Jarvis of Philadelphia, whose mother had organized women’s groups to promote friendship and health, originated Mother’s Day. On May 12, 1907, she held a memorial service at her late mother’s church in Grafton, West Virginia to honor motherhood, maternal bonds and the influence of mothers in society. In 1914 President Woodrow Wilson made a proclamation that the 2^nd Sunday in May would be Mother’s Day as a public expression of love and reverence for the mothers of our country.  Within five years virtually every state was observing the day. Mother’s Day has come to be celebrated worldwide.

Here are some quotes for Mother’s Day:

• Sometimes I open my mouth and my mother comes out! – Unknown
• Mothers of teens know why some animals eat their young. – Arianne Ruland
• Silence is golden. Unless you have kids. Then silence is suspicious. – Unknown
• I want my children to have all the things I couldn’t afford. Then I want to move in with them. – Phyllis Diller
• It just occurred to me that the majority of my diet is made up of the foods that my kid didn’t finish. – Carrie Underwood
• Mirror Mirror on the wall. I am my mother after all! – Unknown
• For fun, look up online “Mother’s Day song to William tell”. It will remind you of days gone by! ????

May 10 – National Shrimp Day – Did you know that…

• A shrimp’s heart is located in its thorax right past the head.
• Several species serve as cleaners for other fish, removing bloodsucking parasites from the mouths of some fishes.
• Snapping shrimp produce a noise with their claws that is louder than a gunshot or jet engine and the noise is so loud that it actually stuns other creatures.
• Some shrimp defend coral by living in conjunction with coral, feasting on the mucus of the coral and protecting the coral from predators.

May 11 Eat what you want day (Cooks Choice) Today is a day to think of foods you have really enjoyed in the past and treat yourself to them.  What are some of your favorites?  Funnel Cake, Stuffed Peppers, Cabbage and Noodles, Rice Pudding?  The list can go on and on.  Take time to enjoy some of your favorite food today.

May 12 – Fudge day Culinary legend regarding the “founding” of fudge is that on Valentine’s Day, 1886, a confectioner and chocolate maker in Baltimore Maryland “fudged” a batch of French caramels. The delicious result? The very first batch of “fudge” ever.

Donate a day’s wages to charity day. If you are no longer working, consider calculating what one day of your pension or social security would be and support a charitable organization of your choice. If you look online for charities listings, there are MANY different groups that you might have a passion toward helping.

May 13 –National Fruit Cocktail Day

Stevie Wonder born in 1950.  His activism has been pivotal in U.S. and world events. In 1983, he spearheaded a campaign to make Martin Luther King Day a national holiday in the United States. He also advocated for the end of apartheid in South Africa.  Some of his songs are “I Just Called to Say I Love You”, “Isn’t She Lovely”, “My Cherie Amour” “These Three Words”

May 14 – Buttermilk Biscuit Day – If you’d rather not buy a whole carton of buttermilk, it’s easy to make your own. Simply add 2-1/2 teaspoons of lemon juice or white vinegar to a liquid measuring cup. Then add milk to the 3/4-cup line and let sit for 10 to 15 minutes, or until slightly curdled and thickened.

May 15 – Doo Dah day (Salute to Silliness) Have fun being silly today!

Kangaroo Care Awareness Day is not about kangaroos (as I first thought when seeing this.)  It is rather, about the benefits of skin-to-skin contact for premature and very small newborns.  It can be done by both men and women basically by holding the baby skin-to-skin on your chest.  The benefits of kangaroo care to a baby include: Stabilizing the baby’s heart rate and improving their breathing patterns, improves their brain activity and over all bonding therefore their overall health. Once the baby is at 2.5 kg or at 37 weeks and when the baby can pull its limbs out or cries and fusses, they no longer need kangaroo care.

May 16– Pickle Day

Recipe to try Refrigerator Pickles

(These will keep for several months in frig)

Slice about 12 medium unpeeled cucumbers in a bow.

Add 4 tsp. Kosher salt

Let stand 2 hours then drain the water off.

Then pour the following over the cucumbers:

2 ½ c sugar

2C white vinegar

1 tsp celery seed

1 tsp mustard seed

Cut up onion and green peppers to if you like.

Stir all together and refrigerate overnight prior to use.

May 17 – Pack Rat Day – Pack Rat Day is celebrated every year on May 17. The unofficial holiday encourages people to do some late spring-cleaning and to make space for newer, more useful things in their lives. Don’t be a pack rat! Use this day to discard useless and unnecessary things in your home.

A pack rat is a real critter. These creatures truly live up to their name. They collect various objects and add them to their nest, particularly shiny things. Interestingly, these rodents urinate on the walls of their nest. Under the right conditions, this urine dries and crystallizes and creates a cement-like structure.  Maybe something noted about a “real” pack rat will resonate with you and encourage you to do some thinning of your belongings.

We have a new Good Will that just opened in Teays Valley and one is opening soon in St. Albans.  You can also donate items to 10 Up Ministries in St. Albans or Union Mission in Dunbar.  There may be other places as well.  Put your unused belonging to good use in this way.

10 Creative Decluttering Tips

• Start with just 5 minutes at a time
• Give one item away each day. If you are faithful to do so, in a year, you will have cleared out 356 items!
• Have the goal of filling an entire trash bag
• Donate clothes you never wear- you can turn your hangers backwards and once something is worn, hang it forward. At the end of the month, if you haven’t worn some items, start here with giving them away.
• Create a decluttering checklist – Identify areas in your home that need a reorganizing touch. Maybe just do a junk drawer or pencil drawer or your pantry or spices for starters.
• Sometimes we are so used to seeing our homes, we don’t really “see” it for what it is. Try to view your home as a first-time visitor. What areas have senseless clutter that needs cleared.
• Take before and after photos of a small area. It will help to motivate you to keep going.
•  

Benefits of decluttering – less to clean, less to organize, easier to find things when needed, less stress, less debt, frees time for your true passions.

Cherry Cobbler Day – here is an easy cherry dump cake recipe you can try in the crock pot or oven. If doing in a crock pot, Cook on low for 4 hours or high for 2 hours.

If using an oven, Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9×13 baking dish with nonstick cooking spray. Stir ½ tsp almond extract into each can of pie filling and stir.

Ingredients:

1 box yellow cake mix

2 cans of cherry pie filling

almond extract – ½ tsp in each cherry pie filling

1 stick of salted butter

Pour both cans of cherry pie filling into prepared baking dish.

Sprinkle yellow cake mix evenly over cherry pie filling.

Melt stick of butter and drizzle over the dry cake mix covering as much as possible.

Bake 50-60 minutes or until golden brown.

Serve warm and you can top with vanilla ice cream.

May 18 – Visit your Relatives Day, Neighbors Day and Museum Day.  Take this day to at least call a relative, check in on a neighbor or visit the Capitol Museum in Charleston. As per the website, “Take a journey through time as you trek from a pre-historic coal forest into early western settlement and present-day wonders. Following a chronological and interactive “show path,” special exhibits with sound and lighting illustrate pivotal moments in West Virginia’s cultural, industrial and natural history. The West Virginia State Museum is dedicated to inspiring, educating and enriching the lives of the public by instilling a deeper understanding and sense of pride through the collection, preservation and exhibition of diverse cultural and historic traditions, focusing on every aspect of West Virginia history, culture, art, paleontology, archaeology and geology from all geographic regions – representing the people, land and industries.”

May 19 – Devil’s Food Cake Day – Devil’s food cake is technically known for its reddish color, which comes naturally from a reaction between the baking powder and baking soda, rather than red food coloring dye as used in red velvet cake.

World Plant a Garden Day

Research indicates that physical as well as visual access to nature helps people recover from illness quicker, reduces stress and lowers blood pressure.

May 20 – National Rescue Dog Day – Get involved in the lives of rescue dogs. There are a variety of ways to share the puppy love.

• Volunteer at your local shelter. Taking dogs for walks, grooming, and giving them plenty of affection improves their socialization.
• Shelters always need donations. Financial donations are always welcome. Most shelters have a list of constant needs, such as blankets, bleach, toys, treats, and leashes.
• If there is room in your life for a rescue dog, consider adoption and giving one a forever home.
• Consider fostering. Many dogs abandoned to shelters require some medical care or rehabilitation in a home setting before an adoption can take place.
• Remember to spay and neuter your pets. Overpopulation is the number one reason shelters exist.

Strawberry Day– Simple and fast dessert is to buy an angel food cake.  Cut up strawberries and coat with a little sugar.  Serve the cake with some strawberries and whipped cream (dream whip/cool whip).  Tasty and pretty too!

May 21 – Eat More Fruits and Veggies Day – do a challenge to increase your intake of a variety of fruits and vegetables. Your specific challenge can include the following:

• Eat different colors of fruits or vegetables.
• Add vegetables to your sandwich at lunch.
• Cut up vegetables for easy access in your refrigerator.
• Add canned, dried or fresh fruit to your salad (for example, canned mandarin oranges, dried cranberries or fresh apples).
• For Breakfast – Eat melon, grapefruit or other fruit.
• Add bananas, raisins or berries to your cereal.
• Drink a small (6-ounce) glass of juice. Be sure it’s 100% fruit or vegetable juice without excess sodium or sugar – not “fruit drink,” “cocktail” or “punch.”
• Add chopped up vegetables to your eggs or potatoes.

May 22 – Buy a Musical Instrument Day

If you are on a tight budget, perhaps try the old favorite of covering a comb with wax paper and making a homemade musical instrument.  Hold it between your lips and cause a vibration – wa la!  Music! ???? You can also try this – fill some same glass cups with water at different levels and then tap with a spoon to hear the sound made.  Create your own tune.

National Solitaire Day – How to play Solitaire

Shuffle a deck of cards and place 1 card face up and 6 additional cards face down to the right of it.

Then deal one card face up on the 2^nd card and 5 additional cards face down to the right of it.

Continue this process until every pile has a face up card on it.

Finally, place the remaining cards face down above the 7 piles you have made

The goal of solitaire is to get all the piles in order by suit from Ace to King

To play the game, look to see if you can move any of the face up cards to access the face down cards beneath.

You can move a card if the face up card is a different color and one number higher than it.

When you move a face up card and expose a face down card underneath it, turn the face down card over.

If you have a face up Ace, place it above as your foundation piece to start one of the four piles you need.

Continue to play placing in order cards that go with each suit.

Once you can’t move any of the cards, flip over the top 3 cards from the reserve pile to see if you can make a move.

If you can play a card from the reserve pile, play it.  If no others play, put the remaining cards back in the reserve pile and flip over 3 more cards from the reserve pile.

Whenever you are stuck, you can continue flipping over 3 cards from the reserve pile as long as you like but make sure to never shuffle it.

Keep playing until you have run out of all the cards you can play in ascending order or until you have run out of cards you are able to move.

May 23 –World Turtle Day -The day is celebrated in several ways all over the world. There are many people that dress as turtles while others may just decide to wear something green, to saving turtles caught on roadways. People also get actively involved in projects that help rescue turtles that may be living in their local area. Interesting fact: Baby turtles, called hatchlings, have an “egg tooth” on their beak to help them hatch out of their shell. This tooth disappears approximately an hour after hatching.

May 24 – Scavenger Hunt Day – try the included Scavenger Hunt included for fun.

May 25 – Gateway Arch dedicated in St. Louis 1968

Although an actuarial firm predicted thirteen workers would die building the arch,

thankfully, no workers were killed during the monument’s construction. The Arch sways up to one inch in a 20 mile per hour wind and is built to sway up to 18 inches. The Arch is the tallest national monument in the United States standing 630 feet. It is the most visited tourist attraction in the world. The trams have been in operation for over 30 years and have traveled a total of 250,000 miles.

May 26 – National Paper Airplane Day

George Willig, a mountain climber from Queens NY was called “The Human Fly”.  In 1977, he scaled the World Trade Center in NYC by attaching himself to the window washer mechanism and walking straight up the side of the building.  Once at the top, he “fell” into police custody.  It took Willig three and a half hours to make the climb and he was fined a penny per floor – $1.10.  Two and a half years earlier, tightrope walker Philippe Petit walked between the tops of the two towers.

May 27 – Golden Gate Bridge opened 1937

A safety net was suspended under the bridge to catch workers who fell and although it successfully saved 11 unfortunately lost their lives.

The architect (Irving Morrow) was inspired by the red primer the steel beams had been coated in at the factories back east and settled on International Orange as the color for the bridge.  The color complemented the bridge’s natural surroundings and helped the structure stand out from the sea and sky as well as made it highly visible in fog.

Old Time Player Piano Day- Do you remember these?  Today, they are selling on the internet surprisingly for just $250-$450. They are certainly fun to watch and listen to.

May 28 – National Hamburger Day – change things up today and try adding a different item to your ground beef like bacon, grated cheese, BBQ sauce or Worcestershire sauce.

Road Trip Day- Perhaps entertain one of the places listed on May 7^th if you didn’t make it to all of them yet.

May 29 – Put your pillow in the frig day.

Before the invention of refrigerators in the 1920s, people in Europe and the USA would put a cloth in their larder for good luck once a year. Food storage habits have changed since then, putting the future of this fine tradition in doubt. However, this event has survived the scare and is back stronger than ever. All you need to do is place a pillow on your fridge today and see what good luck comes your way!

May 30 – National Creativity Day – this day intends for you to take the day to pursue your passion/hobby.  Recommit to your talent and goals.  Use your creative energies and see what happens. Do you like to garden, sew, sing, play an instrument? Rekindle your interest today for a life-long enjoyment.

May 31 – Memorial Day – originally called Decoration Day as it originally honored those over 600,000 soldiers who lost their lives while fighting in the Civil War. But during World War I the United States found itself embroiled in another major conflict, and the holiday evolved to commemorate American military personnel who died in all wars, including World War II, The Vietnam War, The Korean War and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Take some time today to visit a cemetery and place some cut flowers on veteran’s graves in honor of the service they gave toward freedom.

Buffalo Senior Center

 Daily

• Pool Tables
• Exercise Room Available
• Wii Video game Console
• Sewing

Weekly

• Tuesdays 10:30 AM: Bible Study
• Wednesdays 10:30 AM: Bingo

Monthly/Quarterly

• TBA – Farmer’s Market Trip (Call the center for details)
• Shopping (By Request, call center for details)

Hometown Senior Center

Daily

• Puzzles
• Pool Tables
• Ongoing Yard-sale
• Board Games

Weekly

• Tuesday: Grocery Store Trip
• Tuesday 10 AM: Bible Study
• Wednesday 9:30 AM: Choir Practice / Music Sing Along
• Thursday: Grocery Store Trip
• Friday 10:45 AM: Bingo

Monthly

• Once per month: Day Trip (Call center for details!)

John Henson Senior Center

Daily

• Puzzles
• Cards
• Pool

–

Weekly

• Mondays: Bingo (9:00 am – 10:00 am), Exercise class (1 pm – 2:00 pm)
• Wednesdays: Bingo (9:00 am – 10:00 am), Exercise class (1 pm – 2:00 pm)
• Thursdays: Line Dancing (1 pm – 2:00 pm)
• Fridays: Bridge card game (9:30 am – 2:30 pm)