Did you get up early to watch the royal wedding today?  Well, we did!  We may not have been in London but we sure did have our own celebration.  Almost 20 of our residents were up, dressed and in the Cohen Center before 5:30 this morning.  Some of us came in to join them and we passed out some sparkly tiaras and crowns, had some lovely wedding decorations and then, of course, had some tea and scones for breakfast!  We had a wonderful time sharing the event, discussing the fashions and admiring the beautiful bride.  It was a pleasure to be together and such a treat to do something so out of the ordinary!

On Thursday evening the Cohen Center was filled with a special event of a different kind.  We had an art opening of a new show that has been hung in the Art Gallery hallway.  This session's work of the artists in Opening Minds through Art (OMA) was on display and the artists and their families, along with volunteers for OMA and staff, were here to have a celebration dinner, receive certifications and art and have the first "official" viewing of the show.  OMA is a very special program, using art and creativity as a tool to allow those with even advanced dementia to express themselves and make choices.  We are privileged to have a partnership with the Scripps Gerontology Center of Miami University, whose program OMA is and whose staff make it possible. If you have never seen our OMA art, it is well worth a visit.  And if you want to see magic in action, come see OMA artists at work-you will be touched, enlightened and even transformed by the experience.

Once a month, I have the pleasure of doing a Book Club with our residents.  Through the generosity of the Berg Fund, we are able to make books available for folks to read and share and we meet to have some lively discussions. This week's book was a new one, Room by Emma Donoghue.  It is a remarkable story of a young boy and his mother, told through the words and eyes of a 5-year-old.  Our next book is Cleopatra  A Life by Stacy Schiff and we plan to couple our book discussion with a visit to the Cleopatra exhibit at the Museum Center.  If you've read a book that you think would be great for our book club, let me know!  We are very open to suggestions and ideas.

May is chock full of events at Cedar Village, hope you have some of them on your calendar already.  Of course, 8 over 80 is May 19 but we also have our Spring Fling on May 10; Chesed Day on May 12; Murder Mystery Tea on May 11; Yom Hazikaron program on May 9.  We'd love to have you join us-

All the best,