For me, we’re a family. Meadowlark Hills is home.
"Big Why" Fall Lecture Series: Enriching Our Lives by Facing Some of Life & Our Community's Big Questions
October 3, 2025
Blog
The following exercise classes are canceled Wednesday, Dec 16, due to Christmas Carousel:
- Sit & Be Fit —11 a.m.
- Beginner Tai Chi — 12 p.m.
- Fit 2 Fight PD — 3 p.m.
Submitted by Nathan Bolls
During the Sunday of our recent “Endless Ice” weekend, I hiked some about our campus and natural area. The Place was sheathed and frozen in stillness, save for the frequent cat-paw-soft falling of freezing rain, the whistling of wind around brick wall corners, and the creaking and groaning of swaying grass stems and tree branches. Many trees and shrubs bowed dangerously low under more added weight than botanical structure might manage. Some branches gave way.
Submitted by Jo Lindly
What is it? It consists of residents who volunteer, plus an advisor (Jay Nelson) who helps direct and facilitate the collection. The advisor is non-voting member. Committee functions are to manage content, placement and condition of the collection house in independent living and Community Center areas. They work closely with the administration representative on the committee who keeps records and inventory of the collection.
Submitted by Nathan Bolls
If you want to “save 15 percent or more on car insurance, you…” That’s what you do! If you are a fish living in a place that enjoys four distinct seasons, you adapt. That’s what you do! We tough, adaptive Midwesterners may now enjoy a moment of silent smugness.
AH, AH, AH-CHOOO!
Get ready, world – flu season is upon us and it’s time to remind ourselves what to look for and how to take extra care of ourselves to avoid getting sick. Most, if not all of us, have had our flu shot already. If you haven’t, I encourage you to contact your primary care physician about receiving the vaccine.
Submitted by Nathan Bolls
Recently, while reading a short paper on an aspect of the history of Christianity, I ran across this quote from Saint Therese of Lisieux: Each small task of everyday is part of the total harmony of the Universe. I thought of hummingbirds.
Our beloved ruby-throated hummingbirds, as stated by Velma Skidmore in her Outdoor Observations article in the 3 September 2015 Messenger, winter in either southern Mexico, the Yucatan, or a bit farther south. And they cross the open water of the Gulf of Mexico.
I am Thankful
I am thankful for my family. I am thankful for my faith. I am thankful that my husband and I are able to work. I am thankful I have a job that I love. I am thankful my daughter plays hard. I am thankful I have people in my life I can count on. I am thankful I have a home, food and clothing. I am thankful that someone invented whipped cream to top off my pumpkin pie. I am thankful for my dogs. I am thankful that we are not all the same. I am thankful to be here. I am thankful to have the opportunity to be thankful.
The top of the short wall in front of Magye Loya’s desk has some additional bling this week. “In the Key of Christmas,” a decorated tree entered in the annual Festival of Trees competition, won two awards at a gala on Friday, Nov. 20, at Houston Street Ballroom. The tree, designed and decorated by Meadowlark Hills employees Kristin Bribiesca, Becky Fitzgerald, Mary Harness, Magye Loya and Kinzie Jo Zimmerman, earned the Festival Favorite and People’s Choice awards.
Submitted by Nathan Bolls
Shunryu Suzuki once said, “We ourselves cannot put any magic spells on this world. The world is its own magic.”
It is amazing the most of the smaller mammals in our area—including the deer mouse, white-footed mouse and prairie vole, plus 7 or 8 others—do not hibernate during winter months.
But four species that might be found in our area do spend some months in hibernation: 13-lined ground squirrel, Franklin’s ground squirrel, eastern chipmunk and the meadow jumping mouse.