A fun afternoon at Broughtonlea...

This afternoon P, D and myself were treated to a great 'spin in' at the beautiful Broughtonlea assisted living nursing home. Assisted by my wonderful Sis, Sue, we set up the wheel and some yarns in the lovely Piano Lounge and as about 25 or so residents and staff looked on I spun up some really interesting yarn.

The first thing I tried was some gorgeous black alpaca rovings spun through with some autumn shaded silk fibres. The residents were delighted to feel the fleece and fibres...and I plied back with some cute Indian gold and orange metallic threads. Next demo was some hand dyed purple and pink rovings with silver fibres tossed through under some stunning Indian Silver metallic threads.

Sister Sue is Broughtonlea's much loved receptionist...I could easily see the affection of the residents and the esteem in which they held her. One resident made a comment to me: "Oh..she is full of so much love" and they all enjoyed watching her fuss about with the twins. If I was honest I would have to admit that there was as much, if not more interest in P & D playing with their crawl tunnels as there was in my spinning!

To top it all off Christine (another sis!) came to the demonstration along with my nephews and niece. It was lovely to see the children all together. They were soooo good, too. A golden moment was P&D taking pinches of my silver angelina fibres and pressing it into the residents hands. Some residents had a little less awareness than others...and to see them accept the strange little gifts from the babies was so joyful.

Toward the end of our visit I had a little poignant moment. There was an old man reclining and silently looking on from the sidelines at the twins and their games. A staff member kindly addressed him...."Its been a while since you've been with children, Doctor...." and explained to me that this gentleman had been a Doctor at the Royal Women's hospital for many years. It hit home to me that as a society we are all too quick to look beyond the elderly...to forget who they are and what they have given to the community. It is very sad when the elderly, especially those suffering from dementia, become so anonymous. What can we do? Smile and greet a Grannie anytime you can! hehe

Broughtonlea is such a nice place. The staff were so friendly and the building and facilities were stunning. Oh...and the receptionist. The receptionist is ONE IN A MILLION!! hehe! Love you, Sue. xx

All the best, and thanks for logging into Sheepychic Bloggings.