Here we are in the shortest month of the year...We will attempt to fill as many days as possible starting with...
February 7th when we went to the Stoneham Senior Center to celebrate "Happy Lunar New Year."
The Happy Garden Team performed a multi cultural performance from American, Spanish, and Chinese music and dance.
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The costumes and movements were lovely and the tai chi demonstration was simple and beautiful.
It was a lovely show. We were served sandwiches,coffee or tea, and fortune cookies to make it a great celebration day.
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February 14, the day of chocolate and love took us to the Melrose Senior Center for a wonderful performance of classical music. Sophie Carpenter and Cristhian Mancinas-Garcia filled the room with songs of love with voices that kept the group breathless.
The songs were operatic and moving; a different type of performance that we had not seen before at this center or any others locally.
The recorded music came from a lap top, and the words were sung by following on kindells and cell phones.
The modern conveniences make it easier for young performers, (and now older performers as well), to be able to travel without a band or even a piano player as backup.
Both performers hold "real" day jobs, preform on local stages,and other centers as well.
An enlightening after noon with coffee, heart shaped cookies, and chocolate kisses that made it a lovely Valentines day for everyone.
February 15th, a rare Saturday performance at the Stoneham Senior Center, was a class on the history of Chocolate, Chocolate Discussion and a taste of real authentic chocolate.
Michele Gabrielson is a local history teacher and historic interpreter of the
18th century. When she is not teaching in the classroom, Michele can be
found leading tours, lectures, and demonstrations at historic sites in the
greater Boston area. She specializes in interpreting the history of colonial
women printers, the stories of loyalist refugees, and of 18th century chocolate makers!
Michele explained the growing of the chocolate beans, the scraping of the beans, the grinding and mashing and finally the chocolate drinks. Quite a project just to get a square of the good sweet stuff.
She also told us of the history of where the beans are grown, how they came to the Americas back in the 1800 hundreds and how much is really involved.
Spices that are added in the production stages go from cinnamon, to orange, and any thing else the choclater wants to us.
We all felt like we were in the presence of a most knowledgeable person.
She answered many questions and made us all feel very comfortable in the class room.
She spoke about the history of New England, Concord and Lexington,surrounding towns, and even about Paul Revere's ride. She passed around pieces of the various stages in the making of chocolate, and the smell of many herbs. There were small samples of dark chocolate, purest kind we are told; mm good.
She had two lovely chocolate pots for making chocolate drinks; she also added that many liqueurs
can be added to enhance the taste.
It was a lovely historical hour explained by a lovely historical teacher.
In the Stoneham area we had lunch at our old standby the 99. Food is always good, there are take
home bags, and the servers are always pleasant; ( the popcorn is good too).
As you can see we were close to home this month with the aid of entertainment from our local Senior Centers.
So ends our February, as more personal things will fill the days the rest of the month; but we will be back, so keep an eye for the Red Hatters on the move again next month.
