5593-R1_CIC_April2018_Calendar_Web

Wellness Center News

Marty’s Memories: Pussy Willows by Marty Trower That said, we are happy to welcome Paula Favreau, RN. Paula was born and raised in Portland and attended SMCC. Paula has years of nursing experience, most recently with the Mass General Trauma Team. She will continue to be at the Wellness Center every other Tuesday and is available for home visits if needed. Remember, Wellness Center visits are free and no appointment is needed. How many years have gone by since I stopped to look at the pussy willows? My father’s birthday was in April, and as adults we always gathered as a family on the island for the occasion. Often, we would take a walk after lunch, usually in sunny and slushy snow-melting conditions, and finding pussy willows was the highlight of those excursions. We always referred to them as “the willy-pusses” the way our childhood Danish babysitter had in her singsong Scandinavian lilt. My sister Jen and I still use that name, chuckling and remembering. There are pussy willows out now, but they aren’t in the places I remember them. I feel like I’m starting over, beginning a new tradition. Now, I take the time to look and my eyes slow and cuddle up to their mewing kitten forms, so small and tightly coiled, their sensuous gray and delicate white “fur” hues radiate, and I feel I have discovered gold in my back yard. When the snow is hanging around in those ugly humps and the color green is faded beneath the brown, chickadees start hopping on the ground outside instead of darting in from out of nowhere to the feeder. I see them as larger, airborne pussy willows, their same gray and white softness making you want to reach out and touch and say: “I will take care of you, I will protect you.” Again, I am left in awe of nature, that it can be so loyal, that it can persevere for us and in the process conjure up human emotions from delicate memories lying dormant under its exquisite beauty right under our noses, right in our backyards. That is the gold. The Wellness Center congratulates our nurse, Steve Baybutt, on his promotion to Director of Population Health and Telemedicine at Maine HealthCare at Home. Steve will continue to be our contact at MaineHealth, and we are looking forward to working with him to expand our telehealth services. Steve is a wonderful nurse, and we will all miss him.

SAVE THE DATE

PIZZA

WITH

THE

STARS SATURDAY, MAY 19TH 5PM @ The Hall

COME HAVE WOODFIRED PIZZA AND ENJOY THE MANY TALENTS OF CHEBEAGUE!

AN EVENING TO BENEFIT THE CHEBEAGUE ISLAND SCHOOL ANNUAL FIELD TRIPS. WANT TO PERFORM? CONTACT ERIKA AT erikagneumann@gmail.com OR CHIP AT westwinds5@me.com.

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APRIL 2018 CHEBEAGUE ISLAND COUNCIL CALENDAR