Violet's Independent Living at Freedom Pointe (with Ira, of course)

 This is the sixth in my "Virtual Sitting Shiva" series of Blog postings of memories of Violet (Stark) Glickstein, my dear wife of 57 years, who sadly passed away November 27, 2021. [The first posting in this series is Here]

Near the end of 2013, Violet and I decided to up-grade from our private home in The Villages, Florida, to a two-bedroom, two-bath condominium apartment at Freedom Pointe Independent Living. Another excellent decision, made at the right time and place. 

As people age, they generally need a bit of extra care each year. We wanted to remain in The Villages, with access to the wonderful friends and amenities we had become used to, including recreation centers, sports pools, entertainment and shopping, plus additional services and assistance, as needed.

We had a wide choice of apartment size and location because the recently constructed Independent Living building was only about half-full. We chose an apartment on the fourth floor, facing east-northeast, so we get a sliver of the rising Sun in the morning, and avoid the afternoon glare of the setting Sun. 

We have access to a large, common area balcony facing west-southwest, with a great view of the pond and one of the golf courses. The balcony offers three options: 1) An air-conditioned section, 2) a screened section, and 3) an open section. I spend most Sunday mornings reading the newspaper, alone in the open section. The other sections are used when we have a fourth-floor party, or when several neighbors get together to play cards or share a take-out meal. 

The apartment is an easy walk from the covered garage where we have a parking spot for our car adjacent to a spot for our golf cart, along with a 4' x 8' locked storage shed.

In addition to two bedrooms and baths, we have a living room, a kitchen, a washer/dryer, and a master closet. At 1144 square feet, it is half the area of our most recent home, but we have access to lots of public areas. These include: 1) a good sized balcony (described above), 2) the Library, 3) the Studio, 4) the Meditation Room, 5) the Woodshop, 6) the Dining room, 8) the Pub, 9) the Town Center auditorium, 10) the Pool, 11) the Barbershop, 12) the Lobby, 13) the fully-equipped Exercise and Rehab facility, 14) outdoor picnic area, and 15) pitch and putt golf,

One restaurant-style meal, in the Dining Room or Pub, is included daily. Weekly light housekeeping is also included. They are responsible for all maintenance of the appliances in our condo.

When the time comes that we cannot drive our car or golf cart, they offer free transport to doctor's appointments and shopping. They also have weekly free entertainment and movies, free internet building wide, over 90 free channels of TV (plus premium TV channels and HD-DVR service we pay for) and lots of scheduled activities, trips, and who knows what. And, we still have access with full resident rights to all amenities of The Villages.

Freedom Pointe is a "Continuing Care Retirement Community (CCRC) that offers different levels of care on a common campus, where, if necessary as we age, one or both of us may move to higher levels, including Assisted Living, Memory Care, and Skilled Nursing. Click HERE Senior Living in The Villages, Florida | Freedom Pointe (freedompointefl.com) for a neat video. At about the one-minute mark, look for me (Ira) leading my fellow residents in Water Aerobics.

See photomontage below:

LEFT: After years of rural life in New York and a private home in Florida, we moved to an apartment house, reminiscent of our roots back in Brooklyn, over 70 years ago! Our fourth floor location provides a view of a major road intersection, a shopping plaza, The Villages Hospital, and the sight and sounds of ambulances, helicopters, and fire engines. Of course, our current digs are a major "mov'in on-up" in lifestyle, seehttp://tvpclub.blogspot.com/2012/03/movin-on-up-to-independent-living.html. We enjoy monthly parties at Freedom Point, a daily restaurant-style meal, and other amenities.
MIDDLE: We are still in The Villages, thus have access to all amenities, remain close to most of our old friends, be it for dinner or water aerobics. Photo shows Violet on a zip-line in Ketchikan, Alaska, on a cruise we shared with most of our children and grands. Up till 2013, we both taught online grad courses for the University of Maryland (Vi-Software Requirements, Ira-System Engineering). 

RIGHT: I (Ira) remain intellectually and physically active, giving talks at the Philosophy Club, Science-Tech Club, and others. In preparation for kayaking with my granddaughter and son-in-law during our Baltic cruise, I took a few friends from Freedom Pointe on an 8-mile kayak paddle on the Rainbow River, near Dunellon, FL. 

Violet and I enjoyed regularly scheduled themed dinners and parties that gave us a wide variety of food and entertainment choices, right in the building where we lived!

French-Themed Party at Freedom Pointe. July 2014. French was Violet's favorite language (after English and Hungarian).
 

Violet and me 2014 New Year's Party at Freedom Pointe Independent Living. They set the clock two hours ahead. We celebrate midnight at 10 PM! (Then, an easy walk to the elevator and our apartment, and we get to sleep at a rational hour.) 

The New Year Celebration for 2022, was my first without Violet. Very poignant. Very sad.

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So, please join me in thinking about your good and eventful times with Violet. Read subsequent postings on this Blog about events I remember. If you'd like, you could put on some slippers, sit on your couch, and join me and others in a "virtual" Shiva for Violet.

Love to all, and specially elevated kisses and hugs to Violet, from her husband,

Ira Glickstein

Click for LAST posting

Click for NEXT posting     

NOTE:  This is the sixth of our "Virtual Sitting Shiva", the traditional Jewish custom of relatives and friends devoting seven days to specially remembering the deceased.

Violet and Ira Glickstein were married in 1964. See our 50th Anniversary memories in the following postings include highlights of our life together.

CLICK THE HYPERTEXT BELOW TO JUMP TO YOUR TOPIC OF CHOICE

1. Wedding and Farm Days 
2. Passing the Genes and Memes
3. Computers R Us (Ira and Vi's careers)
4. Retirement in The Villages, FL
5. Our 50th Anniversary Baltic Cruise (Air Travel and Shipboard activities)
6. Our 50th Anniversary Baltic Cruise (Land-Tours)

50th-0 CELEBRATING OUR 50th WEDDING ANNIVERSARY (tvpclub.blogspot.com)

Violet's Retirement to The Villages, Florida (with Ira, of course)

This is the fifth in my "Virtual Sitting Shiva" series of Blog postings of memories of Violet (Stark) Glickstein, my dear wife of 57 years, who sadly passed away November 27, 2021. [The first posting in this series is Here]

NOTE: If you are reading this on a cellphone, some of the text may extend over the edge of your screen. If that happens, turn your cellphone sideways, and all should fit. Also, if photos are too small, double click (or tap) and they should expand. Sorry for these issues, but my Facebook and Blogspot apps seems to have minds of their own. Ira

VIOLET'S RETIREMENT TO THE VILLAGES, FLORIDA

Violet and I have made many momentous decisions while raising our children and in our professional lives. Nearly all of them turned out very good, as if someone was watching over us and nudging us in the "right" direction.

In 2003, a couple years after retirement, we sold our home in Apalachin, NY and moved to The Villages, Florida. This turned out to be exactly the right thing to do at that time.

The Villages is known as "America's Favorite Retirement Hometown". There must be something in the water or the air, because, like almost all of our neighbors, we can't help saying "It's a beautiful day in The Villages" every chance we get. 

The photo montage below depicts our active retirement.

OUR HOUSE IN THE VILLAGE OF CHATHAM

RIGHT: We built a house in a wonderful location on a golf course pond. We installed a hot tub for our grandchildren and other visitors to enjoy.

TOP LEFT and MIDDLE:  I (Ira) joined the excellent bicycle club and participated in weekly rides. I also went on two bike/barge trips, the first to the Loire River area of France and the second from Brussels to Bruges in Belgium. 

TOP: Vi was active in photography, giving talks about the then-new topic of digital photography to the photography and computer clubs. She also joined a knitting group.

BOTTOM LEFT: We were founding members of Temple Shalom, a Reform congregation.

We both enjoy other activities in The Villages, such as water aerobics and visiting the town centers, dining at restaurants, and going to the movies. 

VIOLET HELPS FOUND A KNITTING CLUB

    

Violet met several fellow knitters, and they founded a very active knitting Club. The image above appeared in our local newspaper, The Daily Sun, on October 22, 2003.

OUR GRANDCHILDREN LOVE TO VISIT!

As our daughter Lisa suggested, choosing a retirement location near Disney would encourage visits by our children and grands. 

During their first visit, in 2004, Alex, Samantha, and Michaela posed with their "Uncle Toffee" (our Golden Retriever) by our golf cart, a photo that was published in the Daily Sun, our local newspaper. 

To the right is the ceramic dish Violet made for "Uncle Toffee". (After all these years it still exists!) Behind the dish is Violet's opinion of Toffee, which has adorned our refrigerator for many years, "My Golden Retriever is Smarter than Your Honor Student."

ACTIVE JEWISH COMMUNITY 

One of the first groups we joined was "The New Jewish Congregation," a Reform Jewish group then meeting in various locations, particularly the Oxford United Methodist Church. Soon after we arrived, plans were under way to purchase land easily accessible by both road and The Villages golf cart paths.

The new building was ready for occupancy in November 2006. Violet and I participated in walking the Torah from the Oxford Church to our new "Temple Shalom". The local authorities provided horse-mounted police as well as squad cars to block road traffic and ensure our security. 

The Temple Shalom lobby features a large plaque listing the Founding Members, including ours.

 

We have sponsored a number of Onegs (refreshments following the Friday Evening service) at Temple Shalom. The image below shows the Oneg to honor Violet on her 65th birthday. Our daughter Lisa and our triplet grands (Alex, Michaela, and Samantha) participated with Violet and me during that memorable Friday evening service.

VIOLET PADDLING WITH ME

Our good friends in The Villages (as well as those in New York) know I enjoy outdoor adventure quite a bit. Violet, not so much!

So, here is Violet on the beautiful Rainbow River (in Florida, August 2005) paddling with me in my kayak! (THANKS Joi for talking her into it! Also Joi's husband Tom, and our good friends who moved away to Georgia, Nancy and Bill, for joining us.)

SOME OF VIOLET'S ACTIVE NATURE PHOTOS

Most of Violet's photography tended towards impressively beautiful flowers. Nice, but not that exciting to me!

However, the following photos, taken right behind our home, are quite exciting to me.

Every year we got to see a family of Sand Hill Cranes behind our home. A male and female and their offspring walking and squawking around the golf course pond. 

We had a real treat in November 2009 when a pair did their mating dance for us immediately behind our house. Fortunately, Violet was photographing them as they got into the dancing mood. 

These are good sized birds, three to four feet tall with wingspans of five to seven feet! (For comparison, my height is five feet ten inches and, in the above photo, I'm further away from Violet's camera than they are.) These birds seem unconcerned as they walk around, often coming quite close. 

If you walk towards them, they will back away or fly off. Several minutes after we went out to see them and take some photos, they began weaving their bills towards each other and jumping and charging in a very impressive mating dance! (Or perhaps it was merely a domestic dispute? :^) Quite exciting as well as impressive! [Click on photos to make them larger.] 

MY PERSONAL BLOG

In 2007, I started my personal Blog. Although Violet was not directly involved in creating the Blog, she is a frequent topic. (Indeed, you are, right now, reading about Violet on the very Blog I referred to!)

Click https://tvpclub.blogspot.com/ for the latest ideas and opinions posted there.

*********************

So, please join me in thinking about your good and eventful times with Violet. Read subsequent postings on this Blog about events I remember. If you'd like, you could put on some slippers, sit on your couch, and join me and others in a "virtual" Shiva for Violet.

Love to all, and specially elevated kisses and hugs to Violet, from her husband,

Ira Glickstein

Click for LAST posting

Click for NEXT posting     

NOTE:  This is the fifth of our "Virtual Sitting Shiva", the traditional Jewish custom of relatives and friends devoting seven days to specially remembering the deceased.

Violet and Ira Glickstein were married in 1964. See our 50th Anniversary memories in the following postings include highlights of our life together.

CLICK THE HYPERTEXT BELOW TO JUMP TO YOUR TOPIC OF CHOICE

1. Wedding and Farm Days 
2. Passing the Genes and Memes
3. Computers R Us (Ira and Vi's careers)
4. Retirement in The Villages, FL
5. Our 50th Anniversary Baltic Cruise (Air Travel and Shipboard activities)
6. Our 50th Anniversary Baltic Cruise (Land-Tours)

50th-0 CELEBRATING OUR 50th WEDDING ANNIVERSARY (tvpclub.blogspot.com)