THE DOWER HOUSENEWSLETTER

Welcome to The Dower House’s May Newsletter.

With springs arrival, I thought it would be nice to have a spring poem for us all to enjoy:

Spring Poem

Hush, can you hear it?
The rustling in the grass,
Bringing you the welcome news
Winter's day is past.
Soft, can you feel it?
The warm caressing breeze,
Telling you the sticky buds
Are bursting on the trees.
Look, can you see them?
The primrose in the lane,
Now you must believe it -
Spring is here again.

MayActivities

Tuesday, 2nd May – Keep Fit with Lorraine in the drawing room

Wednesday, 3rd May – Amanda Prideaux with a talk on the Winchester

Samaritans

Thursday, 4th May – Anytime Club Quiz with Carol

Tuesday, 09th May–Keep Fit with Lorraine in the drawing room

Wednesday, 10thMay– Trip to Longstock Park Nursery

Thursday, 11th May – Holy Communion with Rev. Tim Selwood in the drawing room

Tuesday, 16th May - Keep Fit with Lorraine in the drawing room

Wednesday, 17thMay – Piano Recital with Maya in the drawing room

Thursday, 18th May – Mah Jong taster session everyone welcome

Tuesday, 23rd May – Keep Fit with Lorraine in the drawing room

Wednesday, 24th May – Anytime Club Film – second part of The Life of Mammals

Tuesday, 30thMay – Keep Fit with Lorraine in the drawing room

This Month Film:

The Life of Mammals – David Attenborough

"The Life of Mammals" brings us nose-to-nose with mammals in all of their beauty and immense variety. Renowned naturalist, writer, and filmmaker David Attenborough treks across every continent and kind of terrain to introduce us to such unusual and evolutionarily successful creatures as the Patagonian opossum, the Canadian pygmy shrew, the Alpine marmot, and the Malaysian sun bear. We meet slow-moving algae-covered sloths. We enter a pack of African wild dogs, seeing how their division of labour enables them to provide protection and food to pups, mothers, and the old.

Mrs Ponsonby and I will be running a Mah Jong taster session on the Thursday, 18th May 2017 all residents are welcome.

Memories of Mah Jong

I played my first game of Mah Jong in 1958.

My husband and I were due to spend 3 years in Jakarta (capital of Indonesia). In those days Jakarta was hot, dirty and uncomfortable. The heat and humidity were extremely high; there was no air conditioning and often no electricity!

A Dutch friend suggested I join a group of ladies who played Mah Jong. I knew a little about the game as I have lived in India. Bridge and Mah Jong were games most women played. I found it absorbing and have played on and off ever since.

What appeals to me is, first of all it is non-competitive though some try and make it so. There are many varieties of Mah Jong, I prefer the simplest version.

The game itself is very old and a Chinese invention. Anyone from 8 to 80 (and beyond) can enjoy this fascinating game.

Mah Jong is very similar to Rummy the card game, with the winner being the first player to declare a MahJong(hand consisting of 4 sets and a pair, here’s an example:)

A set can be apung(3 identical tiles)or achow(a run of 3 tiles in the same suit), though only one of these is allowed.

May in the garden

By now the risk of frost is becoming increasingly remote and the longer warmer evenings are definitely with us. May is the month full of life with an explosion of green in the trees and hedges, cow parsley running rampant along road sides and chalk streams bubbling with trout feeding on mayfly. My favourite time of year.

In the last month the garden has really sprung in to life, the pots full of colour, blossom on the trees and the pond teeming with tadpoles. The fish are responding to being fed from the bridge so they are now easy to see and enjoy. There is also a nest box on the Poplar by the pond that the blue tits are nesting in; pass quietly by and you may see them flying in and out.

Over the next month Terry and I will be busy with general maintenance and planting up the stream bank and adding new plants and trees to the grounds. At the end of May I will be collecting three hanging baskets ready planted and ready to display.

Editor’s notes

If anyone would like to contribute any articles to the monthly newsletter I would be delighted to receive them.

Philippa Thompson

General Manager

Quiz

1.Which is California’s largest City?

2.What is used to top a Lancashire hotpot?

3.Which famous explorer first climbed Mount Everest in 1953?

4.Which rising young star from the movie “Rebel without a cause” died in an automobile accident in 1955?

5.What type of nuts is used in the production of Marzipan?

6.In which country does Rioja wine originate?

7.What was the name of the circular plastic 1950’s toy that was placed around the waist and operated by gyrating the hips?

8.What do people wear in Remembrance Day in memory who have died at war?

9.Released in January 1956, what was Elvis Presley‘s first hit record?

10. What type of animals are flying foxes?

11.What is the name of Japanese dish of thinly sliced meat or fish that is served without rice?

12.What name is given to the fruit of the Blackthorn Bush?

13.Name the song “a-wop bop a-loo bop a-lop bam boom”?

14.Which 1954 movie starring Marlon Brando, won eight Oscars?

15.What name is given to the home of a mole?

Answers:

  1. Los Angeles
  2. Sliced Potato’s
  3. Edmund Hillary
  4. James Dean
  5. Almonds
  6. Spain
  7. Hula Hoop
  8. Poppies
  9. Heartbreak Hotel
  10. Bats
  11. Sashimi
  12. Sloe
  13. TuttiFrutti
  14. On the Waterfront
  15. A Fortress

1