Rhoda Goldman Plaza

We're FREE and just returned from our second outing, this time to #goldengatepark #Wilhelminatulipgardens. A bit cool and windy, but just look at those tulips! One resident who is an artist, brought her sketch pad and enjoyed them as only an artist can. And a surprise group of "Peninsula Outdoor Painters" aka POPS, were also spread out painting. The last image in this photo montage is the watercolor on her easel that she signed and gave us! It feels good to get out and enjoy our beautiful city again!

Our first outing in a . . . YEAR! And on a spectacularly clear, warm day at Crissy Field/Fort Mason. What a joyous occasion this was and we are all eager to get "oot and a-boot" again (as they say in Canada!) Feels good to be alive, feel the wind and some semblance of freedom.

Our very own Corey Weiner, Fine art painter as well as being our Director of Food and Beverage is speaking at Ruth's Table on Thursday, March 4th at 4:00 pm. It's the first of a two part series about mid-career artistic transitions and breaking ones own barriers. Sounds fascinating. You can sign up using the link below. https://www.ruthstable.org/tal/building-bridges-session-one

Another special Valentine's Day dinner created by our chef and food and beverage director, carefully and lovingly delivered to each resident. It never photographs as well as it tastes, but residents loved the extra effort to make them all feel special. This year we also had an outpouring of people in the neighborhood and volunteers from a bank deliver hundreds of handmade Valentines so everyone would receive one. Talk about the community coming together - this one truly showed the high regard the surrounding community has for our work and empathy for people as we age.

In today's SF Chronicle, our youngest resident captured the headlines! Check out this well-written article. The one thing the writer didn't include is his dream of being able to take a trip to Hawaii sometime this year. Remember what Goethe said: "Boldness has genius, power and magic in it." You go, Carl!

I don't think anyone who lives and works at #RhodaGoldmanPlaza will ever forget our "day on Mars" yesterday. It created unease among us, and wouldn't you know, occurred on the very first day of outside haircuts in the Fern Court. We brought in lights so the stylist could see, which made it look like we were making a movie all day long. This photo was taken at 10:30 am yesterday outside the front door looking at #HamiltonPark. Glad to be back on planet Earth today!

Tuesday, September 2 from 5:30 - 6:30, Candiece Milford, our very own Managing Director of Marketing, will be interviewing Chip Conley. Candiece is on the Board of #AtHomeWithGrowingOlder, a non-profit that helps people reconfigure their homes to help them age in place in your home, safely and with joy. We'll be discussing "Intentional Reinvention" - what it is, how we do it, and particularly during this COVID era, how it has forced itself upon us with surprising creativity. Please join us!

We're so proud of our very own Corey Weiner whose painting was selected for exhibit at The de Young Open, an online celebration of the museum’s 125th anniversary. Over 11,000 works were submitted by 6,190 artists - 763 artists were chosen. Kudos to our talented painter. Who knew she is not only a culinary wizard but an extraordinary painter!

If you haven't discovered the wealth of information on the #techenhancelife website, this is the time to connect. The article below is not only incredibly useful, with live links if you want a deeper dive into the subject, but the comments by readers also give tips and recommendations and well worth reading. You can register for free and discover a very rich and deep well of information to help us as we age . . . all "mined" from discussion groups of older adults, so we know it's real and good information.

A visual delight showing our beautiful community at #RhodaGoldmanPlaza. Enjoy!

If you want some "soul soothing," take some time to enjoy these stunning photos of the famous Dutch #Keukenhof Gardens photographed by #AlbertDros. What is truly remarkable is that there are NO people in the photos. Here's how he describes it: "Walking around there all alone, with only the sounds of birds and the incredible smell of all these flowers, is an experience by itself. I sometimes just sat next to the flowers and the water, enjoying nature for 30 minutes long. It was just a magical experience." May this bring YOU some magic, comforting moments.

At long last, for the world at large to see, the current art exhibition in the #RhodaGoldmanPlaza Gallery. All these delicious paintings were created by Corey Weiner, our Director of Food And Beverage and artist extraordinaire. Enjoy her vigorous painting style of portraits of people in her life, staff and residents. This almost 12 minute video is inspiring and we are honored to share this with all of you since we weren't able to have an in-person reception. Applause, applause!

One community feature has not suffered from being discontinued during these unusual time - fresh flowers! They are brought in weekly from organic farms in Sonoma and I always manage to find something unusual. This week, it was black sunflowers, although in the right light, they look somewhat brown. Just glorious and positioned so residents coming off the elevators to pick up mail daily can enjoy their elegance.

No, we haven't turned the Art Room into an "Urgent Care" room. Our staff is simply sanitizing to get ready for a gentle re-opening of the community in June. We take cleanliness seriously here. 100% of the staff and 72% of residents (288) have been tested for the Covid virus and so far, so good. This is a good way to find asymptomatic people so it's a new practice for any community to implement. We will continue testing probably monthly until further notice.

Two days this week we are testing the entire staff and any residents who wish to be tested, right here at #RhodaGoldmanPlaza. Over 250 have signed up so these three nurses are booked all day long. This will help us evaluate a soft opening of precautions so we can return to a new normal sooner than later. Stay tuned. We're working on it!

May 14, Cristy Johnston-Limón, a nonprofit leader and social change maker in the San Francisco Bay Area focuses on empowering youth to find their voice through creative expression to inspire them to become civic and community leaders. Cristy is the Executive Director of Youth Speaks, a national youth spoken word and literary arts organization founded in San Francisco, providing powerful digital and real-life platforms for young people to discover, publicly present and apply their voices for social change.

On April 8th, our very own Emma Davis, Director of Programming at #RhodaGoldmanPlaza participated in this hour long #CommonwealthClub panel discussion about solutions to social isolation during this unusual time. Five perspectives, moderated by journalist Katie Hafner (frequent contributor to the #WallStreetJournal) provided a rich dialogue that is worth your time. We're also really proud of Emma!!!!