This week Hill House have been exploring different cultures and countries worldwide as they set sail on our virtual cruise Ship, from Italy to Mauritius.
Monday Morning, an iconic part of cruising is the fun towel animals often found each morning on the bed on cruise ships. We spent time perfecting the art of Towel animals as we kicked off cruise week.
Others spent the morning taking on an English landmark picture quiz.
That afternoon, we welcomed Rowena for a fabulous musical afternoon tea party, with the sounds of a piano playing in the background and scrumptious cakes served we sat with friends enjoying the atmosphere.
Gentle Pace: It is often nice to relax, sit back and enjoy your Afternoon Tea.
We added herbs to our hanging herb rail in our indoor garden on Tuesday morning. We love our little indoor paradise it is a calming and relaxing area where we can potter with the plants, watering and pruning to our heart’s content.
Our monthly residents’ meeting was hosted in the day lounge, a time to share our views and opinions and plan upcoming events and activities.
We spent time exploring the tropical island of Mauritius. We listened to the history of the Dodo bird while creating colourful bright Dodo birds as part of our arts and crafts club.
That afternoon we gathered for an incredible afternoon of armchair travel, and in keeping with the weekly theme, we boarded a boat trip to explore the culture and history of Mauritius.
Welcomed aboard with hospitality drinks before settling in for a short video about the island, the festivals celebrated across the island, and its incredible tourist industry.
A group Quiz was the start of our onboard entertainment with lots of us learning a lot of fun facts about the island. Followed by music, singing along and dancing in our Garden view lounges where the residents enjoyed taking on the role of the crew for the afternoon.
A new day a new fun country to explore España. Wednesday started with arts and crafts activities castanet making, we designed and painted our detailed designs before constructing them into musical instruments.
Relishing in each other’s company while embracing the relaxing craft.
An incredible time looking through and reading our ‘Someone Special’ postcards. Reminding us of fun family holidays we have been on and places we would still love to visit. This reminiscing activity brought everyone so much joy.
Reminiscence therapy provides opportunities for residents to talk and share meaningful things, instead of simply listening to others talk. Talking about happy memories from the past provides a sense of joy.
That afternoon, Spanish day saw us roll up our sleeves to cook a Vegetable Paella.
Chopping and slicing vegetables together before resident Chef John cooked the Paella for the group, everyone loved trying the yummy dish at the end.
A flavoursome afternoon treats for everyone to try.
Thursday morning, and a trip to the Netherlands, inspired by the tulips of Amsterdam we arranged this week’s stunning flowers as part of our weekly Flowers with Louise club.
Strawberry Fristi is a traditional, healthy and delicious yogurt drink popular in the Netherlands. It can be made with any fruit in season. Our garden view lounge worked as a team to make this traditional drink for those in our lounge, it was fun to follow a recipe and serve our friends after our hard work.
After everyone had been served a refreshing drink, we washed and dried up after the activity had finished this promotes independence and is a great activity of daily living.
Spending the afternoon, painting and colouring the Tulips of Amsterdam while singing and enjoying each other’s company.
Friday morning was an opportunity to play a fun board game in our garden view lounge, shut the box is great for the mind as it builds on counting skills, addition skills, and knowledge of number bonds.
What a glorious day out on the Basingstoke Canal for residents at Hill House, they loved the tranquillity of being out in nature and on the waterways.
We enjoyed a sing-along to as many boat-themed songs as we could think of, as well as a scrumptious afternoon picnic, hot drinks, and making new friends. This was the perfect trip to accompany our cruise-themed week.
We assembled for Cooking with Carolyn, and as we are visiting on our Hill House Cruise. We prepared before cooking maple syrup pancakes.
Others spent their afternoon curling using our interactive Omi system, we took turns to score our highest scores on the curling leader board. Curling was introduced to Canada in the early 1800s by Scottish immigrants.
We are off to Italy, inspired by Venetian masks, our residents in the garden view lounge created stunning masks in Saturday arts and crafts club. Others spent time in the courtyard garden.
A nail-biting start to our Saturday as we watched on tentatively as France and Australia went to penalties in the women’s world cup. Followed by everyone getting onto the spirit of the lionesses as we watched England vs Columbia wearing our finest red and white colours.
That afternoon we played Carrom, this is a game of skill and accuracy that can be easy to pick up and a real joy to play. If you are new to the game the idea of flicking the striker at the coins will seem easy but, you may soon find that the game takes a lot more exactness, as residents at Hill House found as the striker flew all over the place at the start causing lots of laughter.
Sunday, church services were streamed across the home as well as Bible readings and hymns 1 to 1 for those who wish.
This afternoon Hill House and Hillbrow welcomed ‘Circle of Two’ into the home for a breath-taking acrobatic show.
Circle of Two Draws inspiration from a wide variety of artistic genres, from classic literary works to the great filmmakers of the silent era. They use circus, puppetry, mime, and vaudeville formats to tell their engaging story.
‘Wonderful to watch’ and ‘so unique and enjoyable,’ said residents.
