Senior Living News,
September 2025
Oakview Park Greenville
Newsletter
Around the world with Atlas - September 2025 - Scotland
Resident´s Birthdays
Joyce S. 9/13
Florence C. 9/14
Pat A. 9/18
Jenelle C. 9/29
Celebrating September
Intergeneration Month
World Alzheimer’s Month
Labor Day
September 1
Eat an Extra Dessert Day
September 4
International Day of Charity
September 5
Bald Is Beautiful Day
September 13
Balance Awareness Week
September 14–20
Respect Day
September 18
Centenarian’s Day
September 22
Women’s Health and Fitness Day
September 23
Good Neighbor Day
September 28
Events Spotlight
Atlas Around the World: Scotland
Grandparents Day: Cookie Social September 7th
National Assisted Living Week September 7-13
Royal Arms of the Kingdom of Scotland
“Or, a lion rampant Gules armed and langued Azure within a double tressure flory counter-flory of the second”, meaning a red lion with blue tongue and claws on a yellow field and surrounded by a red double royal tressure flory counter-flory device.
Associate of the Month
Mary Hagood
Meet Mary Hagood, our wonderful weekend concierge! Mary has been a beloved member of the Oakview Parks team since 2022, but her commitment to caring for others goes back much further. With over three decades in the medical field, including 28 years as a CNA, Mary’s passion for helping seniors is truly a calling.
Her genuine, welcoming smile is the first thing you see when you arrive, and she treats everyone like family. When she’s not at the front desk, Mary enjoys spending time with her family, getting lost in word searches, cooking, and watching true crime documentaries.
Join us in celebrating Mary for her incredible warmth, dedication, and service to our community.
Scottish Heart
Alexa play "The Mandolin Man and his secret" from "Donovan"
Appearing on Donovan’s 1967 double album A Gift from a Flower to a Garden fused psychedelic folk with childlike wonder, marking him as a true Scottish poet-storyteller.
The Mandolin Man and His Secret a whimsical tale wrapped in folk mysticism, where Donovan’s gentle voice dances with the strings and a lonely harmonica, conjuring a timeless dream-tale.
Generation Celebration
September gives us a great excuse to celebrate the power of cross-generational connection. With both Grandparents Day and Intergenerational Day on the calendar, it’s a reminder that meaningful relationships don’t have to come from the same age group.
Spending time with younger generations isn’t just heartwarming—it’s genuinely beneficial. Studies show that older adults who interact regularly with children or teens often feel more purposeful, experience less loneliness, and even see improvements in memory and mood. Meanwhile, younger folks gain a sense of perspective, patience, and emotional intelligence when they build relationships with seniors.
Some communities have taken this idea to the next level. In countries like Japan and the Netherlands, preschools and daycare centers are joining forces with senior living facilities, creating shared spaces where little ones and older adults can learn and play together. It turns out that finger painting and storytelling sessions can do wonders for everyone involved, young and old.
Even without a formal program, small moments matter. Reading to a grandchild over video chat, teaching a neighbor’s teen how to knit, or joining a local school’s mentorship program are all simple ways to build connections that stretch across generations. Volunteering with youth groups, offering career advice, or attending events at community centers can also open the door to meaningful exchanges. And don’t underestimate the value of a casual chat at the park or the grocery store—sometimes the best conversations happen when no one’s trying too hard.
Bringing generations together isn’t about nostalgia—it’s about building stronger communities full of curiosity, empathy, and mutual respect. This month, let’s celebrate the many ways we can all learn from each other, no matter our age.
Welcome to Scotland
Around the World with Atlas
Scotland: The Land Beyond the Wall
When the Roman Empire pushed north into Britannia, it met fierce tribes the legions could never conquer. To mark the limit of their reach, the Romans built Hadrian’s Wall, and further north, the Antonine Wall — yet beyond lay the untamed lands we now call Scotland.
By the 8th century, Scotland began to take shape as a kingdom, often in conflict with its southern neighbor, England. Centuries of wars, heroes like William Wallace, and an enduring sense of independence defined its story. In 1707, Scotland formally united with England, creating Great Britain, which later grew into the United Kingdom alongside Ireland.
Still today, Scotland remains proudly distinct — with its Gaelic roots, tartans, castles, and legendary landscapes reminding the world of a culture that was never fully subdued.
Back From Beyond
Anyone who has owned a pet is familiar with the feelings of loss once that pet has passed on. World Animal Remembrance Month, celebrated in September, has been designated to remember all the good times with our companion animals. When Dolly the sheep won worldwide renown in 1996 as the first cloned animal, few people may have considered the possibility of cloning a family pet. But for the hearty sum of approximately $100,000, a clone of a beloved pet is exactly what families can get. Sooam Biotech uses DNA to clone companion, pet, and police dogs in its South Korean laboratory. But it’s a buyer-beware business; just because your pet may look the same, there is no guarantee that it will have the same personality or temperament.
Others are using this fascinating science not to bring pets back from the dead but to resurrect extinct animals. Many animals have gone the way of the dodo—the great auk, the thylacine, the Carolina parakeet, the Atlas bear, and even the black rhinoceros are all now extinct.
Some scientists are working to bring extinct species back to life using advances in genetics and synthetic biology. While a real-life Jurassic Park is still fiction, researchers—like those at Harvard and Colossal Biosciences—have made headway in resurrecting species like the woolly mammoth by splicing its genes into those of its closest living relative, the Asian elephant. Recently, the successful cloning of dire wolf pups using recovered DNA marked a new milestone in this rapidly evolving field.
Though you won’t see mammoths or dire wolves roaming around just yet, tools like CRISPR have made species revivalism more viable than ever. The debate has shifted from “Can we do it?” to “Should we?” What do you think are the consequences of reviving the ancient past?
Beyond the Browser
Who could have known on September 4, 1998, that the strange term google would come to be used in hundreds of languages across the planet? Twenty-seven years after the company’s September creation, Google has become a part of our everyday lives. Google’s internet search engine and email are its most well-known tools, but that technology is small potatoes compared to what Google hopes to achieve in the future. Google began at Stanford University in California. Two PhD students, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, wanted a better way to search for information on the internet. Their mission statement was “to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.” New Google projects hope to do that and so much more. One Google innovation is the self-driving car, now commercialized through Waymo, an Alphabet company. Waymo vehicles—based on partnerships with Jaguar, Geely, and others—have driven millions of miles autonomously. Experts argue that these vehicles may soon surpass human drivers in safety and efficiency, especially in controlled urban environments. In the home, Google has expanded its smart tech through Nest, offering learning thermostats, security systems, and voice-activated controls. You can adjust your lights, start your coffee, or monitor your front door using just your phone or voice. X, Alphabet’s research division, continues to pursue ambitious projects, including drone delivery, wildfire detection, and sustainable energy solutions. Its goal remains the same: to tackle global problems with breakthrough technology that pushes the limits of what’spossible.
More Articles
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Recipe Spotlight:
Scottish Lentil Soup
Healthy & Hearty
Warm, comforting, and full of nutrients, Scottish Lentil Soup is a traditional dish with a healthy twist. Packed with fiber, protein, and vegetables, it’s perfect for a wholesome lunch or light dinner.
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 carrots, diced
2 celery stalks, diced
1 cup red lentils (rinsed)
1 garlic clove, minced
1 teaspoon ground cumin (optional)
4 cups low-sodium vegetable or chicken broth
Salt and pepper to taste
Fresh parsley for garnish (optional)
Instructions:
Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add onion, carrots, and celery. Cook for about 5 minutes, until softened.
Stir in garlic and cumin, and cook for 1 minute more.
Add red lentils and broth. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 25–30 minutes, or until lentils are soft.
Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Blend slightly with an immersion blender if desired, or serve chunky.
Garnish with fresh parsley.
Why We Love It:
This soup is rich in plant-based protein, naturally low in fat, and full of flavor. Lentils are a Scottish pantry staple and offer heart-healthy benefits while being gentle on the stomach and easy to prepare.
Resident of the Month
Sara Shipman
Please join us in celebrating our Resident of the Month, Sara Shipman!
If you’re looking for Sara, you can often find her in our courtyard on a sunny afternoon, enjoying her favorite things: a good magazine and the fresh air. Sara loves being outdoors and has a true passion for gardening. She will tend to the flowers daily in our courtyards and help water them.
Her favorite summer treat is a delicious tomato sandwich, and she’s always surrounded by the love of her family and friends, who visit often to take her out for lunch and outings.
We’re so lucky to have Sara’s warm presence in our community.
Local Only
Most cities love an influx of tourists. Tourists, after all, bring dollars. The more popular a city is, the more those dollars add up. So, it is very strange indeed that September 16 is Stay Away from Seattle Day, a day when Seattleites request that everyone please refrain from visiting their wet Pacific Northwest
city. Seattle residents themselves offer myriad reasons to shun their city: exorbitant gas prices, never-ending rain, earthquakes, and a fleeting summer. Or is the real truth that Seattle is so wonderful that its residents want to keep it all for themselves? It is world-renowned for its coffee (thank you, Starbucks), doughnuts (thank you, Top Pot), and salmon (thank you, Mother Nature). Then there’s the unparalleled natural beauty, great music scene, a cutting-edge technology industry, and hey, we even hear the whole rain thing has been exaggerated. (It’s mainly a constant drizzle, not a downpour.) So, which is it, Emerald City? Are you awful or awesome? The only way to find out may be to visit sometimesoon.
Collaborators
Jennifer Klein
