I got a message this morning telling me that Emily Knudson, the new Mansion Activities Director, has started work. ( Julie Harlin, the former director, is moving to North Carolina. She will be missed.)

I went right over to welcome her and introduce myself. Because I was on the way to Saratoga, I couldn’t bring Zinnia.

This is great news, first for the residents but also me and the Army of Good. Emily loves working with the elderly and is bristling with ideas; her arrival coincides with my returning to activity duty next week, my Zinnia visits, and Meditation Class resumes next Tuesday.

I very much liked the way she was already helping one resident get their  Amazon fire tablet working and another plan an outing with her mother.

Emily will be great fun to work with. Her enthusiasm is infectious.

We are already planning our first Amazon Mansion Wish List for next week, Emily has found some specially designed puzzles for the elderly and the memory impaired.

That will be our first wish list. If anyone needs it, her address is Emily Knudson, Activities Director, The Mansion, 11 South Union Avenue, Cambridge, N.Y, 12816. We’re meeting again next week to go over her needs and how we can help her.

Her e-mail is [email protected].

I’m excited to be working with her.

Zinnia and I will resume regular one-on-one visits, interrupted by the Covid epidemic next. (I’m also going to re-start our weekly visits to Bishop Maginn High School, now that I will soon be able to wear regular shoes and walk.)

We also talked about meeting regularly to determine what specific needs the residents might have – shoes, sweaters, tablets, toiletries, hairbrushes, pans, and warm blankets and sheets. There are more men at the Mansion than I can recall; they have some different needs.

Emily wants to re-start our very successful pen-pal and letters program, also interrupted by the pandemic. I  connected with her; she is enthusiastic, available, and easy to talk to, excellent news for the Army of Good. She loves everything she has heard about the Army Of Good.

I’ve been sitting on my ass for two weeks trading e-mails with critics and trolls; I’m all fired up to get back to work.