Autumn Trace grand opening and other news

On Saturday Autumn Trace held its grand opening for the public and many people attended. I went back to see how much had changed in the ten days or so since I had toured the building. (See here.)  There was furniture around the entrance to the building.

 The private dining room had been finished and furnished. It looked much different than it had ten days earlier. Residents will be able to reserve this room if they want to entertain family or guests. They can have food brought in or prepared by the chef of Autumn Trace.

 The dining area will operate as a restaurant. Residents will order their meals the day before and will be served when they arrive.

 The club room, which has a full kitchen, looked ready to use. Residents will be able to cook and bake here if they desire.

 The theater room was an empty room ten days ago. Now it is decorated and ready.

 There is a lot of furniture in the hallways. There are many places where residents can sit and visit or rest if they need to as they walk from one place to another.

 The hallways have been given street names such as McKinley, Drexel, College, and Clark. So rooms will have addresses that look like street addresses. There are colorful pictures of scenes from around Rensselaer in the hallways.

Below is the cafe. It has no doors so it will always be open and will have snacks and beverages for residents.

 The cafe and many other common areas have large TVs. Wifi is provided, but not TV cable or phones. They can be obtained from NITCO or CenturyLink.

When I got to the chapel, my camera battery failed. I had another camera, but after a few pictures, it also gave me the dead battery sign.

Below is the game room. I did not take a picture of it on the earlier post because it was then just another empty room.

 The same was true of the beauty salon/barber shop.

 A couple decades ago my mother moved into independent/assisted living. She was no longer able to keep up with mowing and snow removal and her driving was questionable. She really enjoyed the move, largely because there were so many people to socialize with. Autumn Trace decided to keep the size of their units at 44 because at this size there are enough people so that everyone should be able to find others who are compatible but it is small enough so that everyone can get to know everyone else.


On Friday Brookside Park was busy as Teen Mission held its community day. This year it was joined by Stuff the Bus and others to give away school supplies. About 200 students enrolled in Rensselaer schools participated. Pool admission was only $1.00 for the day.

 Wednesday was another busy day in the park. The evening saw another round of garbage can painting. Then there was an evening swim with an admission of $1 and finally the showing of the movie "Goonies."

 The small mural that was part of a practice wall keep changing.

 Some of the inspiration for the mural on the side of Janet's Kitchen came from knickknacks in the windows of Janet's Kitchen and Tension Tamers. I am pretty sure the black cat is Rensselaer's most famous cat, Stout.

Addendum: One of the businesses giving out school supplies was Cascades, Inc. They bought Urban Forest Products late last year. Their plant is located near the Newton County landfill and they make egg flats and cardboard cup holders.