Transforming Age’s Bond Rating Analysis (stable at BB) from Fitch

Ed note: The following is published on Transforming Age’s web site. Read in detail if you’re interested in the formation and growth of of TA, Inc.; the transfer of funds from the Obligated Group to TA, Inc.; and the stability of the bond rating including best case/worse case senarios.

Published Fri 16 Jul, 2021 – 5:07 PM ET by Fitch Ratings

Fitch Ratings – New York – 16 Jul 2021: Fitch Ratings has assigned a ‘BB’ Issuer Default Rating (IDR) to Presbyterian Retirement Communities Northwest Obligated Group (PRCN; d/b/a/ Transforming Age [TA]). In addition, Fitch has affirmed the ‘BB’ ratings on the series 2013, 2015, 2016A, 2016B, 2019A, 2019B, and 2019C revenue bonds issued by the Washington State Housing Finance Commission on behalf of TA.

The Rating Outlook is Stable.

SECURITY

The bonds are secured by the obligated group’s (OG) gross revenues, a mortgage on the OG’s facilities and debt service reserve funds.

ANALYTICAL CONCLUSION

The ‘BB’ rating reflects TA’s robust historical census levels, adequate operations and liquidity position, and its high leverage position and execution risks associated with its ongoing independent living unit (ILU) expansion project. TA’s expansion project entails building a new 21-story tower (Olympic Tower) with 77 new ILUs at its Skyline campus. The project is expected to be accretive to TA’s financial and operating profiles, with solid increase in top-line revenues and total cash flow levels and an initial entrance fee pool of approximately $100 million.

TA’s initial entrance fees are expected to be used to pay down temporary debt ($51 million) associated with the project and significantly boost its unrestricted reserves. The Stable Outlook reflects Fitch’s expectation that TA has enough financial cushion at its current rating level to absorb lingering pandemic pressures and that it will successfully execute and fill its Olympic Tower expansion project on-time and on budget.

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Update from Heather Cox Richardson

Thanks to Diana C.

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Singing for joy

Thanks to Sybil-Ann

Though he’d always dreamed of being a professional opera singer, he didn’t have the money to stay in music school.


 So, he sang while he baked (much to the delight of his customers).


 Then one day, Martin lost his job with nothing to fall back on.


 So, Martin took to the streets of Holland.


 He’d place his hat down and sang his heart out, hoping for any donations he could get.

In 2010, Martin entered a reality TV talent show called “Holland Has Talent.”


 And what do you know — this aging singer came in first place and was thrust into the spotlight.


 In the incredible video below, Martin returns to the very streets that gave him the confidence and faith he needed to pursue his dreams


 Though his recording career took off after he won the competition, it’s as if these passers-by hear his perfect tenor voice for the very first time.


 As Martin belts out the classic contemporary hymn, “You Raise Me Up” a stunned crowd gathers around him, wandering up to place money in his hat.

Posted in Music | 1 Comment

Autumn Leaves, Aloft

Here is about what you would see from Skyline’s 26th floor Observation Deck, if you cared to brave the wind gusts. Those maple leaves rise more than 26 floors (about 300 feet) because the winds from the southwest run into Skyline and are pushed up over the top of Skyline East.

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Warming up

From Sybil-Ann who says, “We all need a special warm up when our back’s bothering us. I just tried this one and you should see me now.”

Posted in Fitness | 3 Comments

How to summarize the stages of Life

  1. First, there’s the Go-Go years
  2. Then, the Slow-Go years
  3. Finally, the No-Go years

–Or

  1. First there’s, “Honey, did the kids poop?”
  2. Then, “Honey, did the dog poop?”
  3. Finally, “Honey, did you …….?”

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You’re Invited: The second debate will focus on health and safety

Thanks to Mary M.

You’re Invited: The second debate will focus on health and safety How do we emerge and rebuild from the COVID-19 pandemic? What is the future of law enforcement in our city? These are two important questions on the minds of many Seattleites as they prepare to elect the next mayor. During the second mayoral debate, we’ll hear from both candidates, Lorena González and Bruce Harrell, about how they plan to tackle these tough questions.

Join KUOW, Seattle City Club and the WA State Debate Coalition next Thursday, October 28 at 7 p.m. Register below and share your questions for the candidates! 

Missed the first debate? Catch up on each candidate’s plan for the economy.   REGISTER   The debate will be broadcast live on 94.9 FM and streaming on KUOW’s YouTube channel. 
More to come We’ll be announcing more virtual KUOW Live events in the near future, so check out our website and follow us on Twitter, FacebookInstagram and YouTube for updates.

See you (virtually) soon,
KUOW Events Team 
 
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Actors — human and feline — add spark to this wistful biopic

Thanks to Ann M. A movie review for cat lovers to be sure.

By MORIA MACDONALD
Seattle Times arts critic

Should you be anticipating “The Electrical Life of Louis Wain” in the hopes of a lighthearted Victorian romp featuring lots of cute appearances by cats, approach with caution. The cats are certainly there, particularly a dignified black-and-white kitten named Peter who deserves a kitty Oscar of some sort (he gets some real drama into a scene where he climbs some stairs), but the mood of this movie definitely falls on the side of wistful, and often heartbreakingly sad.

It’s helped immensely by Benedict Cumberbatch and Claire Foy, two actors who know how to craft nuance in a moment of silence, and suggest devastation in a gaze.

Cumberbatch, aging quite believably from his 20s in the 1880s to a half-century later in the course of the film, plays the title character: a British artist who found his specialty in drawing pictures of cats, which became wildly popular.

(He’s credited, according to this film’s sly narration by Olivia Colman, with helping change the perception of cats in Victorian England, from mere mousers kept for practical purposes to friendly companions.) Wain is both eccentric Renaissance man — this artist is fascinated by electricity and writes opera — and worried head of a crowded household, responsible for his mother and five younger sisters after his father’s death.

Emily (Foy) is the governess with whom he falls in love.

Things are as idyllic as a picture postcard for a little while, until illness — both physical and mental — changes the course of their lives.

Director Will Sharpe drenches the film in shadowy Victorian atmosphere (the wallpaper is practically a supporting actor) but makes its tone a bit uneven. You’d think a filmmaker interested in modernizing this sort of period piece, via some nontraditional casting and contemporary language (Emily casually drops an F-bomb at one point), might make a less sentimental film that has something clearer to say about mental illness. Ultimately, “The Electrical Life of Louis Wain” is made enjoyable by its human and feline actors, despite the sadness of the material, and it left me wanting to know more about its subject, which I suppose is the point.

Screening it at home, I watched most of it with a cat on my lap, which added immensely to the pleasure; too bad the multiplexes can’t figure out a way to offer this service. Mr. Wain would surely approve.

Moira Macdonald: mmacdonald@seattletimes.com; on Twitter: @moiraverse.

‘The electrical Life of Louis wain’ ★★★ (out of four)

With Benedict Cumberbatch, Claire Foy, Andrea Riseborough, Toby Jones. directed by Will Sharpe, from a screenplay by Simon Stephenson and Sharpe. 111 minutes. rated PG-13 for some thematic material and strong language. Crest Cinema Center.

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It’s safer to travel in groups

Belgian bus company commercial. Thanks to Gordon G.

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Senior’s time capsule

Thanks to Pam P. Make sure to scroll down!

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Got a dime?

Thanks to Sybil-Ann.

pics_that_are_so_poignant_and_fascinatin

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Beef Has Issues. This Seattle Steakhouse Agrees.

By Brett Anderson in the New York Times

Thanks to Mike C.

  • Published Oct. 19, 2021Updated Oct. 20, 2021, 9:33 a.m. ET

SEATTLE — One of the first things you’ll notice about Bateau, a critically acclaimed steakhouse in a city typically associated with seafood, is that it doesn’t look like a steakhouse.

There is no shrimp cocktail or Caesar salad on the menu. The white, window-lined dining room will not be mistaken, as many steakhouses could be, for the man cave of a wealthy lawyer with a thing for cowboy-rancher iconography. In fact, by the time you order, it’s possible the kitchen will have run out of some steaks — rib-eye, New York strip, filet — that most diners consider prerequisites for a steakhouse.

Renee Erickson, the influential Seattle chef and Bateau’s co-owner, concedes that the restaurant bewilders some first-time customers. “It’s definitely not a steakhouse for everyone,” she said. “I wish it were.”

Bateau’s iconoclasm flows from its ambition to celebrate beef without supporting the industrial system that makes beef production so harmful to the environment. Ms. Erickson set out six years ago to open a steakhouse whose focus on local, sustainable ingredients aligned with the values at restaurants operated by her company, Sea Creatures, including the popular oyster bar Walrus and the Carpenter.

Renee Erickson, the influential Seattle chef and Bateau’s co-owner, with Taylor Thornhill, the restaurant’s chef de cuisine. The chalk drawing behind them is by the artist Emma Sargeant.
Renee Erickson, the influential Seattle chef and Bateau’s co-owner, with Taylor Thornhill, the restaurant’s chef de cuisine. The chalk drawing behind them is by the artist Emma Sargeant.Credit…Kyle Johnson for The New York Times

The environmentally conscious practices that Bateau follows — including whole-animal butchering — are hardly novel. But they’re nearly impossible to adhere to while still delivering what steakhouses have conditioned the nation’s diners to expect: a narrow lineup of steaks that are tender and marbled with fat. Both of those selling points are often products of an inhumane feedlot system that is complicit in the climate crisis.

All of this makes the restaurant nearly a genre of its own: a steakhouse that is also a critique of steakhouses, and a model of a better way forward.

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Tasty critters could replace beef! 9 PM tonight on PBS

Thanks to Gordon G.

Image

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2021

From crunchy crickets to nutty fly grubs, NOVA takes a tasty look at insect foods and how they could benefit our health and our warming planet.

From Thailand to Texas, insect farmers are showing how the tiny critters stack up as an environmentally friendly alternative to beef protein and can, pound for pound, deliver better nutritional value than the finest steak. But will Americans overcome the “ick” factor and share the appetite of many cultures around the world for insect feasts?

EDIBLE INSECTS

BODY + BRAIN | PREMIERES WED OCT 20 AT 9/8C ON PBS | AVAILABLE FOR STREAMING NOW

EDIBLE INSECTS

NOVA takes a tasty look at insect foods that could benefit our health and our warming planet.

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Voting is the core of our democracy–and under threat

Notes from Heather Cox Richardson

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One step of many needed

From Mike C: Removing graffiti. A commercial firm hired by the city. Hero at work.

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Just to make you smile

Thanks to Donna D.

Posted in Dance | 2 Comments

Want to save some lives?

Thanks to Al MacR

UN’s Pandemic Efforts, Want to save some lives?  Here is how to donate for vaccines for underdeveloped countries. $5/vaccine. https://www.gavi.org/donate or support the UN’s pandemic efforts.

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The misinformation landscape from AARP

Thanks to Barb W.

Senior Planet from AARP hosts two insightful webinars about why people
believe false information and how to spot fake news.
The Misinformation Landscape

Wednesday, October 20 at 2:00 p.m. ET
Identify types of misleading, inaccurate and false information online and explore the different ways that people use emotions to manipulate us into believing something is true. Learn how to use key fact-checking and verification skills for identifying misinformation.

LEARN MORE Explore Tech: How to Spot Fake News
Tuesday, October 26 at 3:00 p.m. ET
Have you heard the term “fake news”? In the digital age, anyone can publish anything on the internet. This lecture will uncover the many types of “fake news”. Learn the importance of evaluating your news sources, identifying false information, and fact-checking what you consume online.

LEARN MORE All webinars are FREE and held on Zoom. You do not need a Zoom account, but you must register in order to participate. Explore all our free offerings by visiting Senior Planet from AARP online, where you can join a community of seniors who are Aging with Attitude. Want to find more events? Visit the AARP Virtual Community Center, offering interactive online events and classes designed for learning, self-improvement and fun.
Senior Planet from AARP Senior Planet from AARP delivers award-winning training programs that are designed to help older adults understand and effectively use technology to achieve targeted outcomes in their social connectedness, health, civic engagement, financial security and creative expression.

Learn more on seniorplanet.org Have tech questions? Call the Senior Planet national hotline to get your tech questions answered at 888–713–3495
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Time to return to the Seattle Symphony

Thanks to Mike C. Seattle Symphony concerts allow for safe distancing. Proof of vaccination is required. Support our Symphony !

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Have you ever seen an eagle blink?

Thanks to Janet H.

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Need a friend?

Thanks to Pam P.

Posted in Animals | 1 Comment

Where in the world?

Please send in your off-the-beaten-track photos taken in Northwest that we might visit. Here are a couple of Indianola, a tiny town (one store and a post-office) just beyond the Agate Pass bridge leaving Bainbridge Island. It used to have its own ferry to Seattle. Now the dock is reported to be an excellent place for star gazing. What places have you been?

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Clever food art

Thanks to Rosemary W.

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First Ice Cream

Such a treat! Thanks to Pam P.

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