We returned to AFCC on Tuesday morning happy to see each other after our "hurricane day" and expressing our relief that things weren't bad at all last Friday. We feel very fortunate!
While still bright and early, we welcomed Alex from Colonial Computers. He spent most of the day Tuesday optimizing our laptops. He said they really needed a good tune-up! While he worked on them here, his colleagues Stephen and Jon worked remotely and they got our computers refreshed and running more efficiently! Thank you, Alex and team! We really appreciate your hard work! Our computers are noticably faster now!
Next it was exciting to reconnect with our master gardener friends at the Botanical Garden for our Fall time together! We will have 4 sessions over September and October.
This is Rick showing a new to us vegetable, kohlrabi. We learned it is in the same family as cabbage and broccoli. It can be eaten raw, or cooked, and the bulb, stems, and leaves can all be eaten. We planted a small kohlrabi plant and Rick gave us this one to take back to the center. We're going to find a recipe and give it a try!
UPDATE: The next day, Wednesday, we sliced, diced, and added spice to the kohlrabi and then roasted it in the Nina. It was delicious! The leaves were crunchy, like chips, and the slices from the bulb had a softened texture and sweet taste. Most of us really liked it!
With Joanne looking on, Karen and Barb explained to us that Linda (who was traveling and not with us) had made a homemade version of lettuce seed tape out of toilet paper! We remembered from our Spring sessions that using seed tape helps to space the seeds more easily when planting.
When it was time to get to work, we dispersed into different areas of the garden. The MGs helped us with many tasks, like thinning strawberry plants, deadheading flowers, planting spinach, lettuce, and radishes, and clipping lots of zinnias!
Here's Liz with MG Jay planting the seed tape.
Barb and Laura planted spinach seeds. We can't wait to harvest fresh spinach for a big salad!
Sam and Kevin helped clip a bunch of zinnias so we could make some pretty bouquets for our room!
The pretty bouquets we made from the colorful flower harvest we gathered will brighten our room for the rest of the week!
Oh, a snack! Thanks, Karen...you make very delicious zuchinni bread!!
We ended up taking a somewhat strenuous walk (that was more like a hike) at the trail near Warhill High School because the playground was not in the shade and the slides were too hot. Even though there were a lot of ups and downs on this trail, most of us made it a little over a quarter-mile in. Drew's friends were cheering him on as he hung in there and caught up with them fairly quickly!
Good practice for the upcoming 5K!
On Wednesday our country remembered the events of 9-11-2001. We took time at the AoA to reflect on what those attacks meant to America, and how we don't want to forget the victims, the circumstances, and the effects of the resulting war we have been waging against terrorism for 18 years. We didn't discuss it at length, but everyone got the point.
We moved on to how President Bush proclaimed September 11 to be Patriot Day beginning in 2002, and how during President Obama's term it also became a Day of Service and Remembrance.
Our service was to clean the Parks & Rec vans from top to bottom, inside and outside! What follows are lots of pictures of our awesome CLEANING CREW hard at work to clean the vans that are used a lot and were showing it!
This is a "before" picture of the back storage area.
This is a "before" picture of the very dusty dashboard!
Sam looked high and low around the seats to pick up pieces of loose trash like paper, water bottles, and candy wrappers. It must be noted that Cameron and Abraham did the same thing in the other van, and Drew worked with Nan on organizing things from a storage area, but regrettably, we did not get their pictures. We're very sorry and we proudly report that Cameron, Abraham, and Drew worked super hard to help us clean!
(By the way, don't leave trash like that in the van, but we aren't the only ones who use them. We understand that most of the trash was left behind by "kids" in the summer camp programs. 😎)
Bo and Patrick were armed with small brooms and swept a lot of dirt out...and smiled while doing it!
Laura came around next with a small vacuum to get a bit more of the dirt from the nooks and crannies.
Kacie and Devin wiped down the dashboard area. There was quite a thick layer of dust along there, which they got, and they also cleaned the instrument panel and vents!
Liz and Alexis did a great job on the windows, and Patrick was right there to collect used paper towels.
Kate helped Annmarie dampen a paper towel so she could climb in and wipe down the seats. Kate also helped with cleaning windows.
Here's Kevin using the vacuum cleaner on the other van. His long arm reached a spot the sweepers had missed!
Xavier also wiped down our seats. When our team was done, the vans were spic and span!
Here's an "after" picture of the back storage area!
And here's an "after" pic of the dashboard area!
Once we had cleaned the insides, we took the vans to the car wash to finish the job with an outside cleaning. It was fun going through the automated wash with our gang!
Wow! Squeaky clean!
Thanks again, to JCC Parks & Rec, for granting us use of the vans. Our guys are proud of their work cleaning them, and we'll have to do it again sometime. For now, we must wipe our feet before getting in! LOL!
We made sure to take the time to create a thank you card for Liz's family who had treated us to ice cream at McDonald's after our Eaton work day last week. We remain grateful for the support and gifts given to us by family and friends. 💙
Since Patti was in Peru for a "yoga experience" this week, we decided to forego our original plans for yoga with Jaime and instead watch a show that had aired on Monday night called "Lip Sync to the Rescue." It was a competition featuring the best videos from last year's lip sync challenge among first responder units around the country. One of our favorite videos (and we dance to it all the time), is the Norfolk Police Department's version of "Uptown Funk." Turns out, their video won FIRST PLACE in this competition, and the Norfolk PD won $100,000! We were excited for them! It was a fun way to end the day, and we got movement, too!
We put in so many pictures of us cleaning the vans from yesterday, that on Thursday we only took a few pics from our Eaton work day. Our job was to count, count, count as there is still a lot of inventory in the warehouse!
Becky worked with Xavier and Abraham to count and package screws, and Bo and Sam inventoried a few bins of pretty blue parts.
Patrick and Cameron counted a few tubs full of golden yellow parts, while Nan's crew of Laura, Annmarie, and Drew counted and bagged screws.
Liz was going to count a tub of lids, but realized about half of them needed to have gaskets applied. She did that, and then counted them.
There were a variety of parts to be counted in this room, and Devin, Kate, Kevin, Alexis, Kacie, and Meemaw knocked it out!
Friday was busy! We started with a short lesson about it being both Friday the 13th and a full moon! It's kind of weird to have them happen on the same day, and it won't happen again until 2049. We talked about superstitions, too. That was interesting. When we talked about black cats bringing bad luck if they cross your path, Bo wondered, "Why is that? They are so cute!!"
Then, we kid you not...as soon as we finished our video clip about superstitions, two "black cats" came knocking on our back door! It was Erin, from Chesapeake Bank (and an Arc board member), and her colleague, Kate. They had been at Grove for the United Way's Day of Giving Back and stopped by to say hi to us! See the black cats on their shirts! We cracked up when they showed up! Great to see you Erin, and also great to meet Kate!
We celebrated Read a Book Day by bringing in some of our favorites. What we enjoyed the most was hearing the stories about our choices. Kate said she has loved the books she brought ever since she was a "little kid."
Liz also brought books she has loved for years and now enjoys reading to the little ones in her family.
If you know Sam, you know he loves martial arts, so it was no surprise that he brought a book about Bruce Lee. Sam said he likes reading books about "famous people."
Patrick brought 3 books that reflect his interest in reading both fiction (Toy Story 4) and non-fiction (baseball and Washington, DC).
If you know Kevin, you know he loves to sing along to AND read about the Wiggles!
When Abraham brought out his book about superheroes, his buddy Sam jumped up for a fist bump. Very popular topic, Abraham!!
Devin also shared a biography and said he likes reading about famous people, too. His other book, The Hunger Games, was given to him by his parents and he said it's his favorite.
Laura shared a book she loves to read here at the center, an adventure about Winnie the Pooh. She also read a page aloud for us!
Alexis shared a few books she keeps in her car to read aloud when "little ones" are riding with her. Next, she helped Drew share his favorite book about...wait for it...knock-knock jokes! Drew loves to crack up to a good knock-knock joke. 😝
Kacie shared a book about cats...hundreds of them. But the page she chose to show us was about "beautiful, adorable, all black Bombays. Who could think they were bad luck?!"
After seeing which books our friends love, we tuned in to the big screen as Lisa began a new read aloud that she can project so we can follow along. It's called Ghosts and is about sisters who have to relocate to a town with a better climate for the younger sister, who has cystic fibrosis. At first, the older sister, Cat, isn't too sure about leaving her friends behind, but they soon find themselves in an adventure...
The state of the week was number 9, New Hampshire. It's known as the Granite State. Some of us were surprised to learn that granite is a popular counter-top material, and many of us even have it in our own homes. We also found it interesting that several famous authors come from New Hampshire, including J.D. Salinger, John Irving, Dan Brown, and the poet, Robert Frost...pretty cool since we were also celebrating Read A Book Day, today! But perhaps the most "famous" person from there, and basically the only one our guys had ever heard of, is actor Adam Sandler!
There were no complaints about our choice to have breakfast for lunch, including maple syrup tapped in New Hampshire for our French toast!
The last thing we did on our busy Friday was prepare the Arc's October mailing! Check the calendar for lots of fun and interesting choices, and send your sign-up sheet to Bette Faye before the deadline of September 23rd!!
Now, we're ready for the weekend! We hope everyone has a great one filled with lots of fun and relaxation!
Here's what we'll be up to next week:
Tuesday: We had to reschedule our visit to the Watermen's Museum for a hands-on "What's in the Bay?" lesson because it was so hot in July. We're looking forward to clamming, crabbing, seining and more! Please wear Arc shirts and bring some type of water shoes or flip-flops if you have them. We will also enjoy a ride on the Yorktown Trolley and have a picnic lunch by the river (bring a bag lunch).
Wednesday: We'll talk about the Air Force today since it's their "birthday," and we'll welcome Yoga Patti back, so dress to stretch. We hope to have time to work on Fall decorations for our room, too. It's National Cheeseburger Day, so we will prepare a cheeseburger casserole for lunch! Also, tonight at 6:30 we're meeting Moose Patti at the Lodge on Richmond Road. She and the WOTM are presenting the proceeds from the golf tournament to The Arc. Join us if you can!
Thursday: It's Talk Like A Pirate Day, Mateys! So be prepared to learn a new "language" (if you don't already know it)! We will also continue to work on crafts/decorations for our room. After lunch, we will visit the CW Art Museums for a lesson with our friend, Christina. Wear Arc shirts! Lunch on your own.
Friday: It's Virginia Day! We were number 10 to be admitted to the Union. We missed Peanut Day when we closed for the hurricane, so we will celebrate it as well, since our great state is famous for peanuts! Smithfield Ham Biscuits for lunch with sides of Virginia peanuts and Virginia apples (if we can find them).
OCTOBER 5: Guess what is only 3 weeks away!? It's not too late to join us for the 5K or the 1 Mile Fun Run!
Cheers,
Lisa, Carol, Nan, and the AoA Gang
