Virginia's Musical Museum

Mr. Nick and Mr. Buddy Parker and us at the Virginia Musical Museum and Virginia Music Hall of Fame.  They gave us a fantastic tour!

This week the heat and humidity returned, but we kept our cool and carried on!  We spent Tuesday at the center where our fabulous Arc intern, Emma, did a lesson on Berlin, Germany for us, complete with a fun treat.  On Wednesday we were extra busy volunteering at GCOC, arranging flowers, and then visiting the Virginia Musical Museum and the Virginia Music Hall of Fame.  We last visited in 2020, and there have been some changes and updates.  It was a highlight of our week!  By Thursday we settled in with some history and brain work to mark Navajo Code Talkers Day, and we lightened things up with a video about a mouse and a motorcycle!  We worked at PSP on Friday morning, and cooked lunch at the center so that by the afternoon we could celebrate National Relaxation Day!  It was a stellar week!!

Tuesday

We began the week with some of our early birds getting to work on Eaton tasks. Bryan prepped the rubber gaskets and Alexis and Liz applied them.  Eaton appreciates us being able to keep them well-stocked with gasketed parts, and we appreciate our team members who don't mind doing the extra work!

After our dance warm up and a check of last week's blog, we headed to the gym for a kickball game.  Our Arc intern Emma was here today, and we wanted to show her how much our skills have improved.  Plus, our gym days are running out soon!

Five of our friends were absent today, and of the 12 that were here, we had 6 boys and 6 girls, so we plays boys vs. girls again, just as we did last week when the girls won.  

The boys were looking for redemption after last week's loss, and they got off to a great 5 run start!  Here, Abraham makes it to first base while Patrick aims for second, and Liz signals to her teammates to try and get Patrick for an out.  He made it safely!

Time to switch positions as the girls go to kick being down 7-4.  The were only able to score two runs, so the boys didn't need another inning and were declared the winners!

Congratulations to the guys!  They hustled today!

Emma was up next with an interesting presentation about her study abroad semester spent in Berlin, Germany.  She was there from February-May this year and had many wonderful experiences as she studied at Freie Universitat Berlin (Free University of Berlin), lived with a host family, explored other parts of Europe, and enjoyed the culture in the country from which her father's family came!

Thanks for sharing about life in Berlin, Emma!  It was surprising for us to learn that their lifestyle is more "laid-back" than ours because the stores don't open on Sundays and folks spend time together taking walks and relaxing!  We also thought it was interesting how frugal and environmentally conscious Germans are...but we aren't sure we could hang our clothes on lines in the house instead of using a dryer!  We LOVED the Haribo Goldbears! They are an irresistible treat! 

Speaking of irresistible treats, we made one for National S'mores Day.  We ordinarily would have skipped S'mores Day this year since it was on Sunday, but Liz found a recipe for S'mores Pie and everyone wanted to try it!  It was gooey, but pretty tasty! (Good thing those gummy bears were tiny packs!)  

Another day we missed over the weekend was National Book Lovers Day, but we celebrated today by reading aloud from our current book The Wild Robot Protects, and then sharing some of our favorite books we brought from home.  Not everyone remembered, but a few of us did, and we enjoyed hearing about books and magazines our friends like to read!

Wednesday

We kicked off Wednesday with Laura telling us about a favorite book of hers called Animal Hospital.  She was a little frustrated to have forgotten to bring a book for Book Lovers Day yesterday, so we were happy to have her share today!

Our flower team was busy this morning!  Gail and Michelle washed and dried the jars we reuse each week, and Thomas cleaned out the inset for the carrying tub we use to transport them to Commonwealth Senior Living.  Alexis put water in the shiny jars and also trimmed the flower stems so Patrick and Drew could help make the pretty arrangements.  This week, Trader Joe's only sent purple and cream colored flowers, but the arrangements turned out very pretty anyway!

Since we washed the jars, they needed new ribbons tied at the tops, and that was a perfect job for Nan.  She has tied a few bows in her time!  Abraham showed off the finished arrangements, and helped load them on the van.

Of course, Miss Gail was on the clean up as soon as we finished.  This is a task she actually enjoys, and she is very, very good at it, too! Thanks so much, Gail!

Meanwhile, Bryan, Liz, Xavier, Kate, Laura, Erik, and Kevin made the trip to Grove Christian Outreach Center to volunteer with Peggy, Joel, and Ursula to pack food distribution bags.  They also helped sort coffee K-Cups and package 10 to a bag.  Thank you to Peggy and Joel who treated us to Klondike Bars this week!  Laura helped pass them out at lunch time and they really hit the spot on this warm and muggy day! 😋

After our work morning, we "hit the gym" for some calisthenics.  We set up 10 stations around the gym and take turns spinning the number wheel to see which one we visit.  Laura spun a 6...

Station 6 is for squats.

We have to return to the center of the gym for each new spin which adds to our steps!  Here, we were heading to Station 2 for arm circles, where we strive to stretch our arms wide before we start circling!

This is either Station 5 for wall push-ups, or the best "butt shot" ever!  (Inside joke with us!)  

After our exercises we had an early lunch and then headed to the Virginia Musical Museum and Virginia Music Hall of Fame.  It's located inside the Parker Piano Outlet in Lightfoot, and is two stories of unique and interesting objects that Mr. Buddy Parker and his wife, Peggy, have collected over many decades.  It's really cool!

The first room we visited had an assortment of music boxes, band boxes, and other self-playing instruments, most of which Mr. Parker keeps in good playing condition.  Many of them are around 100 or so years old!

The "lady" is Laughing Sal.  She is a tall, animatronic figure that was built for carnivals back in the day.  Her laugh is quite unnerving to some!

If you're lucky enough to take a tour with Mr. Parker, as we were, he'll play some of them for you!

Joining Mr. Parker for our tour was Mr. Nick, who has been with the museum for 7 months.  He is very knowledgeable about the things in the museum, having learned a lot from Mr. Parker.  Between the two of them, we heard many interesting stories and cool musical facts!

Mr. Parker asked if any of us liked to dance?!  Ummm...yes!!

In other rooms, we learned about a number of artists and musicians who were born in Virginia.  Many of them were new to the younger ones in our group (most everyone except Lisa, Carol, and Nan...lol!), but we all knew this guy, Pharrell Williams!

There are a number of harpsicords and of course, pianos, on display.  Mr. Parker let Kevin play this harpsicord that dates back to 1760!  Great job, Kevin!

Mr. Nick explained that this car once belonged to another Virginia born singer named Wayne Newton, who really made it big in Las Vegas back in the '60s and became known as "Mr. Las Vegas."  This car was his 1978 Clenet Roadster (a custom-built retro-styled luxury car), that originally was built for Marvin Gaye.  When Marvin Gaye died, Wayne Newton bought the car.  Eventually, Mr. Newton had to sell it to pay tax debts, and sometime after that, it ended up belonging to Mr. Buddy Parker, and in this museum!  He still takes it out for drives a few times a year!

There is so much to see at the Virginia Musical Museum and Virginia Hall of Fame.  We highly recommend a visit, and if you call ahead, you can arrange a tour with Mr. Parker or Mr. Nick.  They are awesome!  We took lots of pictures, but they don't do the museum justice.  Go check it out!  Thank you, Mr. Buddy Parker and Mr. Nick for your time showing us the amazing collection Mr. Parker has on display in the museum.  The stories and demonstrations were so much fun!  We look forward to a return visit one day!  So much to see and learn!

Thursday

Every now and then we like to play card games.  Today, for some of our games, we used new cards Lisa and Alexis brought us from their trip to Alaska.  As usual, we enjoyed rotating to the different game stations, and even learned a few facts today!  For example, did you know that when bears eat salmon they usually prefer the most nutritious parts which are the brains, roe (eggs), and skin?!

The group in front was playing Alaska Concentration and had lots of pairs to match, so lots to focus on as well!  The group toward the back of the photo was playing a new game called Eye Found It.  It was a Disney version that our friend Kelly from APEX PT recently gave us!

Carol used a set of animal cartoon cards and when we went to her table, we played Go Fish and also tried to understand the cartoons, which is sometimes a challenge for us.

At this group, we had playing cards that featured facts about bears that live in Alaska.  We played a version of War as we learned about bears.

The teachers returned to work at James River Elementary today, which means the gym will soon be used by PE Coach Alex for classes with students.  We're going to make the most of a few more days before we have to turn it back over to him!  Today, there were a lot of basketballs being shot!

It was chilly in our room during Choice Time so a few of us took a walk outside to warm up...it was a short walk!

August 14 is National Navajo Code Talkers Day, a day to honor the Native Americans from the Navajo Reservation who assisted the United States during WWII.  They used their native language to create an unbreakable code for transmitting messages, which played a crucial role in the Allied victory.  

The code they created remained classified for over 20 years, and was also used during the Korean and Vietnam conflicts.  In 1982, President Ronald Reagan proclaimed August 14 as National Navajo Code Talkers Day.  We were amazed that they could scramble their native language so well, and without ever writing it down.  The Japanese, who were our enemy in WWII, were never able to crack the code!

We'd like to give a shoutout to Gail and Michelle, who again today washed and dried jars that we use for flower arrangements on Wednesdays.  These were last week's jars that Commonwealth Senior Living returned when we dropped off yesterday's arrangements.  After we use them a few times, they get a bit grungy inside, and we appreciate these gals for their cleaning efforts! 👏👏

Shoutout goes to Erik, too!  He's always willing to do tasks here and there that don't require everyone to chip in, but help us keep things in order.  Today, he rolled carts of completed Eaton work to the storage closet! 👏👏

Friday

We got lucky today!  Tracy and Katrina had a free day (they finally wrapped up summer camps), and offered to work with us.  That enabled us to get more done than usual!  

We sent 7 to Pet Supplies Plus for a work morning.  Tracy met us there.  We hadn't seen her in a while!

Devin, Liz, and Laura stocked items on the cat aisle.

Brian at PSP showed us how he cleans out the snake's cage.  He was changing the bedding.

Bryan helped Thomas sort the boxes from the delivery PSP received yesterday.

Erik and Michelle were a good cleaning team.  They used dusters to clear the dust bunnies from the shelves.

We enjoy working with Thomas at PSP and we thank him for his support and guidance!  Tracy is in this picture, and we thank her for helping us today, too!

Speaking of Tracy, she dashed down to the garden at Freedom Park with Michelle and Erik before they worked at the PSP so they could harvest basil!  We're making pesto next week.  They also picked cherry tomatoes and patty pan squash, which we will also eat next week!

The group that stayed at the center was busy with chores and cooking.  Drew and Kate sorted our pantry items and organized the tubs.  Now all the similar items are back together again!

Katrina was also able to work with us today.  She enjoyed chatting with Gail and Emma while they prepared books for discarding from the JRES Library.

We sent Drew on a mission to find 2 packages of shredded cheese in the refrigerator.  He had to bend and stretch, but he found them!!

Thanks to Patrick and Kevin we enjoyed wild berry muffins for dessert!  (We found the mixes when Kate and Drew cleaned out the pantry tubs!)

Xavier concentrated on adding the same number of cucumber slices to each salad.  He did a good job as he counted out loud for each bowl!

Kevin also counted out loud as he added celery to the salads.  He had to count a little higher than Xavier because we had a lot of celery pieces!

We decided to leave the chips off of the top of our casserole and turn it into chicken nachos instead.  We didn't want the chips to get soggy!  Everyone said the recipe this way is "a keeper" so we made the right choice!

After lunch we enjoyed chatting with Tracy and Katrina, and of course, enjoying Choice Time.  Lisa read from our read aloud and then it was time to celebrate National Relaxation Day!  A few chose yoga with Jaime, and others chose to hang out and enjoy a half hour of quiet time.

And just like that, a warm and muggy week came to an end.  We headed home for the weekend so we could rest and get ready for another busy week to come.  Here are our plans for next week:

Tuesday:  We're going to see Wisteria and Cindi at The Mariners' Museum today.  They have a brand new lesson and art project to try with us that has something to do with camouflage! It looks like a warm day, so we will return to the center for lunch on your own; microwave available.  In the afternoon we will prepare a couple of recipes for use on other days this week!

Wednesday:  It's time for a visit from our therapy dog and handler friends!  Our theme today will be cookbooks, so feel free to bring one!  We'll play Food Bingo after reading with the dogs, and enjoy a treat of Pesto Pasta Salad, made with fresh basil harvested from the garden!  After lunch, we're looking forward to a visit from Sam for an official farewell since we didn't have time the week he left.  It's going to be a Pie and Goodbye (but hope we see you around) Celebration.  Lunch on your own; microwave available; pie for dessert.

Thursday:  Today we will work on preparations tomorrow's birthday celebration for Laura (It's her 40th!).  We'll also catch the third and final installment of the videos based on the trilogy of books about Ralph S. Mouse (by Beverly Cleary).  We're cooking today, too:  burgers, home fries (using the last of the potatoes we grew), sauteed patty pan squash that we just harvested at the garden, and fruit salad for lunch. 

Friday:  We'll spend the morning at Eaton today, so please wear Eaton shirts.  No need to bring a bagged lunch as we will return to the center for a Birthday/Pizza Party for Laura's 40th birthday! There will be a Peanuts and Gang theme, with games, exercise, and more!  Thank you to Laura's parents, Tom and Lisa, for treating us to this fun time!! 

🥳🥳🥳

Enjoy the weekend,

Lisa, Carol, Nan, and the AoA Gang

Happy Birthday, Gail!

August is officially here, and what a great week we had with a break from the recent heat and humidity!  It may have been cloudy or a little rainy, but it was cooler, and we enjoyed it.  Cloudy or not, we had a lot of "sunshine" on Thursday when we celebrated Gail's birthday with an amazing lunch, the highlight of the week!  We also had a great time at bowling on Tuesday with a fabulous pizza lunch at Bowlero!  We volunteered at GCOC and arranged flowers for CSL on Wednesday, and on Friday we worked at Eaton.  Check out our wonderful week!

Tuesday

Our first day of the month bowling league was so much fun today!  We would like to acknowledge a contribution from an anonymous donor that we used toward our bowling fee today.  Thank you so much!           🎳🎳🎳

The lights at Bowlero were dimmed but the lanes were glowing as we got into teams and started our games.  Action shots are hard to get, but here are today's team photos!

Patrick and the ladies - Alexis, Gail, and Kate - were all smiles!

Drew, Dev, Thomas, and Erik posed for BGQ magazine (Bowling Gentlemen's Quarterly)!

Kevin, Bryan, Abraham, Annmarie, and Michelle wanted to pose for a magazine, too.  How about Sports Illustrated for them?!

Xavier and the ladies of Lane 1 - Emma, Liz, and Laura - took a sweet picture together!

Liz asked us to add this photo to the blog.  It shows how each of her team members either bowled a strike or a spare during the 7th frame! 👏

🍕🍕🍕 Many thanks to Kate's family for sponsoring our lunch today!  We got to enjoy pizza and sodas at Bowlero, which is a fun treat!  Your generosity made our day, Elizabeth and Mark! 🍕🍕🍕

After we returned to the center and had Choice Time, we worked together to get our calendar updated for the month of August.  We have a lot going on, so good thing it's a long month!

Before removing some of our July work from the walls, Lisa took pictures to show what we did since there weren't blog posts during her travel time.   Here, we show projects we did for Amelia Earhart Day, Pina Colada Day, and Moon Day.  We were busy learning and creating while she was gone!

One day during Lisa's absence we had a lesson about a poetry style called "clerihews," which are short and usually nonsensical poems about people.  Aren't we creative?!

Time ran short for a kickball game so we just had some free time in the gym at the end of the day.  Gail said, "No worries.  We can play kickball for my birthday on Thursday!"  Thanks, Gail.  That sounds like a plan!

Wednesday

We kicked the morning off with our usual Wednesday activities, arranging flowers and volunteering at Grove.

We are improving in our skills of filling the jars carefully, trimming stems, and removing excess leaves so they won't get yucky in the water!

We worked efficiently with Peggy, Joel, Ursula, and Tom to pack USDA food distribution bags at GCOC, and then Ursula treated us to an "old German recipe" she called Butter-Almond Cake, but we called "Dee-licious!"  Thank you, Ursula, for sharing with us!

Alexis and Lisa shared photos from their recent trip to Alaska.  We learned that Alaska is our biggest state, and that Texas could fit in Alaska over 2 and 1/2 times!  It was hard to imagine that less than 1% of Alaska is inhabited and, no roads lead to its capital of Juneau.  To get there, you have to fly or take a boat!

After lunch, we continued our Alaska theme with a lesson about the life cycle of salmon.  Salmon are very important to the culture, economy, and wildlife in Alaska.  Alaskan salmon are born in small creeks and streams, and they must travel to the Pacific Ocean where they grow and live for an average of 4-5 years.  After that, they return to the very same creeks or streams where they were born to spawn, or reproduce.  In fact, most of them return to the exact same spot in the streams where they began life as eggs to lay their eggs!  Nature is amazing!

Our video was about the amazing life cycle of the salmon and it also had a lot of Alaskan wildlife in it like bears, eagles, seals, whales, and caribou.  For a treat, Lisa and Alexis brought back smoked salmon for us to make a dip with, and fireweed lemonade mix.  Fireweed is a wildflower that blooms all over Alaska during the short summer months, and can be used in jellies, ice creams, and drinks.  It's pretty and tasty!

Laura helped mix the salmon with cream cheese, and Devin mixed the fireweed lemonade.

Most of our guys tried the salmon dip, and for some of them, it was so good they asked for seconds!  Thanks Lisa and Lexi, for thinking about us and bringing a tasty treat all the way from Alaska!

Please keep our master gardener friend Krafty Karen in your thoughts.  She had outpatient surgery on her neck and back this week, in hopes of helping to ease her pain from arthritis.  She said she was not feeling great today, but she knows she needs to give herself a little more time.  We made cheer cards and a flower arrangement for her.  Since Dev lives in her neighborhood, he and his dad, Scott, were kind enough to deliver them to Karen.  She said it made her day to see Devin's smiling face!  Thanks Dev and Scott for making sure Karen got our package of love! 💖

Thursday

We were excited for today's celebration of Gail's birthday, but we had almost the whole morning to fill with activities before it would be time for her party, so we got busy.  Today is National Lighthouse Day, and we decided to celebrate by making a craft to help decorate our room for August.  We read about the history of lighthouses and learned that they aren't as necessary in the 21st century as they were back in the day.  We have modern technology that helps ships navigate now.  It was fun to learn about them, though.  We watched a short video that featured a lot of pretty lighthouses in the United States, and Kate brought a lighthouse decoration from her home to share with us. 

Our craft was simple:  We used colored strips and sharpies along with two different sized cups.  Some of us choose certain colors to represent our favorite schools or teams.  After decorating our lighthouse, we put a battery-operated tea light in top and believe it or not, there were lots of "oohs and ahhs" when we turned them on!

Happy National Lighthouse Day!

We still had time before the party, so we took a jammin' walk in the gym!

Next, we played Disney music trivia, in the dark!  

Finally, it was almost time for the party.  This was Gail's first birthday as a member of the AoA, and she was so excited when her brother Ashley arrived with lunch for us from Bonefish Grill!  (The rest of us were pretty excited, too!)

Arc's intern Emma, Gail's cousin Nita, and Allison put the finishing touches on the set up for lunch.  We were having blackened fish, blackened chicken, and Bang-Bang shrimp tacos, along with fresh bread, tea, lemonade, or water, and lots of tasty sauces, too!  😋😋😋

Along with the delicious taco lunch, we got to meet several of Gail's extended family members.  What a joy it was to talk with her cousins, aunt, and of course, her brother Ashley and sister-in-law, Zelda.  We love to socialize!

Gail did not know her aunt and cousins were coming, so it was a delightful surprise for her!  Thank you very much, Ashley and Zelda, for coordinating such a wonderful lunch and party for our sweet friend, Gail.  Your thoughtfulness and generosity meant a lot, and we are grateful for this opportunity to get to know you and your family.

💙💚💛 We enjoyed meeting Gail's family!  On the back row are cousins Norman and Vicki,  brother Ashley, and cousin, Connie; On the front row are Gail's sister-in-law Zelda, Gail, her aunt Mary Ivy, and cousin Nita  💙💚💛

Happy Birthday, Gail!  We hope all your wishes come true, and we're so happy you joined the Arc of Abilities this year!

We continued to celebrate Gail after lunch with a game of Birthday Bingo.  She won some Mickey Mouse / Donald Duck socks!  How perfect because she asked us to decorate with a Disney character theme for her party!

Our fun day ended with a kickball game in the gym. 

It was boys vs. girls and the girls got off to a great start with 5 runs!

Devin, who was sporting some nifty glasses from the Bingo prize box, told his team not to worry...and then he delivered on a home run!

By the time the boys were up for their last inning, they were trailing the girls, 9-5.  

The girls defended well and held the boys to just 2 more runs, so they won 9-7!  Birthday Girl Gail is holding our ball with a sad face, but the girls were anything but sad after pulling off the victory!

Friday

We went to Eaton for a work day this morning.  It had been 3 weeks since we last worked, but we never lose our touch, or our great work ethic!

Today we had so much to transfer to smaller tubs and then sort!  Drew, Thomas, and Abraham made quick work of their first tub of mixed parts!

Xavier and Devin transfer mixed parts from the big brown bin to the smaller tubs.  Gail and Patrick prefer to sort as they go and Gail even packs her rectangle parts in stacks!  In the background, Bryan works solo on emptying a brown bin.

Laura, Annmarie, and Michelle sorted several different types of parts before passing them to Liz, Alexis, Erik, and Nan who applied gaskets.  

We got thousands of parts transferred to gray tubs and sorted!  Great job by our team!

Great teamwork as we loaded some work to take back to the center, too!

A short drive to Newport News Park and we enjoyed a well-deserved lunch!  Our "preferred" Shelter 18 was not available, so we settled at Shelter 17.  There was a gentle breeze and it was very nice to be outside!

Cornhole, followed by a walk to the bridge to see turtles, and we were ready to head back to AFCC for dismissal...and the start to our weekend!

Here's what we have planned for next week:

Tuesday:  We are staying at the center today (field trip tomorrow).  We will welcome The Arc's amazing intern, Emma, to do a lesson with us that highlights her recent semester abroad in Berlin, Germany!  It's National S'mores Day, so we will make a special treat for that, and we'll end the day with a celebration of National Book Lovers Day, so bring your favorite books or magazines to share!  Lunch on your own; microwave available.

Wednesday:  This morning we will make flower arrangements for CSL and volunteer at GCOC, too.  Please wear Arc shirts.  After an early lunch at 11:30, we will head to the Virginia Musical Museum for a group tour.  We'd like to thank The Arc of GW for sponsoring this with their arts grant!  Lunch on your own; microwave available.

Thursday:  We'll be at the center today for a lesson to mark Navajo Code Talkers Day.  We have learned about them before, but it's good to revisit since the history about them is so interesting!  We will watch an old version of The Mouse and the Motorcycle, since we read the book while Lisa was on her trip.  It's fun to compare books to movies!  We are also going to play card games, including a couple of new ones that Lisa picked up on her Alaska trip.  Lunch on your own; microwave available.

Friday:  We'll work at the pet store today, so please wear your PSP shirts.  The lunch crew will stay at the center to prepare Mexican Chicken Casserole for lunch.  It's National Relaxation Day, so we will probably just chill after lunch and read aloud time...with an option to do yoga with Jaime!

It's time to mark your calendars for the 16th Annual Williamsburg Landing 5k Run/Walk for The Arc!  Registration is open so go ahead and sign up...the price increases September 1st!  Click the pic to head straight to the registration link!

Have a Wonderful Weekend,

Lisa, Carol, Nan, and the AoA Gang