Our New Digs

Special Invitation!!

We hope to see you on Sunday (July 7) at the Women of the Moose Annual picnic...proceeds benefit the Arc of Abilities!!  Associates are free; $10 for everyone else.  The burgers and hot dogs are great, the music and games make it fun and festive, and hanging out with our Lady Moose friends is priceless!  Join us from 12-5 at the Moose Lodge on Richmond Rd. behind Carolina Furniture!  

🌭🍔🎉💙

Our master gardener friend Karen must have a yard that looks like an artist's palette.  These are just a small sample of some of the beautiful flowers she grows!

This week we moved into the library at JRES for a few days while Heike and company worked on the floors in the gym and Rec Center.  We also spent one day at the Interpretive Center at Freedom Park.  We are grateful for places to be when maintenance has to take place in our usual spot!  We had a great week, and everyone handled the changes beautifully.  👏👏

We kicked off Tuesday with our last session with the master gardeners until September.  While we will miss seeing them on a regular basis, we know Fall will be here before we know it!  In true master gardener fashion, they had prepared a fantastic session for us.  We began with a blank canvas, and lots of pictures of flowers, fruits, and vegetables.

With our MG friends' help, we chose a selection of pictures and arranged them in collage fashion on a piece of cardstock.

Some of us chose a combination of flower, fruit, and veggie pictures, while others chose just flowers or just veggies and fruits.

The MGs gave us suggestions for color combinations.

We patiently glued the pictures to the cardstock.  It was a "sticky situation" but our MGs were there to help us!  So many of them were on hand today...we are thankful for their dedicated support to our sessions!

Out of all those materials and with all of that help, look at these masterpieces!  "Krafty" Karen is going to add a finishing touch and turn them into placemats for us!  She'll come visit us in a few weeks at AFCC to make the delivery.  That will be a special day!!

It's always interesting when the MGs share what's growing in their home gardens.  Joanne had a pretty stem of black-eyed Susans that had little stems branching out on it.  It looked like a bouquet!

Elizabeth told us about her bright red Christmas Cactus being toppled during a storm, and breaking apart.  She was able to save the pieces and rooted them in small pots.

She decided to share them!  We will take care of these "adopted" plants, and look for some beautiful blooms around Christmas time!

THANK YOU, Master Gardeners!  We wrote a thank you letter to them that couldn't even begin to include ALL of the AMAZING activities we do with them and ALL of the AMAZING facts we learn!  We also made a donation, which we hope will help cover some of the costs they incur to provide these AMAZING opportunities for us!

We went back to AFCC for lunch.  It was too hot and steamy to stay at the park.  Choice Time was a little different in our new digs!  A few of the guys used computers or listened to music, and some worked on puzzles, but several of them took advantage of being in the library and read books!  (Which we re-shelved when we finished.)

We ended the day with a game called "Imatchination" where we had to think of words that were somehow related (or "matched") the key word.  The gang divided into teams and really got into this.

Each team came up with a great list of answers.  We were so proud of them!  Here's the list from one of the teams.  How about relating "defense" and "offense" to the word "basketball?!"  Or "Teddy Roosevelt" to "Teddy Bear?!"  What clever players we have!

On Wednesday morning, Kacie volunteered to check our potato plant.  We are concerned that it hasn't flowered, which means it may not be producing potatoes.  Kacie reached down into the soil to feel for baby potatoes that may be growing.  She felt something "kind of hard" down there.  We asked our master gardeners on Tuesday why our plant hasn't flowered, and they said not to worry, because sometimes they won't!  So, we will continue to water and wait for the leaves to turn yellow as a sign to harvest potatoes we hope will be there!  Update:  We ran into MG Karen while at Freedom Park on Friday and she said to stay the course!  She had just seen a potato plant that was beginning to flower, and ours is probably just a late bloomer! 

We're also concerend about our tomato plant.  We have a pretty tomato, but it hasn't gotten bigger in the past week.  Devin watered it anyway.  We'll keep our fingers crossed!

We're not worried about our worms!  They are eating like pigs and hopefully producing a lot of compost.  Kacie and Devin fed them lots of veggies today.  That should tide them over until we return from summer break.  Soon after that, we plan to release the worms into the Grove Community Garden.

We needed to make some "Cheer Cards" too, so we got busy coloring and writing special messages.  First, we made birthday cards for our yoga buddy, Kiley.  We forgot to take a picture of them, but they were awesome!  Next, we made a pretty poster card for Bette Faye.  She works diligently at the Arc office to plan many of the fun events we like to attend.  Lately, she's been dealing with a pain in the hip, and is working just as hard in physical therapy as she does for us.  We hope she feels better soon!

Also in the Arc office is Amy, our bookkeeper.  Many of us do not know Amy, but we want her to know we are keeping her in our thoughts as she deals with a number of family issues.  Her husband, son, and mother are not feeling well, and we know Amy is doing all she can to take care of them.  Please keep Amy and Bette Faye in your thoughts. 💜💛💙

Here are Bette Faye and Amy's cards, along with a thank you card we made for our Executive Director, Pam.  We wanted her to know we really appreciate all of her support, especially arranging for us to use the Arc vans this summer when the Parks & Rec vans are not available.  We were happy to make these "Cheer Cards" today.  It cheered us up, too. 😍

We watched a BrainPOP lesson on the Declaration of Independence and got 10/10 on the quiz that followed.  Abraham was so excited he jumped up to do the Happy Dance with Moby, the mascot from BrainPOP!

Yum!  Our master gardeners had harvested cucumbers, carrots, and beets from the garden and they gave them to us when we saw them yesterday.  Since we are in the library this week, with no access to our kitchen, Nan took them home and returned today with delicious cooked beets and her "famous" cucumber salad.  She also washed the carrots and brought them back raw.  Thanks, Nan!

This group of taste testers loved the cucumbers and were surprised that they also loved the beets!  They said the carrots, while lots of pretty colors, tasted like "regular" carrots...meaning the orange ones we buy at the store.  That's ok, we know they are still very good for us!

Our brains got busy after lunch during an activity where we see how many words we can make using a set of letters.  Kacie and Devin put their heads together to see if they could make a word that would rhyme with Xavier's word, "hand."  They came up with "sand."

Our day ended with an old standby game, Disney's Scene It.  Here's Liz taking a turn with a question that asks her to spot the difference between the two pictures.  She found it.  Can you?!

On Thursday, we got to party at Devin's neighborhood pool!  We decided to pack a picnic for this one, so before we left, our lunch crews got busy.  When sandwiches were made, and grapes and chips bagged, we filled our brown bags and then got on the road.

What a pretty pool!  Thank you to Scott and Roxanne, Devin's parents, for inviting us to spend time in your neighborhood pool.  We had a wonderful time and were so lucky to have the pool to ourselves.  How'd you arrange that?!

It was a hot day, so the water felt great.  That's Cameron to the left, Kevin with the big ball, and Alexis and Kacie in the front.

We had floats, balls, and noodles and this basketball game to keep us active.  Devin and Sam enjoyed this!

We also had space to chill, as Patrick demonstrates!

Kevin and Alexis played with a big ball.

In this picture, Carol, Roxanne, and Nan, keep an eye on everyone while Laura relaxes on a noodle and Liz  and Scott take aim at someone! (Scott kept his eye on everyone, too!)

Looks like Annmarie was shooting hoops while Sam and Kacie kicked back on the floats.

  

Abraham gives a big cheer for this fun day!  Thanks again, Scott and Roxanne!!

It was great to have room to spread out and enjoy the beautiful day.  And even though we didn't take pictures, the pavilion was very nice also, and we enjoyed our lunch with a smooth breeze and in the shade!  

Devin's brother and our friend, Christian, joined us, too!  He's headed back to Boston soon, so we were happy to spend some time with him.  Also in this picture, Sam and Dev were in a swim race...Sam stuck to freestyle form, but Devin took a few leaps to get ahead! 😝

The gang enjoyed chatting with each other and Christian as they dried off before lunch.

The sound of joy is evident in this video clip!

Look at this good looking bunch of friends!  So many smiles after a fun day!

We have to thank our tech-savvy Liz for bringing in (and connecting) her Bluetooth speaker for us.  We had some challenges getting the audio hooked up while in the library, but she saved the day!  Abraham was happy because he LOVES to dance and for that, we definitely need to pump up the volume!

We appreciate the support of Heike and the office staff at the school for making us feel at home while we spent a few days in the JRES library.  But on Friday, access to the school wasn't available, so we assembled at Freedom Park in the Interpretive Center room, which we are familiar with from working with our master gardeners.  Thank you to JCC Parks & Rec Inclusion Coordinator, Arc Board Member, and our friend Tracy, for making these arrangements!  Thanks also to the staff  (Christopher, Scott, and Jack) at Freedom Park on Friday for welcoming us and setting up the room so we could have a flawless day!

We only had 12 in attendance on Friday, so the Interpretive Center space proved to be plenty of room for us.

Since it was predicted to be extremely hot and humid on Friday, we decided to walk out to the Botanical Garden early in the day so we could pick cucumbers, peppers, and carrots.  We spotted this sign for the upcoming Butterfly Festival and thought we'd post it here because it's a great event!  It's the same weekend as our golf tournament with the Women of the Moose, but we could go to that on Saturday and the Butterfly Festival on Sunday! 

Kacie and Alexis picked a couple of cucumbers.  They were a little prickly, so they called Carol over to help them!

The flowers in the garden are so pretty, we thought it would be nice to do a summer 2019 portrait of our lovely girls!

What about us, asked the guys?!  So we took a portrait of them, too!

It was beastly hot outside, and we had to come back indoors.  Liz brought her copy of Mary Poppins Returns, so we watched it in segments over the rest of the day.  Our guys LOVE musicals and we love to hear them sing along!

While we couldn't bring a lot of supplies with us to Freedom Park, we were able to bring some markers, posters, and pictures.  We used them to make thank you notes for Scott and Roxanne for the pool party yesterday and Mona` (Abraham's mom) for today's ice cream cake.

These happy faces are for you, Mona`!  We loved getting to celebrate Ice Cream Cake Day (June 27) thanks to your generosity!  And on a hot day like today, it was just perfect!

This was our first time "celebrating" this "holiday."  What a fun way to end our topsy-turvy week!

😢 We end our blog post this week with sad news.  Rob Till, the heart and soul of the Grove Community Garden, passed away unexpectedly on Thursday.  Mr. Rob was a friend who always took time to chat with us and share his knowledge and enthusiasm for gardening.  He gave us the code to the lock on the garden gate so we could visit anytime, and several of our associates enjoyed walking through the garden regularly.  We will miss seeing Mr. Rob ride up on his bike, smiling and sharing the latest updates about the garden which he so loved.  He was a friend to all.  Here is link to a news story about his passing. 💚🦋💐

Goodbye, Mr. Rob

REMINDER:

The Arc of Abilities will be closed next week (July 2-5) so the school and Rec Center can finish the floors and other maintenance projects.  We look forward to seeing everyone back at AFCC on July 9th.   Here's a look at our schedule for that week:

Tuesday (July 9):  We are beginning a series of visits with the Watermen's Museum in Yorktown!  Today, we will take a tour of the museum and learn about its purpose.  Wear Arc shirts and bring $10 to cover admission and lunch.  We will stop by Arby's for lunch after our tour.

Wednesday (July 10):  We will be busy putting together our July calendar and working in the computer lab on new activities.  Last week we missed both Fried Chicken and Macaroni Day, and July 14 is Mac and Cheese Day, so for lunch we will prepare "baked" fried chicken and macaroni and cheese.  Patti is not able to be with us for yoga, but dress to stretch because video Jaime will be here!

Thursday (July 11):  It's time for our annual visit to Kevin's house for swimming and one of the best burger cookouts around!  We have enjoyed a pool party hosted by Kevin's family every year since the AoA began, and it's always a blast!  Thanks, Debbie and Wayne, for hosting us again. Wear your suit and bring a towel and sunscreen...you know the drill by now!

Friday (July 12):  Today we will begin our study of the 50 states by focusing on the "First State," Delaware.  Over the next year, we will cover each state with a variety of activities and educational lessons on each.  We have a special lunch treat today:  Cheeseburgers, Stuffed Squash, and Homemade Pound Cake provided by Kate's mom!  Thank you, Elizabeth!  This sounds scrumptious and a perfect way to end the week!

 We hope to see you on Sunday (July 7) at the Women of the Moose Annual picnic...proceeds benefit the Arc of Abilities!!  Associates are free; $10 for everyone else.  The burgers and hot dogs are great, the music and games make it fun and festive, and hanging out with our Lady Moose friends is priceless!  Join us from 12-5 at the Moose Lodge on Richmond Rd. behind Carolina Furniture!  

🌭🍔🎉💙

Enjoy the weekend!  Happy Independence Day! See you back here on July 13th!

Lisa, Carol, and Nan