We marked the last week of summer 2020 with mixed feelings. Some of us are sad to see it going, but others look forward to cooler weather and the autumn season. Most of us will remember it as the summer when our gatherings with family and friends, vacations, days at the pool, and other indoor and outdoor events were cancelled, or very much curtailed, including time at the Arc of Abilities. It was a summer unlike any other. It will go down in history as a one of a kind!
Here's what we were up to this week...
Tuesday
Once again, we failed to get a picture of our delightful Tuesday Zoom group! So here's a picture of the video screen (taken after Zoom ended) showing the "mystery animal" we learned about - the octopus! We learned some truly amazing facts. Did you know that octopuses have THREE hearts?! They also have no skeleton! And, they are very smart! Such an interesting creature! (Click on the picture if you'd like to find out even more amazing octopus facts! 👀)
Beautiful last week of summer weather brought temperatures on Tuesday in the low 70s with lower humidity, so we spent time outside. During our walk, we ended up on the blacktop at the large, painted map of the United States. This week we studied the 36th state, Nevada. Since we aren't octopuses, we don't have enough arms (well, legs) to touch each state we've studied, but our country is big enough for us to safely spread out and put our feet into about 14 of them! We've learned that the US was settled primarily from east to west, but with Nan and Carol in California, Nevada, and Oregon, we see that some states were "skipped" during the process!
Socially distanced as we return to the building, and waving to Heike and Severina who were on a break over near their cars.
Awww! Drew blew us a kiss when he and his mom stopped by to drop off the Eaton labels that Meemaw cut apart for us. THANK YOU, Meemaw, for completing that tedious task, and THANKS, Drew and Donna, for bringing them back to us!
September 15th is National Online Learning Day! We use our computers often for word processing, playing installed games/activities, and using the internet for research and resources. Today, we "learned" how to find free, printable cards online! Our regular readers know we LOVE to make cards for our many friends and family members, and for a variety of reasons. We usually make homemade cards, and they always turn out nicely. But this week, we did something different.
Our friend Matt, aka Carol's son, had 4 wisdom teeth removed on Monday, so we celebrated Online Learning Day by going to the card site and creating get well cards for him! Patrick picked a cute bear card and printed it, then wrote a personal note inside. We hear Matt was a star patient, and is doing VERY well! Glad to hear that, and we hope he likes his cards from us!
After making Matt's cards, the gang explored the website rangerrick.org, which we introduced them to a couple of weeks ago during a Zoom lesson. Sam enjoyed checking out the videos, especially the one about the elk and the noises it makes!
We got this picture from Kate, who is in our Thursday / Friday group. She spent time on Tuesday with her cousin Katy, who says she misses having yoga sessions with us. It's been a while since we've been able to travel to Studio South, but maybe we can set up a Zoom yoga session one day!
For afternoon fitness, we did a 15 minute workout that included boxing moves! The guys enjoyed something a little bit different. Cameron and Liz were practicing jabs, uppercuts, and hooks!
Here's a short video of them in action. They asked if we could do this workout again! Yay!! 🥊🥊
When Carol got home she gave Matt the cards, and he said he appreciated our thoughts very much! Doesn't he look great for someone who just a day before had 4 wisdom teeth removed?
Wednesday
We had fun learning about Nevada this week. Of course, all our guys wanted to talk about was "Las Vegas" (what?!), but they settled down and learned some pretty cool things. For example, Nevada is the "Silver State" and produces more silver each year than any other state except....Alaska! We were really wowed to find out there is silver in Alaska!
We took a morning break to walk around the JRES campus, and we came across a new bench. Unfortunately, Cameron was absent today, but here is a great shot of the others in the Tuesday / Wednesday group.
After our walk, they filled the bird feeders. They spilled a little to make it easier for the squirrels, too! 😜
Sam and Patrick didn't spill any of our onion rings! They lined them up on the pan perfectly! We learned that Nevada is the driest state in the country, and its climate is good for growing onions. They don't have a partiular state food, but they grow a lot of onions, so that's what we had with our lunch!
Alexis and Liz prepped our grilled cheese, blueberry, and apple sandwiches! Yum! It's been a while since we've made these. It's fun to revisit old favorites.
Don't knock it til you try it!
Today's lunch! It was good!
We tried yoga with a different online instructor today. It was "Rainbow Yoga with Adrienne" and her dog, Benji. We liked it and will put some of her routines into our rotation with Jaime's videos!
We are making progress on our fall wall! Alexis is seen here gluing eyes to an owl craft we made. Keep reading to see how much we got done by Friday!
Thursday
During our Zoom session we learned that Liz lost her beloved Annabelle to cancer this week. Liz shared a beautiful tribute she had written about Annabelle, and we expressed our sympathy for her loss. Just remember, all dogs go to heaven! We'll miss seeing pics of Annabelle in our blog, too. 💛🐕💜
The Thursday / Friday group got into the dance portion of our Zoom. We think they were motivated by Abraham's return. He's really a dancing machine!
Our computer lab was busy today as we celebrated National Online Learning Day with this group. They searched for and printed more cards for Matt, and also found cards for Kacie's birthday! Kacie is visiting her grandmother in California, so we are going to send them to her there!
Devin said he was struggling so Lisa went over to help him...turns out he was "struggling" to pick a just right card for Kacie! There were lots of good choices and he ended up selecting a very cute one!
Kevin said he enjoyed our boxing workout on Thursday afternoon. He often joined boxing sessions on Zoom with Scott from APEX PT, who invited us to his classes during the quarantine when we were staying safe at home.
Did you know that September 17 is National Professional House Cleaners Day?! When we discovered that, we had to make and send Moose Patti a special card! She loves it, and so does Cam! Thanks again, Patti, for all you do to support us! We are grateful!
Carol gave Matt his feel better cards from the Thursday / Friday group and again, he said "Thanks for thinking of me!" He returned to work on Thursday. He makes wisdom teeth surgery look easy!! We're happy for him!
Friday
After our dance warm up, we got into our study of Nevada. While the earlier group this week was all about Las Vegas, this group was more interested in "11 animals that can kill you in Nevada, but probably won't!" We learned that rattlesnakes, scorpions, mountain lions, and black bears, among other "deadly" animals, are prevalent in Nevada, but not likely to kill you if left alone, or in the case of the rattlesnakes and scorpions, if you get to the hospital in time!
We were delighted to learn that the gym was going to be accessible to us again! The testing was moved to the cafeteria, because the Rec Center is opening the gym to the public again next week (evenings). Kate and Kevin grabbed our large bouncy balls and dribbled all over the gym for a while, before joining some others in walking laps.
Abraham was excited to be back on the court! He made lots of baskets during his gym time!
Alexis set her timer for a 15 minute walk, and Xavier decided to follow her...at a safe distance, of course!
Devin walked a lot of laps too, and Kate can be see rounding the corner at the front of the gym.
We always look forward to lunch time, and most of the guys were happy to learn that since Nevada has a great climate for growing onions, we were having onion rings for lunch! Kevin helped us load up the Nina.
Speaking of "The Nina," we digress here, but for a great reason. The Nina is the namesake of Sam's grandmother, whom we lovingly call "Nina," and today is her birthday!!! She gave us the Nina a few years ago and we've been happily baking ever since! Nina lives in Arizona, and we haven't seen her in a long time. Happy Birthday to you, Nina!! We miss you and hope your birthday was wonderful!🎂🎈🥳
And now, back to Friday's lunch. Xavier did a great job emptying a few orange slices into each bowl!
Then, he helped Devin and Kevin divvy up the blueberries we had left after making our sandwiches. Great teamwork, guys!
Abraham was given a choice to help with lunch chores, or work on creating some colorful fall masterpieces for our walls. (He loves to color.) He chose coloring, and made us a few lovely pictures!
Our Friday gals, Alexis and Kate, put together our sandwiches. Carol was standing by to man the griddle as flipping the sandwiches without losing the blueberries can be a bit tricky!
It's a simple, but oh-so-tasty recipe: any kind of cheese you like (we used medium cheddar this time), about 8-10 blueberries, a few thin slices of Fuji apple, and honey! On the plate is the gluten and dairy-free sandwich we made for Xavier: peanut butter with blueberries and apples on a gluten-free sub roll! Try either...you will love them!
Tracy (from Parks & Rec) loved the grilled cheese! She stopped by to see how things are going with our reopening, so we included her for lunch. We told her things are great and we're happy to be back! Thanks again, JCC Parks & Recreation, for partnering with The Arc of GW on the use of the space at AFCC!
After lunch we worked on Nevada map skills, practiced yoga, and made cute owl decorations out of toilet paper rolls! Here's the Thursday / Friday group shot for this week. They only removed their masks for a few seconds, so we could see their smiles!
It's still a work in progress, but doesn't our wall look great so far?!
We had a great week! Fall officially arrives on Tuesday, and that's when we'll be back for another fun week at the AoA. Our agenda is below.
Everyone have a great weekend,
Lisa, Carol, Nan, and the AoA Gang
Tuesday / Thursday: We'll Zoom with our friends at home this week. Tuesday's topic is "Elephant Appreciation Day" and Thursday's is Disney Song Bingo. (Make sure you have your cards ready, and some items to use for markers, if you're playing from home.) We'll also have fun celebrating "Talk Like a Pirate Day" (feel free to wear pirate gear) and welcome autumn with a lesson on the autumnal equinox. Lunch on your own.
Wednesday / Friday: National Punctuation Day is on the 24th, so we will work on writing/editing skills during our continuing education time. (It will be fun!) We'll also study the 37th state, Nebraska, known as the Cornhusker State. We'll try our hand at making popcorn balls to honor Nebraska! For lunch, we will make a broccoli noodle casserole with a side salad (thanks to Kate's mom for the casserole recipe!) . We'll enjoy yoga, too, so dress to stretch!
SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: The Arc of Abilities would like to invite those who who have registered for the Virtual 5k to join us on Monday, September 28 at 11:00 a.m. for a Fun Mile walk at the WISC Complex, followed by lunch at the picnic area! Lace up your sneakers and bring a bag lunch and your masks! We will walk and sit at the tables socially distanced so as not to have to wear the masks constantly, but we should always have them with us. Meet at the baseball field parking lot, which is the first parking lot in the WISC Complex (entering from Longhill Rd). Let Lisa know if you plan to join us! Come on AoA! Let's do this!
If you still need to register, here's the link!
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