Our first full week of spring arrived this week, and with it, some pretty nice weather...well, except for that very rainy Wednesday! We spent lots of time outside, and hope the pollen won't get so unbearable that we can't be outdoors as often as we'd like. We see signs of trees budding, flowers growing, and lots of bird and squirrel activity, so spring has definitely sprung. We had a little spring in our step this week! Here's some of what we were up to...
Tuesday
After the pesky squirrels got into our newly growing sugar snap peas, we decided to take Pam's advice and sprinkle cayenne pepper around the pot! We checked with our master gardener, Linda, who said she has also heard that it might work, so we're giving it a try. (We also planted a few more seeds in the pot.) Liz sprinkled cautiously, making sure to keep it off of herself and onto the soil. Next, we waited...
FRIDAY UPDATE: It appears the squirrels are leaving our peas in peace! Several of the seeds have already sprouted above the ground, too! Fingers crossed we still have them when next we check on Tuesday!
We had a special guest for Zoom today: Wisteria, from the Mariners' Museum! You can tell by our smiling faces that we were happy to spend time with her again!
Wisteria presented a captivating lesson on Women's History Month for us. She had lots of neat stories to tell about how women impact the world!
Wisteria told us that the woman on this slide, Amelia Edwards, was a 19th century explorer and was really interested in Egypt, so she became an expert, which made her an egyptologist. The small statue beside her picture is from Egypt, and it's the oldest artifact currently at the Mariners' Museum!
We learned that there were women lighthouse keepers, too! That kind of surprised us. The woman feeding the turkeys in this picture was Fannie Mae, and she was the lightkeeper for the Turkey Point Lighthouse at the head of the Chesapeake Bay in northeast Maryland. It's open to the public and you can visit, during non-pandemic times!
Women served an important role during WWI and WWII. When men had to leave the country to serve overseas, women stepped up to take jobs in factories and at places like shipyards. Prior to that time, it was unusual for women to work outside of the home.
Wisteria told us that women play an important role on the water, too, as watermen, which is the term for all people who work on the water. We even learned how to tell male and female crabs apart! If the apron is more pointed, kind of like the Washington Monument, it's a male. If the apron is more rounded, like the dome on the Capitol Building, it's a female! Now we know!
Finally, Wisteria, who is seen here in the top picture, told us that one of the museum's photographers, Amanda (on the left), loves to take pictures, and create photo art. The picture on the right was created by Amanda. It's Wisteria's silhouette, superimposed over a map. How cool is that?! We thank you, Wisteria, for spending time with us today and sharing stories of some of the women represented in the pieces at the Mariners' Museum. We also enjoy hanging out with you. And we love the artsy piece Amanda created. What a nice way to celebrate you, one of our favorite women!
Later in the day we worked on Eaton jobs. Nancy and Patrick were counting new parts, making sure to get 6 in each small plastic bag, which were then passed to the next station. (Sam did this too, but he was away from his table when we snapped this pic.)
Alexis and Liz added 12 screws to each bag. All of these guys needed to focus so the correct number of parts would be in each bag.
At this station, Lilly worked with Kevin and Cameron to assemble photo cell plates. Since the wired pieces can easily go in backwards, these guys have to concentrate as well!
After Eaton, we went outside for the second time today, and took a nice walk around the campus. There was a warm breeze and it felt great to stretch our legs after being seated for the Eaton work.
Our "best-dressed" award for today goes to this handsome dude, Sam, who is proud (and relieved) to be fully vaccinated against Covid-19! We're so happy for you, Sam, and love your t-shirt!
Wednesday
It was rainy and dark today, so that meant it was a good day to turn on the disco light ball! Nancy and Sam were dancing the morning away, when suddenly, the light bulb in the ball went out! That's ok. We first got this fun disco ball as a gift from Sam's family for our 2nd anniversary in 2018, and it's been used a lot since then! We'll replace the bulb and get back to boogie-ing down by the next rainy day!
We celebrated Cheesesteak Day (24th) with homemade sandwiches for lunch. We didn't get to make our cheesesteak skewers due to a problem with getting the right kind of bread, but our sandwiches (on hot dog buns) were still great! We also celebrated Spinach Day (26th) by making a pasta side salad loaded with that nutrious leafy vegetable. Alexis, Lexi, and Kevin used our mini-food processor to whip up a yummy dressing that included fresh basil!
So tasty! Happy National Spinach Day!
Our celebratory day continued with Puppy Day (23rd)! EVERYONE had stories to share about their pups, who are all "dogs" except Liz's Nelly, but we aren't a stickler for the rules when it comes to our furry friends. Kevin shared memories of his beloved Bailey and showed us this beautiful blanket covered with her pictures. 🐕 💙
Nancy shared an adorable "Itty Bitty Scooby Doo" stuffed pup AND she was adorable in her puppy paw print and bones socks! Nancy is a cat girl, and Molly is her kitty, but we loved her good spirit on Puppy Day!
How blessed we were today when Liz and her family gave us an oversized toaster oven! They wanted to give us a gift for our 5th anniversary, and we appreciate their thoughtfulness. 💗 This oven is wide and deep, and will easily accomodate larger pans. It will complement our use of the Nina very nicely! The top burner element in our other toaster oven died recently, so this is a timely gift. Thank you, Liz and family, for thinking of us. We cherish it, and we cherish you, too! We will cook up some delicious dishes in this wonderful oven!
It was fun to join Bette Faye for today's Arc Zoom at 2:00. Her special guest was our good friend, Christina, from the Art Museums of CW, who gave an informative presentation about clocks! She told us that one of the current exhibits at the museums is called "Keeping Time: Tall Case Clocks," and it sounds very interesting. Here's a link for more info, and we recommend you check out this exhibit and all the others at the Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg!
Part of Christina's lesson was having us wander around the center to count clocks. Including clocks on things like desktop telephones, computer screens, and the thermostats, we counted 11! Alexis and Carol even had watches on their wrists! Later, in Christina's slide show, we saw a picture of a tall case clock that belonged to King William and Queen Mary...yeah, that William and Mary! It was a great lesson and a great way to end our day. Thanks, as always, for a good and enlightening "time," Christina.
Thursday
Today's Zoom was all about National Scribble Day, which is on the 27th. Our Zoomies tuning in from home, and our Roomies at the AFCC, were kind of skeptical with "scribbles" for a topic, but we had a really fun time!
First, we danced to a song with a color in the title: "Yellow Submarine," by the Beatles! Most of our guys knew the chorus to this one, and our gang at the AFCC even sang along!
Next, we tuned in to You Tube for a read-aloud of a book called, I'm NOT Just a Scribble by Diane Alber. It's about Scribble, who never thought he was different until other "drawings" made him feel left out for looking different. He helps them learn to accept each other for who they are, and together, they create beautiful art! Click on the picture below for a link to the read-aloud! 📕
Next, everyone drew scribbles and used some nifty stickers to "bring them to life." Abraham and Lilly discussed which hat would look best on his scribble.
Our friends at home drew scribbles and brought them to life, too. Becky even drew a picture of what she looks like when she goes to the grocery store, in her mask and with her hair a little "messy." (But beautiful, as always!)
Laura's mom sent us this picture of her scribble masterpieces! What a lively bunch! Great job, Laura!
Here's a group shot our AFCC guys' creations! Aren't they fun?! Happy Scribble Day!
Later, we found Alexis helping Abraham make a bunny for another area of the room we were decorating. She had made one on Tuesday, so she offered to help Abraham today.
We played Spring Jeopardy with Lilly, and learned things like what "spring in your step" means, and that dairy lovers in Gloucester, England attempt to catch a runaway wheel of cheese to celebrate spring each year...continuing a 200 year tradition!
At the end of the day we had some extra time, so Kate shared an episode of Carpool Karaoke, in which James Corden rides along with Selena Gomez, whose music our guys really like! Everyone enjoyed this funny end to the day. Thanks, Kate for the idea to watch this!
Friday
We made birdhouses out of dried gourds with our master gardener friends in 2019-20 (It takes over a year for the process to be complete, to include drying out the gourds.) A few of our guys took theirs home in February last year, but several left them at the center. We were going to put them out last spring...and then the pandemic happened. We were finally able to put them out this year!
Kate, Abraham and Nan hung this bright green one on the bush outside our room.
Here, Devin and Michelle are placing a pink one toward the back of a strong branch.
Twinning! Kate is such a good friend that she let Alexis convince her to become a Duke basketball fan, during Duke's worst season in 25 years! 😮🏀 Here, they are sporting their identical masks and posing by the "Duke Blue" birdhouse Lexi painted!
We think our bird condo looks inviting! We hope the birds will agree. It's a busy place around the feeders when we aren't out there, so hopefully some will move in to be closer to free food...or to raise a new family!
We celebrated National Puppy Day, which is always a hit with our guys. Most of them shared stories about their pups, showed us pictures, and a few brought snuggly stuffed pups. Kate even brought a cute story, called Benjy's Dog House, which we enjoyed hearing Lisa read aloud!
Also, this group said "good-bye" to Lexi today. She's been helping out lately while her Parks & Rec schedule was lighter. But they need her back, so she'll only be able to join us for a few hours on Wednesdays starting next week. We'll miss her help AND her friendship! Hopefully, she'll be back from time to time!
We put our teamwork skills to good use and made spinach pasta salad, cheesesteak sandwiches, and sliced apples for lunch! It was a celebration of National Spinach Day (26th) and National Cheesesteak Day (24th), and it was tasty!!
As always, we are super thankful to have Eaton work, even though we can't return to work at their site just yet. We appreciate Jorie and James for finding tasks that we can do at AFCC, and working with Carol to get the work back and forth between us and them. Abraham and Xavier are in sync as Super Sorters! They were so proud of their work today!
Also proud of their work were Michelle, Alexis, Kate, and Devin! They worked at their tables on counting parts/stuffing small bags and unpacking other parts.
After our Eaton work was done, we cleared away the tables and chairs, and got set up for end of the week yoga. We always like to send our guys home at peace, and relaxed, after a busy week!
We're going to try be out and about next week, so we're hoping for nice weather. Days are a little wonky, since Tuesday and Friday look best for travel, so we'll list each day separately. Here's our plan for the week in which we will change the calendar to April AND welcome Annmarie back to the AFCC! (No foolin'!)
Tuesday: We will Zoom at 10, and our topic is pennies/money as we mark National One-Cent Day which comes up on April 1st. We'll learn some interesting facts about the penny! After Zoom, and weather-permitting, the AFCC gang will travel to Newport News Park for a signs of spring scavenger hunt and lunch. Please bring a bag lunch!
Wednesday: Our main tasks today will be finishing Eaton work that Friday's group started last week, studying our continent of the week, Africa, and preparing peanut butter and jelly sushi rolls and tater tots for lunch. We'll also make springtime greeting cards as a service project, and enjoy a spring-themed yoga session with Jaime, so dress to stretch.
Thursday: The HIGHLIGHT of today is we are welcoming Annmarie back to in-person participation!!! Yay!! She has had both vaccinations, and is ready to get back in the swing of things at the AoA! Since the weather forecast looks like it could be rainy, we'll stay at the center and Zoom at 10 for a lesson on spring and April Fool's Day! Have your copy of "Spring Surprises" poem handy. This group will also prepare peanut butter and jelly sushi rolls and tater tots for lunch.
Friday: We hope the weather will cooperate so we can visit Newport News Park today. Please bring a bag lunch! We will have time for springtime yoga with Jaime when we return, so dress to stretch, too!
Here's a fun upcoming event! It's the British Car Show and Silent Auction on Saturday, April 24th, at High Street across from Revolution Golf and Grille. The Arc is the benefactor of this fun event! It will be held from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. We'd love to see you at this fun, outdoor event!
Enjoy the weekend,
Lisa, Carol, Nan, and the AoA Gang
