We felt like we were prepared for the possiblity of getting stranded on a desert island because we watched Gilligan's Island last week, but alas, Captain Corey took us out on calm waters Tuesday and all went well! 😜 After a wonderful ride, he brought us back safely to the marina, and we went about the rest of our week! Being on the pontoon was just one of our highlights, in a water-related adventure week that found us navigating a Covid surge as we masked up again. Here's our week in review:
Tuesday
By Tuesday morning we had decided we would wear our masks indoors and on the vans for now, as a few of our AoA families were dealing with positive Covid cases. Luckily, none of our guys have tested positive yet, but we want to be extra-cautious. Thank you to our amazing AoA families for their conscientious support while we try to stay safe and Covid-free!
UPDATE beginning June 7 - Masks are now optional at the center and on the vans. Many of us still have family members/friends from whom we may have had exposure, with more cases being revealed almost daily, so we recommend masking for the time being. Transmission in James City Country remains at a medium level.
Tuesday also found us with just 9 members in attendance, due to traveling, appointments, quarantine, and of course, our Annmarie remaining hospitalized. We decided to go ahead with our cruise, since it was a gift from Captain Corey and had been booked well in advance. Here we are, each getting our own seat as it turned out! Captain Corey's pontoon, Jamestown Discovery, was very comfortable and we had a nice breeze, too!
It wasn't long before we saw wildlife! There were several blue herons along the marshes.
At the top of this cypress tree is an osprey with her (or his) wings spread over the babies to keep the sun off of them! We also saw an osprey dive for food. That was cool! There were cormorants, too, which are a type of seabird that are excellent divers. They were too fast for us to get a picture!
Over on Jamestowne Island a project is taking place to add more rocks to the shore to help prevent erosion. As Captain Corey explained, they have to "save the history!" Good idea!
We recognized these 3 ships, even though we've always seen them from the other side. It was interesting to see them up close like this and it helped us really see how small they were, as we remembered learning that so many colonists came over on them and spent most of their time below deck during the journey.
There was more than history, though! Captain Corey has a pretty good playlist and our guys were singing and dancing quite a bit! Go Kate and Abraham!!!
Thank you, Captain Corey and First Mate William, too. You made our outing a lot of fun and very memorable! We hope to visit you again sometime!!
Before leaving the marina we spotted Eaton pedestals! 👀
We help build these! 👏👏
It was getting warm by the time our cruise ended around 11:30, but Krafty Karen had emailed us this morning that there were radishes and sugar snap peas to harvest if we had a chance to get by the garden. We headed over to Freedom Park, found a bit of shade and ate lunch, and then made our way to the garden. Patrick, Laura, and Kate picked sugar snap peas and Erik came around from the other side where he had checked on the radishes.
Michelle and Alexis gathered a nice bunch of radishes. Karen sent us a recipe for "Quick Pickled Radishes" that we planned to make this afternoon. By now it was 12:30 and it was soooo hot. We loaded up the vans and headed back to the center. 🌞
We had Choice Time for a while when we returned to AFCC, and then got busy preparing the pickled radish recipe. Laura held the thinly sliced radishes while Abraham added apple cider vinegar to some water. He was also holding the honey, but that would come later.
Erik was ready to stir and Kate added honey. We also added salt and garlic. Once the mixture came to a boil, and the honey dissolved, we were ready to pour it over the radishes.
Alexis, Xavier, and Kevin said it smelled "funny" (vinegar + garlic overpowers honey)! We covered it nonetheles and put it in the fridge. It will be ready in 24 hours, but we aren't trying it until lunch on Thursday!
We ended the day with a check of our "pizza pot." Michelle reports that we have several chocolate sprinkle cherry tomatoes on the vines, and the basil and oregano are thriving! We hope the critters don't get our tomatoes before they ripen. We have big plans to make homemade pizza soon! 🍕🍕🍕 Thank you, master gardeners, for providing all these fun experiences for us!
Wednesday
It's June 1st! That means it's time to update our calendar. We got right to work with Sam gluing the daily activity descriptions to the calendar squares while Kate found online pictures to match them.
Kevin reset the calendar so the June dates would be in the right places. Later, he matched our activity squares to the correct dates. That's usually Drew's job, but Kevin had double duty today because Drew is out of town!
Laura and Abraham were rightfully proud of their contributions to the JUNE lettering. Abraham decorated the U and Laura handled the E. (Kevin also helped with the J and Sam did the N.) It looks very nice!
As they wrapped up their parts of the calendar assignment, the guys found engaging ways to keep busy while waiting for the others to finish. Xavier opted for a puzzle while Patrick scrolled though a "memory lane" blog post!
Alexis let her hair down and solved an online crossword puzzle!
Liz just returned from a wonderful family adventure to the great state of Michigan! Her father, Greg, has visited all 50 states, but her mother, Lise, and brother, Stephen, needed to visit Michigan to make it 50 for them. (Liz has a few more to go but she'll get them!) Congratulations on Lise and Stephen for making it to the 50 States Club! And many thanks to Liz for bringing us treats of chocolate fudge and little brownie bite cookies from the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island. It was very thoughtful of you and we loved them! We looked at her mom's travel blog, too, and now we ALL want to visit Michigan!
During Choice Time, Devin T. likes to listen to music with his buddy, Drew, on Drew's iPad. Drew is out of town for a few days this week, and Devin is missing the music! Liz very kindly got our little speaker out , turned on the AoA playlist she stores on her phone, and proceeded to play all of Devin's favorite songs! Thanks for making his day, Liz!
June 1 is National Say Something Nice Day! We celebrated by giving everyone a "certificate" on which we wrote 3 nice things their friends had to say about them!
Our guys love activities like this, and they come up with the most exact and perfect things to say about each other!
We ended our day with a phone call from Annmarie's mom, Teresa. We put the phone on speaker and everyone said "hi" to Annmarie and told her how much she is missed. Kevin said he "loves" her, which is true for all of us. She couldn't speak because of her ventilator, but Teresa said she blinked her eyes and nodded upon hearing our voices. Keep fighting, Girly! We know you can do it! Here are purple hearts of love (your favorite color) from all of us:
💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜
Thursday
Today's highlight was lunch! We made homemade pesto using the basil the master gardeners are helping us grow! Erik, Kevin, and Alexis picked from two plants until we had a bowlful of fresh leaves!
We had gathered all the ingredients we needed except the Parmesan cheese, but Kevin found it very quickly in the fridge!
Alexis slowly poured olive oil in while Erik hit the pulse button. It was like magic, and we had this beautiful pesto in seconds! We used MG Angela's recipe and it was easy peasy!
Laura helped Xavier blend some of the pesto (no Parmesan in his) into his gluten-free rice pasta. They tasted it and gave it a big thumbs up!
Meanwhile, Sam was busy grilling chicken tenders on our latest appliance addition, a round griddle that Nan and Gdad donated! Thanks, Nan and Gdad! We love that we can fit a lot at one time on this griddle, and the grill marks it made on our chicken were cool!
Abraham snipped the stems off the fresh sugar snap peas we picked at the garden on Tuesday. They added a great crunch to our lunch!
Liz was so tickled to work with Patrick and Devin to make brownies when she discovered that Patrick is great at measuring ingredients and Devin can crack eggs without getting shell pieces in the batter! (Soooo, what did you do, Liz?! LOL!)
Donovan says the secrets to a good chair workout are keeping your bottom near the edge of the seat, tightening the abdominal muscles throughout, and not forgetting to breathe. There is a lot of lifting arms and legs off the floor, so we think it's good for balance, too!
Finally, lunch time! Shoutout to our master gardeners: We incorporated Angela's Basil Pesto Pasta Salad and Karen's Pickled Radish recipes into today's meal, in addition to freshly picked sugar snap peas from the garden! Devin B. was the first to try the pickled radishes, and he said they were "different" and they "didn't taste like radishes." Several of the guys tried them, and all said they were OK, but a little "vinegary." Laura and Abraham actually asked for seconds!
Saturday is National Black Bear Day and boy, did we learn some cool things about them today! Did you know that black bears have a range that covers 40 U.S. states and every Canadian province? White tail deer are the only mammal that has a larger range! AND, Eastern North Carolina (not far from us!) has the world's largest black bears and highest black bear densities!! WOW! There is a Black Bear Festival on the first Saturday in June down in Plymouth, NC that sounds like fun! It's on June 4th this year, so it's too late to plan a trip, but there's always next year! Click on this picture for a link to the festival website.
We learned so many interesting facts about black bears that Lisa gave us a quiz. We were so proud of everyone who read the questions aloud and all the hands that went up to answer them!
Everyone got the same grade:
Friday
Today was all about 2 things: Donuts and Fishing at The Watermen's Museum! We also had a great picnic lunch in Yorktown and a relaxing fish-themed yoga session with Jaime, but all of our photos today are about donuts and fishing! It was such a terrific day!
Thank you to Liz and her family for treating us to Duck Donuts on National Donut Day! What a special treat that we enjoyed very much. So many choices, and every one was delicious!!
We'll slip in one picture that's not donut or fishing related. Perched on the tomato cage is 1 of at least 3 hummingbirds we've been watching this week! We might even have 4...next week we hope to be more observant of their features so we'll know for sure how many are visiting our feeder. We have lots of other birds visiting the seed feeders, too. The birdies are back! 🐦
Now, on to our Free Fishing Days in Virginia (June 3-5) adventure with Mike at The Watermen's Museum, and his friends from the National Park Service. We met on a breezy and beautiful morning...the recent hot/humid conditions forgot to come! It was a perfect day to learn how to fish. But first, Mike told us about the Captain John Smith Water Trail, which spans 3,000 miles of waterways along the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries. Between 1607 and 1609, Smith and his crew mapped the area. We love a great trail, but we would need paddles and boats to explore this one! Read more about it at this link: Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail
Mike also told us how the Powhatan Indians used to fish by using fish hooks made from bone, since they did not have access to metal. We learned that the best and strongest animal bone they used for a fish hook was a deer's toe bone! It has a nature curve and makes a perfect hook! Here, Ashley from the NPS is showing us some examples.
The Powhatans fished with hooks and spears, but when they needed to catch a lot of fish, they would weave a large net. Some of us worked with Ashley and Remi on this net that's being made at the museum.
Mike and Greg (Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources), took the first group out to the pier for a fishing lesson. Here, Patrick, Drew (behind Abraham), Alexis, and Greg were admiring a little croaker that Abraham caught right away!
Abraham is a fish whisperer! Not long after reeling in the first fish, he caught another! His friends were so excited, and if you watch closely, you'll see Drew make the announcement that it was Abraham's second fish!
Devin B. was excited to hold Abraham's fish! He was very happy for his friend's good fortune.
While one group was fishing, the others were making fish prints. The first step, as Ashley explained, was to fill the sponge roller with paint, like Michelle is doing here, while Sam looks on.
Step two was to brush paint in a thin layer over the fish. In our case, we were using rubber fish. 😊 Remi told us that fish printing began when Japanese fishermen wanted to document how big their fish were. The would make ink prints of the fish before selling them. Over time, fish printing became an art form.
Devin T. demonstrates step three, which is to cover the fish with paper and gently press and rub your fingers over the paper, making sure to press the paper down thoroughly to pick up all the paint.
Step 4 is to show off our masterpieces! Aren't they great?!
Here are a few more pictures and videos from the pier. There was so much excitement down there, we couldn't stop snapping the camera!
Alexis felt a tug and NPS friend Kalen came to help, but this was one that got away!
Drew fished for about 12 seconds. He was much happier walking up and down the pier cheering for his friends! An important job, Drew!
Whoa! Is that a submarine?! Mike says they don't see these pass by very often at the Watermen's Museum. It was huge and had probably just been loaded up with weapons since Naval Weapons Station Yorktown is nearby. We wondered where it is headed?!
Speaking of big, Laura caught the biggest fish of the day! Mike couldn't convince her or Patrick to touch it, though!
Michelle was happy to catch a fish and Greg couldn't contain his excitement for her!
Then she was surprised to catch a couple of crabs!
Xavier was pretty patient, but even with Greg's help, he couldn't get a bite. He was still all smiles! We were proud of him for sticking with it for several minutes. 👏👏
Our "Queen Elizabeth" caught this beauty using a princess reel!
Kevin is an experienced fisherman and it showed. He was happy with his catch of the day! Erik had his line in the water and was being very, very patient.
Erik's patience paid off when he reeled in a beautiful, and good sized, croaker!
Look at the joy on Devin T.'s face as he caught a fish! Liz was happy for him, and Mike almost shed a tear! What a perfect day we had fishing at the York River. We returned all of the fish to their home in the river, by the way. Thank you, Mike, and all of the volunteers from DWR and NPS, for giving us this incredible experience. We made some great memories today!
What a week! Next week will be fun and we'll be busy, but it won't have quite the quality of excitment as we had this week with our water adventures of cruising and fishing! Here are our plans:
***Masks are now optional at the center and on the vans. Many of us still have family members/friends from whom we may have had exposure, with more cases being revealed almost daily, so we recommend masking for the time being. Transmission in James City Country remains at a medium level.***
Tuesday: We're bowling today! Wear your Arc shirts and we'll have pizza and fruit for lunch. After bowling we will return to the center where we have some correspondence to work on! We will also be happy to welcome Adia to our group today! 👋
Wednesday: It's an Eaton Work Day! The air conditioning at Eaton is still on the fritz so we will take the vans over there and load up with work to bring back to AFCC. We will also make a special card for Annmarie today. Lunch on your own, but the JRES Cafeteria is available and the choices are Cheeseburger or Hot Dog.
Thursday: Today is National Donald Duck Day and that gives us an excuse to do Disney-ish activities. We'll have fun watching Donald clips, play Disney board games, and celebrate National Movie Night (which is tomorrow) by watching a Disney classic, Swiss Family Robinson, which also goes along with our recent water-related activities. (The gang likes Gilligan's Island so much, we think they may enjoy Swiss Family Robinson, too.) Lunch on your own. Today is the last day of school, so it's the last day the JRES Cafeteria will be available until school begins again in August. Today's menu is Domino's Pizza or Special of the Day.
Friday: We'll send a crew to Pet Supplies Plus today, so everyone please wear your PSP shirts. The Cooking Crew will have the day off because Kate's friend from Colombia, Sandra, is bringing us a home-cooked Colombian meal for lunch again! She had so much fun being with us for Kate's birthday in April, that she wants to come back, with her pork and rice, and we believe she's bringing plantains this time! Thank you, Sandra. This will be so much fun, and it's very thoughtful of you! We'll have yoga today too, so dress to stretch!
💜💜💜 Thank you, everyone, for your thoughts, prayers, and love for our friend, Annmarie. She's feeling well enough to listen to music and watch things on her iPad for small bits of time. Hang in there, Shortcake...you can do it! 💜💜💜
Remember to SAVE these UPCOMING DATES!
August 6 - Royal New Kent Golf Club - WOTM's 7th Annual Charity Golf Tournament - Contact Lisa for more info about sponsorships or registering to play!
October 1, 2022 - 13th Annual Williamsburg Landing 5k Run/Walk for The Arc - Registration coming soon!
Have a great weekend,
Lisa, Carol, Nan, and the AoA Gang
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