This week was full of highlights, but if we had to pick one, it would have to be Bette Faye's Retirement Party at the AoA on Thursday! What a great time we had wishing her well, even as we recognized the bittersweetness of the moment. We also had a royal good time with Christina at the Art Museums on Tuesday, a cuddly good time with the therapy dogs on Wednesday, and a grateful moment with Patti and our WOTM friends on Wednesday evening. We squeezed in a great work session at Pet Supplies Plus, too! So much to share this week, and A LOT OF PHOTOS. (We love to see ourselves in the blog!!) Check it out...
Tuesday
We welcomed Carol back on Tuesday morning and asked her to tell us about her trip to Minnesota, where she ended up visiting with 2 of her 4 brothers and their wives. She said they enjoyed their time together, visiting the city of Alexandria, the headwaters of the Mississippi River, and also hanging out at her brother Bruce's lake house. It was there that Carol introduced them to our favorite recipe, Blueberry Grilled Cheese Sandwiches! Here's a screenshot from the video she sent us.
Kevin and Liz got a kick out of hearing Carol's family say they were enjoying the blueberry grilled cheese sandwiches, and also telling us that Carol was relaxing and having a great time. Yay! That's what we were hoping for her! Of course, we're glad she's back now!
During our time outside, some of us went over to the big field where we wentre for a group photo op last week. We were looking for one of our hula hoops that got left behind, but we didn't find it!
No one was shooting hoops today, but Devin T and Laura bounced the basketball to each other. That's a basketball drill, right?!
We were happy to see a lot of walkers today!
Perhaps they are gearing up for the 5k on October 1st!
Back inside, we got to work on more festive decorations for Bette Faye's party. It's going to look so pretty in our room on Thursday! Thanks, Everyone, for all you're doing to make Thursday special!
After lunch we joined Christina at The Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg for an interesting lesson about items in the galleries that could be connected to the kings and queens of England! This was kind of a tribute lesson to the late Queen Elizabeth II, and we enjoyed seeing objects and hearing cool stories about past monarchs.
We saw portraits of Queen Anne and her son, the young Duke of Gloucester. Below is a portrait of Queen Anne. She was Queen Mary's sister, of King William and Queen Mary fame...as in our beloved local institution of higher learning! Her son, the Duke of Gloucester, died at the age of 11, but is connected to CW as the namesake of Duke of Gloucester Street!
We also saw a silver communion chalice and plate that King George III sent for use at Bruton Parish Church. They are on loan to the museums from the church, and on occasion, are sent back to the church where they are still used today! (We forgot to get a picture after hearing this interesting story!)
In this photo, Christina was telling us that the portrait over her right shoulder is Queen Elizabeth I, and it is well over 400 years old! The grandfather clock was built for King William, after Queen Mary died, but it was so loud that he couldn't sleep so he got rid of it! The last object we saw, but don't have a good picture of, is a large jewelry box in the case to the left. Queen Elizabeth II gave it to us when she visited Jamestown in 1957!
Inspired by all of the "stuff" of kings and queens that we saw, Christina gave us free "reign" to be creative and design our own crowns! She made a comment that it was one of the "most creative" days she's ever seen with us!
Some went traditional, while others personalized their crowns. All were unique, and it was so much fun watching everyone create!
Christina loved Michelle's in particular, because Michelle drew a cat wearing a crown. Christina is a serious cat lady!! What a great afternoon at the museums!
Wednesday
The therapy dogs came today! We were thrilled to welcome six adorable dogs and their friendly handlers to hang out with us this morning. Before we split into groups, handler Carol (#2) gave us an informative overview of the difference between service (working) dogs, and therapy dogs. Her black lab, Darby, started in service dog school, which takes two years, but it was decided that Darby could serve more folks if she became a therapy dog, instead, AND became a mom to future service dogs. Darby had 21 pups over the course of 3 litters, and many of her pups went on to become service dogs, while Darby stucky with therapy. We're proud that she was able to help produce additional service dogs, but very happy that she became a therapy dog and we got to meet her!
Annmarie and Devin B read with Ava and Gunther. Gunther is a cockapoo.
Lena and her Australian sheppard mix, Marlo, enjoyed hearing Sam, Kevin, and Erik read their chosen books.
Patrick, Michelle, and Laura read with a new handler named Carol #2 and her pup Darby, the black Lab. (By the way, we call our new handler friend Carol #2 because we have another handler friend named Carol that we met last time!)
Another new handler and dog we met today were Kent and Leo, the Chow Chow. Abraham and Liz read with them.
Here's the first Carol that we met last month, and her golden doodle, Casey, under the table...his favorite place! Kate, Xavier, and Adia read with them.
Caroline returned today with her black Lab, Pip, who was a very good listener with Alexis, Devin T, and Drew.
After reading with our dog friends, we switched groups and played card games and Bingo with them. It was a wonderful morning that put a lot of smiles on our faces! Our partnership with the therapy dogs and handlers is special. We are already looking forward to next month's visit!
After our reading time, we took a movement break. We danced to a "Boy Band" mix on the Go Noodle site. It got our hearts pumping, too!
We had one more crafty thing to make for our fall decorations, and it was a squirrel. Alexis found a cute video clip about a squirrel named Peanut and his "human dad," Mark, that we watched. It had us giggling at Peanut's many antics! You can click on the picture if you'd like to see a video of Mark and Peanut!
Here are our cute squirrels!
Here's our Fall Wall. Can you spot the squirrels?!
September 21 is National Chai Day, so we learned that Chai is a type of tea that orignated in India and has gained popularity worldwide in recent years. We watch a cool video of a street vendor in India making Chai, and watched him grind fresh spices including black pepper, cardamom, ginger, cinnamon, and cloves which he added to hot milk and black tea. We used a store bought chai concentrate, which we mixed with almond milk, and made iced chai lattes.
We also made a pumpkin spice flavored "cold foam" to go on top of our iced lattes, which was from a "copycat" Starbucks recipe. Liz helped whip it up for us. Our intern from a couple of years ago, Lilly, introduced this tasty drink with the pumpkin cold foam to Lisa, who was excited to have a reason to share it with us! (Yes, we made wayyyyyy too much cold foam. If we celebrate Chai Day next year, we'll remember to cut the ingredients back a bit lot!)
This was a treat that our friend Devin T could enjoy with us, as he eats a soft/liquid diet. His friends were so happy that he liked the chai latte! (This was him tasting the pumpkin cold foam.)
Abraham and Laura toasted each other and then gave our iced chai lattes a thumbs up!
Later, we found a few friends hanging out around our fall tree, chatting over their iced chai!
On Wednesday evening a group of us met at the Williamsburg Moose Lodge where Patti and many of our WOTM friends presented us with a generous donation from the proceeds of the golf tournament they sponsored in August.
Most of us were not able to volunteer at this year's tournament due to our AoA outbreak of Covid. We missed being there, but were so thankful that Patrick and his mom, Sue, could join Pam in representing The Arc and The Arc of Abilities. Shown here with Sue, Patrick, and Pam are Shelly, Patti, Denise, and Abigail (representing her mom, Alexa), who form the core of Patti's tournament team. By the way, when the WOTM first began supporting us, Abigail had just been born! Now she's a joyful first grader at Mataoka Elementary, who loves seeing us every chance she gets!
💙💚💛💜 Thank you, from the bottom of our hearts, Patti, Shelly, Denise, Alexa, Abigail, many other hard-working WOTM ladies, and ALL of the Williamsburg Moose Lodge members who help Patti with the tournament and who continue to support The Arc of GW during non-tournament times as well. We are grateful for your dedication to our organization, and we are also grateful for your love and friendship! Thanks also to the AoA families who came tonight in support of Patti and the WOTM! We are such an amazing team!! 💙💚💛💜
Thursday
Our morning began with "business as usual." We sent a crew to Pet Supplies Plus for a work shift (on our new PSP Day, Thursday), and the rest of the gang worked on lunch preparations. Only today, we didn't have to do the cooking! Instead, there was party prep to be accomplished, and our crew came through.
Here's a before picture of us doing some last minute coloring because we have so many spaces we wanted to decorate.
Here's an after picture of everything set up; we were just waiting for the PSP Crew and our guests to arrive. And the food... 👀
Meanwhile, also working hard at PSP, Alexis, Michelle, and Laura folded towels today!
Nice job, ladies!
Here's a close-up!
But back to Bette Faye Day. 👸 We gave her a wonderful retirement party! 🎉
Bette Faye has been with The Arc of Greater Williamsburg for 17 years! She is affectionately known as "The Heart of The Arc," and that she is. 💖 We have her to thank for the many wonderful relationships we have with community partners, including the sports teams at William and Mary, that lead to so many enriching and engaging activities for our Arc members!
It was delightful to see our AoA members socializing with our guests. Usually, our lunch breaks are on the quiet side, but today, our room was filled with lively chatter. So much fun!
Here are Kellie and Anna with Bette Faye. Pam was a little later to arrive because she was teaching a class to our community's first responders on best practices for communicating with individuals who may process the world around them differently. We were afraid we would forget to get a picture with her, and we did. 😒 Oh, snap! Good thing we got her in the pics from last night's event at the Moose Lodge! (We're sorry about today, Pam.)
This is a beautiful, and very soft, throw we gave Bette Faye as a retirement gift. The sentiment written on it is truly descriptive of Bette Faye. She has made an immeasurable difference in the lives of Arc members and their families, as well as all of us who have worked with her and become her dear friends. She may have shed a happy tear at this moment! 💗
Our very own Liz made a precious memory book for Bette Faye! Liz scoured social media and our blog to find pictures of Bette Faye with Arc members throughout the years. She added them to colorful pages, along with some beautiful clip art, and created a memento Bette Faye will cherish. We're so proud of your thoughtfulness, and talent, Liz!
We 💙💚💛💜 you Bette Faye! You have a standing invitation to visit with us after you get settled into retirement life. That is, if you have any spare time! Enjoy your family, friends, and beach time!
Friday
We enjoyed a quieter day today, after all the fun and excitement we had earlier in the week. After our dance warm up, we settled in with popcorn to watch a movie, We Bought a Zoo. Despite it having a bit of "coarse language," we really liked it. It was based on the true story of a dad and his kids who bought a zoo that needed to be renovated and brought up to code before it could be reopened. We took an intermission for a brisk walk outside, and finished the movie just before lunch.
We realized after lunch that we hadn't taken any pictures since this morning when we were watching the movie! So, here are some pics we snapped during Choice Time. Laura, Devin B, and Sam like to play matching games. We think they play by a unique set of "rules," but it works for them and they enjoy each other's company!
Eric chose coloring today, while Liz listened to a show on her iPad and Kevin worked a Disney puzzle.
Drew brings a small iPad on which he has loaded all kinds of fun and silly music. Today, he, Devin T, and Abraham danced "The Hokey Pokey!"
Later, we finished our read aloud, Mystery on Church Hill, most of which took place in Colonial Williamsburg. It was a fun mystery about kids who discover a rough draft of the Declaration of Independence on the property of George Wythe in CW. Part of it takes place inside the George Wythe House. We told Christina about it, and she arranged for us to meet Mr. Wythe and get a tour of his house next month! Wow! We will be sure not to tell him that we know about his demise from poisoning...
We planned to join Jaime for a new yoga episode based on a book written by none other than Sir Paul McCartney himself! It's about what he calls "chillers" (children) and their "Grandude" (grandfather). He got the idea to write it when one of his grandchildren called him "Grandude," and he liked the name! Now, Jaime has a yoga episode based on it, but...it wasn't meant to be for us today!
Just as we finished watching Paul's video clip about his book, an announcement was made that we had to have a lockdown drill! Off to the girls' locker room we went.
After about 10 minutes we were able to return to our room, but by then, we only had time for a Peace Out segment, which is when Jaime gets us completely relaxed. It's how we like to end our week! We'll catch Sir Paul another time!
After all this, we have to say what a fabulous week it was, even if it ended kind of abruptly! Next week will be here in a few days. Here's what we have planned:
Tuesday: We will see our master gardener friends today for a lesson on birds in the winter. We'll have a review of herbs (what do we remember?!) and also check the progress of our sweet potatoes, and see how the seeds Karen and Barb planted are coming. After that, we'll have lunch and then go to the Rec Center on Longhill to use the playground and take a walk. The weather is forecast to be gorgeous! Wear Arc shirts and bring a bagged lunch.
Wednesday: We have another outing planned for today. We're going to The Mariners' Museum to see the film Expedition Chesapeake, A Journey of Discovery. We tried to do this over the summer, but the theater was having technical difficulties. Fingers are crossed for good luck today! We'll also picnic on the grounds of the museum (the Mariners Cafe is closed for renovations) and enjoy a walk on the Noland Trail. Will we see any signs of fall? Arc shirts are optional. Bring a bagged lunch and $5 for the movie.
Thursday: Welcome Lisa and Tom Palmer as our substitutes for Lisa and Nan today! Thank you, Palmers!!! We have a fun day planned that will include making cards for Custodian Recognition Day, cooking, and Bingo! Pasta with red sauce, side salads, and no-bake cookies for lunch!
Friday: Welcome Lise Kline as our substitute today! Thank you, Lise!!! We'll have another fun day that will include updating the October calendar, a belated Johnny Appleseed Day celebration, cooking, and yoga! Breakfast for lunch: pancakes, sausage, and Carol's "famous" fried apples! Dress to stretch for yoga, too.
BLOG UPDATE:
The Arc of Abilities blog is going on hiatus while Lisa takes a vacation over the next couple of weeks. She, Nan, and Alexis will be traveling to New England on Thursday next week through October 9. The next regular blog update will be for the week of October 11, and will be published on October 15. (If time permits, we may post a special edition of the blog sometime around October 13 or 14 of adventures enjoyed while Lisa was traveling, since she is leaving the camera with us. We will have to help her fill in the narrative for pictures we take in her absence!)
Families - You will receive email next Wednesday with information about travel and lunches for the time Lisa is absent. Many thanks to Lisa and Tom Palmer (Laura's parents), Lise Kline (Liz's mom), and Tracy and Karryna from Parks & Rec for being our substitutes while Lisa and Nan are gone! 🙏🙏🙏
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REMINDER! We're excited to see lots of you at the 5k on Saturday, October 1! Thanks for signing up, and especially for being there for Bette Faye's last "official" Arc event! Carol and Moose Patti will be there to gather all of you and represent the Arc of Abilities, so be looking for them! Remember, Lisa, Nan, and Alexis will be participating virtually, as we take our walk in Newport, RI! Have fun and thanks for your continued support!!
Don't forget to join Drew in the Winner's Circle and get your medals! 🥇🥇🥇
Have a great weekend! Happy Fall to everyone!
Lisa, Carol, Nan, and the AoA Gang
