This week we enjoyed an abundance of sunshine and much milder than average temperatures for February! It makes us a little nervous to think about what March may bring, but we will take days like we had this week any time! It was a perfect week to visit Christina at the Art Museums of CW, enjoy a picnic, begin a new volunteer opportunity, work at Eaton, and, most special of all, welcome our master gardener friends for an appreciation luncheon. Here's a recap of our beautiful week!
Tuesday
We arrived at the Art Museums a little early, so while we were waiting for Christina to join us, Annmarie grabbed a group hug with Drew and Sweet T!
Seems Christina thought a group hug would be a good idea, too!
Christina chose three "quilty" objects to talk about today, all by Black artists/artisans. The first was this quilt, hand stitched by Susana Allan Hunter, who was a member of what became a renowned quilting community known as Gee's Bend, Alabama. Susana used whatever materials she could get her hands on, and followed no "quilting" rules. She made over 100 quilts in the mid-twentieth century.
This painting by Bernice Sims depicts a family gathered around the porch at "Big Daddy's" house, and there are quilts hanging on the clothes line. This painting is part of the recently opened exhibit on works by Black American artists and artisans.
Another beautiful quilt on display is this one by Arlonzia Pettway, also from the Gee's Bend community. She was known for her innovative use of colors, and in person, this quilt is colorful and very beautiful!
Christina was inspired to talk about quilts today because she was recently "cleaning out some clutter" and she came across colorful scraps of cloth and a bunch of burlap-covered blocks that she thought we could turn into quilt-art! Kate, Drew, Alexis, and Dev B are seen concentrating on arranging the cloth scraps in their own creative way...no need to follow any "rules."
We had to leave our pretty designs with Christina so the "tacky" glue we used could dry. She said she will be "thrilled" to deliver them to us in person one day soon! Thank you, Christina, and you're welcome to visit anytime!
It was such a gorgeous day that we went to Bicentennial Park, which is behind the museums, for a walk after our visit with Christina. There were a lot of daffodils in bloom, and many buds on the trees!
After our walk, we made the short drive over to the picnic area at the CW Visitor Center. We enjoyed a relaxing picnic lunch with friends, in the middle of February!
Back at AFCC, we caught up with Heike and got to sing "Happy Birthday" and give her some homemade goodies. We made an extra casserole on Friday, which was her birthday, and kept it in the freezer. Carol baked a fresh apple crisp this morning. Heike had taken a day off on her birthday, but she was pleased and grateful that we remembered her day!
Here's a closeup of her birthday board. Isn't it pretty?!
This morning we hung suet for the birds. It was the first time we have done this, and by the end of the day, we saw Mr. Woodpecker helping himself!
Something else we did today, was create a thank you / Mardi Gras necklace for Patti! Lisa and Alexis dropped it off at her house, and she loved it! She sent us this picture, so we had to include it in our blog! Thanks again for the special time last week, Patti! We'll remember it for a long time!
Wednesday
We had a wonderful day, even though Trader Joe's had to reschedule the tour that 1/2 of our gang was planning to take this morning. Turns out, they had a glitch with a delivery truck's arrival, and it would have been in our way! So, today's TJ group will visit the store next Wednesday, instead.
Our library crew went to work first thing. Laura, Michelle, and Alexis got the job done today!
Our group that was planning to go to Trader Joe's ended up working on decorations for tomorrow's luncheon with the master gardeners. They were so busy, no pictures got taken, but they did a lot of work!
Meanwhile, our first group to volunteer at Grove Christian Outreach Center (GCOC) did a lot of work, too! We took 1/2 of our crew and worked for an hour and a half. Our first task was one of our specialities: assembly line!
We filled about 100 bags with canned goods and the other volunteers at Grove took notice of our efficiency and work ethic!
The crew's next job was to put two rolls of toilet tissue into bags. This took a bit more dexterity to fit the rolls side by side, but we figured it out!
The Grove staff and other volunteers were surprised to see how we unload a big tub of things! If you've seen some of our pictures from Eaton work days, you know that Sam is always willing to climb in and help get the things from the bottom that we can't reach! This tub was filled with a variety of different items that had been donated.
Not only did we empty the items from the tub, we sorted them, too. There were books, toys, kitchen items, school supplies, and more. All of our vocational training at Eaton helped prepare us for this work, and the folks at GCOC were impressed!
Can you believe they asked if we could help put tables away?! To quote Sam, for us, this is a "piece of cake." (We explained that we put up and take down our tables every day!) We did a great job at GCOC and they are looking forward to meeting the other half of our crew in March. We're very proud of our work today and look forward to our partnership with Grove Christian Outreach Center!
Tomorrow we will host our master gardener friends for a luncheon, so today, in addition to making decorations, we also prepared a presentation. We're going to use the letters in GARDEN to share our appreciation. We worked together to brainstorm compliments such as "G is for great people who grow great things."
As if we had not done enough today, we also made lovely birthday cards for The Arc's Executive Director, Pam. Her birthday is Friday, but she is out of town, so we won't be able to have a party for her. (Oh, snap!)
Pam will be surprised, though. Lisa and Carol stopped by her office and hung the cards so she will be welcomed back next week with lots of beautiful sentiments from her pals at the Arc of Abilities!
Side note: We would like to thank Krafty Karen for donating the pretty background paper we have used to make birthday cards this week!
Getting ready for a special event always takes all hands on deck. This morning, before we got down to work, we snagged a video of our guys during the dance warm up. They were in great moods today!
Next thing we knew, the food was ready and our room looked as colorful as a spring garden! We were ready to greet our visitors, the master gardeners!
When Rick arrived, Adia and Kate pointed out the beautiful bulb pot we planted at our final fall session with the master gardeners last October. It's been so pretty with the colorful pansies all winter, and now the bulbs are starting to bloom, specifically hyacinths!
Michelle caught the cameraperson trying to get a shot of her chatting with Krafty Karen and Rick!
These are the fresh flowers Karen brought us from her yard, along with our cookies decorated with butterflies and flowers. Together, they made a perfect centerpiece for our serving table.
Before we ate, Karen went over an assignment she brought for us to work on next week! It's about the regions of Virginia, and the agricultural products that come from them. The timing is perfect, as we are up to state #10 in our study, and it happens to be Virginia! Thanks, Karen. We will complete the assignment next week, and get smarter when we do it. You'll be proud of us!
Today's lunch was baked ziti with garlic bread and a side salad (with blueberries 😋) and it was very tasty!
After enjoying our pretty cookies for dessert, we had a group share the compliments we wrote for the master gardeners yesterday. They did a wonderful job!
We managed to get a picture with all of us and the master gardeners! Well, all but one. Rich always takes pictures for the MGs, and he was behind the camera for this one. Thanks, Rich. We are happy you came today, and you always take pictures that capture our joy at hanging out with all of the master gardeners!
Later, MG Carolyn took some of Rich's photos and created a beautiful journal page for the MGs archives. We love the way Carolyn always sums up our wonderful experiences with the MGs, and of course, Rich's photos are great!
Once we cleaned up from our luncheon, we read more of our story about Beans, and then made cheerful cards for our artist friend, Jeff. (Picture is from his first visit with us last December.)
Jeff is recovering from hip replacement surgery, and we know these cards will brighten his day! We miss him!
Friday
Today we went to Eaton where James had pulled some work for us to do. We spent a couple of hours there this morning, and enjoyed working with the big garage door open on another beautiful day!
Liz, Carol, Adia, Alexis, Erik, and Nan applied gaskets.
With Patrick (in the background) bringing them box after box, Michelle, Drew, Kate, Kevin, Laura, and Annmarie unboxed electrical amps.
There was a huge tub of mixed parts that Abraham, Dev B, Sweet T, and Xavier sorted. Everyone was so efficient, that we were done by lunchtime today!
On the way back to the vans, we ran into Jorie and Adair, who are always happy to chat with us and share a hug!
We returned to AFCC for lunch, and were planning to have yoga with Jaime later in the afternoon. But, it was such a pretty afternoon that we decided to drive over to New Quarter Park for a walk instead! This group noticed that this bush was loaded with new buds.
We're not sure what the recent spring-like weather means for the bushes, trees, and flowers, but we know that there is a lot of color already all around our community as we approach the end of February!
New Quarter Park is a great place to stretch our legs for a brisk walk and lots of deep breaths of fresh air! We enjoyed our unplanned movement activity today!
We hope everyone had as great an ending to their week as we did!
We're looking forward to next week when we will see February end and March begin...that was quick! Here are our plans:
Tuesday: With the weather forecast calling for another mild day, we've decided to head to the Yorktown Battlefield Visitor Center to check out their exhibits, and then take a walk around the battlefield area. We'll follow this with lunch at our favorite riverside picnic area and a game of Winter Challenge Corn Hole. We will also finish our read-aloud, Full of Beans, keeping us on track to read one book a month! Bring a bagged lunch, and if you have a National Parks Access Pass, please bring that, too. Thanks! Arc shirts optional.
Wednesday: Today we will send 1/2 of the gang to tour Trader Joe's (rescheduled from last Wednesday) while the others remain at AFCC to update the March calendar. (That group will tour TJ's next week.) After lunch, we're going to watch a movie that is set during the Great Depression, called Kit Kittredge. Our read-aloud was from a boy's point of view during this time period, and this movie is from a girl's point of view. Lunch on your own. JRES Cafeteria is available, but menu isn't posted yet.
Thursday: We have double the fun on tap for today. First, a crew will go to Pet Supplies Plus to work, so wear your PSP shirt. Second, and more excitedly, it's Drew's birthday!! The crew that stays at AFCC will get the room ready so we can party with Drew from lunch time on! Drew's family is treating us to chicken nuggets and fries for lunch. Thank you, Daytons! After lunch, we will play games, dance, and tell jokes - just for Drew! It's going to be a fantastic day!
Friday: We have an "egg-citing" job to work on today. We're stuffing hundreds of eggs with candy for the Powhatan Secondary egg hunt! Coach Teri was our "agent" for this job, and we 'd like to thank her, as we'll get to use our earnings for something fun! We will also study the 10th state, our very own Virginia, and complete the lesson Krafty Karen left for us on regions and agriculture. We had leftovers after our master gardener luncheon last week, so we'll enjoy baked ziti and salad for lunch, and we'll end the day with yoga, so dress to stretch!
We hope everyone has a wonderful last weekend in February!
Lisa, Carol, Nan, and the AoA Gang
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