We kicked off the fall birthday season this week with a celebration for our newest AoA member, Tessa! Over the next three months, we will have many more birthday celebrations, and we look forward to each one of them...even though some are really close together! Everyone who knows us, knows we love a reason to celebrate, and what better reason than friends?! Speaking of friends and celebrations, we also celebrated the one-year anniversary of our partnership with the therapy dog group! Those were a couple of highlights from a week in which Lisa and Alexis were still under the weather with Covid and others were out for travel, but another week in which we never missed a beat!
Monday
We have one photo to highlight from Monday, when the AoA is not in session. This week, our friends at James City County Parks and Recreation were creating a video to highlight their partnerships with other area organizations. Tracy recruited our very own Greg and Liz Kline to be ambassadors for the Arc of Greater Williamsburg, and the Arc of Abilities. We are grateful for our partnerships with JCC Parks & Rec, and Greg and Liz spoke eloquently about our 7 1/2 years together! Thank you for repping so well, Greg and Liz. We are very proud of you!
Tuesday
Happy Birthday to Tessa today! 🥳 Since we weren't leaving for the Art Museums until after lunch, we spent the morning celebrating Tessa with a few of her favorite activities. First, we played some of her favorite music during the dance warm up. What fun to learn that Tessa loves Lady Gaga,Van Halen, Simple Minds, Beethoven, and Christmas music all year long!
What a pretty smile from Tessa when she realized we were playing her favorite tunes! We were hoping she would sing, but she was kind of shy this morning. She has a beautiful singing voice!
We've noticed over the past few months that Tessa also enjoys a good game of corn hole!
She also enjoys time on the computer, so today, we played puzzle and word games on one of our favorite websites. Tessa made good guesses during Hangman!
Look at these adorable puppy, kitten, and birthday cake decorated cupcakes we had for Tessa's party! Not only are they super cute, but they were super delicious, too. We even had gluten-free for Xavier. We want to thank Tessa's mom, Michelle, for delivering these tasty treats, along with party supplies, so we could party like rock stars with Tessa! It was so much fun!
Happy Birthday, Tessa! We hope all your wishes come true and you have a wonderful year to come! We are glad you are with us in the AoA!
Tessa also likes art and art projects, so it was fitting that we were having a lesson with Christina at The Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg this afternoon! That usually includes a project, so we were curious about what it would be. Christina began our session with a story called You Gotta Meet Mr. Pierce.
Elijah Pierce was a 20th century barber and a woodcarver who was awarded a National Heritage Fellowship in 1982, two years before he passed away at age 92. A National Heritage Fellowship is the United States government's highest honor in the folk and traditional arts.
After hearing the interesting story about Elijah's small community barbershop that was filled with his wood carvings, we visited the galleries and found many examples of wood carvings by him and others.
This is Portrait of Marian Anderson by Elijah Pierce. It is called a relief carving.
Back in the education studio, Christina had a fun soap-carving activity planned for us. Michelle and Erik had a lively discussion, trying to decide what kind of simple design to carve.
It looks like Nan, Kate, Devin, and Patrick were successful by the large piles of soap shavings on their table!
It's hard to see the designs, but Adia, Tessa, Drew, and Liz enjoyed this experience. It was a first for us! Thanks, Christina, for doing fun projects with us. We love our experiences with you!
Wednesday
Our day began with a wonderful surprise when we received a new appliance that will make our cooking lives easier! Liz and her mom, Lise, noticed that it takes a long time for us to bring a huge pot of water to boil using our single burner hotplates. They gifted us this kettle that can heat water very quickly, and will enable us to bring it up to boiling in no time. Bring on the pasta! Many thanks, Liz and Lise. We very much appreciate this thoughtful and much needed gift. It will get a lot of use!
Later, Liz joined Michelle and Laura at the JRES Library where they shelved a whole lot of books! Great work, Library Ladies!
Drew was up next sharing a post card he brought for our Travel Album from his recent visit to the Outer Banks! Thanks, Drew, and Family, for remembering! We recently received cards from Laura and Alexis who had also visited the Outer Banks, but pictures were missed. We're sorry! Our Travel Album is filling up nicely!!
We caught up with Adia in the kitchen mixing up our Chicken Caesar Pasta Salad for today's luncheon. We had cooked the chicken and pasta ahead of time yesterday, so today's part was a breeze!
That delicious pasta salad was shared with our therapy dog handler friends in a special luncheon we held to celebrate the one year anniversary of our partnership with them and the therapy dogs! We also had a tasty strawberry Jell-O pretzel salad!
Didn't the gang decorate the room very nicely?! And look how well-behaved the dogs were while the humans ate. It was a delightful lunch!
Our course we had a "speech" for our therapy dog friends! We composed a series of reasons why we enjoy working with them and read them aloud with lots of expression. Our presenters were fantastic!
After lunch, we enjoyed small group reading time with the dogs and handlers. Caroline and Indy read with Erik, Patrick, Laura, and Michelle.
With Devin and Kate looking on, Ava pointed to something interesting in Annmarie's book. Gunther was curled up on Big Red with Kate.
Adia and Kent noticed Leo thinking about making a run for it, but Tessa never missed a beat with her reading!
Liz, Drew, and Carol S were happy that Casey didn't go under the table today!
However, Darby may have been under the table. She's nowhere to be seen in this picture with Carol H, who was reading with Kevin and Xavier!
Happy Anniversary to us and our friends from Therapy Dogs International! Spending time with this amazing group is a highlight of each month for us. We had an amazing year one, and we know the next year will be even better! (We hear some new friends are joining us in October!) We'd like to mention that we are missing Lena and Marlo while Lena takes classes at W&M. We wish Lena the best in her studies, and hope to squeeze in a visit from her and Marlo one day soon when her schedule fits in with ours!
Thank you, all!
Wednesday Evening
Look what happened tonight! Pam gave Moose Patti flowers! That's a tradition each fall when Patti and our WOTM friends present us with the proceeds from the golf tournament they sponsor each August. The Arc of GW has become very good friends with Patti and the WOTM group over the 8 years this tournament has been held. We've got some great stories to tell, too! But mostly, we are grateful to them for their dedication to the tournament's success, and cannot thank them enough for their support, friendship, and love for The Arc!
The Arc of GW and the Arc of Abilities were proudly represented at tonight's presentation by Carol, Nan, Michelle, Liz, Pam, Susan, Greg and Lise (who took this picture). Thank you Patti, WOTM, and all of our friends at the Williamsburg Moose Lodge for your enduring support of The Arc. Your generous support is deeply appreciated. 💖💖💖
Thursday
We had a well-deserved laid back day today. We've been busy for the past couple of weeks!
We decided to have a Movie Morning. Liz was happy to see that Laura's mom, Lisa P, sent us popcorn that was already popped and bagged into single serving sizes! Beside the girls, on the table, are the movies a few of us brought in so we could vote on what to watch.
Laura's mom also sent in popcorn seasonings! This was shaping up to definitely be a laid-back morning. 😉 Thank you, Lisa P, for popping all that popcorn for us! It was very tasty and these seasonings were a hit! 🍿🍿🍿
In case you're wondering which movie we chose...
It was a very nice day so we spent time outside. We were happily surprised to discover a Little Free Library had been placed near the garden! We have checked out a few of these on our travels, and even found our latest read-aloud in one. (It's a swapping station for books.) The Grove Community Garden has been rededicated as The Rob Till Community Garden in memory of the man who established it many years ago.
Here's a throwback to 2018 when we used to volunteer in the garden with Rob, who in this picture was overseeing the planting of beets by former AoA member, Kacie, and former volunteer, Becky. Mr. Rob passed away in 2019. We are happy that the community garden has been revitalized in the past couple of years, and that it lives on in his name.
Here's a view of the backside of the little library box, which resembles a bird house!
Here's the view from the front. We will look through our stash and make a donation to the little library next week. We just might find our next great book in there, donated by someone in the community!
This is one of the prettiest Little Free Libraries we've ever seen! What a nice addition to the Rob Till Community Garden.
💙💚💙💚
Friday
Today we were on watch for an impending tropical storm coming our way. We hoped we could enjoy our Friday without getting wet, and luckily we made it! We had a scheduled work day at Pet Supplies Plus, so Carol took a group and hit the road shortly after 9:00!
Once at PSP, the crew learned how to check the large cat and dog food bags for the expiration dates. Next, they put a large label on each one so it is easy to see.
The crew always enjoys helping Scott feed the fish!
They want to remind all pet owners that it's never too early to look for Halloween costumes! PSP has an excellent selection!
Devin said we also needed to include this picture! Just follow that skeleton's directions to Ironbound Park...and see what awaits you! Only if you come with us, Devin! 😟
Meanwhile, back at the center we welcomed Sue to help in Lisa's absence, and she got to see how well we handle a lockdown drill. Sigh...but we are thankful it was only a drill. Thanks for the assist today, Sue. We enjoy working with you!
This group had some fun, too. A game of musical chairs got them moving!
A lesson for Elephant Appreciation Day got them thinking!
Laura helped bake brownies for lunch. Great job, Laura!
The mustard green seeds that Karen and Barb planted last week look like they are off to a good start. Hopefully the bunnies won't get into this patch! Lisa and Alexis also report that our sweet potato patch looks good!
Our lunch today was grilled cheese, peaches, and a choice of tomato basil or chicken noodle soup. It was very tasty and filling! After lunch we had a lesson about the autumnal equinox, which occurs tomorrow, and then we had a relaxing yoga session with Jaime called "Autumn Is Here!"
Soon, it was time for dismissal and we were happy to see that it wasn't raining yet. It turns out everyone made it home to be safe and dry before the rain began. We hope the tropical storm passes quickly, and without too much wind damage or flooding for folks. We're already looking forward to next week, and here are our plans:
Tuesday: It's off to work with the Master Gardeners today, and the topic is one of our favorites: apples! It just so happens to be Johnny Appleseed Day, so when we return to the center we'll have a fun lesson about him. Hopefully the weather will be nice for eating at the park, so please bring a bagged lunch and wear Arc shirts!
Wednesday: We volunteer at GCOC today, so please wear Arc shirts. We'll also start a new read-aloud and work on some "catch up" activities from when Lisa was absent, including making up our Chai Tea Day experience. Lunch on your own. JRES Cafeteria is available and the menu is Cheesy Pasta Supreme or Sub of the Day.
Thursday: Our friend Artist Jeff comes today! We're going to create masterpieces with watercolors, and add them to our growing collection of artwork for the Occasion for the Arts event the weekend of October 6. We'll have a Mystery Science lesson and make birthday cards for our friend, Mike (Watermen's Museum), too. Hot dogs, tater tots, and fruit salad for lunch.
Friday: We will work at Eaton today, and Russell has asked if we can help with inventory?! Why yes, counting is one of our specialities, Russell! Please wear Eaton shirts and bring a bagged lunch. Walk or yoga after Eaton, depending on the weather and our moods!
Don't forget about the 5k! It's only 2 weeks away!! This weekend only, we are having a flash sale and the price to register is only $35. On Monday, it goes back to $45, so don't delay! Remember, if you can't make it on October 7th, you can still register and participate virtually at your own convenience! Thanks for your support! Click Drew's handsome face if you still need to register, and he'll take you right to the site!
Stay safe and dry, and have a great weekend,
Lisa, Carol, Nan, and the AoA Gang
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