Out with September

 

Photo by Sandy Millar on Unsplash

This week we prepared to see September end!  It felt like fall with the cooler temperatures, cloudy skies, and some drizzly weather, but we expect it to warm up again next week.  That's how it goes around eastern Virginia, so we just keep on with our plans and dress accordingly!  We enjoyed time with the master gardeners at Williamsburg Botanical Garden and Arboretum, volunteered at Grove Christian Outreach Center, began another beautiful artwork project with Artist Jeff, and wrapped up the week working at Eaton.  No matter the weather, we love to keep busy!  Check out our productive week...

Tuesday

Today's topic with the master gardeners was apples!  We were a large group, since everyone was here today (yay!).  MGs Rick, Karen, and Liz had great information to share with us about the "apple trail" - from trees/orchards to our tables.

Karen explained that not all types of apples are available year round in our markets, but there are always some kinds to purchase.  She told us it takes up to 8 years for apple trees to begin to bear fruit, too.  Rick added that not one variety of apple is native to North America, except crab apples.  We can thank Asia and Europe for the tastier apples!

After we learned how apples get from orchards to stores, Krafty Karen said she had homework for us!  Liz shows the "kit" Karen put together that we will use to learn about the life cycle of apples.  Thanks, Karen!  We enjoy learning and your homework assignments are always fun!

The herb of the day was the "herb of remembrance," rosemary.  Alexis, Devin, and Kate agreed it smells wonderful!  Something fun we learned about rosemary is that students in Ancient Greece would wear crowns of rosemary when they were studying to help improve their memories!

The gardeners gave us the sprigs of rosemary and directions for rooting them in water.  Here's a picture of Adia back at the center getting the sprigs started in a jar of water.  We have to be patient, but hopefully we will soon have rosemary to plant.

Erik and Abraham are holding 2 of the 3 little pumpkins that were picked before the gardeners decided to pull up the dying vines.  Karen says for us to set them aside and they should continue to ripen and turn orange.  We'll post the progress!

We enjoyed apple cider and Karen's rosemary pound cake or zucchini bread after our lesson.  We also got to bring the fresh apples back to the center where we enjoyed them later in the day!

Thank you for baking for us, Karen!  The rosemary and lemon pound cake was unique, but tasty, and we appreciate that you shared the recipe with us.  As always, your golden zucchini bread is out of this world!  Thanks to MG Liz for providing the delcious apple cider, too!  😋

We had time to check the plants and saw that the mustard, kale, Swiss chard, and beets are growing well.  Tessa, Laura, and Patrick saw that the sweet potatoes are still hanging in there.  Hopefully the fencing will keep the bunnies out and soon we will see purple flowers on the vines...and then, sweet potatoes in a couple of months!

Another fun time at the garden with our MG friends!  This is a wonderful partnership that we enjoy and look forward to each spring and fall.  Thanks, master gardeners, for your dedication to our gardening education.  We have learned a lot over the years!

Here's MG Carolyn's lovely journal page from today!  Both she and photographer Rich were not able to be with us, but Carolyn used pictures shared by Lisa and notes shared by Karen to capture the essence of our wonderful session perfectly!  Way to go, Carolyn!

Today was Johnny Appleseed Day, which made the lesson with the MGs all the better!  After lunch, we watched the 1948 Disney movie about his adventures.  It's always a favorite and then we hum the theme song for a few days!

The movie was followed with apple samples along with a side of peanut butter.  It was Xavier approved!  

Wednesday

It was time to volunteer at GCOC again this morning.  Unfortunately, we only got to send one group today because the food bank was unable to send canned food products, which is what we usually help pack into individual distribution bags.  The only task we could assist with was bagging the toilet paper, which we did with happy hearts and fun conversation with Peggy and Joel!

The group back at the center kept busy preparing books from the JRES Library for discard.  They crossed out identifying school information and stamped each book with "DISCARD" and then we all went through them and picked out some to keep for ourselves!

We had time to make a fun, and very long, birthday card for our friend Mike at the Watermen's Museum.  It folded up like an accordion, so we attached a tab at the top that said "Pull for Birthday Wishes!"  Mike will love it!

We danced for 18 straight minutes to a Go Noodle video/song mix!  It was so much fun, and it got our heart rates up!

We even had time to color, cut, and glue together some fun scarecrows to add to our fall room decorations!  We had a busy morning!

Later, Laura and Lexi shared postcards from their recent trips to OBX.  They both visited Pea Island!  Laura went to the art gallery to see "pretty things" and Lexi visited the wildlife refuge where a flock of seagulls that had hitched a ride on Hurricane Idalia were visting from Florida! (She saw them from afar!)  Pea Island was also home to the first lifesaving station in the country to have an entirely all-Black crew in the late 1800s.

Last week on September 21 it was National Chai Day.  Since this is one of Lisa's favorite "holidays," we postponed celebrating until she was back.  Today, we learned that "chai" is Hindi for "tea" and is steeped with many spices to make a very tasty drink in places like India, Pakistan, and, in recent years, here in the United States.  We didn't make homemade chai, as all the needed spices would be very expensive.  Instead, we had a concentrate that we added almond milk to, and then we made a pumpkin cold foam to top it off.  (An idea we got from our former intern, Lilly!)

Here, Carol measured almond milk by filling the chai concentrate carton, so we would have an equal amount.  Liz mixed whipping cream, sweetened condensed milk, pumpkin puree, pumpkin spice, and vanilla until it formed stiff peaks. 

We had iced chai with the pumpkin cold foam on top, and everyone who tried it said it was very tasty!  It smells and tastes like fall.  Next year, we may try it warm.  Shoutout to Lilly...who is in grad school at Vanderbilt now.  We LOVE the iced chai with pumpkin cold foam!! 

Thursday

It was another cloudy day, but we didn't notice once we got inside.  We had a lot to do... 

First, we started lunch prep.  We always invite Jeff to eat with us when he comes for art lessons, so we want things to be almost ready when he arrives.  That way, we can concentrate on our art work.  Today, Alexis and Patrick grilled hot dogs and then put them in the slow cooker to keep warm.

Michelle whipped up a canned fruit salad with marshmallows and pudding mix.  It was very pretty!

We also said goodbye to "Big Red," the sofa we came to love over the years!  We now have "Blue Willie" up front, but Red was much more comfortable.  Shoutout to Devin for helping maneuver it through the door with a moving guy who can't be seen in this pic!

We ran out of time for our Johnny Appleseed themed math work on Tuesday, so we got it done before Jeff arrived.  Pat and Lexi, with Michelle and Kate behind them, worked in pairs.

Others worked in small groups.  Kevin was about to roll a die for his turn in the group with Laura, Sam, Annmarie, and Drew.  Carol supervised! 😜 The hardest part of this game was only coloring one section of the answer sheet at a time! 

Just as we finished our math work, Jeff arrived!  First, he told us about the Community Art Day which is on Saturday in CW.  He also told us about the 2023 Greater Lanexa Studio Tour which will be the weekend of October 21-22.  Jeff's studio is a stop on the tour, and he gave each of us a brochure with all the details and a personal invitation to bring our families and check it out!

Next, it was on to our lesson.  It's a two part activity, and in today's part 1, we were painting watercolor backgrounds.  Next week we will add ink drawings.  This is something we have never done before!  

Jeff taught us that blues, greens, and purples are known as "cool" colors, while reds, yellows, and oranges are known as "warm" colors.  He suggested we paint 1/2 of our paper with cool colors and the other half with warm ones.  We had two sheets to make backgrounds on, and they will be cut to make at least 4 canvases for our ink drawings.  Drew and Alexis stayed focused on using cool and warm colors.

Jeff gave Liz and Devin pointers on painting their backgrounds.

He also stopped by to paint with Erik and Kate.  At first it seemed strange to just paint swirls and squiggles for a "background," but Jeff assured us that when we add the ink drawings next week, we will have masterpieces!

Nan held Kevin's paper still while he added blue.  His first background was already finished and you can see the cool and warm colors he used.

We think they already look like masterpieces!   Watercolors are so beautiful.  We're curious to see how they turn out when we add the ink drawings next week.  Thanks, Jeff, for sharing this fun art project idea with us.  Our backgrounds are each unique, and we're sure the ink drawings will be as well.  Thanks for your warm encouragement, too...and of course for the rocking background music!  See you next week!

Renovations began at AFCC today to install a new door at the entrance to the Parks & Rec office (our kitchen area) and also to knock out some of the exterior bricks near the front entrance so a side door can be installed there.  We had no idea that we would hear the sound of jackhammer-like equipment in the background all day!  In this video, we were taking turns with our partners as we worked on a card project, and you can hear a little bit of what our day was like.  (We're glad we will be at Eaton most of the day tomorrow, because there is still a lot of knocking down for them to do!)

For the last 15 minutes of the day we added to the noise with a rambunctious game of pool noodle volleyball.  By the time dismissal came, we were all ready for some peace and quiet!

Friday

We were looking forward to our Eaton work day and helping them with inventory.   You'll see lots of smiles from our crew!

 

Nan's group consisted of Drew, Kevin, Michelle, and Xavier, and she had them counting by 5s every time they filled their counting mats.  They were distracted by having their picture taken and had to start over!

We were thankful for Tracy's help with inventory at Eaton today.  She had some available time this morning and offered to spend it working with us!  Thank you for pitching in, Tracy.  From the smiles on the faces of Adia, Tessa, Annmarie, and Laura, it's clear that they were happy to be working with you!

Carol had smiling and very capable counters in her group!  Sam, Devin, Erik, and Patrick made short work of counting hundreds of parts that were in the blue bin.  We're so efficient!

Liz and Alexis worked together to count a variety of items.  Some of the items were sealed in boxes of 12, and some were loose, so they first determined how many were in a certain number of boxes, and then added in the loose ones.  They used the calculator app on Liz's phone, and Alexis's "old-fashioned" addition skills (with regrouping!) to tally up the totals and double check their work.  Russell, from Eaton, can be seen carrying an empty tub in the background.  He double-checked their calculations and found them to be exact! 

Liz and Alexis finished their inventory tasks before the rest of the group, so they asked Russell to bring them some parts to gasket!  Big smiles when Russell complimented their initiative.  👏👏

More smiles from Xavier when he emptied some parts from the box into the tub for Nan, and they made a big racket!

We are very grateful for this opportunity to perform vocational work at Eaton Corporation.  We don't see Jorie much anymore.  She works offsite in another capacity...however, she keeps tabs on us!  And of course, we miss James, who retired in May.  But our "newer" Eaton coworkers Russell, Ethan, Mark, and Rosemary keep us busy, and that makes us smile a lot!

After we returned to AFCC we had a bit of Choice Time and then listened to more of our latest read-aloud, What Not to Do If You Turn Invisible by Ross Welford.  It's a long one, so we won't finish it in one month, but so far, we're intrigued by the story of a young girl who becomes invisible when she tries to cure her acne with a sketchy Chinese tea ordered off of the internet (bad idea), and a session in an old-fashioned (and we know, not safe) tanning bed...

We wrapped up the week with a quiet yoga session since the jack-hammering was completed while we were at Eaton!  Now, we're curious to see how the new outside door to the kitchen is going to look.  The construction crew knocked out A LOT of bricks!  We'll check it out next week, and be busy with the following activities, too:

Tuesday:  Yay!  It's our regular bowling day, but it's also National Eat Fruit at Work Day.  We will enjoy pizza and fresh fruit for lunch!  The forecast looks great for spending the afternoon outside so we will plan to eat lunch at the park, check things at the garden,  and take a nice stroll as we look for signs of fall.  Please wear Arc shirts!

Wednesday:  This morning we will prepare our October calendar and get a head start on tomorrow's lunch prep.  It's National Pumpkin Seed Day, so we'll work on pumpkin lessons and a new craft decoration for our room, too.  Lunch on your own.  JRES Cafeteria is available for Popcorn Chicken Bowl or Hot Dog.

Thursday:  It's National Get Funky Day so wear your favorite funky colors and prepare to turn up the energy with high fives, laughter, dancing, and Art with Jeff, who will be back to finish the watercolor/ink drawing project we began last Thursday. (Jeff knows how to get funky, and we love it!)  We can't wait to finish the art, and then enjoy taco salads for lunch with Jeff to celebrate National Taco Day.  After lunch, we will make birthday cards for a couple of friends with special days coming up!

Friday:  We'll send a crew to Pet Supplies Plus for a work day, so please wear PSP shirts today.  We'll also celebrate Lisa's birthday!  She's treating us to bbq sandwiches and fixins for lunch.  Gdad taught her the recipe and made sure she knew how to do the chopping (with his special chopper), and he would be proud to know that's what we're eating today.  💖💖💖  It's National Body Language Day, so we will discuss how important that is, and then play charades for fun.  We'll end the day with yoga, so dress to stretch!

Fun in the community this weekend!

Big FUNdraiser for The Arc next weekend!

Also next weekend - our artwork on display at An Occasion for the Arts in Merchants Square! (October 6-8)

And in 3 short weeks...the 2023 Greater Lanexa Studio Tour.  We have some talented artists in our community, and many of them will be featured on this tour, including our favorite, Jeff Helm!

Enjoy the weekend,

Lisa, Carol, Nan, and the AoA Gang