New Therapy Dog Friends!

As October rolled along, we enjoyed a week that was somewhat less busy than last week, and didn't include an "official" birthday party, though we tried to celebrate a birthday on Friday (details below)!  We also had a great visit with Christina at the Art Museums, met two new therapy dogs and handlers, enjoyed a delicious spaghetti luncheon provided by beloved friends, and worked at the pet store.  Keep scrolling to see all the fun we had this week!

Tuesday

Next Tuesday we will wrap up our fall session with the master gardeners, and won't work with them (officially) again until Spring, 2024.  Today we worked on special cards for them.  The photo of all 16 of us, taken recently at the garden, will be attached inside along with a group poem we are working on to express our appreciation for all the MGs do for us.

It was a cool, but sunny day, so we spent time outside this morning.  A few of us played catch (and chase) with the big ball, while others walked laps around the garden.

Patrick and Abraham enjoy shooting hoops and almost always bring basketballs when we come outside!

There were a lot of books inside the Free Little Library today, and they were a mess!  Nan and Carol organized them more neatly and Liz found a book about an otter and dog who become friends.  Maybe we can read it if we ever finish our current book about the girl who became invisible!

After lunch we hooked up with Christina at The Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg.  She told us we were going to look for objects that might remind us of fall.  We headed downstairs to begin the search!

One of Christina's favorite displays are these ceramic dishes that feature fall colors in their designs.  We pointed out that they also remind us of fall because we can picture veggies, mashed potatoes, and pies being served in them on Thanksgiving!

Another object that reminds Christina of fall is the horn shown in this display case.  It would have been used to signal the start of a fox hunt, which took place during the fall in Colonial times.  Christina also pointed out that the man shown in the picture, holding a horn like the one in the case, was William Lee.  He was an enslaved person who was George Washington's personal butler, and accompanied Washington nearly everywhere.

When we took a look in the folk art area of the museums, we found this chair.  The artwork on the back was stenciled.  It reminds us of fall because it looks like a bountiful harvest inside a basket.

Right away we noticed this acorn in the iron display.  It is a weight, and may have been used to help control the operation of a spit during the cooking of some kind of meat.  Christina told us to remember this one because it was going to be the inspiration for our work in the education center later!

At the Down on the Farm exhibit, Liz and Alexis found a painting by Edward Hicks that depicts a farm during the end of harvest season in early fall.  Some of the leaves on the trees are changing colors, and that was what caught the girls' eyes.

Christina caught our attention in the education room when she said we would be drawing today.  Everyone thought we were going to draw acorns since she had told us the iron acorn would be an inspiration! 

But "acorn" was just a clue!  Can you guess what Christina taught us to draw, step-by-step?

If you guessed squirrels, you're correct!  We each followed her directions and modeling, and ended up with cute squirrels which we then colored to make each a one of a kind!  Thanks, Christina!  We really enjoy lessons like today's where we each work on the same thing, yet each one ends up unique to the "Arc-tist!"  What a fun activity!

Wednesday

First thing this morning we sent Michelle, Alexis, Liz, and Laura to shelve books at the JRES Library.  They also checked out books about Halloween for us to read with our therapy dog friends today!  Thanks, Girls.  Great choices!

We arranged the books on the pool table, along with a few of our deorative items, and it looked like a Halloween Library!  Soon, it would be time to read these fun books with the therapy dog group.

Next, we did a quick dance warm up and then looked at pictures one of our therapy dog friends, Lena, sent us.  We have been missing Lena and her Australian shepherd mix, Marlo.  Lena is in graduate school and will rejoin the therapy dog group as soon as she can.  Meanwhile, we love when she sends pictures of adorable Marlo for us to enjoy!

When the therapy dogs arrived, all decked out in their Halloween costumes, we greeted them with lots of belly rubs and hugs!  

We welcomed three new therapy dogs to our group today!  Xavier and Adia enjoyed getting to know toy schnauzer, Aja.  Welcome to the group, Aja!

Drew, Alexis, and Sam delighted in their reading session with Susan and her Cavilier King Charles, Tessa!  Welcome to the group, Susan and Tessa!

We met Vicky and her Havanese, Aubree last week, and they returned to join our regular group this week, where they read with Erik and Laura.  Welcome to the group, Vicky and Aubree!

We were just as happy to see our "regulars," including Carol and Casey, who read with Liz, Kevin, and Kate.  

Kent and Leo were back this month to read with Devin, Michelle, and Tessa.  Tessa doesn't converse with us much, but she enjoys reading aloud, and she's good at it!

We had two reading rotations, and for our third round, we worked on a "Magic Square" puzzle.  It's kind of like dominoes, but this one had a Halloween theme.  Xavier, Caroline, and Adia solved it fairly quickly! 👏👏

We gathered together for our last activity of the day.  Each group was given different letters of the alphabet and a few minutes of thinking time to come up with words related to Halloween for each of their letters.

The therapy dog friends and we are pretty sharp!  Look at this great list of Halloween A-Z words!  After this, everyone got a sweet treat before we said "good bye" to our friends.  We can't wait to see them next month!

We kept movement indoors today.  After the dogs left, we cranked up the Halloween tunes and walked laps in the hallway...and many of us sang along, too!

We ended the day with a lesson for Reptile Awareness Day, which is coming up on Sunday.  First, we watched a video about five of the most "handleable" reptiles.  It's part of a series by a reptile expert named Clint, and we watch a different one of his videos each year.  Here's Clint with a "handleable" ball python!  Click on the pic if you'd like to watch the video.

Our resident animal expert, Michelle, brought a book to share that features her favorite reptiles, dinosaurs!  She said her favorite is T-Rex.  They were quite the reptiles in their days, Michelle!

Thursday

The highlight of today was being treated to a spaghetti luncheon by our friend Nancy's brother and sister-in-law, Randy and Sally.  Even though Nancy moved to Kentucky in 2021, Randy and Sally continue to be our friends, and they very thoughtfully treat us to lunch on occasion.  💙💜

So we worked on making a couple of thank you cards for them after our dance warm up.   Michelle, Patrick, Alexis, Liz, Adia, and Erik were the letter writers and used the computers to compose two very kind notes to express our gratitude.

Others chipped in by coloring pictures that we could use to decorate the cards.  Here, we want to highlight Drew's concentration, staying inside the lines as he colored vegetable pictures to represent the veggie tray Randy and Sally were bringing as part of lunch.

When we finished, the cards were beautiful, inside and out!!  We couldn't wait to give them to Randy and Sally.

Another project we worked on this morning was making spiders using cardboard (TP) rolls and pipe cleaners.  We added them to our growing display of Halloween decorations.  You'd think we were gearing up for a party or something!

Can you spot our spiders on this wall?  🕷

We got to use our hot water kettle today!  This was a gift we received from Liz and her mom a few weeks ago, and it brings water to a boil much faster than our single burner can.  We were making a small portion of gluten-free pasta for Xavier's lunch, and once the water boiled in the kettle, we transferred it to the pot and things moved very quickly!

Our dear friends Sally and Randy arrived around noon with a delicious pan of baked spaghetti, garlic bread, veggie tray, bottled water, AND a box of Cheryl's Cookies (ordered online), which we first tried when they brought us some last year around Randy's birthday.  Everything was very, very good, but we sure LOVE those cookies!  Thank you so much, Sally and Randy, for blessing us with this wonderful luncheon.  We are so happy that we have remained friends with you.  We'll send a copy of this picture to Nancy, too, so she can see the smiles your thoughtfulness put on our faces. 💙💜

We finished our thank you project for the master gardeners.  When we see them on Tuesday, we'll give each one a copy of these cards that include a group picture of us and a poem we wrote together!  We're so excited about the photo.  It was taken at the garden on a recent day when EVERYONE was here!  

Mystery Doug has an episode where he explains why some pumpkins are orange.  Most wild pumpkins were not as flavorful as the ones we enjoy today, so ancient humans basically cultivated and altered the ones they liked better until, over time, pumpkins became orange and rather tasty.  Well, it went something like that!

This is a picture of the pumpkins decorating Carol's front yard.  She explained to us that her husband bought orange and white pumpkins last year, which they tossed into their compost pile after the season ended.  Much to their surprise, they noticed vines growing in the compost over the summer, and ta-da, they now have beautiful pumpkins this year!  She said tomatoes grew in the compost pile, too.  That must be some very nutritious compost.  Aren't these pumpkins gorgeous?!

Friday

We've been looking forward to today all week as we're celebrating National Chicken and Waffles Day!  According to the National Day Calendar, this is a day when "savory and sweet collide," and the combination of chicken and waffles has been around for over 150 years.  It even started in the south!  However, as usual with our fun activities, business comes first, so we sent a group to Pet Supplies Plus for a productive work session.

Drew and Liz were partners today.  There were a lot of items to put on shelves.  They stocked healthcare products.

Before stocking the shelves, we have to double check the last four digits of the bar codes and make sure they match what's on the shelf.  Erik and Sam did this before stocking cat food.

Over on the dog treat aisle, Alexis and Patrick were also paying attention to bar codes to make sure the product landed on the correct shelf.

Our hard-working crew couldn't resist showcasing toys and cards from PSP's Halloween selections.  Stop by and treat your favorite pet before Halloween sneaks up on you!  Brittany and Alyssa worked with us today, and joined us for this photo.

While the PSP Crew was on the road, back at the AFCC we had plenty of tasks to keep us busy.  Adia and Tessa whipped up chocolate cupcakes so we could celebrate our custodian Sevarina's birthday (Monday) and National Chocolate Cupcake Day, which was on Wednesday.

Before the girls could bake the cupcakes, Kevin and Xavier gave the Nina a good wipe down!

Lisa and Carol are going to bake pumpkin and Hawaiian banana nut breads at home on Monday so they will be fresh for us to take to the master gardeners on Tuesday.  Michelle and Annmarie pre-measured the dry ingredients so Lisa and Carol would have a head start!

Abraham and Nan whacked open another pie pumpkin so we could make the pumpkin pruee ahead of time, too!  Lisa, Carol, and Nan have told us many, many times about the importance of planning ahead!

Laura checked the baked pumpkin to make sure it was soft enough to scoop out the inside and make fresh puree.  We can't wait to share our pumpkin and Hawaiian banana nut breads with the MGs on Tuesday!  Thanks Lisa and Carol, for baking it for us on Monday!

Something else we got done this morning was making sweet birthday cards and decorating the door so when Sevarina came in to empty our trash this afternoon, we could surprise her with a cupcake for her birthday!  UPDATE:  A substitute custodian emptied our trash because Sevarina had to go home early because she wasn't feeling well.  We hope she has a good weekend, and we will re-decorate and try again on Tuesday!

Over on the other side of the room, using the skillet Gdad gave us years ago, Nan fried chicken tenders for us.  She's been frying these strips of deliciousness for her family for years, but they were extra good today! 💙 

Here's our "savory and sweet" collision of chicken and waffles.  We think we'd like to celebrate National Chicken and Waffles Day every year!

Even though Sevarina wasn't here today, we still enjoyed cupcakes in her honor.  Adia did a beautiful job placing each of the star sprinkles by hand!  Happy National Chocolate Cupcake Day (Oct. 18)!

After Choice Time, we took a short walk and listened to our read-aloud until it was time for yoga with Jaime!  Today, we enjoyed a couple of new segments she has posted for Halloween!

It always feels good to stretch our way into the weekend!

We will be on the go every day next week!  Here is our agenda:

Tuesday:  Today we will wrap up our fall sessions with the master gardeners at Freedom Park.  We'll say "See ya later" to them and invite them to come by the center for a winter visit!  We will have lunch at the park, take a walk, and then return to AFCC to work on birthday cards for friends we will be celebrating later this week!  Bring a bagged lunch and wear Arc shirts!

Wednesday:  We will volunteer at GCOC this morning, so please wear Arc shirts again!  We will also decorate the hallways and foyer for Tracy's upcoming Disability Awareness Trick or Treat event.  After lunch we'll welcome our friend Laura Beach for another fun Laughter Yoga session - Halloween themed!  🤣 Lunch on your own.  JRES Cafeteria is available and is serving Cheesy Pasta Supreme or Sub of the Day.

Thursday:  This morning we get to visit with Mike at the Watermen's Museum.  He's going to make masks with us, but what kind...we do not know!  The forecast looks promising to spend the afternoon at Yorktown, so we'll have lunch by the river and then play games and explore.  Bring a bag lunch.  Arc shirts optional.  😊

Friday:  We travel to Eaton for a work day AND to celebrate birthdays for Kevin and Alexis!  We are getting good at celebrating on the road! 🥳 Coincidentally, Eaton is providing a pizza luncheon for us.  There will also be cake for the birthday friends!  We'll end the day with yoga, so dress to stretch and wear your Eaton shirts!

Saturday, October 28:  Hope to see you in your costumes at Tracy's award-winning Disability Awareness Trick or Treat event!  Treats, games, crafts, and fun from 9-12, and you can also hang out at the Arc table with Carol and let folks know about our wonderful Arc of Abilities program!

Have a great weekend,

Lisa, Carol, Nan, and the AoA Gang