Yes, we saw January end this week, and even though it didn't bring us any snow, it was still a great month! We ended it on Tuesday with a guided tour at Jamestown Settlement, and on Wednesday with celebrations of Backward Day, Puzzle Day, and Hot Chocolate Day! When February began on Thursday, we updated our calendar and welcomed an "old" friend for a visit. We worked at PSP on Friday, celebrated Tater Tot Day and Heavenly Hash Day with a fun lunch, and of course, observed Groundhog Day, during which we learned that one groundhog predicted early spring while the other predicted 6 more weeks of winter, so...maybe snow in February?! Here's a look at our week:
Tuesday, January 30
Our master gardener friend Jay is an interpreter at Jamestown Settlement and he gave us a great tour back in 2022. He recently invited us back, and this time, he introduced us to his wife, Laura, also an interpreter there, and together, they kept us attentive with great stories about the first permanent English settlement in North America.
Laura helped us understand that even though there was a "Clash of Cultures" between the indigenous Powhatan people, the English settlers, and the Africans that arrived a little later, all cultures had much in common, such as a need for food, clothing, and housing.
Powhatan Culture
African Culture
English Culture
Each culture had differences, too. They all used tools for gardening, but how the tools were made varied. The Powhatans did not have metal, for example, so they utilized stone and bone to make their tools stronger.
Before continuing our tour outside, Jay and Laura pointed out several pieces of beautiful artwork on display for Black History Month, which is in February. The art is by regional artists and it didn't take us long to spot this one (and another example) of screenprint drawings by Steve Prince, aka, Xavier's stepdad! Steve is a great friend of ours, too, and we were proud to see his contributions to this beautiful exhibit!
Our tour continued outside with Jay and Laura telling us many intersting and fun stories about life in early Jamestown.
We always thought bald eagles nested on top of this tower, but Jay informed us that it's actually ospreys who nest there!
Eagles nest in this tall pine tree.
We were lucky to spot the father eagle sitting "on guard" in a nearby tree since there are eggs in the nest. We also saw him fly around to chase away vultures!
Jay explained how important the yucca plant was to the Powhatans. There are fibers inside the leaves that they could weave into a strong and waterproof string, It wss very useful for making fishing nets.
This is Rachel, who showed us an example of the yucca string. She said weaving the fibers into string would have been a job that Powhatan children could do at age 3! WOW! And speaking of "wow," we also learned from Laura that the word "wow" came from the Powhatans, and John Smith had noted in his journal that he heard them say it during times of excitement!
It takes a bit of elbow grease to grind corn this way!
We went aboard the Susan Constant where we asked great questions!
Jay said that most of us are probably taller than the average men and women were back then, but that Captain Christopher Newport was a "very tall 6 feet."
Something fun we learned (though it may be a myth) was that carrots used to be red, yellow, white...but not orange. The future king of England, for which our College of William and Mary is named, was known as William of Orange before becoming king. It is said that orange carrots were cultivated to honor the royal family from Orange... Whether that is true or not, we were reminded that new varieties of plants are often developed through cross-breeding.
A stop by the surgeon's table found us learning that many of the tools used by doctors and dentists today, such as scapels, pliers, and splints, are very similar to the ones used in the 17th century. Technology was a thing back then!
We returned to AFCC for lunch, and later we made cheer cards for our dog friend Pip, who had surgery to repair a torn ligament today. We also included one for her sister, Indy, and her human family, too! Get well soon, Pip! We will miss you at our therapy dog visits for a couple of months while you recover. 💙
Dance time at the end of the day since we missed it this morning!
Wednesday, January 31
Our day began with Carol taking her "kids" to the JRES Library to celebrate National Take Your Child to the Library Day, which is on Saturday. Our group actually went to shelve books and visit with Ms. Ortega and Mr. Nonnemacher, who didn't know about Saturday's celebration day, but we told them!
We heard from Caroline that Pip's surgery went well. She has to take it easy for 8 weeks, and we will miss visiting with her in February and March. Here, we agree with the back of Laura's shirt that "All we need is love," and we are sending Pip lots of it! Yes, that is the back of Laura's shirt which she was wearing backward for our celebration of National Backward Day!
We played backward relay games and tried writing our names backward too, which was challenging.
No peeking, Devin!
Look the other way, Michelle!
The most fun we had celebrating Backward Day was playing a "twisted" version of musical chairs. Instead of players being eliminated for not snagging a chair, only the chairs were eliminated. If players couldn't find their own chair, they had to sit on someone's lap!
We had a lot of fun with this backward way of playing musical chairs! Most of us were wearing our clothes either backward or wrong side out, too!
Tessa got this puzzle of Kate put together very quickly! 👏
Erik and Liz solved their puzzles of Tessa and Xavier fairly quickly, too! 😛
Annmarie and Laura, buddies in real life and in puzzles, too!
We ended the day with another celebration: Hot Chocolate Day! First, we tried this "puzzle" of sorts...making words out of the letters in "Hot Chocolate." We usually make random words on our own, but today, we had clues at the bottom of the page. We solved them all! Can you?!
Drew was thrilled when he and Nan solved a clue and he pulled the correct letters to spell the answer! Looking good in your backward hoodie, Drew!
After our brain work, a tasty treat, approved by Abraham!
Thursday, February 1
Adia read us a letter she wrote telling us about her new program.
Everyone was here to see Adia today, and that made her happy! We told her we were welcoming 3 new members next week, which surprised her!
It was still chilly in the morning, so we talked about Girls and Women in Sports Day, and then played girls vs. boys corn hole inside. The boys won by 1 point!
Kate showed us a trophy she earned when she played soccer as a young girl!
We updated our calendar for February with just a few of the many activities we have planned. It's going to be a busy month!
After lunch we continued reading our book called Zorgamazoo. We are having fun listening to Lisa read it aloud, as it's an adventure told in rhyme. It's about a human girl who hooks up with a Zorgle, which is an alien-like creature, to search for some missing Zorgles. Here's a link to the book trailer if you'd like to hear a snippet!
Later, the weather had warmed up nicely, so we ended the day with fresh air, sunshine, and a brisk walk.
Friday, February 2
Happy Groundhog Day! More on that later... Up first today was work. One group to Pet Supplies Plus, and one group to cooking duty!
Carol hit the road with Kate, Laura, Liz, Patrick, Erik, and Devin. First they stocked shelves at PSP, and also showcased the pet toys on sale for Valentine's Day. On the way back to AFCC, this group stopped at Eaton to drop off the work we completed at the center this week. Eaton told us it was just in time, as they needed some gasketed lids! Yay for the extra work we do at the center for Eaton!!
Liz bought a Valentine toy for her pups Nellie and Rose to share!
It was so nice to see Rosemary, Kim, and Ethan!
While our friends were working offsite, the rest of us were working onsite to get lunch ready. Today we celebrated National Tater Tot Day and National Heavenly Hash Day with a delcious casserole and fruit salad.
Annmarie removed cherry stems and Sam cut the cherries in half.
While Annmarie stirred pineapple, cherries, and rice, Tessa whipped up fresh cream.
Kevin and Lexi added marshmallows. Our Heavenly Hash was going to be delicious!
Kevin also helped season the green beans.
Our Tater Tot Casserole included chicken, Ranch seasoning, sour cream, bacon, and of course, tots! What's not to love? Note: We made Xavier a dairy-free version!
While lunch was cooking, we got a bit of movement.
😋😋😋😋😋
After lunch we checked in with Punxsutawney Phil who said spring would be coming early!
However, our local groundhog, Chesapeake Chuck at the Virginia Living Museum, predicted 6 more weeks of winter! He also predicted the Kansas City Chiefs will win the Super Bowl on February 11th! (Chesapeake Chuck was not to be seen in the video clip we found online today, but local meteorologist Jeremy Wheeler read the official proclamation from the ceremony held earlier.)
We were delighted to welcome Annmarie's mom, Teresa, and Annmarie's niece and nephew, Dani and Jack, for a visit! They joined us in making groundhog decorations for our wall. We enjoyed getting to know them. Dani is 10 and in 5th grade. Jack is 6 and is in 1st grade.
Our wall is so cute already! Just wait until we add some hearts and maybe even a president or two!
We ended our day with a new yoga segment from Cosmic Kids and Jaime called Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Dani and Jack joined us and it was so much fun!
Yoga wrapped up our week, too. We're really looking forward to next week when we will welcome 3 new members to The Arc of Abilities: Beka, Emma, and Bryan! We hope they are ready to rock and roll...because we are going to be up to a lot of fun! Here's a look at our schedule:
Tuesday: It's the first Tuesday of the month so we will go bowling and have pizza, chips, and fruit for lunch! Thank you to our anonymous donor who is covering this month's pizza after bowling. 🍕 We are grateful for your generosity! 🤟 After lunch we'll make appreciation cards for Wendy, the manager at Bowlero, who is coming for lunch with us tomorrow. Arc shirts are optional today. If you have a bowling ball, you are welcome to bring it! For our new friends - if you don't care for pizza, you may bring a lunch from home. Any time we cook or provide lunch, you may bring your own if you choose.
Wednesday: We're celebrating our friendship with Wendy, manager at Bowlero, who takes such good care of us each month when we bowl. She'll join us for lunch and we're making Fettucine Alfredo and side salads. It's National Fettucine Alfredo Day, by the way! We'll also make Valentine decorations. After lunch, we'll welcome our friend Sandra (from Colombia) who is bringing us Valentine surprises that she made for each of us! Thank you, Sandra! We always enjoy seeing you, and cherish the love you shower on us! 💖💘💗
Thursday: Today we will travel to Yorktown for a visit with Mike at The Watermen's Museum. He's going to do a lesson on Mardi Gras with us! When we return to the center, we'll have a Super Bowl lunch/party since we'll be at Eaton tomorrow. Bring a sandwich and we will provide chips/dips, veggies, drinks, and dessert. Feel free to wear your favorite sports apparel.
Friday: We're going to Eaton for a work day, so please wear Eaton shirts and bring a bagged lunch (nothing to microwave). After we finish work, we will try for a walk at New Quarter Park if the weather is favorable; if not, we'll return to AFCC for yoga with Jaime. Dress to stretch! For our new friends, we will put in a request for Eaton shirts for you since you don't have one yet!
Enjoy the weekend,
Lisa, Carol, Nan, and the AoA Gang
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