Fall Arrives and It Was Warm!

 

Even though it has felt like fall weather for a couple of weeks, we officially welcomed the new season this week.  But we wondered, what happened to the fall-like weather? The week began fairly comfortable on Tuesday, but the rest of the week was hot and sticky!  As always, we rolled with it, and had a great week.  On Tuesday we enjoyed time in the garden with the master gardeners and then more time outside enjoying Freedom Park.  We completed our GCOC volunteering and CSL flower service projects on Wednesday and on Thursday we welcomed two very special friends for lunch.  By Friday, it was time to work at Pet Supplies Plus and wrap up the week with our annual lesson on Johnny Appleseed, always a favorite! 

Tuesday

Our visit with the master gardeners today was all about herbs and spices.  Krafty Karen taught us that herbs generally come from the leaves and stems of plants.  Basil, parsley, oregano, and rosemary come to mind and are all herbs we grown in our raised bed garden. Spices generally come from other parts of plants such as roots, bark, stems, and seeds.  Cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg are examples.

Both herbs and spices can be used in sweet or savory dishes.  We always enjoy when the gardeners have samples for us to feel or smell.  Today we had many examples including basil, sage, and vanilla beans!

These are the herbs and spices (including dried and ground spices) that Karen brought to use in her lesson today.  Those sitting close to her table could smell many aromas.  She teased us about the spices and said she had made us a snack that used every spice she brought!  We couldn't find out what it was until after we checked the garden to see how our plants from last session were doing, and also plant more seeds.

We were happy to see that the plants were doing well!  Last week's rain was great for our cabbage, collards, Brussels sprouts, Swiss chard, and kohlrabi.  We had planted carrots, radishes, and lettuce by seed last time, and they were doing well, too!  This week, Laura and Liz worked with MG Rick to plant spinach seeds and mesclun green seeds.  We see a salad harvest in our future!  Liz and Gail also cut basil for us to take back to the center so we can make more pesto!

Back at the tables we learned that Karen had used all of the spices she shared today to bake Big and Soft Ginger Cookies!  She predicted we would like them (no kidding) and said it was a new recipe for her, but an instant favorite.

She was correct about us.  Thomas and ALL of us loved them!  She challenged us to see which spices we could taste and we all agreed on ginger, cinnamon, and cloves.  We liked the softness compared to traditional ginger snap cookies, too.  Thanks for these very tasty cookies, Karen!  We know you are still in recovery from your neck surgery, and even though moving and stretching is good for you, you didn't have to bake for us!  We hope our joy as we enjoyed the ginger cookies brought you joy!!  Thank you for the recipe, too.  These will make an appearance at the Arc of Abilities again! 😉🎄

Look at the lovely flowers Karen shared from her yard!  The big pink one is called Rose of Sharon.  It's in the hibiscus family and is so pretty, just as our Annmarie! 

Getting photos at the garden was hard today with the sun casting shadows everywhere.  Looks like Carolyn had some pretty good luck, as evidenced by this beautiful journal page!

After we finished with the MGs, we ate lunch on the patio behind the Interpretive Center and then took a walk.  We were grateful for this nice day, even though it was feeling a little like summer.

It had been a while since we played bocce, so after our walk we set up a game on the freshly cut grass.  Some of our guys seemed a little rusty as they overshot their rolls, but by the time we finished, most of them had gotten their aim on track and we had competitive teams!

Back at the center, Lisa and Carol shared an update on Tessa they received over the weekend.  Her birthday was last Friday, and she loved the cards we sent!  Happy Birthday, sweet Tessa!  We hope all your wishes come true!  (We heard you got fries from Shorty's...yum!)

Tessa's mom, Michelle, gave us an update that is very uplifting!  Tessa is walking without her rollator.  She still has a few balance issues, so she feels better with someone holding her gait belt, but this is big news!  She's also getting up and down from low seats, and that includes being able to take restroom breaks on her own.  Her current goal is to get up from being on the floor, and she's exercising every day as she works toward achieving it!  We are so proud of you Tessa, and very excited about your latest update!  We cannot wait for you to be able to come back to the program, and we know that is another one of your goals!  You can do it.  Everyone is pulling for you!!

Happy 25th Birthday to Tessa!

Wednesday

Since it wasn't therapy dog Wednesday, we resumed our volunteer work at the school library and GCOC.  We made flower arrangements for CSL, too.  We also welcomed Marisol and the corgis for a visit and did some food prep for tomorrow's luncheon.  It was a busy day. 

Thanks Library Ladies!  We're so proud of the work you (and others who didn't go today) do each week at the JRES Library!

The flowers donated by Trader Joe's this week were very colorful.  We appreciate our crew that helped create the arrangements!

Our GCOC group did a great job today working alongside our favorite volunteers Joel, Peggy, Ursula, and Tom to bag canned goods for the food pantry.  We even got to work with a junior volunteer, Coulson, who was on Fall Break from school.  He's the son of Lauren, who is GCOC's Operations Director.  We enjoyed getting to know him, and he's an outstanding worker!  Even though we were there to serve, in the end, we got a treat.  Ursula made delicious soft and chocolatey brownies!  💖 

We are blessed by the friendship and love from Ursula, Peggy, Joel, and Tom.  Thank you all for supporting and loving us!

Marisol, Tucker, Nellie, and Louie spent time with us again today!  We missed them when the therapy dogs visited last week, and we were happy that Marisol had time to visit this week.  She and Nan were twinning in their pretty flowered tops!

We very much enjoyed sitting around and chatting with Marisol, who is filled with fun stories about the corgis' adventures.  She brings great books too, and today, Lisa read one to us about a dog and a duck who become friends...it was so sweet when the duck had 9 duckling babies and the dog joined her in caring for them!  Thanks for visiting, Marisol.  Our guys truly love chit-chatting, and you've always got so many cool stories to share!  

We were busy this morning at Grove, arranging flowers, and preparing some of the dishes for tomorrow's lunch.  But once Marisol and the pups arrived, Allison stepped in to finish up the cookies.  Thanks, Allison, for making sure we have a dessert for tomorrow!! 😘

We used fresh basil from the garden to make more pesto this afternoon.  Gail, Erik, and Michelle went through the washed basil and picked out the best leaves.  We made two batches and froze it for future use!  😋🪴

By the end of the day we had time for an indoor workout.  Thanks, GoNoodle, for your silly, catchy, upbeat videos!  We had just finished making birthday cards for a couple of long-distance friends, and decided it was too muggy for kickball outside.  What happened to fall?!  Kickball will be rescheduled when it decides to come back!

Thursday

We had a wonderful time visiting with Randy and Sally today!  Some of you may remember our friend, Nancy, who was in the Arc of Abilities from the beginning until she relocated to Kentucky. 

 Her brother Randy, and sister-in-law, Sally, chose to remain friends with us, and ever since Nancy moved in 2021, they have stayed in touch and brought us a number of treats...just because!

Before our guests arrived, we had some preparing to do.  Our fall tree was missing something with just the colorful leaves, so we made a cute little squirrel craft using a toilet paper roll.  We colored and cut out parts, as Kate and Patrick were doing here, and then glued them strategically to the TP rolls.  They really came to life once we added googly eyes.

The squirrels look good in the tree!

We also had to finish preparing today's lunch.  Shoutouts to Kevin, Gail, Drew, Carol, and Nan for getting our pasta/veggie salad and cole slaw ready.  Gail got a kick out of adding a little sugar, which is the secret ingredient in Nan's cole slaw!

We tidied the room and fancied up all of our tables since it was our first time hosting Randy and Sally.  We wanted it to be extra special. 

Of course we have to shine the spotlight on our delicious lunch!  Lisa prepared the pulled pork by cooking it overnight at her house.  The orange gelatin salad and pumpkin cookies were made yesterday.  There's that beautiful pasta salad, and our apologies for leaving out Nan's famous cole slaw!  Also shown is a tray of sweets Sally brought for us.  What a wonderful lunch with our dear friends!

Randy and Sally brought some other goodies, too.  We each got a small bottle of hand-sanitizer, and the group got a bag of "gourmet" taffy to share.  Sally says it's guaranteed to not stick to our teeth!  Thanks for all the treats, Randy and Sally, and for joining us for lunch today.  It was great to catch up with you, and to introduce you to a few of our friends you had not met before.  We really enjoyed your visit!

After our visit with Randy and Sally, Patrick shared the postcards he brought from his trip out west.  He just returned today after almost 3 weeks of traveling that took him to many national parks, including Yellowstone, Zion, Bryce, and Arches, to name a few!

Patrick got to see other interesting places too, like the Buffalo Bill Museum of the West where he could get up close to these bison.   He told us he saw a lot of live bison, too!  We are glad you're back, Pat, but so happy you had a wonderful trip.  Thanks for sharing your photos and postcards with us!!

We ended our day with an activity for National One-Hit Wonder Day.  There are so many of them that we recognize, but of course, we have no idea who the artist is!  In this picture, we had turned our backs from the screen while Lisa played snippets from a few one-hit wonders like "Don't Worry, Be Happy" by Bobby McFerrin and one of our favorite dance warm up songs, "Dance Monkey," by Tones and I.  (Who's that?!)  We not only guessed most of them, but sang along too!

We were most surprised to find out that "We Don't Talk About Bruno" made Billboard's Top 25 One Hit Wonders of the 21st Century, landing at #16!  

Friday

We began winding down the week with a morning of work.  Our Pet Supplies Plus group was all over the store as they completed a number of tasks!

The boys were busy stocking shelves.  Xavier helped Scott lift big jugs of kitty litter (great workout!) and then moved on to help Erik stock products for dogs.  Scott mentioned that he had shelved a lot of those kitty litter jugs yesterday, so he also enlisted Devin's help to do it today so he could catch a break!  Meanwhile, Bryan was busy stocking products on the bird aisle.

The girls were working hard, too!  Alexis and Kate removed "sale" stickers carefully so the regular (non-sale) price of each item would be visible.  Gail did a great job folding and rolling towels for the grooming and pet-bath areas.

Speaking of a "sale," PSP is having a 20% off All Products sale this weekend only!  Better hurry while supplies last.  Your favorite pets will thank you!  Kate picked up a Halloween costume for her dog, Lucy.  Thanks, Roxanne, for taking the photo so we could see our fearless leader Carol for once.  She's always behind the scenes (and camera) when the PSP gang works!

Close up!  We are happy to give PSP a shoutout.  They are a great vocational partner for us!!

Meanwhile, the AFCC crew was involved in a sticky mess this morning!  For Johnny Appleseed Day, we wanted to make a "healthy" version of apple turnovers.  The batter consisted of cream cheese, butter, and flour, but it was so sticky (even after chilling), we couldn't roll it out to make turnovers.  Someone suggested we make cookies with it, but Lisa pointed out that the ingredients would probably taste more like biscuit dough.  Sooo, we threw in some leftover shredded cheese we had on hand, and turned our turnover dough into drop biscuit dough.  They had a good taste but were dense on the inside.  Still, our gang gave them a thumbs up!

We doubled the recipe for the turnover dough, and our hand mixer just couldn't handle it.  Patrick and Liz scraped and mixed as best they could.  At one point, we had dough flying everywhere!

Those who weren't making a mess with the dough helped tidy up and create more colorful creations for our room.

Thomas and Michelle removed decorations we had put up for yesterday's luncheon.

Thomas, Laura, Kevin, and Michelle used fall colors to make more things to add to the wall where our tree is.

So, what did we do about our Johnny Appleseed Day treat?  We ended up making a simple cobbler.  We topped it with vanilla ice cream, and it hit the spot!  (Note:  We didn't eat all the biscuits!)

Our Johnny Appleseed lesson after lunch included a very interesting Mystery Science episode explaining why some apples are red and others are green.  It has to do with something called "selection" and how apple growers over the years have chosen which seeds to continue planting (from new growth) and which ones to ignore.  Well, something like that!  

Our tradition on Johnny Appleseed Day is to watch Disney's 1948 film about him, which we always find very entertaining, especially the catchy song!  Click our photo for a link to the film if you've got about 17 minutes to chill.  Might want to bake your apple cobbler first, though!

Finally, in case you were wondering, here are some of our movement activities from today.  First, it was too warm and muggy to walk outside, so we took a jammin' hallway walk.  Thanks, Liz, for setting up our little speaker with a good beat!  Lisa decided to film a full lap, which takes about 1 minute.  We usually walk for 10-15 minutes.

At the end of each day we stack our chairs and put tables away, too.  It's a quick burst of weightlifting!

Once those tables were put away, we were ready to head home and start our weekend!  It looks like it might be rainy, but hopefully everyone will have a great one.  Here are our plans for next week:

Tuesday:  We have our eyes on the forecast as some tropical "stuff" is brewing in the Atlantic, but if it's not raining, we are going to visit a new place for us, the Air Power Park in Hampton.  We may end up switching today with Thursday, but we'll have to wait and see.  We'll also visit Gosnold's Hope Park for lunch and a walk.  Bring a bagged lunch unless Lisa sends an email on Monday saying otherwise.

Wednesday:  We will do our service projects for Grove and Commonwealth Senior Living, so please wear Arc shirts today.  We'll also update our calendar for October and do a fun craft to celebrate National Pumpkin Seed Day.  Welcome, October!  Lunch on your own.  JRES Cafeteria is serving Asian Chicken w/ Veggies and Rice or Flatbread Sandwich.

Thursday:  We're going to celebrate two national days:  Smarties Day (the candy!) and a new one for us, Produce Misting Day!  We will tie these into our cooking for this week as we prepare (by popular demand) Chicken Caesar Pasta Salad for lunch, along with a fresh veggie tray and Smarties cookies.  We'll learn some fun facts about both Smarties and veggies, and have some brain work, too!

Friday:  Today is National Manufacturing Day, and it just so happens that we are going to our manufacturing job at Eaton!  We are hoping for some nice fall weather so we can eat lunch and play games at the park after we finish our work.  Please wear Eaton shirts and bring a bagged lunch.

ONLY 1 WEEK AWAY!  It's not to late to sign up, and remember, if you can't come in person you can register to walk virtually so you can still support The Arc!

Coming soon...this is a really fun morning for all ages, so get your costume ready and plan to stop by for Halloween fun!

Have a great weekend,

Lisa, Carol, Nan, and the AoA Gang