Fall Harvest Festival- Happy 1 Year Ringwood!
Our October was a whirlwind of fun with a Fall Harvest Celebration and other fall themed activities for the Residents. Our Ringwood location celebrated our 1 year anniversary since opening and we had quite the party with family and friends of our Residents. Read on below to hear about some of our highlights for the month.
A Fall Feast:
We had a veritable feast spread out for Residents and guests to enjoy! There were pulled-pork sandwiches a plenty, lots of pasta, and mouth watering gravy and turkey. Our family's famous baked beans and fresh-roasted corn rounded out the selection. Sweets included the fall-favorite of pumpkin pie as well as a massive cake decorated in The Heathers classic purple.
Thank you Sandy and Kim!:
Ringwood would never have gotten to be the cheery and fun home that it is without the love and Care of our CNA’s. CNA’s Kim and Sandy have been with us since the beginning and therefore it was a celebration of the one year mark for them as much as it was for us. While Sandy was there to celebrate with us, unfortunately Kim couldn’t be there during the festivities. We are incredibly grateful to both though for all of their hard work and dedication. Founder Sandy Garifo would like to thank Sandy and Kim for “how wonderfully they look after your loved ones and for all the passion and care” they bring to the Heathers. We have loved having you both and hope to work with you for many more years to come. Thank you as well to all of our amazing CNA’s.
Sweet Sheep:
A novel highlight of the afternoon were the antics of the sheep Ringwood is currently host to. The small herd frolicked and played and baaaa’d until their heart's content, earning squeals of excitement from the children and lots of laughs from the other guests in attendance. The sheep that currently reside at Ringwood serve as a natural way to clear the 3 acre yard of unwanted vegetation. I spoke to the owner Ben of @VegetationSoultions about how he got into such an interesting career path. He explained to me that he didn’t want a normal job so he got himself two goats and his business bloomed from there; he now owns over 300 animals, about half of them sheep and the other half goats. One interesting detail that intrigued many of the Residents and guests was how long the ewes’ and lambs’ tails were. Ben taught us that since his sheep were hair sheep instead of wool their tails didn't need to be docked. The small herd will remain at Ringwood for a few more days before they head back to Ben’s farm in Wisconsin to prepare for their next adventure.
Kooky Crafting:
In addition to our Fall Harvest, our Ringwood Residents enjoyed several fall-themed crafting activities. We made felt magnets shaped like little mice. Each mouse was then given a little speech bubble where Residents were free to write whatever they wished their mouse to say. Mary’s mouse expressed how he wanted to do a Conga line, while Jane’s mouse squeaked that his favorite color is yellow. Meanwhile, Georgia’s mouse was excited for the fall season. As an added bonus, the speech bubbles are dry erase so they can be changed anytime inspiration strikes.
Of course, it wouldn’t be Spooky Season without some Pumpkin decorating. This past Thursday we broke out the craft pumpkins and the art supplies. Residents could choose from pre-made kits, little plastic Mr. Potato Head-like pieces, or to freestyle their own way with light up eyes, stickers, pipe cleaners, paint and more. Jane made a lovely butterfly-kitty with the help of CNA Cindy. Georgia used a rainbow array of glitter stickers with her pumpkins to create bold designs. Vi and Heather’s founder Sandy worked together on a magical masked unicorn. Mary and I rocked out a picasso-esque abstract pumpkin adorned with a purple bow. Some of the evening's other creations took the form of multi-colored monsters and one even looked like Groucho Marx! After all that hard work we re-energized ourselves with cherry scones and cookies.
