Two Therapeutic Respite Events in July-Great Success-Caregivers Engaged!
Two Great Therapeutic Respite Events for Caregivers and Non-Caregivers Alike!
The Garden Walk and Zentangle Art Workshop held in July were well attended, a therapeutic respite activity. Ten guests arrived at the Hope House for a garden walk and to learn about Zentangle on Saturday, July 16, 2016. Jan Reisman Steinle, a Certified Zentangle Teacher @tangledbee shared with us some basics of the art form and Lisa Story of Hope Grows shared a Garden Walk and a plant propagation project with a philodendron houseplant. Lisa tied the plant project with a symbolic connection to holistic well-being and the Joy of Being. Expressing gratitude daily has many benefits. Although hard to be thankful when caregiving is overwhelming, Lisa shared helpful tips on how to incorporate practices of daily gratitude Pictures of the event have been posted on facebook and many comments were well received. Some of which included, “The garden walk on Saturday was a great success! My friends loved it and so did I! I hope you enjoyed yourself too?” “I am so glad you offer activities that take my mind off of caregiving.”
Neighborhood Nestwatch
The second part of the weekend included seventeen (17) guests joining Hope Grows at the Hope House for the National Aviary’s Neighborhood Nestwatch. The location of the Hope House is one of the many Neighborhood Nestwatch site’s for the Eight Focal Study Species on the Effects of Urbanization on Bird Populations. Matt and Mike from the National Aviary netted 40 birds on Sunday morning, the 17th of July, 2016. Ten of the birds netted were six of the eight species the Aviary and Smithsonian are studying. The birds were banded, measured and weighed, and then released. Three of the birds that were netted were from last year’s banding, which was the first year the study began at the Hope House.
This was exciting to learn that the Carolina Wren, the Northern Cardinal, and the Song Sparrow have chosen the Hope Grows environment as their home. The species banded this year included the Northern Cardinal, the Carolina Wren, the American Robin, the Carolina Chickadee, the House Wren, and the Sound Sparrow. The Gray Catbird and the Northern Mockingbird were not found, but many other species not included in the study were netted: a Rosebreasted Grossbeak, a Towhee, and a Scarlet Tanager to name a few; even a Barred Owl was heard in the back. Adults and children alike were able to learn about the birds, hold them, and release them back into their habitat. If you missed the event this year, no worries. You can join us throughout the year for bird watching so that we can continue to site the birds banded and add to the Smithsonian’s data they are continuously collecting.