LiveWorkPlay Building Productive Lives Making A Buzz In The Ottawa Community Serving People With Intellectual Disabilities Since 1995 ON OUR OWN TOGETHER II Interdependence - Independence - Self-Advocacy The Innovative LiveWorkPlay Approach To Long-Term Housing For People With Intellectual Disabilities May 22: Day 15 A lot of people had their laundry done on Thursday or Friday so the laundry room wasn't quite as busy this morning. There was an enormous youth conference going on so the cafeteria was pretty crowded. Everyone eats together but the group is practicing leaving at different times afterwards. Lucas was ready to leave so he asked if anyone wanted to go back with him, and Jen and Ryan said yes. Then another small group left in about five minutes later, and then another small group about five minutes after that, and then one last group that was feeling particularly chatty. Grocery lists were either already done or assembled quickly without much help from Julie or Keenan. Warren asked if people thought his "lettuce" was getting a bit too rubbery, to which the reply came: "It's hard to say because that's celery." Then it was off to catch the 4 to Billings. Arriving at the grocery store it didn't take long for most people today. Julie was busy picking up items for the barbecue coming up at Pennie's in a few hours. Jen, Jenny and Rachel got a little help from Keenan with how to get around the store efficiently. They were very focused on following the list, but they were following it in the order they wrote it, which meant criss-crossing the store instead of picking up two items on the list that were in the same aisle. It was a good workout anyway! Ian and Warren and some other people had frozen goods so they went ahead as one group, and then another group came later when everyone was through the checkout. A few naps were had after shopping. Rachel decided to do some laundry but left it a bit late and needed some help to figure out how to get organized in time to leave for the barbecue. In the end it was just a matter of everyone leaving ten minutes later than originally planned, which worked out just fine. The only person who was confident to walk from the Bayview O-Train stop to Pennie's house was Robin and she was at work, so Keenan rode the rails with the group and Julie brought the van with all the food. It turned out that about half the group figured out exactly where to go without any help and Keenan just tagged along. Pennie welcome everyone and the cooking began almost immediately. Well, the eating began immediately because there were chips and veggies ready to go. Then there were veggie dogs, veggie burgers, hamburgers, cheeseburgers, chicken burgers, sausages, and hot dogs. Yep, that's all! Lucas, Ryan, and Jen were settled in to watch the hockey game while the rest of the group was socializing with Pennie downstairs. Lucas could hardly stop laughing when Keenan broke his fork trying to eat a quadruple cheeseburger, so he borrowed the camera and captured the moment. Rachel, Moira, and Caroline found a sofa to their liking and settled in while Paul played DJ, spinning tunes mostly from contemporary Canadian artists. Robin found her way to Pennie's after work without any help demonstrating quite an impressive memory. The socializing was so good that even the very close game seven between Philadelphia and Tampa Bay was poorly attended in the TV room. John checked in from time to time, but was more interested in the action in the music room. Pennie is a Flyers fan but she was sort of happy they lost because now she can cheer wholeheartedly for Calgary along with Cooper and others who can't wait for the final series to start on Tuesday. The pattern for the day continued with the group deciding to leave the party in shifts. It was all over before 11:00 but it had been a jam-packed 4 hours. Despite a very busy day, another little social gathering got underway back in the lounge when Margot showed up for a visit. She is attending a Haiku conference (yes, they have conferences!) and met up with the group coming back from the party. Showing extraordinary stamina, Rachel, Robin, and Jenny carried on until midnight. As you can see from Rachel's choice of beverage, it seemed like she didn't want the day to end! PICTURES! Is this still good? Did I forget anything? Riding the rails Good company Good talk Quadruple burger? Getting sleepy Special visitor The girls up late