Location: Lakeview Nursing and Rehabilitation Center
Date: Sunday, April 07, 2013; 2:30-4:00 pm
Wilson and I drove to Lakeview
and since there were a few minutes to the start of the program, he dropped me
off at a coffee shop to grab a quick bite.
I asked if he wanted anything and he said he would find something in his
car and even offered to find a granola bar for me. Seeing that his car is nothing short of a
thrift store on wheels, I wasn't sure how long that would take and so decided
to take my chances elsewhere. I ate as
soon as possible and reported to Lakeview Nursing on time.
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| Stained Glass Window - This one's by Lisa |
I arrived to find Wilson and
Alisa, and we were soon joined by two other volunteers, Sarah – who attends this
program every month – and Lisa – who I am beginning to see at multiple
projects, the last time being at Wells Street Café. Alisa told us that the project for today was
making Stained Glass Window using parchment paper as base and some colored
tissue paper for design. Whenever anyone
mentions Stained glass window, visions of old cathedrals come into my head. So making one over here was an intimidating
thought. But Alisa showed us how to do
it and as usual, my fears were more of the unknown and the untried. All one had to do was draw a design on the
parchment paper and then fill in the design with colored tissue paper
pieces. At the end when put against the
window, it presented the desired effect.
I took some supplies to a
neighboring table and was joined by Lisa and one of the residents Anna, who had
sat next to me at the previous month’s project.
Also with us was Carlos, one of the staff members, and who enjoys
participating in this project. Wilson
dropped off more stuff on our table, some things that he had in his car, and
I for one have no idea where he finds these things.
He then left to find some residents who could join us for this
activity. I asked Anna if she wanted to
make something and she said that she would much rather watch. The main problem that I had was the initial design. I solicited some ideas and Lisa said that I
could do a fruit basket. I liked that
and asked if she would mind drawing that design for me on the parchment
paper. Lisa is a gifted person when it
comes to arts and in no time she had created a magnificent fruit basket, with
designs for banana, apple, orange, grapes and pineapple
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| And my fruit basket |
I started by shredding the yellow
tissue paper and pasting it on the banana.
Anna was watching me intently and I told her that a banana should have
some brown stains, and so we added some patches of brown paper as well. Making this banana reminded me of one of the
more miserable experiences of my life.
Last year, I was participating in a ‘cleanse program’ with a friend,
where you participated in a fixed menu each day. One of the days was a consumption of 6 bananas’
and milk. I decided to make a milkshake
and after having it for multiple meals, I was done with bananas for the rest
of my life. Next, I asked Anna if the
apple should be green or red. She said
always red and so I proceeded to do that.
Next was the pineapple, and here I used an overlap of orange and green
tissue paper to give an effect of a pineapple. I turned my attention to grapes and asked Anna
if she wanted them green or red. She
said that being from Detroit, she loved cherries. I failed to see the connection, but said I
could do that. Plus, her favorite color
is pink and so she was looking forward to cherries. I
did that and our picture was now looking really good, though it
could not hold a candle to the great thing that Lisa had come up with.
All this time I was wondering
where my buddy Emma was, and Wilson told me that her daughter was visiting and thus she
was busy. Well, even without her, we
were making some good progress. Unfortunately, before some of these projects
were over, Alisa asked us to shut down. I
gave my half-finished picture to Anna and she was delighted. Alisa had made a flower design of her own and
also a heart. She was going to throw
these away, but I asked if I could keep it – as a demo and a reminder of what
is possible. Alisa joked that I better take special care of her heart and
promised to put it up on my project's wall at work. As I packed the supplies and prepared to leave for the next project, I learned
that Lisa was going to be attending that with us as well. It had been a satisfactory afternoon and Anna’s
enthusiasm had made it worthwhile. I bid
goodbye to Anna, and Wilson and I headed for our third project of the day. And
while it wouldn't make it to any church, we had done a decent job of
designing some Stained Glass Windows.
*All the client's names have been changed in order to respect their privacy
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