BOLD VENTURES
May 2020
Blind Outdoor Leisure Development
BOLD welcomes persons 18 and older with all degrees of vision: blind, low vision, partially sighted and fully sighted.
PO Box 8114
Pittsburgh, PA 15217
Editorial team: Veronique Schreurs, Nancy Leverett, Terri Winaught, Peggy Walsh
Email: boldwpa@gmail.com
Website: www.wpabold.blogspot.com
IMPORTANT INFORMATION DURING THIS DIFFICULT TIME!
Almost all events we planned are cancelled BUT YOGA KEEPS GOING! It is free of charge! For details on how to dial in, email Veronique at veronik43@gmail.com, or call 412-225-4038.
Yoga done by conference call! Every Thursday it starts at 2:45pm, call in at 2:42pm. It is a one-hour session. Don’t call too much before the starting time! Read a personal perspective at the end by one of our younger members, Lizzie McKay, and by Bold supporter Sheila McBride.
The Bold board of directors is available and can be reached by phone IF YOU NEED HELP or just need to talk to someone. Please leave a message: if they cannot talk at that moment, they will call you back. Make sure you leave your phone number!
Here are the numbers to call:
Tammi home: 412-488-6298
Nancy home: 412-561-3972
Penny home: 412-415-3871
Veronique cell: 412-225-4038
Terri cell: 412-595-6187
Peggy home: 412-683-6070
Joyce home: 412-521-4385.
New weekly chat session! Every Tuesday at 7pm, starting April 21 and continuing weekly after that, we will have a one-hour chat session where our Bold members can tell each other how they are doing during this difficult time. This is also a time you can ask for help if you need it.
Number to call: 1-605-475-6777, passcode 265396# don’t forget # at the end.
If you don’t have free long distance on your phone, call Joyce 412-521-4385 or Peggy 412-683-6070 at least one hour ahead, one of them can tap you in.
Here is how it works best:
Call in and say your name, even if you hear talking. Then mute yourself by pressing *6. The board member who is moderating will check who is on the call at 7:05pm, then will say a person’s name. Unmute yourself again by pressing *6, then start talking about what’s on your mind. It doesn’t have to be Bold related. We are trying to have only one person talk at a time after the initial 5 minutes. Note that the board meeting is now private because it would be too confusing for the board to get things done. People can join the chat session instead.
Please let the moderators know you will be dialing in one hour or more ahead. They are:
Tammy on April 21, 7pm,
Nancy on April 28, 7pm,
Penny on May 5, 7pm. (The Bold board meeting will be after this one-hour call, and is private).
Veronique on May 12, 7pm,
Karen on May 19, 7pm,
Terri on May 26, 7pm,
Joyce on June 2, 7pm.
We understand it may be a learning process to be on a group call and to have to wait till the moderator calls your name, but we hope it will be an enjoyable experience, and take you out of isolation.
CULTURAL EVENTS
There will be no Opera, Symphony / Chamber music or Theater plays until further notice.
Anyone who has tickets: please hold onto them till we learn more about their future use.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Exciting to look forward to Blind Tennis! But no date is yet set.
Email Dana Costa if you want information: danajoy216@hotmail.com
412-576-4103
BOLD BITS
Happy birthday to Erin Wagner, Jerry Penfield, Joyce Mulkern, Bruce Leverett and anyone else with a May birthday.
Penny Fleckenstein asks us to keep her sister Darunee, who is back in chemotherapy, in your thoughts and prayers.
PERSONAL PERSPECTIVE by Lizzie McKay
Every Sunday or Monday, I begin to wonder how long I have to wait until Thursday and BOLD Yoga. I love walking into the Schoolhouse studio to cheerful greetings, and the rhythmic thwacking of wagging guide dog tails. Our kind, thoughtful and funny instructor, Richard, then guides us through an hour and fifteen minutes of breathing through stretches, twists and balancing poses. Every class is different, and he sprinkles interesting facts about the body (he knows all the bones and muscles!), yoga, culture, and myriad other topics throughout. I am so grateful for his wisdom, and that he makes yoga -- which I've often found frustrating because it's typically taught in a visual way -- accessible by describing each pose. People typically take their yoga brains to Mineo’s afterwards for veggie pizza and carrot cake, which I really enjoy whenever I join them. I look forward to continuing our usual in-person practice (and pizza) soon.
Since quarantine, Veronique and Richard have kindly brought yoga to our homes via conference call. I still look forward to saying hello to everyone, and sharing our weekly dose of relaxation and exercise. We have focused lately on calming the body with the breath, and working the lymph system to boost immune support during these uncertain weeks. I find myself returning to these practices throughout the week, and am grateful for the familiarity and newness provided by our weekly meetings. If you have never done yoga before, or haven't practiced in a long time, I encourage you to consider joining a session soon to try it out! It just might bring you the gift of peace during the pandemic and beyond.
PERSONAL PERSPECTIVE by Sheila McBride
As a sighted friend of BOLD, I have long heard of the warm, encouraging atmosphere of the Thursday yoga classes, and managed to attend a few sessions when I wasn’t working. Working from home during the coronavirus era has gifted me the freedom to join the weekly day time class, now held on the phone.Dialing in, Richard’s friendly voice sets the tone – for me and my curious dog, Wally. Wally’s baffled brown face looms over each floor stretch, waiting to squash my feet on standing poses. We look forward to it every week! Thank you, BOLD.
THE END