\u201cFor whatever reason, I have a profound affinity for alphabet books,\u201d said Rachael Jones of Walla Walla, who has quite a collection of unique, interesting and charming ones, ranging from \u201cP is for Pterodactyl\u201d to \u201cQ is for Quark.\u201d<\/p>\n
In particular, she says, \u201cThose books are informational, whimsical and delightful.\u201d<\/p>\n
For more than a decade, she mulled over the idea of creating her own informational alphabet book about Quail Run Retirement Community on Plaza Way, where she serves as manager.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have kept a document in the computer to record my ideas for each letter,\u201d she said, such as \u201cA is for apples, with which to make pies. Laurie\u2019s are famous; she\u2019s won many a prize.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
P is for Parke<\/p>\n
Courtesy<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Q is for Quail Run<\/p>\n
Courtesy<\/p>\n
The Laurie in question is senior cook Laurie Chambers.<\/p>\n
\u201cP is for Parke,\u201d Jones writes, \u201cthough he\u2019s unknown to some. He was the manager when had first come. We worked in the office; we worked side by side. Oh, how I miss him, since he has died.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nearly a lifelong Walla Walla resident, Parke Thomas was a beloved, integral part of the Quail Run community. Jones said when they started there, Parke became manager in February 2010 and she came on board the staff that October. He retired in 2020 and died May 29, 2024.<\/p>\n
\u201cI came to this position after 10 years of teaching at various private schools in the Northwest. I graduated with a bachelor\u2019s in education from Walla Walla University in 1993 and earned a master of education in ’97.\u201d<\/p>\n
Titled \u201cQ is for Quail Run,\u201d Jones\u2019 book cover uses her employer\u2019s logo of an iconic plump galliforme, a ground-dwelling, short, round-bodied, stubby-tailed game bird with a distinctive, forward-drooping head plume and zippy, erratic flight when startled.<\/p>\n
Quail Run resident Therese Falkner alerted the newspaper about the \u201cmost lovely A-Z illustrated book (Rachael) has penned over the years, outlining what it’s like to live at Quail Run.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is so engagingly written and beautifully illustrated and so ‘out of the box’ that I thought it should be shared,\u201d Falkner noted.<\/p>\n
\u201cI’ve often thought that those who are in the process of making the decision of whether or not they should make the move to a formal retirement setting could use a little help in the types of information available to them \u2014 perhaps a little something in addition to all the available literature outlining just the facts,\u201d Falkner added.<\/p>\n
Jones tapped into illuminated letters, those decorative, ornate gold- or silver-leafed capital letters found in ancient and medieval manuscripts and books, often embellished with reader-engaging bright colors and intricate designs.<\/p>\n
While Jones did not generate the illustrations, she has been successful in drawing in readers with her charming text, 100% her own composition.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have always loved writing as a way to process emotion, to convey funny or whimsical messages, or just to play with the interplay of words. Poetry seems to flow fairly naturally with me. I have written collegiate term papers in verse, just because I could,\u201d Jones said<\/p>\n
The \u201cAmericana\u201d style font she chose for the 26-page book echoes that typeface featured in the Quail Run logo.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A is for apples<\/p>\n
Courtesy<\/p>\n
She found free graphics, background art and alphabet options through Google searches and chose the ones best suited for each letter. Her photographs are also sprinkled throughout.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn’t think about a target audience in particular; I just wanted to do it for the love of doing it. I am a writer of sorts and find joy in the creative process,\u201d Jones said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe impetus for this book coming together at last was a list of our residents’ names in a particular order, starting with the matching, similar, or rhyming pairs of names that we have here. From there, I found the cadence and managed to put all the names together.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis became the \u2019N\u2019 page. From there, the book came together in just a couple of weeks. I had one made through Shutterfly and when the residents saw it, they decided they would like copies as well. We are getting some more made through Shutterfly for them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shutterfly, LLC. is a photography, photography products and image-sharing company based in San Jose, California.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think she has additional ideas floating around in that creative head of hers about how to share what it’s like living in a formal retirement facility\u201d in this area, said Falkner, who is onto something.<\/p>\n
Jones said she\u2019s currently working on \u201cR is for Retirement,\u201d a book about retirement options and resources in the Walla Walla Valley.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is not as cute or whimsical as my Quail Run book, but it does condense a lot of information into an approachable format,\u201d Jones said.<\/p>\n
Quail Run, which currently has 52 residents, is owned by Mark and Vivianne Lounsbury.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cFor whatever reason, I have a profound affinity for alphabet books,\u201d said Rachael Jones of Walla Walla, who…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":439269,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3938],"tags":[3444,77,16,15,148708],"class_list":{"0":"post-439268","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-books","8":"tag-books","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-wwub-reporters"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115238394153652665","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439268","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=439268"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439268\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/439269"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=439268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=439268"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=439268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}