Wonder Where I Went?

I haven't posted an entry since Tuesday and I don't think it is because I've been doing lots of wonderful things, the time just seems to fly by and then it is time to go to bed! 

Today we had company for dinner and that was fun! Bob and Joanie, along with Mike and Sharon were here for a Ponti's dinner, on their way home to Michigan from Jenny Lake. Bob bought the Ponti's (pizza and wings) and I made a salad and dessert (grape pie and/or ice cream with berries). We had a lot of laughs and got caught up on each other's lives. 

Today was a mostly rainy day, one of those good rains that waters the new lawn and flowers. It cleared by late afternoon and some of us were able to get a walk in after dinner. I rowed in the rain this morning, but it was a light rain and it actually felt good. 

This afternoon the 3 of us went to the Rochester International Jazz Festival to hear the Odyssey Jazz Band perform. They were playing at one of the free, outside venues and they sounded good. We got to see some Odyssey folks we haven't seen in a while. 

This past week at school has been crazy as I had extra responsibilities of putting out the school newsletter, doing report cards for 400 children and helping plan a retirement party for 2 colleagues who have done their time! Next Friday is Field Day, which means that I have another crazy week ahead of me. If you have any pull with the weather gods, I could really use decent weather next Friday or else I have to cancel Field Day and that would break my heart along with the hearts of 850 kids. See what you can do!

Corey made it home from his kayak instructor's course with his certification. He starts teaching next week. 

Tomorrow is Father's Day, which means one thing around here. Jim and Corey will be running in the MedVed 5K for ALS. Jim and either Tucker and Corey have won the Father/Son category at this race for the last 8 years. Tomorrow they go for win number 9. I will get to the race early so I can help with registration, a job that I have done for almost as many years. I'm hoping the weather is cooperative tomorrow because I would like to get a good bike ride in after the race. 

I am almost finished with the baby sweater I am knitting for a colleague whose wife is pregnant. I will most likely complete it tomorrow and will post a photo at a future date. 

Time to go to bed-another busy day tomorrow.

Hope all is well.

Cool, Cool, Cool

Phew, we survived the latest heat wave! Today we had a couple of good rain storms blow through and the afternoon one cleared the air and dropped the temperature by at least 15 degrees! Pleasant is now a word I would use to describe the great outdoors! We did not have the wild storms that have ripped through the mid-west and we are keeping all those folks who have suffered at the hands of mother nature in our thoughts. But we welcome a respite from the heat and humidity. 

Yesterday I did my spinning demonstration for the kindergartners and they were mesmerized by the wheel and the process of spinning! At the end, I gave each child a small piece of my washed fleece and they acted like I had given them gold! The kids came up next to me in small groups while I was spinning and it took all their will power not to touch my wheel! It was pretty funny! They were a great audience and later wrote the cutest thank you notes to me.

Later in the morning a couple of fourth grade teachers were walking by my office area and saw my spinning wheel and wondered why I had it. Their classes had just been to Genesee Country Museum and a couple of the homes they toured had spinning wheels in them. So the 4th grade teachers asked when I could do a demo for their students. So I gave up part of my lunch time to repeat my presentation to the older kids. Again, the kids were completely taken with the process of spinning and asked many good questions. It was a fun day!

Last night Gram and GrandDad were here for dinner and to celebrate Gram's birthday. Her birthday is tomorrow, but they were busy on all the other nights of their whirl-wind visit home. We had a nice time and sang Happy Birthday to Gram. So, Mom have a great day tomorrow (Wednesday)!

Tonight I attended the school board meeting with many other teachers on the second anniversary of the expiration of our contract. We were there to support the union president as he spoke to the board about some of the issues with the negotiations process. It was an interesting evening.

Time to go knit. I am working on a baby sweater for one of my colleagues and I need to spend some serious time on it.

Also in knitting news, through Ravelry (an on-line resource for knitters, crocheters, and spinners) I joined a "swap" for teachers who knit. I am going to be putting together a knitting related package for a teacher in Pennsylvania.  So this summer, while traveling, I will look for some unique things to send to her. My name was assigned to a woman named Ana who lives 7 time zones away from me! We looked up what countries that might include and I think she may be from Finland! She sent me a brief e-mail with some info about her (including the 7 time zones clue) and what she teaches. I replied to her e-mail asking where exactly she lived, but am waiting for a return reply. This whole swap should be fun. I look forward to shopping for a unique, special yarn to send to my swap-friend in PA (she likes bright colors, maybe red) and some other special treats. And I am looking forward to communicating with my swap-friend on the other side of the pond. 

Hope all is well.

Warm Weekend

It feels like an August Sunday afternoon, except for that re-occurring thought that I have to go to school tomorrow! We are in the middle of a deep summer hot, humid spell which makes doing anything more than sitting around, a sweat-inducing event. 

And speaking of sweat, I produced buckets of it today. This morning/afternoon I rode my bike in the Diabetes Association's Tour de Cure. In previous years, I have ridden the 40 mile loop, but as I prepare for RAGBRAI, I decided to try the 62.5 mile loop. It was hot and windy, but I did it, and I rode faster than I hoped. The wind was a bear, except when going east, then it was a delight! We got sprinkled on at one point this morning, but it wasn't enough rain to wet the roads, but enough to feel good on my skin. The ride started and ended at Mendon Ponds Park, so hills were part of the route. The biggest and nastiest hill was on the campus of SUNY Geneseo. I had never been on that campus and was excited to see it when I realized that the route went that way. However, I saw very little as I worked hard in my lowest gear to get to the top. Here is a photo taken by one of the many volunteers, shortly after crossing the finish line. 

When I completed the ride, lunch was waiting for me at the park, courtesy of Outback Steak House. I had a nicely grilled chicken br#%st (I do that so this blog doesn't attract low-life degenerates that look for those words in blogs), and a caesar salad. 

Since arriving home, I've taken a shower, but have had no luck taking a nap. I blame that on Jim watching Track and Field on TV and a starting gun keeps going off!

Tonight we are going out to dinner with Sally and Liz. We were going to their house for dinner, but I could certainly understand if Sally decided it was too hot to cook. 

Tomorrow at school I am doing a spinning demonstration for one of my kindergarten classes. Last week they went to a farm and saw some sheep so their teacher thought they would enjoy learning what happens after a sheep is sheared. So yesterday I continued preparing the fleece that I started washing earlier this past week. Having never prepared freshly sheared fleece, I got a couple of books out of the library and have read a lot on the internet. The washing process seemed to go OK and the next step was to card the wool. So, we went to a local yarn store and bought a pair of hand carders. Yesterday I tried my hand at carding and it worked! I made small rolls of fiber that was ready to spin! To be ready for the demo, I spun some of this fiber and it looks good. I am very encouraged to wash the rest of the fleece. That will have to wait until the temperatures cool off though, because very hot water is a key ingredient in the cleaning process. 

So I am excited about doing some spinning at school tomorrow. I will try to have the teacher take some photos so I can include them in a future blog. 

Corey is enjoying his time at his kayaking course, although I think he is a bit disappointed that he and Mike are the best paddlers there. I think he would have liked to see some better kayakers so he could learn things from them. 

Tomorrow Gram and GrandDad come home for a few days while Bob and Joanie are at camp. They will join us here for dinner tomorrow night and we will celebrate Gram's birthday a few days early.

Hope all is well.  

This and That for Thursday

Corey left this morning for his kayak instructors course in New Hampshire. He called to report that he and Mike had an uneventful trip there and were just relaxing at the camp. I think he comes home next Wednesday.

We had one more Simply Certificate to use before the end of June so Jim and I went out to dinner at the Beale Street Grill. We had a good meal. I think I like going out to dinner during the week as opposed to the weekend, because we never have to wait for a table on a Thursday night. 

After dinner, we continued heading east to East Rochester where we made a quick trip to the Village Yarn and Fiber Shop. I wanted to buy some hand carders so I could get my fleece into a form that I could spin. Last night I separated out a small amount of the fleece and washed and rinsed it twice. The washing, or scouring part of preparing of a fleece is pretty time consuming. You need to use very hot water and dish soap (like Dawn) to clean the lanolin out of the fibers. The water was pretty clean after 2 washes, but I'm not sure I got all the soap out during the rinses. I can do that again. Here is a photo of my fleece drying on my sweater dryer.

On Monday, I am doing a spinning demo for one of my kindergarten classes and I wanted to show the process of going from fleece to yarn to a knit object. The students visited a farm today to see some sheep, so they have a good introduction for Monday. Even though I am new to spinning, I figure that I know enough to talk about and demo spinning to a group of kindergartners. 

Here's big news: Gas prices actually went down 2 cents a gallon at our favorite BJ's! I didn't think gas was going to do that! What are you paying? We can get it for $3.99/gal.

It has started to heat up. Today it was in the low 80's and the kids were whining when we were outside for 15 minutes. Just wait until tomorrow is in the 90's! 

Hope all is well.

Monday, Monday

Yesterday we had a rare visit from our Iowa/Colorado friends, John and Ann. We met them in 1982 on  a Grand Canyon river trip and have been fast friends ever since. John is one of the founders of the Iowa bike ride, RAGBRAI and will be riding again this summer (along with me and 9,998 other bikers). John and Ann have a son and family in Massachusetts  and were on their way there to see their granddaughter graduate from high school. We were thrilled to spend an afternoon and evening with them, catching up on each other's lives and reminiscing about past adventures we have shared. They are welcome here anytime they are passing through.

Jim and I left John and Ann in Corey's care as we left for work around 7 AM. We encouraged them to stay until at least 8:30 so they did not get caught in rush hour traffic on 490. Hopefully, they had an uneventful trip to MA. 

Now that it is June, the students and staff at school are counting down the days until summer vacation. As of this moment we have 17 1/2 days left with students. Teachers have 18 1/2 days! Today was another beautiful day here so I was outside with my classes for a batting lesson. It was a good day.

I rode my bike to school today and hope to get one or two more rides in this week, it is all weather dependent and we have some rain in the forecast for Wednesday and maybe Thursday.

Hope all is well. 

Burstin' with Blog-worthy News

I have been so busy that there has not been anytime to blog and things have been happening!

So, since Monday, Corey has come home from his long weekend paddling trip, I've rowed, run, raced, and got a fleece! Yes, a sheep fleece, but more on that later. 

Thursday was the Corporate Challenge race and it was a beautiful day for a run/walk for the 11,000 plus registered participants. Jim and I have done this race for a good number of years and lately I have become disillusioned by this race because of the cost and the hassle of getting home after the race. I even told some people that this would probably be my last Corporate Challenge race. Jim likes to get there early, so this year I decided to ride my bike to RIT for the race. It was a great 11 mile ride and I got there about 5:30 PM, which was perfect for a 7 PM start. I was going to walk with some of the people from my school district so I lined up behind the Non-Competitive banner and arrived at the actual starting line, some 7 minutes later, after the gun had gone off. I was in this mass of humanity and I knew I needed to move faster, so I worked my way to the grassy edge of the road and started a slow run. I figured I'd run until I got too tired and then I would walk. Well, I was in better shape than I thought because I ran the 3.5 mile course and felt great. All that biking and rowing I've been doing in the past month has paid off. Jim had a good race, especially considering that he has been injured and hasn't raced in a long time. We each ate some supper at our respective corporate tents and then left for home before it got dark, something that we've never done before. We were home by 8:30 with time to relax, get a shower and turn in at a reasonable hour. I had a good enough experience that I just might do it again next year! 

One of the highlights from Corey's paddling weekend was after a night of sleeping under the stars on a hilltop, waking to the sound of cows breathing in his ear! See the photo!

Last night Jim and I went to Bob and Karen's house for a party of some Odyssey parents. We had a ball. There were 5 couples that we used to see all the time at school functions. The neat part was that we had a lot of laughs and good conversation and very little of it centered on our kids! We learned a new card game that we will have to play when we have a crowd at camp. Bring your dollar bills! Here is a photo of the group.

This morning I rowed in the Pittsford Regatta and even though our boat took 8th out of 9 boats we were pleased with our row. The weather forecast for today was rather

discouraging but after some early morning rain, we had dry weather for the 3 hours I was at the canal. Racing is such hard work and we rarely practice rowing that hard on Tuesday nights and Saturday mornings so race days are challenging. In the photo below I am in the pink hat, rowing in the "stroke" position, which means I set the pace for the other 

rowers. We were going at about 30 strokes a minute, which is pretty good for a boat full of "mature" rowers!

And even more exciting than a regatta is the fact that I got a sheep fleece today, for free! Last fall at a drop spindle workshop at the Finger Lakes Fiber Festival, I sat next to a woman who raised and trained sheep dogs. She told me that she had a small herd of sheep that she used for training her dogs and when these sheep are sheared each spring, she gives the fleeces away. She told me to contact her in the spring to see what might be available. So we e-mailed back and forth a few times and this afternoon Jim and I drove to Palmyra to her house where we picked up a bag full of fleece. She gave us a tour of her small farm area and her one sheep dog gave us a demo of his herding skills. With gentle commands from Terri, the dog drove those sheep from one fenced area to another and into and out of the barn. Jim asked a million questions (I think he really wants to be a sheep farmer!) and we learned a lot. One of the sheep in the photo below is the former owner of the fleece that now sits in a bag in my garage. It is much too smelly to bring into the house! I have done some research about the cleaning process and will start that in the near future. Stay tuned!

Tonight we are off to the RPO and I would really rather stay home, but will probably enjoy it once we get there.

Tomorrow our Colorado/Iowa friends, John and Ann, are passing through town and will spend the night. We are looking forward to their visit. 

Time to go put on my "theater" clothes.

Hope all is well.

Happy Birthday Corey!

Today is Corey's 19th birthday (and this is correct, unlike my error with Tucker's birthday). Here in Greece, New York, turning 19 now allows you access to the Mall on weekend evenings and I know he is very excited about that! Lucky Corey is spending his birthday at Jenny Lake with his friend, Mike G. and Gram and GrandDad. We talked to him today and he was waiting for his turn to nap on the porch swing. Life is good!

Happy Memorial Day! In the days leading up to today, the forecast was for this to be a rainy day, with possible thunder showers. So when I got up at 7:15 and saw some sun shining, I decided to go for an early bike ride. I was home by 9:45 AM and had 25 miles on my cyclometer. Sally and Bob were coming over tonight to celebrate Sally's birthday, so I immediately started making a world famous Kodak carrot cake. 

I got lots of little jobs done this afternoon, but also had some time to spin. I am half way through the orange roving that I bought in Maryland. I also delivered the cute shrug that I knit to Sue, for her granddaughter, Audrey. A cute shrug for a cute girl!

The rain never came today, which meant that Jim spent a lot of time moving the sprinkler around on the new grass seed. There is not any evidence of new grass yet, but our neighbors have a hint of green now on their newly seeded lawn, and they were hydro-seeded about 3 or 4 days before we were, so we are not giving up hope yet. 

We talked to Tucker and Corey today, which was a great way to end a weekend. Tucker had a few days off from his job this week because of a snow storm!! I guess that is better than the tornados that many parts of our country have been experiencing. Tucker went to see the new Indiana Jones movie this weekend, so now all the guys in the family have seen that film and they are happy. I'll wait until it is out on DVD. 

Corey says he will be home tomorrow, after he and Mike kayak the Black River on their way home from camp. He says he has lots of good photos from his weekend, so I will try to include some in future blog entries. 

Here is a photo that brother Bob sent, showing their supply of wood that he, Joanie, and their 2 young friends, split and stacked last weekend. Looks like a job well done. How's that kitchen project coming?

We got word that Jeannie and Britni made it safely to California, Britni's new home for her railroad job. Let us know Britni's address so we can send her a letter at her new place!

This is a busy week, I am out every night. It is all good stuff, but busy none-the-less. I will be glad to have my butler back in town so I don't have to worry about dinner! I am rowing in a regatta on Saturday, so two of my evenings out involve practice sessions for that. 

Hope all is well.

Superb Saturday

This has been a great day! I was up early and at the Public Market by 6:35 AM. After quickly finding a great parking spot, I found lots of good buys on fresh vegetables and fruits. I also bought 2 new pastas from Pappardelles- a whole wheat garlic long flat pasta and some asiago cheese ravioli. I'll wait until Corey is back in town before we eat them. The flowers and plants were the predominant item for sale today, but since we were bought a bunch of flowers last night, I passed those by.

I got home around 8 AM and had to wake up Jim! We put away my Market purchases, made some PB&J sandwiches and headed for the PGA Senior Championship at Oak Hill CC. We parked at MCC and took the shuttle to the course and were walking around by 9:30 AM. It was a perfect day for golf and for walking around the golf course. We walked around for about 2 hours, following some of the threesomes that had early tee times and saw famous golfers like Tom Kite. Greg Norman's tee time was 12:30 so around 11:30 we parked ourselves on a hill overlooking the practice range and green. Shortly after, Greg Norman appeared with his fiance, Chris Evert (yes, the tennis great), at his side. He kissed her goodbye and he began his practice routine, which we watched. After he teed off on the first green we followed him for 7 holes. He was playing pretty well, we saw him make 2 birdies and one bogey. As you might imagine, there was quite a large gallery following him, but we never had trouble watching him make his shots. I did not take this photo as cameras were prohibited items, but I found it on the internet.

We left Greg to watch local Greece Arcadia graduate, Jeff Sluman. After the second round of play, Jeff is tied for second place and Greg is tied for sixth. We enjoyed our time walking around on the course. It is a beautiful place and we got our exercise during our 6 hours at Oak Hill. It was fun to hear the crowd cheer on a distant hole and know that something good was happening. There were many volunteers and if this event had occurred during the summer, I may have thought about volunteering myself.

So, our PGA experience was wonderful. Greg Norman plays so infrequently these days, that this may have been my last chance to see him in person. Now Jim will tell you that his PGA highlight was using the porta-potty right next to the porta-potty that Chris Evert was using! Chris followed Greg around the course, so we had many opportunities to rub elbows with her.

We puttered around the house after driving home from MCC and got some small chores done. I finished the cute child's shrug and will deliver it this weekend. Here is a photo. It is kind of hard to tell its exact shape from the photo, but basically it fits over the shoulders and criss-crosses in the front with the straps buttoning to the back piece.

We ate dinner at our new patio set and had a pleasant evening outside.

And just because we wanted a little more walking, we walked to the mall for some greeting cards! We both wore our pedometers today and are each well over 24,000 steps for the day!

We rented the movie, Charlie Wilson's War, and are watching that now. Love the Red Box Rental at Wegmans.

Tomorrow we hope to take a nice bike ride.

Hope all is well.

Norman Makes Cut! Yippee!

I have been a Greg Norman (PGA golfer) fan for a long time and when I heard that he was planning on playing in the PGA Senior Championship tournament here, I bought us 2 tickets for tomorrow's round. Now, Greg is not playing much golf these days-injuries, surgeries, and other business interests-so I was a bit concerned that he might play in the Thursday and Friday rounds and then not make the cut for the weekend. But, the guy is doing quite nicely. After 2 rounds he is in a tie for 10th place and will easily make the cut, granting us an opportunity to see him play tomorrow! I am so excited. I'm sure there will be a huge crowd following him, but we'll follow him for a bit and then enjoy walking the rest of the Oak Hill East Course and see many other big names in the world of golf. The weather is supposed to be great so we are looking forward to an enjoyable day. I will not be able to post any photos of Greg on this blog because cameras (and cell phones!) are just some of the items on the list of things you cannot bring into Oak Hill.

Greg Norman has been in Rochester at least 2 other times and I was there for both of them. The first time was for the US Open, I believe, when Corey was just a baby. I put him in one of those front carriers and walked around for a few hours. For some strange reason, whenever I stood behind a large group of people, some of them would see I had baby Corey with me and the sea of people would part, allowing me an unobstructed view from right behind the ropes! At a later date, Greg was here playing in a fundraiser tournament with Jeff Sluman. I took Tucker and we were watching Greg putt on the practice green. Greg looked over to Tucker, who was sitting right on the edge of the green, pointed to him, and putted his ball over to Tucker. Later, we were able to get Greg to sign the ball. So, you can see that I have been a fan for a while.

I was glad to end this week at school. I don't know if the kids have spring fever or what, but they were a challenge this week. So many kids who normally play games fairly and with positive enthusiasm were cheating and being poor sports this week. My "tough love" policy came into play many times in the past 5 days.

Corey is in Massachuettes this weekend, with his buddy, Mike G. The two of them plan to do some running and kayaking for 3 days and will then drive home, with a layover at Jenny Lake for a day. I already miss having my butler around!!

Jim and I went to the Garden Factory tonight and bought some flowers for the yard. I've included a photo of the plants we got, along with the hanging basket we bought to hang by the side door. I'll get the plants in the pots and ground on Sunday. We also had to get another sprinkler so we could water large sections of our newly seeded lawn.

Here is a photo of my bleeding heart plant that miraculously re-bloomed this year. I do not have a green thumb, but would like to have one so I am thrilled when my meager efforts at gardening encourage me to keep trying. I planted several perennials in my patio peach tree garden last summer and much to my delight, they are re-appearing! I may have to invest in some more perennials. Anyone have any suggestions for part sun/shade loving plants? Leave me a comment. Our new patio set is a bit visable in the background of this photo . We hope to get some use out of that this weekend!I rode my bike to school today and will try to do that more often, when the weather cooperates.

And last, but not least, Happy Birthday to my dear friend, Sally! I hope you are having a wonderful bike ride and are finding ways to mark this special day. We'll do cake when you get home!

Hope all is well.

Mid-Week Update

Cold, and depressing-that describes our weather of late. The town hydro-seeded their work area in our yard and we are supposed to keep it moist. Well, the weather forecast has called for rain everyday this week and so far we have gotten zero! I would ask Corey to put the sprinkler out while he is home during the day, but when it is supposed rain, I don't ask. If it doesn't rain overnight, as it is forecasted, I will put it on his "Things to do" list.

Having Corey home has been wonderful, for a variety of reasons. One reason it that it is like having a butler! I leave a list of errands and chores when I go to school in the morning and I come home, and they are all done. If he doesn't have to go to work, he cooks dinner, which is the biggest treat for me. Tonight he cooked up some black bean pasta that I bought at the Public Market a couple of weekends ago and it was yummy. He also makes a great salad!

So here is some TV talk. I watched the finals of Dancing with the Stars on Monday, and it was clear that Kristy Y. should be with winner and sure enough, she won the Mirrored Ball trophy. I did not see the results show for Dancing because I was watching the finals of American Idol. And let me say, I can hardly wait to buy David A.'s first album. That boy can sing! It will be interesting to see who wins the American Idol title, because both guys are really talented. I will knit and watch AI tonight and enjoy the re-cap of the season.

Speaking of knitting, I bought a pattern for a child's shrug when Sally and I were in Maryland. I was looking for a fairly quick and easy project so I cast on for that. I had some appropriate yarn in my stash and am now about 3/4 of the way done with it. I will post a photo when I complete it. I think I will give it to a friend to give to one of her granddaughters. It is a cute pattern, but I think the next time I make it I will choose a solid colored yarn. 

Jim and Corey are going to the midnight showing of the Indiana Jones movie! I'll wait for it to come out on DVD.

Hope all is well.  

Sunday News

This weekend seems to have flown by and now I'm thinking about school this week.

Saturday I got up early and went for a quick 15 mile bike ride. I had a good ride and was moving right along. I rode early because I wanted to go to the Terry Bicycle Tent sale in Macedon. Macedon is near Victor, where I was going for my spinning guild meeting later in the morning. Years ago I went to the Terry Bikes tent sale and got a biking skort for a good price. I just bought another biking skort from Terry, but paid full price. I thought since I was going out to Victor it would not involve much more driving to get to Macedon. I did find some good buys at the tent sale- a new skort and 2 sleeveless biking tops-all for less than I paid for the one new skort I bought last month!

I got to the spinning guild meeting by 11 AM and settled myself in for a few hours of spinning and fiber talk. My spinning teacher announced my big win at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival and returned my skein, ribbons and the award money! I got one bobbin of the orange roving spun for Corey's scarf, so it was a productive time at the meeting. I saw a woman who rows with me at the meeting so that was pretty cool! When I went to the parking lot after the spinning guild meeting, there was another yellow beetle parked right next to mine. Here is the photo-How cute is that!

This morning we were up way too early for a Sunday morning, but we all were volunteering at the Lilac 5 and 10 K races. It was a busy morning there as there were over 600 people in the 5K race and over 1000 in the 10K race. I worked the registration table and took in lots of money and registered lots of people. Jim and Corey worked at the table for people who pre-registered, until Corey went to run the 5K race with 2 of his high school friends. It was a casual run for him, but fun, nonetheless. Before we left the house in the morning, Jim put my bike into the car so I could ride home from the race if the weather cooperated. At 9:30 AM, I changed my clothes in the back of the car, jumped on my bike and headed for the Canal trail. I rode east to Pittsford and then turned around and rode home. It started to rain, lightly, but never got serious about raining, so I continued on. After 21 miles I pulled into our driveway, and again, felt really good about my ride.

I spent the afternoon grocery shopping and knitting. Tonight I got 3 weeks worth of ironing done and am now watching/listening to The Office on TV. This is about the only TV show that Corey watches, and we are enjoying it.

Tomorrow we are meeting with our Long Term Care Insurance counsultant and will sign on the dotted line. I will be glad to have that in place.

Hope all is well.

Finally Friday

Whew, this has been a busy week and I am looking forward to the weekend. 

Here's an update on the work that has been going on in our yard. Everyday this week the town has been bringing in fill dirt and bulldozing that around. Today they sprayed the new soil with that green grass seed stuff. Now we need to keep it moist, I guess. We have no experience with that kind of process. It is supposed to rain this weekend, which should get us off to a good start. The town needs to finish off the back corner of our yard, where it butts up to The Source parking lot. I guess we'd like a shrub line to serve as a fence for privacy and to keep people from cutting through our yard on the way to the mall. I am also interested in seeing how some of our trees have survived the ordeal of having their roots disrupted during the digging process. 

Tucker called tonight and he was tired after a week of walking for 10 hours a day on the project he is on. He said that they have found some interesting artifacts so there has been a reward for all that walking. He was looking forward to spending some time with friends this weekend and doing some biking. 

Speaking of biking, I'm hoping the weather cooperates so I can go for a 12 mile ride in the Macedon, NY area. The ride is organized by the Terry Bicycle people and is the lead off activity for their big tent sale. I wanted to get one more of their biking skorts so I figured I do the ride and then shop for a few minutes. I need to do all this before I go to my monthly spinning guild meeting. At this meeting I will be picking up my award winning skein of yarn, along with the 2 ribbons it won and the award check! My spinning teacher brought all this stuff home from the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival because the skein needed to stay on display until the end of the festival and I was leaving before the festival was over. I can hardly wait to put my skein on the mantle along with my ribbons! Finally, something in the shrine will be from my efforts and not be running related!

Sunday we 3 are volunteering at the Lilac 10K race. The weather is not sounding too good for that day, but I think we all have inside jobs (registration and t-shirt distribution) so we should not be too affected by the cool temps and rain. I will take my bike in the van when we go to the race in the morning and if the weather looks OK when it is time to leave, I'll ride home.

Last night Jim and I went out to dinner at the Garland House in Brockport. I do like that restaurant, especially since it is a local place, not one of the many chains on Ridge Road. 

Hope all is well.

This and That

It's been a busy couple of days around here. When we got back from our April trip to Maryland a Jury Summons was awaiting me. Oh, joy! So, as instructed, I phoned  the Hall of Justice to discover that my number did not need to report on Monday morning, but rather I needed to call at 12:45 PM on Monday to possibly report Monday afternoon. When I called, sure enough I needed to be at the Hall of Justice, downtown, in one hour. Fortunately, my student teacher was still at school so I just let the office staff know that they would need to assign a Teaching Assistant to be in the gym with her. Off I went.

I ended up being one of about 75 jurors called into a courtroom for possible seating on a jury for a criminal trial. I was the first one called in the initial group of 21 that was interviewed. After an hour and a half of "interviewing" the 21 of us, the 2 lawyers selected 6 of the 21, and I was not one of them. One of the charges against the defendant was robbery and when the judge asked us if anyone had been the victim of a crime, I had to raise my hand. I was then questioned about the details of our house robbery which occurred 2 years ago. I'm sure I was released because of my experience with being robbed. That was fine with me because the trial was expected to go all week and I had things going on this week at school that I didn't want to miss. So, my civic duty has been fulfilled for 4 or 5 years.

The whole time I was at the Hall of Justice, I had a headache that just kept getting worse. By the time I got home, I was pretty miserable. So miserable that I had to force myself to eat some dinner. After dinner I got into my Lazy Boy, put it in the full, reclining position and slept for awhile. I started to feel better by the time I went to bed and today I feel normal again. Who knows what that was all about!

Tonight I had a great row on the river. It was a perfect temperature,with no wind. We rowed downstream towards the city. We spun the boat around just before the 490 bridge and the late day sun on the downtown buildings and bridges was beautiful.

Tomorrow is my student teacher's last day. She was a great student teacher and I hope she finds a job real soon. I am looking forward to getting my "kids" back, though. 

The work in our yard has resumed, this time it is landscaping work. A good deal of fill dirt has been brought in to level out the area where the storm sewer was installed. I imagine the town will be around in the near future to spray some grass seed.

Corey and Jim dined alfresco on our new patio set. They report that it was a true fine dining experience. Photos another time.

Hope all is well. 

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there. I am very blessed to be able to celebrate this day with both my Mom and my Mother-in-law and one of my two children. It has been a good day. Corey cooked us all delicious dinner of featuring lemon salmon that he cooked on the grill. Jim cleaned up so my kitchen time was minimal.

It has been nice to be home this weekend with nothing really pressing on the calendar. Friday night Jim and I went out to Corey's office, Lock 32, for the season opening of this whitewater park. They were providing free hot dogs and hamburgers, so we had our dinner there and walked around watching some of the paddlers play in the waves.

 

On Saturday I was up early so made a trip to the Public Market. Green beans, peppers, cucumbers, apples, cheese and flowers were some of my purchases. It was a great morning to be at the market-lots of plants and flowers for sale in addition to all the fruits and vegetables. 

While Jim was participating in a highway clean-up I went for a bike ride. I was testing out a new bike seat and a new pair of biking shorts. Both worked well, thank goodness! I rode 46 miles, enjoying the apple blossoms in the orchards and the lilacs that made this a very fragrant ride. I was pretty tired when I got home, but mostly because I never took any long rest stops and did not eat enough during the ride. But after a quick lunch and a bit of a rest, I was good to go for the rest of the afternoon. 

Last night Jim participated in the Pub Run, a fundraiser in memory of runner Charlie McMullen for the American Cancer Society. I didn't go this year because I took that long bike ride in the morning.

Today we 3 went to church and had a leisurly afternoon. Jim and I bought a patio set at Wegmans. We tried to buy a set last summer, but got started too late so postponed the purchase until this summer. I'll post a photo as soon as Jim performs the "some assembly required."

In addition to both set of grandparents being here for dinner, Bob and Sally stopped over so Bob could confer with Corey on some work that Corey is doing for Bob. Corey is editing some video that Bob has from his Tibet trip and putting together a DVD from the edited video. At least that is what I think they are doing. I could be wrong-I haven't paid a lot of attention to what they are doing. Hopefully it is all legal!

Tucker called twice this weekend and, as usual, it was good to talk to him. Tucker said that my Mother's Day card was in the mail and that it would be late because he and his colleagues were doing field work out in the middle of Nowhere, UT, when they all realized that Sunday was Mother's Day and none of them had a card yet. The small town that they are working out of does not have a Hallmark store, or anything else for that matter!

Jim gave me a book called On Food and Cooking The Science and Lore of the Kitchen. It is an interesting book about the make up of various foods we eat and why they cook up the way they do. It looks like it will be fairly easy reading as there are small sections to read in a few minutes time. If you like to cook or eat, check out this book. The author, Harold McGee, is one of Time Magazine's 100 most influential people.  

I got a jury summons for this upcoming week and had to call in last Friday night to see if I needed to report tomorrow morning. The good news is that I don't have to report, but the maybe bad news is that I have to call again at 12:45 PM tomorrow, to possibly report tomorrow afternoon. Can you believe that you are not allowed to take knitting needles into the jury waiting area? There can be a lot of waiting when you first report for jury duty and that would be great knitting time. 

I spent the last 4 days knitting pretty dish cloths for Gram and Grandma. I really like this pattern and will have to make one for me. Knitting with cotton yarn is really hard on the hands because there is no "give" to the yarn, so I will have to give my  hands a cotton break before I try another one. 

Time to go to bed. 

Hope all is well. 

Corey's Home!

Corey's back in town for the summer, the refrigerator is full and the living room is a mess! Back to the good, old days! Bob drove to SU yesterday to bring home his mentee and we are most appreciative. Thanks Bob!

One of the nice things about having Corey home is that he cooks! He likes to cook and tonight he made roasted, stuffed red peppers and a vegetable stromboli! It was all delicious and he says that he enjoys making dinner, because it gives him something to do in the afternoons. Hopefully when he starts working at Lock 32 next week he will still have time to make us dinner. 

I was going to include a photo of all the roving that I bought at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival, but the Blogger program that I use for my blog is not responding correctly tonight. So maybe I'll get the photo up another time.

Tomorrow night Jim and I are going to meet with the guy who did the Long Term Care workshop that I attended last week. We will go see what he has to say specific to our situation at this point in our lives. When we come home, Corey will have dinner ready!!

Corey got his tooth repaired this morning and now looks more normal and speaks without a lisp.

Got to get back to spinning. My bell rehearsal was cancelled tonight because several ringers were going to have to miss the rehearsal, so I have a free evening. 

Hope all is well. 

Home Again, Home Again

Sally and I had a good trip back to Rochester. We had planned to stop at the Outlet Shops at Gettysburg, PA, but we got there too early. So we continued into Gettysburg National Military Park, to discovered the new Visitor Center and museum had opened since Jim and I were there 3 weeks ago. The old Visitor Center and museum were looking very worn and were not worthy of historical significance of that area, so this new area is a welcome tribute to the history of our country. Sally and I did a quick walk-through of the museum and were impressed with what we saw. You may want to consider a summer trip to Gettysburg to see this new facility and refresh your knowledge of American History. 

I believe that I now have my excitement about my win at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival under control. And did I mention, "The Check??!!"

Corey's mentor, Bob, will be bringing Corey home from SU on Tuesday. We'll be glad to have him around for the summer.

Back to school tomorrow after a great weekend. Thank you Sally for being my travel companion. It was fun!

Hope all is well.

And the Winner Is..... Me!!!

From Westminster, Maryland:


I Won! Let me explain. My spinning teacher encouraged me to enter one of my skeins of yarn in the Skein and Garment Competition at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. So I chose a skein that met the requirements of the competition, filled out the entry forms, wrote a check for $3.00 and sent the yarn off to the competition officials. Now, I have only been spinning since the end of January and had no expectations about this competition. I did hope to get some feedback from the judges about spinning a better yarn. 

When Sally and I arrived at the Festival at 8:30 AM, I suggested we wait to go to the Bingo Building at the Howard County Fairgrounds (where the competition is held) until later in the morning, when the crowds reach almost gridlock level. So we started visiting some of the hundreds of vendors. As we were walking from one exhibition area to the next, I heard someone call out my name and it was my spinning teacher, Debbie. She asked me if I had been to the competition and I said not yet. She said that I needed to go over there. I then asked about the fair isle sweater she entered. She told me that her sweater won her category, but that I really needed to go over to the building and see the results. I must have paused a minute because that is when she told me that my skein won first place in the Novice spinner category!! I immediately started to cry! I could not and still cannot believe it! 

We hustled over to the Bingo Building and there was my skein, with a blue first place ribbon attached and a big purple ribbon for a special award winner! I cried some more! 

So, Sally and Liz will probably tell you that I have been fairly obnoxious about this today, but I bought them a celebratory drink at dinner, so hopefully they have forgiven my overly excited behavior.

The festival was great. The morning started out cool and overcast, but by the time Liz arrived, shortly after noon, the sun was out the temperature very pleasant. We saw and bought some beautiful things. I'm glad we got some shopping done early, because the vendor areas got very crowded. We watched the working sheepdog demonstration and learned some interesting things about that side of owning sheep. 

Liz came back to the hotel with us and joined us for dinner at a downtown restaurant in Westminster. She just headed back to DC because she got a better offer on how to spend her Saturday night! 

Sally and I will head home tomorrow, with a possible stop at the Outlet Stores near Gettysburg. We still have money in our pockets!! The weather is looking good for the drive home, so we will be able to once again enjoy the spring foliage.

Hope all is well.

Back in Maryland

Here we are, Sally and I, poised to descend on the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival tomorrow morning! I can hardly wait.

We left Rochester this morning at 8 and drove through some rain, until the skies cleared in Pennsylvania. By the time we arrived in Westminster, Maryland, the temperature was in the 80's. We enjoyed the blooming trees and flowers that lined our route, especially as the sun came out. 

After checking into our hotel, we got back in the car and drove down to the Howard County Fairgrounds, site of the MS&WF. It was the day the vendors used to set up, so we walked around letting Sally get a lay of the land. The excitement was already building. 

Liz is driving up to meet us sometime tomorrow, which will be fun. 

That is all for now. I will post again tomorrow and will try to include some photos. I have to try to get some sleep tonight!

Hope all is well.

 

Spring Flowers

When we bought this house, 29 years ago, the owner told us that early May was the most beautiful time for this yard and I agree. As we move into May tomorrow, the magnolia tree, cherry tree, patio peach tree and apple trees are all in various stages of bloom. The forsythia is out and some orange bush that I cannot name along with the tulips and hyacinths are all flowering. All this is very beautiful in spite of the fact that the side yard is still all dug up. I enjoy looking out the house windows or pulling into the driveway and seeing the array of colors. And all this happens with minimal attention from me! 

This has been a very busy week, with something going on every night of the week. That pace is making the week go by quickly which is fine by me because on Friday I am going to the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival and this has become one of my favorite events. Sally is going with me this year and I hope she has a good time. Have you ever done something that someone else raved about but couldn't see what all the excitement was about? Hope Sally doesn't come away with that feeling. Liz may come up from DC on Saturday to join us at the yarn-fest! This year I am specifically looking for roving to spin, that is not to say that I won't get any yarn, but roving is my top priority. I have even been studying sheep breeds so I can know the spinning traits of the various breeds. The weather forecast is a bit damp for Maryland on Saturday, but hopefully that won't dampen our spirits. I will take my laptop and hopefully be able to blog from Maryland and include some photos. 

We've talked to both Tucker and Corey recently which always brightens our day. Corey broke off a piece of his repaired front tooth at the SU Athletics Awards evening, so he was unable to enjoy all the party food. He starts his final exams this week and will come home on Tuesday. His mentor, Bob, will be making the trip to SU in his truck to bring Corey home. Tucker is busy being an archaeologist and will travel to La Sal, UT for a month-long assignment. 

I attended a workshop about Long Term Care Insurance last night and got a lot of good information. We are just in the exploratory stages of this decision and will seek out information from several other sources. Anybody else out there have any experience with this topic? Any advice to give?

Guess that is all for now. I have to pack up some things for this weekend. 

Hope all is well.

Camp Weekend

It is always good to go to Jenny Lake and "open" camp for the season. Mom and Dad drove up to camp on Friday morning and took a detour on Route 81 South to pick up Corey at SU. We drove up after work and arrived about 8:30 PM. 

On Saturday morning, after a sausage and eggs breakfast, we headed out to do the outside work before the forecasted rain arrived. Jim and Corey worked with Dad to get the dock in place. Shortly after that was done, the wind picked up and we thought that the

rain just may fall. But we pressed on. Paths were cleaned up, gutters, hung, boats brought

out of the car port, skylight covers stored and armloads of sticks were picked up. The rain never came. 

Spring is trying very hard to come to the Adirondacks. The fern are pushing their fiddleheads up through the fall debris. The daffodils were greeting us from Mom's garden.

 We noticed that when the daffodils first pushed their leaves

 up through the ground, they pierced the leaves as they grew. It was an interesting

 observation. 

Corey tried out the new chaise lounges that were gifts from Bob and Joanie. Corey reported that they are perfect for serious deck work! 

After lunch, I went for a bike ride, Jim went for a run, and the others made sure they could still nap at camp! All were successful! Jim tried his hand at fishing later in the afternoon and had some luck. Here is  a photo of the 16 1/2 inch large mouth bass he managed to reel in. 

The rain came during the night, and was done by morning. I decided to get a head start towards home by riding

my bike about 30 miles towards Rochester. I left camp at 9:30 and rode 29 miles, where Jim and Corey picked me up about 2 hours later. It was a good morning to ride and there was very little traffic. I did have a couple of near scares with dogs, but none came out of their yard. 

We dropped off Corey at his dorm and then continued on to Rocha-cha! 

Tomorrow we will have Grandma and Grandpa here for dinner to celebrate Grandma's birthday, which was last Friday. 

Hope all is well. 

Wrong, Wrong, Wrong!

News Flash! Tucker is not 23 years old, he is 24 years old!! What kind of mother would make that kind of mistake? Certainly not a good mother! I must be in some kind of denial about Tucker's actual age. If he is not getting older, than I must not be getting older. Of course, I have heard that it is the mind that goes first! 

So, dear Tucker, I do apologize and you can hold this against me for the rest of my life (of course it has no monetary value!). 

Twenty-four, how can he be that old? How many of you remember when he was just a little boy who liked to dig in the dirt? 

That's all for today. I am much to disturbed to write any more.

Hope all is well. 

Tuesday Time

Happy Birthday, Tucker! Twenty-three years ago, on a beautiful Easter Sunday morning, I gave birth to a beautiful baby boy and we named him Tucker. I never knew how much love I could feel until I held him in my arms. Tucker, you have always made us proud and we wish we could be with you to give you birthday hugs! We are happy to know that you have wonderful friends who will celebrate this day with you.

To everyone else, I say, "Happy Earth Day!" Hopefully you did something today to make the earth a healthier planet. If not, it is not too late to do good tomorrow.

Jim is in Belgium, or maybe England. Not sure exactly when he was going from one country to the next. He will be home on Thursday, and then has no more plans for business trips.It will be nice to have him home for a while. 

Tonight was a yoga and rowing night and that is a nice combination. The yoga stretched me out nicely and I felt more limber as I rowed. It was a great night on the river and most of the time our boat had a good set so the rowing was awesome. It is no fun to row when the boat is tipping from side to side or is always listing towards one side, but that was not a problem tonight. 

This weekend we are going to Jenny Lake to help Gram and GrandDad open camp. G & G are going to pick-up Corey on their way to camp on Friday morning and then we will bring him back to SU on Sunday. We are looking forward to spending a weekend with him at camp. The fresh mountain air will be good for whatever ails him!

Our good weather continues and I hung two loads of wash outside before I went to school today. 

Here is one more photo from our time in Washington, DC with Liz. It was taken from inside the World War II monument, looking towards the Washington Monument. Notice that it was a beautiful, clear night, with the moon shining down on us. 

Paddling the Pocomoke

The day dawned sunny and clear and we were off for a morning of canoeing on the Pocomoke River, right in our backyard. Actually, we walked about 100 yards from the front yard of our B&B to the outfitter, who drove us about 5.5 miles upstream, unloaded a canoe from his trailer, gave us a couple of paddles and lifejackets and pushed us off into the dark water of the Pocomoke. This river flows through a wooded swamp with many cyprus trees and cyprus knees. The first half of the river was twisty and turny with some downed trees that we needed to limbo under. We saw lots of geese, cormorants, herons and turtles. The only other competition on the water was another canoer and a guy in a motor boat with his kids. We paddled down to our B&B, pulled the canoe up on the lawn where the outfitter will get it at his convenience. 

We got on the road to Washington, DC about 12:15 PM and arrived at the TownSuites hotel at 3:45. We followed the directions on our GPS and in hindsight, it probably would have been faster to take the beltway around the city instead of Rt. 50 right through the middle of town. Oh well, we made it and I got some good knitting time in as we crawled through downtown traffic. 

We drove to Liz's new apartment and 

were glad to see where she is now living. It is a great place and she has arranged the furniture to maximize the space she has. We went to dinner at a pizza place that cooks the pizzas in a wood-fired oven and we each had a great pizza. Bob and Sally, this is your favorite place, right??

After dinner we drove to the National Mall and walked around for a while. We visited the new World War II monument, which was both beautiful and impressive. 

Liz is a good tour guide and when she doesn't know an answer she very convincingly makes something up! We dropped Liz off at a party in the downtown area and then came back to the hotel. Thanks for showing us a good time, Liz.

Talked to Tucker briefly today and to Corey, last night. Tucker was hoping to get a lot of biking in this weekend and Corey was driving back from kayaking on the Salmon River.

We will head home tomorrow, seeing as Jim has to go to England on Sunday.

We've had a great trip to the Eastern Shore of Maryland. If you've never spent any time in this part of the country, put it on your Bucket List. 

Hope all is well.

More Miles in Maryland

Today was another biking day and it was spectacular! We drove north to the city of Salisbury where we parked the car in a shopping plaza lot and rode from there. We did a 47 mile (or 49, if you go by Jim's cyclometer) loop to the west and south of Salisbury, including 2 free ferry rides across the Wicomico River, a bit of urban riding and lunch in the town of Princess Anne. The temps started out in the mid 50's but were up into the mid 70's by the time we quit riding. Once again, we found great roads to ride on once we were away from Salisbury and Princess Anne.

After the ride we checked out one of the few remaining free zoos in the USA, the Salisbury Zoo. It was small, but fun and we enjoyed walking around (in the shade) and watching the river otters.

Once again, we are at the Snow Hill Public Library (thanks for the comment, Pat) and have our 30 minute allotment of computer use time.

Late yesterday afternoon we went to Assateague Island and walked along the beach for almost an hour. We watched a surf fisherman for a bit, but never saw him catch anything. We did see the wild horses while on that island-there were a couple in the campground and a few were on the volleyball courts!

From Assateague we drove to the Historic Downtown Section of Berlin, MD where we had dinner in the Globe Theater. This is restored, small-town movie theater that is now a restaurant with a stage and evening shows. Last night we listened to an older guy sing and play the guitar. He was pretty good, and played songs that were familiar to us. Our meals were great, including big dinner salads in pre-chilled bowls!

Have I mentioned how nice we have found Marylanders to be? Lots of people wave to us when we are on our bikes and yesterday, when we pulled off the road to read the map and get a drink, a guy passed in his truck, and slowed down to ask if everything was OK. A little while later, as we were riding down a rural road, a farmer was out plowing his field and he was creating quite a mini-dust storm that blew across the road. As we approached, he stopped plowing so we didn't have to ride through the dust! Nice is good!

Tomorrow we trade in our pedals for paddles as we are going canoeing on the Pocomoke River, which is the river we see out of our cottage window. There is an outfitter here in town who will drive us about 5 miles upstream and we will paddle down to Snow Hill. Around here it is optimal to paddle with the tide table in mind. We will be paddling as the tide is going out. Apparently, it is alot of work to go against the tide. That is something we don't usually think about when we go canoeing at home.

After canoeing we will head to Washington, DC, well, actually Falls Church, VA where we will meet up with Liz. We will have dinner some place in VA, see her new apartment and then maybe go into DC to walk around the National Mall at night. Jim had hoped to see the Pope, but is a day late and a dollar short!

Tomorrow we should have internet service at our hotel, so maybe I will include some photos in my entry.

Hope all is well.

Marvelous Maryland

We are in the Snow Hill Public Library right now because our B&B does not have internet access. So I have 30 minutes to let you know what we've been up to the past 2 days.

Yesterday, after leaving the Hambleton Inn in St. Michael's, we drove to the Blackwater Wildlife Refuge where we did a 27 mile bike ride around the refuge. We saw a nice variety of birds and I saw one turtle. The most memorable part of this ride was the wind. Now we have not found any hills here in the Eastern Shore of Maryland, but there is wind. And sometimes we are loving the wind as it pushes us down the road and other times we are cursing it as Jim is leading the way into the wind and I am drafting behind him! The sun was out and the traffic was minimal so overall it was a good ride.

We loaded the bikes back on top of the Beetle and drove onto Snow Hill, where there is neither snow, nor a hill! Our B&B is a big old Victorian house with 3 cottages overlooking the Pocomoke River. We are in one of those cottages and it is very nice for us. There is a screened in porch where we can store our bikes and a nice room with a refrig and a microwave. After settling in we drove to Ocean City, MD for a walk on the boardwalk and dinner. Let me say that in mid-April, Ocean City is a ghost town. We walked the boardwalk and most of the shops were closed or closing at 6:oo PM. There were very few walkers and when we decided to find a restaurant, for a while we thought we might starve to death. Nothing is open in this town yet. We finally found an Italian place where we were able to recharge our carbo supply. We both agreed that this was not someplace we would want to be during the peak season! It would be a mob-scene.

This morning our breakfast was delivered to our cottage in a picnic basket and it was most enjoyable. We then headed off on a bike ride to see the area. We came upon an old furnace town that was the site of an old blast furnace that was used in the mid-1800's to convert bog iron ore into iron. The site is a bit like the Genesee Country Museum in that there are many period buildings that re-create what this town looked like in its hay day. There was also a weaver, a gardener, and a spinner, reenacting what life was like in the 1800's. I particularly enjoyed chatting with the spinner as she was spinning.

We continued riding and pretty much had the back roads of Worchester County to ourselves. The sun was out and the temperatures were approaching 60 so it was a perfect day for a ride. 37 miles later we returned to Snow Hill and since we hadn't found a place for lunch we rode to the small market where we bought some lunch stuff which we could eat in our room.

When we finish here at the library we are going to drive to Assateague Island and walk around. maybe we will see the wild horses. Dinner will be in the town of Berlin, Maryland, where the movie "Runaway Bride" was filmed. I'll be looking for Richard Gere!!!

No photos because I am on a library computer. Rest assured that we are enjoying sunny weather in a lovely part of the country.

Hope all is well.

Maryland Monday

Today we got sunny weather, but still pretty cool. It is supposed to warm up to the 60's and 70's as the week progresses. 

This morning we had a delightful breakfast at this B & B. We started with a wedge of watermelon and that was followed with blueberry pancakes and bacon. This place apparently always serves dessert with breakfast so we ended the meal with their signature pound cake with fresh strawberries. After that meal, we were ready to ride. 

Our bike ride today was a loop trip of 36 miles. We rode into the town of Easton, on a pretty busy road,  and then moved onto some back roads which provided easy riding. We rode to the town of Oxford right around noon and decided we had burned off those pancakes and went looking for a place to get some lunch. As the local church bells played a carillon of familiar hymns we followed some signs to the town's resturants, only to find them closed. We asked a local woman who was out for a walk and she said most places weren't open on Monday's for lunch because it wasn't the big tourist season yet. We ended up at the Oxford Market and bought 2 tasty deli sandwiches, which hit the spot. 

After our lunch, we rode to the ferry dock for our short ferry ride to Bellevue, MD. Because it was early in the season, we were the only folks on the boat! About 10 years ago, I brought the boys to the Eastern Shore with Bob and Liz. One of the things we did was a similar, but shorter bike ride that included this ferry trip. As I remember, the kids were not too thrilled with the bike ride, but did enjoy the ferry. 

We got back to St. Michael's in the early afternoon. We toured the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum which was very educational to us landlubbers. We were able to walk to the top of the lighthouse that was on-site, and particularly enjoyed the building dedicated to how the Bay transitioned from a working Bay to a Bay for play.

Walked around the town for a bit before returning to the B&B. We ate dinner at the Town Dock restaurant and had a good meal. 

Tomorrow we leave St. Michael's, and will head south for a bike ride around a wildlife refuge. From there we will go east, to our next B&B in Snow Hill, MD.

Hope all is well.

Made it to Maryland

Here it is only the second day of our vacation and we had so many good times already. Here's the re-cap from when we left on Friday afternoon. 

We drove from Rochester to Lewisburg, PA, where we had a really bad room in the Days Inn. We met up with one of my college roommates, Deb, who lives about 10 minutes away. We went to the Town Tavern for a drink and to catch-up. Deb has been teaching middle school English since we graduated from college, bless her heart! It was a fun evening-thanks for the drinks, Deb!

After a fair night's sleep on a Murphy Bed in the Days Inn we continued south on Route 15 to Harrisburg, where our first stop of the day was at the Whitaker Center for Science and Arts. We were there to see the IMAX movie, Grand Canyon Adventure. If you ever have a chance to see this film, get your tickets immediately. It is so well done and had a wonderful message about the importance of proper water management. A bonus for us was that the man that was the trip leader is a man that we did a river trip with, down the Colorado River, 25 years ago. The man is a legend on the river and it was great to see him on the big screen. Of the hundreds of river guides in Grand Canyon, what an honor to have our friend, Regan chosen to lead the IMAX trip. We knew he was a gifted guide so many years ago. 

From Harrisburg, we jumped back on Rt. 15 (I love to drive Rt. 15) and continued onto Gettysburg. I think every Boy Scout troop from the mid-Atlantic states was there! But we changed into our biking clothes, grabbed a map and headed out on the 15 mile Auto Loop Tour. We did not stop at too many places because we have been there a few times in the past (Tucker and Corey may have different perceived numbers for how many times we have been there!).

While we were riding, my cell phone rang, and I heard it, and it was Tucker! I was so excited to tell him that we were talking to him from Gettysburg. He had a great San Juan River trip and was now in Durango for a concert. Our bike ride was wonderful, especially since the sun came out as we pedaled out of the Visitor Center Parking lot. In this photo we are leaning against the monument dedicated to Col. O'Rorke, a Rochester native. We now have a bridge over the Genesee River named in his honor.

From Harrisburg we drove to Baltimore, where we met up with our Jenny Lake friends Robin and Joe. The live in a lovely row house, right across from a park, where we went for a walk shortly after our arrival. Sally and Jim, more Jenny Lake friends who also live in Baltimore, joined us for cocktails so we had a mini-Jenny Lake reunion. Robin cooked us a wonderful dinner, which we started to eat on their patio until it started to rain, at which point we picked up plates, silverware, candles and the tablecloth and moved into the dining room. Before retiring for the night, we got to see photos from Robin and Joe's trip to Morrocco to see Hannah, who is there are a Peace Corps worker. This morning we attended their urban evangelical Lutheran church and were made to feel very welcome. Can I get an "Amen"!

We said our thank-yous and goodbyes to Robin and Joe and headed to the Eastern Shore area of Maryland. We are staying in a nice B & B in St. Michaels. We quickly unloaded our stuff from the Beetle and headed out on a bike ride. We rode out Rt. 33 to the end of Tilghman Island, about 16 miles each way. Jim set a good pace on a pancake flat road. The traffic was minimal since we didn't get started until after 3 PM. Tonight we had a lovely dinner at The Bistro, a restaurant about 5 blocks from our B & B. Our meals were delicious (and we were starved after riding almost 32 miles), and we finished the dinner off with tasty wildberry sorbet! Yummy!

So that catches you up on our adventures. We have had some rain, but nothing that has kept us from doing what we wanted. Tomorrow is supposed to be another cloudy day, but after that I think the weather is to clear. 

Hope all is well with you. Blueberry Pancakes are on the menu for breakfast tomorrow at this B &B! That will be good fuel for our bike ride!

What's Up Wednesday

This week is just cruising by. Here it is Wednesday night, tomorrow is a busy Thursday, and then we are outta here on Friday afternoon (if we can be ready).

Our good news is that Corey has recovered enough to return to SU today. Jim had a business trip to Vermont today, and he was leaving at 2 PM, so he took Corey back to SU on his way across the Thruway. Corey slept the clock around last night  and seems to have his temperature under control, so hopefully he can manage living in a dorm and attending classes. His coach generously offered  to have Corey stay at his house if Corey found that dorm life was too strenuous at this point. 

We would like to thank all of you who sent e-mails or called to check up on Corey. Sunday morning was a scary time, but what doesn't kill you makes you stronger!

Jeanne called to report that when Britni was in college, she had the same symptoms that Corey has had for the past six weeks-sore throat, fatigue and multiple mono tests and strep tests that come back negative! She eventually got over it all, with no medical intervention, so there is hope for Corey. This must be some kind of genetic defect in that side of the family!!

The photo at the top of this entry is of the tulips I bought last week at Sam's. This is the second bunch of tulips I have purchased there and I have been very pleased. They have stayed beautiful for over a week. I loved having a sign of Spring right in my dining room.

I stopped over at Grandma's and Grandpa's tonight on my way to Bells and Grandpa proudly told me that he added up the weight he lifts every time he goes to the YMCA and the number is almost 14 tons! Yes, almost 28,000 pounds, four times a week! Very Impressive.

I am excited about our upcoming Maryland Eastern Shore biking trip for many reasons and last night I got another reason to be excited. I got a phone call from my college roommate, Deb, who lives just north of Lewisburg, PA and she is going to meet us there tomorrow evening. We have a hotel room in Lewisburg on Friday night and will call her when we get there. I am looking forward to spending some time  catching up with her. Hopefully, Jim will not be bored to tears. 

The town put a new sidewalk section in front of our house, where they did the storm sewer work. It looks a bit odd, this brand new sidewalk in the midst of the rocks and mud where the yard was dug up. 

Guess that is all for now. I better go pack up some things for our trip. 

Any errors in this entry are due to the fact that my editor is out of town!

Hope all is well.  

ER

The phone rang at 3:36 AM today, awaking us from our sleep. It was Corey. He had just dragged himself back to his room from the bathroom, where he had passed out, twice, on the trip there and back. He called to ask us to call his grandparents, who were planning on visiting him today, to tell them that he was sick and not to come. When we heard what was going on we told him he needed to get to the Emergency Room and try to figure out what was going on. If you have read this blog in the past, you may remember that he has not been feeling well ( sore throat and fatigue) for the past 6 weeks. He was seen by his pediatrician while he was home at spring break and the SU Health Services staff and all that blood work came back negative. Corey got his roommate to borrow a car that belonged to one of the girls on the team and drive him to the ER. We were on the road 20 minutes after he called us. Let me tell you, there is almost nobody on the Thruway at 4:30 in the morning. Corey texted us shortly after we were in the car to say that he had a fever of 103.3º.

We had a slight delay in finding Corey because he thought he would be going to Krous(sp?) hospital, but really went to University hospital. Fortunately they are right next to each other and the ER receptionist at Krous had the University ER on speed-dial and was able to track down Corey when he did not show up on her computer. 

Corey was able to be treated in the pediatric portion of the ER (anyone under 19, he made it by 6 weeks) which was a good thing because the adult ER was pretty busy. He received good attention from the nursing staff and the 2 doctors on duty. They gave him almost 5 liters of something in an IV bag and some Tylenol to bring down his fever. They did lots of blood tests,  did an EKG, and a chest X-ray. They determined that he has the flu (type A), which hit him pretty hard since his body was weakened by not being well for the past 6 weeks. We were given some suggestions for follow-up with Corey's pediatrician and will hear more results of the the blood work that the hospital did, on Tuesday. Here is  a photo of Corey in the hospital, taken with his permission!

Then we had to figure out what Corey should do once he was discharged. The doctor wanted him to have complete rest so he could get over this, plus she did not want him infecting anymore students, so we brought him home for a few days. He is approaching the end of the semester, so he was not thrilled with this idea at first, but the more he laid in the hospital bed, the more he realized how sick he was (is). He slept most of the way home in the car and will now probably lay around the house for the next day or so. 

We have not had anyone this sick in our house for a long time. His fever spikes again when the Tylenol wears off and he is quite congested. 

So that was our morning. We were home by 10:30 AM. We were quite pleased with the care that Corey received at the hospital and are grateful for the attention that they gave to his overall health. 

So what else to report.

Last night we had a great dinner at Bob and Sally's . Sally made a fabulous cake for me for my birthday. I will have to find out what kind of cake she would like for her May birthday so I can return the favor. 

Tucker called recently and has been working on a couple of unrelated archaeology jobs but was now heading off for a week-long trip on the San Juan River-lucky dog!

Today is a beautiful day here. Jim has the laundry hanging out for the first time this year. 

Here is the photo of yarn that Jim bought me in Toronto. He did good!

I guess that's all for now. I will have Corey take his temperature, so it can be added to Jim's "fever" spreadsheet!!

Hope all is well with you.