Shoes

Shoes, specifically, my shoes are the topic for today's blog entry (that means we did nothing blog-worthy today!). 

This morning, before heading to Spinning Guild, I decided to clean out the floor of my side of the closet, where most of my shoes are stored. I discovered that I had a lot of black shoes, or at least what I think are a lot of black shoes. See for yourself and you decide.

Now, some are sandals and some are sneakers, some are dressy and some are casual and I have worn all of them in the past year. There was only one pair that when I pulled them out I thought, "Wow, I forgot I had these!" They had the most dust on them! But I can honestly say that these are all useful parts of my wardrobe so I did not put any of them in the "donate" pile. Now I do have more shoes than this. There are the cowboy boots that I bought in Texas 27 years ago that no longer fit, some bright crocs, and my Christmas high tops. I have 2 pair of low hiking boots, my work sneakers, an old pair of sneakers, slip-on sneakers, Crocs that I wear around the house, white sandals, pink sandals, brown, dressy sandals, and my new Keens. Is this too many shoes? And I am asking that of my women readers, not you men who own maybe 5 pairs of footwear. I don't feel like I buy a lot of shoes, and especially when I look at some of these shoes and realize that they are five or more years old! Speaking of old, I forgot to mention my biking shoes, which are 17 years old! So let me know what you think. When was the last time you took a shoe inventory? Before I stop writing about my shoes, please note that I put 2.5 pairs of shoes in the donation pile today ( the other .5 may be on Jim's side of the closet, but I could not tackle both sides of the closet in one day!).

I spun at Spinning Guild and wrote report card comments today. Jim cut the grass and did some work at his parent's house. 

We are having some trouble with our TV now that the switch to digital has been made. We bought the new TV back in December so we did not need a converter box, and we bought what research said would be a good antennae, but now we cannot get 2 of the network stations. Jim went through the process of re-setting the channels but we are still not where we should be. I imagine (hope) Jim will continue to research the problem.

For the knitting report, I have about 12 inches of Tucker's sweater knit. This sweater is knit from the bottom up, so soon I will be at the armpit level, where I need to start knitting the back and front separately. 

Hope all is well. 

Field Day Follies

I awoke this morning, Field Day morning, to heavy, overcast skies and the threat of more rain to come. Various weather forecasters were predicting that the rain was  moving through and it was going to be a lovely day. So I arrived at school at 6:10 AM and started to get ready for all the activities. Various other staff people joined me and we all were convinced that the intermittent mist was going to  end real soon, so we took all the rain-proof equipment out to the fields. By 7:45 AM the rain appeared to have stopped so we got very serious about setting up about 35 different activity stations. The volunteers and kids arrived and things were looking good.

We started the day with a Flag Day Ceremony, led by the Music department.

Some classes made Tie-dyed shirts for Field Day.

The kids raced,

played with friends,

made enormous bubbles,

took batting practice,

and did some break dancing.

I declared the day a rousing success after the last large group performance of the Chicken Dance!
The weather ended up being perfect. There were over 70 parent volunteers, which are the reason we can do this event. Not one child had to go to the Quiet Room, which was a huge surprise to all of the staff. The kids did a great job, and went home happy and exhausted!

When I got home at 4:15 PM, I had 27,000 plus steps and was one tired PE teacher. I rested for a little while and then realized that I would probably feel a whole lot better if I took a shower and got cleaned up. That did the trick. 

Jim took me to dinner at The Garland House and we celebrated with a couple of beers while waiting for a table and then enjoyed a delicious meal.

It has been a great day.

Tomorrow is Spinning Guild!

Hope all is well.

Utah Trip

Here is a photo story of Jim's and Corey's trip to see Tucker in Utah.

Their adventure started with a 2-day trip on the San Juan river. 

Allison, Corey, Tucker and Kellem

There was belated birthday celebration for Corey on the river, reminicent of many birthday celebrations for Corey and Sally on our Memorial Day canoe trips.

When Tucker had to go to work on Monday morning, Jim and Corey headed for Arches National Park and hiked to 62 of the more than 2,000 arches in the Park.

After Arches, it was on to Fisher Towers and more unique rock formations.

Outside of Canyonlands NP, they stopped at Newspaper Rock to get the latest headlines!

A Canyonlands hike to the confluence of the Green and Colorado Rivers.

On to Druid Arch in Canyonlands. 

Back to Bluff, UT for a hike on Comb Ridge, Tucker's "office!"

They thought of me and brought back many desert flower photos. I love yellow cactus.

You know you are in rural Utah when they herd the cattle right down the middle of the road!

A hike up Centennial Peak in the San Juan National Forest.

Corey, talking to the alpacas at the Dolores River Days Festival.

A good time was had by all. Watch for more beautiful photos in future entries.

Tucker called tonight to tell us about a huge sting operation that went down in a little town north of Bluff, busting all the people who steal "antiquities" from the archaeological sites in Utah. He said it may be an interesting time to be an archaeologist out there, where 22 people were arrested for "pot stealing." Apparently a similar bust happened in 1986 and it caused a great deal of unrest in that area. I encouraged him to keep a low profile.

 

Tomorrow is June 11th and it is my Mom's 80th birthday! Happy Birthday, Mom! You make 80 look great! 

Hope all is well.

Sunday Update

Here it is, the Sunday night of Field Day week and already my mind is whirling with things that need to be done before the actual event on Friday. And I made the mistake of looking at the long-range forecast and it calls for showers on Friday. One more thing to plan for.

Oh, well, this has been a good weekend with lots of little jobs getting done. Yesterday I washed windows and put in the screens in the kitchen. I love clean windows! I hemmed a pair of pants for Jim and altered his USA running singlet. More on that another time. I had prints made of all the family photos I took at the baseball game and will distribute them at school on Monday. I went to GEVA theater yesterday afternoon for a performance of PUSH physical theater. This is a small troupe of actors/mimes/gymnasts who tell stories with their physical movement. It was quite impressive and they all moved their bodies with such fluidity. I enjoyed the show! 

Today's big event was the Tour de Cure, a fundraising bike ride for the American Diabetes Association. Thanks to all who made donations towards my effort.

I did the 25 mile ride and averaged 14 mph, which pleased me. I have not been able to ride my new bike as much as I would have liked this spring, so I was happy with how I felt while riding and how I feel now, 9 hours later. Twice during the ride, deer came out from the edge of the road and ran across in front of me. The first time it happened the deer was close enough to me that I needed to put on the brakes! Hitting a deer while riding a bike would not be a good thing!

I stopped at Medved on my way home from the bike ride, hoping to find a pair of sandals for my river trip this summer. I tried on 4 different pairs, Teva's, Chaco's, and Keen's. The Keen's were the clear winner. When Keen's first came out a few years ago, I like the toe protection that their sandals provided, but they did not fit with my hammer toe. This new style has a hole right where my hammer toe bumps up, so they fit perfectly! I think they will be great river-wear.

Gram and GrandDad came home from Jenny Lake today and came here for supper tonight. They look great and it was fun to catch up with them. Tomorrow Bob and Joanie spend the night here with G & G before heading to camp. G & G will join them at camp on Thursday.

And tomorrow Corey and Jim come home after a fabulous trip to see Tucker. I can hardly wait to see all their photos! Corey will head right back to Syracuse after a quick Garbage Plate with a friend. Corey starts his internship on Tuesday. It will be good to have Jim back home. It gets lonely around here after a while!

Hope all is well.

Finally, Margaritas on the Porch

Because the decor on the renovated sun porch is loosely based on a Mexican theme, I have been waiting to have margaritas on the porch. Jeanne thought that was a great idea, so she bought us some margarita glasses for the porch, and came over with Maw and Porge, and Michal and Elizabeth, and a Bucket O' Margaritas! A good time was had by all.

Now I have included some photos here, but before you look at them, please be warned that Porge had a fall and landed on the side of his face and side of his leg and is quite black and blue. So here are the photos from their visit. More on his fall in a minute. 

Margaritas on the porch.

Ponty's in the dining room.

 About Porge's fall~ apparently he fell asleep while sitting up at his puzzle table on their porch. He fell off his chair and landed on the floor, hitting the side of his face and his leg, both of which are black and blue and sore. This all happened while Jeanne, Michal and Elizabeth were visiting Niagara Falls. We will keep a close eye on Porge for the next few days. Here is a close up of his injuries.

We talked to Jim tonight and they are looking forward to a fun weekend in Dolores, CO. I'll be glad to have Jim back home on Monday.

Last night I went to the Rochester Redwings baseball game with families from school. It was a perfect night for a ball game and it was a wonderful evening. Our students got to go out on the field and hold the large American Flag for the National Anthem. Everyone had a great time.

My brother Bob put in his last hours this morning as a teacher and is now officially retired, and I wish him nothing but the best in this next chapter of his life.

Hope all is well. 

Quick Update

I've got 20 minutes to do this because I want to watch the NBC News Special on a day at the White House, part 2.  I watched the first part last night and found it to be interesting.

Jim and Corey are having a great time in Utah. They have been traveling around a bit this week while Tucker has been working, but called tonight to say they were back with Tucker and tomorrow would head for Dolores, CO for the weekend. Also, here is a correction. In an earlier post I wrote that they were on a river trip on the Dolores River, but they were really on the San Juan River. A good time was had by all. Here is a photo of my 3 guys on the San Juan. Thank you Allison for the photo!

I started spinning some gorgeous fiber on Sunday.
And here is one of the balls of cashgora (a blend of cashmere goat and angora goat fiber) spun on my bobbin.

It is such a beautiful color and oh, so soft!

And here is Jim's completed sweater. I hope it fits!
Last night I went to Grandma and Grandpa's house because Jeanne, Michal and Elizabeth are here for a visit. We had a nice dinner and lots of good catch-up conversation. They are all coming here on Friday for Margaritas on the Porch!! They are even bringing the makings for Margaritas! I'll provide the Ponty's!

Speaking of Ponty's, to my brother Bob, I wish I could send you one to celebrate your retirement! Today was his last day of teaching children. He then has a day and a half of year end (career end) meetings and then he closes the door on this chapter of his life on Friday afternoon. I am very proud of all that Bob has achieved as an educator. He has truly made a difference in the lives of many of his students.

Time to turn on Brian Williams (so to speak!!).

Hope all is well.

On My Own

On Friday morning, at 6 AM, I dropped Corey and Jim  off at the airport for their trip to see Tucker. All their flights went as planned and I believe that they are now on a canoe/kayak trip down the Dolores River for a couple of days. I know that they will have a wonderful time together.

I can update you on the last 3 days around here via the numbers on my pedometer.  Jim wears his pedometer every day and keeps track of his steps because J&J rewards its employees when they accumulate a certain number of steps. I only wear my pedometer when I think I may have a big step day. Health professionals have determined that 10,000 steps in a day is a good target for most people, and for most people that translates into about 4 miles of walking. So we will start with Thursday when I did my mile walk before school started. My PE lessons included dancing and rope jumping, so I was at about 15,000 steps when I left school.  Corey, Jim and I then went to RIT for the Corporate Challenge, a 3.5 mile race/walk. I walked the course and then did fair amount of walking as I cheered the runners during the actual race. By the time I got home I was just shy of 30,000 steps! The weather during the race was dreadful, heavy rain with thunder and lightning! Jim is wearing the red shirt and white hat in this photo and did well considering the conditions. He is anxious to hear how the J&J team did in the standings.

Friday was a half day for the students and I had to run a special program for the incoming kindergartners during the morning. After lunch, I sat through 2.5 hours of meetings~not many steps there. But I had signed up to be part of the school's Relay for Life team and that meant lots of walking. I walked around the middle school track for over 2 hours, along with a couple hundred other walkers, and when I got home at 10:30 PM, I had just over 24,000 steps!

This morning I woke up early and decided to go back to the Relay for Life event (it is an overnight event, but I chose not to stay the night). My teammates were thrilled that I returned because they had taken turns walking all night and I took over being the team rep on the track as they laid around on the ground and in the chairs. So I walked for 2-plus more hours and had 15,000 steps by the time I left at 9 AM. And now after running some errands, cutting the grass in the front yard and an after dinner walk, I am sitting here with 27,000 steps!

My errands today included dropping my new bike off at the bike shop where I bought it, so it could have its 30 day tune-up. From there I continued south on 390 to a church in Rush, where the Shepherd Wool Market was being held. This is an event for local farmers who raise fiber animals (sheep, alpacas, goats, rabbits), to sell their fiber. There were freshly shorn fleeces to purchase as well as roving (fiber ready to be spun), handspun yarn and finished knitted products. I bought a small amount of roving from some sheep breeds that I have never spun. 

On my way back to get my bike, I stopped at Best Buy to look at small cameras. Jim took my blog camera (the one I carry with me all the time, in case I see something blog-worthy) to Utah and I was feeling a bit frustrated since I had already missed several events because I didn't have my small camera. I do have a full-sized digital camera, that takes wonderful photos, but it is not as easy to carry around. So I looked what was new since I was last camera shopping several years ago and saw a couple of interesting models. I came home and did some on-line research and then returned to the nearby Best Buy and purchased a new Canon. Here are a couple of photos of my new camera, with the clothes pin for size perspective,taken with my SLR camera.

After dinner I decided to walk to the carnival that is running in the far parking lot of the mall and take some photos with my new camera. I bought a ticket to ride the ferris wheel and here are a couple of pics from that ride.

It was a lovely night for the festival, which is a fundraiser for local youth programs, and I'm sure the place will be packed later in the night. I did not have to wait in line to buy my ticket or to get on the ferris wheel. It was a very pleasant ride, especially since there was no one sharing my seat that liked to rock the seat!! You know who you are!!

So I am feeling quite tired tonight and will turn in soon, and will try to stay awake long enough to finish my Nicholas Sparks' book.

I hope to get a bike ride in tomorrow, but the weather is questionable right now.

Hope all is well. 

Happy Birthday Corey!

Happy Birthday to Corey! My baby turns 20 today! We are so proud of all that you have done in your first 20 years and we are looking forward to your bright future!

Then:

Now:
Then:
Tucker holding his little brother!

Now:

Tucker holding onto his girlfriend, Allison.
Tucker was a groomsman in a friend's wedding over the weekend and he sent this photo. He looks pretty good in a tux and Allison is a very pretty girl!

Hope all is well.

Weekend Round Up

This has been a good long weekend and here are some photos to show what we've been up to.

Saturday started with a nice 23 mile bike ride. In the afternoon we went to Jennifer R.'s wedding. It was a lovely day for a wedding and the ceremony at a church in Holley was beautiful.

Groom Tom, Bride Jennifer and Maid of Honor Annie

The reception was held at Deerfield Country Club and we has a lot of laughs with our friends Jim and Sue, enjoyed a great buffet dinner and then danced until our feet hurt. 

On Sunday Jim and I drove to a farm south of Syracuse for their 6th Annual Shearing Festival. We enjoyed the sunshine, the animals and the demonstrations.

There was a woodcarver using a chainsaw,

A sheep shearer

A variety of sheep and lambs,

And Jim's favorite, the Alpacas. These guys have been freshly sheared.

There was a spinner who gave me some good tips about spinning the llama fiber that Tucker gave me for Christmas.

Speaking of llamas, Jim being brave!

Border collie-sheep herding demo

Guard donkey-really, these animals are used to keep predators away from sheep! Now you've learned something!

Chickens-their brown eggs were for sale.

Goats

Angora rabbit

Tractors-just like Iowa!

Alpaca shearing-Their legs were stretched out and tied down during the  process-a bit unsettling to watch, but the shearing process did not take long.

After 2 hours at the festival, we headed north to see Corey in his new dwelling. He and his buddy and teammate, Mike, have rented the 3rd floor of this house. They have use of the veranda on the second floor, which is where they were when we arrived. Notice Corey's garden on the roof of the first floor porch. He has broccoli, lettuce and something else growing.

The third floor is full of odd shaped rooms and angled ceilings-it is a great place. They have a lot of space and it is light and bright. Below is the living room. They just moved in the day before, so they were still figuring out where to put things.

Both boys have access to the kitchen from their respective bedrooms, but you have to be thin, like runners, to get from Mike's room into the kitchen. This is definitely not an apartment for most of the football team!
After a tour of the apartment we took Corey, Mike, and another running friend, Forrest, to play mini-golf and then out to dinner at Dinosaur BBQ. The Dinosaur was its usual madhouse, so we ordered take-out and ate outside at one of their picnic tables. It was a perfect evening for it.

In the photo below, Corey is admiring his perfect parallel parking job, that was doubly challenging because he had to park in a spot on the driver's side of the road, and his parents and buddies were in the car as he was trying to do it. He nailed it on his first try!
After dinner, we drove home. Corey and Mike had plans to play some volleyball with the team and then go downstairs to meet their neighbors-2 young women!!

Today was a stay close to home day. I got an early morning bike ride in and then Jim and I went to the garden store and bought some plants for around the yard. They are now all planted. Jim washed some of the Jalousie windows on the porch, one of those pain-in-the-neck kind of jobs. 

I have finished sewing Jim's sweater and now just need to knit around the neck hole. I fear the sweater is growing and Jim is not! Time will tell!

Gram and GrandDad got home from their Spain trip right on schedule on Saturday night and are resting up at Jenny Lake. I talked to them today and they report that they had a great trip!

Now, about Jim painting my toenails~ it seems to have aroused some ire from some of the male readers of this blog. My brother Bob buys his way out of having to do it and Biking Bob thinks it is a step back for all of mankind! Jim says he cracked under the pressure of all the sensitivity training that J&J is requiring of its employees! I think he was just being a nice guy and there is nothing wrong with that. And to tell the truth, he never actually touched my feet!

Just got an e-mail from Tucker with some photos from the wedding he was in this weekend, but those will have to wait until the next blog.  

Hope all is well.