Gotta Love Saturdays

This has been a busy 24 hours! Last night I went to a "Yarn Tasting" event at a local yarn store. I got to see some of the new yarns that will be available plus there was 15% off any purchases that night. In addition to yarn, there was a wine distributor there, so I got to sample some NYS wines. Now, normally, drinking wine and knitting are not the best companions, unless you like to rip things out the next day, but last night this all worked. 

I was up early this morning (6 AM) and at the Public Market by 7. When I get there that early, I can usually get a good parking spot without too much trouble and that was the situation today. I got 2 pecks of grapes because tomorrow is Grape Pie Day. Grandma will be here in the early afternoon and we will squeeze all the grapes, get them mixed up with filling ingredients, into ziplock bags and into the freezer. It will probably take about 2-3 hours. 

My big event today was rowing in the Head of 

the Genesee Regatta. I was in a Women's

Master's Eight boat and we took 3rd place out of 7 boats, so we were pleased. At the last minute, the woman who was slated to row in the stroke position, decided she didn't want to be the stroke and our coach looked at me and said that I was now the stroke. The stroke is the rower closest to the stern of the boat and sets the pace for the rest of the boat. I have only done this job about 2 times in the past 3 years so I was a bit nervous, but I managed to keep a rate of 30 strokes per minute. The race was 3 miles long and it took us 21 minutes. I am now exhausted because I have never worked harder 

for 21 minutes. Here are 2 photos my boat. We are wearing blue (light and dark) tops. One picture was taken just after we carried the boat down from the boathouse and put it in the water. The second photo is just near the finish line and we have closed in on the boat in front of us, which started about 10-15 seconds ahead of us. Overall it was a good race, respectable, but still room for improvement. The photos of my boat on the water were taken by GrandDad. Thanks Dad, they are great!

Jim called from NYC and he and his team had

 a good race in the International Corporate Challenge. Jim finished 78th overall without

killing himself, and his team was 16th out of 36 coed teams so they were pleased. He was off for some formal dinner on the 60th floor

of one of those Manhattan skyscrapers. 

Time to get some dinner and then hopefully I can stay awake to watch some college football on TV tonight and get some knitting done.

Hope all is well.