Sunny Saturday

A beautiful day here in Western New York. Jim and I went for a walk this afternoon and I am going to include two photos from the walk and if you would like to guess where we were walking, please do so in the comments. Tucker, you are excluded from participating since we told you when you called tonight, sorry!

I had my last spinning class this morning and we blended some fiber using hand carders and we "flicked" dyed locks which were then spun into yarn. There is a whole new vocabulary that goes with spinning and I learn more each class I attend and each book I read. I took a skein of yarn that I spun earlier this week in for "Show and Tell" at class and my instructor said she was going to enter my skein in the spinning contest (Novice category), at this year's Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival! I guess I better not knit

anything up with that skein, in case she actually does it. My instructor gave me some hints on spinning the Icelandic sheep fiber that I bought in Iceland this past summer. It is a bit trickier to spin, but it is so soft that it will be worth the extra effort. I spent the second half of the afternoon spinning and  watching college basketball. 

Tonight we went to Odyssey to see the boys basketball team play Pembrook in the second round of the sectionals.  Odyssey was ahead by about 10 points for most of the game, but after 2 of the stronger players for Odyssey fouled out it, it came down to a 2 point game. Then Pembrook's star fouled out and Odyssey ended up winning by 5 or 6 points. 

It was a fun way to spend a Saturday evening. We sure didn't know too many people! The above photo is a bit dark, but in the upper right corner, you can see Corey's white State Championship banner! The Odyssey girls team plays their third round sectional game on Tuesday evening at the new Aquinas sports complex so we may go to cheer on the team and to check out the new facility. 

As I mentioned, Tucker called tonight and is having a good time in Portland with his friend Kellem. They have been sightseeing from bicycles because the weather has been so good. Kellem has a gig tomorrow night, which Tucker is looking forward to. Kellem is a great fiddle player and is part of a band, so I'm sure Tucker will be hearing some great music. 

Corey runs tomorrow afternoon in the Big East Indoor Track Meet in NYC. Jim discovered that the meet is being streamed on the internet, as a pay-per-view program. So, he signed up and watched parts of the track meet today, using "Neighbor" Net! He'll sign in again tomorrow with Corey's race being one of the last of the meet. Run fast, Corey!

I am going XC skiing with Sally tomorrow at a place called Salmon Hills at the east end of Lake Ontario, where there is a ton of snow. Hopefully, we'll have another sunny day.

 

One thing I have noticed since coming home from San Diego is that the cars in San Diego are all clean and shiny, which is not the case here in Rochester. I want to see shiny, clean cars again (including the Beetle, which desperately needs a wash!).

Hope all is well. 

Home Sweet Home

Here's one for the record books. Jim, Tucker and I all had uneventful flights to our destinations ( we came home, Tucker went to Portland, OR). We were fortunate to fly through cities that were experiencing flying-friendly weather. I got to Rochester at 1o PM and Gram and GrandDad picked me up (bringing my pre-warmed puffy coat for the 18 degree weather that welcomed me). I went back to the airport at 11:15 PM to pick up Jim.

 

I was supposed to take Grandpa to the doctor for a check-up today, but the doctor was sick and cancelled all his/her appointments. He will try again next week.

I got my chores done this morning so I could have a spinning afternoon. The photo below is of me winding my freshly spun yarn onto my new, homemade Niddy Noddy! The Niddy Noddy is a quick way to get the yarn off the bobbin and into a skein. I could have purchased a wooden Niddy Noddy for a minumum cost of $20. I went online and found directions for making one out of PVC pipe. So, off I went to the Home Depot store and bought a 10 foot length of 1/2 inch PVC pipe, 2 T-connectors and 4 end caps, for a total cost of $3.16! I took the pipe to GrandDad and he cut the pipe into the lengths I needed and then I assembled the Niddly Noddy! 

I have used it twice today and it works great and I like the fact that I made it at minimal cost. I still have over half the PVC pipe left, so if you want a Niddy Noddy, let me know!

I did a fair amount of knitting yesterday while on the planes. I got just over halfway through turning the heel on the second sock of the Rockin' Sock Club socks. I sat next to a knitter on the flight from San Diego to Chicago and we talked knitting for awhile. 

Jim and GrandDad are at the Rochester Museum and Science Center for the first presentation of the Distinguished Lecture Series. I think tonight's topic was polar bears. I am working my way through the pile of newspaper and mail that accumulated during our time away.

Today the sun was out, but it was cold. The sun was a fond reminder of how pleasant it was in San Diego. I need to go through all my trip photos and select some to go in my digital picture frame at school. Plus, I enjoy the process of sorting photos because it refreshes all those wonderful memories of our time in San Diego. What a great city-if you've never been there, put it on your "Bucket List".

Time to go rinse and hang up my latest skein of yarn. Today's spinning is the best so far-more uniform thickness and better plying. I'll have to start thinking of what I can make from these early spinning attempts. 

Corey is off to NYC to run in the Big East Indoor Track meet. He qualified for this race with his race at Yale a few weeks ago. Good Luck, Corey, and run fast!!

Hope all is well.

Last Full Day in San Diego

The threat of rain never materialized and we had another great day in southern California. I am writing this in the evening, because we need to be up and on our way first thing in the morning. No leisurly walks or blog entries tomorrow!

Tucker has been wanting to visit the Museum of Man in Balboa Park since we arrived and we kept putting it off for other things until today which ended up being a good decision because this museum was free today! I dropped the guys off at the museum and then drove to a yarn store where I needed to get some spare size zero needles  for the socks that I am currently

working on. I broke 2 needles on the trip out here and fortunately had a few spares with me, so I needed to replace the spares. I went to a very lovely shop called Two Sisters and Ewe and they were having their winter sale so my needles were 10% off. I also treated myself to some

merino wool and silk roving that was 20% off. This was a quick trip and I was back in Balboa Park looking for a parking space in less than an hour's time. I caught up with Tucker and Jim who were just finishing up at the Museum of Man and we headed to the Art Museum for a quick tour, because that was another one of the freebies on this particular Tuesday. Then Tucker started to need his Mexican food fix so we headed north to La Jolla, to the Birch Aquarium at the Scripps Institute. 

We made a stop at what turned out to be a chain of mexican restaurants called Rubio's and it was good. I worry that Tucker may grow gills with all the fish tacos he has eaten in the past week! On to the aquarium!

Jim and I had been to this aquarium 25 years ago and in that time, they moved from a facility down by the ocean to a new building up on the cliffs. It is a great aquarium with just the right amount of displays for me, not so many that I get restless and bored. Here are a couple of photos from the aquarium. The first one is of the kelp forest tank and the

second one shows Jim and Tucker playing in the fake river, diverting water to make

new hydraulics and then sending toy boats down the river to see what happens. It was great fun for big and little kids!

After the aquarium we continued north to Torrey Pines State Preserve to see the rare Torrey Pines. Great pine trees with huge pine cones.

And once again, this attraction sits on some prime real estate along the coast. We were able to hike some trails on top of the cliffs to some ocean overlooks and then hike down to the beach. There were some great walls of eroded rock which reminded us of the rock formations in Bryce Canyon. Tucker and I hiked along the beach, while Jim hiked back up to the car at the upper parking lot and drove to the lower lot to meet us. Tucker and I took off our shoes and waded in the 57 degree ocean. It was a lovely afternoon.

We took the scenic drive back to the beach house and got our stuff packed up. Dinner was at a seafood place downtown on the harbor front. We had a window table with view of the harbor and got to watch several boats/ships moving past. 

This has been a wonderful 5 days in San Diego. The weather has been great and we have done many enjoyable things. I'm so glad that Jim and Corey gave us a reason to come out here in February! Plus we got to spend some quality time with Tucker, who graciously carried our daypack for the past 4 days!

Tomorrow Jim and I head east and Tucker will be flying to Portland, OR to spend a week with a friend. Here's hoping all of our flights go as planned. 

No blog tomorrow (Thursday).

Hope all is well.

San Diego Day 4

The fun continues! This morning started out cloudy, but the sun came out later in the morning and was in and out the rest of the day. No complaints here. The forecast for today is mostly cloudy, and rain moving in sometime in the next 24 hours. It's OK if it is raining tomorrow when we are leaving, as long as it is not so much rain as to interfere with our travel plans.

But I don't want to think about leaving just yet, so let me tell you what touristy things we did yesterday. 

It was zoo day. We were there as the gates opened and we walked around for more than 3 hours checking out the animals. The animal photos I have included are the orangutan and an anteater carrying a baby on her back. 

Almost as interesting as the animals was the diversity of the tree and plant life. Every where you looked there was a different variety of tree, and by different, I mean trees we never see in Rochester! The flowering plants added such a nice splash of color-the blooming long-stemmed birds of paradise are just past their prime, but are as common as daffodils or tulips at home. The photo at the top of this entry is just one of the many flowering plants that decorated the zoo.

The next photo is called "Feeding Time at the Zoo." Notice these 2 specimens look a little skinny and like they could use a good meal!!

After the zoo, we used our GPS to located the nearest Mexican Restaurant for lunch and there were about 5 to choose from within a mile of the zoo. We choose the second one we came to because there was place to park right next to it. I think Tucker would like to eat Mexican food for 3 meals a day. I'm OK with one or two meals!

Because the weather was nice, we decided to tour the aircraft carrier, The Midway. This ship has a long and important military history and is now permanently docked in the San Diego harbor. We took a self-guided tour, using head phones and little digital radio-type things that provide you with info as you move around the ship. It was a good way to tour the majority of the ship. In order to go up to the flight control deck and the bridge we needed to get on a guided tour, which we did. It was all very interesting and it would be exciting to see one of these ships in action when planes are taking off and landing every 42 seconds! With 4,500 men on this ship, it was a floating town and we saw everything from the laundry room to the brig.

From the ship, we drove across the beautiful bridge to Coronado, where we walked through and around the very fancy Hotel Del Coronado. This photo shows us standing in front of a Dragon Tree, one of Tucker's favorites. 

We thought about having dinner somewhere in Coronado, but it was a bit early so Tucker suggested we stop into a local bar and have a drink. This younger crowd is full of good ideas! We walked into an Irish pub (what, no Mexican!!) and found nice table with a view of a TV that was showing the Syracuse basketball game. It was Happy Hour at this pub so we had discounted drinks and a half-priced appetizer. Unfortunately SU lost, but it was fun to watch. We were quite full from our appetizer sampler so we came back to the beach house with plans to get a pizza later. We ended up walking down the ocean walk about a mile to a pizza place and had a nice meal. 

So that was our Monday. Today we will do a museum and then head north to La Jolla to do some hiking.

Hope all is well.

San Diego Day 3

Writing my blog entries in the morning seems to work better than trying to re-cap our day in the evening. I am just too tired at night and the mornings are just peaceful and quiet (I'm the only one up in this house at the moment).

Yesterday was another sunny, warm day. We rented bikes at a place about a half mile down the beach walk. These bikes were classic old cruising bikes, fat tires, single gear, wide handlebars, and coaster brakes. And I had a "girls" bike, with no top cross bar. Can't remember the last time I rode a bike like that. From the rental place we continued north along the ocean walk

 trail until it ended, turned around and returned the way we came for a bit until we found a road that crossed over to the bike trail along the bay. We ended up riding about 15 miles, most of it on the bike trails around Mission Bay. There were a couple of short stretches where we needed to take to the roads to connect up with another trail, but there were bike lanes on those roads. It was a great day for riding and we stopped briefly a couple of times to take photos. Because it was Sunday morning, there were impressive numbers of people out getting their

 exercise and enjoying the beautiful day. There were walkers, runners, bikers, skateboarders, surfers, rowers, kayakers, sailors, water-skiers, boogie-boarders, beach volleyball players, cricket players and families playing in the sand and surf.

We rode for about two and a half hours and realized we were starving and thirsty, so we headed back to our beach house for a quick snack and drink and then rode back up the ocean trail for a couple more miles before we returned our bikes. It was a fun morning!

Brother Bob sent us this photo of Joanie, enjoying the wonderful winter weather in Michigan, so I thought I would compare it to the wonderful winter weather we are enjoying here in San Diego!

After lunch we went to Point Loma Nazarene University to look for some artwork by the father of our friend, John K. When John heard that we were coming to San Diego, he suggested we stop by this university and see if we could find his father's paintings in the Music building and the Library. This campus is on a long narrow spit of land that pushes out into the Pacific Ocean and the campus is perched on the cliffs, with buildings stair-stepping their way down to the ocean! An amazing location! Surfing 101 must be required course at this university! We found a door opened at the Cooper Music building and walked into a lobby area and there were 3 of the paintings we were looking for. There was a student receptionist who wondered if he could help us and we told him why we were there. He told us we could walk around to look for more paintings, but that some of the areas would be locked up. We ended up seeing about 10 paintings, some up close and personal, others by pressing our faces to the glass windows and looking into locked rooms. These paintings were mostly landscapes, with a few portraits, all done in oil paints. John's father had quite a talent and we would like to find out how his artwork ended up at this university. The library was locked up so we were unable to continue our search there. We were glad to have checked out this beautiful university.

 

We continued south on this peninsula to Cabrillo National Monument to see the lighthouse that has stood for hundreds of years and to learn the important role this area played in US history, especially around the time of WW II. The views back on San Diego were impressive, especially as the harbor was filled with Sunday Sailors, sailing boats of all types and sizes. 

We needed to re-supply our meager food supply at the house and I was curious about a grocery store called Whole Foods so we used our GPS to get us to the Whole Foods store in La Jolla. This grocery chain is always mentioned when people are talking about Wegmans. Whole Foods is an organic grocery store and a bit pricer than Wegmans, but with the same focus on customer service, high quality merchandise and presentation. We did find everything we needed and

enjoyed walking up and down the aisles looking at foods and brands we had never seen before. One of the things on our list had been a box of Wheat Thins, but, of course, you cannot buy Wheat Thins at Whole Foods. You have to buy Back to Nature Crispy Wheat crackers, which will be a fine substitute! I did get a pineapple for $1.49, which is a great deal compared to the price at home.

Our Rochester friends, Jean and Dave, are also visiting San Diego this week so we met up with them for dinner last night at a fancy Mexican restaurant in Old Town. We had a great dinner and lots of laughs.

Our plan for today is to go to the zoo and do a quick tour of Balboa Park. We should get a good amount of walking in at the zoo. I'm not sure what else we might do, it all depends on how long the animals at the zoo keep our attention. 

Corey flew home yesterday with his team and we are hoping all went as planned with that. It would have been nice if he could have stayed these few extra days with us, but college called!

Time for a walk or breakfast, not sure which will come first.

Hope all is well.

San Diego Day 2

Another beautiful morning, although I did sleep better, not getting up until 6:45 AM. 

The running update: Jim ran a little better than he thought he might considering his sore heel prevented him from training the way he normally would for this race. He took 6th in his age-group and his 50-year old team took 3rd in that age-group, thereby earning each of the team members a medal. Corey had a bad day, and as you might imagine was quite disappointed. Although he disagrees, I think the fact that he has been sick for most of the past 2 weeks (cold, sore throat) weakened his body so he was not as physically ready as if he's been healthy. Oh, well, that's how it goes in the running world. Corey was not the only runner yesterday who who came away with a less desirable time. But, hey, we were in San Diego and the sun was shining and it was 60 plus degrees!

It was a perfect day for running and working on your tan. As a matter of fact my face is a bit pink this morning from yesterday's sun. I'll put the sunscreen on earlier today.

After we watched all the races, we all were starving, so we found a little Mexican restaurant and we ate fish tacos. They were tasty, although I would prefer them if the fish had not been deep-fried. Shortly after we returned to the beach house, we were joined by Corey and 3 of his teammates who wanted to go boogie-boarding and play beach volleyball. Well, this is the place for doing those things! Of course, it was 60 degress with a water temperature of 57 and a slight breeze, but that did not deter those young and young at heart(Jim joined in the water fun, too). Jim took one boogie-board run, and it was a good one, and called it quits. Corey, Tucker, and Mike continued to catch the waves for 20 minutes, until a life-guard came to me and asked the

 boys to move down in front of the life guard tower, because there was an occassional riptide in

 these waters and guards wanted to be able to have clearer view of all swimmers. I called the boys in, gave them that info, but they were shivering at that point and ready to quit.

After a quick warm-up in the house, we went out to play volleyball. One of the many courts had just opened, so I joined the 5 guys in a game or two. We had a lot of fun and laughs.

Jim took them back to their hotel and then we went out to dinner at a Mexican Restaurant in the Old Town area. This restaurant was the only place in the area that didn't have a 45-60 minute wait and the meal ended up being OK. We were so hungry and tired that we probably would have eaten most anything.

Yesterday morning I went for a long walk on the boardwalk in front of our house. I must have walked 2 miles to the north, enjoying hearing the ocean waves and checking out all the beach front homes. I power walked and did the 4 mile round trip in about an hour. What a great way to start the day!

Today looks like another beautiful day. The weather is supposed to be nice for the next couple of days and then the potential for rain comes in for Tuesday and Wednesday. Today we may rent bikes and take a tour of the area. We also have a couple of places we want to hike. 

Hope all is well.