Wooly Saturday

Today has pretty much been about yarn, except for when I was exercising and checking out B&B websites for our Maryland trip.

 

I joined the Genesee Valley Handspinners Guild this morning and then spent nearly 6 hours with about 40 other spinners. My spinning teacher saved me a seat near her and I got lots  of encouragement from her as well as all my questions answered. There were several vendors at the meeting selling fiber in various stages of preparation and my teacher, Deb, was also helpful when I wanted to purchase some new roving. It was great fun and I got the rest of my Icelandic fiber spun and plied, so I feel like I accomplished something. I was made to feel very welcome and everyone I spoke with was friendly. I cannot attend the April meeting because we will be in Maryland. I will look forward to the May meeting. I've included a photo of some of the spinners. 

Most of the rest of my day has been spent on knitting. I have worked some on my Pi Shawl and am including this photo, taken last night after almost 2 hours of work.  Jim put the postage stamp in the picture to give you a size perspective of what I did in 2 hours! I got lots  more done tonight. 

This afternoon we had Happy Hour so I knit on my striped scarf while drinking wine! That is an easy project that I don't have to pay much attention to, plus it is on good sized needles. 

Jim is getting ready for his trip to France tomorrow afternoon. He will be back on Thursday. He is out of town for almost 4 weeks between now and the end of April. 

I have a question for you. This morning I was riding my bike in the basement, watching the Today show and they did a story on saving money around the house. They quoted a statistic that the average household uses 12, count 'em, 12 rolls of paper towels a week! I was astounded! I would be lucky to get through 12 rolls in a year! What are these people doing with them? How many rolls do you go through in a week or year? 

Jim noticed that the town has started to work in the jewelry store parking lot behind us which means they will be in our yard in the near future. The town engineer said he would call us before they dig up our property so we'll see if that happens.

 

Tomorrow is the 2nd anniversary of our house being robbed. I remember this date because it is Liz's birthday and it happened as the college basketball teams were gearing up for the NCAA tournament. One of the things that was stolen was our big TV and we haven't replaced it so I will once again watch the basketball games (which  I love) on our tiny TV!

Tomorrow morning we are planning on going to church because it is the first Sunday that our new minister will be preaching. There is a great deal of excitement around his arrival. Guess I had better pay up my church pledge!

Hope all is well. 

Knitting Stress

I knit because I find it relaxing. I knit because I like the mental challenge. Tonight the mental challenge has completely obliterated any sense of relaxation and my shoulders are tied up in knots after sitting and trying to cast on for a new project. Let me back up and explain what is going on. I read a knitting website called Ravelry which is like a message board for over 70,000 plus registered knitters and crocheters. It is really so much more than a message board, but I won't get into that. Well, one of the threads on Ravelry had to do with starting Elizabeth Zimmerman's famous Pi Shawl on 3-14 (today), since pi is the math equivalent of 3.14. Get it? This is a pattern that I have wanted to do for quite awhile and reading about all these knitters who were going to cast on today, got me inspired. I got some yarn, lots of yarn. I think I will need about 1500 yards of this wool/silk string-like stuff. This shawl is circular and has increases that go along with the theory of pi. You start knitting in the center and there are several different ways to cast on for this type of start, none of which were familiar to me. So I have just spent over an hour with 2 knitting books open, 4 double-pointed needles and a ball of yarn. A couple of times I referred to some sites on the internet for more help. The toughest part was keeping the 9 slippery cast-on stitches from twisting or falling off the needles. I had to take a break after knitting 3 rounds. Once I get going, the going will get easier and I can be as creative as I want with how the pattern works up. This shawl can be lovely, so I want to do it justice and not screw it up right from the get-go.

The 4 inches of ice on our driveway is finally starting to melt as temps have risen above freezing. I think tomorrow is supposed to be another "warm" day, so maybe we can re-claim our driveway. 

This has been a fairly typical week (some might say, boring) in terms of blog-worthy news.

I've been flipping kids all week as they try to learn the backward roll. It really is rewarding to have a kid tell me they can't do it or are too afraid to try, and then to have them come up with a big grin on their face after they do it. Between a wedge mat and me helping them, there are very few kids who cannot do a backward roll. 

Terry and Kenn were supposed to come tomorrow (after the weather kept them away last week) but Terry has a bad cold so they will head back to Virginia. They were on a college tour and I wonder how that all went. Terry, let me know about the trip. 

Tomorrow I am going to the Genesee Valley Handspinner's Guild meeting. It is held the 3rd Saturday of each month in the Victor Presbyterian Church. My spinning teacher called me yesterday to see if I was going and will save me seat near her so she can continue to help me and answer all my questions. I am very excited about going to the meeting. I will take the rest of my Icelandic fiber and some other fiber that I bought in San Diego and see how much I get spun. 

Jim is busy planning out our Eastern Shore biking trip, which is about a month away. We have some maps and have requested some more info from some internet sites. 

Here is a photo of my beautiful daffodils. One of our school secretaries was selling them as a fundraiser for the American Heart Association (I think) and she delivered them to me on Wednesday. When I got them, they were a dozen tight buds, which have opened beautifully. I won't see my daffodils in the yard for another month or so.

Good Luck to Liz as she moves into an new apartment this weekend.

Hope all is well.

Plans and Schedules

We have enjoyed a third sunny day here in Rochester and that is a real spirit lifter!

No blog yesterday because I was out late with 3 of the 5 other Women's Weekend women, trying to come up with a time that we could go to Jenny Lake for the 15th annual Women's Weekend. As all of our children have left the nest, we have all gotten busier than ever and finding a weekend we can all go away for all that fun stuff we do was a real challenge. Hopefully our latest plan will work out. 

While I was out to dinner last night, Jim and Corey went to see the movie, 10,000 BC (I think that is the correct title). They enjoyed the movie, especially all the special effects. 

Being out late on one school night was not enough for Jim, so he decided to go out to a local coffeehouse with Corey tonight to hear Corey's former Jazz Band teacher play a gig. This "college lifestyle"is going to catch up with Jim real soon! 

Have I mentioned that we are going to the Eastern Shore of Maryland for a biking vacation during my April break from school? Well, we are. I contacted our Jenny Lake friends, Robin and Joe, who live in Baltimore to see if we could spend a night with them on our way down there. Robin got back to me and we are on their calendar for dinner and overnight accommodations. It will great to see them again and catch up with their lives and the lives of their 2 daughters. 

I am including 2 photos of the wonderful dinner I made on Sunday night. Wegmans publishes a Menu magazine about 4 times a year and this salmon recipe was in the most recent issue. My final presentation looked just like the photo in the magazine and it tasted great! 

Corey went to the doctor's yesterday to see why he is feeling less than 100% and is not running as well as he used to. He had some blood work done and we should get the results of that tomorrow. He goes back to SU tomorrow and is hoping to have some idea of what to do to get his mojo back! He has done lots of sleeping and eating while he has been home. 

Corey took Jim's car into a repair shop today to get the windshield fixed so the new one should be good for another 126,000 miles. 

I started my gymnastics unit at school and I successfully executed my annual forward roll. Every year in the early morning quiet of my gym, I put a mat along the wall where no one will see me and I squat down, curl up my body and attempt to do a forward roll. I am happy to report that it went quite well. Now in a couple of weeks I can make my annual assault on climbing ropes and try to dazzle the kindergartners as I climb up to the rafters! You think it is easy being an almost 53 year old PE teacher! There are pressures you cannot even imagine!

Hope all is well.

Snowy Saturday

Hey, the weather guys finally seem to have gotten it right! We awoke this morning to 10 inches of snow in our driveway, which we had to clear out before Jim could drive to Syracuse to pick-up Corey. Just before they returned home, I went out and snow blowed 2 more inches with a sleet crust. For the afternoon, it continued to sleet, quite heavily at times. And now it is snowing at a rate that will bring significant accumulations. Ahhh March, in like a lion, out like a lamb.

But the weather did not deter Jim from bringing the boy back to the nest. Actually, Syracuse did not get this storm and once Jim was 30 miles east of Rochester, the roads cleared. 

Haircut review: I like it! Corey's teammate, who serves as team barber, did a nice job on giving Corey a buzz-cut. The short hair does take some getting used to-I still do a double-take when he walks into a room.

This afternoon I had to make a quick trip to church to

 rehearse with the choir for Music Sunday tomorrow. I am ringing chimes with 2 other bell ringers as an accompaniment to one vocal solo. Our part is not hard, knowing when to start ringing is the challenge!

All the grandparents joined us for dinner tonight and we had a fun evening. Bob and Sally joined us for Grape Pie later in the evening. One topic of conversation was Jim's new found interest in recycling yarn. He is now working on unraveling his second old sweater to recover the yarn for another project! He seems to enjoy figuring out how the sweater was constructed so he can unconstruct it and then finding the yarn end to start pulling to unravel the sweater is another challenge.  I will let you know what I end up doing with this "used" yarn. 

I have been knitting on my Noro scarf and really like the way the striping looks. I am almost halfway done and will post a photo of the finished product. 

I usually spin on Saturdays, but there was no time today. I did give Gram and GrandDad a quick demo of my spinning wheel, but will hope to do some serious spinning tomorrow. 

The crack in the van windshield got about a foot longer on today's Syracuse excursion. Hopefully the windshield will stay intact until its repair appointment on Tuesday. 

Tucker called tonight just as we were sitting down for dinner. I chatted with him for just a minute and he said he would try to call again tomorrow. 

It is good to have Corey home. I imagine sleeping and eating will be top priorities for him for the next 3 days. 

Hope all is well.

MId-Week Update

Well, we made it to Thursday night, with the weekend in sight. 

Jim has a new project. Yesterday he came home from work and I noticed that he had a hole in the sleeve of his wool sweater. I told him he needed to throw it away. I jokingly added that he could unravel the lambswool yarn and I could knit something else out of it! By the time I came home from bell rehearsal, he had cut the sleeves off and was trying to find the yarn end that would allow him to unravel the sleeves. He found it and my knitty knoddy is now quite full of yarn. He is back at the project tonight working on the body of the sweater. I'm not sure what I will do with the yarn but maybe a hat and scarf for Jim. 

I came home today and discovered this ditch digger in my neighbor's yard, ready to dig up our yard. The town engineer has not called us back about a start date, but it looks like it is getting closer. 

Yesterday I got re-certified in CPR and in the use of an AED (Automated

External Defibrillator). It is an annual certification and I hope that I never have to put my skills to the test.

 

My annual Women's Weekend group is struggling to find a date to go to Jenny Lake this year. When we all had kids at home, it seems we were more available to get away for a long weekend. This year we cannot find a weekend that we are all available and that camp is open. Some of us are going out to dinner on Monday to try to come up with another plan, ironically enough, we cannot even all get together here in town for dinner! I keep telling myself that this will all work out and we will get away. It has become an important time for all 6 of us. 

Terry is supposed to come to town this Saturday with Kenn, but the weather guys are calling for a winter storm to roll through here Friday night and Saturday. If their recent track record is taken into account, the storm probably won't amount to much! We are supposed to go to Syracuse on Saturday morning to bring Corey home for a few days. It is the start of his Spring Break and it will be good to have him home. I guess we'll have to wait to see if the weather impacts our plans. 

If you have ever ridden in the passenger seat of our van, you may have noticed that there was a star-shaped ding in the windshield. It has been there for the last four years (or so we guess) and it has always passed inspection. Jim came out to the van at the end of the work today and discovered that the ding had morphed into a 4 foot crack! Not sure how come it happened today, while the car was sitting in the parking lot, but it did  and now Jim needs to look into getting it repaired.

Hope all is well. 

Monday's Notes

I posted this entry and 2 minutes later Corey sent us an e-mail with this photo of his new haircut! He decided he needed a change so the guy who is going to be one of his roommates next year played the role of barber. Leave me a comment about what you think of Corey's new 'do!

First a Sunday summary: We had a nice dinner with Grandma and Grandpa (pot roast, Grandpa loved it!). While they were here, I gave them a tour and demonstration of my spinning wheel. I think they were amazed that I could turn a mass of jumbled fibers into a fine yarn. But, I guess, I'm amazed sometimes too! We also showed them our San Diego photos which was fun for us. 

Last night I finished my Rockin' Sock Club socks and they are quite unique. The first sock I knit had these wonderful stripes, evenly spaced from the cuff to the toe. On my second sock, the colors and stripes started pooling just after I turned the heel. Couldn't figure out why, but keep knitting on because it had an interesting effect. When I went to start the toe decreases, I discovered my problem-I had 5 too many stitches after I finished the heel part! Who'd have guessed that 5 extra stitches could have such a dramatic effect on the self-patterning yarn. I figure that when I wear these socks my feet will be in shoes, so no one will see the different foot parts, and the cuff parts look the same. So, I learned something with this project and that is one of the many reasons I enjoy knitting. The next sock club sock kit arrives later this month so I'm feeling pretty good that  I'm not behind from the start!

Last night Aunt Terry called us to see if we were going to be home this Saturday. She and Kenn are coming this way for a quick visit before going on some college visits. They will be spending Saturday night with us, as Kenn is another grandson who is allergic to Grandpa's cats. I'll see if Grandma and Grandpa want to have dinner here on Saturday. It will be good to see Terry and Kenn.

 

We had a teasing taste of Spring here today, with temps reaching 67 degrees (I need to figure out how to do the degree symbol here so I don't have to type the word out-anybody with a Mac know how to do that?). The snow/ice in the driveway melted and there are flooding concerns in the area, not at our house though. Alas, tomorrow we return to typical March weather with snow, freezing rain, sleet, and rain in the forecast. Once again the weather guys are pretty hyped up for the potential with this winter storm, but they have gotten a reputation for blowing things like this way out of proportion. 

The town is getting ready to move on our storm sewer project. They have placed a pile of sewer pipes in the parking lot of the jewelry store behind us and we came home today to the 4 cement sewer connectors pictured below. They are on our neighbors' yard across the street, poised to be moved into our yard. A town engineer left a message on our machine today asking us to call him so he could update us on this project. 

We got news from the Lincoln University crew. The big news is that Uncle Jimmy got a job with a construction company and will be starting next Monday. Congratulations, Jim! We know that you will be an asset to that company. Zach is a good news/bad news kind of guy right now. He severely sprained his wrist while skiing (no doubt done while trying some high-flying hotdog move!!), but won a new Xbox 360 game system at a school fundraiser!

 

If your family has something of interest to share, just let me know and I will spread the word.

Hope all well.

A Day at SU

Today we went to Syracuse with Bob and Sally to see an SU basketball game and visit with Corey. We left here in the sunshine at 9:30 AM and drove east on the Thruway, dealing with a couple of small snow squalls. We met Corey outside of the Carrier Dome and joined 26,000 other SU fans to cheer on the team. It was a great game, with Syracuse leading most of the game. They were up by 11 points with about 3 minutes left. They quickly blew that lead and were up by 4 with only a minute left. Then 2 quick mistakes by the young SU team and they lost the game. It was heartbreaking. Syracuse starts 2 freshman and 2 sophomores and we are hoping that in the next couple of years they can gain the experience to come out on the winning side of these close games. I bet they have lost 6 or 7 really close games in the last minutes this season, so hopefully with more maturity and experience, they can become a powerhouse team. There were some exciting plays that brought the crowd to its feet and we were glad to be in the house. 

We walked down to Marshall Street to one of the SU t-shirts stores to get a SU sticker for a friend. We then had a good walk back to the car at Manley. Since the game started at noon, we were out looking for a late lunch/early dinner at 3 or 3:30 PM. We went down to the Armory Square area and stopped into a store call The Hot Shop, where they sell 3000 different kinds of hot sauce. Corey and Sally each found and bought something that sounded good to them. This Hot Shop was a tiny shop with a bunch of small signs on the door indicating some rules and restrictions for coming into that shop. First off, you had to be 18 years old to go in. I soon discovered several hot sauce bottles shaped like naked bodies of men and women-scandalous! There were additional signs on the door stating that they don't do donations, give out change for the parking meters or have a public restroom.  Plus, you could not bring in your backpack! Fortunately, Corey left his backpack in the van and we all peed before we left the Carrier Dome! I asked the Hot Shop owner for a recommendation of a restaurant in the area and he directed us to the Empire Brew Pub, where we had a good dinner. Thank goodness, he didn't have a policy against making restaurant recommendatons! We all (except Corey) sampled their on-site brewed beer. It was good. 

I got a fair amount of knitting done in the car today and am nearing the end of the second Rockin' Sock Club sock. I should be able to finish it this weekend or early next week. Later in March, my school will have a week-long celebration of Dr. Seuss and one of the events is Crazy Sock Day. I hope to be able to wear these socks on that day. 

Tomorrow I have to deacon at church and then we are having Grandma and Grandpa here for dinner. I think I will cook Grandpa a pot roast.

Hope all is well. 

February 28th

Not too much has been blog-worthy in the past couple of days. You know, the usual stuff, get up , go to work, come home, something on the calendar to take us out in the evening, come home, go to bed. Repeat.

We did hear from Tucker that he had uneventful flights from Portland, OR to San Diego. He called Jim after he was an hour into his drive back to Bluff. He had a great time in Portland. Now it is back to work for him.

Tonight we are going to the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra concert. I forget the exact program, but there must be Mozart on the agenda, because we love Mozart. Gram and GrandDad also have tickets for tonight's concert, so we will go with them and get there early enough to hear the pre-concert lecture. 

Dad took Grandpa and Grandma to the doctor yesterday and the news was that Grandpa needs to continue on the oxygen all the time. This was disappointing to him. I'm not sure when he goes back for another evaluation, but I'm sure it is not soon enough for him.

This Saturday we are going to Syracuse for a basketball game. Bob and Sally will be joining us as we cheer on the Orange. Corey seemed glad that we were all coming over for a game and it will be good to see him. 

I'll include another photo from our San Diego trip. I took this one after we rode about 15 miles around Mission Bay on our Cruiser bikes. Jim and Tucker are riding on the trail right in front of our beach house. We were staying in the upstairs of the white house with blue trim, just to the left of the light pole. 

Hope all is well.

Back to Work

After a wonderful week off it was back to work today. I had such a great week off and felt refreshed, that going back to school wasn't too bad. The kids seemed glad to be back, if not a bit tired, but overall it was a good day. I am doing some basketball skills with my classes and they love that, so I have very few motivation problems.

Yesterday was another sunny day here in Rochester and I went to the Tug Hill area of NYS at the east end of Lake Ontario to XC ski with Sally. This part of NY gets huge amounts of snow and as we were driving east out of Pulaski, it was like driving through a snow tunnel, the snow banks were so high.It is interesting to look at these snowbanks because the town uses what must be an enormous snow blower to cut a clean knife-edge along the edges of the road and you can clearly see the stratification of the various snow storms they have had since the last thaw. There was a good 15 inches of clean white snow on top of numerous lower layers. Digging out your car or mailbox must be quite an undertaking after a good storm.

But on to skiing, we went to the Salmon Hills Ski center and skied for about 2 hours on wonderfully groomed trails. Plus, it seemed like we had a private park-we saw very few other skiers. Apparently Saturday was the big ski day at this place and Sunday was their quiet day. We skied out to the farthest point and returned by a different route. It was a good day of skiing-a long drive for a couple of hours of skiing, but a good day none-the-less.

Here are 2 photos from our ski-one with Sally approaching Look-Out Point and the other looking out over the Salmon Reservoir. The snowmobilers use the frozen reservoir as a race course!

We watched a little bit of the Academy Awards, but since we only saw one movie that was up for something (Michael Clayton), we didn't know too many of the nominees.

I had a couple of guesses on the location of the walk that Jim and I took on Saturday. Corey knew where it was because it is a favorite running spot for him and Jim. It is an area behind Park Ridge (Unity) hospital where there is a levee. Nice spot.

There is a winter storm watch for tomorrow and Wednesday. So far this winter, the weather guys have over estimated the severity of the storms that have blown through, so I'm not holding my breath for this one either.

Hope all is well.

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. 

Life is Good

It is 6 AM, and I am sitting at the table in the beach house watching the world wake up. Small and large boats are heading out of the bay into the ocean, there is a huge freight ship cruising by in the distance with with a eye-catching light display that makes me wonder where it is headed and what it is carrying. Several groups of walkers and runners have passed by on the paved path-what a great way to start the day. Several huge waves have just crashed into the rocky break wall on the far side of bay-maybe from the wake of that huge freighter. The skies are clear, promising sun and warmth later in the day. I'm not too sure of the outside temps yet, but folks look pretty bundled up.

Already, I am feeling rejuvenated by the green grass and sunny skies. I guess one just gets used to the dreary, gray weather that Rochester has served up this winter. 

I think I will go find a few more layers and head out for a walk before Jim and Tucker get up. 

Hope all is well.

Sunny Southern California

Here we all are in sunny San Diego. I left Rochester at 10 this morning amidst the blowing snow and arrived in San Diego to be greeted by sunny skies and temps in the 60's! What a shock to the system, a pleasant shock! Jim and Tucker were at the airport to meet me and carry my heavy suitcase and they whisked me away to this wonderful beach house. Here is the view that awaited me at the airport-palm trees!!!

Now if you are planning a trip to San Diego and are going to be here for more than a day or two, let me recommend this rental beach house. It is right on the beach with the ocean just a delightful sand stroll away. We went for a sunset walk on the beach right after we arrived and walked by several beach volleyball games and then watched the surfers catching the last of the waves in the daylight. This beach house has 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms and a large open kitchen, living room, dining room area. The dining table is surrounded on 3 sides by large glass windows and sliding glass doors, which lead to a small deck. There is also a deck area on the ground level where there is a picnic table and a grill. Tucker hopes to go to a local fish market and get some fish for us to cook up on the grill one night for dinner. Sounds good to me.

For dinner tonight we met up with some of Jim's teammates at a restaurant in the Little Italy section of Downtown. As we were finishing up our delicious dinner, Corey called Tucker to say that they were walking around the Little Italy area too and wondered where we were. He stopped into our restaurant so we had a mini family reunion. 

I am really tired tonight with the jet lag and 2 poor night's sleep leading up to this trip. 

I did a good amount of knitting while traveling today. I finished my Sock Club sock and started the second one. I'm pleased with the way the first one looks. I did break 2 of my size 0 needles today, but fortunately I had brought some extras. I now have a reason to visit a San Diego knitting store to get some new spares! 

Race Day tomorrow. Check back for the latest and greatest news from Sunny San Diego.

Hope all is well.

San Diego Here I Come!

Three of the four Robinson family members are in San Diego and this member that is still at home can hardly wait to get there. I do need to go to bed real soon because I am quite tired after getting up at 4 this morning to take Jim to the airport. His flights were all on time and he and Tucker were settling in to our rental beach house when they called. Here are a couple of photos that they sent me. The first one is the view from our balcony, as you can see it was a cloudy afternoon. When Tucker called me later, it was raining. That weather is to move through tonight and the forecast is for sunshine and 70 degree temps for the next 4 days! Yippee!! The second photo if from the inside of the condo. Both Tucker and Jim agree that we got lucky renting this place off of the internet. 

Corey and his teammates and coaches arrived late this afternoon and they all met up at the race course to check it out. 

Grandpa Update: He had a good day at home and had a visit from a Visiting Nurse, who spent 2 hours with them. She cleared up the issue of using a gas stove while oxygen is being used in the house. She said that the oxygen just needs to be more than 12 feet from the stove. Phew-that problem is solved. They go to the doctor next week to see how long Grandpa will need to be on the oxygen. Did I mention how glad we are that Jeannie is in town with Grandpa and Grandma?

Happy Valentine's Day to one and all. The kids at school were very excited about the days' festivities and my last class of the day was on quite a sugar high! 

One of the packing decisions I needed to make tonight was what knitting projects to take. I decided to continue to work on my Sock Club socks and take another pair of socks in my checked bag if I happen to finish my Sock Club socks. That would be a lot of knitting, but I do have 2 long days of travel. 

My flight is scheduled to leave at 10 AM tomorrow and Gram is taking me to the airport at 8. If all goes well, I should be in SD shortly after 4 PM. The weather is looking good in the cities that I fly into and out of, so I'll hope for no mechanical problems. 

I have computer access while in SD so I should be able to blog. Check back for updates.

Unless I am too busy!

B, S, and L: Have a great trip to Ottawa and take a skate for me!

Hope all is well.

Home, the Good and the Bad

Home-the good news is that Grandpa came home from the hospital late this afternoon. There is an oxygen service coming to their house tonight to deliver a cannister of oxygen for Grandpa. I think Jeannie was his good luck charm. She was here for 24 hours and he managed to get himself well enough to come home.Home-the bad news is that Jim is home. He was supposed to fly to San Diego this afternoon but when he arrived at the airport he discovered that his flight from here to Newark was cancelled, thereby messing up his connection to San Diego. He will try again tomorrow morning, early, at 6 AM. That means we will have to leave for the airport at 4:30 AM. Yikes-that is early. I guess that will allow me time to pack for my trip before I go to school instead of having to do it when I get home. The flight was cancelled because of weather in Newark, but tomorrow's weather looks good for flying. I hope my flights go as planned on Friday because it would be difficult to make alternative arrangements and still get to see the race on Saturday. I will try not to worry about it because worrying will not change anything. 

We talked to Tucker tonight, who had a safe and uneventful trip from Bluff to San Diego. He said that at one point today the weather was so pleasant that he was driving along with the windows down! He is in the hotel room that Jim had booked for the 2 of them and Tucker said it is quite nice. There is even a telescope in the room for whale-watching from his ocean-view room! And poor Jim is stuck here! 

Corey flies to SD with his teammates and coaches tomorrow. Hopefully they will have good luck with their flights. 

So Jim just got home from Grandpa and Grandma's house, checking up on the patient. The oxygen guy was there and set up the compressor that concentrates the level of oxygen and delivers it to Grandpa through a hose. The guy was saying that there should be no open flames in their house because of the oxygen which poses a problem because Grandma cooks on a gas stove with open flames. Sounds like dinner out every night to me!!! I guess they are going to have to change how they do some things and see what their options are when Grandma needs to cook. Here is a photo of the oxygen set-up.

I will say it again, we are so glad that Jeannie is in town, as we are trying to head out of town. 

Time to go to bed since the 4 AM alarm is going to rattle our cage too soon.

Thanks to the folks who have made comments on the blog or via e-mail. I will try to address them in the near future.

Hope all is well.

Wheely Excited!

I am wheely, wheely excited! Today I bought the spinning wheel that I loved at spinning class last Saturday. But let's back up here a minute and let me tell you what happened at 5:40 AM today.The phone rang and I had to go downstairs to answer it because Jim had done something to the phone by our bed when our phone service was out. The call was a recorded message saying that Greece schools were closed (because of severe wind chills)!!! Unexpected days off are such a treat-I was so excited I couldn't go back to sleep. Jim and I talked about me getting the spinning wheel at my next class, but I thought if I got it today I could use it today! So here is a photo of my Ashford Traveller spinning wheel.

The wheel is made in New Zealand from New Zealand Sweet Birch wood. I tried 4 different wheels during my 3 spinning classes and this one felt the most comfortable and seemed to "fit" me best. 

I spent 2.5 hours spinning this afternoon and spun 2 bobbins of single ply yarn and then plied the 2 yarns together to make usable yarn. It was so enjoyable and my technique is getting better. I was able to make the adjustments to the wheel as the bobbin filled and seemed to have good control of the wheel speed. I finished spinning my one bag of Romney wool, and still have a small ball of roving from the Corridale sheep. Below is my bobbin full of finished yarn. Finished as far as spinning goes. I still need to "wet" finish it, which means I have to soak the yarn in water and then let it hang dry to set the twist.

After dinner we went to the hospital to see Grandpa, but he had just left the room to go for a CAT scan. We didn't stay because we didn't know how long he would be. We did leave 2 photos of his cats-that should put a smile on his face. We then stopped at Grandma's house and she gave us the Grandpa update. He now has pneumonia but his temperature has been normal all day. He did more walking and even some stair climbing today. So, I think today was a good day.

Jeannie comes tomorrow and Grandma will be glad to have her here. 

Jim spent a great deal of time yesterday replacing the headlight on my Beetle. When it wasn't apparent how to get to the lamp, he went on the internet and discovered that it is a very complicated job. But he was not deterred and using directions he found on the web, he got the job done. That probably saved us about $100 by not having to go to the dealership. Well Done!

Hope all is well.

Grandpa Update 2

We visited Grandpa this afternoon for an hour or so and he was sitting up in a chair when we arrived. He had just gotten back from a walk around the hospital floor and was pretty tired but in good spirits. He had a fever earlier this morning, but none while we were there. He thinks he will be in the hospital for another couple of days. It would be really difficult for him to come home if he cannot walk confidently. 

Grandma was at the hospital for a couple of hours today, but this is a pretty stressful time for her. We stopped over to their house after the hospital and she was resting. We talked about where we could put a bed downstairs for when Grandpa comes home, so we may need to go over and get that set up in the next day or so.

Jeannie comes to town on Tuesday and that will be perfect timing. She will be a big help to Grandma when Grandpa comes home. Plus her time in Rochester will cover most of the time we are in San Diego.

From a warm winter day on Saturday to an Arctic blast today. There was a bit of sun today, which is a spirit-lifter even if the temps are in the teens!

Back to work tomorrow.

Hope all is well. 

Grandpa Update

Grandpa will spend another night in the hospital as he still has a fever. There seem to be no other symptoms and his temperature goes down when he has Tylenol in him, but goes back up when the medication wears off. The concern at this point is how weak he is.When we visited this afternoon we suggested he try to go for a short walk, with our help. He said he was too tired and would try tomorrow. A physical therapist showed up while Jim and Grandma went to the cafeteria for a cup of tea and she wanted to take Grandpa for  a walk. He said, "no." I asked if there was  chair that he could sit in, thinking that that would be an improvement over him laying flat on his back. The PT left the room to track down a chair and sure enough came back with one. She put the chair on one side of Grandpa's bed and made him get out of the other side and walk around to the chair. It was all he could do. She told him he could get back in bed after sitting up for a half hour and he had it timed to the minute and called for a nurse as soon as 30 minutes were up. Grandma is pretty tired these days, but did get to the YMCA this morning for some exercise. I will update the blog with new info as we get it. I took this photo of Grandpa, with his permission! I'm not the paparazzi! 

This morning I had my third spinning class and I may have found the spinning wheel I would like to own. In the two and a half hours I was at class today, I spun two bobbins of single ply yarn and the plied the two strands together into a 2-ply yarn. I have 62 yards and it is great! It is off-white since the fiber is in its natural state. I could dye it if I want, but at this point I think I will focus on spinning and not try to learn about dyeing too. I felt so comfortable in front of this wheel and was able to solve my own problems as they arose. I will post a photo of my skein of yarn in the near future. 

Before going to the hospital, we went to the Barnes and Nobel in Pittsford for a presentation and book signing by J-Mac. For you out-of-towners, J-Mac is a young man from Greece, who rose to fame when he went into the last basketball game of the season for the team for which he was the student manager and scored 20 points in the last four minutes of the game. J-Mac, or Jason, as we knew him, has autism and was a much loved team manager. We knew him and his family because he also ran Cross-Country and track. The coach called the opposing coach in the days before the game and asked for permission to let this boy play as a reward for years of service to the team. The coaches agreed that he could play near the end if the outcome of the game had pretty much been determined by that time. With 4 minutes to go, the Greece Athena team was up by quite a bit, so the coach signaled for Jason to go into the game. This was the first game he wore a uniform and the fans knew that he might get a chance to play. He missed his first shot, then hit a 2 pointer, followed by 6 consecutive 3 pointers! The fans and his teammates were going crazy! The video of these last 4 minutes is a real tear-jerker! The local news picked up the story and then it ran on the national evening news stations and ESPN. The coach, a PE teacher in the district was given a leave of absence to deal with all the publicity as a result of those magical 4 minutes. J-Mac, as he is now called, was nominated for and won, a national award from ESPN. Book and movie offers came pouring in. Magic Johnson came to town to meet J-Mac and talk about doing a movie about Jason's life. When President Bush was in town, he wanted to meet J-Mac. Jason has become a spokesperson for the Autism Society. This week was the release of his book, The Game of My Life, so we went to get our signed copies. Below is a photo of J-Mac signing a book for Corey, who ran in many races with Jason. Corey, he wanted to know how you were doing, as did his father. The book signing was very well attended and we are glad to have a copy for us and for Corey. If you want to read an uplifting story, go buy a copy. It will benefit a great kid. 

On our way home from the hospital we stopped at Davinci's for dinner and near the end of the meal we commented that we hadn't seen anyone we knew. Five minutes later, I looked up towards the front door and there are Gram and GrandDad waiting for a table! 

Have you voted for your favorite Valentine treat? If you voted for "Other" and can or want to share what else you would like to receive for Valentine's Day, leave me a comment. Remember this is a "G" rated blog!

Stay tuned for Grandpa updates.

Hope all is well.