A Beautiful Day in Maryland

What a great day to be at a festival! Sally and I left Westminster at 7:45 AM and we were walking onto the grounds of the Howard County Fair Grounds for the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival by 8:30. It was once again a delightful, fibery day! We were surrounded by yarn, roving, sheep, alpacas, llamas, knitting and weaving supplies, and lamb. Here are a bunch of photos from our day.

The day was sunny and hot! When we weren't in one of the animal or vendor barns, we were seeking out some shade.

Liz joined us in time to have a late lunch. Sally and I indulged in some lamb, which was delicious. We all bought some yarn and I added to my roving supply. I also bought a very light weight silver shawl pin to go on my Seascape shawl.

Sally and I both had knit new sweaters for this festival. Well, actually mine was knit for the New York State Sheep and Wool Festival, but it was so cold that weekend that my new sweater was hidden under several other layers. So today it made its festival debut. But it was so hot that we had our sweaters off shortly after arriving! Here we are wearing our new sweaters, standing in the lobby of our hotel.

Liz drove back to our hotel with us and joined us for dinner. It was a bonus to see her.

Sally and I will head home tomorrow, hopefully not hitting too much rain.

Corey runs in the Big East Track meet tomorrow in Cincinnati. Good Luck, Corey!

Hope all is well.

On the Road

I'm filing this report from Westminster, Maryland, where I am poised to attend the 37th annual Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. Sally has made the trip with me and I am glad to have her company.

We left before 8 o'clock this morning with our bikes on top of the Beetle. We had an uneventful drive to Gettysburg National Park where we took our bike off the roof of the car, changed into our biking clothes and rode 18 miles around the national park. Here are some photos from our ride.





It was a perfect day for riding, sunny and in the mid-80's with a gentle breeze! We followed the national park's Auto Route tour and for the most part we were riding on park roads with minimal traffic. I love to visit this park because when Tucker was younger, it was one of his favorite places. I can remember his enthusiastic verbal re-creation of the battles that took place here~ his passion was so evident! He couldn't get enough of the the monuments and the various landmarks in this historic area.

After our ride we continued south and east from Gettysburg to Westminster, MD. We got settled into our hotel and got cleaned up before heading to downtown Westminster where we ate a delicious meal at an Irish Pub. Here is a photo of Sally in the seat of honor at our table!

And yes, that is a Corona into which she is squeezing a lime!

The forecast for tomorrow is perfect for walking around the sheep and wool festival. Sally and I each have hand-knit sweaters to wear in the morning while the air is still cool, but I am sure will have them back in the car before too long. Liz is planning on driving up from DC and spending the afternoon and evening with us. That should be fun.

If I am not too tired tomorrow night, I will post some photos from the festival.

Hope all is well.

Happy Birthday, Maw

Today is my mother-in-law's birthday and I must have done something right to get such a great mother-in-law! Happy Birthday, Maw!

Yesterday Jim and I went on a nice 37 mile bike ride that included 2 bridge crossings, 3 bike paths, lunch at Schallers, and two quick social stops to visit with friends! All in all a great ride!

This weekend was our church's centennial celebration weekend and we participated in two of the festivities. Saturday night we attended the Centennial dinner and enjoyed talking with pastors that used to be at Bethany as well as church members that we don't get to chat with very often. Rev. Ferguson and his wife, Donna were our table mates and we were honored to be at their table. Rev. Ferguson was at Bethany for 22 years~he married us and baptized both of our boys, so he has been an important person in our lives. It was good to see him again.

This morning we attended the big Centennial worship service. My bell choir joined up with the teenage bell choir and we rang a beautiful piece for an introit. With 2 bell choirs ringing, it was an impressive sound. The rest of the service was led by our former pastors, full-time and interim, and it was joyous service.

Tonight we hosted a birthday dinner for Grandma, and Gram and GrandDad joined us too. Also joining us, was Rev. Peter and Anne Durkee. Rev. Durkee was an interim pastor at Bethany and he and his wife were staying at Gram and GrandDad's house. It was fun to have them here with us.

Back to school tomorrow after a great spring break! I guess I can make it now until the end of June. Especially when I remember our Florida trip in the middle of May!

I am excited to be able to start watching Dancing with the Stars again. I refused to watch it while Kate Gosselin was on, but since she has been voted off, I can now enjoy that show again.

Tomorrow night it is dinner at the Villages and then we will go pay our respects to the Glavin family.

Hope all is well.

DC Photos and more

As promised, here are some photos from my Washington, DC trip, with brief captions.

These first 5 pictures are from my solo ride on the Mount Vernon trail. I have no photos from when Liz and I rode the southern part of this trail because we were under time constraints and were riding too fast! I rode north on the trail from Alexandria, VA to see some of the memorials and monuments for which Washington, DC is famous.

Sunday night I went out to dinner with Liz and Ryan. Apparently the flash on my camera was in the OFF position so this is the best of the 2 photos I took that night. We had a nice dinner at a good chili place.

On Monday I moved from Alexandria to Herndon, VA so I could ride the W&OD trail, a railroad bed converted to a multi-use paved trail. The following photos are from my 2 days of riding and are typical scenes along the 45 mile route.

I took this picture in the town of Purcellville, the western terminus of the trail. I liked the island in the middle of the trail with arrows directing the bikers to turn around and go back the way they came!

So if you ever find yourself in DC with your bike or a willingness to rent one, I would highly recommend the Mount Vernon Trail and the W & OD Trail.

Tuesday night I met Liz and her friend Melissa at the Nationals Baseball Park for game between the Nationals and the Colorado Rockies. It was a fun evening inspite of the fact that there were very few people at the game and that the home team was losing 10-0 at the third inning! The Nationals scored a few runs but were still losing 10-4 when we left at the 7th inning. I never did see the final score. I took the Metro (subway) into DC and that was a great way to travel. Here are three photos from the ballpark.

It was Free T-Shirt Tuesday at the game, so we all put on our Nationals shirts to support the team (and to keep warm!).

I've been home for a couple of days and have gotten lots of little chores done around the house, which always feels good. Yesterday (Thursday), Jim and I went for a bike ride during his lunch hour which was fun. We had dinner at the Villages on Thursday night.

Today I went shopping and out to lunch with Gram and we had a good time.

Tomorrow we have a 35 mile bike ride planned and in the evening we will be going to church for the Centennial Dinner. On Sunday there is a big Centennial Worship Service planned that includes some former pastors coming back to help with the service. 100 years is a wonderful milestone for a church.

The Rochester running community got some sad news today~Pete Glavin passed away after a 16 month battle with brain cancer. His contribution and dedication to running in Rochester (and beyond) has been unmatched and he will be missed for who he was and all the good he did.

Hope all is well.

Herndon, Virginia

Hi from Herndon, VA! i intended to bring our laptop from home so I could update the blog more often, but I left it home by mistake. But there is a computer in the lobby of this hotel so I will take advantage of its availability.

I drove to Washington, DC on Saturday and drove through some light rain and snow in NY and PA. But the sun was out by the time I reached Maryland. I was a few miles south of Frederick, MD on I-270 when the 2 lanes of traffic came to a stand-still. Some times we were parked for 10 minutes without moving and then we would crawl ahead 10 feet. This delay ended up extending my trip by 90 minutes, but I used part of that time to call both Tucker and Corey and talk to them! Thanks guys for helping me pass the time! The traffic eventually was reduced to one lane along the shoulder of the road as we went around what looked like a very bad accident.

But the GPS got me to my hotel in the Old Town Section of Alexandria, VA. and I unloaded my luggage and bike to my spacious, quiet room. I walked about a mile into the tourist section of Old Town and found an Italian restaurant that could seat me right away and I enjoyed a good pasta dinner and a glass of sangria! Liz and I touched base about our biking on Sunday.

Sunday morning we met outside my hotel at 9 and were biking on the Mount Vernon Bike Trail 15 minutes later. It was a cool, windy morning, but we had a great ride south to the Mount Vernon estate, where we did a quick turn around and headed back to Alexandria. The trail was fun to ride and when we returned to my hotel, we had done 22 miles! Liz put her bike back in the car and went home and I took a short rest in my room, before heading back out on the Mount Vernon Trail, this time heading north towards DC.

I included a ride across the George Washington Memorial Bridge so I could ride around some of the monuments, including the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington monument and the WWII monument. By the time I returned to my hotel, my cyclometer registered 42 miles, my longest ride of the year!

Liz and Ryan picked me up for dinner and we went to a restaurant in Old Town that was famous for their chili, which we all ended up having in one from or another. Ryan has his straight up in a bowl, Liz had her's over spaghetti and I had mine over tater tots! It was delicious and I could not remember the last time I had tater tots! I enjoyed meeting and getting to know Ryan. He seems like a great guy! I have a photo of us all from dinner, but because I am writing this on a hotel computer, the photos will have to wait until I get home.

Today was a sunny and warmer day. I moved from Alexandria to Herndon, VA, about 40 minutes from DC, and close to Dulles Airport, although I have not been aware of planes overhead.

This hotel is quite close to the middle of the Washington & Old Dominion bike trail. This 45 mile trail goes from Purcellville, VA to Arlington and Herndon, is near the middle. So this morning I rode from Herndon to Purcellville, about 27 miles, had lunch at a local diner, and then rode back, for a total of 55 miles! The trail was paved and well marked with mile markers and historical markers. Because it is a rail to trail bike trail, the uphills and downhills are gradual. Tomorrow I will head east on the trail to finish it. It is supposed to be another good riding day.

Now it is time to grab a shower and a quick rest and then find some dinner.

Hope all is well with you.

Tax Day

Happy Tax Day! Hope your taxes are all safely filed with the IRS. Are you one of the lucky ones awaiting a refund?

I rode my Trek bike to school today with the hope that I could take a long ride home. In spite of a few threatening sprinkles around lunch time, I was able to take a great 15 mile loop home from school. I left school, worked my way through some residential neighborhoods until I got to the Holy Sepulcher cemetery. I rode through the cemetery to Lake Ave, north on Lake Ave, until I picked up the River Trail. I cruised down the River Trail, took a connecting road to the Parkway bike trail, and then took the 390 bike trail home. It was a great ride, with little traffic. I look forward to doing this again in the last couple months of school.

Spring break is next week and as you might imagine, I can hardly wait. Up until a day ago, I really had no plans. Jim has pretty much dedicated his vacation time for the year, so he couldn't take time off. I didn't really want to fly anywhere and I need to be back in town by April 24. I also thought it would be fun to do some biking somewhere new, but I wanted to go on paved trails. When we were discussing this with Bob and Sally, they strongly suggested the bike trails around Washington, DC. There are enough trails around the DC area to keep me busy for a few days, plus I can see Liz! So tonight I made some hotel reservations and will be leaving on Saturday morning and coming home on either Wednesday or Thursday of next week. The weather in DC looks favorable and it should be pretty down there at this time of year. So watch for some blog posts from our nations' capital!

It is Scooterville time at school and it is one of my students' favorite activities. I transform the gym into a small town and the children travel around on Scooters. Scooterville includes a bank, carwash, YMCA, McDonalds, Wegmans, a school, a gas station, a playground, a library, an ice cream parlor and a tennis court. The children can earn a Scooterville Driver's License if they play safely and nicely and they are wildly excited when they get their little green license! It is such fun for me to watch the kids get completely immersed in the world of make believe. Here is a photo from Scooterville.

Happy Birthday to nephew Michal!

Time to go write a packing list!

Hope all is well.

Catch-up Time

I don't know if I am losing my blogging mojo or if I just don't think there is anything to write about, but this is about the longest I have gone without writing something! So I will catch-up.

First off, I neglected to publish a photo of my wonderful birthday cake that Mom made for me. It was a lemon ice-cream cake roll and it was yummy! Mom made the lemon ice-cream and it was quite lemony, just the way I like it. Thanks again Mom!

Last week was filled with the usual stuff, work and evenings out. We did go to GEVA to see the show Two Trains Running and we enjoyed it. We have one more GEVA show to see in May and that completes our season.

This was another good weekend for biking. The temps were not as hot as last weekend, which made it all the more pleasant. Jim joined me yesterday and today for two 25 mile rides. Yesterday we went west and today we went east. Today we rode the Canal trail out to Lock 32 and we took this photo of the small rapids that are normally in the canal when the canal is not filled and it shows why there is a need for a lock in this particular place.
Last weekend we rode our bikes on the new bike trail along the Lake Ontario Parkway. This trail connects the 390 bike trail to the River trail and it was a great ride. Here is a photo of Jim on the new trail.
When I think back to last weekend, Easter weekend, I realized that maybe I didn't write anything because we were so busy. Bob and Joanie were in town and Corey and his roommate, Mike came for Easter dinner so there was a lot going on. It was good to see everyone and share a delicious Easter dinner.

We feel like Santa has brought us Christmas in April because the UPS man has been delivering boxes of gifts all week. Because Jim is celebrating his 35th anniversary with Johnson and Johnson, he was allowed to select 3000 points-worth of gifts from this huge website that had thousands of different items. I will post a photo of all the gifts once the final gift arrives tomorrow. But here is picture of my new waffle iron in use on Saturday morning. The waffles were a great way to start our day.
It is report card time at school and I have spent a lot of time this weekend writing up comments for about 120 children. I may end up with carpal tunnel problems before I am through! On the bright side, it is time for Scooterville in my gym, starting on Tuesday, and it is one of children's most favorite activities.

Corey called sometime this past week to tell us that some video he shot was featured on Wheel of Fortune. Apparently the company he interned at last summer was hired by a local Bed and Breakfast to do some filming of the B&B. Corey saw the video on Wheel because a stay at that B&B was one of the prizes being given away! He was super excited to see his work on national TV.

I guess that is all for now.

Hope all is well.

Spring Time Photo Essay

Signs of Spring

Laundry drying outside.

Blue-ettes

Crocuses

Bike rides (30.4 miles today!)

Door opened to the Mexican Room.

Hope your weather is as good as we had today.

Hope all is well.

Saturday and Sunday

There seems to be a fair amount to report, so here goes.

Saturday was a fun day~I started the day by going to a Young Life Baskets and Brunch fundraiser with Sherri. There were over 1oo baskets in which you could put one or more of your raffle tickets. After a nice brunch the winning number for each basket was drawn and the winner given the basket of goodies. My streak continues, I did not win. However, Sherri's good luck streak continues as she won 2!! One of her baskets had a BBQ theme and was filled with lots of accessories and food items that you might use at a BBQ. The other basket was filled with picnic/party supplies so I told Sherri I expected to be invited over for a BBQ party! Last year when I went to this event, I was the highest bidder at the Silent Auction, on a pretty necklace. I bid on another necklace this year, but didn't love it enough to follow up my bid. I did win the floral centerpiece which was a treat. The overall theme for this year's Baskets and Brunch was "Shoes" so each of the centerpieces was an arrangement in a fancy dress shoe. It is cute. Overall, it was a fun morning and I was glad to spend some time with Sherri.


Late Saturday afternoon GrandDad and I left for Syracuse to watch West Virginia play Kentucky in the Elite Eight level of March Madness. It was another great game and it was fun to share it with GrandDad. Here are a couple of pictures from our time at the Carrier Dome.

We got home from the game at 11:30 PM, which was much more reasonable than the 2 AM arrival on Friday morning! Today I'm still feeling the effects of 2 late nights, even though I slept pretty good last night.

Today I started my broccoli seeds, hoping for sprouts. Here are some photos from the starting process:
The seeds will hopefully germinate (?) on the wet paper towels in this plastic dish.
Less than a tablespoon of seeds go in the dish.

The covered dish is in the window for some daylight. I hope this works. Broccoli sprouts have many health benefits and I love to have them on my salads and sandwiches.

Corey raced at Stanford University in California and had a good 5K race. Jim raced in Boston this weekend at the National Masters Indoor Track Meet and brought home 1 silver medal and 2 bronze medals! So it was a good running weekend for the Robinson family from coast to coast!

Congratulations to the RIT men's hockey team who had 2 upset win this weekend to earn a spot in the NCAA Frozen Four! Go Tigers!

Short week at school coming up because we have Good Friday off. Busy week ahead as we are out every night!

Hope all is well.