Jersey Boys

I took the boys to the airport yesterday to go visit my sister Amy & her husband Todd in NJ. They went to the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, and the Liberty Science Center yesterday. Today they learned about Pierogi's for lunch, crossed daylilies in the AM, and picked blueberries and raspberries - tomorrow they are going to make ice cream to go with the berries, and go into the city to see "Young Frankenstein" on Broadway.  Today they also did some swimming, took a 10 mi bike ride, and played mini-golf.  I think they will be sleeping well this week!

Last night Todd & I went to Habenero for dinner,  a wonderful little locally owned Tex-Mex place up the street, then came home and watched the rest of the shows on the Star Trek Voyager disk that we had - it is a series of 4 related to the Borg (7 of 9 makes an appearance, and plays prominently in the episodes).   This morning was my hedonistic AM - massage,  pedicure......then came home for lunch with Todd, and in the afternoon, rearranged the bedroom (trying to be more Feng Shui).  Todd put up some bike hanging hooks in the cellar.  Had a lovely dinner with Todd tonight,  and then watched a few episodes of Flight of the Conchords - which I find to be incredibly funny - an HBO series about a two man band from New Zealand who has come to make it big in NYC. 

it is strange how leading up to a period when the boys will be gone, it feels like we will have all of this time on our hands, and get all sorts of things done, but when it comes down to it , the time goes at just the same rate that it does when they are here.......I am wishing I was with them doing all the fun things with my sister - but it is good for all of them to get to spend time together without Todd & I.

Commute Fauna

Yesterday, as I waxed poetic about my commute UIHC (Under the Influence of Honey & Cinnamon).....and as this continued on my way home, I was struck by the diversity of wild  (and not so wild)-life that I encounter every day on my drives to and from work.  Yesterday, I saw a rabbit hopping off into the grass on my way to work, and on the way home encountered a Hawk of some kind (dark body, with brown & white flecked tail) sitting on the road, some chickens trying to cross the road (one day as I passed their farm - they  actually HAD crossed the road....WHY?? dunno - but I think the grass looked greener!)  Also on the way home today, I saw a cat stalking something in a high mound of grass, and tonight in our neighborhood, I stopped for a Weimaraner who thought that the middle of the road just the BEST place to stand.

Other animals I have seen on my commute include quail (first time I have ever seen in the wild), deer (fairly common), wild turkeys, albino peacocks (at the chicken farm) and possum & raccoons (usually which have  not fared so well crossing the road).  Considering this is a mere 20 min from downtown Cincinnati, I think it is pretty amazing to see so much wildlife.  Where I work has blessedly escaped the threat of Urban Sprawl - I hope that it can stay that way!

Honey & Cinnamon Monday

A friend from work sent me link to cures that can be achieved by imbibing honey & cinnamon together.  A truly amazing list!  So this morning, I decided to try honey & cinnamon in my coffee instead of my usual Splenda! I have been anticipating a particularly rough week, including lot's of organizational changes in my group, and some resistance associated with the quite unexpected and sudden changes.  Net - anticipating quite a bit of stress.....at any rate, I made this AM change to my coffee, and as I was entering the on-ramp to head to work, I was just flooded with all of these good feelings.....about my beautiful commute, about my wonderful family,  the luck I have had in my life, etc, etc.....I even stopped to think to myself - wow!  where did that all come from??  As I have been in kind of a negative frame of mind in general for the past couple of weeks - this just appeared from out of the blue!  As I drove to work - with cruise control set 5 mph above the speed limit, I just enjoyed the ride, and resolved that this would be a good week for me, and that I would figure out the right things to say, even if I didn't have things completely buttoned up.  

I was in such an obviously good mood at work today, that the folks I work with asked what my secret was!! So of course I shared my theory - they probably think I'm nuts :).

Tonight I drove Josh to see Hancock with some friends.  Ben & I saw it the other day, when I took a half day off from work, and we really enjoyed it.  I love Will Smith, and the idea of a cranky, kind of carelessly destructive super-hero just really resonated with me for some reason - hey it's not easy saving people from themselves all the time. But beyond that, the themes of making difficult choices to enable the people you love most to be who they are,  and how we make assumptions about why we are the way we are, and how that impacts how we interact with other people, were what stood out for me.  (I think that doesn't give away too much of the plot! :)).

Tonight, Todd & I are listening to Wilco's Sky Blue Sky, as I am writing this.  It just absolutely rocks.

Sunday, Sunday

Well, the Immanuel Band made it through our first performance today, playing to a surprisingly crowded house - most importantly, we had fun!  Personally, my rehearsal was better then the real thing - impeded by a moved music stand, that ended up right under an AC vent - which blew my music off half way thru a solo - oh well - everyone was singing anyway, so hopefully it was not TOO noticeable!

Bill did a great job transforming our rocket and mounting it on the lawn - see pic in yesterday's post.  After church, the boys & I went to Amol, our favorite (of the six within a 1 mi radius from our house!) Indian restaurant for their lunch buffet.  After that Josh & I did a trial run - him on Todd's bike, me on Ben's with the seat up a bit - to Walnut Hills, where Josh starts soccer practice on Tuesday.  It is about a 4 mile ride - I think he was surprised how easy it was - for some reason it seems longer by car!!  He rode ahead, and met me on the way back - I got a little over 3 of the 4 miles, then turned around when I met him coming back.  Was a fun ride!  much better than the one the other day - we hit a bit of rain, but not much, and I didn't wipe out (always a good thing!) I think having the seat at the right height helped a lot too!

Tackled my desk this afternoon - it is done!! Then did some grocery shopping, and when I got home Todd was here from kayaking with some friends - they put in at Metamora, IN, early this AM, and did quite a long run. Uneventful evening, worked a bit more on my desk, and looked at my work e-mail and schedule for the first time since last Thursday at noon!  Now, time for bed.

Cosmic City

Have been procrastinating about putting the finishing touches on the big red rocket that the boys & I have made to advertise the Vacation Bible School that our church is sponsoring with the neighboring Methodist Church.  Not sure why, I just keep finding other things to do, and I keep telling myself that I have time - as I don't want to put it out in the rain anyway!  I finally measured out the letters on the side of the rocket, and painted them in nice big white caps down the side this morning while Todd & Ben were off at the bike shop.  Our friend Bill called a bit later, and said he would drop by to pick it up with his truck (it is 9' tall and 12" in diameter).

Todd took the boys canoeing on the Little Miami River today.  They said they hit some pretty good rapids.  We bought a used Old Town Discovery about 14 years ago when were relatively new to Cincinnati, from Greg Morgan, who runs Morgan's Canoe Livery in Brookville, IN.  We took it out for a test drive with Greg and his wife, and our then 6 month old Josh who screamed the whole way down - I think he hated being in the life jacket!  The first, and certainly one of our most memorable of many many happy trips in our little green Discovery.  While they were out on the river I took the opportunity to do a much needed cleaning of our office!  Ahhhh - that's better - next up MY desk!

Tomorrow - the big debut of the Immanuel Church Band with me on flute, Josh on Sax and Ben on piano....and friends Jay on guitar, Don on Congas and Jeff on bass.  Better go do a final practice!

Inspired by Sheldon Brown

Ok - so, it has been 2 years since I have posted anything here.  I never was a very consistent diarist. (sp??) journaler(??).  At any rate, this evening my DH passed along a web site of a man named Sheldon Brown (link attached in title above).  Sheldon had a love of everything related to bicycling and bicycles, for a start, and was also an accomplished photographer, traveler, and avid reader, lover of cinema, and of music.  To read the extensive posts on  his blog is a joy, and I find that I share many of his tastes.  Sheldon left this world on February 3 of this year, after having just decided who he would vote for in the upcoming primary (according to his journal).

Sheldon began his online journal in 1998, and kept it up faithfully for 10 years.  I have recently heard other people talk about their commitment to keeping a journal over a number of years, and I am inspired to give it another try.  It took me forever to even find my way back to my own site tonight!  

It is apt that I found my way to Sheldon's site tonight , thanks to Todd, after having taken my youngest son's new bike for a spin around the neighborhood, and in the process, doing a complete body plant as I came in at a 1" curb at too shallow of an angle.  I still imagine my self as that young girl who could ride her bike for miles and miles along the coast of Maine where I grew up.  Granted the traffic patterns, and road space are MUCH different in my urban Cincinnati neighborhood than in my small home town - which requires a much more defensive riding approach (or so it seems to me at least) - perhaps it just takes getting used to.

Todd helped clean out my scrapes the minute I got in the door, and then I iced my knee, and took some ibuprofen  - feeling much better now.  It was a mellow independence day other than that - lots of rain, and temperatures in the mid 60's very mild weather for this time of year.

After dinner, Todd, Josh & I watched episodes 165 & 166 of Star Trek Voyager.  Episode 165: Distant Origin,  was about a scientist who made a discovery about his species' origins that went against the prevailing "Doctrine" - which had been in place for 20 million years.  Not surprisingly the politicians were intent on suppressing this information, despite data supporting the scientists claim.  We had all seen parts of this episode before, so had some interesting dinner table conversation before we watched it about how this type of response to new data is treated by the establishment today, and had a good discussion about the relative responsibilities of voters and politicians to engage in informed dialog about new data & ideas.