Once again, I have forgotten my journal about the South Africa trip, and in addition, I've been busy at work. So, double luck to all.
The weather was so nice on Monday that I went outside and ran to the Washington Monument and back to the office. Of course, six million other people were outside, too, but I muddled through. As I was running back on the home stretch to the office, I saw a couple "smooching" on the street corner, and I could not resist saying, "Get a Room". The woman laughed as I sped by. I'm thinking it's a good thing I was running because who knows what repercussions could have happened.
So, today is Wednesday, and the weather forecast is looking fairly well. Should be in the mid-60s, so we'll see if I go outside today. I am getting quite annoyed with the TM and staring at the walls of the gym even though there are TVs there. Who wants to watch a) ESPN, b) CNN, c) HLN, or d) TNT with reruns? Anyway,everything is closed-captioned, and who can read all that stuff while trying to run? Not I, boy.
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Friday, April 1, 2011
Day 3 Back at Work
and everything is the same as before. Of course, I didn't expect it to be any different, but a gal can hope, right?
Started back at the gym on Wednesday and took it easy. I walked for 10 minutes at 4.0-4,2, then ran for 10 minutes at 5.5-5.6, then walked again. Did 30 minutes and about 2.5 miles. Yesterday, I walked/ran for 10 minutes, did assorted upper and lower body exercises, then 10 minutes on the rowing machine on 8 resistance. Today, I'm hoping to up the ante and see how things go with running.
Forgot my journal,so everyone has lucked out.
I did take some knitting with me; a plain stockinette sweater and my Aran fisherman's sweater. I did work on both a little but, but once we hit South Africa it was just too darned hot to knit, even in the A/C. But, that's how I was able to work on my journal instead of knitting.
Tomorrow Sara and I are going to go XC schooling. Sara is doing a show on April 9, but I'm just going along for the fun of it. And it is fun.
Dave's mother is getting a little bit better. Oh, she fell and broke her hip while we were gone. She is 92, and the doctor said she had to have the surgery or she would be bed ridden. It's going to be a long row to hoe, but we are hoping she will recover.
Unfortunately for Sara, she ended up being to go-to person while we were gone. She did a fabuouls job and was able to take Dave's father to the hospital and to see some rehab facilities that Dave's mother has to go to for her physical therapy. But, now that we are back the responsibilities have been handed over to Dave.
Started back at the gym on Wednesday and took it easy. I walked for 10 minutes at 4.0-4,2, then ran for 10 minutes at 5.5-5.6, then walked again. Did 30 minutes and about 2.5 miles. Yesterday, I walked/ran for 10 minutes, did assorted upper and lower body exercises, then 10 minutes on the rowing machine on 8 resistance. Today, I'm hoping to up the ante and see how things go with running.
Forgot my journal,so everyone has lucked out.
I did take some knitting with me; a plain stockinette sweater and my Aran fisherman's sweater. I did work on both a little but, but once we hit South Africa it was just too darned hot to knit, even in the A/C. But, that's how I was able to work on my journal instead of knitting.
Tomorrow Sara and I are going to go XC schooling. Sara is doing a show on April 9, but I'm just going along for the fun of it. And it is fun.
Dave's mother is getting a little bit better. Oh, she fell and broke her hip while we were gone. She is 92, and the doctor said she had to have the surgery or she would be bed ridden. It's going to be a long row to hoe, but we are hoping she will recover.
Unfortunately for Sara, she ended up being to go-to person while we were gone. She did a fabuouls job and was able to take Dave's father to the hospital and to see some rehab facilities that Dave's mother has to go to for her physical therapy. But, now that we are back the responsibilities have been handed over to Dave.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
South Africa Recap
We took the plunge about two weeks ago and made the trip to South Africa. Since it takes 16.5 hours to get there, we were wondering if aliens had taken over our brains that we would sit in an airplane over the Atlantic Ocean for such a long time, with a stop at Dakar, Senegal. What?
Left on a Thursday evening, arrived in Johannesburg, South Africa on Friday evening - 6 hours ahead of the U.S. Fortunately, we had made arrangements for a hotel stay that evening and got a rental car and fresh start the next morning. The reasons? One, it would be dark; two, they drive on the left-hand side of the road; three, no street lamps in sight in this country. What?
Once we got the car and all our bags stuffed inside, we headed out to the Kruger National Park (an animal reserve) and promptly got lost (reason four not to head out at night time). We were able to proceed, but ended up taking a little bit of a different route than originally planned. Reason Five: Never believe a) a South African's estimate of time it takes to get anywhere; b) never believe a South African's estimate of distance to get anywhere. After driving with a few rest stops on the way, it took us 6 hours to get to our timeshare, only 400 meters from the Paul Kruger Gate of the reserve.
The timeshare was good; no A/C except in the bedroom; the place did have fans, but because it's right on the edge of a wild animal reserve (and monkeys like to get into the rooms and destroy everything looking for food) we were not allowed to keep our windows open. Hence, anywhere in that timeshare except the bedroom was stifling hot. We learned to adjust. We hardly spent any time in the timeshare, anyway, and with the A/C on in the bedroom, sleeping was no problem. We have tons of pictures, but not ready to post.
That's it for now; must find my journal to bore everyone with more day-by-day descriptions of the trip.
Left on a Thursday evening, arrived in Johannesburg, South Africa on Friday evening - 6 hours ahead of the U.S. Fortunately, we had made arrangements for a hotel stay that evening and got a rental car and fresh start the next morning. The reasons? One, it would be dark; two, they drive on the left-hand side of the road; three, no street lamps in sight in this country. What?
Once we got the car and all our bags stuffed inside, we headed out to the Kruger National Park (an animal reserve) and promptly got lost (reason four not to head out at night time). We were able to proceed, but ended up taking a little bit of a different route than originally planned. Reason Five: Never believe a) a South African's estimate of time it takes to get anywhere; b) never believe a South African's estimate of distance to get anywhere. After driving with a few rest stops on the way, it took us 6 hours to get to our timeshare, only 400 meters from the Paul Kruger Gate of the reserve.
The timeshare was good; no A/C except in the bedroom; the place did have fans, but because it's right on the edge of a wild animal reserve (and monkeys like to get into the rooms and destroy everything looking for food) we were not allowed to keep our windows open. Hence, anywhere in that timeshare except the bedroom was stifling hot. We learned to adjust. We hardly spent any time in the timeshare, anyway, and with the A/C on in the bedroom, sleeping was no problem. We have tons of pictures, but not ready to post.
That's it for now; must find my journal to bore everyone with more day-by-day descriptions of the trip.
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Another Finish
Back of the sweater is finished! Pats self on back. Sleeve is started. Surprisingly, this pattern is not as difficult as I had anticipated. Will post a pic of the back soon. I do a lot of thinking about doing something, and when I finally do it, it wasn't really that hard. Gee.
Not much else; time has flown by and I'm so ready for nice warm weather. I've had enough of this.
I vowed not to buy any more yarn, but since I will be on a very long airplane ride, I bought some yarn to make a plain, vanilla V-neck cardigan. It won't take too many brain cells to knit.
Running inside is getting very boring; I'm losing my eagerness to do same. I have been doing the 60-second switch just to mix things up. That is chaning the resistance every minute; You just don't know how long that one minute can be when you don't have any breath and you know that any second you will just flip right off that darned ol' TM.
That's about it for now. Not much has been happening here. Just time flying by,
Not much else; time has flown by and I'm so ready for nice warm weather. I've had enough of this.
I vowed not to buy any more yarn, but since I will be on a very long airplane ride, I bought some yarn to make a plain, vanilla V-neck cardigan. It won't take too many brain cells to knit.
Running inside is getting very boring; I'm losing my eagerness to do same. I have been doing the 60-second switch just to mix things up. That is chaning the resistance every minute; You just don't know how long that one minute can be when you don't have any breath and you know that any second you will just flip right off that darned ol' TM.
That's about it for now. Not much has been happening here. Just time flying by,
Monday, January 31, 2011
Start and Finish
I took the weekend to START the Penny Straker Galway Cardigan.
I did say FINISH, and I mean that I finished this shawl about a week ago; it's been blocked; and here it is:
This is a close-up, sorta, of the beads that I used in this
shawl.
This is a full view of the completed shawl.
I did say FINISH, and I mean that I finished this shawl about a week ago; it's been blocked; and here it is:
This is a close-up, sorta, of the beads that I used in this
shawl.This is a full view of the completed shawl.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Vogue Knitting Live!
Which is better than Vogue Knitting Dead.
Betty and I went to NYC last weekend to the first Vogue Knitting Live! conference, I guess you could call it. We went up on the Bolt Bus, and I was the first one to reserve a seat, so I got the dollar seat on the trip up. The trip back I had to pay the full price of $15. That's adds up to less than the total of tolls on the road to NYC. We stayed at the Hilton on the Avenue of the Americas, where the conference was held. Lots of Knitters, lots of Yarn, lots of temptations.
Friday night we went to the market place, and I vowed i was going to look only. You believe that one, right? Anyway, we saw some nice stuff, but I was not tempted UNTIL we came to the Irish yarn booth! The woman was selling yarn, along with patterns for fisherman's knit sweaters. I already have a pattern, and another woman was in the same boat as I. She asked the Vendor how much she would charge for just the yarn. After many calculations, hems and haws, the Vendor said, $90 for 1,000 grams of yarn! That is enough yarn to make a full-sized sweater and a long one at that. So, in order to get this bargain, I bought the yarn straight away. I didn't want this Vendor to think about it too long and then change her mind. What a steal! I mean it.
We walked around, saw a lot of interesting yarns: bison, yak, and some Hawaiian fibers.
Saturday we went to the gym in the a.m. Can you believe it? We actually did some exercising. Fat good it did with all the food we ate, but still we made the effort. We get an "A"for that.
Attended a seminar on Norwegian knitting, which was the most horrible seminar/lecture I've been to. The speaker was not prepared, she rambled on and on about designers she assumed we knew. Not impressed one bit!
Sunday we attended at "steeking" class. Steeking is the process of cutting up the middle of a perfectly good sweater that has been knit in the round. Knitting in the round makes the sweater much smoother, no side seams, and any pattern in the sweater will look much cleaner. We learned how to crochet up the middle of the sweater on two rows, then purposefully take scissors and cut. It is scary at first, but it works! Unfortunately, the sweater I'm making now is not knit in the round, so no steeking for me on this one.
Went to work on Monday, took Tuesday off for my hepatitis booster shot for our trip to South Africa. We had snow starting Monday night, the travel nurse called and told us the office was closed, so I took the day off for nothing, well not nothing, I did get some things accomplished yesterday.
So, it starts to snow last night and snows, and it is very wet and heavy snow. Apparently, my office is open today, but the MARC trains are not running. Gee, what a surprise. I can't go to work even if I really had to or wanted to.
Betty and I went to NYC last weekend to the first Vogue Knitting Live! conference, I guess you could call it. We went up on the Bolt Bus, and I was the first one to reserve a seat, so I got the dollar seat on the trip up. The trip back I had to pay the full price of $15. That's adds up to less than the total of tolls on the road to NYC. We stayed at the Hilton on the Avenue of the Americas, where the conference was held. Lots of Knitters, lots of Yarn, lots of temptations.
Friday night we went to the market place, and I vowed i was going to look only. You believe that one, right? Anyway, we saw some nice stuff, but I was not tempted UNTIL we came to the Irish yarn booth! The woman was selling yarn, along with patterns for fisherman's knit sweaters. I already have a pattern, and another woman was in the same boat as I. She asked the Vendor how much she would charge for just the yarn. After many calculations, hems and haws, the Vendor said, $90 for 1,000 grams of yarn! That is enough yarn to make a full-sized sweater and a long one at that. So, in order to get this bargain, I bought the yarn straight away. I didn't want this Vendor to think about it too long and then change her mind. What a steal! I mean it.
We walked around, saw a lot of interesting yarns: bison, yak, and some Hawaiian fibers.
Saturday we went to the gym in the a.m. Can you believe it? We actually did some exercising. Fat good it did with all the food we ate, but still we made the effort. We get an "A"for that.
Attended a seminar on Norwegian knitting, which was the most horrible seminar/lecture I've been to. The speaker was not prepared, she rambled on and on about designers she assumed we knew. Not impressed one bit!
Sunday we attended at "steeking" class. Steeking is the process of cutting up the middle of a perfectly good sweater that has been knit in the round. Knitting in the round makes the sweater much smoother, no side seams, and any pattern in the sweater will look much cleaner. We learned how to crochet up the middle of the sweater on two rows, then purposefully take scissors and cut. It is scary at first, but it works! Unfortunately, the sweater I'm making now is not knit in the round, so no steeking for me on this one.
Went to work on Monday, took Tuesday off for my hepatitis booster shot for our trip to South Africa. We had snow starting Monday night, the travel nurse called and told us the office was closed, so I took the day off for nothing, well not nothing, I did get some things accomplished yesterday.
So, it starts to snow last night and snows, and it is very wet and heavy snow. Apparently, my office is open today, but the MARC trains are not running. Gee, what a surprise. I can't go to work even if I really had to or wanted to.
Monday, January 3, 2011
Christmas and New Year
Sara came over on Christmas Eve, and we opened presents and had a nice "Shrimp Elegante" dinner. Of course, Sara made out like a bandit, and I have become an "electronified" person. I got a new sensor for running to go with my iPod and a Kindle. At first I couldn't make up my mind if I really wanted a Kindle, but now that I have it, it is really quite convenient. I must get a cover for it so I don't scratch the screen.
Fortunately, I left work early on Thursday(12/30) so I went to the grocery store on the way home instead of having to go on Friday morning and then make everything. Friday morning I made the cake and custard for the trifle, made the ever famous green bean casserole, and started to set the table for dinner. Sara and Nick were coming over for dinner.
I had a make-up riding lesson on Friday afternoon; the weather started out not too nice, but it did warm up for the amount of time I was riding. We rode in the field, which has a slight incline/decline, depending on the way we are going. Bella has a bit of a problem now cantering downhill, so she does break once in awhile. After the lesson I went back home and did a few more things for dinner. Unfortunately, my Yorkshire puddings did not rise; I think it's because I didn't let the oil in the pan get hot enough. They did taste good, but not the same as if they had risen properly.
Saturday we were supposed to go to a New Year's Day party, but Dave wasn't feeling well with a sore throat, etc. I would have gone by myself, but I didn't know that many people except for the host and hostess, so I opted to stay home, too. I did take Romeo out for a long walk, he and I chased a stick, then we came back. That was about the extent of my doing anything constructive Saturday.
Sunday morning was my regular riding lesson, so Sara and I took off in the rain. Yes, rain. Again, the weather was half-way decent for our lesson, but still damp. After I dropped Sara off at her house, I went to the grocery store (which I should have done the day before, but.....), put the stuff away, made chili for dinner. I had gotten a small piece of salmon out, but by the end of the day, I was too lazy to make it. We'll have it tonight.
Things I accomplished yesterday: went to the grocery store and got some decent food, made chili, sewed in the yarn ends of my sweater (now I can block it), made some leeway on the shawl I'm knitting. Not a huge amount of things, but better than Saturday.
Today: Back at work; will go to the gym or run outside; not sure which, yet. All depends on two things: weather and how much "gym fever" I have! I did bring warm running clothes, so I may take the plunge. At least the sun is out today.
Fortunately, I left work early on Thursday(12/30) so I went to the grocery store on the way home instead of having to go on Friday morning and then make everything. Friday morning I made the cake and custard for the trifle, made the ever famous green bean casserole, and started to set the table for dinner. Sara and Nick were coming over for dinner.
I had a make-up riding lesson on Friday afternoon; the weather started out not too nice, but it did warm up for the amount of time I was riding. We rode in the field, which has a slight incline/decline, depending on the way we are going. Bella has a bit of a problem now cantering downhill, so she does break once in awhile. After the lesson I went back home and did a few more things for dinner. Unfortunately, my Yorkshire puddings did not rise; I think it's because I didn't let the oil in the pan get hot enough. They did taste good, but not the same as if they had risen properly.
Saturday we were supposed to go to a New Year's Day party, but Dave wasn't feeling well with a sore throat, etc. I would have gone by myself, but I didn't know that many people except for the host and hostess, so I opted to stay home, too. I did take Romeo out for a long walk, he and I chased a stick, then we came back. That was about the extent of my doing anything constructive Saturday.
Sunday morning was my regular riding lesson, so Sara and I took off in the rain. Yes, rain. Again, the weather was half-way decent for our lesson, but still damp. After I dropped Sara off at her house, I went to the grocery store (which I should have done the day before, but.....), put the stuff away, made chili for dinner. I had gotten a small piece of salmon out, but by the end of the day, I was too lazy to make it. We'll have it tonight.
Things I accomplished yesterday: went to the grocery store and got some decent food, made chili, sewed in the yarn ends of my sweater (now I can block it), made some leeway on the shawl I'm knitting. Not a huge amount of things, but better than Saturday.
Today: Back at work; will go to the gym or run outside; not sure which, yet. All depends on two things: weather and how much "gym fever" I have! I did bring warm running clothes, so I may take the plunge. At least the sun is out today.
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