Riding the rivers…

Autumn… cycling the upstate NY river valleys with foliage painting the rolling hills! Saturday provided the perfect opportunity to pedal 25 miles with friends and family on the annual Rotary River Ride from Bainbridge, NY.  While we weren’t traveling too fast, we were really enjoying our surroundings… taking in the fall foliage and enjoying the warmth of an early autumn day.

Little Thaddeus negotiated the ride just fine in his little trailer behind Mom & Dad’s tandem. A special thanks to the Bainbridge Rotary for fine 25, 50 & 100 mile routes for the ride, along with some great homemade eats under the pavilion at General Clinton Park at ride’s end.

roradabi…

I never know what e-mail I’ll be greeted with in the morning when I pop out of bed.  Anymore, I leave my iPod Touch on “push” with an automatic check of e-mail accounts hourly. By 5:45am when the alarm beckons I’ll generally find 5-10 cyber scriblings seeking my attention.

Ah, but this morning held a true surprise:  roradabi!

Facts:

I’m 33.
I’m out of shape.
I used to be a good roller skater.
Today I started training so that someday maybe I can try out for Roller Derby.
I am taking Japanese classes.
I love Japan and Japanese things.
…and food.

This is my first blog and I don’t expect anyone to be interested.

Here’s a Gotham City girl with a purpose.  She’s the dragon… and slaying far more than any competitors on the roller track!

Go BK Broiler!

Oh, the ants!

Earlier today I thought, “Carpenter… Joseph… Jesus were carpenters.  They made useful items with tools and the skill of their hands.”  What a positive connotation the word “carpenter” has.  Until you juxtapose it with an insect:  ants.  Carpenter Ants!

Over 30 years ago we carefully constructed a grape arbor on the back of our large garage.  In that time, we’ve enjoyed some delicious Concord grapes and used the area under the grape arbor for everything from a small garden, to a dog pen… to storage.  A damp, shady environment–and over time, a perfect home for carpenter ants.

Well, when Loretta and Brian tackled the job of completing the sheetrock, mudding and painting inside our garage, they encountered the carpenter ant nest… and found hundreds of the tenancious critters.  Within a week we called in the Erlich guys to nuke the nest and then began the tedious process of removing our 10″ cedar siding (carefully so it can be reapplied) and stripping out the rotted timbers and channeled wood caused by the infiltration of water in the wall and the activity of the ants.

It’s turned into a BIG project, but as you can see in the hyperlinked photo album, we’re making great headway. Here’s hoping that within the week we’re all sealed up again and the ants… the few that are hiding out… are dead and gone!

Welcome, Thaddeus!

Mom, Dad & Thaddeus - 17 Feb 2009

“Children too are a gift from the LORD, the fruit of the womb, a reward.” PSALM 127:3

We are officially Grandparents…  and the kids aunts and uncles!  But most importantly, our son and daughter are proud parents of a little boy (with great lungs!).

Back in December 2007, I’d reflected upon the second verse of Psalm 127 in In vain is your earlier rising…, but last evening when our first grandchild entered our lives, the next verse of the psalm was on my lips.

Thank you to all who kept our daughter and son-in-law in their prayers; mother, father and son are doing great and a new reality for all of us is dawning today.

Times change… or do they?

Maternity Waiting Room - Norman Rockwell, 1946

Sitting here in the “Family Lounge” at Lourdes Hospital, the Norman Rockwell painting harkens back to another time… another sensibility.  Or does it?

Our daughter arrived here yesterday afternoon–full term and ready to deliver… almost.  An afternoon of false starts… a night of waiting… and now the blessed moment appears to be much closer at hand.

The pedestal mounted ashtray to the right of the sofa in the painting captures my attention.  Hmmm… a bit of nicotine while the gentlemen waiting in varying states of bordem, anxiety or detached “being”.  No ashtrays here:  pedestal mounted has been replaced with a hutch mounted color TV–an environmentally acceptable “nicotene” to pass the time.

Delivery rooms have given way to birthing rooms, but the waiting… hoping… praying for a healthy child and a young mother braced for the full fury of childrearing–none of these have changed.  Rockwell’s Maternity Waiting Room was populated with fathers.  Today, it’s grandparents, friends and others “staffing” the lounge.  Still waiting in varying stages of bordem, anxiety and, like me, tethered to the cyber-community… sharing a moment far different than the ones from a lifetime ago when our own children entered this world.

Ashtray on a pedestal stand…  Wi-Fi on an iPod.  Doesn’t really matter!  Still just mother and child:  showcasing God’s creative genius one more time…

Sun… fog… snow…

What a great family vacation we’ve had! So many memories for the nine of us here in Southern California this past eight days: crisp sunrises with the snow capped mountains in the distance; LA and the Getty; great food like the Crab Cooker, Thai and Islamic-Chinese; decorating the NAMM float, the Band Fest and the Rose Parade; Disneyland on New Years Eve Day… whew! Too much to even capture in a short post.

Yes, that’s me on the scaffolding:  I’m on the right-hand side of the photo working on Oscar the Grouch’s eyeballs! Dan, Elaine, Linda, Theresa, Natalie, Colin, Loretta and Brian all pitched in for a nearly 7 hour shift earlier in the week on the float from 4PM – 10:30PM.  Great fun… giving us a true sense of “ownership” in a the parade.

We fly out today and by mid-day tomorrow we’ll be “enjoying” snow and temperatures in the teens once again. The transition won’t be too difficult, because the weather here is cooling back down into the 50′s and 60′s (from the 70′s most of the week) and the fog has rolled in most mornings and night.

Great memories and much, much more to share. In the meantime… finish that packing and on to the airport!

Christmas in California

The ice, snow and cold here in Guilford this year is incredible!  After the snowiest Fall in years, we’ve now been “blessed” with single digit temps, over 12″ of fresh snow and windchills in the negative double-digits. Yikes!

Time to head to southern California! And the map tells it all (if you place your mouse on the map, you can easily move it around… and clicking on a balloon will reveal a venue that may be on our itinerary) …
View Larger Map

We’ve planned our trip to the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, CA for over a year now.  All 9+ will be flying out on Christmas day.  The itinerary includes:  the beach, float decorating, Disneyland on New Year’s Eve, the Lula Washingon Dance Company in LA, the Crystal Cathedral, the Rose Parade (of course) and lots more.

I probably won’t be posting to Gospel Hill Posts too often–leaving the computer home.  However, the iPod Touch will be along, so I’ll use my WordPress for the iPhone to shoot out a quick note or two.  Dan’s done a great job with the Google map, so if you’re feeling adventuresome, you can follow our travels.

A Blessed Christmas and Joyous New Year!