April (snow,ice) Showers, bring May flowers?

On the way home from work today my car was getting pelted with small hail, then splatted with fat rain - snain - snow... and back to regular rain and back again to snain. Going from 86 in NYC on Saturday to 45 today - that's rough. It's been very damp and windy and I swore I wasn't going to turn on the furnace again, but when it hit 50 in here I had to. It was damp too and that somehow made it worse.

No biking outside yet, but on Saturday we do have the Autism Walk up at SUNY Poly. Gracie is going with me and we're walking with BP, EW and David. Should be a lot of fun - no rain forecast and it should be in the 40's around that time, just hope wind stays down. Grace will love all the people and attention.

Need to get to Hartwick, near Cooperstown to clean my grandfather and great uncles tombstones and plant Pansies. Those were my mom's favorite flower and they come back as Johnny Jump-ups the next year. My mom's ashes and Aunt Becky's ashes are both there (just some of them as they both wanted).

That's it for now. Time for shuteye....

NYC for the Day

Went to NYC with KS for the day. What a day it was - the weather was perfect down there! It got a little hotter than I expected, 86!

On the bus! Barely awake but ready for adventure!

Got dropped off at Bryant Park on 6th Ave. Blue skies!

Another view of the trees, NY Public Library (on the left) and high rises in the background.

Subway selfie under Penn Station

Just love this picture - the black and white seem suited to the old steel work that was done down in the subway tunnel.

Staten Island - looking back to NYC

Coast Guard riding along side the Staten Island Ferry. Kind of scary in some respects.

Lady Liberty

Freedom Tower in the background. I held my phone WAY over the side.

Skyline from the Ferry.

Two lovely British women we met on the Ferry. Liz and Val - very sweet and told us stuff about NYC we didn't know.

The view from our table top looking to the sky. This was Grimaldi's outside eating area.

The Best Pizza I've ever had! Fresh tomato sauce, fresh made mozzarella and basil leaves. Crunchy but not too much! So GOOD!

Bethesda Fountain at Central Park.

The Forsythia is in bloom at Central Park. The sun hit my camera in such a way that it's foggy looking.

April 2015

It's been a long winter. Cold, cold, snow and more snow. Spring keeps popping up a little at a time. I'm trying to get back in the swing of things - it's been almost a year since I wrote anything here. No excuse - just didn't have the words.

Just finished reading "Wild" by Cheryl Strayed. It has me thinking hard. I'm a lot older than she was when she took on the PCT, but in many ways (minus the drugs and sleeping around) I feel connected to her. I looked at the Appalachian Trail but I don't know who would go with me and taking Gracie, while it would be fun it would be difficult to carry her dog food. So another trail someone told me about is one in Northern New York. It is 130 miles give or take and this year I would probably just take on a bit of it. Or - I could bike more of the Canal Trail and maybe hike that too.

I'm trying to get in better shape. I'll never be skinny - never was a kid, always "thick" never really fat but kids aren't kind and always picked on me. But I'm realizing now that I am strong. I'm working on my arms and legs, using the arc trainer, sweating and getting my heart rate up. My bike is coming out soon. And I am going to move this summer. I'm going to be in better shape than I ever was in high school.

We've got a camping trip planned for Stillwater in late June, but RB and I are also talking about Moose River Flats. That would be awesome. It's different - drive right to your site, but you are in the middle of some pretty remote areas. We will bring our bikes, maybe our kayaks and we'll see what happens.

Traveling in June as well to Sacramento. I've already been thinking about water conservation and what I can do as a visitor to be more aware of my water usage.

And I'm just trying to be me again. To get out of the funk that hit me hard this winter and be the happy person that I usually am. I don't want to be stressed or angry. So.... going to be with nature and enjoy the spring and summer as much as possible.

I pray that all of you are well and have a great day, week, weekend, spring, summer, whatever....

Time...

It's time....

to do what exactly I'm not sure yet. But I can feel a big change coming.

My mom's cremains were delivered last Friday. I have to divide them up among family members. And I'm going to bring some to her father's grave and plant them there with some flowers. Pansies most likely - mom loved when they came back year after year as Johnny Jump-ups. Their happy little faces all over the place.

My words just aren't coming out this morning....I just know I'm on edge. Work, life, everything seems like it needs to be jumbled up, sorted out and rearranged.

We'll see how it goes...

Memorial Day

I'm still mulling this over in my mind, but I'm thinking about heading to Cooperstown/Hartwick area to plant some flowers at my Grandfather's grave. His name was Dannie "Boone" Weir and he was born on the same day as me but died 4 years before I was born in a tragic car accident. My Great-Grandparents and some of his siblings are buried there as well. We still don't have my Mom's cremains - she donated her body to the Anatomical Gift Program at SUNY Upstate Medical Center and is apparently being very helpful! As always! My Grandmother and Yankee both did the same, but their cremains came back within 6-9 months.

It may be a drive around and visit places that we used to go to....I really miss my Mom and our adventures. Her Geo Metro could climb mountains! Monday may be memory day for me and trying to honor my Mom and her life.

Canal Trail from Little Falls!

Bike Ready - Check!, Canal is out there (kinda high) - Check!, My legs are ready - Check!

Water Falls - that don't normally exist off the trail - we've had a lot of rain!

We don't usually have to go through running water on the trail.

Used to be able to walk through where that water is coming from - it used to be a small trail.

Made it to Mindenville - but realized the old trail was no longer there - at least the part that went across the stream that must have become a river. This happened last year....so I'll have to go again soon and investigate the rest of the changes.

The clouds are coming, the rain was coming and the headwinds were brutal. But...It took me about 10 minutes of riding to get back to the blue skies and sunshine.

See! Blue skies and only 2 miles left...

Same view but now you can see the trail! Gorgeous day. Glad I went. 19 miles down! Yeah!

On way home.

Wind and rain were not my friends!

But I used stick-to-it-iveness to do it! New word!

Canal trail

Holy moley bad picture! But great canal ride day!

Canal Trail - I'm starting over...

A few years ago I used to ride the Erie Canal Trail all the time and post pictures of it. Well I fell out of the habit in a hard way and with the new bike I'm at it again. Thursday night I rode (with my friend LM) 9.82 miles on the trail from Whitesboro/Marcy to Utica and back. The bugs were amazing! LOL - hair, ears, eyes - they got in everywhere! This morning I decided to head out again but I started in Utica - the trail ends there heading east until you get to Herkimer area (there may be a few little bits and pieces open). And actually Little Falls is where it really opens up all the way to Albany. So I went to Utica, hopped on my new bike and headed west. I got to meet Bill Kardas, our local weatherman from WKTV and his dog Buddy at the beginning of the ride - then I went to business and pushed myself. There were times when 17MPH and 15MPH felt great and others when 9-10MPH was all I could do. The wind was pretty strong and changeable so it wasn't easy at times. But I rode all the way to Oriskany - took a short water break and rode back. It felt fantastic. So...now that I'm "back in the saddle" I'll start posting from on the trail. Happy Mom's day!

New Bike, New Adventures

I finally got a new bike, the weather hasn't cooperated much, neither has my breathing but I've managed a short ride. Got a Neko SL by Trek. It's got the front end suspension when I'm riding the bumpy canal trail and other off road trails, but I can switch it off when I'm on the road, helping me to speed it up a little. And I just checked the weather and it looks like Saturday and Sunday will be great for a ride. Woo Hoo! Going to CT&TT's house on Saturday afternoon - for fun - TT is going to change my tires out for me - RB may come over too. I may vacuum out my car and then fix CT's computer, make chicken BBQ pizza - and just have fun. :) Life is good! Should have a video and picture uploaded to the site - depending on how slow my internet is. Gracie is having a wonderful time on the canal trail and the other was just an awesome picture of Birch trees.