Still Going Like Sixty

For the closing event of the Big Birthday Week Shana and I hosted a Birthday Brunch with the WAACOs plus Shelley. Shana made a beautiful ham and an egg casserole; friends brought fruit salad and sweet potato biscuits. We drank mimosas and sat down to our feast at a table decorated with colorful party ware (Hobby Lobby has everything!). Shana ordered a cake from Sweet Memories just around the corner from us with a picture of me taken from a snapshot after a cycling event and it was SOOO cute! The bike was absolutely identical in color to Big Blue. And to make it even better it was coconut. There were cards and lovely presents and funny stories and it was wonderful to get together with my friends. We've made plans to get out for some rides this week and get our training off the ground, providing the weather cooperates. Forecasts are not completely encouraging. We discussed swine flu and TV shows and what everyone is up to and generally had a good time reconnecting.

Saturday Alex and Vivian joined Shana and I for breakfast at Beverly's. Vivian is growing up amazingly. While she's still not much of a talker, her potty training proceeds apace and she's mastering the use of a fork very well. As usual, Alex successfully resisted all my efforts to get an image of his face. Digital photography, with its rather slow shutter speed, is not my best ally in this effort.

Going Like Sixty

The Evil Day came and I am now 60 years old. On the good side, I will surely qualify for some senior discounts. On the bad side - well, I guess that's whatever you make of it. I started the celebrations in Denver where I was visiting last week. I'll post details of the visit in a later post. I had cake and cards with Mom, Allie and Richard. We forgot to get ice cream, but that's a bit of absent-mindedness that was probably all to the good, since I seem to be unable to stop eating lately.

On the actual day I had cake and cards at the office, and later went downtown for my choice of birthday dinners. Shana treated me to fancy cocktails and hors d'oeuvres at Nonna's in Bricktown. I'd link to them, but it's a madly annoying flash site. Google if you want to see it anyway - it's a beautiful restaurant and their Purple Bar has the prettiest lighting around. It was lovely and low key. The weather was perfect so we sat on the balcony and watched the activity in the street while we enjoyed our treats. Today I'll have breakfast with Shana, Alex, and Vivian. Sunday I'll have a delicious and festive Birthday Brunch at home with friends - way to drag out a birthday!

A Week in Ordinary Time

I've had a pretty quiet week. It's a good thing for life, not so great for blogging, as I feel like I should be supplying some worthy entertainment with every post. Some bloggers find that the discipline of daily posting gets you over that hump, because there will not always be news, but there is always something to write about if you set the bar low enough. I agree; I love to read about their daily doings and I for myself I enjoy having a quiet life where I can have the pleasure of the little details of life without the exhaustion of great drama or excitement. One day's adventure was getting out of the car to get a closer look and some pictures of a beautiful display of orange and yellow pansies and tulips. I'd been feasting on the sight of them every time I passed, and finally decided to get a closer look before the exuberant Oklahoma Wind blew the tulips to bits.



I also had the great pleasure of getting back in contact with a dear friend from high school. I had not spoken to Emma for about 40 years, but had often thought of her and wondered where life had led her. Now I know a little bit, and will know more as we fill in some of the blanks. It's made me think a lot about friendship and time, and about my own somewhat reclusive personality. I feel like I've played a lot of parts in my life and when I was done with the various phases I just stepped away, closed the door, and never looked back. Getting in touch with Emma has made me look at what parts of my experience I want to reclaim, and what I want for myself in the future.

Maybe it's no coincidence that I'm giving this a lot of thought this month because I am turning 60 in just a few days. I feel good - still healthy and strong, but it's one of those big birthdays that makes you take stock. Some of the things I thought I would like to accomplish are now forever beyond my reach. If I thought I'd like to replicate the voyage of the Kon Tiki I've surely waited too long. Some things I can still do, but given time and strength I will probably end up scaling back a bit. I may hike and backpack on the Appalachian Trail, but I will not be likely to do the whole thing at one go.

And a few completely unrelated bits of information: Because it's spring and there are cute animal babies about I have been looking at quite a few animal cams where you can watch the activity in real time. This one, from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, features an eagles' nest including a chick. One thing that stands out for me after watching quite a lot of them, is how little animals do from one minute to the next. All of those Disney Wildlife films I grew up on led me to believe there was a lot going on all the time. Knowing a little more now, and thinking about it a bit, I imagine that if wild animals led as active a life as tight editing had led me to believe, they'd have to eat a whole lot more food!

I've cast on the for the Float Stole from Interweave Knits. I'm hoping that because the stole is worked lengthwise I will have the benefit of the beautiful hand dyed yarn without disastrous pooling or flashing. I'll be bringing it, Mr. Foster, and at least one sock in progress to Denver with me this week for my annual visit. I probably won't do much on any of them, but I hate to arrive anywhere without a project, and one to work on if I don't feel like working on the original. Lord knows yarn is not sold in Denver!

If you are in the habit of picking up the occasion bunch of flowers for your table or for special occasions you could do a lot worse than check out the local Asian market. I was feeling rather blue yesterday, and on her way home Shana picked up some flowers for me at Super Cao Nguyen to cheer me up. For about the same price a the large mixed bunch of flowers at the local American grocery, she got about eight fresh beautiful sprays of orchids. The moral of this story? Don't shun your local ethnic markets. I love to visit them, and prices are generally excellent.

Return of the Siblings

I had a super busy weekend. My oldest "child" came to visit bringing The Little Prince up to be spoiled by grandma and the joint was jumping all weekend.

Saturday morning we had "SibFest" where the siblings got together for brunch and a relaxed visit, including funny stories from every one's childhood. Alex is 21 today - how quickly time passes. I fooled Sam & Alex by telling them to come at 10:00 am while secretly planning for them to be there by 11:00, which is when I thought they'd actually show up. It made for a much more relaxing morning than we would have had if I had counted on them appearing on time. They were happy; I was happy; it was all good.

We had presents for the April birthday celebrants. Everyone got to try out Vivian's new Sit N Spin. I think Jennifer had the most fun with it, and of course we had the inevitable falling and crying. Not by Jennifer. We had purchased our original at a garage sale, and it served well through the abuse of the three big kids. I sold it later at a garage sale still in operating condition but looking a little the worse for wear. This new model is musical, with the inexplicable sound of an eighties disco.

Jennifer and I hit the road to Edmond to visit her friend from high school who has an adorable new baby we hadn't seen yet. We cruised over to her company's house in Bethany to pick up a chest I had from one of her paternal aunts the year Jennifer was born. After that on to Kohl's to check out the bargains (I got a shirt and Jennifer found a cute cardigan) and Walmart for my exciting purchases - household washing products and clothespins. We had thought we'd go out to a local Moroccan restaurant for dinner, but Logan was worn to a nub, so we had Chinese delivered from the place around the corner. Vivian came over to spend the night, and we spent the evening relaxing and playing with the babies.

Sunday We had to make an emergency run to Bass Pro for the Anti Gravity Lounger that was on sale for a great price and guaranteed to sell out before the sale was over. We think this is going to be a big help to relieve Shana's tired back after long hikes. Plus I've seen people napping in them at campsites and I can envision myself enjoying this activity mightily (right after I tie Shana to a tree). I got a waterproof and breathing jacket and two pair of hiking socks that I think will complete my personal gear for our Big Trip and a pair of fleece lined crocs for Vivian. Jennifer picked up a cardigan that was just too cute to leave at the store. Then back to the house we went. Jennifer started back to San Antonio; Vivan and I went to take our naps before going out to dinner with the Birthday Boy.

Natasha and The Nun Go To The Dogs

I give up - too much fun to take and post the pictures, but too much work to give them a story every time. Make what you will of them.

Home Improvement Spring Fever

After lounging around most of yesterday Shana and I got going early today. First stop - Jeff's Country Cafe for breakfast. We had not tried it before, and being fond of diners we could not let it go untried. We enjoyed it - the biscuits were good, with plenty of pepper in the gravy. One menu oddity was that you can order gyro meat with your breakfast. Otherwise pretty basic.

On from there to Bass Pro, one of our usual Sunday stops. Shana was looking at coolers; I was on a mission to get a hiking hat. As it turns out the camp chair Shana is longing for goes on sale next weekend, so I guess we'll be back then. We cruised by Home Depot to look at their storage bins (poor selection). When we came home we made a list of clothing and equipment we wanted to add this year. It's pretty short, fortunately. We are adding a week long trip to our usual schedule this year, so there were a few things that needed to be up sized or upgraded, but nothing terribly spendy. Good Old Amazon is sending the Rubbermaid bins that we'll be adding to our kit. Our old kitchen and pantry bins will be swapped over to tent equipment and general campsite bins, replacing an old hamper and laundry basket that had been pressed into service for those functions. That will get every thing into rain proof containers at last.

Every spring Shana and I are seized with our different forms of spring fever. We both have an increased interest in outdoors activities, of course. On the home front we head in radically different directions. Except for expressing a preference for particular styles of landscaping or colors of flowers, Shana has no interest in gardening. She wants the yard to look nice, but takes little pleasure in making that happen. That's my area, and I am happy to do it because not only do I enjoy it, but also it frees me from the dreaded annual cleaning of the garage. Shana loves to throw things out; I tend to hang on to things just in case. I'm happy to see a tidy garage, but I want absolutely no part in the process. I point to the things I am willing to throw out, and move the plants that have wintered in the garage to their outdoor homes, then I run inside to do ANYTHING else.

I planted cannas in the front yard last year, thinking their luxuriant foliage and long flowering period would be ideal. I had chosen two old fashioned varieties for their vigor and foliage color, but they turned out to be too big for the space. The Red King Humbert grows to 6 feet tall, and the Richard Wallace, while shorter, is amazingly vigorous. From 24 medium sized rhizomes (12 of each) I have enough now to generously fill a bed about 50 feet long. This summer they should be beautiful. In a few weeks we'll choose some more domesticated-looking flowers for the front yard.

Until I went to San Antonio I though we had reached the limits of aloe Vera and my giant specimen while huge, would get no larger. Apparently this is not so. This creature is headed to the territory of Man Eater. I have not watered it all winter, and kept it in the garage, where it got pretty good light but cool temperatures. I expect some epic growth this summer. This may be the last time I move it without help or rollers. Even though it had not been watered for months it is still really heavy now, and it's basic pointyness makes it unpleasant to handle.

Out in the Woods at Last

This weekend we finally got out to go camping. We had cool nights, but were blessed with partly cloudy pleasant days. It was really windy every day, but spring in Oklahoma requires wind. I took off Friday, and hit the road early. Camp Doris is small, and the fact that this was local Spring Break did not help matters. I got out of town before 8:30 am, figuring to be around when people started breaking camp. The campground had been full the night before, but only three tours of the campground scored us one of our favorite campsites (7). The occupants were not ready to leave when I stopped by to check, but were agreeable to my leaving a few items at the site to mark it as taken when they left. I zipped up to the gate and paid for my two nights, then parked near the gate and took off for a walk. I've been to the Refuge many times, but had never hiked up to the top of Little Baldy. With plenty of time to spare I walked across the bluff (giving the bachelor Bison grazing there a wide berth) and up to the top. The trail is not difficult, but somewhat stenuous in my current state of fitness. I hung out a while, then started down, heading over to my campsite instead of back to my car. The prior campers were just about ready to leave, so I strolled off to get my car. By the time I got back they were on their way and I started unpacking. I settled in for a little lunch, then put up the tent and got the campsite ready for us. After that I still had a little time to spare for a trip to the Visitors' Center and a walk beside Quanah Parker Lake, where some trees were still in bloom. The trees have not leafed out yet, and I got a glimpse of a bird which I could not immediately identify. It had bright red-orange sides and dark wings. I thought perhaps it might be an Easter Towhee, but now I am thinking it may have been a painted bunting. You can be sure I will be out watching for a better look next time I visit the area.

Saturday we drove to top of Mount Scott, where we took a few pictures and picked up a bag of trash. If only everyone who stopped by would pick up a little of the litter things would be so much nicer. It was a beautiful view in spite of the mist. Lots of cyclists were on the road - stronger legs than mine!

This time we saw a lot of bison, although none in the actual campgrounds. Usually I see deer, but this time they were grazing somewhere other than the places I visited. I did hear coyotes up on the bluff, and also a lone elk settleing down for the night. I'd often heard elk bugling in the fall, but this was my first sighting at the Refuge.

A hike to the top of Elk Mountain revealed the pitiful state of my legs, but was still well worth the effort. This time I did not see the elusive and endangered Black Capped Vireo, but I did hear one.