Still Winter

Saturday morning, and I got up sort of early (for a Saturday); I did some laundry, then took off for Easton with a stop at the drycleaner on the way. Right now I'm in the Terra Cafe, the old coffee shop I used to visit, Saturday mornings back in the day -- it's  changed hands, and names, over the years, but it has remained a nice place.  I don't recognize any faces though, on either side of the counter.

I had breakfast here, and did a little web surfing, then some programming and now some blogging; I'm almost done with my second cup, and then it'll be time to take off, out into the snow. (Just flurries, for now.) My next stop is the Nurture Nature Center, where I'll hit the Easton Farmer's Market, then ensconce myself in the next coffee shop and wait for the start of the Nature Journaling class at 1:00.

Killed To Make A Lenten Holiday

Just a quick note between bites on my tuna sandwich: I managed to not burn the house down last night, but then I also forgot to eat dinner... I went out on a windy towpath ride after work, then got so absorbed in some internet genealogy -- I think I found my mom's paternal grandmother's baptism records, among other things -- that I got nothing else done. I'm now obsessing over the kettle: did I turn it off after making coffee?

We get out of work today a bit early, so I should be able to start and end tonight's ride in daylight. After that it's time to party.

Alone On Christmas

Happy Pie Day!

Got up extra early this morning and took Anne to the bus station, so she could get to Philly in time for the one train a day that goes to North Carolina. She's visiting Emmi for the weekend, coming home late Sunday, so I'm basically on my own through St Patrick's Day. Uh-oh, wonder what trouble I can get myself into...

(Actually, it's funny how boring and lonely the night life can seem when I go out alone now; some places we go are "hers," and others are "ours," and it stands to reason that I don't feel quite right going to those places by myself, but even my old pre-Anne hangouts aren't the same without her.)

I'm going to another Nature Journaling workshop in Easton this Saturday, so maybe I'll grab lunch there, and maybe breakfast as well -- just like the old days! Breakfast out, breakfast home, either way it probably won't be worthy of a photo. I'll probably keep things low key on Saturday night, even if I decide that I want my shoes puked on by a stranger I'll keep it local. Saturday afternoon: chores & maybe some home projects, and I'm hoping for a JT ride on Sunday. Tonight and tomorrow will be the towpath.

An Evening With The Laptop

Well, no yoga last night: I got home from work, sat down in front of the computer and just started typing away -- I had a few things I needed to do for the VMB, and I also wanted to start research on a biking-and-genealogical trip to Ireland, so of course what I really did was start rewriting that header calculation program. I just touched on what I needed to do there, and I did manage to get my actual tasks done, but I did also manage to use up a lot more time than necessary.

By the way and speaking of the VMB, I have decided to resign from my position as Club Secretary. I'm just not feeling it anymore, and I'd rather do other things -- like ride -- than run the club, especially since there's a new set of officers who are much more enthusiastic about, and willing to work on, club business, and I'd rather have my position filled with someone more in tune with the rest of them. Anyway, my resignation will be effective sometime in April, so I have one (or maybe two) more meetings to deal with. 

Ireland: All I really did so far was look at round-trip airfare, look into bicycle touring packages, and googled "things to do" / "bed and breakfast"  near Bunclody, one of my ancestral towns (my dad's grandfather was born there). There's not much around, but there are a few hiking opportunities and a few local pubs, plus of course a trip or two to local graveyards and historical societies or whatever. I need to do something similar for other ancestors if I can find the information, then we can put together some kind of plan.

Tonight, if the weather holds, will be the towpath. Conditions were awesome Sunday, but I don't expect to find them that way tonight, not after last night's rain.

A Noble Experiment

Two of them in fact, and both died a hard death... I was going to write more here, which hasn't really happened, and I have been avoiding what was once a daily routine,  writing a quick daily update on my lunch break -- I've been really busy (and getting busier) for more than a year now though, and lunch minutes seemed to be just a bit too compressed for blogging. But if I want to write at all, I will have to make some effort to make it happen, and make some space for it to happen, and the lunchtime moratorium will have to go.So I'm back to my noontime habit, at least for now -- as I've said often enough before, we shall see.

So what's been going on? Well, this past Saturday, Anne and I went into NYC, and met my parents and uncle Pat at the Metropolitan Museum -- we hopped the bus in southside Bethlehem, then took the subway, and finished with a walk across Central Park, which was packed with joggers and cyclists etc; we hung out on the front steps of the Met, listening to a sidewalk doo-wop group until everyone else arrived -- it was a beautiful springlike day, warm and crowded on the steps, people eating hot dogs, seemed almost a shame to go inside, until we got inside... My mom was excited to see the Matisse exhibit, and Anne especially liked an exhibit of some 17th century French painters working in Italy, but my favorite was the archaeological stuff: Greek and Roman statues, Egyptian things, all the way through Late Roman, Migration Period and Byzantine artwork and jewelry. We got home around 9:00 ate at Lehigh Pizza, and basically passed out -- it was a long day spent mostly on our feet, and we'd had a lot to process.

Sunday morning we slept in for a bit, but I eventually went for a Towpath ride. I took advantage of Daylight Savings to do a long ride, going to Easton and then continuing on the Delaware towapth all the way to Raubsville before turning around; the whole ride took about three hours, and my final distance, out and back, was around 37 miles. I'm not quite in shape right now, and I really felt it towards the end of the ride, and also all day yesterday.

Tonight we may do some yoga, then we'll be planning our summer vacations.