pound for pound challenge is over

Dave had a great 60th birthday bash at "The Coke" Monday night. I even had a beer to celebrate.

That brings the siblings+ pound for pound challenge to a close. Everyone, but me lost weight. The final tally:

Me +5.5
Barb -2; she was at 8 at one point
Dave -4
Sharon -6
Bonnie never told me her final number. At one point she was also at -8

Sharon gets the bragging rights. I would have never guessed that result in a million years.

I am taking the food to the food bank Friday—the full 60 pounds. 10 for each participant plus 10 for the birthday. If I would have thought ahead I could have put it in the car and taken it to the Easton Salvation Army. Alas, I didn't, so I will have to walk it to New Bethany. That's going to be a long couple of blocks with 60 pounds of food!

keep walking

Since they began, I get the "Forever" stamps. I have no idea why. I go thru stamps like crazy. I'm a greeting card person. I LIKE getting real mail. In April, they came out with a "Go Green" theme.

Today, when I was mailing my brothers birthday card I noticed the words on the stamp. "Choose to walk. Forever."
Sounds like good advice.

the party is monday

Dave's birthday party at the Iron Pigs game is Monday night. He's got friends and family arriving from Texas, Ohio, and Kentucky. In addition to the Pound for Pound Challenge, he offered two other opportunities to donate instead of gifts.

I had my last weigh in today. I'm up 5.5 pounds. Am I the only person who can watch what she eats and gain weight? I think so. Sharon is down 6. Dave 4. Haven't heard from the others yet. Friday I'll take the food to the foodbank.

I'm going to have to walk the stairs of the stadium to burn off all the calories I'll eat Monday night!

run for rylie

Today was the run for Rylie at Lake Nockamixon outside of Q'town. It's a really nice park. I've never been there.

I was closing windows and doors when Lyd arrived at 7:10. There was a big fire in Fountain Hill and it stank! I didn't want that coming in the house. You can still smell it a little.

We picked up Bonnie at about 7:30 and headed to the Lake. When we arrived there wasn't many people. Maybe 50.

me taking a pix of lyd taking a pix

This race was a bit odd. Usually if there is separate starting times for runner and walkers it's 5-10—no more than 15 minutes. For this race the runners started at 9, the kids run was at 10, and the walkers went out at 10:30. You have to be kidding. The people that take the longest go last?

The race was on the bike trail. We lined up behind the runners and went on our way. Lyd took the "butt" photo.

It was weird being the only walkers. Nobody passed us. Nobody to gauge the speed you were going.


The course was hilly. More than rolling hills but not horrible. We joked that it was uphill both directions.

Since we had no clock these are gustimates from Bonnie's watch. Bonnie finished in 53:28, me at 53.31, Lyd at 58:10 and Sharon in 60:32.

Our next event is a four-miler. The Firecracker 4-mile on the fourth of July.

my birk floated away

This really isn't a post about walking. Or exercise. Or diet. I really try to limit my stories about the roommate, but today I'm pissed off. So you Dear Readers get to hear my tale of woe.

Every eight weeks or so I have my nails done and a pedicure. It's the only thing girly I do. More importantly it was some pamper time for me. I don't know how it started but the roomie started coming along. I've probably mentioned she rarely leaves the house. Yet alone her Lazy Boy.

So we go. The roomie also went next door to Style America and got her hair cut. Of our outing this wasn't so bad. Yet.

The roomie really doesn't eat much. Never did. Rotten teeth don't help. And when she does, it goes right through her. She chose a national chain. This time I was prepared and looked up the menu before I left. I had ideas. (I need to ask Megan about Weight Watcher points. Several items were labeled 8/9 points. I think that's a good thing.) Everything on the under 550 menu had shrimp. Ick. The biggest thing again was the salt. Again, it was in the next time zone.

Black clouds were gathering as we headed from the restaurant to Bottom Dollar. The roomie has picked up my old soda habit. She drinks about a two liter a day. Bottom Dollar had soda for 79 cents. I ran in, got that and a few other things we needed. Some frozen. I put that bag in the car (just in case there was a storm when we got home. We could turn on the air and wait.) and the others in the trunk. It started to thunder.

As we are driving home the rain begins. We were driving into the storm. By the time we hit the bridge, my wipers were on high speed and I couldn't see a thing. By Broadway the roads were flooded. It was raining hard when we got home.

A miracle—I parked in front of my house. I said to her it's only a couple few feet, I'm taking the frozen food in. I had cover with the tree, the awning, and a umbrella. The storm should be over in five minutes. I get on the porch, fairly dry, unlock the door and go into the house and I see the car moving. She is climbing over the gear shift to come out my door!

"What the &*%@ are you doing?"

"Coming out your side. I have to go."

"You can't wait five minutes?"

"I'm caught on the brake!" The brake was jammed all the way up her short legs.

In the struggle to get her free, I lost the umbrella, and my lower body is getting drench. There is a river running over my feet. I went to move my foot and the current took my Birk right off my foot and sent it hurling downstream. &*%@.

I finally got her free and she ran into the house. I had to totally change. And clean up the water from the rain in four rooms.


By the time I came downstairs the rain had stopped. Thankfully my Birk became caught on a cars tire before it reached the sewer.


There's a 5K tomorrow. The Run for Riley.  Guess I should go for a walk to prepare for it.

3 week summer break

Story time at the library outside at the Serenity Garden.

That doesn't mean I'm not working. I'm still at the college three days a week. But it does mean that I have four days and evenings off. So I can catch up on television, books, and walk to do my errands.

Today I needed to walk uptown for gift cards for the twins birthday. They live very close to the Moravian Book Store and the library. They also don't have a car so it makes MBS the perfect location for shopping with kids.

I also wanted to go to the library and see what television shows they had on DVD.

So the plan was to walk over the Hill to Hill, go to the bookstore,  go to the library,  and come home the Fahy bridge.

The problem with plans is they never work out.

I reached the corner of Third and Wyandotte, the middle of the construction zone, and there was no pedestrian crossing signs on every corner. WHF?  I was not walking up to Cherokee and going down to Brighton to cross the bridge. There was no cop, so I crossed the street.


I went to the bookstore and only spent a little more than planned. I  cut thru Central Moravian's Green and came out above the Bell House. I could see the children sitting on the grass by the Serenity Garden having story time. I wanted to stop and listen, but alas, I may have looked like a stalker. So I kept moving on.

The library was busy. Especially the DVD section. They had nothing I was looking for, so I headed out toward the Sculpture Garden. I went down thru the shady garden and came out on Center then crossed the Fahy. It took awhile to cross Third with the construction traffic, but I was finally able to cross and headed home.

Errands and exercise done.

the great awning adventure

I have A/C downstairs that hasn't been turned on in 10 years. My roomie hates A/C. She also doesn't like fans or windows open. My house is hot. (And in the winter it's very cold. I think her personal  "thermostat" is broken.)

One thing I do to keep the house a good 10 degrees cooler is put awnings up out front.

My brother Henry used to help, but he died about 18 months ago. Last year, Megs was visiting so she and her mom helped. Lydia helped me take them down.

I've been asking for help for a while, but it rains, or they can't come. Today I was sweating my butt off so I pleaded for help on Facebook. Lydia called and said she'd help. She'd even bring the dog to entertain the roomie.

We had some problems getting them up last year, and it was suggested that it's easier with the big poles in. It's not. Trust me. Unless you have the upper body strength of Mercury.

So we began with the big, 10-12 foot front awning. Some of the wing nuts were broken so it necessitated a trip to the neighborhood hardware store. (All project at my house require at least one trip to the hardware store!) Then I climbed up on the banister and Lydia was on the ladder at the other end holding it up. Sharon was holding the middle with a wash prop. It felt like there was 50 pound weights on my shoulders. I couldn't get the first clip to stay in. I did it a half dozen times. My shoulders were aching. I finally had Sharon pull that bottom pole out. So much easier.

The first three clips stayed in. The fourth clip was broken, but with the help of a pliers I got it in.

I felt like I ran a marathon. I was sweating like a pig. I went less than 10 feet. It took almost an hour.

Then Lyd hopped on the center banister and we put the roll blind up. It doesn't roll right. It has an issue. I can't figure out what the issue is, but it's up and blocking the sun.

After a short break we tackled the other side. The top went quick. The side poles wouldn't screw in. The "screwing" jokes got out of control. We were quite naughty. Finally it worked.

Will they stay up. I hope so. I know I'll be terrified during the first summer wind storm. 

It was a workout. We worked for 2 hours and 15 minutes. I was drenched and stinky. Every muscle in my shoulders and back hurts. (I didn't injure myself. I can still bend and reach.) I'm trying not to take any Advil.

The woman across the street has a service come and put hers up and take them down. She said it's expensive but worth it. I shall call them. I like the idea of awning fairies that come and put them up, take them down, and send you a bill.

another perfect day

Another perfect June day. A great day for a lunchtime walk.

I actually walked a lot today. Three trips to campus, plus the lunchtime walk. But then we stopped for pizza. So any calories burnt were re-added then some. It wore fresh mozz, 'shrooms, fresh tomatoes, peppers and sweet onions. Yummy. Only ate two slices an carried the rest back to the office.

On the way, the public works guy tried to "take" it. I handed it to him. It was funny. I don't think anyone had played along with him before. Ultimately he said no.

I don't like microwaved pizza so saving it for tomorrow was not an option. So I offered it my my colleague "Mikey". Just like on the old Life commercial, Mikey will eat anything. His eye's lit up like a Christmas tree. He thanked me.

Driving home I found out that Mikey is allergic to 'shrooms. Ooops. Didn't have a clue. Really not a good career move to feed your colleagues food that will make them sick. Thank goodness it's only a mild itching allergy. Would have thought he would have tasted it. Feeling a little guilty, but if I had a food allergy I would say "any mushrooms"? Will apologize tomorrow.

Tonight were walking down to CVS. Sharon needs something. Across the street is Ahart's. I might buy a pie crust. It's spinich quiche weather.

perfect june day

We walked at lunch again. Getting back into a really good habit.

We head down College Avenue, then took the turn onto Bushkill Drive. Then up the long hard Sullivan Road hill. I was well behind my colleague but I made it to the top without stopping. The first time we did that hill, two summers ago, I stopped numerous times.

We wound our way thru campus and then back to the bird house. We could have gone further, but alas they pay us to work, not walk.

About a mile and a half, but not an easy one.

I have a new follower!

I'm so excited I'm doing a happy dance. I haven't had a new follower in at least a year. Probably closer to two.

Wonder how many calories the happy dance burns.

(I found the dancer on the net.)

reality check

Picked Lydia up at the Philly airport and tried to find an exit off Rt 76 that might have food. I chose City Line Avenue. There was several places, but my sister likes chains. So we went there.

I haven't been there in a while, and now the nutrition facts are on the menu. OMG reality check. I get one of two things there. A wedge salad and onion soup or a burger and fries. Since this was my main meal for the day I decided to go with the burger and fries. Almost 1600 calories and over 2K milligrams of salt. Nearly fell over. So I looked more. Almost everything is sky high in calories, and especially salt. My guess for the calories would have been 700-800 with the fries. That 1600 is w/o the fries. They are extra!

They have a few 'right-size" portion items and they are "under 700" calories. They're kidding, right?

So I thought I do the chicken sandwich. It was only 200 calories less. I went with the burger.

Now to make things even more interesting I looked up the item on the web. Livestrong.com allows you to look these things up. I wanted to verify my memory. It says the burger is 1540 with the bun. 559 without. WHAT? A 1000 calorie bun? What is it made of, solid butter?

After today, I probably won't eat there anymore. Unless it's a day like today, when it's the only game in town.

When I got home the frozen hot chocolate commercial was on. I'm guessing it's more akin to a milkshake. But I keep seeing it and love chocolate. I'm starting to want it. My guess was 500 for a small. I was close. 430. Tempting as it is I won't be having it. Unless of course I can get three friends to share it.

18 hours, 56 minutes

Anybody who knows me, know that I drive people to/from the airport a lot. Train stations too. If you ask, I prefer Newark. JFK is not high on my list, but I'll do it. Philly is not fun.

Today is a Philly day.

Although I know where I'm going I like to print out the instructions, just in case. So I did that today. On Google maps they now have little icons of pedestrians, bikes, whatnot. So I clicked it. Walking to the airport will take the better part of a day. Eighteen hours and 56 minutes. Yikes.

Google takes me up Federick, then Wyandotte, out the old Bethlehem Pike and then 309.  Personally I'd go thru Coopersburg and on to Q'town. You come out right behind the shopping center and I think it would be a little safer. It certianly would be shadier. But then I'd have to pass all the roadside farm stands. Hmmm. The thought of walking on 309 makes me want to poop myself. Scary. Goodle does have a disclaimer, in a yellow bar that says, "Use caution – This route may be missing sidewalks or pedestrian paths." Duh!

On a more serious note, Sharon and I were touring Fountain Hill at 6:30 am. We went about two miles. Lots of hills. Poor girl was exhausted. She still had to go to work. I, however, get to sit in the car most of the day and go out for lunch.

i shot a cross bow

anybody who know me, understands

Yesterday was the Women in the Outdoors event in New Tripoli. At three am it started to pour. By five am it was thunder and lightening. I packed my rain shoes, sneakers, my raincoat, and rain paints. I was not hopeful.

As I drove to New Tripoli the rain began to clear. I was getting hopeful.

It took about 40 minutes to get there.  Registration ended at 8:30. i arrived about 8:10 and had to park fairly far from the registration. I was on the edge of the archery field. On the up side, when I was done, I could hop in my car and leave.

About 8;45 they had opening announcements and the first of many safety speeches. There were a lot of women packed in the picnic pavilion. Last years registration was less than 150. This years was about 350. Quite a jump. Apparently this is a national event and the head of the program from the National Turkey Foundation came to see why this is so successful.

When I looked at my schedule I wondered why they left 20 minutes between workshops. When you started walking, you knew why. The rod and gun club is about 30 acres and I think they used every one of them.

After announcements was a group picture at the club house and then off to workshops you went. My first one was in the clubhouse. Soap making. Specifically a calamine soap and a campers soap to ward off insects. Both are melt and pour glycerine soaps. Easy to make. I wish I had still had girls scouts. These should be in everyones camp kit. And easy to do. We used paper cups for molds.

The calamine soap had commercial calamine in it and some bentonite clay, another drying property. We also added some coconut oil to make it more sudsy. You have to stir it as it hardens so the clay doesn't settle. Mine has a little ash on the bottom. I took it to the car before the second workshop and stopped stirring.

The campers soap had lemongrass, tree oil, and citronella in it. This one you have to also stir occasionally while it's hardening so the herbs don't fall to the bottom. You also can't us it if your preggars.

Both can be sliced up to single "trip" size. Maybe I'll slice a piece off the campers soap for Bug to take to resident camp in July. She can be my tester.

My next workshop was basket making. Dave was right. I shouldn't have put that on my list. The instructor wasn't good. I knew my basket was wrong and she couldn't help me. Finally I got frustrated, tore the whole thing apart, threw the pieces on the ground and took a break. When I got back, I redid it my way, instead of using her instructions, and got a fine little basket. Only problem is it wasn't oval. Oh well. It works.

They provided lunch. Much looked homemade. There seemed to be many aluminum trays and Tupperware. The line was long, so I decided to take the basket to the car and come back later. When I returned the line was even longer. Oh well. They were serving commercial salads by that point. If I can convince Bonnie to go next year, she'll need to pack lunch. It was a gluten-fest. They were heating the bbq on the grill.

After lunch was the edible plants workshop. That was fun. I only knew maybe 60% of them. 

My last workshop was cross bow. It was way on the other end of the grounds, past the archery range and down the hill. My pedometer said I had over 8000 steps yesterday. I wouldn't be surprised.

Now, when I arrived, I realized I had no idea what a cross bow was. I thought it was a fancy regular bow. Nope. It looks like a gun with a bow on the front. Scary. Intimidating.

The safety speech almost  made me bolt. They pretty much scared you into listening and following the rules. They told you EVERYTHING that could possibly go wrong. Also that there were two accidents in the morning.

I was looking for where I left my backpack and water bottle.  I was gonna bolt.

They split us into two groups. I was in group one … shooting. The other group was in the "education" section. The guy said who wants to go first. This little voice came out of my body and said "me". WTF? Where did that come from?

Each shooter received three arrows. The first one was scary. It was a lot of information to take in. With a trembling finger the safety was removed and I shot a blue balloon. No recoil! I was so excited. I wanted to high five someone.

Then he told me to try to the black center in the red and black target. I hit the black, but not in the center. The final shot was the apple on Newton's head. Don't worry. Newton was a dummy. I got it smack dab in the center. The lady in the next booth hit above me.

The cleared the range and went and retrieved the arrows and replaced the apple. Then they told us that hunters always eat what the kill, so we shared the apple.

It was gloomy at times but didn't rain a drop.

All in all it was a good day.

what a difference

It's much cooler today, but still very humid. I went out alone at 6:30 to beat the heat. I decided to go up Dodson Street today.

First I went to ML's and dropped off the paper. Then I headed out Broadway to Bergen, Up Bergen and around FH Park. When I got to the pool I noticed that construction has begun again on the new Bottom Dollar. Whatever eco-issue they were having must have been solved. I turned the corner and headed up THE HILL. Yes, it belongs in caps. It's a dozy. But not as bad as Frederick St.

The plan was to go up without stopping. Coming down the hill was a middle-aged woman. I said hi or good morning like I do to everyone. She warned me not to go past the fire hall because there was two creepy guys that tried to pick her up one day. She promised her mom she wouldn't go that way any more. Because we were chatting I stopped walking. Oops. After assuring her I wouldn't go past the fire hall (not even sure where it is!) I finished going up the hill, and came down Graham and home Bishopthorpe. I think I passed Tiffany's new house. There was a "Go Pigs" lawn sign.

Total mileage, about 2.25 miles.

This afternoon I'm going out for the Friday quick walk with Betsy and the dogs. She's dog-sitting whaile her daughter is in California. Hopefully the temp doesn't go up too much.

Looks like rain for tomorrows outdoor event. Bummer. It will be like girl scout camp. I should have know it was going to rain. It's reunion weekend at school. It always rains reunion weekend.

The graphic below is from Lyd's facebook page.

.....oooO..............
.....( .... )...............
......) .. /.....Oooo..
......(_/.......( .... )... KEEP WALKING!
................ .\ ...(....
.................. \_).....

it's too d*mn hot

It's 94 at 5:50 in the afternoon. It's too damn hot to go for a walk. We didn't even go at lunchtime. Supposed to continue all week. At least it's not humid. It's June 8. WTF?

I did walk this morning and after work for a few blocks. Went to the garage and back. Aretha is fine. She had a loose wheel cover. Sure did make a lot of noise. I thought she had a broken tire iron or axel or something.

According to this widget on my mac, it's going to rain Saturday for Women in the Outdoors. I guess that's better then heat

well, we burned a few walking back

The new sidewalks are open, so we walked downtown at lunchtime for ice cream. I know, I know, the 10-pound challenge. But I walked off a few of those calories coming back up the hill....right?

Since I didn't weigh myself this weekend, I'm probably up another pound. Clearly I will not lose 30 by the end of summer. No clothes shopping for me. But that's kind-of okay. Nothing fits and the fabric is gros, and fat people clothes is just ugly. Even at nice stores.

The Bushkill creek photo shows a curtain over the water. It's part of Lafayette's urban art festival. The curtain is made from blue buoys and they should rise and fall and dance around with the current and water level.

The sand castle is outside of the Crayola Factory. They celebrated their 15th anniversary over the weekend. The colored areas that look like children's drawing in marker are colored sand. We haven't had rain yet, and it's not supposed to rain, so this should still be here for a couple more days. There's several sections to it.

It was created by the artist from the Snad Masters television show on the Travel Channel. Sadly, if I received that station, I'd watch something like that.

the scenic route

I still read the newspaper. I'm old-school. When I read news on the net, I only read the story I looked up. The net makes me feel uninfomed. So as long as they are printing papers. I'll buy one.

My friend Mary Liz kind of feels the same way. But they are out of town/country often and were tired of calling Sinapore or India to stop/start the paper. (Our local paper outsources pretty much everything. They don't even have little kids deliver it!) I proposed that we share the paper. Then they just had to yell up the street to stop/start it.

My sister gets up around four, gets the paper from the porch and reads it. I come down at six and read it. then I either take it to MLs house or Sharon does on her way to the bus stop. It works most days.

Today I trotted off with the paper in tow, dropped it on her porch and kept going, and going and going. You could say I took the scenic route home.

I headed up Bishopthorpe past the hospital, and up Graham. What was remarkable was when I hit the top of the hill, Dodson Street, my heart wasn't beating a thousand beats a minute. At one time that hill would have done me in. I would have stopped exhausted three times. Praying I reached the big downhill alive.

I stood there amazed at the top of the mountain looking down at valley. It was 6:30 am. And I was having an aha moment.

walking coach?

One of my oldest friends, Debbie, has a daughter Tiffany, who lives a few blocks away. She's about 33 now, and has always been overweight. Now she's a lot over weight.

I have her as a Facebook friend and yesterday she posted "Day 1 of my "weight loss" program that I am working with the PA from work, Calories=about 1800, workout, walked about 1.3 miles. Burned about 230 calories. Not bad for a first day!" 

Even if I have to walk slow, I like to have people to walk with. If nothing else another walker in the group would keep Sharon company for a while. So I wrote "if you need someone to walk with, I'm in the 'hood. Mom has my # or I could message it. I know all kinds of routes." and gave her resources. Later I wrote "I'm serious. Call me if you want a walker buddy. I'm good at motivating people. We could probably even get you up to 3 miles before the FH 5K. We'll have mom cheering us on from the side line and beaming with pride as you cross the finish line (even if they took it down when we got there!)."


The thread exploded with posts and she wrote back "That would be great! I need someone to walk with me. I used music tonight to get me through. I always have to watch how much I do because of my back. But tonight wasn't too bad. I just need to keep going. This is my last hope!" (I wonder if she's considering weight loss surgery.)

The back. She had scoliosis surgery in late middle school and it's been a pain in the back since.  I don't think it should impact walking much. I just won't take her up Frederick street. I might take her on the stairs at Lehigh.


I messaged her my phone number and the link to the online pedometer. The ball is now in her court.


Do I have a summer job as a walking coach?  We'll see.

now we know why they call it a 5k challenge.

It was.

The race was at 9. They sent a massive email about parking. Where to go, where not to go, ect. From my drive-by yesterday I knew it would be tough. So I picked Lyd up an hour early. We didn't need to. Parking was easy. They were parking people on a lawn.

It was very cool. Lyd dressed for very hot in her new Under Armour. (look how much smaller she is than me. Drats!) She was cold. I was chilly but knew as soon as we started moving we'd be hot. Then the sun came out. It was hot.

The course was uphill then down, then up for at least a half mile, then down, then up, then way down to a point you were almost running not to fall forward, and then a series of small up/downs which were not evident from the car.

I stayed with Lyd till the major hills were over and then walked faster and alone. My goal was to pass the girls who ran in front of us. I did. They stayed there until they passed to jog into the finish ahead of me. Show offs. I don't think I would have gone any faster on the hills anyway. I finished in 55:37. Lyd finished in 57:38. Ahead of the really big guy in the lime green shirt. Her goal was to not have him pass her. He finished 10 minutes later.

It was single handedly the most difficult 5k I've ever done.

These events usually have food after wards. Bananas, apples, some kind of bagged snack food, maybe bagels or pretzels or pastry donated by a local business. I think their food was donated by a lot of the volunteers. Home baked goods and cookies, watermelon in tupperware, grapes off the stems in tupperware. They even had paper plates to put it on! They also had Rita's, and cheese sticks, and banana. Bonnie would have had lots of choices of snacks. And i I ate them. For reference the mango Rita's is very yummy. Lyd even had a spoonful. It's on the Bariatric no-no list. I think it's frozen flavored sugar water.

scoping out the covered bridge

Today Pat and I drove out to Klecknersville to look for the covered Bridge, and drive the 5K.

There is indeed a hill. It goes for a good half, three quarters of a mile. It's goes up, then levels out, then goes up and levels out, until you get to the top. Not the worse hill I ever seen and from the car it doesn't look steep. I'll let you know tomorrow.

The road is narrow and shaded for the most part. Which is great. It's kind-of gravely. That's not so great. There's a section in the blazing sun. But the finish is in the shade.

I'm going to walk with Lyd till the hill is over and then take off by myself. It won't be my best time. But that's okay. As the lady said the other day, it's non-competitive.

Sadly, the 10K people will be back before the walkers.

Then this afternoon Betsy and I did the south Whitehall walk. Three miles, under an hour. Next week we might have the dogs!

r.i.p. food pyramid

And good riddance.

The original was okay, but the remake a few years ago was a piece of poorly designed crap. If my students turned it in for their infographic they'd get a D...if I was in a good mood.

The new one is a plate. Easy to read. Even a child could do it. Meat has been replaced with protein, but dairy is still there, so it's biased agaist people on a plant-based diet.

Will it work? Will people read it, buy and eat correctly, and solve the problem of obesity in America? I doubt it. Most people won't even look at it. Just like they don't look at the nutrition facts. They only look at the front of the box for screaming headlines. Heck, many companies use a pared-down version of the facts in an effort to get people to read them. And sell more product.

Okay. I'm jaded. Thirty years in graphic design and marketing will do that.

Want more info on the new "plate". Go to www.myplate.gov.  Even if you don't want more info, go anyway. Your tax dollars paid for it.

flasher?

easton  public library, old section. looks like a school.

cool mail box on 4th street

Do you remember the famous Marilyn Monroe scene when she steps of the grate,her skirt flies up in the air, and she coyly hold it down?

It's beautiful today. Warm, sunny, but not hot and humid. A little windy too. We decided to walk into town at lunch time. We didn't want to come
back. But that's another story.

We decided to walk thru campus and go down the stairs because the sidewalks at the bottom of the hill are still under constructions. (Though I'm beginning to think what they did is all that will get done. It's a shame, the ones at the top are dreadful.)
We are nearly at the bottom of the stairs and the wind blew, my skirt went up, and all could see my undies. I spent the rest of the walk trying to keep my skirt down. Nobody wants to see that!

the old mt. veron hotel. coolarchitecture.

church steeple. don't make
them like this anymore.

We just meandered thru the streets til we found the library, then meandered back. A total of 2 miles. My camera was in my pocket, so I took pictures. Enjoy.

the view of our new arts campus from the stairs.

still hot, hot, hot

The heat wave is supposed to break tomorrow. I hope so.

Today and Monday we went walking a lunch time in the heat. We only went about a mile and a quarter. It didn't seem horrible outside, but when I walked in our building it was cold. Started sweating like mad. The three flights of stairs didn't help much either.

The plan was to walk again at night but that fell through. Last night I ended up taking my niece to the pharmacy and ice cream with the children while we waited for the prescriptions. Tonight I went with another neice to Walmart and Home Depot. I can't start class much past 7 pm, because otherwise I'll be in class till midnight.

Monday I signed up for a poop-load of 5Ks thru October.  I remember how to write checks and use stamps. Several had discounts for early-birds. One had a discount for no shirt.

One was for the Kreidersville Covered Bridge 5K/10K. They called me today to tell me it was non-competitive. That I figured. They've had inquiries. She also told me there was a major hill near the beginning. Lydia was not thrilled with that news. I'll walk a bit slower with her, at least to the top of the hill. I want to make sure she makes it and doesn't chicken out. Then I'll try and power it thru to the end. We'll see.