7th walk of christmas

It's New Year's Eve. The second dumbest holiday ever invented. New Year's Day is the first.

Being that it is the last day of 2015, and because I am the point of contact for the Lehigh Valley walks, Bonnie and I had to gather up the paperwork and walk.

We parked at the Hotel B and retrieved the box. We quickly found out I was unprepared. I didn't have anymore sign in sheets. I thought the supply in the book was endless. Clearly it wasn't. We took out most of the pages, leaving one for 2016, changed the date plug and special events, refilled everything, and returned the box. The hope was there would be extra pages in south Bethlehem's box for me to snitch.

They we did about 3K of the north Bethlehem walk and headed over the Fahy Bridge. This walk actually went this way at one point. Once on the other side, we did about 3K of the south Bethlehem walk, backwards. With a drop in on Peeps Fest, and ending at the Comfort Suites. Where we repeated the Hotel B process. And yes, there was an extra page!

Then it was up the ramp, and over the Hill to Hill Bridge and back to the Hotel. We made it back to the car as the meter expired.

We didn't quite do a 10K. More like 4.75 miles, but it was close.

Tomorrow Angel's family and I are doing the First Hike at French Creek State Park. I'm tired of the Lehigh Valley. We'll be trekking around the lake.

6th walk of christmas.

When we saw this swan, I thought drats, wouldn't it be great if it was SEVEN? (Seven swans a swimming....)

It's the end of the year, so I need to collect up all the paperwork for the three Lehigh Valley volkssport walks, refill the boxes, and change the year plugs. Today we did Allentown. I forgot the plug. Now I have to go back.

After we finished, we walked at Cedar Creek park and then, up 30th and down Chew and thru Muhlenberg and then back to the park.

 On Chew is where we found this great fungus on the tree. Looks pretty. Probably bad for the tree.

Before we left the part for the HamFam, we took a selfie in front of the Christmas lights. Note, we are only wearing fleece jackets on December 30.

You might have noticed I skipped 5. No golden rings for me even though I did plenty of shopping. It rained all day and I was too lazy to get wet.

4th walk of Christmas

Today Bonnie and I went to the recycle center. (We live large, don't we?) then headed to Monocacy Park to walk around the block.

We parked at the main parking lot, and headed toward the nature trail. We're talking away. And we encounter a pretty dog who's going a little nuts. The man says, look behind you. How did we miss this huge hawk above our heads. This wasn't one of the highway hawks. This little fellow was large.

He flew away shortly after we took the pix.

The trail was muddy so we backtracked and walked next to the railroad tracks, until we could cross them, and go on the Monocacy Trail. Shortly before we crossed we heard the train. We had gone fairly far down the track before it came. It's a marvel how loud they are.

We exited the path at Paint Mill Road, and headed up to Schoenersville Road. Then back up to Illick's Mill and back down to the car.

Not sure what the plans are for the 5th walk of Christmas. It's supposed to pour tomorrow.

3rd walk of christmas

Today, I walked quite late. I had to meet José at 4 at NCC south side and decided to kill two birds with one stone.  It's only about a mile and a half away.

I left the house about 3:15 and headed up the hill, and then up 8th street in Lehigh. As I was going thru Lehigh I noticed a staircase that I hadn't walked before. I took it. Of course.

Problem was it didn't take me where I thought it would. I wasn't lost, but I was clueless where I was at. I followed the road to the barrier. ANd then another barrier. then houses.  It took me almost to Hayes street. Not quite where I needed to be, so I backtracked, and found another set of stairs. They brought me out on Hillside Drive. Much better.

I arrived exactly at 4 and José was waiting. He had the hatch to the truck open, and all his pen repair supplies out. He fix Bonnie's pen in about 3 minutes.

We chatted until it started to get dark. Not wanting to be on Broadway after it got dark, I hightailed it out of there. Thank goodness for the nearly full moon. It was pretty dark when I reached the five points. But I stuck to the main roads. No alley's when walking in the dark.

2nd walk of Christmas

Yep, now we go back the other direction. At least sometimes.

Today Bonnie, Lydia and I did the Fountain Hill walk. We went up Findly, out Moravian,  and down Lechauweki. Then it was out Smiley/Stanley past the playgrounds, out the alley past the old St. Paul's church, and down Bishopthorpe.

Instead of going home we went out Delaware to Fourth, then came home Wyandotte and Broadway.

Lydia and Bonnie took a lot of pixs of the "blow up" Christmas items. One lawn up on Moravia had a lot. We also took a selfie in front of the house. Lydia made the collage for Instagram and Facebook.

It looks like I'm on my own walking tomorrow. Bonnie has plans and Lydia is going out partying tonight.

0 walks till christmas

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

No more walks till Christmas because it is Christmas.

Today I picked up Sharon, and then Lydia in Northampton. She lives in bumfuck nowhere and we have to pass many cornfields. One was filled with snow geese. The took flight when a loud car past us.

 First we took Adonis for a walk. He was almost cooperative for the picture.

After taking him home, we headed out Broadway, then up Bergen, and out Delaware.  That's where we found this still blooming rose bush. It was about 64 today. Clearly no Christmas weather in Pennsylvania.

On Delaware we also found Santa riding a Harley. My friend Debbie would love this. She's married to a Harley-guy.

The candles were lite on the bridge, so we went and took a pix. Then it was back down Wyandotte, and home. Not a bad Christmas Day walk.

1 walk til christmas

Twas the day before Christmas and the countdown has ended. The fat guy comes tonight.  Me, I'm still working on my Christmas shopping of course. When I had a lot pf gifts to buy I was done in October. I started out strong—I a bunch of pens from José and made my planners. Now I am stuck being a last minute shopper with no ideas in my budget. Maybe I'll go to 7-11 and pull a Alex P. Keaton. Remember the episode where Michael J. Fox went to the 7-11 for Christmas presents after having a Dicken's kind-of night. Drats, they don't make TV Guide anymore.

Instead of dealing, I went for a walk.

Today I headed to the Comfort Suites in Allentown —the host site of the Volkssport walk—to give them their Christmas cookies from the club. And changes the books out. Next week Bonnie and I will go back and change the plugs in the stamp. Maybe clean the stamp too.

So I decided to walk at Cedar Creek Park. I've been there way too much lately. Nothing new Christmas themed to take pictures of. But for the first time ever, I saw a blue heron. That will do.

Haven't planned my Christmas Day walk. In the afternoon I'll be running the taxi service to my brother Dave's for Christmas dinner. They make the best food.

Also I received an early Christmas present today. I finally reached Platinum status on the Presidential award. I began this in May, 2012. That's what, 3.5 years? It immediately kicked me back to the beginning to start over. Really, are they nuts?

2 walks til christmas

Today's walk, abet brief, was in Quakertown. I needed to take my niece to Q-mart for work, and my sister to the orthopedic shoe store.

Small towns are fun at Christas. They know they can't compete with the malls in the 'burbs, so they do what they want. Sometimes it's pretty. Sometimes it's kitchy. Sometimes it's both.  For example the town fountain on the triangle is now a planter.

 The lampposts have planters, banners and snowflakes.

 This is in front of one of the stores.

And where else would you find a working 5 & 10? They didn't have an overwhelming amount of merchandise but they did have a lunch counter. It felt like 1968 in there.

And they let you park free.

I'm not sure how far we walked and explored. It was raining, so I know it wasn't far. We were only out about a half hour, forty minutes.

3 walks 'till christmas

Today Bonnie came down and we took the scenic route to the south Bethlehem post office.

We left my place, headed out Sioux and then easily crossed Wyandotte. There was no traffic. Maybe people are taking off early for the holidays? Then it was up 8th and thru Lehigh, down Taylor to Packer, out Packer, and down the stairs thru Campus Square. Out Morton to Vine and then to the Post Office. It was hot in there. And busy. Bonnie mailed her cards, I mailed my package. I think the clerk was surprised when I said slow and pokey was okay. It wasn't a Christmas gift. Then it was back home.

At 5:30 I picked up Eryn's children and took them to see Allentown Lights. This is a few of the displays from Lights In the Parkway, spread out throughout the city. The Parkway can't be used because one of the WPA retaining walls crumbled after 3/4 of a century. (Maybe now the city will get the maintenance memo. It's cheaper to fix little problems than hire a stone mason to rebuild a wall.)

First stop, downtown. The new American Parkway bridge and road took us almost to the Arts Park. We parked at the Art Museum at a meter. Because of the arena, you now only get 7 minutes for a quarter. That's $2 an hour.  Clearly meters are the city's cash cow.

The lights go from the Arts Park, thru the Arts Alley, and on both sides of Hamilton till 10th. The menorah is in front of the arena. The light posts on the monument are wrapped like candy canes. (The Nutcracker costume at the top was in the window of Symphony Hall.) Of course the PPL still had their art deco tower decorated with the tree and candle.

The old Hess's soldiers are still being used at Zion church, at the entrance to the Liberty Bell Shrine.  Sadly, no Pip the Mouse show, also a relic from Hess's, at nighttime. By this time Bubba was tired of walking. It's okay. Aunt Gayle was tired of him too. He is a handful.

At Cedar Creek Park the displays begin at the playground with the 12 Days of Christmas, and come back the road thru candy land. Skaters and snow people round out the scenes. Overall it was very nice. However, the giant Happy Holidays that usually greets you at the entrance to the Parkway was dark.  It was the first thing you see at Cedar Beach after leaving the parking lot. Another display right after that was also dark. And the pool house was closed so no Santa or skate rentals. Did I mention Santa was my bargaining chip with Bubba? Poop.

The last stop, Andre Reed Park. Where they hell is that you say. I said the same thing. It's the new name of Irving Street Park next to Dieruff HS. Decades will pass before I remember that. We didn't even get out of the car there. There was 4 penguins near the basketball court. That's it. Not sure why they are advertising it as a location. My guess is that there are no power sources.

After I delivered the children home, I returned home to complete my night of garish Christmas lights—the Christmas Light Fight on ABC. I love garish Christmas houses. I abhor the amount of electric they waste.  I kept the section of the paper with Bill White's light tour. Hopefully I'll see a few of them. I need someone to come along that loves over-the-top displays as well to read the directions.


Tuesday will be a tough walk. it is supposed to rain all day. Plus I'll be schleping Eryn back and forth to Q-Mart. Hopefully her car is fixed soon. Why can't my family have jobs on a bus route?

4 walks 'til christmas

Lydia had spent the night, and I forced her to watch the rebroadcast of The Wiz with me. It was excellent. Though I think Broadway shows are not her thing.

This morning started with walking Adonis up to the cemetery. We had planned to do his full walk, but there were dogs everywhere. We ended up going thru the cemetery and then into Junk Park. There the dog tried some of the playground equipment.

About two weeks ago Pat said that we could have a small tree. I checked at the pool and the fire department trees were $25 and opened today at 9. But last night she decided that a small tree from the FD was too large. We should get a tiny tree from Giant. Knowing that it was this or nothing, off to Giant we went.

We had to go to several to find one that still had some. I carried it into the house with two bags of groceries in one hand, and the tiny tree in the other. I believe that Megan's toddler is taller.

I found a string of lights and some paper stars. Had I known I'd be decorating a tiny tree, I would have sorted the decorations last year when I put them away. I will be making more paper items to go on this tree. It needs a top.

After the exhausting work of buying a tree and setting it up, Lydia and I headed down to Christkindlmarket.  This is one of the windows at the Welcome Center. The picture at the top is at the big tree in the center court. They have it positioned perfectly for the blast furnace.

Christkindlmarket was busy, but not crazy. It was colder so no one was milling around outside. I found the perfect Christmas gift for Bonnie but it was $200. A little out of the budget.

After walking the market, we headed to the HMT and then to the ArtsQuest center. They had a display of gingerbread houses. A couple were ordinary. Several kicked butt.

Then we walked home.

And walked the dog again.

1,050,238 seconds until new years day

I saw this graphic for First Day Hikes online today. All the Pennsylvania State Parks are holding events January first. Sure beats watching football.

Now the hard part is to figure out which park to go to. There are several within an hour from the house. Jacobsburg is the closest. But Bowman's Hill sounds more interesting. or maybe French Creek. I haven't been there in forever.

So many choices. And the seconds to make a decision are ticking away.

5 walks till christmas

Sadly, that wonderful streak I had going was stopped short. Damn. I was doing so good.

Today was cookie baking day. We all meet at Bonnie's, we saw Santa riding around on his firetruck. By the time we arrived, Santa had arrived at Bonnie's house. The Wee One was out side waving his little arms. I'm not sure what he was excited  hime more, the fire truck or Santa. When we came in, he kept pointing at the door to go backout.

 Cookie Making Day: Basically, we make cookies all day, and then split the bounty. Lydia is in charge of the kifles. This year we tried Gluten Free. They taste okay but they look horrible.

Afterwards we came home and walked Adonis.

Then, after dark, we went to a Wildlands Conservancy event at Monocacy Park. It was a lumniary walk. The article in the paper said we'd make the luminaries but it hasn't been cold enough. Most of the the walk as in the dark.

To make the luminary, you fill a biodegradable balloon with water, freeze it for 8-10 hours, then pop a hole in it. The inside of the ice is hollow and it leave space for the candle. They used the tea lights with the on off switch so they were reusable.

You can also freeze them solid and use a drill and cut out a hole. Those will last about a week if it's cold enough. Beauty part is, you remove the candle and they just melt away. With the exception of the balloon, there is no waste.

The walk was only a half mile.

 So we walked over to the other side of the park to check out the waterfall. Cool huh?

Tomorrow, I think we are walking to Christkindl Market. And I'm getting my compromise tree. It will be tiny. Maybe I'll also take Eryn's kids to Allentown lights.

9 walks till christmas

Today I was in Easton to meet some old colleagues. Angel joined me after lunch and we did a quick walk on College Hill. I have to say the sidewalks seem to have gotten worse since I no longer use them regularly.

I discovered my house is for sale. I'm guessing houses in that neighborhood go for a half mil. It has a view of the river, and is way above the flood plane. A little out of my budget.

This massive church-size nativity was on someone front lawn. It looked small. it was a big lawn.

10 walks til Christmas

 Church of the Nativity

Bonnie and I did the 2nd half of the south Bethlehem volkssport walk. And made a delivery to the Comfort Suites and Orasure. It was a productive walk.

Each year the LBW walking group gives the host sites a five pound tin of those Danish butter cookies. You know the ones, they melt on the tongue. There's 1000 calories in eachbite and well worth it.

When Bonnie arrived, I grabbed the cookies, the 2016 walking books, and the package for my friend Pam. her husband works at Orasure. By the time we reached the Comfort Suites that box of cookies felt like 25 pounds. It got heavier with every step.

The desk clerk gave us the walk box. We gave her the cookies. I think it was an even trade. And we put the books into the box so all I was left to carry was the bag and a small envelope.

The second half of the walk goes up the bridge ramp, then up Brighton to Uncas, Up to Delaware/Third, then down Wyandotte. From there we head out fourth and down Webster. (Orasure is at Webster and first.) This ice alert sign was on the lawn at OraSure. It was at least 60 yesterday. Clearly nothing was freezing.

Then the walk continues out Third back to the hotel. Then it was back home.

We were on Itaska at Fiot when Bonnie saw these creepy heads in someones front yard. They are concrete. They are not leftover Halloween decorations.

Bonnie and I both used our Map My Walk trackers on our phones, and hers had more distance than mine. It makes no sense.

11 walks till Christmas

Today I juggled a few crises. And not well. I snapped at the computer. My sister Sharon hid in a corner. The roomie glared at me. I decided it was a good time to take a walk. And it was good. I figured out everything—student problems, computer and phone upgrade issues, among other things—in my head. Except iTunes. This new version has got me stumped. I love Penatonix, but not on a loop. One day when I have time I'll need to google it.

I basically did the Fountain Hill walk and took Nana her Christmas flowers.

Walking up Graham Street, I saw these forsythia blooming. Clearly they are confused. It has been beautiful outside lately. More March than December.It doesn't feel like Christmas.

I tried again to use Map My Walk, but again, it didn't work so I turned it off. Ultimately I uninstalled it, and reinstalled it and that appears to have fixed it. Maybe tomorrow I will try it.

I also washed my fitbit today—a full cycle—and it survived. Now that I have the smart phone I no longer have to fool with the fitbit app on my computer. There is a compatibility issue since the upgrade.

Tomorrow Bonnie and I are doing the 2nd 5K of the Bethlehem-South volkksport walk. I'll be carrying cookies for the desk clerks. And pens for my friend Pam. Her husband works at Orasure. It's only slightly out of the way.

Hopefully there is a Christmas picture along the way.

12 walks till christmas.

Thankfully my true love is not bringing me 12 drummers drumming for the 12th day of Christmas. (I know, I know, it's 12 days after Christmas. Poetic license.) I don't think the company of Stomp is available. But then again, I'd need a true love.

Today's walk was the Bethlehem North volkssport walk. I did not count the people, but I think there had to be at least 15. Probably closer to 20. It was a good turnout. Even Megan and Lydia came. And we forgot to take a picture.

The walks start at the Hotel Bethlehem. Everyone was running a bit late because of the Candy Cane 15K and the Christmas City 5K. Roads and bridges were closed. I'm not sure when we started but it was at least 10:15 if not later. This s one of the trees at the hotel.

(I took this photo, and a few others with my new phone. Nice, right? Way better than the vintage iPod.)

And one of the elves hanging off the chandeliers. Notice it is not one of those creepy spy elves in the red outfit.

The walk begins in the historic area and works it way to Sand Island.

Once of Sand Island it makes the one mile loop and comes back the canal trail. I had kept up to that point with Angel, Bonnie and Megan. But Lyd asked me to take a pix, and then I fell behind. I had almost caught up again on the stairs from the canal path, when I realized Lydia was nowhere in sight. When the back of the pack passed I asked about her and they passed her taking pictures. I was then made the "sweep" person and never caught up to the others again. At one point we were at least 6 blocks behind. Lydia, on the other hand, short cutted off the island and was waiting near the Depot.

After Sand Island, the trailheads into Moravian College South Campus,  back into the historic district, thru God's Acre and out to Center, then back Market, to New, and New to Broad and Main. That's where the Christmas Village is. The 10K continues over the Broad Street Bridge, up Lehigh, Nisky Hill, the city center and back to the hotel.

By the time I arrived Bonnie, Megan and Lydia were nearly done shopping at the Village. This is the fun hat stand.

These scarves are imported from India. They are beautiful. I didn't look for a price. I need another scarf like I need a hole in the head. But I was close to buying an embroidered one.

Christmas carols were playing on the loudspeakers downtown. And there were a lot of people.

The Salvation Army was out in uniform, with horns. We rarely get that in Bethlehem. Usually it's just a volunteer. After I passed they started to play. Yes, I put money in the kettle.

When I hooked up my new phone I downloaded "map my walk". It's the same program the rest of the family uses. I did something wrong because it said I went 0 miles. (I signed up for a challenge today. Clearly I won't succeed.) Then when I got home and checked the Fitbit app I downloaded last night, it also said 0. Shit. I went to look on the machine. No Fitbit. It was in the hamper on yesterdays clothes.

Oh well. I need to plan a walk for tomorrow.Just emailed Bonnie and Megan to see if they were coming.