so far, walk failures

So my resolve to walk more has failed at every turn. But at least now I'm trying.

Thursday night Lydia and I decided to do a night walk. We'd go down to ArtsQuest and walk around and take pictures of the Christmas lights there and at the casino. It was pretty, there was lights going up the stairs to the trestle, and a huge tree, and banners going across the road.

When we arrived everything was gone.

Apparently they take it down for the New Years bash called "Peeps Fest". The decorations were still up inside. They just took them down outside.

So we ended up on the north side because I wanted to see if the menorah was up for Chanukah. It was. But walking the dog three times, and walking around the city center complex looking at holiday decorations is not really a walk. Good news though. The stolen baby Jesus has returned to the nativity.

Walk 1 -- busted.

Yesterday, I wanted to go hiking. Angel had the late shift Thursday and wasn't interested. The child was sick so she didn't want to go. Then we devised a plan to do a short walk, and look for a cheap laptop for my niece. No laptops anywhere. Santa took every one. I was so bummed I didn't even go for a walk. Angel wasn't dressed for one any way.

Walk 2 -- busted.

Here's hoping walks 3 & 4 go better.

oh poop.

I've been seriously walking since 2009. Much of it has been on the same streets that I walk now. And I really never noticed all the poop on the sidewalk. Sure I've noticed it occasionally, but I'm keenly aware of it now.

Why?

I've spent the last month walking my nieces dog Adonis. He's a sniffer. He especially likes other dogs poop. I now really understand the signs on some peoples lawns that say "no poop" or "clean up after your dog".  Now I know why parks don't let you bring the dog. Or some pedestrian bridges.

There is poop everywhere! It's almost an epidemic.

Lydia says because of this entry, this blog is officially "full of shit".

the problem with free papers

 I've always been aware of the free papers laying on the ground. Unlike me, most homeowners do not pick them up and recycle them. At least not in my neighborhood.

Usually they land on the sidewalk, where I have to walk around them. By day two or three they have been kicked into the streets.

I'm only really noticing them now because I am walking the dog 2 and three times a day. I  am seeing them decompose. It's not pretty. This paper is about 2 weeks old. It has been rained and snowed on. My guess is that it should be gone in another week or so. Especially with the snow were having today.

Tomorrow is recycle day. One part of me wants to go pick them up, and put them in the bin. Another part of me says it's none of my business. Don't know what to do. I always hear if you pick up 10 pieces of trash while walking, the world will be cleaner. Maybe that should be my January challenge.

fitness adventure: bowling?

In keeping with my last post about this blog not going dormant again, today I decided I was going to walk somewhere that was not my neighborhood.

I emailed my friend Angel and asked if she was off Thursday. Maybe we could take the tween and do the Doylestown walk. She wasn't off, but we made plans to to the Doylestown walk that afternoon. As soon as the tween returned home.  Upon her arrival home, tween drama ensued at her house and the walk was cancelled. I was determined to walk so I headed to Lehigh instead. Alone.  Of course it was empty. Everyone is on winter break. I stopped to take a picture of some ride-share bikes. (How cool is that? And are they only at the colleges?) It was then that I saw I had a text from her. They could go walking, or something on a smaller scale. I headed home to go walking with her.

By the time I arrived home the walk was cancelled again. Later an email arrived. Do you want to do something else? Drama is over.

I sent a list, and she picked bowling. We went near my house to a place called Revolution. I think it is part of a chain. It's in an old movie theatre.

The last time I was in a bowling alley must have been 25 years ago. I think it was at the Parkway Lanes. All I can remember is paneling, darkness, the smell of stale grease from the fryer, and a cloud of smoke from people smoking. I did poorly. We, or Glenn, wrote down all the numbers. I think Eryn was about 12. And maybe Megan was there too. Or maybe his step-kids. My score was a 28. For the entire three games.

Revolution was much different. Clean, bright, smoke-free. (Well everything is smoke-free in 2016!) It had a bar and a restaurant. The prices ($4/pp, per game) for bowling were about the same as the vintage place on Stefko.  On a Wednesday at 4. We had to wait for a lane. Good thing there was an arcade! Tween loved the arcade. I even played Skeeball. Haven't done that in even longer. But I think we got sale prices on the tickets. Maybe it was some sort of Christmas break price. For the three of us, with lovely shoes, it was $28 for three games.

We played three games and my arm was tired, and my one finger hurt. I am certain at least one side of my body got a good work out.  My total for all three games was 230! And I got a strike. Amazing.

Was this a fitness adventure? Probably not. But it was fun. I shouldn't wait another 25 years to do it again.

no, I haven't died

No, I haven't dropped dead, but I have neglected this blog. Why? N-O-T-H-I-N-G has happened in weeks. Seriously, Lydia is staying here, and I walk the dog, a lot.  That's it. Other than neighborhood walks, I've done very little that is blog-worthy.  One day I walked on the D&L. It was icy and muddy. (Can you tell the canal and the trail apart in the picture?) I didn't even go out on Christmas morning. It was the first time in years.

That's about to change. I have to get out of this rut.

This weekend I want to have at least two walking adventures to report on. Hopefully more. I'm thinking about doing the Doylestown volkssport walk tomorrow. And of course there is always the Pennsylvania First Hike at a state park. It's times like this I wish I lived in the middle of the state, not the eastern edge. Many more choices in the non-industrial areas.

Hopefully, this blog will stop being dormant.  Wish me luck.

night walk

 Sunday night Lydia and I took Sharon home. Saturday we had wintery mix, and I was afraid she would fall getting from the car into the house. She had fallen walking to the bus in daylight earlier in the day. First stop was the post office to mail the rest of my cards. No Christmas City stamp this year. I was just running too late. But the post office had this giant mailbox window outside for the special cancellations. Well, if it wasn't Sunday.

Coming back we parked at the Comfort Suites and walked around a small portion of the south side, taking pictures of the lights. And avoiding ice. These wreaths are much better than the chinzy stars they've had the past couple years.

 In the dark you can't tell that they are switching to fake trees.

 The fourth candle must be burnt out. I took this on the fourth Sunday in Advent.

This is a "vintage" store called Shabby Chimelles. They are supposed to also have vendors, and artisans. Maybe one day I'll go in as I walk past. They had more great windows but my phone ran out of juice.

swag arrived

This year for the Tail On The Trail challenge we received a hooded sweatshirt. It's warm.  It just fits so it will need not be used to layer.

bethlehem - north walk, test-run

It was bitter cold yesterday but 8 hearty souls tried out my new instructions for the Bethlehem-North AVA walk. I think it went well. There are a few minor tweaks I need to make. We all looked like the Michelin Man.

The walk begins at the beautifully decorated Hotel Bethlehem (above in gingerbread), goes to Moravian-south campus, the colonial industrial quarter.

 Nativity above front door.

 Elves flying around the Moravian tile works room.

 One of the lobby trees.

Afte passing Johnston park and the senior high rises, we headed to the Moravian College Main Campus. Then it's past the seminary, the archives, and back down Center street to the historic district. When you reach Main, the first 5K is over.

Pat the trail master, Jenn and I did the second 5K. that goes west to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Sand Island, the sculpture garden, city center, and back Church street.

I went home, but the others went for lunch at the Hotel Bethlehem. Pretty swanky for the diner crowd.

the winterlights workout

Wednesday was Portfolio review at school. It's a long day. But since I was at school I thought Khawala might like to go to the Winter Lights at the LV Zoo. I also invited Angel's family. Khawala couldn't make it. She had an exam on Thursday.

We met at the Hellertown Park and Ride, and headed to Schnecksville. That stretch of 309 has a lot of decorated houses. It gets you in the mood. The tween is studying reproductive health in school right now (7th grade birds and bees) and the topic of conversation in the car turned to what was she learned in school.  Poor dad. Three girls talking about women's health and sex.

The last time we went there was the first year it opened. It's changed some but not a lot. The Grinches cave has been replaced by Whoo-ville. That was fun. There are more light bridges. And the glitter has been replaced by giant light globes.

The big change is Santa is no longer "free". The Dan's Santa-Photo-Nazis have set up shop in Santa land. No way you can get a picture —though our kid was too old—even if you wanted to. They know how to block every angle.

It was bitter cold and we stopped at the half way point for hot chocolate and marshmallow toasting.

Fun night. Then it was home to attack the pile of grading.

get out lehigh valley:molasses creek

Who knew that there was a really nice park next to the Turnpike? Apparently the Wildland's Conservancy does. Today's walk was at Molasses Creek Park in Upper Milford Township.

It's a really nice park. It has all the things town parks have. A great play area, ball fields, a fitness course (Bonnie take note for the 2017 Fitness Course Challenge), a creek, and potties. What more could you want. It is one of the easiest walks I've done with this group.

The trail is only about 1.4 miles long and it took almost and hour. We stopped and talked a lot about Post-Revolutionary War Quakertown and the Fries Rebellion, and more about ecology and what a unique ecosystem this creek is. They used words that I never heard before. Almost wish I had a notebook with me.

This was the last Get-Out Lehigh Valley walk for the year. The next one is the Stone Soup walk mid- January.

During the week I did little other than dog walks. I'm trying to adapt my schedule to include dog walks. But with three a day, that eats up a generous hour. The plan next week is to walk dog, leave it the house and then go out alone. We'll see if that works.

walking bust, but fun

I spent the morning doing laundry, then walked the dog. Came home did class and it was time to start my "mom" duties for the day. One was to take the teen to her Girl Scout service project, shopping for a homeless family. She's always stuck babysitting for her little brother so I had a plan. And it was a surprise. Bring him along. We'd go see Santa while she's shopping.

We dropped her off at the jewelry department in Walmart in Easton, and then went for gas. He didn't know what the surprise was.

We went to the Z Arch Barn Farm, right down the street from Kleins Dairy Farm (great cheese and ice cream). It was actually a Facebook post by Klein's that told me about it. They have real reindeer. That's what sold me. And Santa. And Christmas trees. They call the winter program Santa's Pit Stop.

As we approach and pass past and I tell Lydia that the chickens and turkeys run all over the place. They are really free range. You have to be careful about hitting them. But they built this new roadside stand to prevent that. As we go past the roadstand the child asks if they have turkey's where we are going. He doesn't like turkeys. They nip. I told him they definitely had no fowl.

As we approach the farm he sees the rows of trees and says "Are we going to see reindeer?" We almost made it.

The farm was packed. The cars kept rolling in. We finally found a place to park. I'm not sure it was quite legal. The trees were really nice. If I was allowed to have a tree, I might have bought one. There were places to take the kids pictures.  The child sees the cut trees, the nutcrackers and the barn and say "Santa too?" He's eight. Way past the age most kids like Santa. Clearly the oldest one there not dragging a younger sibling.

We took some pictures and then went to see the reindeer. We got a fun fact sheet about reindeer. He read the whole thing. He'll pass the quiz. They had five out. "Three are missing"? I gave him some BS about training for the big flight. Two were white, two brown, and a brown yearling with tiny antlers.

The barn is new. It's beautiful. Still constructed traditionally. We were greeted by the nutcrackers standing guard.

There was a station for the kids to write letters to Santa and a box to mail them. Then he got in a short line for Santa. Dan's had it set up so parents couldn't take a good picture. (I tried going up to the loft, but they had that blocked with crafter's tables!) Plus they've changed it that the digital download is part of one of the packages. That's what I used to buy. They probably were not making enough money. The child talked his ear off. The line grew.

Here he is coming out of Santa land. He loved his silly hat. Lydia assembled it for him.

We had some time before we had to pick up the teen, so we watched a VHS of Mickey Mouses Christmas Carol and Nutcracker Suite.  Thank goodness Aunt Pat is a pack rat.

a moooooving experience

Yesterday Lydia moved all her stuff into a storage unit. She had one man and three of his friends, and maybe three other people signed up to help. I was to rent the truck, the man was going to drive it, and I was going to go to the new section of the D&L and hike for awhile. When they arrived at Fountain Hill Storage I was going to meet them.

Wrong.

I arrived at her trailer at 8:30 and the man was supposed to arrive at 8:15. Another person arrived shortly after I did. Finally the other girl and I went to get the truck. It was 9:30.

At 10 I went home. It was too late to hike. At 11 I received a text that no one showed up. It was still just the two of them. There was no way we'd get done by 4:30 to return the truck. She put an SOS on Facebook. I headed back to Northampton. By the time I got there another couple arrived, and their 4 year old. The 4 of us got the truck, the pick up, and my car packed. It was 1 when we went to the storage locker.

Lydia had to stay behind to talk to the management--in person.

For each load we had to go down the ramp, turn the corner, and go 3/4 of the way down the hall. The child road the cart, stacked lot baskets and pillows. He had fun. I had 0 active minutes and walked 5 miles.

She still has  more to do. Plus the car to tow. It needs to be done by Tuesday.

She is now camping up on the third floor. What I'm calling the free-loader suite. No heat, no bathroom, but you get a roof over your head instead of a cardboard box. I think it's a good deal.

another year older. another year not wiser.

Well it my birthday week. Whoopie. Birthdays have not been exciting for me since I was about 18. Except for those milestones like 21. I am now 61. Hopefully I have the Carl-woman genes and live long. My sister is 79. My mom died at 88. I'm shooting for the century mark as an independent, employed woman. Who needs retirement?

 People even decorate in alleys!

This week I've taken many short walks. In alleys. I am so tired of my neighborhood that I decided to walk thru the alleys. Alleys are interesting. Well, at least they were, until I saw the dead cat.

The most significant event this week is that my niece lost her place, and is moving in with me. With her dog. For a "month." I'm getting much better at say no to money -- I don't have any to give -- but I am a sucker for a sob story. Apparently she lost her job a while ago and didn't tell anyone. Clearly she did not get my sister's ability to communicate and stretch a dollar till it is ready to snap. It's barely been a month since the last "temporary stay" left after 6 months and a jail stint. At least she started a new job. It's a step in the right direction.

Tomorrow is moving day. It will be an upper body workout at the storage facility near my house. That's where I will be helping at. Not the house. I rented her a u-haul because she lives in the middle of nowhere and nobody wants to drive a half hour back and forth with boxes. It also made it slightly easier to get helper bees. Of course, when she finds another place, she need to organize a moving group again. And it will be winter.

Tomorrow night I am hoping to go down toward the Banana Factory, and take a night walk and take pictures—or try to—of the store windows and some decorations. Everything looks pretty.

Sunday morning, I'm hoping to get a good walk before I have to run my teen niece to Girl Scouts. I'm even thinking about taking her little brother to see Santa while she's at her service project. I don't think he's ever been. Most eight-year-olds would be too old. Even though he's very smart for his age, he still likes little kid things like Thomas the Train and Veggie Tales. And I want an excuse to go see the herd of reindeer at the farm.

thanksgiving weekend = epic fail

I really need to get my poop together. This weekend—typically my best walking weekend of the fall—crashed and burned. Don't worry (not that you would) I did not fall...this time.

Wednesday started out optimistically. I walked the grocery store loop. Thursday also started out well. This time I walked the Fountain Hill loop and found these roses blooming. In the afternoon I picked up Khawla and headed to Bonnie's for dinner. Neither were record breaking walks. But I did it. And I did not eat crazy at dinner

The plan for Friday was to get up early and head to the D&L near Lehighton, and hike the newly opened and PAVED portion. I was even thinking about picking up Lydia. My phone rang at maybe 6:45 am and then my plans changed. Extended family crises. Around here it's a crises a day. (our family puts the fun in disfuntional!) In the afternoon I worked on solving my Wordpress problems with my class. I had a egg on my face moment, no actually a whole class, on Tuesday. I ended up deleting both sites that I built.

Saturday was good walking day. The weekend wasn't a 100% failure. Khawla couldn't make it, so I headed to the #opoutside volkssport walk. The start point was so far away—the Comfort Suites in south Bethlehem  I was 20 minutes early and there was already a person waiting. Ultimately, only four of the club members took the walk. Since I am the POC I was the walk leader. The lobby of the hotel is filled with trees decorated by each major ethnic group on the southside. There are 15 or 20. Most have creches under them. Visit if you have a chance. They are pretty cool.

The Bethlehem-South walk leaves the hotel and heads up the hill to Lehigh. I pointed out "Peggy's Bell", an acoustic sound space because I knew the walkers were into music.

Then we headed down off the hill and I noticed someone painted one of the planters. THe other side was better but I wanted to get the artists signature.  Indeed it's graffiti style, but it's not poorly spelled or grammatically incorrect or ugly. In other words, it was not vandalism. It was planned. I'm actually going to keep an eye out for more. These planters are black and ugly.

Then it was down the greenway to the Sands. We stopped for a pit-stop at the outlet mall where I found these cute balloon sculptures.  As always—even Thanksgiving weekend—this mall was dead. And Santa doesn't have a line. He was on break so I didn't see him.

After we regrouped, it was up to the trestle, and to ArtsQuest to see the glass sculpture in the stairway. While I was waiting for the others to come back to the lobby I decided to pitch the trail master  on changing the route slightly to see the new National Museum of Industrial History. I haven't gone in yet. Hopefully over Christmas break.

Out front is the "Rosie the Riveter" scarecrow leftover from the scarecrow festival in October.

I have to tweak the change a little, 2nd Street has no sidewalks for one block. But otherwise the trail master approved it.

Today is Sunday. It is now 1:17 pm and I haven't walked yet. Another wasted day walking day. I had such high hopes. Hopefully will get out in the next hour. It begins getting dark by 4:30!

Sunday is laundry day so I finished that and hung it outside. It's only 50, and the sun went in. i hope it dries. And then I went to my annual wreath building workshop at the greenhouse. I don't need the instruction anymore, but I do need the machine. At one time there were five or six of us in the group. But one by one everyone has dropped out. Next year I might be going alone.

The sun is out again. Gotta go.

i just realized I forgot to post.

 Sculpture in Allentown rose garden.

It's probably because I haven't been walking as much. Still in the funk. But thanksgiving is upon us so my four day walking weekend will begin.

Saturday was the most significant walking day. It was a Girl Scout Day so that means Allentown parks. I collected my girls and headed off to Betsy's. After dropping them off I headed to the Comfort Suites to do the Allentown Parks walk. It's one that is being eliminated at the end of the year.

I headed to Cedar Creek park and started walking. Then I decided to call Bonnie. Walks go quicker with someone to talk to. We talked and walked for an hour. I was actually back at my car and we were still talking. I felt like a teenager.

After I finally hung up the phone I headed to Trexler park and walked the lower loop.

It was such a beautiful warm day both parks were busy. Trexler more than Cedar Creek.

It was soon time to pick up the girls. We went to Panara for lunch and came home and baked cookies. The teen needed them for church Sunday.

Then we wrapped and stuffed 10 shoe boxes for needy children. Since I no longer buy Christmas presents I do this instead. I collect stuff all year. Some I buy. Some my sisters buy. Some other people donate. I deliver them next week.

Yesterday I received an email from Fitbit. I've reached 14K "stairs" -- The space ship! (I wonder if we are headed for Pluto? And what happens after you pass Pluto? These hills in south Bethlehem and Fountain Hill are paying off!)

Hopefully my Thanksgiving weekend will kick my fat butt into gear and I get moving again.

get out lehigh valley: hickory state park

Today was a Get Out Lehigh Valley hike. This time at Hickory Run State Park. Bonnie doesn't hike (plus she's out with knee replacement surgery) and Angel was working, the tween was also at Girl Scouts, so I asked Khawla, my international student to come. She has discovered she loves hiking.

I also had to chauffeur my niece, so timing was tricky. But we did it. I dropped the teen off at a Girl Scout event at Burnside, and headed to the College for Khawla. Like Angel, she is always ready and beyond prompt. (I could learn something from the two of them.)

The directions sent us up the Turnpike, so that's the way we went. We arrived about 9:45, a good 15 minutes early. But it was cold this morning—about 34° F (That would be 2° or 3°C. The girl was cold!)—so early wasn't necessarily good. We layered up and hiked to the start point. It was only a block away. A few people were late. I said "can we go so we don't all get frostbite?"

We had to wear safety vests because it's hunting season and the game lands are next door. I should not stuff my pouch in this sweatshirt until after pictures are taken.

 Finally, we headed out. It's a hilly, rocky walk. Some areas were smooth. I took my walking stick and I'm glad I did. The leaves covered a lot of hazards so I tripped several times. We also did about a half mile of mountain laurel. I bet it's gorgeous in spring. I sent this Wikipedia image to Khawla so she could see it.

 We crossed the Hickory Run creek on our way to the hill overlooking the Lehigh. Trivia±There are no hickory trees at Hickory Run.

The view of the river and the railroad tracks from half-way up the hill. I would have gone to the top, but it wasn't mowed. Ticks are still out. No thank you.

 Part of the group went further up and took phone photos.

This is an out and back walk so we retraced our steps to get out. The Out portion was mostly downhill, so the back portion was a lot of uphill.

I received my 8th stamp in my passport today. The next walk will be 9. I needed 10 to get my trail maps. First time I didn't reach the goal of a "prize" fitness challenge—conflicting events. But the hikes are a great work out. Maybe next year.

It's time to retrieve my Girl Scout.