lackluster walking week.

The snow took a toil on my walking this week. Sidewalks were horrible. Curb cuts were worse. And all m working schedules were screwed up.

I had planned to walk today, but that didn't work either.

Lydia came over last Friday to wait out the storm in the city. She lives somewhere close to the middle of nowhere. It took until about Thursday until we could navigate the city streets well. Tuesday and Wednesday were horrors.

Thankfully, she brought the dog. Three to four times a day I walked him. It was only a half mile each time, but it was something.

I finally took her home today after the bread baking class. At least for a bit. When we arrived, she had no heat. Her place was 41 degrees. While we waited for the propane company to get back to use, we decided to take the dog to the bridge. Shockingly, the road was plowed. But little else. 

The next stop was the IRT. We parked at the Coplay lot, and headed east. We didn't get very far before the propane called her. We had to turn around and come back, grab the car, hit the ATM and meet the propane guy. They gave her 20 gallons to last the weekend. But her house was still 41. So she's back on my couch. tomorrow, we'll try again.

bread baking

Everyone knows that bread is yummy. I've eaten more than my fair share to gain my curves.

the other day I received a phone message from my friend Pam. Do you want to go to a bread baking class Saturday. I have an extra ticket. At first I didn't think I could go. I thought it was a Girl Scout weekend for my niece. But it wasn't. (She wouldn't have gone anyway. Double ear infection. Poor kid is miserable. And can't hear.) So I could go. Yeah!

I met Pam and her family at the Hellertown Park and Ride and we carpooled to the event. I got to sit in the front seat since I was voted navigator.  We arrived 15 minutes early.

The cooking school is on a farm property. The classroom used to be a chicken coop. It's massive. The former owners must have had 150 chickens. I did not take a pix of the interior. I guess I should have.

 I did take a lot of pictures of bread. 8 loaves were baked when we arrived, and there was 20 loves rising.

We saw a demo on the mixing process. Since the dough was already mixed and rising. Basically it's flour, water and salt.

Plain is delightful.  But then you start to mix things into it. Above is green olives, cheese, and the purple one is walnut. She had some with red beets, roasted peppers, dates and I can't remember what else. I ate everything put in front of me. As did everyone else. Then there was vegetable soup. I waddled away from the table.

We got to form the dough, let it rise again, warm the cast iron skillets, and tend the oven. This is my loaf. Hot from the dutch oven. She said it will last only two days. Let the carb loading continue.

kaboom. snow edition.

I fell this morning while shoveling. I fell this afternoon while walking. It might be a Aleve night. But probably not.

Mid-afternoon there was no shoveling left to do. Now it's time to wait for the plows. Hopefully it comes.  NCC has cancelled day classes, but not evening, so I will need to get out in the morning. Lydia could always take the bus to Broad street.

We decided to go for a walk mid-afternoon. Work other muscles and give the shoulders a break. By this time some sidewalks were open. There were a lot of people out clearing sidewalks, digging out cars and shoveling the street. We all need to get to work tomorrow.

One of these shoveling parties featured beer. A bunch of Latino men. They were having a blast. I think they offered us a beer. Not sure.

 Then we walked thru Lehigh. It looked pretty.

 

Some Lehigh students were sledding.

And a lot of snow was being blown all over campus. Making these pretty water spouts of snow.

To this point we were walking in streets and on sidewalks. After a stop at Aharts, we walked on the sidewalk to the corner. They didn't cut the corner out. I tried climbing over, and splat. Down I went.

Once we reached the 5-points we had to walk in the street. There was a lot more traffic now—not normal traffic, but still a lot more than earlier. While we were walking in the street we encountered a plow, scooping up the half inch of snow on the street. (Meanwhile, streets like our are unplowed.)

The rest of the walk was uneventful.

Then Ipicked up the dog, and took him for a walk.

fat girls, shoveling

 This is all snow. there's no car buried under there.

Well the blizzard arrived. It brought with it nearly 32 inches of snowflakes. There is snow, snow, snow everywhere.

Thursday Lydia called Pat about staying the weekend due to the impending storm. Friday night I picked her up. She packed food, a shovel and even brought her own blankets. She was prepared. Me, not so much.

I didn't go to the store. I did bring the shovel in from the garage. I was being kind-of snarky about it. I really didn't think we were going to get much. Usually when the weather people have a storm wet-dream it goes north or south or east or west or just misses us for some reason. why would this storm be any different?

I spent Saturday shoveling. I went out 4 times. The first time was about 10 inches. It was blowing and windy and freaking cold.  Every shovel full was replaced by drifting or falling snow. At times I was butt deep in snow. I did the front of my house and it took nearly two hours. The people across the street with the same size property took about a half hour. Lydia did the yard and made a place for the dog to go.  We didn't touch the garage. I took the dog for his first walk. The plow came. We haven't seen it since.

The second time out the wind had died down and it was about 8 more inches. It went quicker, maybe an hour. Again, Lydia did the back and I also took the dog out. When Lyd came in she was covered with snow.

I felt mom around. I had all this wet clothes and it wasn't drying. I took it to the basement and started the dryer. Flashbacks of childhood.

Round three was more of the same. By this point there was no place left to throw the snow. Lyd sat this round out.

The last time it had just gotten dark. There was only four inches or so. Not bad. Still no where to go with it. I did both the back and the front, and then took the dog for his final walk. Lydia took some videos of us trudging thru the snow.

I should have put my fitbit on my arm. It pretty much said I was a couch potato all day. I had 9 active minutes all day. Then why did I feel like I went a couple rounds with Muhammad Ali? I call foul.

This morning it was time to tackle the garage. But first I had to clear the bit of remaining snow and take the dog out.

Then we headed for the garage. But first had to shovel from the other side of the gate to get to the garage door.

the door goes up and there was a wall of snow. I'm not sure how long we worked, but we made it to the alley. Now it sit and wait till the plow comes and clear the wall that it will deliver. Hopefully I can get my car in and out. Maybe I'll be taking the bus to school tomorrow.

As you can see, I fell while shoveling. There's a little ice under the snow. But no boo-boos. Thirty-two inches of snow makes a great pillow. Not to mention all this fat.

Lydia and I both took the dog this time. He thinks walking down the middle of Broadway is great.

When the plow comes, it's round six. I think. Meanwhile we're walking to the grocery store. Sadly I need bread,  milk and eggs. And I'm not making French toast. I'll also buy soda, Pat ran out two days ago. She's an unhappy camper.

This is Sioux street. Look how clean it is!

And take the dog for another walk. It's great walking him now. No dogs in yards to get him excited. No other dogs out walking. He'd walk all day if I left him.

(Lydia took all the pictures. I  stole them from her FB page.)

the paper towel walk

For over a week the weather people have been going on and on about the impending blizzard. I was so over the blizzard and it hadn't arrived yet.

Bonnie and I decided to walk Friday afternoon. It might be the last chance for her to get out until spring.

We drove to the park under the Susquehanna street bridge, and headed towards what I call 8th street. But it isn't. We turned on 8th and headed to Dixion street, and before you reach the animal shelter, we turned into the residential neighborhood.

Neither of us had brought tissues and we were sniffling like crazy. I had a little money in my pocket so I thought I'd get some tissues at the drug store. Bonnie had a different idea. Ahead of us were two Hispanic men working on their cars. She asked them if they had a tissue to spare. After a conversation between the three of them in broken English and charades, one man ran into the house and came back with a strip of paper towels. All proud of himself.

I know I could never be so bold.

We did stop at Kmart and bought taco shells for dinner. Saving me from a stop at the supermarket with the crazy snow people.

At that point Allentown, on the weather map, was sitting right on the border between 3-6 inches and 6-12 inches. Bonnie and I figured it would be 4-8. Clearly we were wrong.

time to get out the snow shoes?

 There is a snow storm brewing. The weather people have been having a wet dream about if for nearly a week. It doesn't hit until Friday or Saturday. The plan is for nothing to 2 feet. Nothing like being specific. I'll get out my shovels and salt to guarantee it doesn't snow. But should I get out the snow shoes?

Not much walking happening this week. All my employment balls are back in the air. Once I figure out howto juggle them, and find my rhythm, I should do better. Plus it will stay lighter longer.

Monday I planned to walk with Bonnie, but the temperature took a nose dive and she couldn't go ... no coat that fits over the cast. Saturday afternoon it was supposed to come off, or get smaller., so it should get better. I walked in the afternoon. I think I took the scenic route to the Wawa. But I don't remember. It's all a blur.

Tuesday and Wednesday I drove to the art center and then went to my next job. Not much walking happening. I was going to head out tomorrow after I picked up girl scout cookies, but alas, that won't happen.When I arrived home from job 2, job 1 had sent me an email that said can you come in tomorrow. Looks like I'm working.

Glad nothing is due in my online classes. Time is spread thin right now. Gotta get my act together before February 1. The Idita-Walk begins and so does the Tail on the Trail Winter Challenge.  I have a month of walking and tracking to do.

snow flurries

I think we had what they call a grass snow today. Everything looked so pretty.

My walk today was in that snow. As always, I ended up going to the market--this time for Sharon--and to mix things up I also went to CVS. I like to live large.

When I left CVS I headed up fourth Street to Delaware, then out Delaware to Clewell. It was back Sioux and home.

Not exciting. Actually kind of boring. But there were a couple good hills.

The plan is to walk with Bonnie tomorrow. But the temperature is supposed to tank. She might not go. Hand too big to fit in her warm jacket. Tomorrow the massive cast comes off.

muddy, muddy, muddy

 Today I attended my first Get Out Lehigh Valley event.  The nor'easter that blew thru last night made the trails a puddled mess. My pants are muddy to my calves.

Every hike that starts with a campfire is a good one. The theme of this one was stone soup. I should have taken a pix of all the food on the table. One smart person brought a box of saltines. I took black beans. If I attend next year I'm thinking oyster crackers.

 The hike began late. Probably 10:15. We walked thru Monocacy park, then took the nature trail by the creek, because the direct trail was even muddier. Then we crossed the railroad tracks and went on the Monocacy Trail to Burnside.

 At the park and in the nature area there we many fishermen. (Yes, they were all men.)

 At Burnside the horse were out enjoying the warm weather.

When we arrived back to the pavilion the soup was on. And channel 69 was there. This soup was vegetarian. Maybe vegan. A ton of veggies, lentils, black beans, quinoa, potato, garlic ... the broth began as water. Damn, it was good.

The other one had chicken stock and noodles. Plus a ton of veggies and garlic.

From the look of things, the person cooking wasn't a Girl Scout. Neither pot was soaped. Wow, with the char be hard to get off.

The camera man was eyeing up the soup. There was a ton. The people in charge told him to eat. No, I can't need to go to another location. I told him to go to the truck and get his coffee mug. He could drink it. Wonder if he took me up on it.

I outlined a few of the upcoming events in another post. Most were places I already  walk. But there a few that I've never heard of, maybe. The Thomas Darling Preserve, for example. I looked it up and it is in the Pocono's. "a place where visitors can witness an extensive mosaic of glacial wetlands via a two mile trail and boardwalk system." according to the website. Also in the Poconos is Hickory Run.

Another is the Woodland Hills Preserve. I have no idea where that is.

Bake Oven Knob, I'm pretty sure is on the AT. Yep, it is. In Germansville.

Then there is the Maple Tract Preserve. "Located in the heart of the Pocono Plateau, the Maple Tract Preserve is a remnant of the long-ago glacial period that shaped most of this region. The glacial wetlands of the area are the natural pumps that feed local creeks and streams and provide critical habitat to a host of plants and wildlife. Not easily accessible, the preserve is over 600 acres of forest and oak brush thickets, marsh and laurel hells (Rhododendron maximum). A host of wildlife abounds here including bear, grouse, snowshoe hare and beaver." according to the Wildlands website. It's also in the Poconos in Long Pond.

Now I realize that I don't know all the parks and trails in the Poconos. But the last walk is at Molasses Creek Park. It's in Quakertown! (Well Milford Township.) How did I miss that? The townships website says "Named after the creek in the woods, Molasses Creek Park is a hidden treasure in full site of major roads." Clearly. It's the first left past the Turnpike entrance off 663.  Next time I'm that way I'm checking this out.

After stone soup,  it was time to pick up the teen and take her to the girl scout cookie booth. As always, if you need cookies, I can hook you up in Pennsylvania and Kentucky.

east allentown

Yesterday Bonnie called. In the course of the conversation I said, it's not horrifically cold out today. Wanna walk this afternoon? She said yes, but I'd need to tie her shoes.

When I arrived she had managed to tie them and get her sweatshirt on. And we were off.

We decided on the easiest route, just incase she wasn't up to it, we'd double back and go home. But I don't think it was necessary. She was fine. We could have done the hills. Though, after a lazy week, I'm kind-of glad we didn't.

On the way back we went into Laubach Park. Ice had begun to form on the pond. Of course, by the end of the weekend it will be gone. But at least it looked a little like January. The cold is supposed to return Monday. Just in time for my friend Angel to return from Africa. She's going to be in for quite a weather jolt. It's summer there.

Shortly I'll be leaving for the Get Out Lehigh Valley Stone Soup walk. It rained a lot last night. It's going to be muddy. Hopefully the soup is good. Then it's off to take my niece to a Girl Scout cookie booth sale. If you need a cookie fix, I can hook you up with a teen and a tween, not to mention the Browines up the street.

the post(wo)man commeth

And she brought swag. The picture is actually Lydia's. It was better than the one I took. The winter challenge begins Feb. 1.

After a few weeks of consistent walking this week sucked. I knew things would change when I went back to work and they did.

Yesterday I spent the day in the car. Not much walking happening there. My sister had to go to two doctors, breakfast, pick up girl scout cookie order forms,and a trip to Newark that took 5 hours round trip. Yeah, it was a bad day.

Today I planned to walk to work. That didn't happen either. Life, as they say, got in the way.  I had an rush project due this morning. They sent the email last night, but I didn't go on line after I got home last night. My bad. I finished it 10 minutes before I needed to go to work. So I drove to work, sat for 7.5 hours and drove home. Now I'm sitting here working--sitting on my ass again. No calories being burned here.

Tomorrow, they say, is another day.

it finally snowed.

I was beginning to think this would be the summer without snow. But is gently snowed all afternoon. It amounted to little. It's snowing again. the weather people called it a grass snow. But it stuck a little to my street.

After about five weeks of not working, I was back to work today. And I walked. It was cold, but fun. Lots of hills. Sadly, once I got there, I sat on my bum all day and barely moved. I had dress shoes on, so I didn't walk fast. Since I've been home, I've been working. So it's a similar scenario. Not moving much.

Exercise-wise today I'd give myself a C. But at least I did something.

what goes up, must come down

Today I was planning on walking with Bonnie. But last nice she cancelled. She had additional surgery on her hand and elbow last week, and had nothing warm enough to wear that she could get her arm in. A baggy sweatshirt wouldn't cut it.

I had some sheets to add to the Bethlehem North volkksport book, so I decided to walk to the Hotel Bethlehem and back. The first thing I noticed was they were applying brine to the streets? Do I need to finally get my snow stuff out? It certainly is cold enough to snow today. And it sure was cold on the Hill to Hill bridge.

Coming back I noticed that there was one lane closed. Other city workers were removing the Christmas trees from the lamp posts.

What goes up. Must come down.

challenges from africa

When I get up I usual check my phone to see if a student called or texted me. Usually they don't. But they are clueless when it comes to time zones.

Instead I had a message from Angel — who's in Djibouti right now— challenging me on FitBit to a daily showdown challenge. Normally, she kicks my butt just working retail, but strolling all over Africa I didn't stand a chance. My reply "Heck no. You two are in Africa! No way I can compete in the pouring rain in Pa. Plus, you are with M. The two of you will clean my clock. You are already 10K ahead and there is only 15 hours left in the challenge."

She replied calling me a "spoil sport". Since I am not glued to my phone, I didn't know that until much later in the day.

I still had the tweens device and she hadn't picked it up yet. The rain seemed to have stopped, so I considered walking in Palmer and dropping off her device. Then the phone rang. They were on their way over.

She was excited to hear that she got steps while the device was "lost." Once I found it, I hooked it to my purse. If I had my purse with me, it registered. When they arrived I gave her the device. She went out to the car to sync her device to daddy's phone. In that 30 seconds it started to pour. Then stopped. She was walking back and forth in my living room getting steps, driving the roomie nuts. (Score one for the tween!)

Since it was now dry, I asked her if she wanted to walk instead of walking in the living room. She said "no." I said "relatively flat with a playground half-way," knowing how the child cannot resist a playground. Again "no." Turns out they were going to Grammy's and she has a tablet, internet, AND a video game. Clearly there was no competition. 

After they left I decided to walk anyway. Thank goodness I took an umbrella. It poured for at least ten minutes. I took the scenic route to the Wawa in Fountain Hill. The roomie needed money from the ATM.

When I returned home, I checked the phone and found the "spoil sport" message and joined the challenge. Angel and M were already around 20K. I came in 2nd last, before the tween. Maybe it was because of the time difference, but M's friend won the challenge with well over 20K steps.

I'm just happy I got my butt out there. In the rain.

pen walk

Recently I bought a lot of pens (for myself, gifts, and other people) from a local craftsman. I wrote about his pens on my doodling blog, and gave him the link. He facebooked me and asked if he could try to make one of the doodles into a pen. I said yes, of course.

Well that didn't work. And thru trial and error we figured out what did work. The first prototype is finished. It has errors, but now we've got it down. I plan on having three made for the faculty art show. Something different. Giving him craftsman credit, of course.

Today's walk was to pick up the prototype. I'm meeting José at NCC-southside. It's conveniently located on the south Bethlehem Volkssport walk. I was looking for teaching jobs online and filling out an app for Rosemont and I almost left too late. That app took 1.5 hours to do!

I did the first 2/3s of the 6K and arrived at NCC-southside. José was running late, so I took some pictures while waiting.  After chatting a bit, I picked up the pen, then finished the 6K portion.When I stopped at the Comfort Suites to check in,  I discovered I was not the first walker of the year. Disappointing.

After leaving the comfort Suites, I did a portion of the last 4K but instead of turning down Delaware and down Wyandotte, I headed out Ostrum and headed home.

Yesterday the LBW president and trail master hike the new Easton trail. I was hoping to go along but I had another commitment.  When I arrived home from my walk, there was an email with changes to the walk waiting for me. They aren't too bad. Bonnie, Angel's family and I will have to do it in March to verify that the changes are correct.

get outside lehigh valley

I've seen the Get Out Lehigh Valley program around for the past couple of years but could never really find any information online. It is sponsored by Lehigh Valley Hospital. Call it their version of St. Luke's Tail on the Trail. I have no idea who launched theirs first, but for us it's a win-win.

When I went to the winter luminary walk they mentioned a few programs I might be interested in. When the hospitals Healthy You junk mail magazine came, they were listed. With the wrong URL, of course.

According to the website you pick up the Get Out! Lehigh Valley Passport at any event and have it stamped. If you attend 10 or more of the year's 19 events, you'll receive a wellness trail packet filled with maps of Get Out! Lehigh Valley venues and other regional trails. You'll also be eligible to win a special prize at the end of the year.  I know most of these trails, I've walked them dozens of times. So I don't need maps. But the Girl Scout in me loves having things stamped.

I've decided to do these for sure. Mostly familiar trails, but they all have a little something extra to intrigue me.

Jan. 19 Stone Soup walk. It's on the Monocacy Trail which is very familiar to me. The twist—everyone brings something to add to the soup. Someone will be sitting in the parking lot watching the pot. After the walk, you eat stone soup. Never heard the legend? LVH have one version of the legend on the web page. Click the link above.

Feb. 20 Owl Prowl. This one is a night walk listening for nesting owls. At the Wildlands Conservancy.

March 12, Steel Saunter. Again, I am very familiar with the Greenway. I'll be walking there in about two hours. The thing that makes this one special is the guided walking tour of a dead steel mill. Oh yeah.

May 28, Treasure Hunt Hike. this one is Geocaching at the Jordan Creek Parkway. I've never been geocaching, and I have yet to ever find that trail. This will be interesting.

Other walks in the series are April 9 at the Fish Hatchery, April 23 at the Saucon Rail trail, May 14 on South Mountain (that one I would have gone to but I have a prior commitment)

If anyone want to join me you are supposed to pre-register. I think I will. But I think it's like Tail on The Trail, suggested but not really mandatory.

lehigh parkway

Today I had to be in downtown Allentown for my haircut, so I had two choices for walking—center city or the parkway. I chose the parkway.

I parked at the entrance nearest Martin Luther King Drive and then walked toward the bridge, and then up to the Iron Bridge and came back. I talked on the phone to my sister Barb for part of the trip.

 On the way to the iron bridge I saw four different people fishing. In January.

 I walked up the stairs to the entrance road. Of course at the top the were blocked off because of the cave-in. The stairs don't look too great either. But considering this whole park was built by unskilled labor as part of the WPA 75 years ago, they could be way worse.

Well, they could look like this—The cave-in not far from the stairs. But as long as maintenance is eliminated from city budgets, this will continue to happen.

It was a good walk.

wow, what a difference a couple days makes

That whole walks till Christmas.walks of Christmas game I played resulted in 31 posts in about 36 days. The minute the challenge was over, I stopped. Sad, isn't it? I always need to be in some sort of competition to get off my fat ass.

Wednesday I only walked to the store, again. It blows my mind how often I walk to the store. This is partially because the roomie doesn't like meal planning, so it's hard to buy. And if something is planned, she changes her mind.

Thursday I walked very little. I had planned to do a walk to the north side and back the Minis Trail but I opened my email first. Big mistake. It was the first day of my new class. The plan was to send the welcome email and go for a walk. First day is usually not hard. I opened my school email to find an old one and I had three messages from the Learning Center. Three webinars that were must-see. I've gotten a lot of these lately. The school is for-profit and there has been issues with for-profit schools and the Dept. of Education. Ours made significant changes and they got out of the line of fire. Anyway, with that has been training, training, training. Even if it's not relevant to your job. EVERYBODY gets it.

It has been my experience that I have to do these right away or I forget. Then I get email reminders. So I did them.

Okay, I thought, now I can go for a walk. Just need to check my email for my community college job. Oh shit. Not another class. These time it was the sexual abuse/harassment one. (Thanks Jerry Sandusky.) This one was 90 minutes and then I said the hell with walking.

At 4:30 I picked up Sharon and took her to Walmarts for her drugs. Whe we arrived I opened the backdoor to pick something up, and saw something on the back seat. It was the tweens Fitbit. She's been looking for it since we walked at French Creek on New Year's Day. She seemed excited when I called. I was surprised she answered her phone. I hooked it to my pants.

After finding the FitBit I was feeling guilty about not walking I took 3 loops around Walmart while waiting for her. Note to self, Walmart in Bethlehem isn't nearly as large as Target. Then she decided to go for Chinese take-out, so I walked loops around TJMaxx. What a dump.

Though it was a poor workout, both the tweens and my FitBit registers some mileage. I need to get hers back to her sometime this weekend. It only keeps data for 14 days. She had nearly five miles in on January 1.

12th day of christmas.

If I was religious I would say the Magi have arrived, epiphany is tomorrow, and Christmas is over. At least after I get the 12 drummers drumming out of the living room. And burn my greens and tree like the Victorians did. But I think that's frowned upon in south Bethlehem. I could be wrong. I think I better just compost them. At the end of January.

http://clipartoons.com/best-clipart-422/

Today's walk should have been uneventful. Just an ordinary walk in south Bethlehem like most other days. With a stop at the supermarket of course. (Did I mention I was at Giant this morning and spent $107 and still had to go to the store to make dinner. Never shop with the roomie. She's worse than a child.)

As a driver and a walker I know the walk cycles and the lights in my area.The trickiest area is the five points. Each street is unique, and the McDonald's light really messes up the groove. But it's actually the best time to cross because there usually isn't anyone there. Or maybe only one car.

In this case, I was crossing Wyandotte. I had arrived when the arrow on Broadway was on, and cars were turning the corner.  Three cars get thru on the arrow before the walk signal comes on then it turns red for the few seconds the walking man "scratches his butt". Then it turns green when the walk signal flashes the red hand.

The three cars went, the walk man comes on, I start to cross and here comes a f-ing school bus. Clearly s/he was a red light runner (I learned that in my old-fart driving class) and was actually picking up speed, instead of taking the corner slowly. I am fat and was wearing a bright blue coat. How could s/he not see me?

I wish I had my act together, instead of being startled because I had to jump backwards to avoid being hit. If I had been more aware I could have taken down the bus number and district and reported his/her ass. Even if I didn't have the walk signal, pedestrians have the right away. Don't they?

It's 1.5 hours later and I'm still boiling.

11th day of christmas

This morning Bonnie and I walked in three towns—Bethlehem, Fountain Hill and Salisbury. And we didn't even go three miles!

We left my house and headed up towards St. Lukes. At the nursing school, we cut thru the parking lots and went op the stairs. That's were we found this restricted sign. (Note to self: Take your hands out of your pocket next time. You look pregnant.) You know me. I love to enter where I am not allowed.


Then we headed up Tumbler to Graham, and up Graham until it ended. That might be Public Road. Not sure.

Then it was down to Jeter, Jeter to Dodson and down Dodson and across Broadway. The final leg was up Lackewecki to Sioux in Fountain Hill, and up Clewell and out Sioux in Bethlehem. The two are not continuious. Then down the hill home.

10th day of christmas

Two more days and I will need a new subject line!

Today at ArtsQuest they were having a Twelfth Night event. So I decided to walk down this afternoon. Let's keep that Christmas vibe going just a bit longer.

The Twelfth Night celebration began at two, so I left about one. Where was my head? I headed down Broadway and then to the Greenway. At Hayes I headed down to ArtsQuest. Of course I was too early. There were a lot of people waiting to get in, but I needed to keep moving. Waiting in the lobby was just going to make me overheated. So off I went again.

I headed out Second and thru the Steel parking lots. A NCC I headed up Buchanan and entered Lehigh at the Eastern edge, by Zoellner's parking lot.

At the old Taylor Stadium they erected a Pennsylvania Historic marker noting the Lehigh v Lafayette game. The dirt was fresh, it must have been placed fairly recently. It's a shame it wasn't ready for 150 last year.

And on the pedestrian walkeway, they installed a new sculpture.

Off campus, I headed out Summit, up Wyandotte and home.

9th day of christmas

Clearly the party is over. It appears that everyone is cleaning up and packing up before returning to work Monday. I've started. Didn't have much to put away. The manger will stay out till day 12.

Today's walk was a scenic journey to the grocery store. I had bought a lot of salmon because I wanted leftovers for salmon patties/shells. But no ricotta. I didn't want to drive to Nazareth for the good stuff, so I walked down to the store. Heaven knows I can't go a day without going there.

Originally I wanted to avoid going there, but when I suggested yogurt the roomie nearly gagged. She's not real good with substitutions.

It really wasn't enough of a walk, so I'll need to go out again. But damn, after all the spring weather we've been having it was cold!

Speaking of spring weather, the cherry trees at city hall are confused. I guess this means true spring will not be very pretty.

In the evening I had to take my niece to Girl Scouts in Whitehall. I was not driving home. I suggested to Angel that we have supper somewhere and go to a movie. Dinner, maybe. Movie, no. She wanted to go to Target and use the wifi to get some things done. So I took my laptop to work on class.

After we were done, we did three loops of the Target perimeter. Then hopped in the car to go to Lazeez's deli to eat. They weren't open. I guess because of the holiday weekend. We ended up across the street at Thai Avenue, and had to wait, but frankly we had plenty of time. And way too much food.

Next stop, Wegman's. We did a loop of Wegman's then hit the beer department. The picture is of Angel scoring some Sweet Baby Jesus. It's chocolate Peanut Butter beer. Sounds disgusting. She claims it's delicious. She also bought Purple Monkey Dishwasher beer.

We had time remaining before picking up the girls, so we just hung out in Wegman's cafe.

Only Angel and I could manage to do about a mile and a half, just walking around stores.

8th walk of christmas

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

The temperature has dropped. Its feeling it a little bit like winter. I switched to a heavier sweatshirt, cap, gloves and a scarf for today's walk.

Today Angel's family and I went to French Creek State Park for the First Day Hike. At least fifty of our closest friends joined us. There was probably more. I never expected so many people to show up. Most were not with the hiking group that was leading it.

It was a nice hike with varied terrain around one side of the lake and to Hopewell Furnace. There was some asphalt, some stone paths, and natural paths. There was a set of steep steps down to the dam.

When we finished we spent some time at the playground. The tween has x-ray vision when it comes to playgrounds!

I hadn't been to Hopewell Furnace since I was in Junior High. I remembered nothing. We'll have to go back on a day it is open.

Here's some pictures. Enjoy.

 Lake Hopewell

 Hopewell Village

 Horseshoe trail, trailmarker

 Teepee

Waterfall near dam.

The stairs to the waterfall. Wish I had my walking stick with me. 

 Angel spinning around at the playground.

 The tween trying the rolling log. The faces are priceless. However,
she was the only one that could do it without falling.