you're foolish

I love typography. It's part of my job, and part of my passion. When I'm out walking I annoy the heck out of people by pointing out ghost signs, or interesting letters, or signs. Bonnie gets the brunt of this exploration, and has become adept at pointing things out to me...both good and bad.

Sunday I went on a typography walk with letterer Paul Shaw. The event was sponsored by the Type Directors Club in NYC. I went back and forth about it, but Angel convinced me it was job related and educational. Does that mean I can take it off my taxes as an educational expense? Then, of course i hurt my knee, and again I wondered if I should go thru with it. But that was short lived. If I could get out of bed without falling over, I was going.

Most of the group was meeting in the City and taking the train into Newark. We were to meet at the platform for the WTC train. During the week it's platform H. the email said to check the signs. Be prompt. Shaw doesn't use a cell phone.

I left here with 2 hours to spare, parked in Newark about 3 blocks away from the station, and headed to Penn Station in Newark. I arrived a half-hour early and followed the signs and found a platform saying "departing for the WTC". Wait. I want "arriving" and I don't see any letter telling me what platform I'm on. I ask the transit cop, he tells me I'm at the right place. I didn't think so—there was no "arriving" signs. I'm still looking for letters of platforms. A man asks if I needed help. He too says I'm at the right place.

10:47 arrives and the PA announces that the WTC train coming in. Whoosh here it comes and it's on the other side of the tracks. How the hell do I get over there? I run down the steps, go up the next door, still not there. Down and up the next door. Still no. Finally find a door for H and I am far, far away.

At this point I am devastated. I prepare to find a restroom, pee, and go home. I come out of the stairway for H and I see a small group of people talking. One is looking at a phone. The older man has a lot of papers. Could that be them? He sees me and said "Are you Gayle?" I found them! One of the participants were emailing me. It would have been useless because I used my school email and it's not on my phone, but it was a nice thought. Running all those stairs would come back to bite me later.

And we're off. We spent a good portion of time in the train station. Lots of good stuff there. I'm not going to bore you with a lot of pictures, because it's my passion, not yours.

Then it was time to hit the streets. One thing I noticed was the amount of homeless people. If a building was closed or shuttered, there was someone sleeping in the doorway.

This is a former Episcopal church. It's now part of the NJ Performing Arts Center. The design was done by Paula Scher. If you're a designer you'll get the name. If not, google it. (Golly, I sound like a teacher!)

This is one side view. Yes, I have photos of all four sides.

We walked for two hours, looking at type. I was having a wonderful time. But my knee was beginning to hurt. I was done. I was also on visual overload. My mind could not process more, no matter how much it wanted to.

We we a few blocks away from the train station and they started discussing lunch. It was my out. Even though we were standing in front of a Dinosaur BBQ, a place my brother has told me a lot about. (It might not be as good since they are now adding locations. And why Newark of all places?) But one person in the group was a vegetarian, so they were exploring other less mammal heavy options.

I excused myself and went back to the station. I finally used the restroom and bought a green tea at the Dunkin Donuts in the food court and headed back to the car.

I had just pulled onto Rt 78 near the airport the phone rang. I have hands free calling, and I was on straight highway. I answered. It was Bonnie. "Where are you?"

"Somewhere around Newark."

"Where?"

"Newark. New Jersey."

"Why?"

A typography walk. Like we do when we are walking. But with knowledgeable people.

"You're foolish."

I went home and put my leg up for the rest of the night. Monday I didn't walk on purpose. In fact I didn't walk Monday, Tuesday or today. I've just been super lazy. Or maybe I just needed some down time. Tomorrow is always another day.

hiking in the drizzle

It was bad enough that I went hiking yesterday. But it was also drizzling. So all the leaves were wet. Maybe I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed. Actually, there is no maybe about it.

I picked up the tween at the Rt. 33 Park and Ride and we headed to the Pocono Raceway. The Maple Track is adjacent to their property. Since it was raining, only about 15 people and two dogs came. I told the walk leader that I had a sore knee and I needed to ask a few questions. Was there a lot of hills, ect? I might need to turn back. She said there was just one hill that was steep, and sure I could turn back. We might have to turn back anyway. The tween needed to pee, and there was no restrooms. She wouldn't pee in the woods because the last time she tried she nailed her shoe! (Practice makes perfect.)

It quickly became apparent that turning back would not be a possibility. The trails were not marked at all and we kept turning. Some of the paths looked like deer runs. We were in it for the long haul. And there was one section that was short and steep, but I had my walking pole, so I was okay.

This is a beautiful property and sadly I took no pictures because both my phone and camera were dead. I got this one pic of the tween before the phone died. The other is from Get Out LV's FB page.

It seemed like a long two miles. We were finally heading back and we walk straight into an area that says "Private Property". Apparently that wasn't there when she scoped out the route and it was impossible to get to the trail we wanted. We had to backtrack. That turned out to be bad. Why? We had to go DOWN that steep incline. Even the experienced, healthy hikers were having difficulty. I wish I would have had two poles. But my knee and I both made it.

The trails will be marked soon. And we discussed how that steep hill needed a rope. So hopefully it will be done also. I'd like to go back.

Back at the car we had ginger snaps and apple cider. It was good. Felt like autumn.

Then I took the tween home, and helped her go thru her clothes and tossing out what doesn't fit. She had some hard decisions to make. But she did it. I could have been harder on her. But one step at a time.

When I got home the leg went up for the rest of the evening. I didn't look at it this morning. That's depressing. But I'll be leaving in 5 minutes for Newark. I'm going on a typography safari. I don't know how far we'll walk, but I bet we get three miles in. We're meeting at the train station. The participants from NYC are coming in on the 10:25 WTC train.

This will be good research for me. The twins want to go to the WTC Memorial. Normally I take the bus into NYC. But this is too many people for $50 a ticket for the bus. So now I'll know where to park! and what the train fares are.

update on my leg

By Wednesday my leg was really ugly. I won't post a pic this time because it's really gross. I was black and blue to my ankle. I was worried. I called the doctor. Yes, you read that correctly. I called a doctor.

My appt. was Friday afternoon. By then my leg didn't look nearly as ugly. In fact the first part of the bruising was turning yellow. But I went anyway, because I wasn't sleeping. I had convinced myself I had the family blood clots and I was doomed.

I don't. He did a manual examination and didn't find anything. I also had to walk around the room and he checked my gait. He took an x-ray just in case. Nothing is broken. But I do have mild to moderate arthritis. Shocking, right? I'm actually glad that it's moderate. Maybe all this walking is actually working.

My RX was what I have been doing. Keep it elevated, ice if it's swollen, and limit my activity. Oh wait. I'm not doing that part. My activity is the same as always. I went hiking yesterday. Both Bonnie and the doctor told me I should reconsider. Nah. But I was very careful.

ever walk

Marathon swimmer Diane Nyad and her partner Bonnie Stoll created a cross country walk called EverWalk to get Americans off their butts and outside and moving. It will roll out over 5 years. Registration opened in June...but only for the LA walk.  There's no way I could take time off from school, or go to LA in less than a week. This would be a one month commitment. I was heartbroken.

I kind of shoved it to the back of my brain and then one day I received an email. They had added a virtual walk option for those who couldn't get to LA. Good move. Maybe they don't want to lose their enthusiastic walkers outside of California. So I signed up. My t-shirt came yesterday. I'm supposed to walk between Oct. 23-29. I can do any one of the distances. A 5K, 10K, A full day which is 20 miles, ect. Or I can walk each day. Then, of course, they want you to wear the tee and post the photos to social media with a variety of hashtags.

If I wore the tee for the full six days, that would be one nasty tee by the end of the week! Maybe I'll wear it Saturday. It isn't pink, so it's going to be tough look to pull off in Pinktober. But I'll figure it out.

This week I've been walking short distances, only a half hour at a time, twice a day. I don't want to put too much stress on my sore knee.  It's interesting that uphill is no problem, but downhill hurts a little. But it makes sense. Downhill your legs apply a braking motion. So I'm not doing steep hills.

I still have not taken any pain killers. And I keep watching for lumps or hot spots or anything that might spell trouble. I also elevate it in the evening, and when possible during the day. Last night I slept all night. I was able to turn and roll (I'm a mover) without waking up. Hopefully by Saturday I'll be able to do the hike in the Poconos. And NOTHING will stop me from doing the type walk in Newark on Sunday.

follow up on my fall

My family has a lot of serious medical issues. My brother especially. In the scope of things my boo-boo from yesterday is about a minus 1. But since this blog is to document my walking adventures — the good, the bad, and the really gross — I decided to post a picture of my leg. It isn't pretty. The brusing goes around my knee cap, and down my leg to my calf.  I think all my gross fat cushions me when I fall. At least it's good for something.

I can walk. I can climb stairs. I can get in and out of low chairs. It functions so I'm fairly certain it's not broken. And unless I do something stupid like kneel, it really doesn't hurt. I haven't taken a single pain pill.

But I will be wearing trousers to work all week.

ready. set. SPLAT!

I've stopped doing a lot of races, it's just not in the budget. But this one I had to do. It was for my tween friends school. And they added color. How else would the PTA get a bunch of tweens there?

We arrived early, and waited around a good half hour. There was a mix-up in the shirt sizes and the tween was given a small youth, rather than a small adult. It kind of started as a dare, but Angel ended up wearing it for the whole race.

Finally it was time to line up. We always leave the runners up front, or they will mow you over.  We go thru the arch to the first color station and a tween cuts me off (not ours!) and trips me. I went falling into the person in front of me. I guess that is why I landed on my knee instead of my face. He turned around to help, but I said no. I just wanted everyone to go away. I was humiliated. This one lady insisted on helping. I kept repeating just give me a minute. I was not entirely sure I could get up. Off all my falls this was the most painful. By the time I was ready to get back up,  our tween came back. I lost you guys ... Yeah, we were busy.

I stood up and didn't fall over. Thank goodness. And then I tried to walk. It worked. And we were on our way. Finally. I didn't go to the first aid tent. They wouldn't have left me walk. Especially since the EMT was Angel's neighbor.

A little in to the walk the tween decided to tell us she was disappointed that we were at the back of the pack. I told her to get used to it. I wasn't going faster. Frankly, I was delighted I was going at all.

For this walk, we never leave the school property. And, much to the child's delight,  we did not finish last. When we arrived at the finish line, the arch had collapsed. Teens were holding it up. After everyone finished we did the big grand finale of color. I stayed at the edge. I had nothing to cover my face and knew I'd start sneezing.

I wanted a selfie in front of the sign. (Top) I got down and got up. It hurt but I was delighted my knee worked. After we got up, the tween was faking being tired, and I took her picture. She claims she really just wanted a picture of the sign. "I'm holding it down so it doesn't blow up." It was blowing up like a flag when we arrived.

Here's all the children. It's a small school, but I think this is a really small turnout. If I was a parent, I'd much rather do this for a fund-raiser than buy/sell stuff I don't need.

Now I think I need to ice my knee. Still really hurts.

road trip, day 4 -- military day

After breakfast we headed to West Point.  For this trip we had to be pre-screened.  The trip coordinator had to collect our names as they are on our drivers license, our state, and our DL number. But there was a lot of hassle the day before because of security. Then they didn't check it.

This was a guided walk.  We couldn't get on base without a guide since The Academy is a small part of West Point. A working military base fills the rest of the space. We even saw some visiting soldiers from Ghana. (Thank goodness for google. We looked up the flag. Their camo is dark brown and they wore red berets and spoke French.)

The first mile of the walk was up hill.

There are a lot of restricted roads including the one that goes thru campus. But since we had someone with us with active military credentials, we walked straight thru the middle. As classes were changing. And a fire engine was pulling in. Fun. Right?

We ate at the officers club. It was a buffet and was not bad for institutional food.

After lunch we drove a few miles to Bear Mountain for the 5K Fort Montgomery Walk. It really wasn't 5K. Maybe. The museum isn't open on a Tuesday and they opened for us. After a 15 minute film, we headed out to explore the ruins of the fort. The British burned it down in 1777. That walk was about a mile.

We got back on the bus and drove to the other side of the park. Some members were tired of walking and stayed at the Bear Mountain Inn. The rest stayed on the bus and were dropped off at Trail Side Zoo.

Trail Side is a zoo full of animals that can't be returned to the wild. All have been injured, somehow. They all looked bored, and hid or had their backs to us. Except the black vultures. They were everywhere. I don't think they officially live there.

 At this point we were on both the AT and the 1777 trail headed the same way as the patriots advanced. And died. Or were captured.

It was there where we ran into Walt Whitman. Just hanging out in the woods.

We came out on the trail at the lake, and then walked back to the inn. And then to the carousel house, which was not open.  In all I walked almost 10 miles today.

Then back on the bus one more time for the trip to Warminster, with another food court stop. I am so over food courts. Then we had the additional hour drive north.

Good thing I don't work on Wednesdays!

road trip, day 4 -- early morning

Today started with a bang. Literally.

We didn't get back to the new hotel until about 8:30 pm last night. So it was probably 9 pm when I began my class. I not only had new posts, but had to turn in my weekly grading. It took until 11:30. Then I had other design work to do. It required googling because I had to extensively edit a pdf. I didn't put the files into my dropbox. It was about 1 am when I headed for the shower.

When Bonnie and I travel I take over the bathroom at night. She takes the morning. It works. The tub sides were higher than I thought and when I placed my second foot on the mat I started to slide, and twist and did a slo mo fall to the floor. Not sure if I actually hit my head, but I did jam the corner of my glasses into the side. They didn't break.

I'm laying on the floor, Bonnie is snoring away, and I thought oh shit. I'm screwed. Plus my head hurt, but I didn't feel blood. I put my legs in the proper position, and pulled myself up on the toilet. No blood. No bruise. Bonnie was still asleep. So I dried off, cleaned up the floor, and got dressed and went to bed.

When I touch the side of my head, it still hurts.

road trip, day 3 -- novelist and ferries

After a drive into Port Jefferson, we took the 10 am ferry into Bridgeport, Connecticut. The bus driver drove the bus right up onto the boat. It look like it held about 50 cars and the center lane was large vehicles, maybe 6 of them. Including a Fedex truck. The ferry goes about 30 MPH, and there was a headwind.  The whole thing took about an hour.

You couldn't really sit out on the top deck to long or you'd get blown away. I was doing loops. Inside, outside, hang with Bonnie and then repeat. At one point I was walking and the wind pushed me so that I ran.

A few minutes before docking,  the announcement came that drivers and passengers needed to return to their vehicles. So we all boarded the bus on the boat. After docking, we drove to Hartford just in time for lunch. We stopped at a food court at the Old State House grounds. It had all the usual suspects, and it also had two HEALTHY places to eat. I was shocked.

After lunch we drove a few minutes to visit the Mark Twain House and Museum. While on the bus we were broken into four groups. I was in group C. So I had a little wait. As you know, this house was the Samuel Langhorne Clemens family home from 1874 to 1891. The house has been called "part steamboat, part medieval fortress and part cuckoo clock." While living there, Clemens wrote his best-known works, including The  Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The Prince and the Pauper, Life on the Mississippi,  Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, A Tramp Abroad, and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court.

Also in the neighborhood was Harriet Beecher Stowe's (Uncle Tom's Cabin) home. It's undergoing restoration but still open for visitors. People in groups A-B had plenty of time to go there. C- and especially D, not so much.

After the tour we met up with the Connecticut Valley Volkssport Club that begins and ends at the museum. They re-routed their capitol walk just for us.  Bonnie and I actually abbreviated it a little hoping to get back in time to do the Harriet house tour. But that wasn't in the cards. All we needed was another 15 minutes. But we had to be at the bus at 5. When we arrived there was only 3 other people on the bus. Then we found out that the time was extended because the D group complained. We had to 5:20. Shit. We could have done the tour.

Then it was off to the Hampton Inn in Danbury for another exciting night of grading, updating blogs, getting files ready for the printer, and the clubs Facebook page. But first we stopped at the Carousel Mall for yet another food court, and a ride on the carousel. We have our priorities.

I don't understand why we stopped at the food court. There's a Chili's in the parking lot.

road trip, day 2—it's raining, it's pouring

After breakfast we hopped onto the back on bus and drove a half hour to Port Jefferson.  It rained all night and was raining when we left. The hurricane apparently did not swerve. This walk is only available on this day. They left us off at a park and ride lot and we headed into town. About half way through we encountered a 5K. They'd certainly run you over before going around. It was almost dangerous.

It was a hilly walk that featured a lot of historic houses, the wharf, and the arts center. It would have been lovely had it not been for the steady rain.

It turned out that the finish line for the race was next to the park and ride lot. The president of the club was telling us where to go and he had a beer in his hand. I asked him where he got it and he said the blue tent. I went and got one also.  It was from the Port Jefferson Brewing Company and nice. But I'm not used to drinking 16 ounce beers. There is a pic on my phone. Someone on the trip ate lunch at the race. It was the end and they were handing it out. We ate at the creperie. Man was it good.

We return to the hotel to pick up our guide, Bob, for the afternoon, and head to the swanky Hamptons' on another guided tour. I called it the TMZ Celebrity tour. We learned everything about Long Island and the Hampton's that we'd ever want to know, and then some.

We stopped at Cooper Beach and I was the only to take my shoes off and go into the water. A few others got wet when a huge wave came, including Bonnie.  It was cold and windy... Matthew. And the Atlantic was angrier today. Her waves were aggressive.

We had a one hour break in Southampton to do another, special, 5K walk. (or shop. Or eat. But I came to walk.) It was still raining, but not as hard.  We stopped and got ice cream. It was delicious. And expensive. This walk is one that the AVA is trying out online. Then it was off to continue the tour in Sag Harbor.

We stopped at a diner for supper. Then returned to the hotel for a rousing evening of grading and sending files to printers. One day I will take a real vacation. Maybe.

road trip, day 1—new jersey and oyster bay

The parking lot at the VE at 7 am

When we take these Volkssport bus trips we always have to drive to Warminister, before coming back north. It seems nuts. But it is what it is. And this will probably be the last one I take for a long time, unless I manage to get more work. All that money I had saved is going quickly.

Anyway, today we left the Vereinigung Erzebirge and headed north. Our first stop was in Asbury Park. Yes, I was just there two weeks ago. I didn't know that when I signed up for the trip. 

We had three hours in Asbury Park. Most everything on the Boardwalk was now closed. It was tough to find something open for lunch. We picked a taco place. They were busy.

We did a hybrid of the 5 and 10K and then stuck our feet in the ocean.

Then it was back on the bus and on to Long Island where we visited the Sagamore Hill National Historic Site. As you history buffs know, Sagamore Hill was the long-time home of Theodore Roosevelt and his rambunctious family. It served as the “summer white house” during his presidency. But no house tour since we arrived in the afternoon. Disappointing to say the least. We were about to head to the nature walk when the skies opened. Our rain gear was in the bus. Shit. We walked quickly back to the bus.

We didn't have our regular driver, it was a different one. He chose to go thru Long Island thru mid-town Manhattan. Maybe that's the way one needs to go. But it was 1:30 in the afternoon. It took about an hour to get thru the boroughs.

On the bus was one older woman and her tablet that she bought for $50 from someone who upgraded. She was clueless. Her seat mate had a Kindle.  I must have spent an hour teaching them how to use their devices. And downloading Bible apps and teaching them how to use them.  At Sagamore, I taught them how to take pictures, and view them. It's been an interesting trip.

Then back to the hotel for the night. My students had a deadline Friday, so that means an evening of grading for me.. Much easier since I had two Long Island Iced Teas at supper. When in Rome. ...

lost in the corn maze

Today the tween, my new exchange student Khawla (from Tunisia) and I went to the corn maze at Raubs Farm Market in Tatamy. I picked this one because it was close to Angels house, not over crowded, and reasonably priced. I've been here before. However, It's been raining for three days. I told everyone to dress for mud.

It was indeed muddy. I had mud up to my calves. Khawla took a picture of our muddy shoes and pants before lunch. Hopefully I can get a copy.

When we checked in, the gave us 5 different games to play. We completed none of them. The one we did the most on was the find the numbers. At one point I think we went between 7 and 10 four times. We'd go to turn down a path and the tween would go, nope. Been here before. There's the xyz litter. Or the dog poop. Or the sticky bush. We had been past so many times she knew every landmark. Next time I'm taking bread and making like Hansel and Gretel. Finally we cheated and cut thru to a different path. We had to get out of that area. We were stuck! It helped. Finally we were moving forward.

At one point we found the road. That was helpful. We would go around the perimeter, re-enter the maze, grab the number and then come back out. Having landmarks was so helpful. I think we found all but three. Number 5 was impossible. We finally gave up.

The tween had hoped for a hayride, but the tractor blew a fuel line. It would be two before it was fixed.

They also had live country bands playing near the barn. And a little café set up in the barn. And lots of barn cats and kittens.

All in all it was about 4.5 miles of walking.

this week

I walked every day. Mostly in the neighborhood. I did the Ft. Hill loop forward an d backwards. I walked to the market and CVS and took Wyandotte back home. I made a figure 8 in South Bethlehem and Foutnain Hill. I'm sort of running out of variations.

Wednesday Bonnie and i walked a combo of the North and south Bethlehem Volkssport walks and collected up the quarterly totals.

All in all a fairly routine week.

The sign at the top of the post is at Nativity church. If I believed in God then I would certainly attend this event.

On the other end of the spectrum, this is a house on Fiot Ave. This witch-o-lantern looks like she's had a few beers.

Today we were supposed to go to a corn maze but it rained the last two days. ANd looked like it would rain all day. Hopefully we can go tomorrow.