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.

you can't walk thru a crime scene

https://www.vecteezy.com/vector-art/107813-police-line-background

Today was another in a extended series of walks in the 'hood. So tired of the hood. But I have no motivation to go anywhere that involves a car. So the 'hood it is.

Today on the radio's traffic report they said that the Five Points was closed for an accident. Okay, I'll go see how many cars were crunched. Well the answer would be zero.

As I approached the Five Points I could see a cop car blocking Broadway and directing the traffic up the Wyandotte Street hill. As I got closer to the intersections I could see a police van at McD's. All the roads blocked off. Yellow tape everywhere. Cop cars around the perimeter. When I reached the intersection I saw flip flops, spilled coffee and a book bag. My worse fears about this intersection had come true. It wasn't an accident. It was a PEDESTRIAN accident.  It could have been me.

As I was processing the information and kind-of staring at the cop directing traffic, I heard a voice. It was the school crossing guard. "Do you need to cross?"

"Yes"

"Which way?" I pointed to the transmission place. "Cut across the lawn and come up here. You can't cross down there." So I walked up the hill and crossed at the alley. And then went back down. As I was crossing I heard the crossing guard yell "Girls, you can't cross there today. You need to come up here." She was going to have a long morning. I did not since the second one on the McD's corner.

I checked the paper online before I started writing this. The person was killed. "There but for the grace of god go I." I've had many a close call.

reworking the bethlehem-north walk

I have a couple of things on my to-do list from the volkssport group. One is to rework the Hellertown event. The other is to refresh the Bethlehem North event. In the pack of stuff they gave me was some old info on the Bethlehem North walk. After reviewing it, I knew I was headed in the correct direction.

Here's the map. If you know the area one section is under, the other is over. So though it might look like a bowl of spaghetti, but it isn't. it's two distinctly different loops.

I asked Angel and Bonnie if they wanted to walk it. Angel had to work. Bonnie said yes.

Saturday we did the first 5K. It starts at the Hotel Bethlehem, and heads south on Main and goes between the Bretheran's House and the dorm. Then it curves past the statue of Benigna Zinzendorf, and thru the gates at Peter Hall. then it continues down to the corner, and you cross the street into the big parking lot. (Festplatz) Since the pedestrian bridge is closed for repairs, you stay in the parking lot to the stone bridge and then into the historic area. Then it's out Old York Rd past the high rises, and up Monocacy Street to Moravian College. 

We explore the college on both sides of Main, then out Locust past the Seminary and the Archives, down New to the alley between the Moravian athletic fields to Church street. There we pass the Moravian Church Center.

Then it is down Center to Market and pass Moravian Academy's Lower School. (This route is 100% Moravian!) And into God's Acre. Then we finish on market. the 5K turns left to go to the Hotel B. The 10K goes right to Broad.

Today we did the second 5K. We parked on Broad at the Brewworks and headed toward first avenue, past the tomb of the Unknowns, and over to 2nd past the Armory. Then it's under the bridge to Sand Island. We make a loop of Sand Island, and then head up to the Sculpture Garden, down Church, up Heckweilder past the chapel, and thru the quad next to Central. Coming out you get a great view of the blacksmith and the pottery wall. Turn right and you are back to the Hotel B.

It works. There is a nice blend of history, art, architecture, historic markers and crappy sidewalks.

I'm sending it in.

Monday, Bonnie gets her knee replaced. Her new name is "Jaime Sommers". With all these replacement parts she soon will be the Bionic Woman.

i'm famous!

Well, not really.

Remember the America Walks study I did in September? This week I received an interview email from Priya Menon, the Scientific Media Editor. They wanted to know about me. Now there is a feature on me on their blog. How cool is that?

http://blog.appliedinformaticsinc.com/researchkit-results-and-user-experience-with-america-walks-study-app/

Why the answers are so big is beyond me. The photo is by Chuck Zovko.

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After taking the bulk of last week off, I am back to walking. Still sticking in the 'hood. Yesterday I walked over the Hill to Hill and back the Fahy bridges. I hope to do walk the revised Bethlehem North walk on Saturday. I'm trying to get additional testers to come with me. I haven't heard from Bonnie, but Angel is working an mid-shift, so her family is out. I also have to get Hellertown done. Then both can be sent off to the LBW for review.