construction tour

 

On the 21st I declared I was going to do some form of exercise every day. I didn't. I did do better. I tried one of the Paul Eugene videos. (I didn't like it. He gets one more shot.) I went to chair yoga, and I worked out with Milly. I think I walked twice. But I also set up the computer to do a chair exercise video before dinner and ended up logging out at 10 pm after never doing the workout.

Saturday was the Lehigh Valley Book Fair and I spent the day freezing my butt off. We did sell a couple books, and maybe a nibble on an author.

Yesterday was Milly. Today I walked to CVS in the cold. I decided to take pictures of all the construction. And a selfie showing my new glasses. Yes, I'm dressed for winter. It's cold out. Mother Nature is all messed up.

First stop is the old Ahart's (Food Lane, Food Fair). They've been working on this for about 6 months. I think when they are done the exterior walls are all that will remain. It might have been easier and cheaper to rip it down and start over. Personally I cannot wait till it reopens. I like having a grocery store within walking distance.

The next stop is the Five Points. They ripped down the old gas station/transmission shop, the grey Victorian and the yellow Victorian with the turrid and wrought iron fence. Rumor has it they are putting in an auto part store.

Then I saw this rock near Mohican Street in front of the old church.

The final stop, and actually the one that gave me the idea, is the old Bavarian Tavern at Broadway and Alaska. I think it was the last neighborhood bar in the 'hood. It was purchased by a micro brewery and they have restored the bar and are working on changing it into a pub. That's very exciting. However, where are hipsters going to park. There is zero parking in the area. There are no vacant lots either. It puzzles me.

Hope you enjoyed the tour!

Miles/Steps:  1.5 miles
Weather:       38, sunny
PPE Found:    At least 10 disposable/reusable masks (my masks are being eaten by the washer!)
Money found: nickle

two days in a row.

 

I have re-made my commitment to exercising every single day whether I want to or not. And if it's just going around the big block (the dog walk) than so be it.

What motivated me? Words with Friends. You got it, a freak'n Scrabble game.  I don't have any "friends" playing so I just play the challenge games and lose on a regular basis. The problem with this game is that every time you play a word you get an ad. Sometimes long. Sometimes short. For the past month I've been getting these hideous ads (Which are out of date. That Christmas promo ends tomorrow!) for a miracle weight loss pill that you take before bedtime and it melts away your fat in your sleep. The results are dramatic. And tempting. I think even more dramatic than bariatric surgery. Then my Instagram feed became filled with exercise videos. What did I click on? I think I liked the craft ones better.  And it seems like Dr. Augello is running his 1-800-BurnFat commercials non-stop on the radio. The cosmos is sending me a message I already knew. Bitch, you're fat. Do something about it.

I started on Friday. It was a gorgeous day and I was done working. Since we didn't have lunch we ate at about 4:30. (My class runs 12:45-3:45.) My sister Barb usually calls on a Friday and didn't so I decided to call her. And take a walk.

Even though you look like a crazy person walking down the street talking I had gone much further than I planned. I guess I need to find people to call every time I go out. That would remove the "I don't like to walk alone" excuse.

Saturday was the Volkssport walk.

Sunday it was gorgeous again. I was stuck in the house getting my classes ready for this week. At one point I had to upload videos and download student projects that took forever. (They wouldn't if I weren't so cheap and bought better internet.) While I was waiting, I hit YouTube looking for chair exercise and yoga classes. (With more fat dissolving ads!) I didn't want anything over a half-hour. I bookmarked three people. One I used before I had my hysterectomy. I liked him a lot. He had moved on from all chair to overall fitness, but his chair workouts are still there. Then there is this couple. I've tried them before too. What's interesting is they do two levels so everyone can do it. She usually does the modified version. He will sometimes take to his feet. She stays put.

The third one I haven't tried before. I'll try him tomorrow. He must be popular because he has a lot of videos. He has chair and wheelchair workouts. His look to be longer.

For all of these, including Milly, I think I need a different chair. I'm using a kitchen chair. In all these videos they are using a very straight school chair. Too bad the thrift store closed. I'd walk up and see if they had one. And since they are generally plastic, it would be easy to sterilize. I don't want a repeat of last August.

I finished my work about 3, and headed out. I did slightly more than the dog walk. I was cold. It wasn't nearly as warm as the previous day. Going out Sioux Street I noticed that one of my neighbors has erected a greenhouse (who knew these existed?) in that narrow patch of land before the sidewalk. I was impressed. And it's filled with plants. Maybe they have dug up the whole yard for a garden. You'll notice the rain barrel too. These people are more eco-friendly than I am.

When I came home I made dinner, watched my gardening show, and the roomie headed to bed. I went back to the computer and there on the screen was the last chair workout I looked at. I did it.

Have I finally reached a turning point? We'll see.

lbw walk

 

Today I hosted the LBW Bethlehem North walk. Eight people came.  The low number didn't suprise me, it looked like it was going to pour at the start time. Those leaving the Philly 'burbs would have had to leave an hour earlier. I wouldn't have come either.

There's is no way to beat these people to the start point. We meet at 9:45 am for a start time of 10. I arrived at 9:36 and was the fourth person there.

As a group we chose to do the second loop first. This loop is hilly and I am h so out of shape. We head up Main, over the Broad Street Bridge, and down first. Then go up Prospect to 2nd and down Spring, under the bridge to Main. Take Main onto Sand Island, which is now named the Mayor Ken Smith Sand Island Recreation Area. When did that happen? Apparently in June, 2021. This is the stuff I miss not having a newspaper.

You make a nearly 2 mile loop on Sand Island, returning via the D&L. Wildlife was abundant. Spring was in the air. I'm sure all that "singing" was mating calls. Nature is getting busy tonight.

We returned to Lehigh Street and headed up toward the Fahy Bridge. As we were waiting to cross to the police officers memorial, Mike pent down and unzipped the bottom of his pants to make them shorts. But the walk signal came on so he crossed the street with his pant legs around his ankles. It was hysterical. Someone should have taken a video. His wife took a pic. I'm not sure if it came out. She was laughing pretty hard.

Then it was thru the sculpture garden, and out Church Street to Payrow Plaza. We entered the plaza, and headed toward the wall where the group discovered Playrow Plaza.  Another lost video moment.

Then it was back to the hotel, where they did the second 5K loop. I went to the bagel shop. Dropped off client work, and headed home.

Miles/Steps:  5k
Weather:       to start high 50s, about to rain. At end low 70s, sunny
PPE Found:    At least 10 disposable masks
Wildlife:        Heard a woodpecker and many geese. 2.5 pairs of mallards, cardinals, hawk (Hopefully Betty's pic comes out), and a koi in the canal. Clearly someone threw away a "pet". The snapping turtle will eat well when he finds it.That thing was over a foot long.
Money found: 1 penny
Extra:            Many trees on the Moravian campus are now identified. If you're into trees, there's a map to find them.

the "wells fargo wagon" came!

 It's been ten days since I posted. What have I been doing. Sadly, not much.

On Monday's I've been doing the exercise class with Millie. In February they had a collect words thing and get a prize. I turned mine in during class while they were showing the AARP commercial.  Today the UPS driver brought me my t-shirt. The back has a reasonable size AARP logo.

Wednesday's I usually do chair yoga. But last week was a constant stream of Uber-ing Sharon and Pat to doctor's appointments and the supermarket. This week Pam was in Vermont. So no yoga.

A couple times I walked around the block.  Saturday I shoveled wet, heavy, snow. That's about it.

Today I took a longer walk. Pat wanted pretzels. We still don't have a supermarket, they are still remodeling Ahart's. They might have been better off tearing it down and rebuilding it. They've been tearing up Broadway for weeks and are now near Hoffert and Bergen Streets.

I headed up the hill and went out Sioux, then down Clewell. Then I headed out the Cherry Street alley parallel to Broadway to avoid the construction. At St. Ursula's I went down to Broadway, and crossed at the thrift store and into Wawa.

I came out carrying my pretzels, and headed out Broadway to come home. I decided against Delaware since the traffic is so heavy from the construction. Near Matey's is an apartment building. There is a stack of mailboxes out front WITH THE KEYS IN THE SLOTS.What is the point of locking a mailbox if you leave the key right out on the sidewalk?

I got to the construction and they made me cross the street. Then I had to cross back to go out Itaska. It was fun crossing Broadway without looking.

Miles/Steps:  Google maps says it's .9 miles to the Wawa. So that makes it about 1-3/4 miles
Weather:       mid-60s, sunny
PPE Found:    I lost count. There was five masks in one block. I think it was close to 2 dozen. Most surgical. A few reusable.

walkabout: easton

 Today I registered for a walk in Stroudsburg at the Kettle Creek Environmental Education Center. I had zero motivation to go. And it's odd because I had wanted to. They have a maple syrup operation and there was going to be a 90 minute presentation there. The event was from 11-3. With an hour drive each direction I would have been out for 6 hours. Six hours away from Pat. 

I wasn't going with anyone, or meeting anyone, and it was just too easy to say the hell with it. I've seen maple syrup made before so there was no attraction there. Although buying some fresh would have been nice. I think my lack of motivation was really in the reminder email: "we'll hike 2-3 miles on easy to moderately difficult trails.The two loop trails across the road from the EEC are clear of ice, although steep in some areas. Hiking poles are recommended." My knees don't like steep. I also wasn't fond of "difficult".

 

But I had already told Angel I was stopping for some books and to pick up my laptop. So I had to go to Easton. I sent her an email asking if she wanted to roam downtown or do the art trail. She said downtown. A few minutes later she sent a text. "First stop is Pie+Tart." Well that's counter productive. Plus I'm not really a pie person.

Pie+Tart is across from the State Theatre. It's tiny. In fact there is no seating or even a lobby. You stand outside in the cold,or the heat and you wait like you are in New York City. The "door"of the building is more of a Dutch door with a slide window on top. The menu is in the store window. 

I had a cheese and broccoli hand-pie. There was ricotta, mozz, Asiago, and so many more cheese in it. I think she listed six. The texture was fabulous and the dough melted in   your mouth. They have both sweet and savory. Apparently they also have breakfast pies but you need to get there early to get one. Angel said by 8:30 they are gone. I sense the pie makers are Australian. So no need to worry about Sweeny Todd back there making pies. (marketing genius is that show was across the street. Or even Waitress.)

But I digress because Pie+Tart was not our first stop. We went to Jersey for gas. It was $3.85. Here I've seen it as high as $4.28. Then we parked at 2nd and Northampton and started walking. The circle is ripped up, again. So we got to walk in the street. 

Before Pie+Tart there is a new mural.

Driving down I saw a new mural. When we finished eating our pies — outside on the sidewalk — we continued walk west, heading up towards Porter's Pub. We walked past a Colombian restaurant that was opening for the day. Angel had actually eaten there and said it's good. Thinking about Colombian food I actually went to far. Angel had to call me back.

That huge cat will get anybody's attention. 

 

We headed down the other side of Northampton and at the tattoo shop Angel saw this sign on the door. It's the best. 

 Continuing back toward downtown, we  moved into the street to go to the Farmer's Market. I was not shocked to see storage crops like apples, potatoes,carrots, turnips and beets. I was surprised to see greens.

When we returned to the square we stopped in Book & Puppet. Angel ran into an artist colleague—Nere Kapiteni—and remarked that if she had know she was working she would have brought a copy of the book she contributed to for her. I had one in the car so we walked back to the car, got the book, and returned to the store.

Then we headed up Third to Spring Garden and went to Angel's old apartment building. The Indian Restaurant is now a dog treat store—Bella's Bistro Pet Wellness & Dog Cafe. Finally we headed back to the car.

Lots of stopping. Lots of photos, but I got my fat ass out there and did something. Now to do it again tomorrow.

Miles/Steps:  My phone said 2.5 miles. That seems high, but I'll take it.
Weather:       mid-40s, sunny, breezy
PPE Found:    A lot.  

roaming the woods at northampton

 

In January I saw that the map for the community college had a "walking path" in the woods. (Circled in purple.) Today was the day I decided to look for it.

I told Pat I was leaving for school early. It was a beautiful day. I wanted to call Bonnie from the car. Having a conversation without Pat asking questions during and after is lovely. Ultimately she went on the "walk" with me. Via telephone.

The map said it's next to the East 40, so I parked there and started hiking--in clogs. I was dressed for school, not hiking. I found the bee boxes, and lots of signs saying stay on the paths, bees at work.  I decided to return to the main path and go in the next entrance. There was picnic tables near the entrance. That's where I saw all these little messages on the trees. The handwriting is different on some so they weren't all made by the same person. They followed this winding path. Self-help? Inspiration? Who knows.  I followed the little signs and ended up on the far side of the woods facing the subdivisions. I turned right and followed a grassy path that seemed to go nowhere. 

At some point I said to Bonnie I'd be thrilled with the sight of a parking lot or the college. And I was more than a bit worried about getting to class on time. Finally I could see the building and the lot. (I was near the N on the map compass.) It was 3:00. Class started in a half-hour. I never found really found the walking path. Although right before the clearing I saw another path go into the woods. I might try that a different day. One day when it isn't muddy.

Miles/Steps:  It took me 45 minutes to walk one stink'n mile
Weather:       low 40s, sunny, windy
$ Found:       1 cent walking to my car.

Wednesday Pam and I went to chair yoga. We concentrated on balance and used new toys—squeeze balls and tennis balls.

Monday Pat and I did the Milly workout. This weeks word was respect.