tangled

 

 

Today was the first day I haven't gone to chair yoga in many weeks. Maybe months. Pam is off on vacay, then the holidays, then surgery. I probably won't go again until December.

Instead I invited Pat to go to the class at the Senior Center. Remarkably she said yes. It begins at 1. At 11:30 she was headed out the door. The look of disappointment when I told her we had another hour was priceless.

We parked in the lot at Union and Old York Road and walked to the towers. Like Sharon, she would not join the group in the circle. She sat with Sharon as a wallflower. Apparently I put my chair in her line of vision, because she told me about it walking back. I don't know how much she did or didn't do since I could not see her. She told me the only thing she didn't do was the chair rises. Sharon, according to her, only did maybe half the exercises.

Pat knits. A lot. This weekend my sister came up from Kentucky and brought her yarn. Then Sunday my sister-in-law told me there was a huge bag of yarn for Pat at her moms house. We picked it up today. (I don't envy her mom cleaning out a house of 70 years of stuff. Yikes. (I'd probably call an auction house and have them do the work. I'm lazy.) It will be months before I hear "I need to go to the yarn store".

We did not do Milly this week. We went for covid shots instead. 

On Friday we go back to balance class. Yes, she is going back. And packing a sweater. Then we'll pick up groceries at Giant. I need to refill my freezer. Defrosting it was this weekends work-out. My hands were sore from ringing out towels.

roots and rocks and drops, oh my!

 
A few weeks ago I was looking for something on Google Maps and found Ithaca Park in southwest Allentown. I didn't know there was a park there. But what drew my attention in was the dotted line next to it. Wait, I say to myself. That's a trail. I zoom in and dang it isn't it a trail—the Wilderness trail. I looked it up online and it turned out to be part of the Wildlands protected forest on top of South Mountain. It was a mile long (up to six) and dumped into Boroline Park and connected with the trails on the other side of the park. I took a screen shot and waited for the perfect day to explore. Today was the day. 

Ithaca Park is a neighborhood pocket park. No potty. No parking. You park in the street. There are swings, a play set and a basketball court. Period. I didn't even see a bench for the moms to sit on. The neighborhood is 60s-70s ranches.

The trailhead sign was pretty obvious. I immediately became worried seeing the stroller parked under it. I went back and got my hiking stick.

It's blazed green with signs that say the "Wilderness Trail". According to the map it's six miles. I was a bit puzzled. I decided to walk for a half-hour or so, and turn around an come back. I am in no shape to do a 12 mile round trip. Hell, I'm not in shape to so a 5 mile round trip.

I immediately understood why this was the wilderness trail. This was typical of the first section. Roots galore. And rocks. At the top of the mountain their was a power line so it was weeds that were chest high. And some serious steep descents. I almost turned back a couple times. I spent time trying to navigate how to get down them without falling. And wondering how I'd get back up them. This was also the time I remembered the Girl Scout buddy system. At this point I had seen no one. If I fell how the hell could I tell 9-11 where I was when I had no cell signal.

The path was narrow and I assume that it gets used a lot by bikers. Fallen trees were cut out like this, with and without rocks, and some just had to be climbed over. There were giant rocks that I assume the bikes went over. I went around. I would walk this trail after it rains. It would be really slippery.

I saw four bikers. I saw at least a dozen people fly by me in both directions including a man with two children. I said to him Ah, you must be the owner of the stroller. He said, I'm so glad it's still there. At that point he was carrying the little one.

I came to a split. I saw no signs on either side, so I backed up to the last marker. It was on the right so I took the right path. In Girl Scouts I learned that the side of the trail the sign was on was the way you went. I was confused because there were no more signs. And the old-school flashing was red. I walked another five minutes and then dug out google maps. I could clearly see the split and that I went the correct way. But the top path was marked "wilderness". The bottom path was marked "alpine". I've walked the Alpine trail before on the other side of Boroline Park and it's red I was fairly sure I was right. But I had not idea where I was on the line. I'd been walking for an hour and it was supposed to be a mile. Sure that I went wrong, I turned around and headed back. Even me, pokey Pete, doesn't take an hour to walk a mile in the woods.

I was a few feet away from the split when I saw this sign: "Alpine Street Trail". It confirms that I was indeed at the correct spot.  I guess I just didn't go far enough.

My iPhone has a Health program. Something on it is a Health App, with a walking steadiness feature. I turned it on. With notifications. Of course, I actually have to have my phone with me for it to work. I'm going to keep it on thru the duration of my Balance class.

To end, after two, maybe three weeks of not walking in the morning with Pat. Today we did the morning half mile. I can't figure her out. Last night I rode the Cubii for a half hour. 

Miles/Steps:  2.2 miles
Weather:       high 70s, sunny
Surface:         dirt, leaves, roots, rocks, erosion ditches.
Bathrooms:   0
SLF killed:     0
Wildlife:        1 dead deer, two does chasing each other, lots of birds and things singing. Lots of rustling. Maybe mice and squirrels. Maybe chipmunks.

can you believe it? two gayles!

 

If your name is common like Joyce or Kathy or Bob or Dave, you're often in a room with same named people. Heck it happens so much in my family that the name has to be prefixed with their spouse. For example, Barbara's David. One year on Martha Stewart's television show she had an audience filled with Martha Stewart's. (Stewart had variation in spelling.) This stuff doesn't happen to Gayle's. Until today.

I signed Pat and I up for a balance fall prevention class hosted by the Health Department. It's 8 weeks. It began today. I wore sneakers and exercise pants and we didn't exercise. Not until week three.

When we arrived we were greeted by this tote bag. Inside was a water bottle, book, pen and a bottle of water. Next week we're supposed to fill the bottle they gave us. I'm not going to. It's plastic. It will sweat like crazy and it will be warm. I'll stick with my metal one, thank you. Since we each got one, I'll give my book to Angel after it's over since she didn't want to commit to 8 weeks. (It's a good thing she didn't since her work schedule changes about week 4.). I'll write in pencil so she can erase my answers. She fall as much, if not more, than I do.

They also mentioned there would be some sort of swag every week as an incentive for you to come. Also at break we had fresh berries, yogurt and granola. Not a bad reward for a free class.

There was 14 people (with four on the wait list), three instructors and four Moravian occupational therapy students. The limit is 12. Next week they are splitting us into two groups and the wait list people will join us. Pat and I are in Group A with the other Gayle. How they will split three instructors is a little puzzling.

They made it clear that no exercise till week three. We did introductions and that's how I discovered a second Gayle. I describe Pat as a ''weebles wobble but they don't fall down." I on the other hand, face plant (gasp) a lot but hadn't done so in 2-3 years until about a month ago. I'm tired of ripping up my knees and forehead. I even showed them my souvenir stone in my head. (The one that the dermatologist insists on measuring ever year.)

We watched a fairly long video and had an even longer discussion. I think the bottom line of this class is exercise, activity, strength training goes a long way in keeping you fit and in balance.

The schedule:

1. Intro. (duh.)
2. Exploring thoughts and concerns about falling
3. EXERCISE and fall prevention (a lot of these Milly does on Monday's)
4. Assertiveness and fall prevention
5. Managing Concerns about fall prevention
6. Recognize fall-ty habits
7. Recognizing fall hazards in the home and community. (Demo's!)
   
8. Practicing No fall-ty habits and putting it all together.

I'm hoping once we get to week three there is more doing, and less sitting. I think Pat is going back next week, but who knows if she'll stick it out. The building is a fridge so you need to dress warmly for class.  I went back to the car and got Pat's sweatshirt.

Chair yoga class is on hold now. Pam is on vacay, the high holiday days, and then a hip replacement. It probably will be December before I go again. Yes, I could go alone. But who wants to go that far just to do an hour yoga class.  I will still go to the one at the senior center. Maybe Pat will come.

For some reason we no longer walk in the morning. She spent the summer developing a good habit and gave me something to look forward too, and now we don't want to go.  It all started when Sharon gave us that Cubii. But she doesn't ride it that I know of. I'll never figure her out.

chair volleyball?

Today we had a volkssport walk on the D&L beginning at the Virginia Forrest Recreation Area outside of New Hope. A total of seven people came, and one didn't walk, they rode their bike.

This section of the towpath is not especially interesting. And because of the dry summer the canal was filled with weeds. There were a couple of spots with puddles. I'm not sure if it will recover or nature will just reclaim it.

 I found this set of stairs from the canal to the water. There is no apparent reason why they are there.

 As we walk, we talk. The turn around point was the Lumberville Pedestrian Bridge. After we turned, I started talking to a member I haven't seen since before the pandemic. Her husband died about five years ago and she moved into an apartment at a senior community.  There she teaches Mahjong. She also started telling me about chair volleyball? Say what? They set up chairs in a volleyball court and you use a giant beach ball. You cannot hit underhand. And more importantly you have to have one cheek on the chair at all times.  A internet search failed to find any public groups in the Lehigh Valley. It will have to go on my Athletic Adventures list along with Pound and belly dancing.

This isn't a wide path, you can tell by the photos that the width changes frequently, but the bikers were pissing me off today. They'd make us move right toward the weeds. Sometimes stepping into the weeds, praying I didn't fall into a dry canal. It's a 6 feet deep trench. There was plenty of room, most of the time, for them to get thru. They were just being asses. Rant over.

The weeds on the right are the canal.

 

Miles/Steps:  4 miles
Weather:       low 80s, sunny
Surface:         gravel and grass
SLF killed:     1
Wildlife:        dead deer

creative tracking

As you know the Cubii came to live at my house the other day. Pat has used it a few times, as have I. 

On the first day of using it, I realized that my tracker was on my arm, and it wasn't tracking my "steps", so I laid my arm on my leg. That sort-of worked but it was boring and my back kind-of started hurting.

The next morning I came up with the brilliant ... not ... idea of laying it on my leg. 15 seconds later it was on the floor. Not learning from my mistake, I put it back and what do you know, it happened again. I went to the kitchen and got a safety pin. I kind of wound the fabric around it and pinned it. It worked. I did 15 minutes.

That night I wanted to see if I could do an entire episode of a TV show. It would keep me from stalking the fridge. The safety pin moved around a it. What did I have that was bigger? A clothes pin! This works pretty good. Again, I wind the fabric around the strap and clamp it. I had to move it to take the pic.

Ohhh, I bet a binder clip would work even better.

I did about 40 minutes. Mostly I was bored, even watching tv. But then the show was boring. I've tried most of the things on the ad. I've played on my phone, done puzzles and read. Reading is like reading in the car. Much longer and I would have been hurling. Is it going to make me fit? I doubt it. But that night when I went to bed my core muscles hurt. That was quite the surprise. Maybe it was a co-inky-dink.

In other "news". 

This week I also to chair yoga, no senior class. It was cancelled. 

Pat and I didn't walk several times this week because it finally ducking rained! Apparently she'll melt if she goes out in the rain. Analogies to the wicked witch of the west have been made before. Maybe there is some truth to them?

Today I made us appointments for Covid Boosters. Then we'll go to the drive-by flu shots in November at Piggy Park. I'm not sure of the date yet. My guess is Nov. 6. They haven't updated the website yet.

Real Content Alert! Tomorrow I'll be walking on the D&L with the volkssport group. Sunday I'll be meeting and walking with my new international host students at Housenick Park. (They put a virtual tour of the house online if you want to see it.)

look what came to live at my house

 

When I was watching Sharon after her knee surgery I discovered her Cubii elliptical machine and rode it. Pretty much every time I went. I don't like gyms and I'm not really one for gym equipment in my house.

Her client (she's a home health aid) also had a similar item. The client is 96. The new braces on her legs/feet don't fit on the pedals. Friday she told Sharon to take this home to Gayle. She did.

Saturday I took her shopping. She went without her Rollator and only used a cane. She did well. I had to carry her stuff upstairs and I had to pick up the "Cubii". It was smaller and had a power cord. WTF?

She asked which one I wanted. I told her which ever one she didn't want. But I wanted to try out the clients machine. I found an extension cord, plugged it in, and picked up the remote. I put my feet on it, and without doing anything it started to move like a bicycle. Then I turned it on. It did all the work. I just had to sit my fat ass in the chair and watch my legs move. You could probably ride that for an hour without getting tired. I rode it about 5 minutes and did break a little sweat.

That's the one Shaon decided to keep. I brought the Cubii home. I set it up in the office so we could watch tv and use it. Pat tried it yesterday, and I heard her using it this morning. Maybe it will be a good thing. 

I did not Move with Millie today. The young person next door came over to do the grass. Surprisingly Pat did it alone. But Millie wasn't there. She was sick. They played a recording. When I came in Pat was doing it. Sitting in her chair moving and counting.

 

I also signed the two of us up for a balance class. Pat doesn't fall but I do. (Check out all the typos on the flyer.) It's two hours for 8 weeks. That's a big commitment. I'm guessing that there will be a fair amount of talking as well.