Blogging on the Powwow

Can you believe it? I wrote this post on Thanksgiving weekend and before I knew it, Christmas was here and over. But, since I wrote it, I'd like to post it, even if it is late...and it's all still true! -------------------------------------- It has taken me a while to get around to writing a blog post about being thankful. I am thankful. Of course, I am thankful, is my most common response. I am thankful for all the things that I should  be thankful. I love and I am loved in return, by humans and my canine. I have a home, and even better, a home that I like and cherish. I am warm. I have a job and an income to cover my basic needs, and then some. I am healthy and no one in my life has a chronic or life-threatening health condition. I can go about my business without interference from law enforcement or government. This is the condensed version. The expanded version addresses the aspects of my life for which I am most thankful weekly, if not, daily. I am most thankful f...

I travel to Maine regularly since my step-daughter, Dorothy, is only about an hour away in southern Maine. For someone who commutes 90 minutes each way to work--through Boston--it is almost a treat to shoot up I-95 into Maine. Easy-peasy. But, every 3 months or so I plan a more extensive trip into Maine, north of Portland, to visit family and friends. I usually cram as many visits as possible into a single day. I'm someone who likes to be busy, so this works very well for me, and I like to think, for others as well. This past Sunday I made stops in Biddeford, Saco (that was for Reny's , I confess), Brunswick, Woolwich, and Topsham (where I got in another stop in at a Reny's) . I knocked off four visits with friends and family, made a drop-off at another friend's house, and hit two Reny's stores. It was a productive day! Here are some of my lessons learned and discoveries made on this quick trip back to my home state.  We've lived in Massachusetts for five ye...

I started this as a Facebook post a few days ago, but took it down and decided to write a full blog post. I've never been great at pitch -- my own or someone else's. Sharp? Flat? Adjust up, adjust down? Is it right now? No idea. It's a terrible thing for a child of two music teachers to admit. It's even worse for an oboist to admit, given that we give the tuning note for the ensemble. But, that's what tuners are for, right? Well, something hasn't been right with my pitch, or so I thought. I always leave my tuner on during rehearsals, but now I started keeping it on during my practice sessions. Sharp. Regardless of the reed, the weather...sharp on all notes above middle B.  I talked to Neil. Which reed? All reeds.  Which notes? Everything over B.   Well, you could have a crack.  A crack? Had I cracked Neil's beloved, old Laubin? I confessed to Neil that in a moment of weakness I had pulled out my reed 1 millimeter to get my pitch down during rehearsal...

I ran my 10th marathon (or marathon-plus) run this past weekend. There are so many good things that happen on the course that only the runners get to see. One of my favorite things that happens in marathons is the goodwill that is exhibited by spectators. It is present in every race, but it's message and form is always a little different. If you Google "marathon signs" and hit images  you'll see all kinds of funny and inspiring signs that spectators make for marathoners. Here are some of the messages I saw this past weekend. The last one is my favorite. RUN FASTER, I SMELL CHEESE. YOUR LEGS WILL FORGIVE YOU...EVENTUALLY! I HAVE A HERO AND HER NAME IS ME! CARPE DIEM ALL IT TAKES, IS ALL YOU GOT! Adults and children alike line up to cheer you on, slap your hand as you run by, and yell out your number, You can do it 306! Looking strong 306! You got this one!  Of course, when they yell it at mile 3, I'm usually thinking ...I had better be looking good at ...

Anyone who has read my blog posts before or who follows me on Facebook knows that I am a casual marathoner who has been suffering a bad streak of running injuries since 2011. I'm training for my 10th marathon (or marathon-plus) and using a coach, Leigh , at Athletes Treating Athletes , so that I don't injure myself this time. Having Leigh available in all forms of communication (cell, text, and email) in a heartbeat has been a dream for me. I get daily (sometimes twice daily) feedback, encouragement, and guidance. I have been on the brink of an injury a couple of times during this training cycle, but Leigh has kept me injury-free so far. The marathon is in 3 days, so I'm hoping that my opportunity to fully damage myself is limited.  I have had many different types of running injuries, but my body's injury of choice as of late is a stress fracture in the second or third metatarsal of my left foot. It's a miserable thing, in part because it takes a long time to hea...

The answer is no. Did you have experiences as a child that made you miserable at the time, but served you well in adulthood? I did. I went to Girl Scout camp for four years as a child, from ages 9-12. My sister also went to this same camp. As the older sister she went before I could attend and came home full of stories, camp songs, and plans for me to attend when I was older. She would greet us at the bottom of "killer hill"--tanned, happy, and healthy with huge bicep muscles from swinging her ax, building unit kitchens, and canoeing all over the camp's pond. She would sing camp songs throughout the school year and pine away for summer when she could return to residential camp. I couldn't wait  to go to summer camp, just like my sister. I went to camp, but unlike my sister, I was miserable. I cried every day. It was a little too rustic for me at the time--both in living style and in the expectations of the campers. No flush toilets, sleeping in platform tents, no ...

I've been tossing around the idea of a blog post about Hawaii for a few days. Trouble is, I'm not entirely sure of what I want to say. It was Hawaii. It was amazingly beautiful and amazingly expensive. I was knocked off my feet a few times while we were in Hawaii. I also had a few things confirmed about my traveling preferences. New experiences: 1. We have been to the State of Hawaii before -- specifically to the islands of Oahu and Maui. On this trip we also went to Oahu for my conference presentation and then The Island of Hawaii, dubbed as "The Big Island." This was new. 2. I have seen lava fields before in Arizona, Idaho, and even on our previous trip to Hawaii. I had not, however, seen such vast and endless lava fields before, and certainly not lava fields that literally stretch out to the ocean. I had also never seen such recent lava fields before. We walked through lava flows from the 1970s. It was amazing. Neil in the lava fields at Hawaii ...

Our recent trip to Hawaii for a conference, followed by vacation got in the way of me making my usual posts about the garden. That might be a good thing. I think that my readers and I might be tiring of these posts. Nevertheless, I'll continue with the series for the season and see how I feel next summer. Come to think of it, this is the last summer for my dahlia-obsession; in the spring 2014, I'll be planting two new perennial beds. Certainly, that will be worth documenting! Anyway, I digress, which I am wont to do. Back to our current gardens. The most recent transformations in the yard include sunflowers, the hibiscus plant and the rose of Sharon bushes -- all in full bloom. Also, Neil had a box of rocks - yes, you read that correctly - a box of rocks which has been sitting on our side porch for the better part of the season. It was filled with beautiful and special rocks. I removed them from the decaying box and placed them throughout the yard. Some look great; others loo...