NCAC 2008

This post is long overdue, since NCAC Conference was back in February. Better late than never!

This is the pool where the Conference meet is held. I believe it was in Canton?

On deck, ready to get in.

Warming up for the race!

The 100 Freestyle sprint

Napping between events

Margaret predicted a color change... here are the results! Don't worry, it's not permanent, and the fierce mohawk intimidated the competition. :P

Nothing in this sport is possible without the team! Me with my assistant coach and team captains. (note the bald head... most of the guys shave completely!)

The guys celebrating our results! 4th place is a big deal in our Conference, and we even beat our rival school Wooster.

All and all, we had a great season, with 90% of the team getting lifetime bests in one or more event. We got three swimmers to make B cuts, broke 4 pool records, and sent one of our guys to Nationals! I made lifetime bests in all three of my events: 50 free, 100 free, 200 free. I have had a great time, and will be continuing with my swimming career through college.

Harrison Highlights

Mary has accepted a position at the Cleveland Clinic on day shift. She works mostly a normal human schedule although her commute is an hour each way. She is on the tranplant team performing all of the tests necessary to insert organs from one human being to another. Her training at OSU impressed her new employer and now she is there.

David is in the wacky world of corporate buyouts. Yesterday the Associate Vice President who used to be over him visited his department and begged all the customer service representatives to come join him. Dave is no longer scrambling for a job. He has an interview for a Personal Lines Underwriter position on Tuesday so he might end up with some choices, but the good news is he has a job July 1.

Dave and Jane's Plymouth Voyager died Saturday of a broken transmission. At 204,000 we decided it wasn't worth a new transmission. Any leads on a good cheap car would be appreciated as we are scrambling for wheels.

Dave

Family Updates

Grace has been doing ballet lessons and loves it. They have a recital on Tuesday April 15th for anyone interested in coming. I am sure she would love to see you. (Please call for times and location).


Also, Grace's school has a Variety show every year. There were several acts and some very talented kids at her school. Obviously we have our faves..

More on foals

I'm talking baby horses...(colts and fillies)

Willow had a filly. It is her first born. She already has a name >>> Sugar! It's because she is so Sweet! Sorry for no picture but she is all legs, sort of pumpkin colored with a big white blaze on her face. She is fearless and curious.

blintzes on Mapleleaf

Scott, Christine, Olivia, and Christopher came for dinner tonight. We are worlds apart on culinary tastes but found common ground on breakfast (for dinner). I learned how to make a blintz. It's kind of like a crepe. Not bad...I'll do them again.

After dinner we all ended up in my den/orchid room. Scott was watching Xavier basketball in their gallant effort swan dive in the "elite eight." Christine liked it in there because it is warm...So it was very close, cozy, and fun. We watched basketball, chatted, and played with my new finger puppets from IKEA.

It took me a half hour to realize Christopher lost his beard.

IKEA

You can't miss it when you head up i-75...big as life. They opened about 10 days ago and since I was off work today, I decided to venture into the fray. It was busy! I was standing in the check-out line after 3 hours of browsing and a little girl behind me said "why is everything here Swedish?" I just smiled.

I didn't try the cafeteria or check out the childrens play room. I just shopped. I came a way with a catalogue and ideas and some future purchases to consider. I see some much needed closets and library shelves for this old house in my future. I only picked up a couple little things today. It should be high on anyone's list if you are looking to remodel or get new furnishings or improve your surroundings. Oh...and to mom and dad, they have 49 cent tiny stuffed toys for well-behaved children.

Margaret

Wildlife in our back yard.

This is a juvenile hawk on our back porch last summer.

Here you can see the color is coming back to the Goldfinches. Did this Cardinal use too much lipstick?

This little guy is either a Downy Woodpecker or
a Hairy Woodpecker. They're virtually identical except for size.

This is a Northern Flicker, never seen here before or since. We had to look it up to figure out what it was. We first thought it to be a woodpecker.

Its a boy - name contest

Not really a contest but Sandi is holding out for just the right name.

As you know, Olivia and I have been taking riding lessons since last June. For a long time, I was riding Sassy a 19 year old pregnant mare. Every week she got bigger and it was harder to tighten her girth (or find one big enough for her). I rode her up until she went on maternity leave a couple months ago, I had to get used to riding a skinny horse again.

It seemed like a long wait to meet him...but I can't imagine how mama felt being pregnant that long. Anyway...he's a beauty !!!
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He is very dark brown...almost black. He has a faint star on his forehead but is otherwise unmarked. Sandi is about my height so you can see how tall he is. He is all legs. He is less than a week old in this snap. Mama is compelety unconcerned about sharing her colt with visitors. He was born toothless but you can already see his teeth emerging at the gum line. His coat is so soft.

He still is un=named. Sandi loves hearing suggestions and she has gotten a bunch. Mama is named Sassy for a reason. All her foals have had punky attitudes. The front runners for names right now are "spindles" and "felix". He will have a more formal name for the show ring. Let me or Olivia know if you have a brainstorm.

pix 2 share

This is a picture from the Father Daughter Dance

This is the wall paper on our pc.

Just stuff to make you smile. : )

Lenten Rose - Hellebore

One of the coolest plants in my yard...Lenten Rose. It blooms in the time margin between winter and spring. It is evergreen...the leaves you see in the photos are from last year. It spreads by seed but is not invasive. One of its best attributes is the deer won't touch it. The leaves are thick, leathery and have a spiny edge. And it is one my favorite harbingers of spring.

After taking these photos, I cut off the old leaves, just leaving the flower stems. This gives a better flower display and in a few weeks, all new leaves will emerge.

Lenten Rose will thrive in shade to almost full sun. I'm told they don't like to be transplanted, but so far I haven't had any problem with it. The leaves fill in and can make a nice (tall) groundcover. An individual mature plant is 14-18" tall and 18-30" wide.

They come in a limited pallette of colors...whites, greens, pinks, and maroons. But sometimes they are spotted (my spotty ones haven't bloomed yet). They tend to hang their heads down so they aren't flashy.

These will be open soon.

A critter broke this one off. I will stick it in a vial and wear it to work tomorrow. It is a little more white than the photo shows, but it does have green tones. The specks are just dirt.

Hellebore flowers can be brought indoors as cut flowers. But because they hang their heads down, the best way to display them is to float the blossoms in a bowl of water like water lilies.

Dean, you have these by your front doorstep (at least you did before the new garage). Christine, you might have them too.

Under the snow

Just last week, we had about a foot of snow. Weren't the snaps of Grace, Sara, and Griffin great!!! No snowmen or kids at my house...just snow.



Spring officially rolls in Thursday this week but it has been creeping into my yard for the last several weeks. The birds are singing territory and courtship songs. The groundhog crawled out (believe it or not I saw him Feb 3, the day after groundhog day).

But the true sign of spring is when the flowers open. And omigosh there are still fall leaves on top of everything. Time to get busy.

Witchazel is a shrub. This one is fragrant but it has only been in the ground 1.5 years so it doesn't put out a lot of flowers yet. I have to get up close to it to enjoy the smell. I have another one that blooms sort of orange.


Snow drops...galanthus. Johnika has them in Sweden too.
This clump was here when I moved in. Amazing little clump in the middle of the yard way out in the back. I love these guys. They defy winter and they last and last. The squirrels have eaten most of the bulbs I tried to plant. I haven't given up. Just need to defend them better.

Mileposts again.

Brrrr.... Chilly day for a ride in the country. The high temperature for the day was upper thirties.

Milepost 357 between Springfield, OH and Urbana, OH.

This Milepost is just south of Loveland Ohio.

Technology is a wonderful thing, in the hands of somebody who knows what they're doing. Obviously not my hands. This was supposed to be with the following post "Mileposts R Us."

Mileposts R Us

We love to ride bike paths converted from abandoned railroads. Sometimes we see remnants of the former residents. We've developed a fondness for mileposts.

Surviving White Death 2008

So with the 'white death of 2008' we found ourselves all at home and playing in the snow.










...even Griffin!

If you watch TV at all, you will see that everything in the world is closed. Well just so you know, we at Britton Ave are all well and alive and open for business. If you venture out in the blizzard, feel free to stop by for some cocoa or maybe some chili.

Blue Ribbon Affair

The local orchid show this past weekend was fun. I helped out Friday and Saturday and I brought two plants in for our club display. Since we are the host club, we had a lot of plants and we set up two displays. I received a blue ribbon for the white "moth" orchid (phalaenopsis) which had 2 spikes, 19 flowers, and 4 buds to go. It only competed against other white moth orchids.


I received a second place for my orange-red "Blazing Treat." I had 2 spikes...I saw a relative of the cultivar that had maybe 20 spikes...


My friend Toni was awarded a blue ribbon and trophy for best of class for this beauty (at the top with the ribbon). the flowers were at least 5 inches across.

Visit from Jay's crew

Jay, Michelle, and crew came to Mapleleaf for dinner last week. We had a lot of fun and a great visit. As usual, Sara didn't want to have her picture taken (at least by me). I think she's just messing with me. Our family is so big...I think I like these smaller family dinner parties...it gives me a chance to catch up and visit more on a one on one. The girls had their jammies on when they left. It was late for them, dad said they were asleep before they got home (2-3 miles?).

New Look

Hi everybody! I haven't posted anything in a while, gotta make up for lost time!

I am doing well in college this semester. One of my New Years resolutions was to complete my homework BEFORE the day it is due, and I have been keeping up with that pretty well, despite my deeply entrenched procrastination habit. I have officially declared (ooh, scary!) and I am now a Psychology Sociology double major with an English minor. I think I may be overachieving just a little bit, but I feel confident that I can keep it together.

I am still going strong with swimming. The NCAA Conference meet is only a week away, and we are all getting prepared for that. It is the final meet of our season, sorta like a swim team Super Bowl. I am really excited to compete, and I am expecting to get at least one life time best from this meet.

And now for some really BIG news. This is something I haven't even disclosed to my parents yet, so surprise mom and dad! I cut my hair!

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Nyes, shocking isn't it? Incidentally, I have been wanting to cut my hair super short for over a year now. My inspiration comes from the movie V for Vendetta, when Natalie Portman gets a buzz cut. Also Stacy (I mean Kat...) when she came home a couple Christmases ago with a shaved head. Both times I thought they looked great, and really wanted to do it myself. However, I was talked out of it by everyone I mentioned it to. People really hated the idea, especially mom. So, I compromised by waiting a really long time, and by not completely shaving my head. A mohawk is a nice alternative. So far, despite everyone's pessimism on the idea beforehand, I have gotten nothing but good comments on it. I am really quite surprised how well all my friends have accepted it.

Well, that's me. At least for a few months until it grows back in a little bit.

Back seat driver.

Since we haven't posted in a while I just though I'd share a few comments I heard from a true stoker, you know the person who rides back seat on a tandem bicycle. After trading seats I heard, "Oh, I need to steer" as we were careening off the path. Recently she got a new bicycle to ride all by herself. This weeknd she commented "Oh, I have to put my feet down when I stop." She keeps me smiling and she's still my favorite stoker.

Father and Daughter

They call it a father and daughter dance...


a chance for fathers and daughters to have a date night of dancing and music and cookies and punch.....

to dress up nicely.....





















and then dance with their friends.

Long time no Blog.....

We really haven't fallen off the face of the web, we just haven't posted in a while. Here are a bunch of pix...........


a day at the library




proud as a......
He was funny. He was shaking his tail feathers to get the attention of the ladies.



Jay zilla!!!!!










I built a drawer under my steps. Think of it as a new home for gloves and hats.
eventually it will get some paint, probably when we don't need hat and gloves for a while.

OK that's a start. Happy posting!

better late than aldrig

Better late than never. This was early September. Jake had been riding his bike about a week. I think I tried to post it once but kept getting shut down.

Fun Friday evening and bearded Thursday

One of my goals for this year is to visit with my family members on a one to one basis over appetizers and meal. Tonight I was happy to have Robin, Molly and Sydney over for dinner. Johnika was there too in a flat stanley sort of way. They didn't eat much...they didn't even come to the table now that I think about it.

Robin doesn't have good internet access so she spent some time after dinner catching up on the Sweden blog. She went from current back to the move from ohio...mostly viewing the pictures. She confirmed what I've been thinking...those boys are growing up.



Christopher dropped by last night...I haven't seen him for a couple weeks. I was surprised. He hasn't shaved for a while. Reminds me of the bearded brothers snap from the late 70's. At least Chris isn't shaggy. He keeps it trimmed for the office...he's a professional after all.

Winks

What a nice photo for the holidays from Aunt RuthAnn and cousins Paul, John, and Charlie.

fyi

The video option for the blog works a lot better now. When we first tried it it would shut down many times before finishing your upload, if you stuck it out that far. I tried it again recently and had no problems. For what it's worth. Sure would love to see more old timers on here. Heck, even the young bucks know how to blog, right? Show us how it's done. : )