welcome to the heat and humidity of virginia. was up at 3:30am but did some inside stuff waiting for the sun to come up and went to the track at 6:05am. my morning pulse was 51 and that was not good, but it shows what some jet lag and less sleep will do for you. was 85 degrees according to the tv people. the track had 4 walkers already when we got there. i did a short warmup and ran my 15 x 200 workout with an easy 200 jog recovery that morphed into a jog and walk later in the workout as the humidity went up and the quads were tightening. never did get tired but quads did get tight.
the times started slow enough but decent and then went faster. some of my best in a while and i felt ok about that, but need to find a way to keep from getting that tight. gail did her own 200's and then we warmed down together. we hit the bakery and safeway on the way home and had a decent but quick breakfast. she went off to get her car inspected and i stayed home to deal with the bills and dr appts and maintenance appts and 2 months worth of mail and then finally to cut 2 months worth of grass as it started to rain just a bit and then was done. just enough to not help cutting the tall grass. btw- it was $14+ just to fill up the gas cans for the mower. bet people cu8t their grass less often.
anyway- lost 3.5 pounds of water cutting and weeding. then worked inside for awhile again and started to sort out what looks like a 4 person college dorm apt. as we have stuff everywhere. major problem in not being able to use the basement or family room yet. hope to work on that tomorrow and get someone out here to help rip it all out and deal with the flood damage. fun ahead there.
gail did get her car past inspection for only $218 + which included two new tires. for a 16 year old car with a zillion miles on it that wasn't too bad. the new car wouldn't start at all, not a sound and they will come get it on tuesday. tomorrow i will also look into the broken windshield on my own car or the two broken doors or the leaking skylight or the broken shower -- enough i know.
anyway, gail is still dealing with jet lag which i didn't feel at all. maybe just staying up for 4 days is the new way to deal with it. am tired but mostly from working outside in all of that heat and humidity and tomorrow will be hotter.
today after dinner i went out back and hit 200 chips and pitches and then weeded some more just to relax. then hit 250 putts. not one golf swing in two days. doesn't help my golf game but not too frustrating at all.
went through all 2 months of mail and am done with that. finished 12 things of the 55 on my list. will get some more done tomorrow. little by little the list will be dealt with and life is going on. gail misses the UK but i am too busy really to think about it right now. for me it is all about the people though i will miss running there. it was way more like being on vacation than being home will be but there is lots more to do here and everything is so much cheaper though not cheap. paid $4.09 for gas today. a joke as exxon reports record profits. they will not get anymore of my money. bp and shell did also. seemed like everyone passed on the gas hike plus their own gouge. what a joke! but i will leave my ranting for another day as the shower beckons and maybe tonight i can get some sleep. no screaming cat around at least.
i have lots more to say but it will wait. into august tomorrow. no more counting down right now. maybe a new count should be until social security. need to look into that next week. 210 days to i am eligible. how's that?
back tomorrow when i am more awake.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
back in the usa
more like a group email than a blog i just wanted everyone to know we got home tonight. no run today and after 3 hours of sleep and a cheating taxi company we made it to the airplane and had an uneventful ride home until less than an hour to go we hit turbulence and the plane fell suddenly maybe 100 feet- a pure guess on my part. i know it caught everyone by surprise and many people threw up into their "bags" and the kids all cried. when we landed many people clapped and cheered, a slight over reaction i thought at the time.
home to a lawn from the amazon and a dusty enough house and the basement still not recovered from the flood we had last time i was home and lots of mail. in a pinch we ordered in pizza- something we have never done while living here in almost 10 years, and then unpacked somewhat and did some house junk and now after being up for over 22 hours i am going to try and close down and get an early start tomorrow.
more than everyone. i owe many thanks to many people for their acts of kindness the pass few days and beyond. i will catch up.
home to a lawn from the amazon and a dusty enough house and the basement still not recovered from the flood we had last time i was home and lots of mail. in a pinch we ordered in pizza- something we have never done while living here in almost 10 years, and then unpacked somewhat and did some house junk and now after being up for over 22 hours i am going to try and close down and get an early start tomorrow.
more than everyone. i owe many thanks to many people for their acts of kindness the pass few days and beyond. i will catch up.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
just the wakeup to go now / 2986 miles
no real time to do this so i will be quick. more packing up and cleaning up to go. we ran 5 miles this morning before dealing with the bank and post office and book movers. the post office wanted $150 to leave a forwarding address. skipped that made a deal with a friend to take care of it for us in exchange for some goodies we left behind. sold one bike and gave the other one to a friend who gave us cheesecake which we just ate as dessert to wash down our burritos. nice trade. and then most of the rest of the day went to doing what we all know we have to do when we move basically- add in some golf range stuff, saying good bye to friends and packing. i made that sound so simple but it involved many bus rides and lots of walking back and forth to town but it is mostly done. had the good fortune to deal with the nicest people today and that helped a lot. still more to do and away i go.
will get into it more after we get home. taxi comes in 8 hours and we are still tossing stuff out and packing. a good year mostly, but the best part has been the people we met. hopefully we will stay in touch. when you get older you start to realize the relative unimportance of stuff and the importance of the people you come to know and like. the people give you energy and substance. the stuff provides some memories maybe. was it hard throwing away some things? yea a little, but it got easier as i went. the old race shirts were just that - old shirts full of yesterday's memories and it is time for new ones. the only shirt i regretted throwing away was the presque isle 12 race shirt but the washing machine had killed it off anyway. and i will do the race again this fall so i will get another.
and yet this is the point i tried to make. this year i will run in rick's memory as he is no longer with us. the cancer we both had finally ended his battle and as my own continues i will treasure this year's shirt as part of his memory. 53 year olds are not supposed to die and yet i know they do. i will be pressed to not turn my little blogging diary into a runner's memorial and i will try. and i was thinking that this year i would re-kindle the old tabbo 6 hour runs as part of the memories of frank and john and steve and andy- has been awhile since i have run 6 hours and no doubt i cannot run 45 miles in that time anymore. the longest run here i think was 3:45minutes. with stops that was probably 20 miles. my best 20 mile time was 2:17as i recall. oh well-
anyway- life is good. we will go home and get back in the swing of things. this may be the year we finally get the inner drive golf club off of the ground. will i get the old job of golf secretary back/ will hilltop have saved my place as the monday starter? am i still on the handicap committee? how fast can i run 5k? will i finally run the 60 miles to harper's ferry again? all ahead ---
but first the car needs a new windshield and we need to deal with the flooded out basement and we have trips to ireland and france again soon and cincinnati and erie and va beach and philly and caps games and the harrisburg run.
hope some of this made sense but i have to go.- a younger dumber larry would have not ever let this year end at 2986 miles. i have seen a lot of oxford over and over, a beautiful place to run. it is good to have stopped short; shows the compulsive part of me is growing up. now for the rest of me to catch up.
next time from the USA- if they let us in.
memory jogger to self- builth, wales and leith, scotland
will get into it more after we get home. taxi comes in 8 hours and we are still tossing stuff out and packing. a good year mostly, but the best part has been the people we met. hopefully we will stay in touch. when you get older you start to realize the relative unimportance of stuff and the importance of the people you come to know and like. the people give you energy and substance. the stuff provides some memories maybe. was it hard throwing away some things? yea a little, but it got easier as i went. the old race shirts were just that - old shirts full of yesterday's memories and it is time for new ones. the only shirt i regretted throwing away was the presque isle 12 race shirt but the washing machine had killed it off anyway. and i will do the race again this fall so i will get another.
and yet this is the point i tried to make. this year i will run in rick's memory as he is no longer with us. the cancer we both had finally ended his battle and as my own continues i will treasure this year's shirt as part of his memory. 53 year olds are not supposed to die and yet i know they do. i will be pressed to not turn my little blogging diary into a runner's memorial and i will try. and i was thinking that this year i would re-kindle the old tabbo 6 hour runs as part of the memories of frank and john and steve and andy- has been awhile since i have run 6 hours and no doubt i cannot run 45 miles in that time anymore. the longest run here i think was 3:45minutes. with stops that was probably 20 miles. my best 20 mile time was 2:17as i recall. oh well-
anyway- life is good. we will go home and get back in the swing of things. this may be the year we finally get the inner drive golf club off of the ground. will i get the old job of golf secretary back/ will hilltop have saved my place as the monday starter? am i still on the handicap committee? how fast can i run 5k? will i finally run the 60 miles to harper's ferry again? all ahead ---
but first the car needs a new windshield and we need to deal with the flooded out basement and we have trips to ireland and france again soon and cincinnati and erie and va beach and philly and caps games and the harrisburg run.
hope some of this made sense but i have to go.- a younger dumber larry would have not ever let this year end at 2986 miles. i have seen a lot of oxford over and over, a beautiful place to run. it is good to have stopped short; shows the compulsive part of me is growing up. now for the rest of me to catch up.
next time from the USA- if they let us in.
memory jogger to self- builth, wales and leith, scotland
Monday, July 28, 2008
a gnarls barkley sort of day and 2981 miles done
and the finish line is in sight, but the weight of so much to do seems to be holding me back, though in this race the clock keeps going and the taxi will be here at 6:30am on wed. ready or not.
a crazy day for sure as i got up to run with a morning heart rate of 47 and out the door i went and down towards north hinksey village, but not quite that far and did the bike path back and forth and then over to the fake track. stretched and then ran 23 x 100. odd number but that is where i felt my form start to give way so to be careful i just called it a day and jogged two miles home. after a very sluggish and tight start when i couldn't stride out very well at all, the legs started to loosen up and the last 14 went really well. never had so much trouble getting going, but it was ok and i knew i didn't feel tired so i would come around.
then a hurried up morning as we went off to the "box" place and bought some boxes to mail home more books and then missed three buses on our attempt to go up to mailboxes etc. to find out about mailing some pictures home after we had dropped off gail's work at her school. then gail went back to school and i headed back to town to run errands and go the bank and arrange withdrawals and deposits to pay for everything. BUT!!!!!! every ATM machine in the UK was down as something was going on in london and nobody could get money out for several hours so i will need to try again tomorrow. i did wait for an hour or so and never did do my errands as i had to get back to pick up the boxes. seems like a lot of time wasted and it was. decided to hit a bucket of balls and they gave me a going away bucket present which was really nice of them. but i was terrible and finished with some chipping to not feel so bad and went home.
and back to packing and throwing away stuff. a couple of hours of that and cleaning up the house and trying to get it back to where it was when we came - meaning getting rid of most of what we bought. put some more stuff out front with my FREE sign and everything went but one nice coat. funny. then had to get ready for tomorrow and then we decided to take a walk as it is a zillion degrees in the house. was pleasant enough outside and the thames was very pretty as darkness descended on the water and the sky reflected the blue, black and some yellow of the coming storm.
can hear the thunder now and see flashes and the rain has finally started so maybe it will cool down some. "listen to your heart" says roxette as i type. not a good thing to tell me right now.
anyway- many, many things didn't seem to go right today but somehow we made it to now and have one more day to finish up. going away meeting at the driving range tomorrow and then they come to get the bike and then i walk the other one over to sell it. and then the box man comes to get the boxes. and then the books go at 3pm or so. etc, etc,,,,,,,
and then the $180 taxi ride to the airport. and home. that's the plan. will reflect on it all after we get back. will miss some of it and not miss some of it. would take the weather home with me if i could, rain and all. and some of the people and some of the food. more later. would we do it again? gail would i know. would i? not the same way we did it this time. the only time i have not hated living in this house was the time beth was here. but i digress....
one day and a wakeup- hope everyone reading this is sitting in air conditioning. this is much closer to a camac sauna.
moved on to Heart singing "alone". and bonnie tyler is on deck.
peace!
afterthought- this info came from the you tube page of horaciocambeiro info page-
All I Wanna Do Is Make Love to You" is a song recorded by American rock band Heart. It was composed by veteran songwriter and producer Robert John "Mutt" Lange ( i add shania twain's future husband at the time) and released as the first single from the band's tenth studio album Brigade.
The song is a mid-tempo pop/rock number which caused a minor controversy because of its lyrics. In the track, singer Ann Wilson sings of a one-night stand with a man, only to reveal later in the song that her intent all along was to use the encounter as a reason to become pregnant. The lyrics explain later, when Wilson reunites with the one-time lover, that her child is the result of their tryst and she did it only because the man she really loves is not able to give her children.
Regardless of the controversy, "All I Wanna Do Is Make Love to You" was a success, spending two weeks at number two on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number eight in the UK Singles Chart, and reaching #1 in Canada and Australia. It was also nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Group Pop Vocal Performance, and is the only one of Heart's singles to have been certified Gold by the RIAA. On the Adult Contemporary chart, the song climbed to number six, becoming the third of Heart's four top-ten AC hits (after "These Dreams" and "Alone").
In the liner notes of Heart's album The Road Home, Ann Wilson commented on the band's dislike for the song, stating, "Actually we had sworn it off because it kind of stood for everything we wanted to get away from. It was a song by 'Mutt' Lange, who we liked, and it was originally written for Don Henley. But there was a lot of pressure on us to do the song at the time."
The single was Heart's last pop chart top ten hit. The band had one more top ten AC hit afterward, with the follow-up, "Stranded"; "Stranded" and 1994's "Will You Be There (In The Morning)" were also top 10 Album Rock hits.
a crazy day for sure as i got up to run with a morning heart rate of 47 and out the door i went and down towards north hinksey village, but not quite that far and did the bike path back and forth and then over to the fake track. stretched and then ran 23 x 100. odd number but that is where i felt my form start to give way so to be careful i just called it a day and jogged two miles home. after a very sluggish and tight start when i couldn't stride out very well at all, the legs started to loosen up and the last 14 went really well. never had so much trouble getting going, but it was ok and i knew i didn't feel tired so i would come around.
then a hurried up morning as we went off to the "box" place and bought some boxes to mail home more books and then missed three buses on our attempt to go up to mailboxes etc. to find out about mailing some pictures home after we had dropped off gail's work at her school. then gail went back to school and i headed back to town to run errands and go the bank and arrange withdrawals and deposits to pay for everything. BUT!!!!!! every ATM machine in the UK was down as something was going on in london and nobody could get money out for several hours so i will need to try again tomorrow. i did wait for an hour or so and never did do my errands as i had to get back to pick up the boxes. seems like a lot of time wasted and it was. decided to hit a bucket of balls and they gave me a going away bucket present which was really nice of them. but i was terrible and finished with some chipping to not feel so bad and went home.
and back to packing and throwing away stuff. a couple of hours of that and cleaning up the house and trying to get it back to where it was when we came - meaning getting rid of most of what we bought. put some more stuff out front with my FREE sign and everything went but one nice coat. funny. then had to get ready for tomorrow and then we decided to take a walk as it is a zillion degrees in the house. was pleasant enough outside and the thames was very pretty as darkness descended on the water and the sky reflected the blue, black and some yellow of the coming storm.
can hear the thunder now and see flashes and the rain has finally started so maybe it will cool down some. "listen to your heart" says roxette as i type. not a good thing to tell me right now.
anyway- many, many things didn't seem to go right today but somehow we made it to now and have one more day to finish up. going away meeting at the driving range tomorrow and then they come to get the bike and then i walk the other one over to sell it. and then the box man comes to get the boxes. and then the books go at 3pm or so. etc, etc,,,,,,,
and then the $180 taxi ride to the airport. and home. that's the plan. will reflect on it all after we get back. will miss some of it and not miss some of it. would take the weather home with me if i could, rain and all. and some of the people and some of the food. more later. would we do it again? gail would i know. would i? not the same way we did it this time. the only time i have not hated living in this house was the time beth was here. but i digress....
one day and a wakeup- hope everyone reading this is sitting in air conditioning. this is much closer to a camac sauna.
moved on to Heart singing "alone". and bonnie tyler is on deck.
peace!
afterthought- this info came from the you tube page of horaciocambeiro info page-
All I Wanna Do Is Make Love to You" is a song recorded by American rock band Heart. It was composed by veteran songwriter and producer Robert John "Mutt" Lange ( i add shania twain's future husband at the time) and released as the first single from the band's tenth studio album Brigade.
The song is a mid-tempo pop/rock number which caused a minor controversy because of its lyrics. In the track, singer Ann Wilson sings of a one-night stand with a man, only to reveal later in the song that her intent all along was to use the encounter as a reason to become pregnant. The lyrics explain later, when Wilson reunites with the one-time lover, that her child is the result of their tryst and she did it only because the man she really loves is not able to give her children.
Regardless of the controversy, "All I Wanna Do Is Make Love to You" was a success, spending two weeks at number two on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number eight in the UK Singles Chart, and reaching #1 in Canada and Australia. It was also nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Group Pop Vocal Performance, and is the only one of Heart's singles to have been certified Gold by the RIAA. On the Adult Contemporary chart, the song climbed to number six, becoming the third of Heart's four top-ten AC hits (after "These Dreams" and "Alone").
In the liner notes of Heart's album The Road Home, Ann Wilson commented on the band's dislike for the song, stating, "Actually we had sworn it off because it kind of stood for everything we wanted to get away from. It was a song by 'Mutt' Lange, who we liked, and it was originally written for Don Henley. But there was a lot of pressure on us to do the song at the time."
The single was Heart's last pop chart top ten hit. The band had one more top ten AC hit afterward, with the follow-up, "Stranded"; "Stranded" and 1994's "Will You Be There (In The Morning)" were also top 10 Album Rock hits.
Sunday, July 27, 2008
run, pack, golf, and , mozart
busy, busy day here in the heat, 2nd hottest day of the year at 82 and i know that doesn't sound bad by virginia standards, but in very closed houses with no air conditioning it is not pretty. more on it later-
out to run early sunday morning and it was warmer than it has been lately for sure. we ran north and headed up towards the old nunnery. but we ran into my friend lorraine out sitting on here moored boat trying to turn herself into the tanned goddess of oxford and somewhat succeeding. we took a minute to catch up and arrange to stop by for a drink on the way back. then we headed north again. running was ok as long as we kept it slow enough and about a mile or so north we turned back south. lots to do today and only so much time to run. down the thames we ran for almost the last time.
ran into a woman walking to london and we chatted a bit while i jogged next to her for a minute. she has been averaging 12-17 miles a day. says she was over 50, but in her heart she is 27- good attitude. said goodbye and caught back up to gail and then we did stop at Lorraine's boat for that drink, which was pretty good at this point. made arrangements to meet on tuesday afternoon to exchange books and give her one of our bikes as her trusting sole had her's stolen recently.
then we went headed back down the river past the grazing horse and cows and ducks and geese on the river. this would be our last run on this part of the trail as they will start working on it again tomorrow. but it was pretty out despite the heat and the drink helped get us through. down to the swan bridge and over and headed back towards home. caught back up to the london bound walker, a sweet lady, and she headed down towards abingdon and we headed back towards botley. and eventually we stopped at the store and headed home.
a quick breakfast and then we started in throwing things away and putting things out for FREE for anyone who would take them and packing and doing laundry, etc. a few hours of this in the very warm house despite the fans and i was ready for a break and headed up to the range to hit some balls and say so long to mark for now. went ok as i am hitting the good ones better than ever, but missing more often both left and right and you cannot play golf missing in both directions. will keep working on it but frankly i have too much to do to worry about it right now. more important is how will we send all of the books and pictures home?
and back home - to pack some more, make a few quick phone calls and grab some dinner and then head off to the jack gibbons "mozart" concert at the holywell music room, a great venue to hear a concert and jack g. is more than terrific. he was great! and with 225 other people we sat and listened and it was also very warm in the building, which like most buildings here is not air conditioned. very, very warm---but everyone but a few came back after intermission and he played a couple of encores, including a chopin which woke up everyone. just great. and then we walked the almost two miles home and suddenly it was 11pm. still, more to do as they collect refuse tomorrow, every other week whether we need it or not and this is our last shot so we did that and that brought me to the blog and now it is time to pack up some more. running out of time to wrap up everything and gail has to go to school tomorrow and we need to go to the shipper's also. all good and who needs sleep anyway.
someone took everything we put out except one nice coat that would be perfect for here and we will try it again tomorrow. bet it goes.
and off i go. 2974 miles done this year. two more runs to do i hope. we threw out several pairs of running shoes today and will throw out the rest after tuesday. a new wind is blowing and i am anxious to see how it goes. time will tell.
out to run early sunday morning and it was warmer than it has been lately for sure. we ran north and headed up towards the old nunnery. but we ran into my friend lorraine out sitting on here moored boat trying to turn herself into the tanned goddess of oxford and somewhat succeeding. we took a minute to catch up and arrange to stop by for a drink on the way back. then we headed north again. running was ok as long as we kept it slow enough and about a mile or so north we turned back south. lots to do today and only so much time to run. down the thames we ran for almost the last time.
ran into a woman walking to london and we chatted a bit while i jogged next to her for a minute. she has been averaging 12-17 miles a day. says she was over 50, but in her heart she is 27- good attitude. said goodbye and caught back up to gail and then we did stop at Lorraine's boat for that drink, which was pretty good at this point. made arrangements to meet on tuesday afternoon to exchange books and give her one of our bikes as her trusting sole had her's stolen recently.
then we went headed back down the river past the grazing horse and cows and ducks and geese on the river. this would be our last run on this part of the trail as they will start working on it again tomorrow. but it was pretty out despite the heat and the drink helped get us through. down to the swan bridge and over and headed back towards home. caught back up to the london bound walker, a sweet lady, and she headed down towards abingdon and we headed back towards botley. and eventually we stopped at the store and headed home.
a quick breakfast and then we started in throwing things away and putting things out for FREE for anyone who would take them and packing and doing laundry, etc. a few hours of this in the very warm house despite the fans and i was ready for a break and headed up to the range to hit some balls and say so long to mark for now. went ok as i am hitting the good ones better than ever, but missing more often both left and right and you cannot play golf missing in both directions. will keep working on it but frankly i have too much to do to worry about it right now. more important is how will we send all of the books and pictures home?
and back home - to pack some more, make a few quick phone calls and grab some dinner and then head off to the jack gibbons "mozart" concert at the holywell music room, a great venue to hear a concert and jack g. is more than terrific. he was great! and with 225 other people we sat and listened and it was also very warm in the building, which like most buildings here is not air conditioned. very, very warm---but everyone but a few came back after intermission and he played a couple of encores, including a chopin which woke up everyone. just great. and then we walked the almost two miles home and suddenly it was 11pm. still, more to do as they collect refuse tomorrow, every other week whether we need it or not and this is our last shot so we did that and that brought me to the blog and now it is time to pack up some more. running out of time to wrap up everything and gail has to go to school tomorrow and we need to go to the shipper's also. all good and who needs sleep anyway.
someone took everything we put out except one nice coat that would be perfect for here and we will try it again tomorrow. bet it goes.
and off i go. 2974 miles done this year. two more runs to do i hope. we threw out several pairs of running shoes today and will throw out the rest after tuesday. a new wind is blowing and i am anxious to see how it goes. time will tell.
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