Day 639: Note from Alexandra

What a delight!  

When we were in New Mexico this spring, we got our great niece Alexandra a cute little stuffed painted pony for her birthday on Sept. 2.   During their summer visit, she decided to call us Grandma and Grandpa, even though she has two sets of grandparents.  She also calls her Aunt Mary grandma.  Hearing grandma and grandpa melted our hearts and the names were certainly a great improvement over calling us Uncle Steve and Uncle Sue.   

Day 638: iPhoto repaired!

Evan spent three hours working to restore iPhoto tonight.  I loved it cause we were able to visit the whole time.  Just by emptying the iPhoto trash, he was able to free up lots of space. Tomorrow I will upload yesterday's photos and go on with the blog.

We drove to Warren to have dinner with my brother Mike and his wife Nancy.  We got a tour of their new travel trailer that they plan to take to Florida for the winter.  That kind of life holds little appeal for us even though winter has lost its luster.   We would much prefer to visit many different places rather than return to the same one each year.

Day 637: Arkwright Rambling

I took great photos today of our walk through Arkwright.  Along trails and truck roads, to the ponds and creeks.  Of cows and wildflowers, thistle and wine-colored leaves, graceful branches laden with bright gold leaves against the deep blue sky.

But you won't see them because iphoto crashed and locked up again.  Until my son rescues me and I can delete a couple thousand photos, I won't be posting any pictures for a while.

Sept. 30:  It took three hours, but Evan repaired my iPhoto!

Day 636: Fall delights

Pink Zinnia

Plastic bag man resting on a bench at Houghton Hall

The average American consumes 500 plastic bags per year.  

How many bags are you made of?

One of the most beautiful maple trees in the village is on Lambert Ave.

Look who we encountered at the college!

Shane, one of the happiest college students we know!

The birdbath garden all trimmed and weeded.

Day 635: Fall gardens

It's time to be over the jet lag.  Time to get back to being productive!  I have been cutting all the lilies back and weeding the gardens.  So many weed seeds!  We also walked about four miles, through the college, around Ring Rd. and back home.  We had to see the construction of the new town house complex near the track.  It's gigantic!  It appears to be five or six units that have angled roofs, perhaps for solar panels.  They've made rapid progress.

The new townhouse dormitories

We also went to a full staff meeting for the musical. Before we know it, the season will be underway.  

Day 634: Fountain in autumn

Sleeping in, a long walk in the autumn sunshine and yard work has renewed my strength and focus. Plus, my ears finally popped.  I think half my hearing has been blocked for the last five days. 

My entry for our day in Tallinn is now completed.  

Day 633: Early milkweed

Maybe tomorrow we will feel in sync with the world and I will actually feel like writing again.  Gradually we are recovering from the jet lag and sleeping a little later each day.  I am hoping to hit 7 am tomorrow.  

Shadows of snow fence at the college

Day 632: Asters

Purple Asters

Day 631: Evan saves the day!

My iphoto application crashed last night and I thought I might have to buy a new computer.  All my files are always backed up, but the whole file was locked.  It turns out that I had used up all the storage capacity for video, photos and data.  Fortunately, my brilliant son Evan was ready and able to fix the problems.  Having remote access to my keyboard, he scanned and deleted and emptied trash until he cleared away enough files to release the hold on iPhoto.

Now I can resume my work on editing photos, the blog, the Quest video and my book!  It will still take many days to get caught up on the blog for the eleven days we were gone, but now it's possible.  I added photos on Berlin that you won't want to miss.

Day 630: Record rain

Day 629: Ten thousand miles!

Day 628: Disembarking in Copenhagen

Day 627: Day at sea

Day 626: Stockholm

Day 625: Helsinki

Day 624: St. Petersburg canal ride

Day 623: St. Petersburg and the Hermitage

Day 622: Tallinn

We had booked a walking tour of the Old City of Tallinn which dates back to the 12th century.  Our guide shared the sad stories of frequent wars, invasions and conquests over Estonia's long history.  Swedes, Danes, Russians, Nazis and Soviets controlled them for long periods with only brief interludes of independence.  The worst was Stalin.  In 1940 and 1949 the people of Estonia were subjected to arrests, murders and deportations to Siberia.  The men were sent to labor camps while the women and children were settled into Siberian towns along with many exiles of many other nationalities.  Thousands perished and most who survived never were able to return to their homeland.  The anniversary of their independence from the Soviet Union is a day for rejoicing!

View of the city of Tallinn

This young man acted as the city's ambassador.  In the center of the old city,  he answered questions, entertained and distributed free bottles of water to thousands of visitors.  

A collection of bells in one of the old churches

A unique rain gutter

The ship's security forces waiting for two missing passengers.   Over the PA system, security called repeatedly for them to contact someone if they happened to be onboard.  Everyone had an ID card that we had to swipe each time we left and returned to the ship.   They kept the gangway down until the very last minute and then the ship departed.  We never did find out what happened to them.  

At least four cruise ships spilled thousands of tourists into Tallinn on Friday.  It's a city of 435,000 with only 1.3 million in the whole country, but they get over 2 million visitors each year.  

Day 621: At sea

We spent a lovely day at sea, walking the decks and swimming in the warm salt water pool.   I was able to swim 26 lengths of a 40 foot pool, angling and dodging around the other swimmers until they finally gave up and let me have the pool.  My solitude only lasted a few minutes though, because I sliced my finger on a broken tile.

Our table in the Versailles restaurant provided us with a view of the setting sun and the Baltic's busy shipping lanes.  

Day 620: Berlin

The Holocaust Memorial

Berlin is a city with a high water table, so whenever construction takes place engineers must pump it our and transport it away.   Pipes of all colors crisscross the city against a backdrop of cranes. 

The Reichstag

Steve and the Wall

Street art

Street art

Day 619: Norwegian Star

The Norwegian Star

Day 618: BUF>JFK>KFL>CPH

It's going to take several days to get caught up on the blog.  All 687 of my photos are downloaded, but not edited.  Steve's photos refused to download so we may have lost them.  I will post the date and title for each day and then add the photos gradually.

As we look back at the last twelve days, it seems impossible that we could have traveled so far and seen so much!  It was a great trip, but not our favorite.  As with every travel experience, we do an analysis at the end and write down what we learned.  Those lessons will be revealed on Sept. 20's entry.

Day 617: Goldenrod

The pollen count has been ferocious and I have endured terrible allergy attacks this season.  We have two air cleaners operating in our bedroom now so that I can get through a night without sneezing and coughing spells.  I hope fall brings relief, even though I don't want summer to be over.

I finally finished all the trip preparations at 10:45.  Crazy, but now we can relax and enjoy our adventures!  

Day 616: Packing, packing

Verbena after the rain

White petunia after the rain

How on earth did we manage to prepare for a foreign trip when I was still teaching at the HS and the college and directing the entire trip for 20-40 people?  Of course, then EF made all the travel arrangements.  We organized and directed the kids, lined up buses to the airport, made phone trees, held parent meetings, checked luggage and resolved all sorts of last minute crises. Amy and I were partners and split the tasks.  At home, I threw a few things in a suitcase at the last minute and that was it.  

Now, it's just the two of us and we have spent whole days working to get the house in order, make all the travel connection arrangements, prepare our clothes, shop and pack.  

No swimming today and tomorrow looks highly unlikely.  I will miss my pool, especially since the temperatures are going back into the 80s.  But, we are going to visit six countries, three of them new to us, including Russia!  It's incredibly cool.  

Day 615: Pied Piper

On Fridays during cross-country season, the varsity and modified teams meet up in the cemetery for interval work.  The modified team runs down from the Middle School, then exercises and runs loops through the winding paths between grave markers.  Once the varsity arrives after their workout, the teams pair up and run down Lambert and into the park en masse!  It's quite a sight to see sixty or eighty kids of all sizes and shapes running together.  Coach Mark runs at the head of the column while Modified Coaches Megan and Laurie bring up the rear .  Each older student pairs up with a MS student to do a little dance around the fountain.  Today four tied shirts around their necks and flew like supermen.    We laughed and laughed as they clowned around.

Coach Mark, the Pied Piper

Even though the water was down to 70 degrees and the air temperature this morning was 46, I was able to swim 150 lengths!  That's a total of 62.88 miles.  A reasonable goal for this season is 64 miles since we are leaving on Monday.  That means 240 lengths between Saturday and Sunday.  Next week the temperatures are going to be above normal, but we will be in Europe!  I won't be able to add photos cause I am not taking my computer, but I should be able to write the blog on Steve's iPad if we purchase internet time.  Maybe we will or maybe we won't.  After all, this should be a great adventure!

A late lily in a garden at the college

Day 614: Fallopia Japonica

Fallopia Japonica

Walking into Russell Joy Park, we were hit by the super sweet smell of American bamboo.  An invasive species, it's growing all along the creek in huge swaths.  It spreads rapidly and is very difficult to eradicate.  Despite that, the flowers are graceful and lovely.

Today is our son Justin's 37th birthday.  We wish him much love in the coming year.  We texted, facebooked and called twice, but never actually spoke.  It's a good thing we celebrated last week when we were in the city.  

Day 613: Miniatures

On Maple Avenue, a couple has fashioned a charming garden filled with succulents, perennials, and stone formations.   Miniatures are tucked into little alcoves, hollowed out logs and hidden among the flowers. While I was taking pictures, they came outside and said they were trying to provide entertainment for the children in the neighborhood.  They stop by and study the garden hoping to discover a new hidden treasure.   Some neighbors have anonymously contributed to the collection by sneaking new items into the garden.  I love the way the design has provided opportunity for interaction.

Day 612: Last lily

Coleus

the last lily

Mums

Diana Nyad is my new heroine!  Yesterday, she completed the 110 mile swim from Cuba to Florida.  It took me the whole summer to swim 60 miles and she completed this extraordinary journey in 53 hours! She is very modest and as she came ashore, she delivered three messages to the audience.  First, never, ever give up!   Second, you are never too old to pursue her dreams.  And, although it may look like a solitary sport, her swim was a team effort.  

Her support team of 35 people were with her the entire distance.  Divers swam ahead and shooed away the jelly fish, others monitored her health and provided food and fluids.  To avoid the jelly fish stings that finished her last effort, she wore a molded mask.  

When interviewed today, she asserted that 64 is the prime of her life.  That's how I feel.  Sixty four does not feel old, despite aches and pains.

When we got up this morning, I heard kids laughing and talking outside.  What's going on?  The kids across the street were waiting for the bus to NCCS.  School started today for many schools and I didn't even realize it.  This is the sixth September that I will not be returning to the high school.  Every year it's been a little less painful.  On Monday we will depart for an amazing trip through the Baltics that would not have been possible when we were still teaching.  But still.... The job has changed significantly since I left with APPRs and common core standards and all sorts of other obligations.  But, the essence of it, the irreplaceable interactions with kids, the sharing of knowledge, the growth and excitement, the art and craft of teaching, that hasn't changed.  And that's what I miss so much.

Day 611: Labor Day

No swimming today.  A huge front moved through the area with high winds, heavy rain and hail.  Hail covered the ground in Chautauqua and Lakewood got hit hard.  The storm skimmed by Fredonia.  The Cooler air has refreshed and energized us.  Instead of swimming, I baked and cooked for a final summer picnic for our little family, Steve and me, Steve's sister Mary and my brother Steve.  Pulled pork, peach pie, fresh vegetables and corn.  So delicious!

Day 610: Video Progress

Campus was deserted this morning.  Just one week into the semester, the rescue calls are mounting up.  Friday night there was one assault victim, one unresponsive male,  another unconscious female.  Many must have gone home for the weekend, but enough students were left to party and leave red solo cups and beer cans along the sidewalks.  So at noon, only a few were up and heading toward Starbucks.

Landscaping crews have made lots of progress, particularly on the paving.  The access road that parallels Central Ave. now has curbs and the first layer of blacktop.   The courtyard paving is underway, as well.

Two hours of video editing yielded 3 minutes and 40 seconds of the Quest movie.  The first day, Wednesday, is now done.  It was so much easier this year.  I watched one tutorial on Youtube to refresh my memory on the techniques and was ready to go.

+ 150 lengths = 6260 lengths = 32 miles = 61.2 miles!

Our heron friend

Greenhouse

Access road