Day 1760: Halloween

Only three toddlers came to our house today!  So disappointing!  We really thought the nice weather would encourage lots of kids to stop by.

I finished reviewing the food  and weather chapters today and changed only a few words. I'm really pleased with both chapters and re-reading them helped me think more about titles.  Then, I spent the afternoon transporting Steve's cousin around to see her friends before she returns to California tomorrow.  One of her dearest friends is a lovely 90 year old lady who now lives at St. Columbans.  She's so kind that I enjoy every minute with her.  It made Betsy very happy to say her farewells, so I was happy to do it.

My iphone is so maddening! For some reason it reset and wanted a password that I didn't know.  I tried every password in my book till they locked it up.  Then I set a new password and that one wouldn't work for hours.  We suspect it has something to do with the updates and coordinating with the cloud.  It's finally working now, but several other bugs exist that will have to be addressing tomorrow.

Risley Street

Day 1759: A few of my favorite gals

Sweet Megan, so happy and in love!

Alycia and Megan

Rachel, Alycia, Anna and Bianca

Love these gals!

So much fun!  We talked for hours-about their lives, jobs, boyfriends, flying, musicals, politics, Icelandic women, the Pirate party, hiking, all our travels together.  We laughed and laughed about the trip to Ireland when the demon girl threatened other travelers in our group and Alycia had to help us stand guard.  The folks at our table were old friends that we don't get to see often so it was wonderful to have time to catch up.  The food was delicious and Megan and Bill chose to have donuts for dessert rather than a wedding cake! Delightful!

One of the best moments was with Lindsey M who teaches environmental science online to students in Columbus, Ohio.  Each semester she has 100-200 students and they come from all sorts of situations. Some are homeless or on chemo, or are dropouts who have returned.  Some have children of their own.  She wants to create a backpacking program to bring some of her students together to gain outdoor experiences interacting with nature.  So, she's going to join us this year, maybe not for all of the hikes, but at least a portion.  That's what Quest is about, planting seeds for the future.  I know that many kids who went through Quest are settling in communities all over the country and my dream is that a few of them, like Lindsey, will create their own programs.  Wow! 

Day 1758: Megan and William

We were honored to attend the wedding of two beloved former students today.  Meg was with me in Model UN for years and William was one of the "gerbils" who operated the turntable for our production of Les Mis.  They met when they were attendants for their friends' wedding a couple years ago and now they are Mr. and Mrs.

The arrangements are a bit odd thanks to a rule by the local Catholic  diocese.  They had reserved the venue for their reception for Sunday, but then the church refused to marry them on Sunday.  So, the wedding was this afternoon and was followed by a short cookie and punch reception so guests could congratulate them. Then their wedding party went to Azteca for dinner. Tomorrow morning , they'll decorate for the reception, then dress up again, take photos and go to the reception for dinner and dancing.  Fun!  On Monday morning, they leave for their honeymoon in Ireland!  A perfect solution!

William and Megan

What a joy to encounter these lovely ladies at the wedding!

Anna, Rachel, Emily and Alycia!

Day 1757: Shopping day

What do women wear to a late October wedding?  Temperatures in the 60s in the day time and down into the forties at night means sleeves are required.  And probably stockings or tights.  Who wears those any more?  And do I have to wear heels?  Yikes.  My feet are still in sandal and sneaker mode.  Summer weddings are definitely easier to dress for.

Who am I kidding?  That's not what's on my mind.  Election, politics, James Comey, vile comments, emails, anxiety, sexism, misogyny.  So fed up, so distressed.  My tension is barely eased by two cats on my laps and an epiphany on the query letter.

Day 1756: Work, work, work

Five chapters reviewed and placed in the "Final" folder.  More progress on the query, more progress on markets.  It was cold, wet and windy, so I put a fire in the wood stove and hunkered down.  The end is in sight and I'm going to push and push till it's done.

Everyone I've spoken with agrees Quest: Bootsucking Mud and Other Backpacking Tales should be the title.  It's catchy, enticing, fun, and original. There's nothing like it on the market.   It includes the catch word of Quest and the main topic, backpacking.  The limitation is that it doesn't reveal that it's about teens, but maybe that's ok.  If people pick it up, if it draws attention, that's the main draw.  I had a variation of this title back in 2014 and then rejected it.  It's not as academic or revealing of our purpose as a few other alternatives, but it does connect to teens.  I'll take it to Penelope and see what they think, but it's time to commit!

My kids, reunited in LA!

Day 1755: Sliced finger

Chilly days are changing my routine.  Up later in the morning, lots of work during the day and then cats in my lap in the evening.  Generally, the days are very productive both for household tasks and writing.  I spent about four hours working on reviewing chapters from the book and labeling them with "final!"  I needed to reread them so it would prompt more ideas for both a title and the query.  Tomorrow, I'll tackle them again.  It was warm enough to mow, too, maybe for the last time this season.

Clearly, I can't chop celery and talk on the phone at the same time.  It was really cold today so I decided it was time to harvest bunches of celery in my garden before the frost destroyed it all.  Slicing away while I spoke with my sister, I took a good sized chunk out of my middle finger.  What  klutz!  Steve put a steristrip on it to hold the flaps together.  Good thing I live with an EMT/RN!

It's Alycia's 27th birthday!  Sweet, kind, devoted Alycia.  Once a student, now a beloved friend.

Day 1754: Obsessed

I'm obsessed over several things right now.  First, a TITLE!  I must decide on a title in the next two weeks, the sooner the better.  I've generated about fifty possibilities, many variations on several core ideas.  I know it must be catchy, but reflect the central ideas of the book.  I've polled a few friends and they've all agreed on one key phrase.  It still needs work, but I'm closing in on a solution.

The query letter has been agonizing also.  Again, hours of work yielded a much improved letter, though it still needs polishing.  That must be done by Nov. 6 so Penelope can review it.  Of course, the title must be included, so that the deadline for the title also.  I've worked a lot on the Quest FB page and got the numbers back up to 1400.  It's important to have a steady following now since the publishers will check the site once they get the letter. (If they're interested)

Second, my sister had knee replacement surgery yesterday and they have already sent her home.  Seems awfully soon, but I hear the procedure is very different from when Steve had his knees done in 2010.  Now, she is foremost in my mind and I feel bad that I'm not there with her, but I must finish this book!

Third, Fivethirtyeight.  Nate Silver's website.  It's the most reliable because of his analytical methodology.  I check the site obsessively for news on the election trends.  Can't wait till this is all over.

A long walk helped clear my head and a few laughs with Amy and Annie helped, too.  The best medicine would be a mile or two in my pool.  Certainly do miss swimming.

Rockefeller Arts Center addition

Tin Man Hill

Day 1753: Lunch with Maggie

Day 1752: DVD travels

Hardly anyone was at home today, but we were still able to distribute most of the remaining DVDs to our adult chaperones.  We stopped off at Pigpen's house and left his with the neighbor and when we got home, there he was in our driveway. Just a short time later, Mark stopped in, too.   It seems like many of our friends were thinking about Quest today.  They both loved the promotional movie.  In fact, it made Pigpen tear up.  He has decided to come back from Florida to work the four day hike after all.  It's just too important to him to miss.  Mark will take charge of the one and two day hike and be there to help on the four day also.

We agreed to meet on Jan. 14 to set up all the tents, assess their conditions, make labels and prepare a full inventory.  Then, we'll do the same thing for the backpacks.  It will help all of the adult staff understand the equipment management.

In the morning, my sister is have knee replacement surgery.  She's been in a lot of pain for a long time, so I hope the surgery goes smoothly and her pain is relieved soon.

Day 1751: Pig Roast

Our good friends welcome us into their huge extended family for their annual pig roast.  Their daughter and son-in-law host it at their home in Rochester and arrange for all the food, a band, heaters, tables, chairs, lavatories.   I marvel at how far family members travel to attend.   Dallas, Boston, Cleveland, Long Island, Buffalo.   Four sisters, two brothers, their spouses, children, grandchildren, in laws and friends.

At the center of the commotion: the patriarch.  Sitting with his feet snug against the heater, a beer in one hand and snacks in the other.  The family takes turns greeting him.  Grandpa! Dad! Great grandpa!  Some of them he recognizes, a few he says, "I know you!" and hugs them. No names, though.  He knows he belongs there, but his eyes cloud with confusion.  

He asks me to tell him a story and I tell him about the time we traveled to Alaska together.  We ate dinner every night, went on excursions. He and Steve talked about their years in the army, but he doesn't remember any of it.  I tell him about our trip to Australia and he says he never knew anyone who went there, but our friend and her daughter went last year.

His daughter scoops him up early to head for home, to protect him from further stresses.  It is terribly hard on all of them to watch him deteriorate day by day and know that he will never improve.

We left early, too and fought the wind all the way home.  The clouds look a bit like snow clouds, don't they? 

Day 1750: Lazy day

Rain all day!  Cold, wet and miserable outside, it was perfect for making soup, researching, snacking and watching the Making of Hamilton, the Musical.  Paddy curled up in my lap, nose to nose with Molly beside me.

  If I can't be in the pool, this is a great alternative!

Day 1749: Back in the Saddle

Finally, I've fulfilled or pushed all other obligations to the side and have returned to my book!  It's been extremely frustrating to have so many other tasks to complete before I could restart the work.  So, I have been focusing on the title today.  Seems like this would have been settled long ago, but it's not.  Several times, I've said, "that's it!" and then changed my mind.  I do know that I definitely want to include the word Quest in the title because that's the hook for my known audience.

I also reviewed my query letter, the concluding chapter and notes from a couple reviewers.  Then, I made a list of the tasks that remain.  I'm setting November 18 as the deadline to submit the query letter and finish the final editing.

Just a little foggy on the Cassadaga ridge.

By the time we reached crested the ridge and approached the lake plain, it was completely clear. 

Day 1748: Last debate

Great day at school distributing the Quest movie DVDs and later promoting Quest to the MS faculty.
Long walk between sessions and mowing afterward.  Makes my heart happy to be outside in 70 degrees in October, surrounded by rich colors and soothing nature.  Then, I watched the last debate.   She was brilliant and strong!  Thank goodness our country never has to see him perform again.  I'm so tired and just want this to be over.

Lambert Avenue

Day 1747: Cassadaga colors

Again, the reception in Cassadaga was warm, welcoming and enthusiastic.  Their principal is such a dynamo, always on the move and so friendly.  Seven veterans joined us, three girls and four guys including a student leader who transferred to the school this summer.  They all want to be student leaders and I suspect a few others do, too.  They were so excited, but they were very hesitant to speak in front of the large group of the eighth graders.

We used the new promotional video and I thought it was effective.  When Steve asked at the end how many kids thought they might do Quest, at least thirty raised their hands.  Kelly's goal is to double her numbers, but she'd be happy with twenty.

Tomorrow, we're presenting to the FMS faculty.  That should be interesting.

Photos from along Canadaway Creek

Day 1746: Star Trek: The Inner Light

Of all the episodes of Star Trek: Next Generation, this is one of our all time favorites. I was so happy to stumble upon it tonight after the reunion meeting.   Picard is held captive by a probe that creates an entire life for him beyond the Starship Enterprise.  Without moving a muscle, he experiences a lifetime within the culture of people whose world was destroyed when its sun went supernova.

After years of resisting this fabricated life, he finally embraces it.  He lives with a wife who loves him deeply, has children and friends, spends his time collecting data in trying to address the drought, and learns to play the flute.   He comes to love his family, even though he never imagined having one.  He tells his daughter, "Seize the moment.  Make now the most precious time." He finally realizes that truth applies to himself as well.  It's a heartrending story because he becomes genuinely attached to the fabricated family and grieves for them when the beam disconnects.

It was 80 degrees again today and will be tomorrow as well.  I wish we had not closed our pool!  Our first Quest meeting is at Cassadaga at 10:00 am and that means getting dressed in presentable, heavy clothes!  We'll be sharing the new video with students and telling them how to enroll.  Several of our veteran hikers will be there to speak of their experiences.  So, the 2016 season ended with the completion of the video yesterday and the new season begins tomorrow.

Day 1745: Memorial Service

We attended a truly remarkable memorial service today for the husband of our friend and former colleague.  Her husband was diagnosed with Alzheimer's a few years ago, but he decided at that moment he would not die from the disease.  He stopped taking his heart medicines to hasten his decline and indeed his heart failed in August.  She was comforted that he died on his own terms.

With two months to plan and prepare, their family arranged a moving, heartfelt tribute filled with personal reflections from his sons, friends and family, as well as music and a beautiful video.  Some members of his family escaped from Armenia during the Armenian holocaust of 1915, while others died in the forced march.   His grandfather found his way eventually to Ellis Island in NYC.  Born during the depression in NYC, he was abandoned at two months old and placed in the foster care system.  Despite all the challenges of his early life and service in Korea during the war, he achieved a great deal and built a beautiful, loving, devoted family.

The memorial prompted lots of thought about both the present and future.  What does the future hold for us?  How much time do we have and will it be quality time?

Steve has been running up and down the stairs both tonight and last night, feeding the DVD burner.   Tonight, he finished! 124 DVDs ready for distribution! Hooray!   So, how much time to create the movie, edit and render it, make all the DVDs, run to Orchard Park for a new burner, run to Walmart for more discs and sleeves, and then distribute it?  I have to add up our columns, but I think it will be close to seventy hours.  Doesn't matter.  It chokes me up every time I watch it.

Another gorgeous day ended with a bit of rain which we needed desperately.  We walked a couple miles through town, savoring the warmth and reveling in the glorious colors of autumn.

Day 1744: A favorite trail in autumn

A glorious autumn day in Arkwright

Day 1743: Cassadaga's Middle Lake

Sixty DVDs are done.  The new promotional video is done and I'm really happy with it.  We each put in many more hours today, but still managed to get outside for a long walk through the college.  After dinner at Whiskey Hill, we drove around Cassadaga Lake. The view was breathtaking.

Day 1742: Full time computers

First thing this morning we took off for Best Buy to purchase a new DVD writer/burner.   Home again quickly, Steve was able to burn 30 already today!  Ninety more to go.

I spent the entire day working on the promotional video.  Eight hours later,  I have one beautiful, six-minute video that's appropriate for parents, students, faculties, and public audiences.  One more proof-reading tomorrow and it's set.

Not sure what this bird is, but it's beautiful.

A fairy penguin

Day 1741: Burning burners!

Success on two fronts:  I slept through the night!  Hooray!

And the Quest video has been encoded and eight DVDs are burned!  It required me to purchase a new software program called Wondershare because iDVD is no longer supported by Apple.  It wouldn't work, so I consulted help sites and they recommended this new program.  I installed it and very quickly we were able to start burning.  Unfortunately, after eight completed DVDs, the burner burned up!  So, tomorrow, we're off to Best Buy to purchase a new burner.  It's not surprising, actually.  We've been using that burner for years and it's probably burned close to 700 DVDs.  

It was a gorgeous day.  Close to 80 degrees, warm breeze, perfectly blue sky.  We took a lovely long walk and enjoyed the changing colors.  

Day 1740: Sleepless in Fredonia

I had hoped to finally sleep through the night, but no luck.  There was a garage fire in Brocton that spread  to the house.  The radio was going off, Steve was up, and there was no sleeping through it.  They didn't call for him, so he went back to sleep.  But not me.  Maybe tonight my system will get back in sync.

Hairy nosed wombat

Day 1739: I watched

I watched and it was even more vile and disgusting than I expected.  T's behavior was reprehensible and Hillary kept her cool the entire time.  He claims his comments on the tape were just "locker room" talk, but that's garbage.  It's launched a nation wide conversation about sexual assault and unleashed millions of stories from women who have suffered at the hands of sexual predators like him.  And there's been a backlash from athletes who maintain they do not boast about assaulting women.   Coward Paul Ryan today turned his back on Trump and is now refusing to assist him in any way.  This recent revelation is nothing new.  We've known his character all along.  T also threatened to put his opponent in jail if he wins.  That's what African dictators do!  There were so many other offensive and threatening comments, but I can't address all of them here.

It was a long and glorious swim season, but today we had to put the pool to bed for the winter.  

I tallied a little over 117 miles this summer.  I promised Steve I would not obsess, but I did.  Once I get focused on a goal, I don't quit.  Besides, swimming under a canopy of leaves and a clear blue sky soothes my soul.  Peace washes over me as I glide through the water.  I could certainly use a long swim now as the election insanity is disrupting my sleep! 

Day 1738: To view or not to view

Should we watch this town hall style debate?  It will be revolting, guaranteed.  Apparently, Trump plans to bring women to the event who allege that they had affairs with Bill Clinton.  Really classy.  The issues mean nothing.  Syria is irrelevant,  Haiti is an afterthought.  Infrastructure?  Who cares.  It's all about ego for him.  Can she hold it together? I am absolutely certain she is ready for anything he can throw at her.

I finished the photo book and it should arrive in a week.  It will be a nice way to share our adventure with others without boring them with hundreds of photos on the computer.

Lovely autumn flowers in my gardens

Day 1737: Disgusting Trump

Trump's latest disgusting revelation:  a tape from 2005 where he describes the groping of a married woman and his quest to f... her, to grab her p....    People are expressing outrage, but that is so fake!  He has always been a repugnant piece of trash and this newest video is part of his sociopathic pattern.   The party has enabled him for sixteen months, attaching their quest for power to his star, those spineless congressmen compromising principles and abandoning all morality.  Republicans are in two camps: those finally fleeing too late and those embracing him despite the tape.  Our congressman, Tom Reed, has refused to repudiate him.  The worst part is that people know this about him yet they still support him.  Some sixty percent of people surveyed in our area say the revelations will NOT lead them to change their vote.


For a few hours, I worked on making both a slide show and memory book of our trip to Australia.  I have so many photos that they would bore anyone, so I trimmed the number to about a hundred that best represented our experiences.  There's probably an excessive number of pictures of Australian wildflowers and animals that no one else will be interested in.  Those products should be finished tomorrow and that will free up the computer.  I'll post pictures tomorrow.

Day 1736: Pool time

 Two favorite photos from the Blue Mountains in New South Wales

It was a gorgeous day for cleaning the pool, and not just from outside, I climbed in to vacuum the whole pool.  After twelve gallons of shock, we have redeemed the swamp.  Then, for good measure, I swam ten lengths.  The water temperature was 68, much warmer than I expected and very comfortable.  Dinner was outside at the picnic table with my brother and sister.  Hotdogs, burgers, salads, and chocolate chip cookies for a final summer picnic.

A fresh bloom on the hydrangea!