So much to see, so little time...

Nepal and Tibet

2011-11-21T15:56:00.001-08:00

I loved Nepal. I'd go back in a heartbeat and I really would like to do the Annapurna Circuit. Nepal is a beautiful place and I only got to see a very very small part of it. The first day we were there I hit a brick wall in terms of my energy. I just could NOT go on another visit...I needed to sleep. So I went to sleep as soon as we got to the hotel at about noon and basically slept through to the next day. I felt better after that...but man, I needed it.

This is probably my favourite picture of the trip:
We visited Swayambhunath, otherwise known as the Monkey Temple. It was, of course, a beautiful site...but what I found most enticing was the monkeys. I call the above picture "Monkey in full flight". Hee hee. He was sitting on that roof behind him. I zoomed in for a closeup and just as I clicked, boom he jumped! :) Awesome! So then I fed him half a bananas. That same day we visited Bodnath with it's huge stupa. It's an amazing site too. Of all the sites we visited, I think it was the one with the most "presence". It just has...a feeling to it. A feeling of joy and peace. I can't explain it. Here I am at it:
We visited a temple in the square are I filmed a Buddhist monk prayer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzetVEsingI Have I said yet in this post that it was amazing??? :)

Tibet is a simply beautiful place. Look at this:
But...it's just so sad! We went to Potala Palace and 3 or 4 monasteries. All of them were fabulous, incredible, AMAZING! But... empty. I've heard all about the Free Tibet movement, of course. But I never understood it. Now having been there...yea. Tibet left me with an overwhelming sadness. Our guide, native Tibetan, was not allowed to talk to us about certain things. It is illegal for them to possess their own flag or to talk about their spiritual leader. It's just wrong.

I highly recommend India and Nepal as places to visit, but I cannot recommend Tibet. It's beautiful, but what's happening there is just wrong.

Picture gallery up

2011-11-21T15:54:00.001-08:00

I've started to get my pictures up. There will be a LOT of them!!! :) When I'm home I'll have a much easier time of it, but for now, this is what's here. I haven't had time to name all of them, but I will... :)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/chandravan/sets/72157628045292055/

End of the tour

2011-11-18T19:42:00.001-08:00

I haven't been able to update as much as I'd like. It's been a fabulous trip though. I've started a set on my Flickr account (lookon the right-hand column of this blog and you'll see a link), but there are only 6 pictures in there. I'm hoping to have time later today at the airport to upload more, but if not i'll have to wait til I get home. I highly recommend India and Nepal to anyone and everyone. Tibet....well, the landscape is amazingly beautiful and the Tibetan people are fabulous...but it's just such a sad place.

I'll be back later....

Some pictures - not in order.

2011-11-15T01:31:00.001-08:00

I'm still SOOOOO surprised at how long it takes to upload anything....so the below is the most you're going to get today. :) WE're back in Nepal after 3 days in TIbet. Have to say, not at all sad to leave Tibet. It's just a really really sad place. Nelap is great. We're here for a couple days, so hopefully I can come back and update with words. :)
The Himilayas from our plane into Lhasa.

Our tent at the desert camp at Pushkar Camel Fair Camel Fair Sunset on our camel ride

Icky catfish at a sacred site. They really grossed me out. Chandra at the Rat Temple. That rat approaching my toes nibbled on my toenail! :)

Sunset camel ride

2011-11-06T17:59:00.000-08:00

Last night we had a camel ride at sunset. It was fabulous. right now we're in Jaisalmer, in the Great Indian Thar Desert and we went out to Sam in the dunes. It was amazing. I'll upload photos as soon as i get a good connection. We saw a fabulous Jain temple in the fort here yesterday. Such intricate designs and amazing craftsmanship. You know, I realize I'm using the word "amazing" a lot....but really, nothing else fits! :)

The hotel here, the Rangmahal, as the best pool yet. Before the camel ride excursion we had some time to rest and relax. I spent it all by or in the pool. Beautiful. Today we're off to Jodhpur, the "Blue City". Then on to Pushkar and the PUSHKAR CAMEL FAIR!!!!!! :) Look it up, it's..... AMAZING!!!!! :) Hee hee

Rat Temple and a palace

2011-11-05T07:54:00.000-07:00

Wow, talk about contrasts! :) Yesterday we did two fabulous things. We saw the Rat Temple and stayed overnight in a palace! I mean, how much better does it get? :) I've been excited about the Rat Temple ever since i found out about it. The rats are sacred and live there. They've lived there for several centuries, and do not carry disease. Pretty amazing. In fact, the nearby town has not suffered from any plagues, even when other towns in the wider area have. You can't wear shoes inside, but you can wear socks. I thought....since I'm here, do as the locals. So I went barefoot. If a rat touches you, you're considered blessed. Well...several did sniff me, and one nibbled on a toenail. I'll admit, I like rodents, but that did freak me out just a little. The one that nibbled on me is the one approaching my toes. it was really amazing. Some in our our group had a really hard time with it, but everyone went in.

But after, to make up for that, we spent the night in an honest to god palace! In the 90's the Indian government offered palace owners who were having a hard time keeping up with maintenance, a loan to renovate/update and turn it into a hotel. Then only 40% of that loan needed to be paid back over 20 years. So, we stayed in the Laxmi Niwas Palace Hotel in Jaipur. It was AMAZING! here's mom and dad at dinner in one of the two courtyards.

Not only that, but the hotel owners' son was getting married this weekend. So last night was the first of three days of celebration. they had 640 guests last night, tonight there are 5,000!!!! It was amazing to see. Not only did we get to see a high-class Indian wedding, but it was at a real palace. Awesome.

Today we drove to Jaisalmer. We're really in the desert now! As a treat, they took us out to the ruins of an ancient Brahman village that was abandoned in the 1800's to watch the sunset with cocktails. I tell you, each time I think it can't get better...it does! Rats, palaces and desert sunsets with cocktails. I'm a happy camper!

Tomorrow we're off to tour around Jaisalmer in the morning, then to the village of Sam in the dunes of the desert and a fancy dinner in the desert with traditional Rajesthani folk dancing! We're here in Jaisalmer two nights, so hopefully I can update again. It's taken 45 minutes to upload 2 pictures!!. Then it's off to Jodhpur and finally Pushkar for the Camel Fair. I'm so excited for that. I've been gone less than a week...sure feels like longer.

Hmm, evidently the rat temple pics will NOT load. Sorry, you'll have to make do with just the one above pic. Ill try again soon...

Wow!

2011-11-03T08:53:00.000-07:00

Oooh, so much to say but not too much time. It's 9:25 pm and I need to still pack up and get to bed in time to sleep and get up at 6 am! :) Ok, here's a quick overview (our days have been so full that I haven't had the time or energy to use the computer).

Flights went really well (thank you Xanax!!!!!), got in at 11:30 pm, napped in a lounge until they came to pick us up at 4:30 am, drove to Agra, checked into our hotel, slept a couple hours and then hit the Taj Mahal for sunset. No picture can truly do that building justice! It is absolutely amazing. No other word for it. By the time we got home, all I could write in my journal was "too tired. Update tomorrow". Yea...hasn't happened yet! Sleeping like a rock! :)

Next day we did Agra Fort and can't remember the exact name, but it's also called the "Ghost City". Then we drove to Jaipur, got in super late and crashed. Now let me tell you something about Indian driving and roads. THEY'RE INSANE!!!! I have some videos that I'll eventually post but....man, it's taking your life into your hands. Other people in our group who have been to Cairo, Bejing. Lane dividers are mearly suggestions and if you drive the wrong way on the highway, well, they'll get out of your way! :) I spend my time looking out the SIDE window, not the front!

So today we got up early and did the Amber Fort, The Jaipur City Palace and the Observatory. Again, everything is simply amazing. This is an amaing country and I'm having a TOTAL BLAST! Ok, that's all I can give you. Gotta go to bed so I can get up and do it all over again. I'll just add that my fellow travellers in the group are just great. Most are my parents age, but I have not laughed as much in the last year as I have in the last two days. Twice today I was reduced to tears by laugher and I thought my mom was going to pee her pants once. It's been great!!! :)

Here are a couple pictures to tide you over. Of course, since this is my camera, I don't have many of me. Till next time... (if any of the East Bend staff are reading this...print off the picture of my and show it to the story time kids, if you want) Me at the Taj

Part of our group

Mom & David on the elephant ride up to the Amber Fort

Bye bye 'Cormie

2011-10-27T10:11:00.000-07:00

As a side note...I've had to re-home McCormick. Someone who lives in my neighborhood has complained that McCormick has no boundaries and keeps sitting on his window looking at his parrots. And if he sees McCormick again he will take him to be put down. Now, he CAN'T legally do that...but with this guy, he'll just take it into his own hands and kill the poor boy. So, I've had to make the really really hard decision to find him another home. I did, and he'll be leaving for his new home on Sat. Sigh. So sad. But it's what's best for him. I'll miss the big galoot!

Off to India!

2011-10-27T09:32:00.001-07:00

I seem to just use this blog now when I go somewhere! :) This time I'm off to India, Nepal and Tibet for 3 weeks. HOORAY!!!!! I'm so excited. I'm going with my parents, which is going to be super fun. My dad's hip has been bothering him, so we chose a tour that has limited walking. Good thing too, since I seem to have tweaked my knee last week and am hobbling around. But no worries, I'll take pain-killers every day if I have to so I can have fun!

Anyway, I leave this weekend...I'll update and post pictures as much as I can. Below is the tour itinerary so you can see where I am when. I'm not doing the Turkey leg though...I'm meeting them in Delhi (so are my parents) on Nov 1. It was going to cost me almost as much to fly to Toronto to join them to Turkey as it would for me to just fly to Delhi. And besides...the fewer flights the better for me! :)

SVARGA–LOKA
The Journey of a Lifetime
ISTANBUL, NORTH INDIA & THE HIMALAYAN KINGDOMS TOUR
(22 Days/21 Nights)

THE PROGRAM
Day 01: Saturday 29 Oct. 2011 DEPART TORONTO, CANADA
Board Turkish Airlines to Istanbul, Turkey to begin your adventure.
TK 18 flight departing terminal 3 at 23:50

Day 02: Sunday 30 Oct. 2011 ARRIVE ISTANBUL, TURKEY
Arrive in the exotic city of Istanbul straddling the continents of Europe and Asia the cross route of the ancient Spice Route, home of the magnificent Ottoman Empire one of the greatest rules in history. Be met and greeted and with time permitting visit the Hagia Sofia, or St. Sofia, the famed basilica, built by Constantine the great in the 4th century and reconstructed by Justinian in the 6th century, is one the architectural marvels of all the time and an icon of the city. Overnight at the Ottoman Hotel Imperial located in the antique Old City area.

Day 03: Monday 31 Oct. 2011 ISTANBUL
This morning you explore this historic city. Visit the Sultanahmet Imperial Mosque built in the 16th century by the architect Mehmet, is known as the Blue Mosque because of its astounding interior decoration of blue Iznik tiles. Later we see the Roman Hippodrome, the scene of chariot races, with the three monuments; the Obelisk of Theodosius, the bronze Serpentine Column and the Column of Constantine. Return to the airport to board your Turkish Airlines flight TK 716 18:40 to India.

Day 04: Tuesday 1 Nov. 2011 ARRIVE DELHI, INDIA – AGRA
Meet and greet upon arrival in Delhi and drive to Agra. Breakfast at Midway Restaurant. Upon arrival, you are met, greeted and escorted to the hotel for check in. After noon we leave by Tonga (Horse Carriage) to the gates of the world famous Taj Mahal , built by Shah Jahan in 1630 for his queen Mumtaz Mahal to enshrine her mortal remains. This architectural marvel is a perfectly proportioned masterpiece fashioned from white marble that stands testimony to the sill of 20,000 craftsmen brought together from Persia, Turkey, France and Italy and who took 17 year to complete this 'Love Poem in Marble'. We tour Agra Fort built by Emperor Akbar between 1565 & 1573, which reveals the Mughal talent for combining defensive architecture with beauty and design. This fort palace was begun by Akbar as a purely defensive citadel and was subsequently completed by two successive generations that added the delicate mosaic and magnificent marble palaces. The fort is the history of Mughal life in Agra and offers a magical view of the Taj Mahal.
We return to the Clarks Shiraz Hotel for your overnight stay

Day 05: Wednesday 2 Nov. 2011 AGRA – JAIPUR VIA FATEHPUR SIKIRI ( 265Kms / 07Hrs)
Check out from the hotel after breakfast and drive to Jaipur. We stop en route to visit Fatehpur Sikri, located 40 Km from Agra, the deserted city of Fatehpur Sikri was built by Emperor Akbar in 1569, in honour of the great Saint Sheikh Salim Chisti who blessed Akbar and prophesized the birth of three sons to the heirless Emperor. Akbar used Fatehpur Sikri as his capital and the city was fully occupied for 14 years but slowly became deserted and ruined after Akbar left the city. Scarcity of water was the prime factor for the abandonment of this beautiful city. Visit the remarkably well-preserved, graceful buildings within the 'Ghost City' including the Jama Masjid, tomb of Salim Chisti, Panch Mahal Palace and other palaces that speak of the grandeur and splendour of the Mughal empire at the height of its power. Continue drive to Jaipur. Check in at the hotel on arrival. The evening is at leisure to explore the colourful markets of the pink city. Overnight is at the Fern Hotel.

Day 06: Thursday 3 Nov. 2011 JAIPUR
After breakfast we leave for excursion to Amber Fort. A major attraction at Amber is the Elephant Ride (subject to availability) all the way up to the Fort entrance. This journey on caparisoned elephants is bound to enrich your memories with the Royal lifestyle of the Maharajas and leave you with a truly unforgettable experience. Amber is a classic, romantic Rajasthani Fort Palace. The rugged, time-ravaged walls of the Fort may not look beautiful from the outside, but the interior is a virtual paradise. Miniatures painted on the walls depict hunting and war scenes, apart from festivals. Precious stones and mirrors are embedded into the plaster. Inside the Fort visit the Jag Mandir or the Hall of Victory. En route to Amber Fort from your hotel, you will have a brief photography stop at Hawa Mahal - the Palace of Winds.
In the afternoon, we tour the city of Jaipur. We first visit the Maharaja's city Palace, the former Royal residence part of it converted into a museum. A small portion is still used by the Royal family of Jaipur. Built in the style of a fortified campus, the palace covers almost one-seventh in area of the city. The main entrance leads to the courtyard at the center, which is the Mubarak Mahal. One of the major attractions in the museum is the portion known as Armoury Museum housing an impressive array of weaponry-pistols, blunderbusses, flintlocks, swords, rifles and daggers. The royal families of Jaipur once used most of these weapons. On the first floor is the Textile and Costume Museum, which is the fine example of fabrics and costumes from all over India. Later visit the Jantar Mantar (Observatory), which is the largest stone and marble crafted observatory in the world built by Jai Singh from 1728 to 1734. Situated near the gate of the city palace, the observatory has 17 large instruments, many of them still in working condition. We return to the Fern Hotel for overnight stay

Day 07: Friday 4 Nov. 2011 JAIPUR – BIKANER (335 Kms / 07 Hrs)
Morning after the breakfast we drive to Bikaner. Check in at the hotel upon arrival.
In the afternoon, we visit Junagarh Fort, begun by Raja Rai Singh in the 16th century, but palaces were added to it over the next three centuries. The outer wall, built of light red sandstone is surrounded by a moat, and within are beautifully designed palaces with balconies, kiosks, fine jali or lattice work screens with richly decorated interiors. The Badal Mahal in the fort has walls covered with stories from the life Krishna, whilst the walls of the oldest palace, the Lal Niwas, are elaborately decorated in red and gold. Overnight at the Laxmi Niwas Palace Hotel.

Day 08: Saturday 5 Nov. 2011 BIKANER – JAISALMER (330 Kms /06Hrs)
Leave for the desert town of Jaisalmer after breakfast. Check in at the hotel upon arrival. Get a break from the sightseeing and spend the rest of the day to explore the city on your own. Overnight at the Rangmahal Hotel.

Day 09: Sunday 6 Nov. 2011 JAISALMER
After breakfast in the hotel, we spend the day our day to explore the city with our guide. Jaisalmer founded by Prince Jaisal in 1156, was a major staging post on the trade route across the forbidding Thar Desert. The first glimpse of the honey colored walls of the fort, rising out of the hot and barren desert is magical. Untouched by time, Jaisalmer, with its golden crenellated walls, narrow streets lined with exquisite havelis, has a medieval ambience. The fort, often referred to as the "Golden Fort' because of the color of the stone, encloses palaces decorated with delicate jali or lattice worked screens, carved doors and flora carvings, and elaborately carved 12th to 16th century Jain temples. The havelis in both the fort and the town are exceptional. Similar in style to the homes of Venetian merchants, the havelis were the mansions of wealthy traders. The houses are decorated with beautifully carved facades, screens and windows. Each haveli has an inner courtyard surrounded by richly decorated apartments. We walk through the narrow streets of the fort to see the Nathmalji-ki-Haveli with its beautiful arched roof with carved brackets in the form of peacocks; Patwon-ki-Haveli, the most elaborate and magnificent haveli and best known for its latticed façade and Salim Singh ki Haveli. Outside the walls of the fortified town is the small oasis of Gadi Sagar, which led Prince Jaisal to found his city. It is well worth visiting to see the large number of shrines around it and the migratory birds, which it attracts. Later in the day we proceed for excursion of "Sam", 45 km away is known for its enormous sand dunes that make a surrealistic landscape patterned by the wind. This excursion also includes the unique experience of Camel Ride. Later, we enjoy a local tribal dance performance on the sand dunes followed by dinner. We return to the Rang Mahal Hotel late evening for your overnight

Day 10: Monday 7 Nov. 2011 JAISALMER – JODHPUR (300Kms / 06 Hrs)
After breakfast at the hotel, we leave for the medieval town of Jodhpur. Check in at the hotel upon arrival. In the afternoon explore the city of Jodhpur. The tour starts with visit to the Mehrangarh Fort, an impregnable fortress towering above a 10km wall with soaring archways leading into the center. The fort has a series of spectacular palaces, each decorated with exquisite engravings, lattice and mirror work. The museum displays an unusual collection of miniature paintings, glided palanquins and solid silver "howdah" presented by a Mughal emperor to the Maharaja. Next stop is Jaswant Thada - a cluster of royal cenotaphs in the white marble built in 1899 AD in memory of Maharaja Jaswant Singh-II. We finish our city tour with the stop at the Clock Tower and the nearby Sardar Market – a historical local trading market for Spices. We return to the Ranbanka Hotel for overnight stay

Day 11: Tuesday 8 Nov. 2011 JODHPUR – PUSHKAR (235Kms / 05Hrs)
After breakfast we drive to Pushkar. Ancient myths have said that the god Brahma dropped a lotus flower on the earth and Pushkar, then floated to the surface. Upon arrival check in to your desert camp. Today you will attend and spend time at the famous Pushkar fair where you see how beautifully decorated camels are paraded and traded in the dessert. The Pushkar Camel Fair is one of the most traditional events to be ever witnessed in India. Each November, the sleepy little township of Pushkar in Rajasthan, India comes alive with a riot of colors and activity focused around the trading of upwards of 50,000 camels. Very few, if at all any, fairs in the world can match the liveliness of Pushkar. For the visitor, it is unparalleled and unforgettable experience to capture the vibrancy of the entire historic state of Rajasthan in one place. Herdsman from various tribes with very interesting histories, origins customs and social practices welcome you today. Some of the tribes you meet today are far distinct from modern society and a few are medieval in their origin, and date their origin back to the one of the oldest prehistoric civilizations in the world, the Indus valley civilisation. Listen closely as you learn about the legend of the sand and dessert from a friendly stranger.
Become immersed in the striking colours and tradition s of Rajasthan. From jewellery items for cattle, ranging from saddles, saddle-straps, beads, strings and cowries, Silver ornaments and bead necklaces from the Nagaur region, patchwork, to printed textiles as well as the famous tie and dye fabrics from Ajmer, are all major attractions, to items specifically exhibited visitors, the vast array of artefacts exhibited are just endless. Overnight at the Aagman India Camp.

Day 12: Wednesday 9 Nov. 2011 PUSHKAR – UDAIPUR VIA RANKPUR (300Kms / 06Hrs)
Early in the morning you walk through the Pushkar lake and nearby temples, Pushkar lake is believed to be mark the spot where a lotus thrown by Brahma landed. Ghats lead down to the water to enable pilgrims to bath. There are 52 ghats around the lakes and dozens of other temples, most of which are close on 1200 to 1600. The Brahma temple, at the far end of the lake, is a holy shrine & draws pilgrims throughout the year. After visit, we drive to drive to Udaipur enroute visiting the Ranakpur Temples, built in the 15th century, situated in a valley on the side of the Aravali Range. Ranakpur is amongst the five holiest places of the Jain community and exceptional in beauty. Over 1444 marble pillars, each differently carved in exquisite detail, support the temple. It is also said that it is impossible to count the pillars. Not to be missed in this temple is one carving out of a single stone with 108 heads od snakes and numerous tails. We continue our drive to Jodhpur after the visit and check-in at the hotel upon arrival. Overnight is at the Sheraton Udaipur palace resort and Spa.

Day 13: Thursday 10 Nov. 2011 UDAIPUR – DELHI
After breakfast at the hotel, we tour the city of Udaipur. with its lakes and palaces, cradled in the hills of the Aravalli range is a very romantic city. The name itself "The City of sunrise" evokes a sense of romance. We first visit the City Palace - the focal point of the city and has several areas of interest like the Suraj Gokhada, Badi Mahal, Sheesh Mahal, Mor Chowk (the peacock courtyard), and the Zenana Mahal. Next we visit the Jagdish Temple, located close to the Palace with its imposing sculpted figures and heavily ornamented interiors. Finally, stop by to visit Sahelion ki bari Gardens or the ‘ Garden of maids’ ; built under the express guidance of Maharana Sangram Singh II, it is believed that the garden was constructed for 48 maids who accompanied the Maharana's wife as dowry. In the late afternoon take a boat ride at lake Pichola , 4-km long and 3-km broad, surrounded by splendid hills , palaces ,temples, bathing ghats and embanksments. Visit the island palace, Jag Mandir that is beautifully set in the lake.
In the evening we drive to Udaipur airport to board the flight to Delhi BY IT 4302. Depart at 19:40Hrs Arrive at 21:15Hrs. Meet and greet on arrival by our representative and transfer to the Justa Residence Hotel for check -in

Day 14: Friday 11 Nov. 2011 DELHI – KATHMANDU, NEPAL
Breakfast is at leisure in the hotel. In time transferred to the airport for flight to Kathmandu BY AI 213. Depart at 07:30Hrs Arrive at 09:00Hrs
Meet and greet on arrival by our representative and transfer to the Shangri-La Hotel for check in. Afternoon we visit the ancient capital of Patan and Tibetan Handicrafts center. Patan Durbar Square, listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. The Patan Durbar Square has been acclaimed as one of the finest urban streetscapes in the world. Most of the monuments seen today were built between the 16th – 18th centuries. It is known as the centre of fine arts and for the superb craftsmanship of its artisans. Essentially a Buddhist city, historic inscriptions establish Patan as an important town from early times (said to have been founded by Emperor Ashoka in the 3rd century B.C., although no historical proof exists). We also spend some time in Tibetan Handicrafts center. Bhaktapur Durbar Square (listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO) : A former capital of the valley, it was once a flourishing city on the trade route to Tibet. It has preserved its traditional character better than the other two cities, due to its more isolated location. It is regarded today as a classic showcase of medieval Nepalese town life. It is situated in the east of Kathmandu valley about 14 km. away. It today retains much of its beauty in ornate woodcarvings and in the famed Golden Gate. We return to the Shangri-La Hotel for overnight stay

Day 15: Saturday 12 Nov. 2011 KATHMANDU – LHASA, TIBET
After breakfast we drive to Kathmandu airport to board the flight to Lhasa. Depart by CA 408 at 10:45Hrs Arrive at 14:20Hrs. Upon arrival check in to hotel, rest day is free to explore the city by own. Overnight stay is at the Jardin secret hotel.

Day 16: Sunday 13 Nov. 2011 LHASA
After breakfast we visit Potala Palace, Jokhang Temple and Bharkhor Bazaar.
Potala Palace: The Potala Palace, a pearl on the plateau, the construction of the world famusPotala Palace was started in the 7th century during the time of the Tubo King SrontsanGampo on the top of Mt. Putup, it is looming over the whole Lhasa city. The Potala Palace cosist of two palaces the Red and the White Palace with over 1000 rooms. The Palace stands up so high that itt resembles a mgnificent castle in the heaven. It takes itself a good example of the ancient Tibetan cultureand architecture. It was the chief residence of the Dalai Lama until the 14th Dalai Lama fled to Dharamsala, India after a failed uprising in 1959. In 1648, the PotrangKarpo known as White Palace was completed, and the Potala became the winter palace of Dalai Lama from that time. The PotrangMarpo or the Red Palace was added to the complex between 1690 and 1694. It was inscribed to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1994. Jolkhang Temple: This temple is one of the most sacred and important temples in Tibet. A part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site "Historic Ensemble of the Potala Palace" and a spiritual centre of Lhasa, it is perhaps the most popular tourist attraction in Lhasa. It was built by King SongtsänGampo probably in 647 A. D. Both Bhrituti and Wencheng, the Nepalese and Chinese wives of SongstenGampo brought important Buddhist images (sitting statue of Sakyamuni) to Tibet as part of their dowries, which are housed here. The famous Buddhist Master, Atisha, taught here in the 11th century and it has been considered the most important temple in Lhasa ever since. Bharkhor Market: The circular Barkhor Street is the oldest street of old Lhasa city. Found in the heart of Lhasa and circling the Jokhang Temple it is the trading as well as religious center of the city. It means 'a pilgrim's inner circuit'. It dates back to the foundation of the Jokhang Temple and is an essential pilgrim route. Buddhist pilgrims walk or progress by body-lengths along the street clockwise every day into deep night to reach Jokhang temple. It is also called 'the window of Tibet' as it typically reflects the Tibetan life and culture. We return to the Jardin Secret Hotel for overnight stay

Day 17: Monday 14 Nov. 2011 LHASA
After breakfast we visit Drepung Monastery: It is situated to the west of Lhasa city and was founded in 1417 by one of the disciples of TsongKhampa. Literally means the 'Rice Heap' monastery', Drepung is also one of the "great three" Gelukpa university monasteries of Tibet. Drepung is the largest and richest of the three major yellow sect monasteries in Lhasa that houses over 10000 monks and governed over 7700 subsidiary monasteries and indeed at its peak was the largest monastery of any religion in the world. JamyangChojey, who was a direct disciple of Je Tsongkhapa, the founder of the Gelukpa school, founded it in 1416. It is located on the GamboUtse mountain, 5 kilometers from the western suburb of Lhasa.
Sera Monastery: Sera Monastery once it ws the second largest of all monasteries in Tibet. 'Sera’ literally means 'Enclosure of Roses', is one of the 'great three' Gelukpa university monasteries of Tibet. Set on the foot of the Wudu hill , 5 km North of Lhasa city, Sera comprises of a great sutra chanting hall, a college and 32 sections. Once it was the second largest of all monasteries in Tibet. It was founded in 1419 by a disciple of Tsong Khapa. As its peak it housed over 7000 monks and was famous for its warrior monks, the Dob-Doa. Although badly damaged, it is still standing and has been largely refurbished. It now houses a few hundred Buddhist monks. The Sera’s library houses some of the valuable prayer books. Prayers books in Sera's library Graduates of Sera Jey College who are known in the west include, Lama ThubtenYeshe, GesheKelsangGyatso, Lama ThubtenZopa Rinpoche. Like the
Drepung and Ganden monasteries, it had three colleges, namely Sera MeyDratsang, Sera JeyDratsang, and NgagpaDratsang. We return to Jardin Secret Hotel for overnight stay

Day 18: Tuesday 15 Nov. 2011 LHASA – KATHMANDU, NEPAL
After breakfast we drive to Lhasa airport to connect the flight to Kathmandu. Depart by CA 407 at 10:45Hrs Arrive at 09:45Hrs. Upon arrival, our representative will meet and transfer to hotel. Rest day is free to explore the city by own. Overnight stay at the Shangri La Hotel.

Day 19: Wednesday 16 Nov. 2011 KATHMANDU
Kathmandu Durbar Square (listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO is one of the popular places due to its exquisite architecture and artistic embellishment. This complex of palaces, courtyards and temples, built in 1200 to 1768 A.D. with hundreds of erotic carvings used to be the seat of the ancient Malla kings of Kathmandu which epitomizes the religions and cultural life of the people. Swayambhunath (listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO): Atop a green hillock west of Kathmandnu, stands the great stupa of Swayambhunath; a site that is over 2500 years old marking the point where the legendary patriarch Manjushri discovered the lotus of the ancient valley lake. Constructed to specific rules each with a symbolic meaning, the stupa of Swayambhunath is a model of its kind. Pashupatinath Temple (listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO): Located 5Kms east of Kathmandu valley on the banks of sacred Bagmati River, this temple dedicated to Lord Shiva is one of the most sacred Hindu shrines in the world. Thousands of pilgrims visit this temple every year during Shivaratri, the birthday of Lord Shiva. Entrance to the temple precinct is forbidden to non-Hindus. The Large, gilded triple-roofed temple was built in 1696 A.D. though 300 years earlier this was a structure on this site. Boudhanath (listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO): This is the largest stupa in Nepal and one of the largest in the world located east of the valley was built by the Lichchhavi King ManaDev in the 5th century A.D. The Rinpoches who reside here have established Boudhnath as one of the most flourishing centres of Tibetan Buddhism in the world. The colossal ancient stupa is 36 metres high. The evening is livened with a Nepalese Dance Show followed by authentic Nepalese Dinner. We return to the Shangri La for overnight.

Day 20: Thursday 17 Nov. 2011 KATHMANDU
After breakfast full day is free to do own things and explore one of the most culturally astute cities in the world. Overnight stay at Shangri La Hotel.

Day 21: Friday 18 November KATHMANDU – DELHI, INDIA
After breakfast we drive to Kathmandu airport to board the flight to Delhi AI 214.
Depart at 10:00Hrs Arrive at 11:25Hrs. Upon arrival, our representative will meet and transfer to the Maidens Hotel. We leave for city sightseeing tour of Old Delhi & New Delhi.
Old Delhi came into prominence when Shah Jahan moved his capital from Agra to Delhi. You visit 300 year old Chandni Chowk market, a maze of lanes crowded with shops selling an extraordinary variety of items and food, the noise and crowds are a quintessential part of any Indian market. From here you continue to the Jama Masjid or Friday Mosque.This is India's largest mosque designed by Shah Jahan, and was his last architectural legacy. Originally it was called Masjid-I-Jahanuma, which means "mosque commanding a view of the world". In complete contrast to the noise and crowds of Old Delhi, is Raj Ghat, a simple and stunning memorial to Mahatma Gandhi, the main architect of India's independence. You pass through the Red Fort that dominates this area is the landmark. Built in the mid 17th century by Shah Jahan, it was plundered by the marauding armies of Nadir Shah and later by British soldiers.
Afternoon, we take our tour of New Delhi, visit Qutab Minar, the tapering monument begun in 1199 was built to symbolize the supremacy of Islam. This structure was eventually the prototype of all minars or towers in India. With time allowing our next stop is Humayun's tomb, built by his senior wife and mother of Emperor Akbar. This is the earliest example of Mughal architecture in India. It is believed that it was this mausoleum, which inspired Shah Jahan to build the Taj Mahal. We drive pass the India Gate, Presidential Palace and Parliament House. Overnight is at Maidens Hotel

Day 22: Saturday 19 November DELHI – TORONTO, CANADA
After breakfast we drive to Delhi airport to board the Turkish Airlines flight back home at 05:10 taking with you treasured memories of this amazing adventure.

- END OF YOUR TOUR -

Bobsleigh crash

2010-03-01T20:00:00.000-08:00

Did I say before that it is really "bobsleigh" NOT "bobsled". We say bobsled here... but that's not truly correct. I thought it was bobsled until the Olympics ... but turns out it's bobsleigh. Huh, who knew?

I couldn't get these videos to upload here...so you have to click on the link. but they're great! My friend Sylvia got a good video of the bobsleigh crash I was describing. At first she's just panning around and you get a really good view of the scenery, AND just how steep it is after the finish line. We're standing a ways past the finish line. But then you can see Ana and I looking over our shoulders and then people running towards the track. This video really doesn't look too bad...but it was scary!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/chandravan/4400545072/ It shows it pretty well. It looks a lot slower than it actually was.

This is a video Ana and Syl watching their first bobsleigh going by. It is literally jaw dropping when you see if for the first time!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/chandravan/4399757113/

Candahar

2010-02-24T12:12:00.000-08:00

Monday evening we went to Candahar, which is this art installation at Grandville Island. Here's what it's official description is "Irish artist Theo Sims’ The Candahar is a meticulously detailed recreation of an Irish public house, based on the interior of the now defunct Blackthorn Bar in Belfast. Part sculpture, part theatrical stage, The Candahar is an artwork that is also a functioning bar, open to the public and staffed, in collaboration with two Belfast bartenders who act as unscripted performers. The project fuses the authentic with fantasy, spectacle with stage, and at its heart acts as a catalyst for conversation, debate and dialogue — and a pint here or there."It wasn't quite what we were expecting, but it was fun nonetheless. The recreation part was only a very small area inside the larger theater. The rest were these rustic chairs and tables to sit at and live music. We all thought that the whole thing was going to be the bar recreation, not just one small area enclosed to a little room inside the larger area. It was kinda odd...but still very interesting. Had a couple beers there after wandering around downtown then went to Cafe Mumbai for dinner. Monday was our "relaxing" day.

Curling is fun!

2010-02-24T12:02:00.000-08:00

Ana and I discovered we really do like curling. We went to women's curling Tuesday. Boy, those are rabid fans!!!! :) We learned a lot, and had a great time. We think we should get a curling venue in Bend so at the next Olympics the US men and women won't be in last place!! :) Hee hee. It might be the one discipline that the US will NOT NOT NOT be getting a medal. They're both 10th out of 10 countries. Oopsie. But yesterday they played a VERY good game against China, who are ranked third. So congrats to them. This is a picture of the US conferencing about what strategy they should use.

One of the funniest things was the women's restroom. The atrium attached to the curling venue was this big huge tent. There was a room sectioned off and inside all these porta-potties! It makes total sense... but it was funny.

After curling we went to the Vancouver Aquarium which was great too. It was one of the things Sonia really wanted to do, and I take any opportunity to go. It's a great Aquarium. I really didn't get too many good pictures, so I'll need to wait for Sonia and Rob's. But my favourite was this one of the bullfrogs. I knew they were big... but they were startlingly big after all the little tree frogs! :) They're so funny.

Ana, Rob and Sonia left today. With all the walking and hiking up and down the venues we've done, my legs need a rest. They've been seizing up a lot lately, and so it's been quite painful. Today my plan is to watch Olympics on TV, get all packed and just take it easy. Friday I go back up to Whistler for my last event, women's slalom and then Sat I head home! I've been having a great time here...but just over the last day or so I've really been missing my kitties... :)

2010-02-22T22:49:00.000-08:00

Phew! What a busy couple days! Saturday I took Sonia, Rob and Ana on a driving tour of Vancouver, which was quite fun. Then we went down to Grandville Island and ate dinner and took the Aquabus across the harbor to Hockey Place. It was Germany vs Belarus. Germany lost 3-5. Awwww too bad.

It was an exciting game. At one point the puck struck the plexi-glass so hard it cracked it. So they brought a ladder out and a new sheet and fixed it...right there in the game! :) Super fun.

But we didn't get home until about 1:30 am....and we needed to get up at 5:00 am to catch the bus! Wow, those couple hours were not enough!! :) But we made it. We took Sonia and Rob to their bus to get to Cypress to watch ski cross and then Ana, my friend Sylvia and I headed up to Whistler for a jam packed day.
We started off at men's super combined which is one run of downhill and one run of slalom. It was really exciting. The course and where the finish line was, was in shade for a while and c-c-c-c-cold, but soon the sun peeked out and it got quite hot. We got some color in our cheeks, definitely. :) Here's Ana and Syl posing in the sun.

Bode Miller won. He really was great. Another great thing was that Croatia won the silver. The course designer was his dad! :) hee hee hee hee. There were these two crazy Croatia fans right behind us and I got a great picture of Ana with them. After that was over we headed over to Whistler Village and up to the sliding center for the 2-man bobsleigh. We were watching the forerunners coming down standing just past the finish line and all of a sudden when the sled was behind us on the loop before the final turn into the finish line area, emergency staff started running over with these grappling hooks. then suddenly in front of us roaring past us comes a sled on it's side. I was very impressed with the people there to help. They used the hooks to stop and turn over the sled to get the people inside out. It really was quite scary.

But after that, there was not one single crash. Thank god. Germany won gold and silver. It was very very exciting. Canada was....4th I think. Very fun. By the time we got home from that it was 10:00...so we slept in this morning. Hee hee.

Tomorrow Ana and I are off to curling in the morning and then hopefully we'll all go to the aquarium in the afternoon. Sun's still shinning.... :)

Skeleton

2010-02-19T10:19:00.000-08:00

My friend Sarah from Bend arrived in Vancouver Wed, so I spent the afternoon showing her around my beautiful city. Wonderful gorgeous day. If you're in Vancouver one of my new favourite restaurants is Cafe Mumbai on W Broadway around MacDonald St. Super yummy Indian food. Took Jen there over Christmas on a recommendation from Sylvia....she always knows the best restaurants. It helps that her sister is a food inspector! Hee hee.

Yesterday I headed back up to Whistler for skeleton. It was heat 1 & 2 for the men and women. The women were supposed to start at 4:00 pm, but the start track had basically melted, so it was delayed until 4:30. They may be even crazier than the lugers!!!! It's luge, but head-first! Sheesh. I took lots of great pictures...but my mom borrowed my camera today so I can't download the pics yet.

As my dad and I were walking to the gondola to go to the sliding center we happened to catch the end of Christine Nesbitt's gold win in the 1,000 meter speed skating. They have these big screen tv's set up several places in Whistler and people are gathered around watching. It's super fun. Up at the sliding center in the break between the women and men's skeleton they showed the 3-2 shootout at the Canada- Switzerland hockey game.

It got so cold watching skeleton that dad and I only made it through the first run of the men. By the time I got back to Vancouver it was about 11:30. I finally warmed up on the drive back in the car with the heat blasting! :) It was great, again, to see all the flags and people out there cheering for their countrymen. People from all over the world.

Today Ana, Sonia and Rob arrive. Woohoo!! :) We have hockey tickets for tomorrow (Germany vs Belarus) and then Sunday Sonia and Rob are off to aerials and Ana and I go to Whistler for the rescheduled men's super combined and bobsleigh!

Btw, it really is bobsleigh not bobsled. Who knew?

Men's Super Combined postponed

2010-02-16T08:06:00.000-08:00

I was supposed to go to men's super combined today, but it's been postponed due to weather. I'm hoping that it'll be rescheduled for Thurs morning, since I have tickets for skeleton at 4:00 up at Whistler that day! That'd be great. Or Friday will work too. I suppose Sat would as well... It's been raining quite a bit here, but it's supposed to dry up today and be clear until early of next week. Keep your fingers crossed for that. But this is NOT unusual for a winter olympics .... people need to remember that!!!! :) Right now I see sunshine out my window, so I've got my fingers crossed that the weather continues to improve. There are, of course, people complaining, and people probably saying this is the worst Olympics ever...it's not.

CANADA RULES!!!!!! :) Hee hee.

I was trying to embed this video of Bilodeau's gold medal ceremony... but I think the best I can do is a link...
Men's%20Moguls%20Medal%20Ceremony

Awesome day!

2010-02-15T11:54:00.000-08:00

Ok, I've got my Olympic spirit back! I didn't go to men's moguls where Canada got their first gold at home, but my brother did. Can't wait to hear from him how it was or see his pictures. I went to luge at Whistler. I was a bit hesitant about going, given what happened, but I'm so glad I did.

Those guys are INSANE!!!! It's sheer insanity. They're going 130-144 km/hour, which is about 100 miles/hour. It's crazy. Takes a bit to figure out how to watch it, and even longer to take a good pictures. After a couple mistakes, I got this great picture:

In my gallery you can see all my pictures from the day. The Canadian Sam Edney was in first place with five people to go, and ended up 7th, which is historical...top finish for a Canadian luger. It was awesome.

The Whistler Sliding Center is fabulous. On tv you don't get a true feel for how fast they are going. It really is amazing. And scary!! :)

Tomorrow I go see women's alpine skiing back up at Whistler and Thursday I see women's skeleton back at the Whistler Sliding Center.

Should be great. Today is yoga and watching more Olympics on TV :)

Olympics picture gallery

2010-02-12T21:35:00.000-08:00

I forgot, I did upload my pictures from yesterday. Seeing the torch go by was SOOOOOO exciting!!!! There were hundreds and hundreds of people there. I waited for about 40 minutes, and then right before it came a bunch more people came and I could barely see! :) Hee hee. I uploaded the pics here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/chandravan/sets/72157623419856960/

Check that gallery for updates. That's where I'll be posting them.

Tough day

2010-02-12T21:27:00.000-08:00

It was a tough day today. The news about Nador Kumaritashvili's death was really tough. My mom who is volunteering at Whistler says people up there are in shock and are hurting. But his team decided to stay and honor his memory. The opening ceremonies is dedicated to him, and the athletes were tasked with competing with his spirit in their minds. I have tickets to luge on Sunday....it's lost it's luster for me. I'll definitely go if it's on though! Those athletes deserve an audience. If you haven't seen the video of the accident, DON'T WATCH IT! I wish I hadn't seen it. It's horrible. I watched it before they knew he was dead. I really wish I hadn't.

Also today, protesters made the torch relay detour from it's route right when it was approaching the vet memorial in Vancouver! Those poor vets were moved to tears. They wanted the flame to come to honor their fallen friends and "some brats" as one soldier called them, forced the route to change. I have no problem with protests...but that was a heartless choice of spots.

So all in all...a tough day and start to the games. I'm trying to find my Olympic spirit again.... I'm sure it'll come once I'm out at an event. I hope. I'll upload pics as soon as I have them.

Olympic Opening Ceremony

2010-02-10T22:30:00.000-08:00

I went to the dress rehearsal of the opening ceremonies tonight. It was fabulous!!!! I have no intention of telling you what happened, but you should definitely tune in on Friday. The excitement there and in the city overall is just AMAZING!!!! :)

Yesterday my drive up was fine. Left Bend at about 2:00 and got here at about 10:45. The border crossing, which I thought might be bad, only took 5 minutes. Awesome! As I was driving up to the border there was a line of 13 charter buses in front of my. I gunned it to get by them. Hee hee.

Tomorrow I plan to go watch the Olympic Torch Relay which will be passing close to my parent's house. I'm trying to figure out if I can get down to watch it go across the bay in a dragon boat too. GO CANADA!!!!

Going to the Olympics

2010-02-09T09:35:00.000-08:00

Hey look, it's been over a year since I last updated!!!!!! :) Oopsie. Oh well. I'm off the Vancouver for the Olympics today. I'll be using this to keep everyone updated and share pictures and my experiences. I'm SOOOOOO excited!!!!!

I'm actually going to be able to see a lot of things: luge, skeleton (like luge, but headfirst!), bobsleigh, men's downhill, women's slalom, ice hockey (Germany vs Belarus) and curling. I know people laugh at curling... but I think it's going to be a lot more fun that something like xc skiing! But that's just my opinion.

WOOHOO!!!!!!! Next time I update I'll BE IN VANCOUVER!!!! :)

Inauguration

2009-01-21T17:58:00.000-08:00

Wow, I'm HORRIBLE at updating! :) I'll try to be better. I watched the inauguration yesterday, and I could not have been happier. It was truly a fabulous day! I wish I could have been there.

I knew I could record it and watch it later, or watch the replays, but I really wanted to watch it live. So at work I watched it streaming on my laptop. There's a part of me that thinks yea, big deal, an African-American in office. So? Because race has so little impact on MY valuing of people. But then I take a moment and really think. Really, truly think about what this means...and it makes me cry every time. I am so happy, and so proud and so...overwhelmed when I think about what this means. And the inauguration happening the day after MLK day....could not be more perfect.

Last week I had a third grade class visit the library, and the teacher had asked me to read a picture book about MLK day. I chose one of my absolute favourites: Martin's Big Words written by Doreen Rappaport and illustrated by Brian Collier. If you have not read it, you should. It is a wonderful book, and really reaches kids. I have a hard time reading it without tearing up. It's just wonderful. The kids I read to could not believe that MLK died, that he was murdered. This little girl asked me "Why would someone kill him? He was just trying to help people!" I could see that her teacher was as nonplussed at me. What can I answer to that? I think I just shook my head and shrugged my shoulders.

The other local third grade class came on Tuesday, and that teacher too wanted me to read a book about MLK. So, same book, same reaction from the kids, plus a question from one little boy who asked "Who made the laws in the first place that said black and white people couldn't be together". I LOVED that for these kids the idea of race being the reason you're not allowed to do something, that the color of your skin would make something you did illegal...they just cannot understand that.

I did try to make sure I said something along the lines that there still are people who think that way. They just could not understand that. Yet, they also DID understand the momentousness of Obama's presidency. One kid said that without MLK, Obama would probably not be our president. I was amazed by those kids. Gives me hope.

I loves myself an Adirondack Chair!

2008-10-22T15:11:00.000-07:00

I just completed one of the funnest things I've done in a while, and I'm so proud of myself. My friend Ana and I took a woodworking class for women, where we made our own Adirondack chairs! :) It was super fun! We got to use all sorts of tools - table saw, chop saw, band saw, scroll saw, router, sanders ... and lots of things I'm now forgetting the names of. It was 5 weeks, and I had a lot more fun than I'd thought I would.

I want to take it again so I'll have matching chairs. So here's Ana doing some free-handed cutting on the table saw. All the machines made me a bit nervous at first, but you get used to them quickly. I think this one was my favourite, the router. It's what helps make these nice rounded edges on things. Here I am learning how to use it the first night. That's Mary Anne, the instructor showing me what to do.And here we are in our finished chairs! :) I'm so proud of us!
And here it is outside my front door. I want to paint "I made this chair" on it so that everyone looking at it knows that I made it!!! :) Have I said yet that I'm really proud of Ana and myself? I'm not really a tool-type girl...or at least I never thought I was. But now... I can see how you can get the woodworking bug.

Ankylosing Spondylitis and how to deal with it

2008-09-16T20:54:00.000-07:00

Wow, really, I'll try to get better at updating! :) You know, it's been a really tough year medically. My back got all messed up when I was in Vancouver. In looking for a cause of that...well, we found out why. I've been diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis. Oh hooray.

It's a type of arthritis that affects usually the spine and causes inflammation which can lead, in severe cases, to a fused spine. But hopefully it won't get that bad for me. It does most likely mean chronic pain and flare-ups. And there's nothing they can do about it. Exercise, good posture and pain management...that's about it.

I've been thinking for a while about what I want for my third tattoo. For over a year I've been thinking about Randy Pausch and his comment about choosing to be a Tigger or an Eeyore. If you look two posts below this one you'll see my explanation. Well, this latest just made me want it even more. So this last Sunday, after careful research of artists, I got my third tattoo. :) I'm very happy with it.

Camping and Dirt Series...oh yea, and the HDO

2008-08-03T19:14:00.000-07:00

Whooboy! What a busy weekend! It was the High Desert Omnium, the road bike race put on by the Bend Bella Cyclists this weekend. It went REALLY well, but it's always crazy busy. More so than the mtb races I've done, 'cause this was two days...and road races ARE just more complicated. Anyway, it went really well, I have some pics...but those will have to wait until I get back.

Back from where? :) Well, I leave tomorrow morning for a week's vacation, culminating in a Dirt Series clinic at Whistler! I'm really excited. We're also going to spend a couple days in Vancouver so I can meet my new niece...and have a memorial for my grandmother who passed away a couple weeks ago.

I'm looking forward to having a great vacation. I have pictures...but you'll have to wait until I get back.

Every day, I CHOOSE to be a Tigger

2008-07-29T22:36:00.000-07:00

In the past year I've had quite a few people comment on how I've managed to stay positive despite all the physical and emotional setbacks that have come my way. It's because every day I choose to be a Tigger instead of an Eeyore. I've had a role model recently whom I would be lucky to emulate.

Have you heard about Randy Pausch. He was a professor who was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and was told in 2007 that he only had 3-6 months to live. He lived almost a year. He gave an amazing lecture, wrote a book...and he passed away this last Friday.

He said in his now famous speech that we all have a choice. We can choose to be a Tigger or an Eeyore. He has TRULY inspired me. I chose, every day, to be a Tigger. And I hope that when my time comes I can say what he did: "I don't know how to not have fun. I'm dying... and I'm having fun". It's been my mantra every time something comes up that challenges me...I choose to be a Tigger. Not I AM a Tigger...but I choose to be.

If you haven't listened to his lecture or read his book, check it out:
http://download.srv.cs.cmu.edu/~pausch/

Tomorrow when you wake up...what do you want to chose, Tigger or Eeyore?

What an honor!

2008-07-29T10:04:00.000-07:00

My brother and sister-in-law have done me the ultimate honor. They've given my name to Mia as her middle name! Chandra's a GREAT name, and I hope she likes it too. I was so happy, and touched, when they told me, it made me cry. :)

Here's Kai being a great big brother. Gee, think he likes her?? :) :)

Mia's birth, from her daddy's perspective

2008-07-20T20:35:00.000-07:00

I love my brother's story. Especially the part where he passes out...
"At 9:45 Saturday morning Jennifer produced a beautiful baby girl (or, to those without child-bearing experience, a squidgy caracature that turns from blue to pink faster than - and not completely unlike - a squid does.)

With my svelte build it was no surprise when she weighed in at a meagre (ahem) 8 lbs 9 oz. Yes the real father is quite possibly from the water buffalo family, but we love her just the same, of course.

Mom's in rehab after a drug mixing effort that would've earned her 'cred' in Hunter S Thompson's circles. She is, however fine and facing neither remission nor the shakes.

Possibly the best part (knowing you sadistic lot) was when, after a night of no sleep (nor Red Bull Vodkas) and little to eat, just when the anesthesiologist was preparing the epidural, dad fainted, plopped in his seat, out cold, and thereby provided mum's laughing gas with some brilliant material. We've named her Mia."

Welcome to the world Mia!

2008-07-19T23:13:00.000-07:00

My new niece was born this morning...a week late! Her name is Mia... which in Italian means either "wished for child" or "rebellion". I think she's both, since she refused to be born when she was "supposed" to. Hee hee. Here are a couple pictures, but check out my Flickr site for more.

interesting book

2008-07-19T21:45:00.000-07:00

I just finished Raw Shark Texts by Steven Hall. Wow. Now that's one mind-f*#k of a book! Here's what the description is: "When Eric Sanderson wakes from a lengthy unconsciousness, he has no memory. A letter from "The First Eric Sanderson" directs him to psychologist Dr. Randle, who tells Eric he is afflicted with a "dissociative condition." Eric learns about his former life—specifically a glorious romance with girlfriend Clio Aames, who drowned three years earlier—and is soon on the run from the Ludovician, a "species of purely conceptual fish" that "feeds on human memories and the intrinsic sense of self." Once he hooks up with Scout, a young woman on the run from her own metaphysical predator, the two trek through a subterranean labyrinth made of telephone directories (masses of words offer protection, as do Dictaphone recordings), decode encrypted communications and encounter a series of strange characters on the way to the big-bang showdown with the beast."

A conceptual shark???? What the hell? Interesting book...but I have no idea what i think about it. We're reading it for book club, so it will be very interesting to see what others think. I'm not sure it's amazing literature, or if it even succeeds in it's attempt...but it did keep me interested, so that's something at least.

I said I was going to blog more about the Cascade Cycling Classic...but to be honest I'm too tired. We did have our Story Stars program today with Todd Parr...I think he's my new favourite author! He's a great guy, and I really enjoyed getting to know him. If you haven't already, check out his books with your kids.

Some of my favourites are Underwear Do's and Don'ts, Reading Makes You Feel Good, the Otto series and It's Ok to be Different. Oh heck, I love all his work :)

It was great. the Staff all wore underwear on our heads like one of our characters! Hee hee. We had dinner with him, and I got some books autographed, which was great. Definitely check out his work.

Cascade Cycling Classic

2008-07-16T16:47:00.001-07:00

Wow, busy but great weekend! I officiated for the CCC on Friday at the crit and Sat on the Cascade Lakes road stage and Sunday on the Awbrey Butte circuit. Sat and Sun I did the Cat 2's and on Friday I did them all except the pro men and pro women. I'll update more on another day when I'm not rushing off to a Board meeting.

It was super-fun. Stressful, but fun. I learned a lot in preparation for the High Desert Omnium which is in a couple weeks. If you want to check out the pictures I took of the CCC look at my Flickr site:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/chandravan

Another fun day at the library....

2008-07-10T15:33:00.000-07:00

So here's what I've been dealing with the last couple days. We've had two instances of vandalism in the men's bathroom - feces smeared all over the walls, toilet paper rolls soaked with urine, toilet paper rolls stuffed into the toilets, wads of paper towels and toilet paper on the ceiling...YUCK!!!!!

So we called the sheriff...and it's a felony! We know who did it, two boys from out of town that come in to use the computer. We have their parent's cell phone number and the sheriff is tracking them down! Whooboy are those two young men in TROUBLE!

As they should be. That's just disgusting!!!! Who does that? Who on earth wants to play/touch their own poop!!!! Have I said "Yuck!" yet?

No WAY!!!!

2008-07-08T09:39:00.000-07:00

I seem to be very into the videos the last week or so! :)

There's NO WAY I could do that. It made me shudder and look away just watching a couple of the sections!

I had a great weekend, but I haven't downloaded my pics yet. Fun fourth, Bella ride, then Sunday rode from Swampy to Bend again with Barrie and then floated the river... I'm telling you, there's NO better way to spend a weekend day!

Awwwwww!

2008-07-03T14:15:00.000-07:00

I can't help it, I'm SUCH a sucker for these types of things.
I'll do a little research to see if I can find out whether this is real or not...

Ok, did my research. It is indeed true and that is real footage. The whole story is pretty amazing.

Cat vs crayfish

2008-07-02T12:20:00.000-07:00

Cat vs Crayfish

Not only do I LOVE the choice in music, that crayfish has got quite the fighters stance! And the dog in the back is just bored...

Pickett's and beyond...

2008-06-30T12:33:00.000-07:00

I can't believe I didn't take any pictures of Pickett's Charge! I was too busy running around to stop and take pics. Oh well. It went really smoothly, so I'm happy. I'm also super happy that it's over!!!! :) I love doing those, but they're a lot of work and take a lot out of you. Work's been busy since then too, so I was feeling a bit overwhelmed.

It's getting better now. I had a good weekend. Sunday I steam cleaned my carpets. Again, I'm glad I did it...but did I really have to pick such an already hot day! :) My house was pretty damn warm by the evening. Saturday Barrie and I rode from Swampy down to Bend. The mosquitoes were really bad. And they much preferred Barrie to me. They were driving her insane!

I love that ride. It's so pretty. I was hoping that the trail was completely clear of snow, and it was except for one snow mound that we had to skirt around. It was great though and we plan to do it again soon. I have a couple friends that want to join us on that one next time we ride it.

My legs did pretty well. By the time we got down to Ben's my legs were starting to feel quite weak from all the standing you do on the descending. They didn't hurt though! That may have been helped that we floated the river after riding. Iced my legs. Or at least cooled them. LOVE floating the river! :)

So a couple weeks ago I went to BC to get my Nexus pass and visit the Richmond library for work. I did manage to see my brother and his family which was really nice. They just bought a new house, and it's within walking distance of where they currently live. They're expecting their second child in a couple weeks.

Anyway, we took a walk to see their new place, and of course Kai had to ride his bike. He's so cute. He did have one oopsie into the tall grass.
It took him quite a while to struggle upright then get his bike out. Daddy helped, of course.

The raccoons are back! :) This is my one raccoon that comes every night. I put out a water dish for him too, 'cause he gets HOT. Last night he washed his food in it, like raccoons like to do, then he tipped it over so he could lay in it belly down. Cutie. Don't worry, I'm not making a pet of him.

BBQ Recipes

2008-06-08T19:34:00.000-07:00

So these are the recipes from my BBQ this weekend:

Costal Cuisine Dry Rub
(good for seafood, chicken and vegetables, make in advance and store in an airtight container)
2 tbsp salt
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp black powder
1 tbsp garlic powder
1 tbsp dried basil
1 tbsp paprika
1 tbsp dried tarragon (optional)

Costal Cedar Planked Salmon
1 filet of fresh salmon
3 tbsp Costal Cuisine Dry Rub or your favourite marinade
1 cedar grilling plank

Set salmon, skin side down on soaked plank. Season with Costal Cuisine rub or your favourite marinade.
Place plank on preheated grill with low to medium heat. Grill for 10-20 minutes with lid closed, until salmon flakes easily.

(For cedar planked chicken substitute boneless, skinless chicken breasts. Grill for 30 minutes or until juices run clear.

Red Pepper and Corn Relish (for on top of salmon)
2 tbsp plus 2 tsp coriander seeds
4 red bell peppers
4 tbsp olive oil
4 cups corn kernels (if fresh, from about 4 ears)
4 green onions, thinly sliced
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 tbsp chopped fresh thyme
¼ cup dry white wine
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 tbsp honey
¼ cup chopped fresh parsley

Toast coriander seeds in a small skillet over medium heat until aromatic, stirring frequently, about 2 minutes. Cool slightly. Crush in mortar with pestle.
Char bell peppers over gas flame or under broiler until blackened on all sides. Enclose in paper bag 10 minutes. Peel and seed peppers; cut into ½ inch pieces.
Heat 2 tbsp oil in large heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Add corn and green onions and sauté until corn begins to brown in spots, about 5 minutes.
Add garlic and thyme, sauté about 2 minutes.
Add wine and stir until liquid evaporates, about 1 minute.
Remove from heat and stir in bell peppers, lemon juice, honey and remaining 2 tbsp olive oil. Add 1 ½ tsp crushed coriander seeds.
Relish can be made 8 hours ahead: cover and refrigerate. Stir over medium heat until heated through before serving.
Stir in parsley and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Ceviche
1 lb bay scallops
8 limes, juiced
2 tomatoes, diced
5 green onions, minced
2 stalks celery, sliced
½ green bell pepper, minced
½ cup chopped fresh parsley
1 ½ tbsp olive oil
½ cup chopped fresh cilantro

Rinse scallops and place in a medium bowl. Pour lime juice over the scallops. The scallops should be completely immersed in the lime juice. Chill the lime juice and scallops all day or overnight until the scallops are opaque (you cannot see through them).
Empty ½ of the lime juice from the bowl. Add remaining ingredients. Stir gently. Chill and for effect serve in fancy glasses with a slice of lime hanging over the rim.

Tuna Ceviche
2 lbs sushi-grade tuna, cut into ½ inch cubes
1 tbsp low sodium soy sauce
½ cup cilantro, roughly chopped (plus a few leaves for garnish)
1 tbsp finely chopped ginger root
½ jalapeno, finely chopped
¾ cup coconut milk
4 scallions (or green onions), green part only, thinly sliced
1 tbsp fresh lime juice
½ tsp fish sauce
1 tbsp grated lemon zest

In a medium bowl, combine all of the ingredients except the cilantro garnish and chill for 2 hours. Salt to taste and garnish with cilantro leaves.

Grilled Vegetables
Marinade - mix all ingredients well, makes about 2 cups
1 cup olive oil
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 tsp roasted garlic or roasted garlic puree
¼ cup balsamic vinegar
1/3 cup champagne vinegar
2 tsp Dijon or spicy brown mustard

Vegetables
4 Roma tomatoes, halved lengthwise
1 head fennel, trimmed and sliced ¼ inch thick, 8 slices
zucchini, thickly sliced
yellow squash, thickly sliced
10 medium asparagus
Red bell pepper, sliced into wedges
Yellow bell pepper, sliced into wedges
Shitake mushroom caps or quartered large mushrooms
Vidalia onion, thickly sliced
¼ cup toasted pine nuts
¼ cup asiago cheese
½ cup chiffonade basil

To cook vegetables (this is for a more “finished” veggie platter than I did the other night)
Marinade vegetables in about 1 ¼ cup of above marinade for 2 hours (approx)
Preheat grill
Cook vegetables on grill until tender, turning over as needed
Remove vegetables from grill, let come to room temperature
Arrange vegetables on large platter
Sprinkle with basil, pine nuts and asiago; drizzle with remaining marinade

Herb Marinated Back Yard Garden Salad
4 large tomatoes cut into ¾ inch chunks
½ red onion julienne
1 yellow or orange pepper julienne
1 red pepper julienne
1 jalapeno pepper, fine julienne
1 cucumber cut into quartered slices
½ cup basil chopped
¼ cup mint chopped
½ cup scallions (or green onions) chopped
4 tbsp chives, chopped
½ tbsp thyme chopped
(6 oz mixed greens of your choosing) - optional

For the dressing:
4 cloves garlic chopped
2/3 cup olive oil
1/3 cup rice vinegar
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 tsp lemon zest
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
salt and pepper

Mix all dressing ingredients in a 2 qt bowl
Add produce and herbs to dressing, fold gently, let stand for 10 minutes
Adjust seasonings if needed
Optional: serve with greens of your choosing

Passion Fruit Sangria
2 bottles sweet white wine (Voniger, Muscat, Sweet Riesling, Gewurztraminer)
2 lemons cut into wedges
2 oranges cut into wedges
2 limes cut into wedges
4 cups passion fruit juice (I used guava since I couldn’t find passion fruit)
4 cups pineapple juice
2 cups ginger ale
2 kiwi fruit

Pour wine in the pitcher and squeeze the juice wedges from the lemon, orange and lime into the wine. Toss in the fruit wedges. Toss in the fruit wedges (leaving out seeds if possible) and add passion fruit juice and pineapple juice. Chill overnight. Add ginger ale and thinly sliced kiwi fruit just before serving.

Blood Orange Sangria
2 bottles fruity red wine
2 cups sliced strawberries
2 cups apple juice or cider
2/3 cup Triple Sec (orange flavored liqueur)
½ cup sugar
4 whole cloves
3 seedless oranges, each cut into 16 wedges
2 cinnamon sticks
1 lemon
1 lime
Combine all ingredients in a large pitcher and stir until sugar dissolves. Cover and chill 8 hours or overnight. Discard cloves and cinnamon sticks.

Frozen Blackberry-Lemon Chiffon Pie
1 ½ cups graham cracker crumbs
3 tbsp butter, melted
2 tbsp milk
Cooking spray
3 cups blackberries (fresh if available, but frozen work too)
¼ cup fresh lemon juice
¼ tsp salt
4 large egg whites (I use Egg Beaters)
1 cup plus 2 tbsp sugar
6 tbsp water

Combine first 3 ingredients in a bowl, toss with a fork until moist. Press into bottom and up sides of a 9-inch springform pan coated with cooking spray.
Combine 3 cups blackberries and fresh lemon juice in a blender; process until smooth. Strain mixture through s sieve over a bowl. Discard solids.
Place salt and egg whites in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at high speed until foamy.
Combine sugar and water in a saucepan; bring to a boil. Cook, without stirring, until a thermometer registers 250 degrees.
Gradually pour the hot sugar into egg mixture, eating at medium speed, then at high speed, until stiff peaks form.
Gently fold in blackberry mixture; pour into prepared crust. Cover and freeze 8 hours or overnight. Let stand 5 minutes at room temperature before serving. Garnish with fresh blackberries and mint if desired.

(I didn’t make this one, but for those that said it sounded interesting…)
Pecan, Cranberry & Apricot Stuffed Apples
4 Rome or other baking apples
¼ cup pecans, finely chopped
¼ cup chopped dried cranberries and apricots
¼ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp nutmeg
1 tbsp melted butter
¼ cup brown sugar
8 cinnamon sticks for garnish

Halve and remove cores from apples. Cut a small slice from the bottom of each half so that it can lie flat on the plank
Combine ingredients and spoon stuffing into each apple half. Garnish with cinnamon sticks. Place apples on soaked plank.
Grill for about 10 minutes on low heat until the apples are tender, but be careful not to overook.
Wonderful served with ice cream.

Suttle Lake

2008-06-03T15:36:00.000-07:00

The Suttle Lake ride is truly quite easy, but it's super-fun because of where it is. Here's Izzy taking a swim. Not sure I'd be dipping my toes in there, but next time I go I'm definitely bringing my bathing suit! :)

It was brilliant sunshine when we started, but the clouds started rolling in about 1/2 way through our ride. It was off and on sunny for the rest of the way around the lake. This is a shot from the far end looking back the way we came.

The trail is RIGHT along the lake, so you do pass "through" the campgrounds. Here someone has very nicely tied their boat to a tree across the trail! Barrie wanted to cut the line...I told her she couldn't! :) You can see the trail here. It's like this all the way around the lake - clear and well defined.

We stopped at one of the campgrounds to sit for a while and eat a picnic lunch. We took too long, because about 2 minutes before the end of our ride it started to POUR!!!! Here's Barrie putting on her rain jacket. I'm amazed that you can't see the rain...it was coming down really hard. And of course my jacket was in the car. By the time we got there and got our bikes on the roof I was soaked! :) The nice thing about technical clothing is that it dries really quickly

So the look around the lake is only about 3.5 miles, but you start the ride at the Camp Sherman road, which makes it a 13 mile lollipop. The above picture is on our way back along the lollipop stem. The trail in that section is gently rolling with nothing too technical. The "scariest" parts were where the bushes and trees had not been trimmed back yet and you literally had to duck down over the bike and close your eyes to get through! Hee hee.

A super-fun ride that I can't wait to do again.

June is here

2008-06-02T09:10:00.000-07:00

Well after a week or two of nasty weather the sun is back! Thank god!!!! All is well, but my poor little legs are just not doing as well as I'd hoped. Still a lot of pain, and some noticeable loss of strength. A lot of that is just from lack of use, but some is probably caused by the surgery. so what that means is that I need to hit the gym more and start concentrating on building that strength back up.

I want one of those Staples Easy Buttons for my life...but evidently it doesn't work that way! :)

Saturday a friend and I rode the Suttle Lake tie and loop. It's not a technical ride in ANY sense of the word, but it was SOOO much fun! The tie is rolling single track beside HWY 20 and then the loop around the lake is super easy but fun because it's so gorgeous there. I was pre-riding it for the beginner ride I'm leading soon. I wanted something that was easy but out of town. Something different. I have a couple pictures and I'll post them once I download them from my camera

Sunday I did the Heaven Can Wait breast cancer walk. This was the largest year ever with 3,300 people walking! Amazing. Oh yea, a couple weekends ago I saw Michael Franti in concert and he was just wonderful! I have a couple pictures from before the concert...but my battery died right when I went to take a picture of him on stage! I was so pissed. We managed to find quite a bit of space right at the front at the side of the stage. Awesome view and he was superb, as always. I'm so bummed that I didn't get any pictures of him though!!! :(

Hmm...

2008-05-21T22:09:00.000-07:00

Wow, I haven't updated in a while! The Cascade Chainbreaker was on May 11, and i was super busy getting ready for it, and then since then I think I've just been tired! And busy. I promise though, I'll update soon. Tomorrow even if I have time...

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

2008-05-05T10:08:00.000-07:00

Well, I had Mexican food on Friday in honor of Cinco de Mayo...'cause it'll probably be next to impossible to get into a Mexican restaurant tonight! :) Ok, and I also went to try out my new non-allergy to shellfish. I had a crab dish, and stole some shrimp off a friend's plate...and no problems! :) Hooray!!!!! I'm so excited. The dog allergy is still stumping me though. That's the only test spot that is STILL all red. All the rest have faded. It's just weird.

Saturday I lead a Bella mtb ride. It was so nice to get out, but showed me again just how out of shape I am. Hopefully I get out for another one after work today. Then Sunday I went for a little bike ride with Izzy...she loves to bike, but she's getting old so you have to go really slooooow. Then in the afternoon I biked to the Old Mill and say Iron Man with a friend. It was fun. Pure fluff...but sometimes that's what we're looking for!

This coming weekend is the Cascade Chainbreaker. If you're not racing and bored...come out and volunteer! We can always use more volunteers. It's going to be great. This is the 11th annual race, and it's tons of fun. If you want to register, you can do so online or in person at Webcyclery on Saturday 12-4 or on race day at the race from 8:30-9:30.

Hope to see you there!

Shellfish!

2008-04-30T18:31:00.000-07:00

I went and had allergy tests done today. I wanted to know for sure what I'm allergic to or not. And it turns out I'm NOT allergic to shellfish!!!! :) I'm soooooo happy! I have absolutely no idea why I'e reacted to shellfish in the past, but it's a negative. I'm also not allergic to juniper, or if I am it's really mild.

What I AM allergic to is dust mites, which is very common...and DOGS! No fraking way! I've had dogs all my life, except for the past couple years. But even since I've moved here I've been around dogs a lot, spent a lot of time sleeping in beds that dogs have been in...and I've never noticed any problems. I think they must have made a mistake and put something else on my skin! :)

Well, doesn't matter, I'm not going to avoid dogs. I've never noticed a reaction, so that's jut too bad. So, I have to take this nasal spray twice a day for two weeks, then a different kind once a day for two weeks then it's back to the doc to see what he says. He thinks my asthma is also related to all this.

So...good news about the shellfish. I'm gorging myself on shrimp and crab for the next six months!

First real mountain bike ride of the season

2008-04-28T13:11:00.000-07:00

This Saturday I went for my first real mountain bike ride of the season. It did pretty good for having been "off" for about 6 months or more. the previous weekend the Bella ride went out to the Maston trails, which are on Cline Butte Hwy between Tumalo and Redmond. I had to work, so I couldn't go. Instead we went this last Saturday. All in all we had a group of seven ladies: myself and Barrie, Ana, Julie, Lisa, Tracy and "lipstick" Laura.

It's a great first ride of the season. It's already super dry and dusty...I can't even imagine how it is in July or August! I think I'd only ride it in the winter or early spring. Anyway, it was fun. pretty much flat with some rolling hills, but not much. Very little technical, and what is there is easy to ride around instead of through or over.

My big problem...other than being SOOOOO out of shape was the juniper. As I've said, I'm developing a juniper allergy (I think). It made breathing difficult. Or, even more difficult I should say. But I had a great time. It was lovely sunshine, hot and a great group. I didn't get any pictures of the ride, only two from getting ready. I need to learn how to take pictures, or remember to take pictures ON the ride! :)
Sunday was just gorgeous too. It wasn't just warm, it was HOT. Went for a cruiser ride, swung by McKay park where we saw that Alder Creek was having canoe and kayak demos. So Barrie and I took out two different canoes to "test-drive" them. Yea...going straight was very difficult for us! :) And then I had to head to work in Sunriver. So that was the weekend....

Loki's getting a swelled head

2008-04-25T10:47:00.000-07:00

Finally, one of my cats made it on to stuffonmycat.com! :) Loki's feeling pretty proud of herself.

http://www.stuffonmycat.com/index.php?itemid=8967

Allergies

2008-04-14T10:06:00.000-07:00

It looks like I might be finally developing an allergy to Juniper, like a lot of other people. I've been here just over 7 years and this is the first time...I think. First time I've really noticed and thought maybe that's what they are. So I'm going to go see an allergist/immunologist to get tested. Not only for that, but I developed a shell-fish allergy about 6 years ago. It'd be nice to know for SURE what I'm allergic to and what I'm no longer sensitive to.

In the mean time, over-the-counter stuff is helping. Man, allergies really wipe you out though!!!

The rest of PLA and Minneapolis

2008-04-07T14:10:00.000-07:00

Do you know who that is? Between Sheila and I? If you guessed Mary Richards from the Mary Tyler Moore Show, you're right! :) The show was set in Minneapolis, and there is a statue of her just blocks from our hotel. We HAD to get our picture taken with her. Sheila's covering it, but she's wearing super kicky boots! So one morning we took a walk, saw the above statue, visited the Minneapolis Public Library (which is SOOOO cool!) and walked down to the river. I have LOTS of pictures of that morning, and only a couple here. So if you want to see more check out my PLA gallery.

The outside of the library has a pattern painted onto all the windows. You can see them from the outside, but from the inside it doesn't impair your view. Each side is different. The below side is Birch trees (can you see them?),one side is water (for the river), one is grain and grasses and the last is snow. It's very cool.
Overall I was very impressed with the library. It had a lot of really great stuff. One thing I particularly loved were there "compact stacks". They're on rails and they sit close together. When you want to get a book within that aisle, you push that button you can see on the side, and they slide apart. There is, of course, a safety mechanism that senses if anything passes between the stacks (like an arm, leg or whatever), and it immediately stops. This is a great way to shelve more books when you don't have much space. It' s so cool!
The kids area was really great, with fabulous colors and all sorts of great things for them to play with and on. The teen area was amazing! One of my favourite things was this one room. The walls were painted with this silver white-board material and the kids could write anyting they wanted on it...as long as they stayed within the guidelines (like no profanity etc).

Then Saturday we were off to the Mall of America. My favourite thing was the aquarium. It was quite cool, and I'm really glad we went. There was this one giant turtle that weighed about 600 lbs and took five men to move him onto the scale. The best past was the tunnel. The tunnel went through all the pools, sharks, Amazon, shallow water reefs etc. Very cool. On my Flickr site are a couple pictures from there.

Ok, so last year Jesse, the largest shark at the aquarium, decided to try and eat one of the other sharks. She grabbed this little reef shark and swam around with it in her mouth! Luckily, the little shark was not hurt. In 2003 Jesse did eat another shark. They named the little shark Fish Stick, and she's back in the tank, fully recovered.

Mall of America, baby!

2008-03-30T08:38:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we left the conference after it was over and went to the Mall of America. Lynne went to the mall with us a bit, then headed off to visit family for a day or two. You can't really wee it, but Lynne and I are standing under the sign.

This is the amusement park in the center. I think it's so cool. And it's sooooo quiet! Nowhere near as loud as outside amusement park rides. I have to say though, I'm a bit disappointed in the mall itself. I thought it would be bigger.
There is this cool Lego Land area where kids can make their own Lego creations, but there are also "professionally" done ones. Here's a plane hanging from the ceiling.

This morning Sheila and I are off to do a bit more shopping, visit the Underwater Adventures Aquarium there and then tomorrow we're on our way home.

PLA, day 2...but first day of programs

2008-03-27T20:35:00.000-07:00

Wow, I went to two amazing sessions this morning...so I think I'm jaded for the rest of the conference. I'll be judging all other sessions by those ones! I won't blog about those here. If you really want to know about them you'll have to check out my other blog, Librarian on the Loose.

This was a cool look at part of the Minneapolis skyline. I thought the old church, the new mirrored building and then the brown one behind it was... pretty. And then in front is the skyway. The skyway is a glass-enclosed pedestrian bridges at the second floor level. It's over five miles in length and connects over 50 blocks of downtown. 'Cause it gets c-c-c-c-cold here you know!
Tonight we went to another vendor reception, Midwest Tapes. It was muuuuuuuuch better than last night's one by Overdrive. It was really a full dinner with drinks, desert, and a LOT more room to sit.

Lynne, Sheila and I are having a "flair" contest. You know, flair, from the movie "Office Space"? I figure if we have to be geeks to wear those huge ugly badges/lanyards, I'm going to fly my freak flag and embrace my tackiness! So...we're seeing who can put the most "stuff" on them! So far Sheila is winning...but not after tomorrow!!!! :)

PLA!

2008-03-26T18:53:00.000-07:00

Well, we arrived in Minnesota. PLA is exciting so far. Of course we've only seen the exhibit hall and gone to the Overdrive reception...but pretty good so far. Here are a couple pictures, but check my PLA gallery for all our pictures. More will be added as the days go by. Here's Sheila, the national conference virgin, checking in.

At the entrance to the exhibit hall there was a polka band playing! It was GREAT!!!!!! :)

And perhaps the best thing we've seen so far is the cart escalator at the 2 story target store across the street from our hotel.

Off to the land of ice and snow...

2008-03-25T15:13:00.000-07:00

I leave at 4:45 tomorrow morning for the Public Library Association's annual conference, this year in Minneapolis. It's going to be fun! There are quite a few programs I want to see, and Minneapolis looks interesting too. The conference is Wednesday-Saturday. I'm flying home Monday, 'cause flying home Sat or Sunday was about $200 more expensive! So instead Sheila and I are flying back Monday and going to go to the Mall of America on Sunday.

I'm not really that interested in shopping...I want to see the aquarium and the indoor amusement park and all that! I will do some shopping though...I want new knee-high boots. I will do some blogging from the conference. Minneapolis in March, here I come!

Hoppy Easter!

2008-03-23T20:31:00.001-07:00

Every year my friend Cheryl hosts an Easter brunch, and it's always TONS of fun. Great food, good drinks (although this year we only managed to finish off eight bottles of champagne, whereas we finished off eleven bottles at Easter last year), and great friends. It's too bad we didn't have it Saturday... it was such a nice warm day. Oh well, we love it inside or out. Here are just a couple pictures. To see the rest check here.

Lynne, who couldn't be here got Cheryl this lovely Easter wreath to greet us at the door. I guess she got it at an action at the Oregon Library Association Board's retreat last year. LOVE IT! :) It's got eggs and feathers! I mean, how much better can you get! Hee hee. We did miss Jimmy and Lynne and the kids though.

Again, as usual Cheryl went crazy and made such amazing food! A turkey, a ham, this great vegetable dish, these fabulous beans, and fruit, veggies and dip, breads etc. Rachel brought her "famous" scalloped potatoes (which ROCK), Paige brought a quiche, and Colleen brought more fruit. Since we couldn't sit outside because of the weather we were a bit scrunched... but it all worked out perfectly. Here's April in the food line:

After dinner we played our usual card game, spoons. Know that one? Everyone gets four cards, and then you pick up and pass along cards that you don't want...the object is to get four of a kind, surreptitiously grab a spoon, and the last one to get a spoon "looses". Kinda like musical chairs but with cards and spoons. It came down to a showdown between Colleen and Kevin. Can you guess from this picture who won??? :)
However, in Cheryl's house no one is a looser...so the person each round that did not get a spoon, you get a prize! April and I choose the wind-up Peeps! they were so cute. We had Peeps races. Guess April just wanted her Peep to know who was who!

Sheila was trying to take a picture of one of the many candy bowls, but wound up taking this very cute video. The laugh that starts it off is Cheryl's awesome laugh! :)

Here chicky, chicky, chicky

2008-03-18T10:05:00.000-07:00

On our way to the Summit yesterday we saw these chicks in the window of Donner Flowers. They're there for EWaster, of course. They're SOOOO cute! I could sit and watch them for hours. That one lying down in the back isn't dead...we thought it was for a moment, but it woke up. He's just sleepy.

Had a good St Patricks. A couple beers and a ruben sandwich....it was nice.

Something BIG this way....went

2008-03-17T09:53:00.000-07:00

Sunday morning I went for a walk with Barrie and Izzy. We came across these HUGE paw prints in the muck! I mean HUGE! Izzy very considerately put her paw right beside the print so you can see the sizes. now, Izzy is a black lab. She's not small. Look at the size of those! Can't be cougar, since they retract their claws and this print has definite claw marks. I'm not sure Great Dane's or St Bernard's have paws that size...and bear feet are not that round. They're longer and more...well, more like our own footprints. What do you think it could be?

Izzy is SUCH a cutie! Here she is with all of the sticks I gave her. She felt she had to shred them. Silly girl.

We started our walk just past the Entrada Lodge and walked down to the river and then along the Deschutes River Trail for a ways. It was just gorgeous out. Nippy when we started but we were both sweating by the time we headed back. Simply gorgeous day.

Chugging along

2008-03-13T11:42:00.000-07:00

Well, I've done nothing exciting 'cause I've been sick. This cold has just tired me out! I did watch a great documentary called Double Dare, about two stunt women. It features Jeannie Epper, who was Wonder Woman's double and has been working as a stunt woman for over 50 years. She's currently in her late 60's and STILL working! The other woman they profile is Zoe Bell...who I think is just the bees knees! :) Yea, love her!

It's a very interesting movie. Talks a lot about the stunt/movie industry, what it takes to make it and what it takes to make it as a female in such a male dominated field. The Eppers are evidently the Flying Waldendas of movie stunts.

My book club just finished reading Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky. The book was....ok, pretty good but not AMAZING! However, the story around the life of Irene Nemirovsky is! In 1942 when she wrote Suite Francaise she was already a well-recognized and regarded author in France. She was a Russian Jew, so was arrested and taken to to Auschwitz where she soon died. Even though she had converted to Catholicism in 1939! Her husband fought to get her out, without realizing that she was already dead. In response to his requests they arrested him too, sent him to Auschwitz where he was executed immediately. :( So sad. but their two daughters survived and had with them the manuscript for Suite Francaise. It's a fascinating story.

For Sylvia....

2008-03-05T10:42:00.001-08:00

I made an appointment for the 14th! :P

Weekend visit

2008-03-03T20:41:00.001-08:00

Well, I had a great weekend with my parents...other than being sick, that is! :) They arrived Thursday and left this morning. We had a really good visit. Friday I took the day off work and we went skiing. This was my first downhill skiing since my surgeries. I only did 5 runs, because I didn't want to overdo it. I did two runs before lunch and then three after. I could have done a couple more, but I was also happy with what I did do.

The rest of the time I spent in the lodge reading and doing crossword puzzles. I was getting sick, and I could feel the work my legs were doing, so I was happy to rest. Then Saturday my cold got pretty bad so I spent the day on the couch and in bed and my parents went snowshoeing. They had a great time! Wish I'd been able to go with them. Then Sunday we just hung out and went on a walk. I still feel pretty rough, but I'm hoping I'm on the mend. I don't feel like I am...but I hope I am! :)

Last week I got some more catnip and it came with this plastic ball with holes in it. So you put the catnip in the ball and the cats go crazy over it. I gave it to them on Sunday, and pretty soon, guess where it wound up...

Beading class

2008-02-25T13:11:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I taught my second beading class at the Bend library. It went, if possible, even better than the first one. I had 24 attendees and 9 people on the waiting list. Everyone enjoyed themselves, learned something new and 6 of the women have already signed up for the workshop I'm having in Sunriver on March 15. :) I love teaching, and I especially love teaching people how to bead!

Saturday I did manage to get out for a walk, despite the tightness in my legs. I haven't been particularly happy with them the last couple weeks. They're still REALLY tight, and still hurt when I walk or now that I'm trying to start running. But despite that we walked the River Trail from up on Aubrey Butte back towards town. It was just gorgeous! It was quite warm and the sun was out. Now many clouds in the sky...just perfect.

This week seems to be my doctor or physical body work week! I'm seeing my massage therapist today for what I am sure will be a very painful leg massage, tomorrow I see a specialist at the Center for my hand/wrist/arm, then go from there to my acupuncturist who is working on both legs and arm...more legs the last week. Then Wednesday I see a different massage therapist to do some more specific work on my arm.

My New Year's resolution is to NOT have surgery this year...and I plan on keeping that resolution! :)

My parents are coming to visit on Thursday and they're staying until Monday. That's a long time for them. Now that my dad retired they can come for longer. We're planning on skiing Friday, then snowshoe Saturday and just hang our Sunday. They'll drive home Monday. AND I'll get daily...or twice daily leg passages. Ahhhh. :)

The Goose came back, the very next day...

2008-02-10T13:32:00.000-08:00

You know that song The Cat Came Back the Very Next Day? Here's a link to a video done for it. I loved it as a kid.

Anyway, that ceramic goose I got in the New Year's White Elephant? I took it with my to the BBC ExCom holiday party and gave it away for that. After all the opening and stealing...I wound up getting it back! Well, there was NO way I was going to take it home with me. So I hid it in Cate and Josh's . That's where we had the party. Hee hee hee. She eventually found it and laughed her ass off.

Well, this morning a friend came to pick something up, I was standing on the doorstep talking to her and what do I see? What the hell is that????I look closer....
IT'S THE FREAKING CERAMIC GOOSE!!! Or duck. Whatever it is. Evidently Cate had come over when I was not here and hid it in the snowbank. It's been there for about 4 days. The snow finally melted enough that I saw it. Funny, funny, funny. :)

Puppy Bowl IV!

2008-02-03T15:18:00.000-08:00

I LOVE THE PUPPY BOWL! :) I'm not really a football fan, so instead I'm watching Animal Planet's Puppy Bowl IV. It's not a Canadian thing that I don't enjoy football...there are many Canadians that are American football crazy. It's just me. I didn't grow up watching football...and it holds no interest for me whatsoever. Football, baseball, basketball...whatever. I'd rather watch Puppy Bowl! :)

I think these two were my favourites. The first one is a Corgi mix named Bria and the other is an unknown mixed breed named Scuba. Look at those ears! Hee hee hee.
I'm not sure I can say that...they're all so cute!!!! The great thing about Puppy Bowl...other than it's histerical to watch, is that all of the dogs (and the kittens in the halftime show) are from shelters, and there is info on the Animal Planet website about adopting these and other dogs. If you didn't get a chance to see it since you were busy watching the super Bowl, check oput the videos on the Animal Planet page.

Today I also made cream of mushroom soup (yummy) and this great Mousaka! I haven't had Mousaka in a very long time. It toos a while, since you need to roast the eggplant, then make the meat mixture, then the sauce, put it all together and bake...but it was worth it. I made two, so one's going in the freezer for another day.

Snow, upon snow, upon snow!

2008-02-01T13:59:00.000-08:00

Yesterday the Sunriver library didn't open. It was snowing like crazy here. The schools were closed, which is always an indicator to us that we should not be open either. So it snowed ALL day in Sunriver. And this is what it looked like this morning.

There was an ever so small break in the snow, and now it's back to heavy snow. I mean HEAVY! In this picture you can see that the snow and roof meet! Because it's so pitched, it slides off as soon as it's too heavy. Which is great because it doesn't overburden the roof. But bad because you get this wall of snow!

In fact, this is the view from our staff workroom, out to the entryway and parking lot. Can you see the liiiiiitle sliver of daylight up there on the top right? :)

Even in the spots that are not where snow is falling off the the snow is a good 3 feet deep. It's supposed to continue like this for another 3-4 days.

New Shoes!

2008-01-30T10:49:00.000-08:00

I finally got my new running shoes. Oooh, aren't they pretty? :)

They're very pink. Not my first pick, but I can embrace my inner pink. They don't look quite so pink on my feet, and once I start running outside...they won't be pink anymore. Or white. Hee hee. So tomorrow morning it's off to the gym to start my training schedule. I'm so excited!

Work, work and more work....

2008-01-28T10:15:00.000-08:00

I don't feel like I've done anything since I went snowshoeing! Last week we had our management retreat, which was great, but it was a lot of work. The DPL managers met off-site and hashed out our priorities for this year etc. It's energizing while you're doing it, but once we were done...I was exhausted. And then Saturday I had the Human Dignity Coalition annual Board retreat, which again was an all-day goal-setting session. I'm really excited. We've got some amazing things planned for this year. This is a great non-profit organization. If you're looking for a way to give back to the C.O. community, this is a great way. Then Sunday I had to work...and this week I'm working 10 hour shifts because I have a staff member on vacation. All of which is fine...but I am feeling a tad burned out.

I did however get some pictures of Kai learning to ski. Both Randal and I learned to ski really early. Here's my mom teaching me to ski on Silver Star. We used to go there every year when I was really little for a week or so. The rest of the winter we skied Whistler and Grouse.
Not sure where this is, but I think it may just be at a local park in North Vancouver. He's so cute!

Oopsie! I love how Cito just lies there in the background. Not at all concerned. Hee hee.

Live for every moment

2008-01-20T20:19:00.000-08:00

Wow, what a filled weekend I just had! Friday night the Bella Executive Committee had our holiday party. Like last year, we did a white elephant exchange. Last year I got the fish. This year....I got back what I brought! :) I took the white goose cookie jar I got at the New Year's white elephant that we did. Dave opened that one...but then at the end, he stole what I had, SO I HAD IT BACK!!!!! But no worries, I stashed it in Cate and Josh's shower. Hee hee. No way was I bringing that thing home.

On Saturday I went to a memorial for the husband of one of the Bellas. I didn't know him, but I sure wish I had. It was so sad...but at the same time it was great. There were so many people there that loved both of them, and EVERYONE talked about what a great guy he was. He lived life to the fullest every single moment. They did a slide show in honor of him and I'd say that 98% of them were outside. And in every one he had this enormous smile. So I decided that perhaps he should be my muse. He can't be here anymore to love life and take advantage of the beauty around us, so I will. The best way to honor his memory is to try and live like he would have.

So, to do that we went bowling! :) It really was super fun. I suck...but I had a great time. And I even learned something. I've been holding the bowling ball the wrong way my whole life!!!! I've been using my thumb and then those first two fingers. Um...no. You're supposed to use your thumb and then the second and third fingers. Who knew? :) Once I did that...well, I didn't get any better, but it sure felt better. We'll go back soon and I'm gonna ROCK! Hee hee. Sheila won one game, Chris one, and Barrie one. But if we'd played a fourth game I would have one it! Yea, no. But I'm being positive.

This morning Barrie and I went for a great snowshoe. It had snowed there last night, so there was a nice layer of soft snow. It was just gorgeous.

We did the loop out to Meisner out to the Meisner shelter and then back. It was about 3.5 miles, and again, no leg pain!!! :) I did have some foot pain, but that was from my orthotics and the non-flexing shoes. But it was still great. It was just amazing, and wonderful to be outside after the memorial on Saturday and the revelations I had.

It's been snowing most of the day. It's beautiful. :)

Night snowshoe

2008-01-17T17:49:00.000-08:00

Last night I went on a night snowshoe with the Bend Bellas. It was fun! :) And I was very happy with how my legs felt. I mean, I hurt...but it had nothing to do with the compartment syndrome or surgery. I'm just soooooo out of shape. That, and I wore the wrong socks and boots. My socks slipped down and bunched up against my leg right where they'd start rubbing. It was kinda ouchy, but I made it. And I feel great today and I managed to do it. HOORAY!!!!!

It was dark out there, but still light enough that you didn't have to use a headlamp. Anyway, Julie fell a bit back behind the others with me (I was having trouble going as fast as the others) and we were just using my light. Then all of a sudden this "THING" leaped screaming out of the bushes at us. OMG I almost had a heart attack! I think you could probably hear my scream a mile away. It was stupid Heidi! It made her laugh so hard I think she may have peed her pants. After I recovered I pushed her in the snowbank. This is kinda what she looked like...

It scared the living beep out of me! It scared me so much I almost cried. You know that feeling? Sigh. It doesn't help that I am kinda scared of the dark.

Anyway, it was fun. Speaking of snow, this is a picture taken of the area in front of the Sunriver library, where I work. This was a week and a half ago, so we have even more now. We can barely see out of the staff room windows! :)

Time passes

2008-01-15T14:02:00.000-08:00

Wow, I really haven't been very good at updating, have I? :) Oh well. Not much new with me. I've spent the last couple weeks re-arranging my upstairs rooms. I decided I wanted the bigger room for the bedroom. I initially took the smaller room, because it has a porch. But I can still use the porch if it's off the "office." And the bigger room is so nice and bright!

I also got a new bed frame and a new dresser. Oh yea, and something cool, a combo mirror and jewelry keeper. I just love it.
It's taken me quite a while to get it all organized though. And I'm trying to organize my office so that I have some good space to work in. I have a ton of big projects at work coming up, and then with the Bend Bella Cyclists we have a lot going on, and this year I'm the race director for Pickett's Charge, a mt bike race here in Bend in June. Ulp! Organization is my focus this year. For any women in Bend, come on out and snowshoe with us tomorrow, Wednesday night. We're going to meet at PMS at 6:00 and go night snowshoeing. HOORAY! :)

Oh yea, and did I say that my goal for this year is to do the sprint distance of the Deschutes Dash? I'm excited, but a bit scared. I've never done a triathlon before...hell, I've never run before!!!!! :) I'm starting a program that within 13 weeks will have me running 10k. We only have to do half of that for the sprint distance. I'm going to be training with a couple friends, which always makes it easier. We'd love to have a cheering section at the finish line! :) I know that some people say they could roll out of bed and do a sprint tri...well, I can't! For me this is going to be a big deal. I've never been able to run before! Maybe for the Dash I'll "decorate" my legs to accentuate the scars....

On a sad note, I found out yesterday the husband of one of the women I know from the Bellas died skiing on Mt Bachelor Sunday. My heart really goes out to her and their families. He was only 27. Way too young. It's so important to tell the people that you love, that you love them. Things happen so quickly. None of us want to live with regrets about what we said or did not say. So, to take something positive from his death...make sure you live you life the way you would want to be remembered, and tell people how much you mean to them.

Happy New Year! :)

2008-01-02T21:35:00.001-08:00

I had a nice quiet New Years with some friends. New Years has always been my least favourite holiday, but the last couple have been pretty good. It's been a hectic holiday season, so I was happy to just go to a house party with a couple friends from work.

As usual, we did out annual tin pouring tradition. My friend Liisa introduced it to me when I moved here seven years ago. You melt some tin, pour it into a bucket of cold water and it makes a shape. You can then "tell your future" from looking at the shape etc. It's just fun. Here are a couple people melting some tin.
That water is c-c-c-c-cold! It had been sitting outside for a couple hours, so we had to break the ice that had formed. Here I am pulling my piece out. Mine always comes out long...lots of people's this year were much more compact. Colleen's looked like a wing! Evidently I don't pour mine quick enough, so that's why it turns out in the long shape.

Then before midnight we did a white elephant exchange. Ana's was fun. She got PMS Detergent, and Bitch and White Trash Detergent. Hee hee hee. It supposed to be bubble bath...but they really did smell more like real powdered laundry detergent. Ugh, I don't think Ana should use it.

And me, I got a gorgeous ceramic duck cookie jar. Whooeee! :) OMG it's just hideous.

I did have a good time though. Then I spent New Years Day putting together a dresser I bought and switching my bedroom to the bigger room I have. I got tired of the same room...I like change!!!!! :) I went through almost all of my storage boxes and ruthlessly weeded out the things I don't need. Right now I have...let's see...seven boxes of stuff for Goodwill and then there were four boxes of complete crap that I threw away.

A nice start to the new year, cleaning up and getting rid of debris that I don't need or want anymore. Out with the old, in with the new, right? :)

Over the hill and through the woods.....

2007-12-29T10:47:00.000-08:00

...not to Grandma's house we go, but home! The drive was very long. I started at 7:30 am, spent over an hour at the border crossing, then had to go veeeeery slowly over Mt Hood. I probably would have been faster going down to The Dalles and up Hwy 197. But I didn't know. This is how the pass was all the way. Actually, this was one of the better sections. I was ok going slow, I felt safe. But it just made for a long day.

As soon as I got home the kitties wanted to go outside. They don't like being inside all the time, and they'd been inside for six days...so out they went. They came back in after just a little while, since it was snowing hard. But they were just happy to get out! :)

Merry Christmas!

2007-12-25T22:50:00.000-08:00

well, I'm home in Vancouver for Christmas. The drive up was pretty good, but slow due to weather and a couple accidents. Christmas eve we had immediate family, plus Syl and Spiro, of course. Here's a picture of the creche I made for my mom back in...wow, maybe 1983 or '84? There's not one more like it in the world! :) It was Smurfs, Terracotta warriors, llamas, Perivuan china bull, crystal turtle and more! We still put it up every year. It's SO vanEijnsbergen!!!! :)
Syl and Spiro came, like always, with their brand new baby. She is just GORGEOUS! I am biased, but she is gorgeous. we had a really good time, and were so happy that they came. Like I've said before, Syl has spent more Christmas Eve's at my house than I have since 1986 when I met her. She has not missed one! And this year with a 6-week old, they were there. So special.

Here's mom and Kai watching the Santa candle merry-go-round. He's a pretty good kid. Very cute. My parent's camera has some even better pictures. I'll upload those when I get 'em from them.
And here's mom looking at the destruction in the living room after we finished opening our presents. Big job cleaning that one up!

Today, Christmas Day we went to my aunt and uncle's house in Langley for Christmas Day dinner. My cousins were also there, and we had a lot of fun. We had a rather nontraditional Christmas meal, paella. But it was amazing. There are two dishes, 'cause it had shellfish, so that one on the left is for me, without shellfish. I'm allergic...

Along with the paella they ALSO had crab legs. Hee hee. I thought they looked hilarious.

Here's the feast. Unfortunately 'cause of the way the room is set up I could not get back far enough to get everyone in. Too bad.

It's been a good Christmas so far. We're having an "open house" tomorrow and then I head home Thursday. Hooray! :)

Nothing's new...

2007-12-19T07:15:00.000-08:00

I haven't been updating 'cause nothing has been happening! :) My legs are healing slowly, but they still swell something awful. I've been trying to do some really gentle spinning at home, alternated with leg and ab exercises. I'm also trying to remember to take it easy and not get to anxious. I'm sure I'll heal in leaps and bounds in the new year.

I'm heading up to Vancouver on Sunday to spend Christmas with my family. I'm looking forward to it. I have to work Saturday for one of my staff, or else I'd head up sooner. Another of my staff fell off a ladder yesterday...I really hope he's well enough to work.

Other than that, the Bend Bella Cyclists Executive Committee had a cookie exchange at our monthly meeting, so I've got lots of great cookies. Too many really, so I'll be giving some away and taking some home.

Surf's up

2007-12-10T18:48:00.000-08:00

Wow, I haven't updated in a while! That's probably since not much is happening. I've started back swimming...but I can only do about 15-20 minutes of very slooooow laps. Well, it's more like one length, stop and tread water for a minute, another length and rest...but it's a start, right? :)

It is going well, but I'm still only allowed to work 20 hours per week at the branch. I can work from home though. The incisions look really good, except there is some dimpling around a couple of the stitch marks on my left leg. Can you see the dimpling...and no, that's not cellulite!!!! :P My legs still get tired pretty quickly and they swell too. So I'm wearing super sexy compression stockings for another couple weeks to help with that. I'm hoping the dimpling is just because of swelling.

Since I am only working part-time, I watched Surf's Up today. It's really actually super sweet. More than that, it's good. I enjoyed it very much and highly recommend it...even to those that don't watch kids movies! :)

Stitches out...

2007-11-29T21:39:00.000-08:00

I'm so glad, the last of the stitches are out! Hooray! I still don't get to take a bath until Saturday... but it's nice to not have to wrap my legs anymore. I've started back to work, but only part-time. It's amazing how much my legs still swell and how tired I get, despite having my legs up at work as much as possible. And my poor little legs are SO dry!

Oh well, soon enough it'll be all healed and back to biking, hiking, swimming and skiing! :)

I had something else I was going to say, but now I can't remember what it was....

Happy Thanksgiving!

2007-11-22T12:55:00.000-08:00

Happy Turkey Day everyone! :) Let's see...what am I thankful for? Everything, but especially that I can finally walk around the house without pain. Whoohoo!!!!! I see the doc tomorrow morning for my 10 day check up. We'll see if they want to take out the stitches. I hope so, so that I can take a shower. Ick, 10 days without a shower or bath...not too fun. So here I am a couple days ago getting ready for my leg/foot massage. My mom was a PT, so I got lots of nice massages. They really are feeling much better, but there are some odd twinges, and my left leg down at the bottom is numb.

My mom headed out this morning. She probably would have left a day or two ago, but she was nervous about the weather on the pass. Looked clear today. It really was great having her here. Not only did I get massages, but I got to see the pictures of Mexico!!! I got to see what I missed. :) My cat Loki decided that she LOVES my mom. I've never seen her all over someone like that. She's usually really shy, but she was seriously ALL OVER my mom! If we were sitting down she chose mom's lap over me. Now that's unusual.

My mom had never seen any of the Harry Potter movies, so we watched #1-4 while she was here. She really enjoyed them and wants to read one of them. Hee hee.

Welcome Vahla!

2007-11-16T08:46:00.001-08:00

One of my best friends Sylvia and her husband Spiro had their first child this weekend. Her name is Vahla Elyse and she's just BEAUTIFUL! I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. Here's Spiro with Vahla on day one.
Syl and Vahla at home.
And I LOVE this one, Vahla and their dog Twitch. Twitch is SUCH a "mother" dog...you can already see how much she loves her new baby! :) I can't wait to meet her in person. I was supposed to go up this weekend, as Syl's sister Serena is getting married, but since I'm on bed rest that can't happen. Oh well...Christmas.

Pictures of the incisions

2007-11-14T23:49:00.000-08:00

Ok, I decided to not post the pictures here, 'cause I know some of you are complete wussies! :) But I've made a Flickr gallery of both surgeries. The ones from this surgery are at the end. See, lost longer and they're going to scar really good!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/chandravan/sets/72157603189421875/

Home from Surgery

2007-11-14T09:23:00.000-08:00

I spent the weekend setting everything up in my house for when I came back from surgery. I decided to rent a hospital bed, since getting up of the air mattress on the floor was difficult enough last time. I also shopped...I don't think you could fit one more thing in my freezer or cupboards! :) But I got it all set up to my satisfaction, and it's pretty good if I do say so myself.

My surgery was scheduled for 12:20 on Monday, which meant no food after midnight and no fluids...nothing, after 6:30 am. Heidi and Derek took me to the hospital at 10:50, I checked in, had my pre-op blood taken and all that. Then I sat and waited for the nurse to come take me back to the surgery area. And I wait...and wait...and wait. Finally at 1:00 I asked one of the admitting nurses. She checked and found out that Dr Smith was really behind. She'd had some serious complications with her first surgery and everything was behind.

So they sent me out to wander around, but gave me a pager. They'd page me when Dr Smith was ready. All I could smell everywhere I went was the cafeteria. I was SOOOO hungry and thirsty. But I still could not have anything. I sat in the lobby and did crossword puzzles. Finally I got beeped at about 3:50. They took me back, but by the time I actually got into surgery it was about 5:30.

The surgery went well, but my coming out of the anesthesia was a little more difficult than last time. I was really nauseous, so I had to stay until I felt ok. The nurse opened up an antiseptic wipe and used that as smelling salts. Worked really well! :) By the time Barrie and Kate were able to take me home it was after 9:00. I spent the night there and I gotta tell ya, they really took care of me! :) Here I am on the couch just after getting there. Icing. The doc wants me to wear those soft casts/walking casts on both legs. At the hospital the pants I had wouldn't go over the big boots, so they game me some scrubs. Hee hee.

This time around, it's much more painful! Dr Smith warned me that it probably would be, since she did two muscles in each leg not just one. Well, she was right. OMG! Last time on day two I could do a little walking...sure as a hobble, but I could do it. This time I can shuffle a foot or two...but only if I'm holding on to something. Sigh. This was me yesterday morning.

My mom is going to come down and take care of me on Thursday or Friday. I'm looking forward to that...some times you just need your mommy to come take care of ya! :) So that's my update for today.

Getting ready

2007-11-10T10:20:00.000-08:00

So, this weekend is all about getting ready to sit on my ass for a couple weeks! :) I decided to rent a hospital bed, instead of sleeping on the air mattress. It was really really difficult to get up! I had to turn over, crawl to the couch or wall and then find some way to haul myself up. Someone suggested a hospital bed...duh!!! It's $170/month and my insurance will pay for 80% of it. It's electric, so I can put my feet or head up, and best of all, getting out of it will be so much easier! :) It was delivered yesterday and I think I got the room set up pretty well.

So, today is shopping and getting all the things I'm going to need. Tomorrow is cleaning, cooking so that I don't really have to for the first several days, and then arranging everything close to the bed. Everything within arms reach...

No heel surgery needed

2007-11-03T13:07:00.000-07:00

I saw the podiatrist yesterday and I don't need to have that bone fragment removed. In fact, she thinks it's incidental to the pain. What there was, was a huge abscess inside my heel. For whatever reason. I have a hard time believing that it would have nothing to do with the bone spur...but then again I didn't go to medical school! :) She still says it' a really good thing I didn't go on the Mexico trip, as it probably would have gotten really bad. So all I have to do is continue taking antibiotics for another 2-3 weeks and all shuld be well. If it happens again she said they'd go in and do a fasciotomy at that spot to relieve the pressure.

As for my other fasciotomies...they're booked for Monday Nov 12. Hooray! :) It'll be amazing to have it all done and have legs that don't hurt anymore!!!!

Surgery #1 scheduled...

2007-10-31T07:10:00.000-07:00

I saw Dr Smith yesterday and she agreed that we should go in and do the compartment release surgery for the backs of my calves. Two muscles in each leg, but she things she can do them through one incision. It'll be a bigger...or, well, a longer one anyway, than the one in the front. But since we now know everything I'm allergic to (knock on wood!) the healing process should be really fast.

I see Dr Schweger on Friday after my MRI today and that'll tell us if they need to go in and remove that bone fragment. Dr Smith did say that if I do need surgery they'll do their best to arrange them to be at the same time. The fewer times I have to go under general anesthesia the better! So if that does need surgery that'll be five surgical scars on my legs. If it does require two incisions on each leg for the compartments that'll be seven! Oh well, so long as they heal! :)

What a weekend!

2007-10-28T20:41:00.000-07:00

Friday I did manage to get into the podiatrist. They scheduled me for an MRI this Wednesday and sent me home with anti-inflamatories and instructions to STAY OFF my feet as much as possible. During the day my foot got progressively more painful, to the point where by the evening all I wanted to do was lie there and cry. I took three percocet...and it took the pain down from an8/9 to about a 6...for an hour! That's it! I only slept maybe 30 minutes total Friday night. I spent most of it either sitting on the couch rocking back and forth trying to ease the pain, or lying on the kitchen floor curled up..except for my leg, and crying.

Not a great night. I thought about going to the emergency room...but didn't. I did call BMC Urgent Care though. If they'd been open at night I would have gone. But they opened at 8:00. So at 7:00 am I called Julie and asked her if she'd drive me there. She did...and I spent the next five hours there. Sigh. It hurt SOOOOOO friggin' much! It was pretty obvious by then that there was something really wrong...more than just a simple bone spur. What's really funny is that it was the doc I saw over at the westside BMC that I also saw at the main clinic on Sat! :)

He came into the room, asked me what I was doing there, looked at my foot and said "Oh, that's not good!" It was quite swollen and red. He thought that there was probably a big infection along with the bone spur. So, he sent me off for a CAT scan...but it wouldn't be as effective, 'cause I'm allergic to the contrast dye. But anyway, we did it, did a ton of labs and yes, there is infection and inflammation in the tissue around the bone spur. Not really surprising.

So...he sent me home...finally, with antibiotics and more percocet and further instructions to stay off the foot as much as it hurts. So anyway, I spent the rest of the day resting. I wasn't planning on going to the drag show, but when everyone showed up for our pre-drag show drinks...I changed my mind. Everyone just looked so great all dressed up, and I knew it'd be a blast...so I went! :)

Here I am strapping on my boot. I went as Bad Kitty...again. I really wanted to go as Columbia, but the costume is just too complicated with a walking cast and crutches.
So it was myself, Ana, Julie, Barrie, Kate and Paige that went together. April wasn't going to go, but wound up going with some derby girls. Wish I'd gotten some pictures of them too. So here we are at the drag show. Most people were dressed up. This is me, Paige as the pixie and Julie as a 1800's brothel madam.
This guy was quite...ah, interesting! :) He and his girlfriend were in "matching" costumes and spent a lot of time making out. LOL. There was another guy that came dressed up as Snow White. They were both great!

See, I did have my crutches! I used them when I was walking around. After the show, I did "dance" without them...but by then the percocet and two drinks definitely dulled the pain. Hee hee. Luckily though, I really think the anti-inflamatories and antibiotics were starting to work 'cause they already felt better...and continued to feel better Sat night and all day today.
As aways, Poison Water was EXCELLENT! Those ladies are amazing. And so funny too! :) Here they are introducing themselves.
I do have quite a few from the show, but you'll have to check out my Flickr site for them. Julie was killing me! She's such a....librarian! :) Hee hee hee hee.

Then after the show the chairs were all taken out and the dancing began!

I hung out and danced for a while, but I knew I shouldn't push it. So Barrie and Kate took me home. I wanted to stay longer, but it's good I went when we did. It was almost midnight by the time we got home, so it's not like we left early! :) I'd set my bed up on the main floor 'cause I just could not handle the stairs another night. But I had Ana's keys, so I stayed up for them. They eventually rolled in around 1:00...stayed until after 2:00 trying on various other costumes I have. I've got quite a few good ones! :) The whole night was a complete blast.

Then today, Sunday, I slept pretty much ALL day. Not 'cause of last night, but just because I was so tired! Not sleeping at all Friday night, and then all the stress and pain of the last three days just caught up to me. I crashed today. So, Tues I see Dr Smith about getting the compartment release surgery done earlier, then Wed I have the MRI for my foot and then see the podiatrist again Friday to talk about what we should do. So...we'll see.

I'm still very sad to not be going to Mexico!

THIS !$^!!^#& SUCKS!!!!

2007-10-25T10:39:00.000-07:00

Well, for those of you who don't know yet, I won't be going to Mexico on my trek that I've been looking forward to for the last 10 months. Sigh. Last night the side of my foot down by my heel was sore to the touch, but not to walk on. This morning when I tried to get out of bed I couldn't put any weight on it at all!

So I headed off to the new BMC clinic over on the west side. I was hoping maybe it was a spider bite or something. Maybe a bone bruise. I haven't fallen or hit my foot on anything...at least not that I can remember. They took x-rays and the doc came back in and asked if I wanted to go look at my x-ray with him. I figured that wasn't a good sign. Sure enough, it wasn't.

I have a bone spur that's snapped off. So I'm in a walking cast and on crutches for a couple weeks. I have to go see a podiatrist to see if there's anything they can do about it, and why I'm having bone spurs anyway. The doc figured I'm a bit young for how big it was. Sigh. This really sucks!!! I asked him if I could hike on my walking boot. He just looked at me like I was insane. I'm still holding out hope that maybe the podiatrist can work a miracle by next Tuesday... you know, in five days. Not likely.

On the bright side, I guess it's better that it happened here than in the canyons of Copper Canyon. Our guide said that they have to shoot horses that break their legs 'cause there's really no way to get them out. The nearest medical services are like 500 miles away. I'm trying to find the silver linings. Oh yea, and I was probably going to have surgery again in December to release the muscles on the back of my calves...I'll see if I can get in to see the surgeon sooner and maybe have the surgery now, while I'm going to be off anyway!

THIS SUCKS!!!!!!

One of these things is not like the other...

2007-10-22T19:31:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I shared my experience of picking up the wrong cat...thinking it was Dread, but it was actually McCormick, a cat from down the street. Well, now you can see how alike they look. So...which one is which?
Do you see how I could get them mixed up?

On Sunday Barrie and I and another Bella, Alex, tried to ride from Swampy down to Bend. We'd been planning it for almost a month, 'cause it was the first free weekend in a while. Well... it snowed Friday and Saturday. We went up there and look... SNOW! It was c-c-c-c-cold! We tried it though...headed out on the trail. But it just wasn't fun. We couldn't go very fast and the thought of the downhills in that snow was freaking me out a bit. Look at the snow!
Instead,we drove back down Cascade Lakes Hwy and rode Storm King over to Whoops and down. It may not have been the ride we intended, but it was tons of fun! :) Absolutely gorgeous day, perfect riding weather. And, we got to try the new whoops that COTA obviously had worked on the day before. They're fun...but a lot bigger than they were!

It's hard to take a picture of the back of your leg...

2007-10-18T09:19:00.000-07:00

This last weekend...possibly the last nice weekend for a while, was the last official Bella ride of the season. I've been sick, but I really wanted to go. It was probably a mistake. We carpooled up to the Skyliner trailhead and the conversatonal ride did the Skyliner Trail. It's a lot of fun! Rolling trail through the trees, a couple of fun log piles, and eventually it takes you to the top of lower Whoops. I had to turn around about 3/4 or the way though. I was having bike issues, and wasn't feeling good. My chest hurt and I just wasn't gettting enough air.

WEll...on my way back, I took a header coming INTO THE PARKING LOT! How embarassing. Of course there were about 25 people there watching. Sheesh. There was a parked car I was trying to avoid, but hit a sand pit instead. My wheel turned and stopped dead sending me over and into a big bolder sitting there. As my knee smashed into the rock my right leg ripped down my chain ring. I stood there hunched over thinking "I've broken my kneecap and ripped my calf open to the muscle!" I didn't but it hurt like a son-of-a-bitch! This is what it looked like Monday. It's really hard to take a picture of the back of your own leg...
Monday was the annual Central Oregon Regional Library Conference. At one of the sessions we learned all about DDR, Dance Dance Revolution and Guitar Hero. What fun! :) Here's April showing us how it's done.

Loki wanted a little venison

2007-10-12T08:34:00.000-07:00

I was feeling pretty rough again yesterday so I came home to lay on the couch. Now, it's pretty common for the deer to wander down my street and eat the trees in my "front yard." I was on the couch, look up and there are five deer wandering across the road. Two of them are pretty big with large antlers. Oh well, nothing new. Then I look closer and see that Loki is creeping up on them! Here she is still being a bit shy. It's not just her though! Can you see the fluffy white Persian behind the bushes? They were soooooo curious!

The next thing I know Loki's come out from behind the "protection" of the bushes and creeping up behind the BIGGEST of the deer. She was stalking him like she would stalk a bird. Finally he turned to look at her...and she froze. I like how she looks away from him to show him she's no danger. LOLOLOL like the deer would actually be scared of her! :)
When he looked away again she creeps closer, closer, closer. She was ALMOST at his heels...then I don't know what scared her, but she turned tail and RAN! :)

It was very funny.

Sick as a dog

2007-10-08T13:11:00.000-07:00

Why do we use that phrase? What does sick as a dog really mean? Well, whatever it means, I've been sick and stuck on the couch all weekend. After a while you get sick of chicken noodle soup and tea. I've had nothing to do, so I've been watching movies.

If you have not seen This Film Is Not Yet Rated yet, you SHOULD!!!! It's so good! It's all about the MPAA movie rating system created by Jack Vallenti. Wow, is it ever a secretive group and process. It's FASCINATING!!!!

I think everyone should see it. Don't get me wrong, I do think the movie ratings may be useful at some times, but we need to take them with a grain of salt. It's so arbitrary and...really, unfair to a lot of movies. There is NO written criteria of what makes a movie NC-17 or R. One of the people interviewed made a good point - if it's the only system available it may...MAY be better than nothing. But then again, maybe not.

Oh, you'll just have to watch it. It's insane! It's a more secretive group than the CIA!

Fall River

2007-10-03T07:00:00.000-07:00

Saturday I went for a smaller hike with April and Julia. It was just lovely! I've driven past Fall River, on Hwy 40, but I'd never seen it. So last weekend I decided to go do the hike along the banks of the river. It was a relatively easy hike...but I just need miles right now! :) Here's the day use area...look how clear the water is! I bet it's fabulous in the summer.

And there's a lovely bridge that goes over the river. The trail is on this side, but on the other is a short walk to a bench with a great view of the river. Have I said yet that is was just lovely? :)

We came across this interesting tree root. It's huge too. It's taller than I am! :) All it needed was a marmot or something poking his head out.

Poor Dread

2007-10-01T13:37:00.000-07:00

Poor Dready. Here's the latest in the saga of my cats. Nothing really bad has happened since last year when Loki broke her leg. But they're like children...something is always going to go wrong. Here he is in one of his favourite spots. Alright, so here's what happened....

I haven't been sleeping well again the last couple weeks. Thursday night the cats come in, everything looks fine and we head off to bed. About 2:30 I give up the ghost on being able to sleep so go downstairs and read and watch tv. BTW, really nothing on at 3:00am!!!! By about 4:30 I figure I need to try again and go back upstairs. As I'm getting into bed Dread sits up and he's soaking wet all down his chest. The blanket under him is also soaking wet. He's drooling like a maniac and can't close his mouth. He tried to lick my hand, but can just bump his nose up against it.

It takes me a good five minutes to see what's wrong, 'cause of course he doesn't WANT me futzing around with his mouth. It's ouchy! What I see is this HUGE gash across his tongue. It's cut about 1/2 way up, and about 1/2 way through...sideways. It looks painful! I took him into the vet on Friday and sure enough, he needed surgery to repair his tongue.

While the vet was in there they discovered he'd also cracked a tooth. They had to put him out completely (can you imagine stitching a cat's tongue while it's awake?!?!?!?!), and even though he was out, touching the tooth made him jump. So...tooth had to come out too. Boy, he wasn't a happy camper when he came home. They think that perhaps he had a seizure and bit his own tongue. He was fine when he came in and we can't think of anything else. He was sound asleep! He is getting older, so it's not impossible for him to have a seizure. Have I said "poor kitty"?

But he got good drugs! :) Saturday after I'd given him his evening dose, his pupils were SO dilated that you could not see any of the color. He just had these huge black eyes. Hee hee. Completely high kitty! Poor Dread. Oh yea, to make amtters worse, Loki hisses at him and won't even be in the same room with him. He's feeling crappy and his sisters rejects him. And mommy is shoving nasty things into his mouth...which already HURTS!!!! Poor kitty.

Hopefully he'll be better soon. I know that the picture below is pretty much what cats do...and that's what he's been doing all weekend....but lying in the sun and passed out after surgery are two different things!
I haven't taken a picture of him since the surgery...he's just so pathetic and I think the flash will freak him out. He's been really skittish and not happy. Imagine that! :) I spent most of Saturday making sure he was ok, but I did manage to get out for a hike with April and Julie. We went to Fall River which was BEAUTIFUL! I'll post those pictures later. Then Sunday I took Tyler to open skate at COISC and then joined Julie and Sheila for dinner...and I'm ashamed to admit it, the finale for Rock of Love. I've NEVER watched an episode...but spaghetti and wine conned me into it.

Last ride before the storm!

2007-09-27T19:32:00.000-07:00

Today was just gorgeous outside. 79 degrees, not a cloud in the sky. Tomorrow is supposed to be 52 degrees and rainy. Central Oregon weather is just SO changeable. So of course I had to get out into it! Barrie and I did a 2.5 hour ride. We went up Kent's, down Voodoo then Grand Slam and back to the trailhead. Maybe it should only have taken us 2 hours...but man, that trail KICKED MY ASS today! :) I psyched myself out on one section...and you know how it goes after you've psyched yourself out once...it just gets worse! I was just feeling a bit shaky and tired, so I knew I'd be sloppy. And I cannot afford to hurt myself badly before Mexico.

I had heard about the metal bike sculpture, but hadn't seen it. Well, here it is with Barrie in front. It's super cool!

Last night when I was driving home there was the most amazing moon. This picture doesn't do it justice in the least. Brilliant moon, clear sky with tinges of red...fabulous.

Maybe it was cause of the full moon that the raccoons were so weird last night! About 11:00 I hear this scrabbling on my porch and Dread comes flying in off the porch growling like crazy. So I close the door...and all of a sudden there are two raccoons. They definitely tried to get in! Sheesh. Makes me think that maybe I'll have to leave even the upper porch closed when I'm away. Poor kitties, no fresh air.

Tumalo Falls

2007-09-23T17:17:00.000-07:00

I love the Tumalo Falls loop. Julie and I did it today, took us about 3.5 hours for 6.8 miles. A bit slow...but ok for where I'm at physically at this point. It's SUCH a gorgeous hike that I have no problem taking it slow. There's the big waterfall down at the trailhead that everyone sees. But as you go up the trail it's just one waterfall after another. I think this is my favourite.
Here I am in front of a waterfall...it's just a different angle than the picture above. It's funny, when a hike goes uphill I always think of the "peak" as the half-way point of the hike. Well, on this trail it's definitely not! :) Only about 3/4 of the way around does it start to go downhill.
Funny, but I didn't really take any from that side! So here's one of Julie at one of the falls on the way up. It was nice enough for short sleeves, but just not quite warm enough to unzip the convertible pants.
Living in Central Oregon ROCKS! I can go hiking, then see this in my front "yard"
I did a mini pre-pack for Mexico. One month and one week and then I'll be off! :) I'm excited. I wanted to make sure that had purchased the correct size duffel bag. I did.

First horseback rides...

2007-09-22T17:26:00.000-07:00

Kai had his first horsie ride! :) And of course I love this picture, seeing how much horses were a part of my life. He's SOOOOOO cute!!!
I think this was my first ride. That's my mom holding me and my maternal grandfather leading the horse. My grandparent's owned a farm, but sold it by the time I was...about 5 or 6? I have a ton of pictures from that time...kittens and me on a bench, playing 3 Billy Goats Gruff with my dad and brother in the barn, picking vegetables, and my favourite, being read to by my grandma in the garden. I don't remember the farm at all...but I know they had one! :)

This one probably doesn't count, does it? Know what I learned the other day? Carousels have a variety of animals/characters to sit on, a merry-go-round has only horses. I loved horses from as early as I can remember.
Maybe Kai will grow up to be like his Auntie Chan and be a rider. It all starts with one ride and the next thing you know you're here:

I've probably said this before...but it's SO odd that none of my current friends here know me as a rider. It's such a HUGE part of who I am, but most people don't know that. If you don't believe me, check out my Growing Up gallery....LOTS of horses there! :)

First real hike!

2007-09-16T18:49:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I went on my first real hike since my surgery. Colleen's friend Sandy was going up South Sisters, but neither Colleen nor I wanted to go that far, so we just went from the Devil's Lake trail head to Moraine Lake, around the lake and back. Turned out to be a gorgeous day. But I have to say that I MUCH prefer the route from Green Lakes trail head! The Devil's Lake route is way steeper!!!! The other may add a mile or two, but it's worth it. And I definitely still have major leg issues! :( My shins were fine, but my calves...whooboy. When I get back from Mexico it's back to Dr Smith. If I need more compartments released I'll do them this winter, so I'm not off for another whole summer!!! Anyway, here's our first look at South Sisters. Colleen is over there on the side having a sit-me-down.
Here I am going down to Moraine Lake. It was so beautiful!
See! :) It was supposed to rain this weekend, but it only sprinkled a little bit on Friday night. The trails might have been slightly better after rain..but all in all it was good.

On our way down Colleen and I were just chatting chatting chatting away when all of a sudden we both stop and realize we've lost the trail!!! Well....ahem....we turned around...and low and behold there's the trail! It was a switchback that we walked right off of. Hee hee hee.

By the time we got down my legs were killing me. Not my shins, but my knees and hips. It had nothing to do with my leg issues, but the usual pain with downhills. I was SO sore Saturday evening. I hobbled to the bath and that's about all the activity I managed! On top of it I knew that I had a big (well, big for ME at the moment) mountain bike ride Sunday morning.

Sunday morning the Bella conversational ride was going to carpool to Swampy and ride to Bend. I love that ride, but I wasn't sure I'd be able to. I did though, and it was fun. Here's the group at the Swede Ridge shelter.

So now I have less than a month and a half to get myself back into shape and able to hike. I really shouldn't be biking anymore, and be hiking every spare moment!!!! :) :) :)

Weekend in Vancouver

2007-09-12T13:13:00.000-07:00

Wow, it was a truly gorgeous weekend in Vancouver. Clear blue skies for the four days I was there, temperatures in the 80's...just fabulous! Here's the view from my bedroom at about 6 am, out to the ocean and then to downtown. I grew up with an amazing view.

When I got there some of my extended family was there for my dad's birthday party. His birthday was Sept 3, but this was when everyone could get together. I was really happy to be able to be there for a little bit of it anyway!

One of the reasons I went up was to take my mom her new bike. When they were down here a couple weekends ago we went to a bunch of bike shops to get her a "comfort" bike. It finally came in, so I brought it up. She hasn't ridden a bike in almost 20 years! Well, except for a bike ride earlier this summer in Holland. That really WAS her first ride in 20 years...and it was a 27 mile ride...and she panicked, forgot how to break and hit a tree! Hee hee.

This ride went much better. Dad and I took her down to the high school and we rode around for a while. I gave her some pointers and taught her how to properly stop, turn, change gears etc. She did really well. When we were trying to leave this area she freaked out and jumped off the bike. She'd been heading for a fence and evidently AGAIN forgot how to break! Sigh. That one she's going to have to learn fast. We spent an hour or two just fiddling around on the bikes. It was a lot of fun, and I'm really excited that mom and dad have this new fun thing to do together.
Sunday I went to Randal and Jen's for a block party they were having, and to spend some time with Kai. You;ll have to check my Flickr gallery for those pictures. There was a pinata...but no one got hurt! :)

Last week I was sitting on the couch and Dread jumped up onto my lap. He stood there on my legs for a minute or two, then hopped off. I looked down and this is what I saw. He's lost a lot of weight in the last 5-6 months...but he's still a big boy. I'm worried that he's "winding down."

Madeline L'Engle

2007-09-08T12:05:00.000-07:00

Madeline L'Engle, the author of the Wrinkle in Time books died. So sad. Well, not really....she was 88. I loved that series.

Camping Labor Day weekend, off to Vancouver this weekend

2007-09-06T06:38:00.000-07:00

Wow, I have not been a good updater! :) It's been a crazy busy couple weeks. After the High Desert Omnium I think I was so busy working on results I just didn't want to spend more time online!!!!

This last weekend, the long weekend, I lead a Bella ride on the Black Rock Trail, went to a friend's housewarming party, then headed out to join the Grier's and some others where they were camping up near Davis Creek. It was beautiful. It wasn't developed camping, so that means there was no one else anywhere near us!

Here's Clyde...one of the MANY dogs with us, sitting looking at Davis Creek. The water was just beyond our campsite, down a sandy hill. Unfortunately the sides of the creek were rather... icky. Smelly algae. The water was clear enough, but to get into it you had to go through the yucky stuff...and getting out too! :)

So, Sunday we decided to spend the day at Crescent Lake. Man, it was just beautiful!!! WE found a deserted day use area and set ourselves and six dogs smack dab in the middle. Hee hee. I don't know where all the people were for the long weekend, but they weren't up at gorgeous Crescent Lake. The water looked like the water off Belize it was so blue and clear. And warm. Here's Sheila testing the water.

And here are Sheila and I floating in the water. We spent quite a bit of time out there, then Sheila went in and brought me a beer, and I continued floating all by myself. I could have stayed out there a lot longer...but I'd finished my beer and I was getting lonely! :) I did however burn my chest pretty good. I was wearing sunscreen, but I didn't reapply enough, obviously.

Here's our site that day. See...completely empty except for us. Chris is there on the left learning how to kite sail. That's Brandy in the front with Max the bear looking out at the water. Well, Max isn't a real bear, he's a huge black Newfoundland. So sweet!!!! And then all our crap behind them. It was really windy, so they played with the kite and also tried some windsurfing.

Finally we headed back to camp when we were good and hungry. It got a little cold...but not enough to put on full pants...but not warm enough to keep the shorts on. So Sheila and I came up with our own solution....Capri's with socks pulled up. Here's Sheila in all her glory:

Here we are at the campfire after dinner.

Then we all headed home on Monday. It was early afternoon by we got back and yup my chest was on FIRE. I won't post the picture of that! :) This weekend I'm headed off to Vancouver to spend some time with my family.

I also realized that I only have two months until the Mexico trek....I need to start hiking! :)

So much to update!

2007-08-27T23:32:00.000-07:00

Wow, it's been a really busy week. And I'm so tired I can barely see straight. But I just wanted to say hey, I', still here...and I'll update as soon as I can. Probably tomorrow evening. If you want to see what I've been preparing for and then doing this last weekend, you can check out pictures here of the High Desert Omnium that the Bellas put on this year.

Wow, it was an insane amount of work...but well worth it.

Weekend visit with the 'rents

2007-08-19T16:57:00.000-07:00

My parents were here for the weekend, and we had a really good time. They left Vancouver Thursday evening, camped in Washington then drove to Hood River and spent the day with Randal, Jen and Kai who'd been there that whole week. They arrived here around 6:00, which was nice. We had dinner, hung out...I got some nicce leg massages. Mmm. They really felt good. My legs are still quite tight. I think I'll ask my doc if for the next little while if I can go to PT for some therapeutic massage...they feel better.

Saturday morning we went to the lava river cave. We'd tried to go last year, but we didn't really have lights. Oops. Yea, you really do need headlamps or flashlights/lanterns. Anyway, we had a great time. I am claustrophobic, but I'm ok in...most of the cave. The ceiling is pretty far away. It's a great big huge round tube...like the name indicates! :) Here are my mom and dad in the cave. This is down towards the end. This is as far as I go. I tried to go farther, but I just couldn't do it. It only goes about 100 or 200 feet further, but for at least 50 feet you're crouched over like this. Ugh! I just can't!

Mom came back, but dad continued all the way to the end where the sand plug is. Here he is almost to the end of the really low part. He's basically crab walking. I shudder just remembering. I didn't even make it as far as he is now.
On our way out, here's our view of the entrance. It's about 2 miles round trip, but it takes a lot longer than it would to walk that up above. You're going slow, and having to watch your step quite a bit. It's so worth doing though! :) Doesn't cost anything if you have a NW Forest Pass. If you don't, you have to pay the one day fee.

Then we spent the rest of Saturday looking for a bike for my mom. She hasn't really biked in about 20 years, but wants to take it up again...for commuting and just riding around. Not mt biking or anything. When she and my dad were in Holland this summer my dad's cousin took them on a bike ride...my parents didn't realize that it was a 30 MILE RIDE!!!! And my mom ran into a tree! Hee hee hee. So she wants a "comfort bike" and I think this is the one she decided on:

Evidently bikes are cheaper here, so they're going to order in a medium and I'll bring it up the next time I go to Vancouver.

We had dinner at Hans...'cause they're closing at the end of the month and I've wanted to take my parents there for the german food for quite a while. It was yummy! I got the Jager schnitzel. Mmmmmm. Mom got the red snapper "schnitzel" which was very very tasty too.

Earthquake in Peru!

2007-08-16T20:55:00.000-07:00

:( Sad news. There was a horrible earthquake in Peru today. It's so hard, cause it's an area I know now. It was a magnitude 8 (WOW!!!) earthquake centered in Ica and Pisco. There were something like 11 earthquakes after ranging from 5-6.3, which is already a big earthquake! Pisco is where the alcohol pisco is made, the national drink of Peru. Pisco is...was, a lovely little town surrounded by vineyards. Ica is a larger town in the middle of the desert. This is the oasis of Huacachina right outside Ica.
There's something like 510 dead so far. There were 200 buried in a church where they were attending a mass for a Pisco man that had died a month before. This is that church...not much of it left. A man outside his home in Pisco. Now just rubble. Something like 70% of this town of 68,000 residents was destroyed.

This is the Pan American Highway...we drove along this stretch! My thoughts are with everyone in the area. I loved Peru...and it's always just so weird to see somewhere you recently were in the news like that.

510 people. Wow, that's a lot. Magnitude 8 earthquakes only happen every 5-10 years and usually devastates more than one community near the epicenter. The scale only goes to 8 and is considered total destruction...on the Richter scale.

Happy Birthday to me! :)

2007-08-12T16:57:00.000-07:00

Friday was my birthday, and it was nice while being quite uneventful. I took the day off and drove up to Cultus Lake to get a camping spot. We weren't going to go up until Sat morning... but I knew that we would not get a good spot on Saturday. Cultus Lake was completely full, but I found the PERFECT spot on Little Cultus. Right on the lake! It was so gorgeous I didn't want to come back to Bend! I did though, 'cause we were having a get together at O'Kanes at McMenamins.

Man, McMenamins has the WORST service in the history of Bend...maybe even the universe!!! They truly suck! It's too bad that the atmosphere at that bar/patio is so nice. I'd never go back... but unfortunately it's a great patio. Sigh. They do truly suck. SUCK!!!!!!!! It took 50 minutes for our burgers to come, we NEVER were asked at our table if we wanted drinks or food...they just ignored us and we had to go inside. Even when you went inside, you weren't guaranteed to get served! But there are servers all over the place! What the hell are they doing????? Then others ordered....after another 50 minutes the food still hasn't arrived. Turns out they didn't even place the order! So they said we could get it in 10 minutes...took 15, but that was ok...but it was the WRONG THING!!!!

McMenamins really truly really really really really really SUCK PIGGY WONKIES!!!!!!

Oh well, we still had fun. Then Saturday we headed up to the lake and had a great weekend. More of that later once I've uploaded pictures. I let Heidi take the camera on her ride...she'd forgotten her camera. We'll see what she took pictures of......
:)

12 Gauge Rage ROCKS!

2007-08-06T08:28:00.000-07:00

Roller derby was this last Saturday. Their first bout of the season. Man, being there really made me mis skating! Oh well, some day....

12 Gauge Rage ROCKED! Last season they were in last place.This year they may just be the team to watch. They were skating against Moulin Bruise. April was amazing, as were many others on her team. They kicked ass! Look, can you see the scoreboard? At this point 12 Gauge was ahead 78 to 30. They won 116 to 6o. Whoohooo! :)

I didn't take many picutes of the action. I haven't figured out yet how to get my camera to take good action shots from farther away. They're always dark...and if I get that fixed they're really blurry! So you'll have to be satisfied with a couple fan shots. Here's Jimmy and myself. I did a "Jimmy shot"...but you'll have to look at my flickr site to see it! Hee hee hee.

And here's Sheila doing her Rock of Love shot. I LOVE Chris' face looking at his wife. Hee hee. I don't watch Rock of Love, but evidently one of the women did a pose like this...but her boobs were hanging out. I asked Sheila why she didn't fully replicate the pose...I guess she felt that roller derby was a family thing and therefor that pose was inappropriate! :)

It was a great night. Congrats 12 Gauge Rage!!!

Poor Squirrel!

2007-07-29T19:30:00.000-07:00

Ok, I know that cats are "predators"...but I REALLY don't like it when Loki and Dread kill anything. So, I do take steps to free whatever animal they have...so long as it looks like it is actually ok and will live. Today, first thing in the morning, I'm sitting eating my breakfast. The cats have been running crazy all over all morning, but they seem to have disappeared. Dread hops up onto the window sill, stares at something and jumps out the window. I look and what do I see? Loki carrying a HUGE squirrel!

Now, this is no silly little mouse. She can barely get her mouth around it's back! It's looking around and seems fine. She couldn't run, 'cause it was too heavy! Hee hee. So anyway, I chase her down, corner her under one of the cars and she drops it. It lays there for a moment, then TAKES OFF! Got behind some planters. I picked up Dread (who had, of course, come to chase it too) and Loki, take them inside and close the window. I watched the squirrel run back to the woods. Not even a limp.

The cats were not impressed with having to stay inside. But I was not going to let them catch that poor squirrel again! When they went out they went straight for that planter. Hee hee. HOORAY! Another defenseless animal saved!

And if you haven't believed me about the raccoon and the cats....
Dread then turned over so his back was to the raccoon. He's s cute!

Leg update

2007-07-26T10:43:00.000-07:00

Don't worry, I won't gross you out with pictures of my leg. Basically, the operation was a success, but the wound on my right leg is just not healing. It's so tender right now, I couldn't sleep last night. Just the sheet touching it made me cry! :( So I went to the doctor this morning, and she;s not happy about it. It needs to be debrided as a first step. Right now we're doing everything possible to avoid a second surgery…which is still very likely. And/or skin graphs.

So what I have to do is soak it then take a toothbrush to it twice a day, to remove the dead tissue and stimulate the tissue to grow. I also have to put a wet gauze in the wound, wrap it up, let it dry, then rip it off along with all the dead tissue at least three times a day. I'm supposed to do that for about a week, and if it's still not healing, she's going to try a different debriding technique.

That doesn't work…it's back into the OR. When they excise a wound they have to make it 3x the size of the original, and I'll be in a cast and OFF it for at least two weeks. I don't really care if the scar is longer/bigger...I just want it to heal well. And it has to be healed before I go on my Mexico trek in November…or else I can't go. No way can I go down there with an open healing wound. If the surgery doesn't work (which I'm SURE it will if we have to get that far!), skin graphs are the only option.

Sigh. The surgery itself has gone well and looks like it may have fixed the problem…but the wound on the right leg is just not healing. I guess this might be an FYI that I can't lead some rides I've committed too. I'll know more in a week or two. And on top of all that it really hurts DAMN IT! It's so tender! :( :( :( Which of course is only going to get worse as I debride it. Ulp.

And I spilled coffee on my white capris this morning! :(

And the doc said no swimming until it's healed.

And when biking, no hills that put pressure on that leg…it makes the wound separate.

But on the bright side I changed my living room around this weekend. In my last place I used to rearrange everything about every 6 months. I helps your brain stay active...it has to think, even unconsciously, about where stuff is. Studies have shown it help. That, and I like moving stuff around! But in my current place the living room seemed very limiting. I decided, screw it and tried something new anyway. Not sure how much I like it...but I can keep it for a couple months and then change back! :)

And why am I supposed to still wear a bandage over my incision while biking?

2007-07-22T19:18:00.000-07:00

I went biking this morning, and discovered why I'm supposed to still wear something over my incisions while I'm biking: I'm still doing the weenie rides, so I convinced a friend a do one with me. Just out the the chicken and back at Phil's. All went well until we reached the chicken...I went to stop, unclipped my left foot, then overbalanced to the right and fell right on my right leg. And of course it's the outside of the leg that hits the ground! I tried to twist as I was going down so that I wouldn't land on my leg...but no go. Really ground it into the dirt.

I was COVERED with dirt, and my incision was pretty much packed with dirt and pebbles. Sigh. When I got home I washed it out as best I could. I had to rip off a lot of the scab, cause it was really moist and I couldn't get the dirt off! It's still pretty dirty and I'm a bit concerned. I'm going to take a bath in a bit, and hopefully soaking it will get the dirt out! :)

Friday night I went to Spiderman 3 at McMenamins with my friends Julie and Heidi and her husband. Last weekend Heidi had a fall and mangled her elbow. Earlier this week she showed us how when she pressed her thumb in the dent stays! Her arm is really swollen...and it doesn't bounce back like healthy tissue. See...can you see the dent?

Ick. I'm tellin' ya, that's NOT normal!!!!!!