Biking in the heat, quilting in the cool

Whew!  Things have been so busy lately.  I feel like Charlene!  LOL.

Even though the weather has not been cooling off like Frank says it is, we have gotten back into the swing of biking again.    Last week we did 9.1 miles one day and this weekend and today we did about 4 miles a day.  Even though it looks cool in the photos, it is not.  However, it is much cooler riding in the tree forests than on the asphalt roads so we stick to the Forest Park or White Oak trails.  

It feels good to be riding even if we are sweating!  The last few days has pushed the mercury very very close to 100 degrees, and by our 10:30 PM dog walk it is still in the upper 90's.  This morning at 6:30 AM it was actually cool, we walked 1.5 miles with the dogs.  Then by the afternoon it was 101! 

Dutch has been walking 1/2 mile every morning and again at night.  He trots a bit when he forgets about his leg.  But I am glad he is even attempting to trot.  He took off after DiNozzo a few days ago, totally forgetting about his leg.  If it were a muscle pull, I would think he was getting better.  But I know it is just a matter of time before the cancer takes over.  He still is on rimadyl twice a day and I have upped the tumeric to 3 morning and night.  I know the turmeric won't help with this kind of cancer but I am hoping it helps as an anti-inflammatory and thus with some pain.  I still have moments when I sit and cry.

You probably can't see the perspective in this photo, but Dutch is about 108 lbs and that is a big dog bed.  He just barely fits.  But since I won't let him step up to the cooleroo bed he so dearly loves, he has taken over this one.  He looks so silly!

Wednesday I am going to meet Charlene in Lafayette and we head to Ami Simms Twisted Sister class.  Ami Simms is the brain of AAQI (Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative) http://www.alzquilts.org/

I have contributed several quilts over the years for auction, the proceeds go to research.  I have three of them there right now for sale.  Check them out #7145, 7146 and 7184 (http://www.alzquilts.org/15miplgrnyon.html)  Hey, bid on one! 

Over the weekend I brought cookies, chocolate bars and chips for my mom's stash.  Today I brought some drinks for her mini fridge we got her for her birthday.  She loves the chocolate Yahoo! drinks so I loaded her up with those.  Red drinks and blue drinks fascinate her as well.  and those little coke cans.   Hospice checked her in and approved the application based upon her Alzheimers diagnosis so she is getting another level of support from them.  Of course my brother has yet to even call me about her.  You would think he would be interested. 

I am teaching a class on an LSU tote bag in two weeks.  Ann and I spent two days gathering the fabrics.  I spent a day and a half doing all the cutting and making kits for everyone.  I included a pouch as an extra since I had some fabrics leftover.  It should be a good class, I will make up a sample this week.

All that, and I am writing an article I hope to have published soon, we shall see.  But that is for another day.

glen

Sunday Drive

Since no one is commenting on the blogs I am assuming you are reading as fast as I post them.  Don't miss the last post with the paintings we did of the dog that looks just like ol' DiNozzo the Destroyer.  And the one before that of Leaders and Enders and the Bow Tie block tutorial from Anna Lena. 

In the fall we are planning a bike adventure on the Tammany Trace.  So today we took a ride to Covington to have lunch with my dear Diane-boo-kins-ville.  She lost her Ralphie just about the time we got DiNozzo.  Remember?   So we met her for lunch and took a ride through Covington to the Train Station that is the head for the Tammany Trace Rails to Trails program.

That door says Covington Rails to Trails Trailhead.  We took in the movie about how Covington got started (a guy named Wharton bought 541 acres of land from a guy named Collins who got it from the Indians.)  It got burned down twice and it has evolved into what you see today.  Over lots and lots and lots of time.  During the very early days, every man was expected to "give" 12 days of labor to the city per year.  That is how the buildings got built, the docks along the river got manned and the lumber got cut and cleared.  Interesting.

 
We saw the trailhead and talked to the lady in the museum.  She said, Don't ride the distance until the fall!  It is way too hot right now.

Covington Trailhead



Covington Train Station



So we rode down to Abita Springs and pas the Brewery and stopped at the Pavilion.  The Pavilion was built probably during the 1920's as the center of town.  It is like one of those bandstand pavilions you see in the movies.  Really. 





Abita Springs Trailhead



Pavilion



And the rich people would come and bathe in the sulphur springs and drink the sulphur water (yuck, it stunk) for their health.  We would drive up from New Orleans when I was a kid and fill buckets and containers full of the water that flowed freely from the spring by the Pavilion.  My brother and I would play in the pine woods, we would stop by the great grandparents graves, stop by the old shipyard property my great grandfather owned and then cross the 26 mile long Causeway Bridge over Lake Pontchartrain home again.

Nothing looks the same.

glen

Biking weekend, tragedy at the dog park and 2 recipes

Biking weekend - it was the totally perfect weekend for biking.  We met at the State Capitol again and headed through the city to LSU.  We lunched at VooDoo BBQ which has the best BBQ sauces.  They have a Crystal Mango Vinegar Sauce to die for.  I had the chicken Caesar since I am REALLY trying to lose weight.  And Frank had the Graveyard Platter with Sausage and Brisket and VooDoo Greens and Gris Gris Corn Grits.  Or something like that.  It was Greens and the corn pudding I think, so maybe it was the Gris Gris Greens and Corn Pudding.  I love the corn pudding.

Mike the LSU Tiger was playing and running around in his huge exhibit.  

View Full Album

And Dan found a fabulous old dying oak tree on the edge of campus.  We visited the tree, it was dying of environmental causes.  I guess there used to be a lot of these ancient oaks in this area and this is the last old guy.

It was a rough start on Sunday morning.  Dan and Amber forgot about Daylight Savings Time and were “late”, or so to speak.  But it was fine because my bike was having issues with the brakes on the front since Frank took it apart, against my better judgment.  And he worked on that for a bit until Dan arrived, whereupon he figured out how to fix it as they were pulling up.  Carrie’s chain came off during the ride when she rode down a big bump like a curb.  And we lost her one time on the levee when her hat blew off on a downhill run.  I hit 35 mph on one of the downhills so she was going at a good clip when she had to stop and go back for it.

  The water in the Mississippi River was really high.  You could see the water on the batture which is usually very dry and green.  Beyond the  trees is the actual river.  And you can se a yellow tug pushing a string of barges that contain cars for the steel mills upriver.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dog Park Tragedy – Well, not really a tragedy, just the Idiot Child.  In the afternoon I got doggy friends Valerie and her Greater Swiss Mountain Dogs, Joel with her Shiba Inu and Border Collie and Dee with her Borzoi and my two bassets and headed to the dog park.  And DiNozzo the Idiot Basset ran, literally for 1 1/2 hours straight.  He barked every other step in that “bark bark howl” they have.  Totally embarrassing and irritating to not be able to catch your dog.  Of course he didn’t recognize his name, and he has no Come Command, and he was so into chasing every dog there that he was totally oblivious to me anyway.  When we wanted to leave it actually took 18 people to catch that stupid dog.  Chloe the Smelly Basset was the official Park Greeter. She smoozed with every single person who walked through the gate.  Not interested in the dogs, but only the people. 

Well, DiNozzo the Idiot Basset tore his front foot pad straight off at some point and I didn’t even know it until we got home.  So now he is in a dog boot and on rest.  Yeah, like he rests.  All the people there were totally amazed that a basset was so fast.  And so energetic.  Yep, mine.  Only mine.

Two Recipes – Great food.  Home made Won Ton Soup with real won tons and Quinoa.  That is

   Pronounced Keen-wah.  I had to look it up.  A grain, low calorie and full of protein.  My kinda grain.  Take a close look at it.

 

 

 

 

 

I cooked the quinoa, and then sautéed a celery stalk, a couple of small carrots, a green onion and three small stalks of broccoli in sesame oil and a butter pat.  Then I combined them into a delicious lunch.  And at nearly 4 PM I am neither hungry nor stuffed.  I feel light!  And I did work out this morning!  So I am expecting to be at least 10 or maybe even 15 lbs lighter by tonight.

I can’t find where I put the won ton recipe so that will have to be a later post.  Sorry, your mouth was probably watering for that one, huh.

glen