Progress and Pressies...

Hi...
I feel so blessed.
I wanted my mom to make a quickie post to say humongous thanks again for all the well-wishing from so many doggies and other furry creatures (as well as your parents, too, of course). It means so much to me and I’m going to make an attempt at directing Mom to visit some of your blogs today to see what you’ve all been up to. Then I’ll dictate some commentary to Ma.

Doorbell does not ring, but Mom finds this and beautiful flowers on the mat. Thank you Honey!



I love this card too! What a happy Boston Terrier!



I had a pretty good night, but my stitches bothered me a little. Still, I actually ate two little jars of turkey baby food off of Ma’s index finger and kept it down. This is really good news. I’ve had lots of water and meds too and have also kept these down.
Golden Honey stopped by last evening, but never rang the doorbell. Imagine my surprise when we found the above on the mat. How gorgeous! Thank you so, so much Honey – I love tulips – especially “golden” ones and they are cheering me up! How sweet. And my pals at Pet Express sent a doggie carrot cookie home with Mom yesterday. I’ll love digging into that in a couple of weeks! Thank you, kind ladies at P.E. so much! I’ll keep you updated, but for now, I’m finally getting to visit some of your blogs.

Huge Hugs and So Many Thanks xo

Sammie

This Is A Bike Rack???

During my preparations for attending the American Trails Symposium,I contacted the group to inquire about a secure bicycle rack during the symposium. I am visiting friends in Little Rock and planned to bike the 2 miles from their home to the convention center.
The first response was: "No one has ever asked for that - we'll get back with you". A week or so later they told me they will have bike racks.
Today, a day before registration starts, I rode over to the State House Convention Center to check out the bike rack. What they showed me was not a bike rack, but crowd control fence sections - see photo. The person with the Convention and Visitor's Bureau told me that's their bike racks (or what the use as bike racks).
Now, I can understand the real bike rack may not important for many conventions like the VFW, or garden show, or an auto show but this is the American Trail Symposium. There are bicycle rides during the function.

Yellow Daisy

Sorry for the unexplained abrupt halt. I was busy preparing for and then attending the Yellow Daisy craft show.
We had a good show - the weather was warm, but thankfully not in the 100s and not too humid. And I got to meet Dr. Flowers in person!

I should have gone out in the evening and taken pictures of Stone Mountain, but my feet were always too tired by the end of the day. I did make it to the A-loop stage area one afternoon to watch the cloggers for a few minutes.

Girls of the flying feet.

Hillbilly themed dance.

Green Bay

It took me 2 days to drive from Little Rock to Green Bay. Stopped overnight in Bloomington, IL. Was thinking of riding there. But, was late when I got to the motel, not sure how to get to the trailhead, and still had a good drive the next day.
Yesterday the weather was not conducive to riding. Today was a little cool (28-30 deg), but mostly sunny, light wind, and I needed to ride.
Headed South on the Fox River State Trail from downtown Green Bay, past downtown DePere. When the trail surface changed from asphalt to crushed stone, it was time to turn back.
Anyway, I knew my feet would be getting cold. Time to be back. Got in my 15+ mile ride.

If you are intimidated by rough water....

The Gales: A Storm Gathering will be a great place to learn or improve your rough-water paddling skills.

Daybreak with waves.

During one recent foray in Lake Michigan waves, a fellow coach and friend mused about how few paddlers go out on truly rough days. Are they intimidated, he wondered, or just uninterested? What would it take to bolster both their confidence and ability?

One answer is the upcoming rough-water symposium, The Gales: A Storm Gathering, which will be held October 8 through 10 in Marquette, Michigan. Over the course of three days, there will be courses in surf kayaking, sea kayak surfing, rock gardering, rough water rescues, incident management, and open-water and night navigation, along with "long boats in current" classes on the nearby Menominee River. Registration is still open. Local accommodations are very affordable. So if the following images represent the kind of paddling you'd like to enjoy, sign up soon!

Sharon gets ready to launch. Waves always look smaller from the shore. Learning to estimate wave height is a useful rough-water skill.

Punching through the surf zone requires timing and technique.

The same is true of surfing back in.

Boat control in rough water is essential.

Clapotis offers rough-water opportunities, too.

We'll be there, paddling and coaching. We hope to see you there, too!

Bike Omaha System Officially Open

With the ceremonial shredding of a ribbon, Omaha Mayor Jim Suttle officially declared Omaha's on-street bicycle route system open.
Read more about it on the Bike Omaha blog, including a route map, photos and video from the event.

Xanadu Gallery-Scottsdale, AZ

www.xanadugallery.com/Art/ArtistGallery.asp?ArtistID=3336.

Check out the above link as I am now officially included in Xanadu's on-line gallery. I'll be adding about one new piece a week. I'm pretty excited to be included, so check it out!