World Cup Fever

Which country are you routing for?  I've always shown my patriotism in sports. And since the USA is still in it, GO USA! 

I had never played soccer until last Monday.  Up till that point, I had always wanted to. The Swamp Rabbit Cafe has a team, so no better than the present to try it out.  The Greenville County Recreation Department has leagues for a variety of sports.  So we are playing soccer in the coed recreation division. 

At 8:30pm in the evening, we played on a half field, with occasional rain showers, and got our butts kicked 10-3. So at least we got a couple goals. I only played a couple minutes as the showers disrupted Pyper's ability to play alone.  The sideline boys tried to help her out when the rains came, but I think it only made things worse for her state of mind because she doesn't know them very well.  It probably didn't help it was her bedtime.  Yeah, not the best Mommy move. 

Well, now that I have a bum ankle, my soccer days are numbered.  I hope I'll be able to get in the last games of the season, maybe just participate in the practice games.  

Practicing with our team on Thursday, A Pyper Collection

No Fun One Foot'n

It's been a long time since I've sustained a bad injury. It's a sprained ankle. I've had them before, but this time I'm in the care of a two year old. It's a different kind of injury when you can't just sit back read a book and recover. 

On Wednesday we were on the track, halfway through our workout, running a recovery lap.  The kids, Pyper and Charlie decide to run too. Someone asked if they were both mine. Upon turning around to point out my own, I stepped off the inside of the track, a four plus inch difference. I couldn't catch this one because I was looking the other way.  I knew instantly it was a bad roll.  

I'm always telling Pyper to stop running or walking before turning around. But it's always easier said than done. Pyper has gotten pretty good at it; I guess practice makes perfect. 

I'm glad Pyper is old enough to understand the gist of the situation. She understands my foot hurts, I can't carry her, and she needs to be the most awesome helper ever.  She also has come to realize that my patience has shortened dramatically. I had to apologize to her last night to make sure she understood that I wasn't frustrated with her, but rather frustrated at the "hurt foot" circumstance. 

I'm hoping for a speedy recovery, though I know only rest and time will help.

Pyper's "Profile of a Gimp" Series 

Night Shift: EMS World

Andy is on day six of eleven night shifts. He just finally got home around 10am after flying the plane to Greensboro, NC, and driving a rental car back the three hours to the hanger, then driving home. The plane needed routine maintenance. He had been on call at 6pm the night before and on duty at 8pm. Andy feels and looks tired. He made a quick sandwich for Pyper and himself, then hugged and kissed her goodnight for the day.  

A normal shift would be seven days, 8 to 8, days or nights. This is an odd long hitch, while he covers for a coworker.  Andy doesn't always work nights, but every other shift is a night shift. You wouldn't think that working nights for a week out of the month would be any big deal until you see the effects of it first hand physically and mentally.  It's the same reason jet leg can throw someone off for a whole week when traveling, sometimes even longer. It's not natural. Andy has been doing EMS flying for over two years now, essentially "jet legged" that whole time. 

There's a reason why your body has a circadian rhythm; it regulates how your body functions. Andy's a good sport about it even if he comes home with a raging headache, sand behind his eyes, and sore kidneys. He's chronically fatigued like everyone else in EMS.  

Think about having to switch your whole eating schedule, or not even being able to eat because now your digestion is all off.  Or maybe you should be sleeping, but you can't because your circadian rhythm is off.  Or you finally get off your shift, your family misses you and you them, but you just can't do anything but lay down.  Working and living around night shifts isn't "healthy" no matter how much exercise or good foods you eat, but we do our best anyhow. 

With all that said, there can also beauty in night shift. There's the still energy of the sleeping world around you and of course Andy gets both sunset and sunrise in the summer months. 

Andy's sunrise flight from Donaldson Center to Greensboro, NC this morning. 

Life is Joy-ful: The Greenville Zoo Experience

Pyper showing you how "sexy" it is to have the closest parking spot at the zoo. 

Andy taking a panoramic selfie of us and the elephants. 

 

When we first started going to the Greenville Zoo, Pyper was about 6 months old. It's a tiny zoo, housing 25 exhibits. Each exhibit is pretty small, even for the mega fauna. The great thing about the intimacy of this zoo is that even small babies, I mean human babies, can locate the creatures on exhibit without much difficulty.  It also doesn't take half a day to walk around to the next exhibit like at the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle, which I do hold near and dear to my heart.  This means that if you are going slow, reading all the signs, stopping at the gift shop, petting the animals in the barnyard, redirecting your child, and taking bathroom breaks, you can finish the Greenville Zoo in one and a half hours.  On the fast side I think we've cruised the whole zoo in a half hour. 

Lions, leopards, tortoises, chickens, Pyper, oh my!

Although small, the zoo is actively breeding "on loan" Masai giraffes.  The female, named Autumn, is from the Franklin Park Zoo in Boston. Walter, the male, is from the San Diego Zoo. In the three-way loan agreement, the first calf goes to Boston, the second calf to San Diego, and the third is a Greenville keeper.

Pyper checking out the Giraffes over two years. 

Autumn is pregnant with her second baby, due sometime in July. We have been lucky enough to be around for the birth of their first calf, Kiko, in October of 2012. You can even watch live camera feed of the giraffes leading up to the birth, if at all interested.  So it's a small zoo, but an exciting one. 

This posting was inspired by the first animal exhibit at our zoo, the Elephants. 

Eye to eye with Greenville's African Elephants. 

When Pyper and I first started coming, there were two females, Ladybird and Joy.  Earlier this year we had only been seeing one. We later found out that Ladybird had passed away in March.   Since elephants are very social animals, the Greenville Zoo had been looking at many different options regarding her well being.  They finally decided to move her to Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado Springs where Joy would have her social and geriatric care needs met.  On average, African female elephants living in zoos live 37.9 years, she was already 44 years old.  Upon visiting the zoo Monday, the elephant exhibit was boarded up. Last week the exhibit was still open with Joy awaiting her transport.  Upon passing the exhibit we assumed she was on her way to Colorado, but through further investigation we learned she died suddenly in transport to the receiving zoo. It was sad learning of her departure, but almost devastating to learn of her death. Pyper was genuinely sad saying, "there's no more elephants, where did they go?"  

But this wasn't the first time Pyper faced animal death. We've unfortunately had a couple unexplained bird deaths around our house. Pyper quickly put two and two together. "It's like the dead bird!"  It's still a very difficult subject to articulate to a two year old, I'm sure there's a library book about it. 

This zoo feels like family as you learn about individuals. I've never visited a zoo so frequently as to be this connected or care so much. I wonder how Pyper feels about all this? 

Home again, home again, jiggity-jog

Summer is Officially Here

I feel like summer has been upon us for quite some time, but technically, it has just started.  Now that I think about it, just this last week the pool finally got comfortably warm, the forecast became steady at 90 degrees, and ice cream and popsicles have become staples in our diets.  Yes, summer is officially here.

Greenville summers are very humid and hot.  Pyper makes sure I know that she is "sweaty" when we are out. I also am uncomfortably sticky upon leaving the coolness of our AC.  When I speak of my beloved AC, I'm not talking about icebox cold.  We have our thermostat set at 74 degrees.  Cool enough to feel cold when you step in the house, warm enough you don't need a jacket inside, and dry enough to keep the wetness off your skin.

But we are outside folk and the AC doesn't come with us.  Water features, along with those cold treats, are a daily must for cooling off.  If it were up to me, I'd choose to play at dawn and retire to AC around 10am, at which time it is almost unbearably hot already, then I'd relax in the AC and blog, sew, or read until the evening time to play some more.  But I'm on Pypertime, not a bad thing, and blogging, sewing, and reading are not relaxing when she is awake.  

Today we left the house by bike and trailer around 9:30am.  Our mission was water.  We decided to head downtown by the Reedy River for some fountain play.  We were successful at cooling off, having fun, and burning up some 2 year old energy.

At the kid friendly "waterfall" along the river.  There's a real one too, but not kid friendly. 

Along the bike trail by the river there are swinging benches that are usually occupied. Today we spotted a vacant seat to the delight of this girl. 

Pyper always asks to take pictures.  She's my little personal "GoPro" camera. 

We also decided to cool off at the pool after Pyper's nap.  It's been fun watching her figure out the mechanics of swimming, breathing and not breathing, and floation.  Today she started jumping into the pool by herself and doggy paddling around, telling Andy to stand further away or stop holding her.  Ah, it's happening so fast!

Old & New Stomping Grounds: Marshall, NC

According to locals surrounding the area, mainly Andy and his mom, it use to be that one never went out alone after dark in Marshall.  If you weren't from the immediate area, you were warned that outsiders wouldn't be welcome, especially if you had an accent or were obviously of foreign decent.  So as I stroll out on the streets of Marshall, I'm actually not surprised by the curious looks of the local older folk sitting on their porch on this warm muggy evening.  I don't usually give it much thought, as I know once inside the coffee shop, the owner will probably comment on our long absence from the place.  Funny thing about being an Asian female toting along a small child, most people in the South always remember us because we are an oddity, even if they only met or saw us once.  I've gotten use to it, I don't necessarily like it, but we just greet and wave to people like old friends, which usually throws them more off guard than their stares at us.

As we head into Marshall this fine summer evening, we are looking forward to the Thursday night Bluegrass Jam with Bobby Hicks they hold at the Zuma Coffee shop every week.  We got there early hoping to grab a table and eat the dinner special, but it was already a packed house, so we headed across the street to Pork & Pie.  The folding menu board on the sidewalk advertised "tuna crudo" and "clam necks."  I was thinking this was a BBQ and Pizza joint, but it was more like a fancy bistro with good prices.  

The original restaurant was the Rock Cafe Restaurant, which was built in 1947 at the front of the 1847 Brigman House.  The building served both as a restaurant and Greyhound Bus Station. When the original Rock Café was owned and operated by Page Brigman, the family raised almost everything they cooked—the original version of “farm to table.” In the old style of serving, if the people at one table didn’t eat their bread, the bread basket was moved to another table!

The entrance of Pork and Pie in front of the iconic Marshall Court House undergoing restoration.

After a 20 minute wait we sat down and were informed of what they no longer had; I guess it was a good night.  We ordered the last Tuna Crudo, and Queen Margarie Pizza.  Pyper was quick to realize Tuna Crudo translated into "sushi."  She ate most of it.  The waiter let us know the tuna was caught two days ago.  It was easy to finish everything and then order the two desserts they offered as well, which was four beignets with chocolate and whip cream, and a white chocolate raspberry bread pudding.  It was completely overboard, and totally worth it!

Pyper is not afriad to show her enthusiasm for dessert or sharing.  Yummy in our tummies!

We were completely ecstatic about this new found dining establishment only to be disappointed that they were closing this location down in two days.  "Buttons come and buttons go."

With full bellies we headed back over to 7 Main St.  Built in 1947 as Home Electric and Furniture, the business was operated by Delmar Payne and Leonard Baker. When Rural Electrification Administration came to the area, bringing electricity, the owners doubled as electricians to wire the houses and salesmen to sell the electrical appliances. The business also sold musical instruments and records and thus, became a gathering place for musicians.  

Back for the Bluegrass that was now in full swing, we waded to a little corner near the register, and Pyper promptly switched her shoes to taps.  The lead violinist made sure we had some dancing music.  She was shy about it, but wasn't afraid to tap and stomp to everyone's entertainment and melting hearts.  It was a great night in Marshall.

There was a lot of happy moving, so everything is a little blurry.  Blurry in my book equals lots of fun, dance on!  This girl has got some moves.

The icing on the night was racing the frieght train all the way back to Grandma's house.  The conductor was nice enough to honk and wave lots.  Awesome night out on the little town; some call it a village.  

When we stopped to take this picture, we didn't realize it was going to start a train race.  

Old & New Stomping Grounds: Asheville

Andy grew up in Asheville.  His parents, Glenn and Jody, are still living in the house he grew up in. We come up to visit often now that we live within striking distance, an hour and a half drive.  His sister Grace and family also live here with a new addition, little Ronin, and that's reason enough to visit.  He's super cute.

Uncle Andy and Ronin, and Grandma Jody hanging out with the grandkids

When I started coming to visit Asheville with Andy almost 10 years ago, Asheville was still in the "getting trendy" stage. Asheville today is a hub of music, arts, and eats and people speak of it fondly as the place to be.  It has a vibe and charm of it's own that's hard to describe.  You'll find all types of people from all walks of life visiting, but the locals carry a certain Ashvillian air that's quite unique, though a "real" native is rare.  

Asheville pops up on national rankings for a variety of things: "a New Age Mecca" (CBS News' Eye On America, 1996), the "New Freak Capital of the U.S." (Rolling Stone, 2000), one of "The 50 Most Alive Places To Be" (Modern Maturity, 2000), the "Happiest City for Women" (Self, 2002),  one of the "Best Places to Reinvent Your Life" (AARP Magazine, 2003), one of the "Best Outside Towns" (Outside Magazine, 2006), one of the "Top Seven Places to Live in the U.S." (Frommer's, 2007), one of the “10 Most Beautiful Places in America" (Good Morning America, 2011), one of the "25 Best Places for Business and Careers" (Forbes, 2012), and one of "20 Great Cities For Writers" (Flavorwire, 2013).  Asheville has been listed as one of the "Top 25 Small Cities for Art" in AmericanStyle magazine's annual list from 2000 to 2012 and has reigned the champion "Beer City USA" each year from 2009 to 2012.  Does that give you a better feel for Asheville life?

Today we headed into downtown for lunch and play.

Exploring a new feature called Splashville at Pack Square Park in Downtown Asheville. Pyper doesn't realize she is standing right on a gyser ready to go off.  

I think every time we head into town I discover a little more of Andy's past.  "We use to skate here when it was...." "I washed dishes here."  "Wow, I can't believe that's still here." "If it was like this when I was younger, I wouldn't have ever left."

When you walk around downtown, you can visually see the old and new styles collide in a very overwhelming way as lots of old buildings are filled with new businesses. It seems like every time we visit there's 5 more new restaurants in town. It definitely makes choosing your meals difficult. We even had that issue today.

So although it's an old stomping ground, it's ever changing personality keeps it fresh and fun for everyone in the family. 

Aircraft Lesson 1 & 1.1

I want to learn more about aircraft, and so does Pyper.  So now that I have the blog, I can take it one at a time. 

Today we headed to Donaldson Center Airport to visit Andy. He ended up getting stuck in Naples, Florida last night due to weather, and us girls missed him too much to wait for him to get off work.  When we arrived, there were a couple "new" planes on the ramp.  

Us, and Pete the Cat, taking shade under the Short 360 wing.  The next time I introduce an aircraft, I'll be sure to take a picture of the entire thing.

I immediately recognized the silhouette of the larger of the two visitors.  It looked very similar to a "Sherpa" airplane used to deploy smokejumpers out of Winthrop, WA.  Andy informed me that it was probably a Short 360.  I've done a little research now, and the "Sherpa" is a military variant of the Short 360.  

Pyper checking out the back portion of the plane.  Andy making sure that you are learning something right now.

The Short 360 is an airliner with very good short takeoff and landing (STOL) performance, allowing it to be used in places with very small runways. The name Short wasn't given because of this, but because it was designed by Short Brothers, a company based in Belfast, Ireland which has been operating since 1908, making it the oldest aviation company in the world.  In fact, two of the three Short Brothers had been selling hot-air balloons since 1902, a year before the Wright Brothers made their first flight in a heavier-than-air plane. The Short Brothers even built six copies of the original Wright Flyer under license, and so became the first aircraft manufacturing company in the world.

Photo of the same plane found on the internet taken by Reinhard Zinabold

The Short 360 can carry up to 39 passengers, but is also operated as a cargo plane. The boxy shape of the plane makes it very practical for airline and cargo operation, but it does look quite strange, and the wings look far too small to support the weight of the plane.  Nevertheless, this has been a very successful design, exported to many countries and a modified version is still operated by the US Army and Forest Service as the C-23B Sherpa.  Short Brothers introduced the Short 360 in 1981 and produced a total of 165 Short 360s over 10 years.  

So there's the "Short" of it.  I hoped you enjoyed your first aircraft lesson.  

Pyper & Pete helping Andy "tug" their plane into the hanger.

Lesson 1.1 The difference between an aircraft and an airplane

The dictionary defines an aircraft as any craft that flies through the air, whether it be an airplane, helicopter, missile, glider, balloon, blimp, or any other vehicle that uses the air to generate lift for flight.

The term airplane, on the other hand, is more specific and refers only to a powered vehicle that relies on fixed wings to generate lift.

A Boeing 737 commercial airliner is both an airplane and an aircraft while the AH-64 Apache attack helicopter is an aircraft but not an airplane.

A Very Groovy Day with Eric Litwin & Pete the Cat

We got an early start on the Swamp Rabbit Trail this morning, early meaning that we were riding by 8:35am, pretty good considering preparation time and two year old delay time.  Andy helped load up my bike and trailer in the truck before he headed into work, which is probably why we had such a successful morning.  

We started our ride at the Swamp Rabbit Cafe and Grocery.  Our mission today was a children's summer reading program at the Traveler's Rest Library, 7 miles North of Greenville, going uphill.  It's not a bad ride, but when you're hauling 30lbs of babe with 20lbs of trailer, plus provisions and some library books to return; I was towing probably close to 70lbs.  That kind of weight sure made the easy climb into Traveler's Rest a monster.

Pyper's view of the ride.  I deleted about 100 Pyper feet pictures.

We made it to the library in time to get a ticket and stand in line.  This program starred the now famous Pete the Cat author Eric Litwin, so it filled up fast.  It was a free ticket, but the library does have to abide by the fire code, thus the limited amount of tickets.  It was a fantastic program with lots of singing and fun.  Eric read/sang his classic first book, Pete the Cat and His Brand New White Shoes, then read a brand new book ready to hit the shelves at the end of July.  We were also privy to new stories, that didn't even have a book.  We had Eric sign our very well loved copy of Pete the Cat, and a couple copies for our favorite children's librarian in Maple Valley, WA.  I had just enough cash to purchase Pyper her very own Pete the Cate plushie.

Here we are with Eric Litwin and Pete the Cat.  

To hungry to make it back to the Greenville for lunch, we went in search for food locally.  We were very successful in filling our bellies at The Cafe at William's Hardware, yup, an old hardware store.  They recognized us and commented upon Pyper's growth, which in their eyes was a whole foot.

It's always about the food! Turkey, bacon, avocado, tomato, spinach, on a croissant with a side of apple gorgonzola coleslaw, delicious after that morning ride.

I'm using my mountain bike to pull the Burley trailer.  I think we even found the swamp rabbit on way home.

We loaded up for the ride home and Pyper promptly feel asleep.  We made it back to the Cafe without any issues other than my complete dislike of the nasty sticky heat of the South.  We called it a groovy day with King of Pops Popsicles, a Chocolate Sea Salt one for Pyper and a Grapefruit Mint one for me.  We finally made it back to the house around 3pm, as thunder boomed all around us.  Thumbs up to early literacy and groovy authors.

I thought this post was finished, but I'll add that we ended up attending a second Eric Litwin program at the library branch a couple blocks down the street from where we live this evening at Pyper's request.  He told the same jokes, but the content was different.  Pyper turned to me part way through and said, "this is fun mama."  I'll also add that we attended this program under our own power as well, by foot.  So all in all, we probably covered around 16 miles total today.

Everyday is Daddy's Day, Especially Today

Pyper loves being with her Daddy and checking out airplanes.

Daddy was working this fine Sunday, so we grabbed some lunch provisions and headed to the Donaldson Center Airport. We first gave Daddy a flower, a homemade card, and a Lego plane to build.  

The best part of giving a present is opening it and then being able to play with it.  She's already paying attention to the instructions!

Just as we were finishing up the little Lego plane, the work phone chimed and Andy was paged to head to Naples, Florida.  Pyper then said, "Daddy's going to fly naked!"  Naples, naked, I hear the similarities.  About 10 minutes later, as the crew was loading up, the flight got cancelled.  This is actually a regular occurance when we are visiting.  We are always disappointed that our visit was so short, but then super happy our visit is extended.  

We continued our visit with a tricycle ride to the different airplanes sitting on the ramp.  The first plane we visited was the Bonanza, which Pyper repeated back as "the banana plane."  It's actually funny because the plane was yellowish in color.  She next rode to the Lear Jet, then finally back to Andy's King Air 90.  It wasn't long ago those tricycle pedals were just out of reach for her little legs to get any purchase, but now she's the perfect height and strength to make that thing cruise.

Did you know the first Father's Day was celebrated in Washington State in 1910?  

Greenville's "Tiger Lion"

Pyper and I came across Echinacea today flowering beside one of our favorite places for a yummy treat, the Swamp Rabbit Cafe and Grocery.  We stopped to admire it after a tasty ice cream sandwitch, chocolate chip scone, and tandem bike ride.  

We borrowed this kid tandem for a couple miles down the Swamp Rabbit Trail.  Pyper had a blast ringing the bell as we passed folks on the trail.

She's been able to recall many plants by name of late, like Rosemary, ivy (even the poisonous kind), and different flowers.  Yesterday we came upon a small patch of Tiger Lily and Andy asked her if she remembered the name of it.  After a pause, she announced it as "Tiger Lion."  Much like the name she has for Dandelion, which is "Daisylion."  I love how the blossoming mind works.  And in quite the fasicinating way, it really makes sense.

Hitting the Track

Pyper looks like she belongs on the track. Here she is cooling off after a hot muggy practice.  She does get in a lap or two during practice. 

Last month I started participating in track workouts with the Greenville Track Club.  It's actually something I've been meaning to do for quite some time, but haven't gotten around to.  That's motherhood for you.  Things that should take an hour, even a couple of minutes, can span weeks, months, or even years. Time is a completely different animal with kin. 

The Greenville Track Club meets up at the Greenville High School track every Wednesday at 6pm.  So once a week I attempt to make it.  So far I'm three for seven, but one wasn't my fault as the track was in use that evening.  Two of the times I was sick, and one of those evenings Pyper was sick.  There's that time factor slipping away again.  

Pyper comes to the track and happily plays with her friend Charlie while the group does about five miles worth of work.

I have an interesting relationship with tracks.  I've spent so much of my life on them, that I feel at home on them, but not necessarily in a good way.  It's like a kid growing up in house they can't wait to move out of when they are of age.  When they move away and come back to visit, it's home, but they're glad they moved out when they did. 

A lot of those feelings might be the years of mental struggles I've had on those rubberized surfaces.  There's the constant practicing, the many many losses, coupled with the occasional win.  When you are up against a field, or one of eight runners on the track, the odds aren't good that you are going to win.  Seven people loose, sometimes more with multiple heats, for there to be one winner.  There's also that pressure when you are expected to succeed.

I started track in middle school and continued on through high school.  I was recruited heavily for college all over the country, but I stayed at home attending the University of Washington.  My collegiate track days are few in number as I quit even before the season began.  I just wasn't into it anymore.  Maybe it was the lack of support or motivation, but I moved on.  Yes, I often wonder about my life had I continued, but I guess I wouldn't be here.  I like it here.  

Maybe you're wondering what races I ran, or what events I did.  Most people are pretty surprised when I tell them that the high jump was my specialty.  Almost since the beginning of my track life, I've always been able to jump over my height.  My highest jump to date is 5'9", I'm still 5'4", unless I've started the shrinking trend already.  I also ran the 100m hurdles and 300m hurdles, and alternated between the long jump and the triple jump.  If the team needed a relayer too, I was there.  I also did the heptathlon when it was an option.  As of this posting, I still hold the Newport High School High Jump record at 5'7.75", and I was the Washington State AAA High Jump Champion in 1998, my senior year.  Ah, reliving the glory days briefly is always fun.

Now a days I just consider myself a runner, in the generic sense.  I'm okay with that.  The track workouts are still a mental struggle, but I feel a new sense of power emerging since there is absolutely no pressure behind the trainings other than showing up and doing the prescribed workout.  I even feel like they are making me a little faster.  

The "Key" to Successful Blogging

So far, so good!  I'm keeping up with blogging.  I'm so excited by my new blogging tool, a keyboard!  There's just something about being able to stream thoughts through your fingers without much thought about penmanship or auto correct for that matter.  I've been using my iPhone to blog, which I still am, but now I have the use of a full size keyboard.  Andy thought it would be handy since I do actually know how to type in "words per minute."  

I remember taking a typing class in the 10th grade.  At that time, the class was an elective.  I'm glad I decided to take it because it's right up there, in my option, as a life skill.  No it's not necessarily essential, but it has saved me and countless others time and heartache.  Like right now as I type trying to keep up with my blog, I love it!  It's also pretty portable as it can fold in half.  Let me allow little Miss Vanna White to demonstrate:

Miss White is holding a "Perixx PERIBOARD-805L, Bluetooth Folding Keyboard - Support Android 4.4 KitKat - Large Desktop Size Keys - Magnetic Foldable Design - 6.30"x3.78"x0.67" Pocket Size - US English Layout." That's the Amazon title for it anyway.

So with my new blogging tool, and my love for typing (I really do have a fondness for typing), let the good blogging times roll.

Relatives in Route: Andy's Brief Wilmington Visit

Early morning departure from Donaldson Center Airport.

This morning Andy stopped off in Wilmington with his Eagle Med crew to pick up a 2 month old baby to fly him to Boston for surgery.  Because this was a prescheduled flight, Andy arranged to meet up with his Aunt Noel and Uncle Ronnie for a short visit.  They got a private tour of the King Air 90, and witnessed the crew in action on the ramp. 

Andy has been working at EagleMed for a little over two years. The company is based out of Wichita, but they have satellite bases all over the country.  Andy's crew includes a flight nurse and an EMT.  The base has four pilots. They work in teams of two, one for the day shift, the other for the night shift. The teams switch every 7 days. Andy is currently on his day shift. 

Strawberry Season Coming to an End

It's getting hot in the South, muggy too.  If I were a strawberry out in the field, I think I'd call it quits!  I'm actually surprised the strawberries made it this long.  But some of the farms are already on to the next crop, Peaches!

This morning Pyper and I headed out to one of our local strawberry farms for a 20 gallon strawberry pickup for the Swamp Rabbit Cafe & Grocery.  Somehow our order got misplaced. So while the workers picked our order, Pyper and I managed to pick a quart, and eat a quart.  She learned the fine art of picking and eating ripe berries. It doesn't take long to figure out which color tastes better. By the end she just started grabbing them out of the basket.  Guess she's a smart one.

And what does one do with all those strawberries? I think pictures will help!  

Yes, those are real, honest to goodness, photos from the Swamp Rabbit Cafe.  Wish you were here to taste the goodness!

Running Again

All right, so I don't have the best track record for sticking with things, like blogging, but that's because I'm goal oriented. I didn't set myself up for success the first couple times around.

Running also took a back seat as soon as I finished that 50K I blogged about back in October of 2010.  I set a goal and a race, and I accomplished the feat. I checked the box and moved on with my life.  

I liked running when I had a goal set, but running for pleasure just wasn't doing it for me. In December I started looking up trail races in the local area and came across a 6 race trail series called the Greenville Dirt Series.  The shortest distance was 5K (3.2mi), the longest will be 16K (9.4mi). Currently we are at the half way point in the series. I've run an 8K, 5K, and 12K at this point, with a 7K, 10K, and 16K on the horizon. Since the races are of moderate distance, I've made it a goal to increase my speed a little.  So now instead of coming in at the back of the pack, I come in somewhere in the middle.  

Running with my friend Mary at the Foothills Drifter 6K in February.  The only race of the season I didn't get a side cramp because I was talking the whole time ;) Extra bonus race that isn't part of the series. 

Last weekend I ran the 12K race, number three in the Dirt Series.  Although I hadn't run in over 10 days prior to the race because of illness, possibly adult croup of all things, I had prepped well enough that the sickness didn't discourage me from starting the race.  With that said, I somehow found my way to the start and asked an official looking gentleman what time the race started as there weren't many runners milling around. I was thinking maybe I was early. He causally looked at his watch and said "15 minutes ago."  At that point we quickly tried to find my bib number and I hit the trail trying not to pin myself and run at the same time.  Well, at least I didn't feel any pressure whatsoever. 

I was quite surprised when I caught up to the last of the racers around mile 3, then caught up with another late start racer. I ran alone most of the way trying to fight a side cramp, the side cramp was definitely on the winning side most of the race. A mile out, I caught up to a small pack of ladies and hung on as my side cramp increased intensity.  I decided to pass them a half mile out, in case they were in my age group, which I later found out they weren't.  As I approached the finish I could hear the awards being announced, which is a good indicator that the race has been over awhile. But as always, my biggest fans were at the finish cheering me on and clapping little hands. 

Pyper chose our matching shirts today. Usually on a Saturday we work the Farmers Market, she must have known it was a Market day!  

The Art of the "Selfie": As discovered by a 2 year-old

Pyper has gotten pretty good at taking pictures of "her world." By that, I mean the knee-high world. The photos she shoots are mostly in focus and framed now.

Exploring Daddy's Garage

Hanging out at the Swamp Rabbit Cafe & Grocery with Eli, the son of one of the owners. 

Us, Pyper and I, working the Saturday Farmer's Market in Downtown Greenville. 

Sometimes I'll scroll through my camera roll to discover Pyper's face, usually cut off, looking down at the camera. I might keep one or two, but thanks to the digital age, I can trash the 50 other like-photos with a swipe of the finger. 

Which photo would you keep? Would you trash them all? 

On Thursday we took a family walk down the Swamp Rabbit Trail, which is like Greenville's version of the Burke-Gilman Trail.  Pyper asked if she could take some photos with my iPhone, so I said sure. Upon inspection of her work, I wasn't surprised at the stroller canopy framed pavement pictures, the occasional photo of a cyclist or walker coming toward or away from us, many pictures of her pants and shoes, and two dozen of her usual selfies. But then something caught my eye, a change in her expression 25 "selfies" down the roll. 

You can visually see something is "clicking" in her little growing brain! (Pun intended)

As you can see, there were little changes in expression over a handful of pictures, but then something fascinating happened about 50 frames in, every expression changed, frame by frame. I couldn't suppress laughter when I came across these:

I think we just witnessed Pyper taking a concious selfie! 

Okay, I didn't have the heart to delete any of Pyper's photos.  

As reported by The Guardian back in November of 2013, a "selfie – a photograph that one has taken of oneself, typically one taken with a smartphone or webcam and uploaded to a social media website– has been named word of the year by Oxford Dictionaries editors, after the frequency of its usage increased by 17,000% over the past 12 months

Keeping up is hard to do

Keeping up is hard to do, especially since I just finished writing a post and the application crashed! Yup, over two years later, I've rediscovered this blog, and I definitly think it will work this time ;) That old saying of "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again." I'm not afraid to fail, so here's to another shot at blogging.  A lot has happened since the last post, we've added another gypsy to this world! But most of you know that, so no surprise there. But here's a quick summary in two photos: Day one and Yesterday!

February 25, 2012

June 5, 2014