Saturday, Sunday and Monday

Saturday was a great day. I spent all afternoon with cousins Bill and Patti out in Williamson. Ron and Val were there too and it was just a great afternoon of talking and getting caught up with as much family news as we knew. Bill and Patti just moved back from Maine and were lucky to find a great house. Sunday was a relaxing day. I got in two bike rides and a lot of studying. I also met Mark and Patty, Mary Ellen’s friends. They’re nice people and Mark used to race mountain bikes. How cool is that? It made for some interesting conversation. But today was the hit. I have loved Lucille Ball since I watched I Love Lucy as a kid. She was a great comedian and businesswoman. It turns out that Annmarie also liked her. We got talking one day about visiting the Lucy-Desi Museum in Jamestown, and today was the day! I google mapped it and planned the route. We wanted to go back roads. Well, we missed a turn somewhere and ended up driving through East Jesus. The hills were incredibly steep, there were no center lines or shoulders on the roads, and the towns consisted of about 4 houses. The roads didn’t even have route numbers in many cases. And once you got behind a truck, you didn’t get past for miles! It was absolutely beautiful countryside, which validated my belief that New York is A beautiful state, but it was nerve-wracking for Annmarie, who was doing the driving. We eventually got back on the beaten path and then the going was good. We got there in about 2.5 hours and spent two hours going through the museum. We both loved it. It was very well-done and well-organized. I’m glad we finally got there because it’s been something I’ve wanted to do for a long time. Afterwards we went around the corner for a great lunch in a little bar/restaurant. we left Jamestown at about 2 and got caught in some really heavy rain along the way. We even had to pull over once. And this time it took us about 3 hours to get back. It was a great day.

Thursday and Friday

Oh my goodness. After hanging around the house Thursday, ME, Penpal and I (Not their real names, wink, wink!) took off for Del Lago casino in Waterloo to see the Chippendales. Yes, we went to a male strip show. I had never been in a real casino before and that alone was intimidating. Two acres of slot machines and gaming tables. And I could not understand how any of the machines worked to pay off winners. Now I know why I don’t gamble. The guys were hunky and the show was very well staged. Man, the women were going crazy. I’ll bet 500 of them lined up afterwards to get their pictures taken with them. The show was enough for us! Yesterday was a great day. After running errands all morning, I met cousins Ja and Deb at the cemetery. All the plants have recovered from the heat except for Grandma’s and Grandpa’s. I think it’s because thei4 grave is constantly in the shade. Then we ran down to Peppermint’s for lunch before they drove on farther to Cooperstown for the Baseball Hall of Fame Game. Hen I went over to the library to wait for Joan and Bob. Bob is also on his way to the Baseball Hall of Fame. I meet them at their motel. Joan and I took a walk through Breese Park while Bob rested. Then we got back and went to dinner at the King and I with Sean and Liz. We had great food and great conversation. And we downloaded WhatsApp on Joan’s phone! After we said goodbye to Sean and Liz, we drove down to Dipper Dan’s in Honeoye Falls for some ice cream. I was very good and resisted. Only the other two gave in to temptation! And who did I meet them? ....Sue Moffitt. It was great seeing her. It was a really nice day. This morning I’m just loafing until I take off to see cousins Billy and Ronny over on the east side of the city. It will be another nice day.

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday

It turns out my young friend Jaffar had a soccer game right out here in Churchville Monday night. I was going to ride my bike over but since it was raining, I didn’t. There were a lot of kids there that I knew and they play the game in the pouring rain. We didn’t even bother to sit down in the chairs because the seats filled up with water. The guys loved it, especially because they won 10-4. Tuesday morning I took Carl to his doctor’s appointment. He’ll be out of work for the rest of the week, but he’s definitely doing better. After studying and reading in the afternoon, I finally forced myself to get up and ride about 8 miles. It was windy, but I planned the trip so I could get as much tailwind as possible. Afterwards I’m always glad I rode. It’s just sometimes hard to get motivated. Then I went to pick up a pizza and Mary Lou and we went over to Elliot’s to celebrate his birthday. We did our usual game of Scrabble, which I lost badly. Oh, well. We’ll do another pizza party before I go and then I’ll try to get my revenge. I always end up having the big letters count against me! This morning I met Kristana for breakfast. We had a great discussion about (What else!) cycling in Rochester. It was a really productive discussion and I hope we can pass some of the ideas along to some of the other bike advocates. Immediately afterwards, I went down to R Community Bikes. We gave away about 25 bikes and rearranged the front office. Boy, did we get dirty! I will have to shower before I go out tonight to meet Joan and some of the other co-workers. I’m looking forward to this.

Joe’s Shoe Repair

So, I bought a pair of boots on sale that I could wear when it starts to get cold and when I have to start wearing my warm Russian boots. One of the eyelets was not attached properly, so I asked for an extra discount and took them anyway. Then I googled shoe repair in Rochester and found Joe’s on Lyell Ave. it’s a little out of my way, but I figured I could make a detour after I go my car inspected this morning. (It passed inspection.🚗) So, I head up past the airport, stay on Howard Road, turn right on Lyell, turn into the plaza where number 2350 Lyell is. No Joe’s Shoe Repair! Hmmmmm. A US Postal Service van pulls in next to me and I go over to ask the mail carrier, because I figure if anyone knows about it, he should. He never heard of the place. OK. So I walk into the plaza office and ask the guy. He tells me Joe died years ago! So, why does he still have a website?! But the gentleman is able to tell me that there is a shoe repair place right down the road, back in the direction from which I came. Hooray, I don’t have to go out of my way. I go in, give the shoe repair man the boot, tell him what I want, and I can pick it up Friday. Geez, and I think things in Russia are sometimes weird! The rest of the day will be study, read and train. Tomorrow I’ll take Carl to his doctor’s appointment before I go out for birthday pizza with Mary Lou and Elliot.

Exquisite sunset

Graduation party and urgent care.

We had a great time at Tyler’s graduation party. It was at Godfrey’s Pond, a private camping area/nature preserve. I’d never even heard of it. We took a walk around the pond and looked at the collection of birds. It’s the first time I have eve4 seen a Reeves pheasant. I got home and read and studied. And then it started to rain! It rained the entire night. What an improvement in the flower beds. It certainly made pulling weeds easier today. Today didn’t start so well. Cousin Carl slipped on the cement step and hurt his back. So we spent the morning in urgent care. We dropped off his doctor’s note at work and then when to pick up his prescription. So he’s using crutches to get around and is taking pain meds. Nothing broken, just pulled muscles. But still painful. After lunch I got out for a ride and the rest of the afternoon I weeded. Tomorrow I take the car in fo inspection and will just run a few errands before I come home and hit the books again. There was a beautiful sunset tonight. I will post a picture.

The rest of the week

Had a great time with the Humphrey House bunch Wednesday night. And we have a new addition to the group. Tracy is very pleasant to talk to and I hope she comes every week. And, of course, I forgot that T had not participated in my traditional birthday present to the group, a rocket to the Sankofa concert in Brockporg and dinner st the Distillery, so I have to think of a really great present to give her belatedly. Before I went to the bar to meet them though, I stopped at Dad’s cemetery. The military grave marker was still not in place! I got in touch with the monument company and the funeral home and it is getting straightened out. Thursday morning I read and studied before I took Harnish to her doctor’s appointment. Afterwards I did a little shopping before I went down to Susan’s. We cooked a great dinner and Scott came over. Scott has some great plans for his future, which I hope materialize for him. Afterwards we went to the Rochester Cycling Alliance meeting. There was some very positive discussion and some good ideas came out of it. Friday morning was studying and reading again. Then I headed over to Henrietta and watered the graves at the cemetery. I went over to Marcia’s afterwards but she wasn’t home, so I drove over to the library and read until it was time to go to the fish fry at th3 Post. Gail and Tim were working, so I ordered and went over to talk to Lee. I hadn’t seen her in ages. When Gail was done working, we headed over to her place and parked, then went to the town park for the Skycoasters concert. itvwas lots of good music and I ran into some former students. It was a good day. This morning we went to a church sale where I found some more games and puzzle for the school kids. Now I’m just going to work a little until it’s time to go to the graduation party. AND, I’ve been riding my bike everyday to train for the Erie Canal ride.

Busy week

Monday started off busy. I had an eye doctor appointment with a new guy. I really like him and felt very confident about him. I need stronger glasses so I went right ove4 to America’s Best and ordered them. Then I did some shopping and went to the cemetery to water the graves. When I got done there, I went over to Zaynab’s For lunch. We had wanted to ride bikes, but it was so hot, we stayed I. The house and played Uno with Jaffar. It was even so hot, they called off his soccer game. So I came home and did some studying and reading. Tuesday started off with a lunch date at Linda’s with Chris and Kathy. We had a great time yakking and spent and hour and a half in the pool afterwards. Very relaxing. Then I took off for W. Henrietta where I had Hamburgers with Maya and her mom and watched Maya’s riding lesson. It was very interesting and well done. It’s nice to see here gaining confidence around the animals. I also showed them where Breese Park is. I know they like to ride bikes and they were even over there today on the trail. After the lesson , we came back to the house, ate strawberry shortcake and watched Men In Black II. it was lots of fun, especially the talking dog. We’re definitely going to do that again. Today I was up early to help out at R Community Bikes. We gave away 30 bikes and did a lot of info input on the computer. I stopped by Nathalie’s shortly and am now relaxing in the cool temperatures on the porch until I head out to Webster. The Wednesday night group is going to celebrate T’s birthday. Before I meet them at Coach’s, I’ll go ove4 the the cemetery there. I’ll have to study when I get home.

Sunday was a busy day

I got up early this morning and Mary Ellen drove me down to the Erie Canal by Bell Road. We were going to meet there to accompany a young man trying to earn a merit badge for Boy Scouts. He had to ride 50 miles and had not had much riding experience, so about 15 of us rode along to give him support. It turned out to be lots of fun, in spite of all the goof ups. The boy’s mom brought a bunch of bagels , bananas and trail mix for everyone. We were supposed to leave at 7 a.m. to beat the heat, but of course, by the time people went home for forgotten helmets, or had seats adjusted and tires pumped up, it was 7:30 a.m. before we hit the trail. We didn’t get 500 feet before we had to stop and pump more air. it took us 1 hour to go six miles! The poor scout leaders were suffering the most! The three young men with us were doing a great job. And what was cool was that the moms all drove ahead in the cars and met us a certain points to cheer us on and replenish our munchie supplies. It was a very enthusiastic group. When we got to Brockport, I got out and rode down 19 back to Mary Ellen’s because we wanted to go to the Corn Hill Art Festival. After I took a quick shower, we got on our way. We found a free parking spot on the street at the corner of Plymouth and Broad and walked about 4 blocks. He festival was well-visited but not overly crowded. But it was HOT! We walked around for a few hours and looked at things, grabbed a bite to eat and came back home. The. We hopped over to the neighbor’s for a swim. After we had cooled down, I came back and watched the World Cup final, which we had taped. Now I’m just about to study a little bit before I go to sleep.

Unity Riders

The rest of the week

So, I’ve been good about calling for jury duty all week. Yesterday I learned that I was excused, so I did my service. I still would have liked to been called in to see what it was all about. Wednesday evening I went to a jazz concert in Greece with the Humphrey House bunch and it was very pleasant. And the nicest surprise was that Eric Metzgar was the drummer for the group. He said he’s got a job teaching down in NYC now and will be leaving next month to find s place to stay. Good for him. and I watched the England-Croatia game in the morning. I’m happy with the results. Can’t wait to see the final tomorrow. Thursday I figured I’d better water the graves at the cemetery. Mary Ellen went along and we went shopping afterwards. I found a few things because I desperately needed some different clothes. But we still plan a trip to the outlet mall in Waterloo in a couple of weeks. Some of my old stuff I will just leave in my storage unit. I went down to the Unity Ride in the evening. There were about 35 of us again. And no rain. This is always a fun ride because all the kids in the neighborhood run out to the street and wave to us when they see so many people on bikes. and before I went downtown, I went over to a lady’s house where there had beeen a garage sale the previous week. She had some bike racks to put on cars for very cheap. Of course, not one of the four fit my Mini. Yesterday Mary Ellen and I went to breakfast with Nathalie. That’s always a fun conversation. Then I came back and pulled some weeds again before I studied and read. Then Mary ElLen had to go get her new tires at Costco so I went along. While the guys were working, we walked over to REI and looked around. we even checked out different bike rack catalogues and there is absolutely no bike rack which fits a Mini Cooper. Bummer. We came home and went swimming at the neighbor’s. That was refreshing. This morning I got up early and went to R Community Bikes. I patched inner tubes for 4 hours and then helped Ellen in front for another half hour. As long as I’m home on vacation, I’ll go down on Wednesdays too. There’s a lot of paperwork involved with putting all the bike giveaways in the system and Ellen needs a hand with it. Then I drove around the corner to the “know Your Bike Rights” event. That was a total dud. They had food and a couple of people doing bike repairs. When I asked when they were going to discuss the rights of cyclists, all he said was they had a little flyer about it. I had been expecting a little more than that. Tomorrow morning I want to be on the Canal at 7. A bunch of us are trying to help a Boy Scout get his Eagle badge and he has to ride 50 miles. Apparently he hasn’t had much practice, so we are all going along to encourage him. This same group of people wants to ride from Buffalo to Albany from August 15-19. That’s going to be a toughy because it will be more than 60 miles a day. But I’m going to go along. I’m getting excited about it already. After I get back from tomorrow’s ride, Mary Ellen and I will hop down to the Corn Hill art festival. I’ve asked her to tape the World Cup final for me because I really want to see it. Later tonight, I’m going to watch the match for 3rd and 4th place which she taped for me today. I hope I won’t be too exhausted to watch it tomorrow night!

Monday and Tuesday

I’ve been doing really well studying my Russian and have really picked up a lot. And I still haven’t needed to report to jury duty. I still have to call the recording every evening, but so far it’s just said that I have to call the next evening again. So yesterday morning Mary Ellen, Cindy and I worked in the flower beds all morning pulling weeds. And it was hot! And there were a lot of weeds! There’s still more to do, but we’re not going to kill ourselves. I rode over to Nathalie’s on my bike after she got home from work and we yakked for an hour, then I had to get back home to get to Pittsford Cinema at 6:30. A bunch of us went to see Book Club. It was a good cast and just lots of fun. No great thinker. Today I went to breakfast with Suzy. I haven’t seen her in more than a year, since she moved to Texas. She’s up here for a vacation and has to go back again on Wednesday. Then I watered the flowers at the cemetery, went to Walmart and got home for the first World Cup semi-final. It wasn’t an exciting game, but well played. I studies Russian then before I took a bike ride into town. I got back and we ate and now it’s just time to read. I hope it finally gets a little cooler.

Hard at work

The weekend

Saturday I hung around the house and got stuff done before going out with Michelle, Joots and Pammy. That was a comedy o& errors. Wrong time, restaurant we wanted was closed, wrong address for the next restaurant. But finally we all found each other and it was great because Marci and MarMar came too. I have seen MarMar for about 10 years now. She is on courageous woman with a wicked sense of humor. We ate at the Puerto Rican restaurant on E. Main until it closed, then stood in the parking lot and talked for another hour. What a great time. Today I got up early and did laundry and then went to Zaynab’s For the afternoon. She graduated from MCC in June. Good for her. This is another courageous woman who works hard and really fights for her family. And it’s so cool to talk with her husband Khalid. He drives a semi all over the country and has some great stories to tell. And ZAYNAB cooks so well and alsways sends me home with the greatest Iraqi food. I love her rice and the dolma. This evening MARY Ellen and I are headed to Highland Bowl to meet Susan and Scott for Shakespeare in the Park. It will be a nice way to end the weekend. Tomorrow evening I have to call for jury duty again and a bunch of us are going to see BOOK CLUB with Jane Fonda and Dianne Keaton. And tomorrow I’ll have to get another bike ride in.

What’s been happening

So, went to Gail and Tim’s Tuesday night. We had a pizza and caught up on all the news of Henrietta. And we took two long walks. Tuesday we binged on the Big Bang Theory and then Wednesday after a pancake breakfast we walked over to the cemetery. I got back to Churchville and studied a little Russian before Mary Ellen and I went over to Jim and Corinne’s for a picnic. The neighbors shot off some fireworks, but everything was pretty quiet after 11 p.m. Yesterday I went out to Harnish’s and swam, then we went to a new health Food restaurant on Jefferson called Be Good. It was excellent. I had zucchini spaghetti and eggplant balls. It was very tasty and there was a lot. I’d definitely go there again. Then I put the bike in the car and went down to the unity ride. But since it had rained in the city, only 4 of us showed up and the police es pet called it off. So Susan, Pete and I went over to The Exchange to yack for awhile. then I HAD to get gas. I had taken Mary Ellen’s Subaru because of the bike rack and I was really low. I DID NOT want to run out of gas on 490 with someone else’s car! Today I went to the bank and when I got back, I start d helping Mary Ellen weed in the garden. Then I took a bike ride to the craft store and got some supplies for school. Now I’m just waiting to call Monroe County at 5:30 about jury duty, then I’m on my way out to Avon for Chinese with Annemarie. I’m getting lots of stuff done.

Oh man, it’s hot

Sunday I had a great day with Annette. We spent the entire day looking at pictures and talking. We found a lot of old pictures of ththe kids at daycare and got caught up on a lot of the gossip. We had a quick lunch at Tom Wahl’s. The barbecue was a lot of calories, but it tasted good. Yesterday I spent the morning doing paperwork and it was so hot all day I just basically sat outside on th porch, studied Russian and read. After a great steak supper on the grill, I got out my bike and took a short ride. Although it had cooled down considerable and there was a breeze, I was drenched in sweat when I got back. Then I even relented and went into the house, where it was a little bit cooler. Even in this heat, I am not a fan of air conditioner. I’ve been sleeping well, in spite of the heat. And it’s just relaxing to sit around and reading. Today I meet Kath, Chris and Linda for lunch, then go to Gail’s for an overnighter. Can’t wait.