Almost forgot the good news

My oven is finally hooked up and I don’t have to run the cord over my stove top. And they’ve restored the electricity to the outlet where I plug in my wash machine. I got two load of wash clean today.

Lake Kaban

Wouldn’t you know it!

What do you think was the first meal I got in The cafeteria when We had our first meeting? Buckwheat! Oh yuck! Be that as it may, let me tell you all about Constituion Day. This is an official holiday in Tatarstan, so it was a non-working day for must people, but stores were open. I went to the Metro station at about 12:30 because I was going to meet Anna at 1 for lunch. Hmmmmm, strange. The train is leaving from the OTHER side of the platform. AND, when it arrives at the station, there are already people inside. Does that mean...? Could it be....? Did the new station open in time for Constitution Day? I’m thinking to myself that when I come back out of the city I will have to explore the situation and find out. I met Anna at our usual place and decided to go that that great Georgian restaurant where the serve the dough boat filled with great cheese and raw egg. That stuff just melts in your mouth. On the way there, I noticed that they’ve opened a new tourist office right next to the subway station in the pedestrian zone. What a great idea. The other one was so far away from everything, it surprised me that anyone found it. I’m sure this had a lot to do with the fact that Kazan hosted a lot of World Cup matches. Speaking of World Cup matches, Anna was telling me it was a really crazy time here when all the foreign fans were here to watch the games. She met so many foreigners and she said taxi drivers were stopping on the street, getting out of their cars and yelling, “Does anyone speak English? I don’t understand where these people want to go!” And I’m sure a lot of the street improvements were with the World Cup in mind. So, after eating at Hinkalnaya, the Georgian restaurant, we walked it off by strolling around Lake Kazan. The lake had been fenced off for the whole time I was here because they were making improvements to the shoreline. And the improvements are spectacular. There are lots of boardwalks, there is little water play park for the kids, the restaurants have been renovated and, because it was Constitution Day, there were live concerts all over the place. After walking around for awhile and wading through large crowds of people who were enjoying the day, we headed back to Beanheart’s Cafe for a cup of tea. Then she had to get going because she was flying back to her town that evening and I was going to go meat my director to talk about my class. Yes, she conducts business, even on holidays. The director wanted to meet me at a place near Lake Kaban so I walked and back and we sat for a long time in a Tatar cafe, discussed the school and munched on Tatar pastries. We sat there for ages and the. She told me about the fireworks and concerts at the Kremlin in the evening and I should come along. So we met here husband and the kids, got a taxi (with the parents holding the littlest one’s tricycle on their laps in the back seat, along with the two kids) and took off for the Kremlin. There were several concert stages and there was one very good concert by a young Tatar band which was almost a protest group. I didn’t understand it all but I certainly got the gist of it. Meanwhile the director is running into a million people she knows, plus lots of people from school. She texted Matthew and he took a taxi and met us there in time for the fireworks. To get a good view of them, we had to walk from the Kremlin to the promenade on the Kazanka with about 1,000,000 other people. We find a good place to see them from ,however, and we had a tremendous view of 15 minutes of fireworks. By this time, Matthew and I decided we should take the subway back and see what the new station was like. We followed maybe 100,000 back to the subway station while 750,000 people tried to drive their cars out of the convoluted traffic mess. I didn’t know that traffic moves faster if you blow your horn constantly! We got to the subway station at the Kremlin and would you believe, the station doors were closed and blocked by the police. Although hundreds of people were waiting patiently to get in. We decided we weren’t going to be among them, so we walked farther and got a taxi. It’s definitely not the last opportunity I will have to ride to the new station. Boy, did I sleep well when I got home. This morning I got up and went to prepare some projects for next week. Then I had a couple of conferences, had to meet some parents of new students, and visited the kids in my class. I read a book, played with the toy animals and tried to answer the parents’ questions. I can’t wait until the excitements over and things calm down a little bit. In other news of the week, the director had told me about a nice little cafe and grocery store about mile down my street in the other direction. Wednesday I thought I would try to find it. The new sidewalk went pretty far but eventually degenerated into a dirt path through a field of thistles. And I only had to ask directions once. But I find it. It was a nice little place with some fresh veggies as well. But I just bought myself a croissant to go and came on back home. And this is off the subject, but my class’s schedule says they now eat supper at 5 instead of shortly after 4. And since I leave at 4:30, it means I only have to buckwheat maybe twice a week! Oh, yes!

Constitution Day

Hanging out at the Kremlin at night with Kul Sharif mosque all lit up.

It’s getting better

OK, my sleep patterns are becoming better regulated. Yesterday morning I went into school and played with the kids all morning. It was great to see them. One little boy had forgotten his colors. The little girl who only used to speak English is now talking non-stop - IN RUSSIAN! - and the dad of one of the new boys is on the professional soccer team in town. In fact, he shot the tying goal the other night. Now it’s really going to be exciting to go to the games. Both new boys recognize the colors, so it seems that the will pick things up quickly. I went out with them to the playground and we had lots of fun chasing each other all over the place. We had a “team-building” conference at two that went for over 3 hours. It was one of those touchy-feely pieces of crap, where you do things together and then express your thoughts about them. All it proved is that the roles on the team are not going to be changing at all and underlings will stay be afraid to voice an opinion and try new ideas. One sees immediately who the power-hungry are. When I got home, I did some texting and studying. I’ve been good about keeping it up. Everyone has noticed the improvement. Today I spent the morning shopping and got lots of things to cook in the oven....if they ever got over here and figure out how I, going to plug it in! Because so much renovation has been going on at school, they haven’t had time to send anyone over. OK, I’ll live on noodles and spaghetti sauce awhile longer. Be that as it may, I want over to school in the early afternoon and sat at lunch with all the administrators. I made a point of telling the director that she had better create a handbook for the incoming foreign teachers so that they will be able to navigate the post office, drug store, etc. I was at the post office today to mail a letter. I pressed the button on the machine for the ticket which I thought would get me to the right counter. After waiting 20 minutes, my number was called. And went up, told the lady I wanted to mail a letter, and she promptly told me I was at the wrong counter. She walked me back to the machine, pushed the button for the right ticket and made me wait another 20 minutes. Geez, it’s the first time they’ve been so bureaucratic there. But at least I saw which button I have to push now. After lunch I went down to the room to do lesson plans because the kids were still asleep and I wanted my to let my TA know what materials I needed and what she should download for me. Then I stayed long enough for the kids to wake up and surprised the ones I hadn’t seen yesterday. We ended up playing Candyland, which I brought along from the States. The older ones loved it and immediately caught one. I ended up eating supper with them before I came home. Tomorrow I’ll go in for lesson planning, but don’t think I’ll go in to see the kids. Thursday is a state holiday so I’m going to do lunch with Anna. I’m getting back into the swing of things.

Weather’s great, jetlag is terrible

OK, picture this. It’s a gorgeous, breezy 72 degrees outside on Saturday. I’m out in a t-shirt and sandals and some parents have their kids wrapped in winter scarves and quilted jackets. Oh, geez, it’s way too early. Don’t wish for winter any sooner than it really is! I met up with Matthew at 11 and we tried to find the most convenient way to downtown now there has been such an improvement in the sidewalks. Hmmmm, the improvements only go so far. Everything looks logical on google maps, but the reality is something else. At one of the major traffic circles I almost got hit by a car. This jerk blew out of the traffic circle right in front of me while I was still rolling forward. It was close; it was deja vu. That’s how it was hit 10 years ago. I’m glad it’s not turning into a “once every decade” thing. We finally get past the circle, but then we have to carry the bikes up some steps on the sidewalk. They didn’t build the circle with cyclists or disabled people in mind. But when we got down to Black Lake we were really impressed. They had been doing construction there for ages and must have gotten it finished by World Cup time. There’s a new bike path and some lovely places to sit and walk by the lake. Very attractive. We went and did our shopping and did a little exploring before we went into the food court of the shopping center. I had a tasty crepe filled with cherries. Crepes (blinyi) are something the Russian do very well. We decided that we should take the Metro home since it took us an hour to get into the city and we haven’t figured how to avoid the traffic circle and the steps yet. We’re going to have to google map it some more. On the way back, we discovered that the new subway station still isn’t open. It’s confusing because the announcements in the train no longer say that the previous stop is still the last stop and signs for the new station are all over the place. So we did get off at the right stop, went shopping some more, but then rode down to the new station to check it out and rode home from there to check out the sidewalk situation. Yeesssssss, they too are improved an there’s a lot of construction still going on. It was an easy ride home. I made my spaghetti sauce for supper the first time here. It tasted so good, I stuffed myself, went right to sleep and slep5 fo4 15 hours. Man, this jetlag is extreme. Glad I’ve got one more week of conferences and projects to get it regulated. Today I spent the entire day cleaning the apartment. It turns out that the summer camp teachers were all from Moscow and one o& them used my apartment for a couple of days. This lady was a pig. I cleaned her hair out of my bathtub drain and her personal hygiene products off my table. I had to check with the liaison about a few things. She immediately told the director how bad it was and the director offered to send a cleaning service over. By this time I was almost finished so I made a deal with her to have someone come and wash my windows. I can’t reach the top of them anyway. Tomorrow I’m going to stop in to see the kids and read to them before I have to go to my conference. It will be fun to see them again. Hope I sleep well tonight.

New, improved Kazan

The construction fence has been taken down around Black Lake, there's a new bike lane and there are flowers around my apartment building.

Back in the (former) USSR

I don’t know what it was that I ate Tuesday night before I left, but Wednesday morning I threw up all over Mary Ellen's lawn. Yuck! I was just glad I made it to the lawn and didn’t hit the patio and was super glad it didn’t happen in the airplane. I felt weak all day and hardly ate anything during the flights. I was relieved that there was very little traffic in all the airports and I got through all the lines quickly. Even at immigration in Moscow, it didn’t take me 5 minutes. How nice that was! While still in JFK In NY, I was feeling a little hungry and decided to by a Chobani vanilla yoghurt. Ready for it? $5.48 for one stinking yoghurt. I could have bought stock in the factory for that. All the flights went smoothly and were on time. What a unique experience. And Ravil met me at the airport. What a doll this guy is. Boy this time I was so tired, I couldn’t even think straight. He got the taxi and I was at the apartment in 20 minutes because the guys here still drive like crazy. The weather was extremely pleasant with a nice breeze. When I got to the apartment, the first thing I noticed was that the oven had been installed. The only problem is, they did not cut a hole in the countertop to put the cord through, so I have to pull it out through the opening under the stove. Then I have to stretch it over the stove and it STILL doesn’t reach the extension cord. I see there is going to have to be some moderation made. I also noticed that the apartment had been used by someone. It was extremely dirty, there was hair in the bathtub drain and other clues. I’m going to get this straightened out, you can bet on that. After Ravil left, I quickly rode over to school to give up my passport and immigration paper so that The liaison could register me with the police. That went smoothly. I also made an appointment with the international staff to show them the materials I had brought back from the States. I came back home, putzted around a little bit and finally went to bed. I slept for almost 14 hours. I woke up 20 minutes before my meeting. I made it and was only a few minutes late. No big problem. When I finished that meeting, I went upstairs to a meeting with the principal. We talked about bike projects. The director wants to do a bike tour at the end of September. I suggested we ride on the path in the forest for a mile to the sky park. It’s one of those deals where you climb from platform to platform in the treetops. The director didn’t even know the place existed. So I bike down, photographed the information board for her and came back to meet her for supper. Now all she has to do is find the date and reserve the park. After dinner I came home and rested a little before I went to the City Club meeting. The city has done wonders to our street. They’ve repacked the street and the sidewalks and cut down the curbs so that bikes and strollers can roll up ramps. What a relief. It’s so much better than getting off the bike and lifting it up over the curb stone every time. And on one straight on my way to the Metro station, they’ve actually installed a pedestrian crosswalk with speed bumps for the cars! What an improvement. Now I’ve got to get out and see how long it takes me to get to the new subway station. It should be about the same distance as the one I use now, but the sidewalks to the new one are better and I can probably get there much faster on the bike. The City Club meeting was fun and it was good to see many old friends. I met some new people too and got some great ideas for some weekend trips for this year. Sonia will be back next weekend and Fouad comes back in October. Sonia and I are already making a list of things we want to see. Tomorrow Matthew and Valeriya will show me how to get all the way downtown on the bikes. So I’ll get some exercise on the way to my shopping trip. I still have to get some groceries in and buy a few things. Sunday I’m going to clean the place thoroughly and Monday I will go In and say hello to the kids and do some lesson plans. And now I’m going to finally try to fall asleep.

The Erie Canal ride, the last three days

FRIDAY, August 17. We wanted to leave at 7 but it was raining, so we de died to wait out the storm. Scott and I took the car over to Denny’s and picked up breakfast for everyone. We didn’t leave until almost 10. It was hard negotiating through Syracuse and we overshot our turn-off to the trail. We got on a major highway and took the opportunity to stops at Wegmans for a bathroom break. Just as we’re starting off again, we discover that one of the riders has a flat tire. That took some time to fix, but we finally got going again and it was afternoon. We were getting hungry but couldn’t find anywhere to eat. Scott finally discovered something on the internet about 5 miles ahead of us, just off the trail. We go for it. Meanwhile, we’ve been munching energy bars and granola. We finally get to our destination and all it is is a convenience store. And it’s about 4 p.m. And we are starved. So we all get in the car and drive to a place Ashante has found called Nicky Doodle’s. Actually, three people rode their bikes over. It was your typical old-style diner except that you ordered at the counter and they called you to pick up your food when it was ready. It was great sandwiches and salads. Oh my, did we feel good after that. That night we stayed with a family that someone knew. We all slept on the floor or the couches. They had 5 kids who were absolutely delightful and jumped on their trampoline outside when it rained. They were very kind hosts. SATURDAY, August 18. We got up early and really did get on the road about 7. we called a breakfast order into Ashante, and by the time we got to Dave’s Diner at 9, everything was on the table. it tasted soooooo good. We took a nice rest there and then continued along the Canal to Amsterdam. It was overcast and cool so it was nice riding. And the Canal path has improved tremendously since I did it years ago. A lot of it is rails-to-trails projects which are newly paved. What a joy to ride. We stopped at Parkside Diner for lunch and just shoved it in again. I had a Mexican Hamburger with peppers and onions infused in the meat and a special sauce. Food tastes so good when one is starving. About two hours later we decided we needed ice cream so we stopped at Stewart’s. Then it was on to the Creative Community House in Amsterdam about dusk. One of the neat things about riding into Amsterdam was that the path took us directly into a park where they were having a concert! Later, on E. Main, we ran into another concert. We found a restaurant that would stay open for us so we ended up at Fresh Basil after driving around in circles trying to find it. We didn’t even change out of our biking stuff. The street pattern in Amsterdam is really convoluted. There’s a convention center that literally cuts Main Street in half. Try finding E. Main when you’re on the west side! In any case, we ate well, went back to the community center and put out the air mattresses. I claimed the couch in the non-air conditioned room and slept reasonably well. The 80 miles that day wasn’t too much of a problem because the temperature was so cool and the sky was overcast. It was great riding weather. And the great surprise was that Susan, who was going to come down the next day to pick Roger and me up, came down today and had supper with us and stayed overnight. SUNDAY, August 19. We got up at 6, loaded the cars and took off by 7. We had a cup of coffee and a glass of OJ before we started out. Then Susan SAGged for us and met us at the first rest stop with more bagels and coffee. After awhile we met up with the ROCovery riders. We then rode streets to our meeting point. We wanted to stage our arrival at the recovery conference so that the conference participants and press were outside to meet us. After another quick break at Trader Joe’s for the people who wanted to eat something, we headed over to the conference at the Marriot. this time it worked well with the press and Karen and Yanna got interviewed. Some of the riders were staying for the conference, but the rest of us packed up two cars and drove home. Susan and I rode with Robin. We stopped at a Burger King rest stop just as a tour bus got there. It took us over half an hour to get our order! When we finally go5 going again Robin waant feeling too well, so I drove for about an hour. we got to Susan’s place at about 6 and Mary Ellen came to pick me up half an hour later. We stayed for awhile and yakked about the trip with Susan then headed home. After a warm shower, it was straight to bed. I enjoyed doing the trip, but I don’t think I would do something that extreme again. It certainly tested my limits and I met some nice people. Today was just relax, write and pack my suitcase. Except for the stuff I have to wash tomorrow, I’m ready to go. Tomorrow I just have to put some things back in the storage unit, get my haircut and go to the post office. And I have to think to check in with the airline tomorrow and choose my seats. It’s been a great summer ,but time to get back. I want to read all the new books to the kids.

15 (+) miles on the Erie Canal, the first two days

Holy crap. That was a long ride. 380 miles in 5 days. That’s the last time I’ll try that. I made it, but did ride in the car on Two days for about 30 miles. So, let me start at the beginning. WEDNESDAY,August 15. The rest of the drove down to Buffalo Tuesday night. Mary Ellen took me down Wednesday morning at 4:45 and I was to meet the crew at Towpath Park at 6 and talk with the press. We get there at 5:45 and we run over to MacDonald’s so I can grab some breakfast. We go back to the park. No team, no press. I give Scott a call. Change of plans, he says. we meet at Delaware Park and get a police escort to Towpath Park. Ok. We mosey up to Delaware Park. And wait. And wait. The police escort gets there before th3 team. Still know press. By the time we got going, we had 8 police cars and 7 riders. And no press. We meet the ROCovery team of 4 at Towpath Park and finally get on our way. We don’t make it 500 feet and one of the riders falls. Thankfully, it was not a bad injury. Just some scrapes and bruises. So we get on our way again. The ROCovery team has already taken off because they are really strong riders. We stop for breakfast at Tim Horton’s because our team hadn’t eaten yet. so, we finally get going again and enjoy the rid3 along the river and the Canal. The day’s getting hot. We stop often for water and munchies. One of us is lagging behind because she hasn’t ridden much before. We get to Gasport and it is decided that we will eat lunch in Albion. Meanwhile, our slow ride4 is having chest pains and the rider back with her calls medical assistance. It turns out that she’s ok, just dehydrated, so the SAG wagon picked her up and drive her to Albion. We ate a Subway there and it was very late, almost 2:30. When we took off again at about 3:15, we rode a bit of rode because otherwise we would have had to ride a little out of our way to get back to the Canal. Otherwise, I rebelled atvtaking too much road. The heat was just radiating off the pavement and made the ride miserable. There wasn’t much shade on the Canal in that area, but at least we could stop and put our feet down and stand under a tree, as opposed to standing on the side of the road. The rider who had gotten into the car started riding with us again and we slowly edged on towards Rochester. By the time we got there, we had covered 103 miles. Another rider and I sacked out at Susan’s place after ordering a good Mexican dinner. THURSDAY, August 16. We were supposed to eat breakfast up at ROCovery on Dewey, talk with the press and get a police escort to Exercise Express. There was no way I wanted to get up that early for breakfast, so I slept awhile longer, grabbed something at Susan’s and rode to Exercise Express. a lady there said the riders were just leaving Dewey Ave at 8. Of cours3 everyone showed up late with the police escort and there was still no press. We didn’t get started until about 9. We took Route 31 to Fairport and got on the Canal path there. It was a beautiful day along the Canal, but HOT. It was up in the High 80s and 90s. We stopped for lunch at a Chinese Buffet in Newark. I felt so sorry for the owners. we ate them Out of house and home. By this time, the rider who wasn’t feeling well yesterday decided to ride in the car. Today was a lot of road riding because the trail doesn’t exist here. We got onto some DIRT roads (a short cut supposedly,haha) and got a lot of hills over by Montezuma Swamp. there was no way I would have made it the rest of the way. It was already early evening and we still had miles to go. So we all ended up SAGging in with the car, but we had to take turns. Roger and I got to the motel first, so we ended up cleaning up and going to the Italian restaurant which was still open. The others eventually got in at 9:30 or there abouts. Yikes! It was a long day.

Erie Canal ride pictures

Busy day

Coffee with Jooyeon and Kay this morning. Stop at Barnes and Noble and pick up the Erie Canal map book. Lunch with Susan. Ready at the library. Pizza and Scrabble with Elliot. Home and pack my saddle bags. Now it’s go to bed and get up at at 4:30. This will be exciting.

Monday

I figured I’d better get a long training ride in this morning. It was cloudy so it was more pleasant to ride. I ended up doing about 32 miles. First, I rode to the post office, then I rode over to my storage unit to see if I could put my hands on my air mattress. Of course I couldn’t! So if we end up spending s night in a tent, the ground may get a little hard. As I headed back from the storage unit, it started to rain. I guess this was a good warm up for the trip. When I got back I had time to rest and shower before I had to take off for downtown to meet Sandra, Peej, and T at Zameta for a great Ethiopian meal. Oh, Lordy, that stuff was good. And not even too sharp. We all took home containers because we had so much left over. After I arrived there, I realized I’d eaten there once before with Carl. it was certainly much more enjoyable meal than the one I had at the Avon Inn on Friday! So now I’m washing all the things I have to pack for the bike trip because I will be busy all day tomorrow. Yikes! Only a week and a half, then I’m back in Kazan.

Wednesday - Sunday

Everything is flying by so quickly, I’m having trouble getting everything written down! Wednesday morning I did my blood draw before I went to Annmarie’s parents for breakfast. Jim did the short order cook thing, with eggs over easy, toast, bacon and home fries. He missed his true calling. We also had a great piece of coffee cake which Annmarie had baked. We yakked for two hours and drove home in the pouring rain. It was coming down so hard, it was hard to see where I was going at times. In the evening the Wednesday night crew met at Sandra’s. It was a nice treat. She made her veggie chili and a great salad. PJ added the appetizers and we had another grea5 two hours of conversation. Thursday was a “taking care of business” day and I got some riding in. Friday I met Linda and her mom for breakfast and then in the afternoon Annmarie, Annette and I met at the newly-reopened Avon Inn for an early dinner. I can’t say that I would recommend the place. They’ve certainly refurbished it nicely, but my jambalaya was not exactly what I expected. But I was glad we gave it a try. Apparently the Inn caters a lot of events and the waiter said they have 14 rooms upstairs, so it definitely is an option for travelers. But the best part of the evening was running out to Tom Wahls’s for chocolate almond ice cream. We sat outside at the picnic area and caught up on all the latest news. Saturday morning I worked the front desk at R Community Bikes. We gave away close to 30 bikes again. I got back home and did some studying and reading. Yesterday was a great day. I went out to Cousin Ronnie’s in Ontario had had a picnic with his and Billy’s families. Ron’s grandson Aiden is a real trip. What an imagination, and not at all shy. Of course the food was great. I loved Nicole’s blond brownies.and Ron show me his pictures from their California trip. Marvelous! He’s such a great photographer. I can back into the city for the meeting at Exercise Express about the bike trip which is going to start Wednesday. Finally we’ve got everything arranged so we know what we’re doing. 5 of us will be riding the entire way. 3 will join us on various legs of the tour. The weather for the first and last dayS looks hot and sunny. The middle three days look like rain. We’ve found places to stay everywhere but in Utica. But since 3 people from ROCovery are also riding and will be camping, we may end up staying in a tent one night. We’ve got snacks, water bottles and t-shirts. And the press and TV will be covering the ride. we start from Towpath Park in Buffalo at 7 a.m. on Wednesday. We have to be there at 6 for a press interview. This will be an interesting ride. And hard! But nobody’s bringing maps. Scott says we should download “ride with GPS”. Nuts to him! I called Barnes and Noble and am going to go pick up a book of maps tomorrow. I need real maps in my hand. I,m going to check out the app though, and see if it’s something I can use along with the maps.

Almost time to go back

This has been such a great summer. I’ve gotten so much done and seen so many people. The worst part has been that I’ve had to use my care so much. I’m used to being in Henrietta where I can reach just about everything by bike. That is definitely where I will look for an apartment next year. Yesterday I went for my physical. We checked to make sure med levels are where they are supposed to be. Tomorrow I have to do one blood draw before I go to breakfast with Annmarie and her parents. That works out so great. Blood draw in Lima, breakfast in Avon. How convenient. I digress. So, after my check up, I went to meet Gail for lunch. We headed out to Naantastic, a new Indian fast food place over off Jefferson Road. It is to Indian food what Moe’s is to Mexican. You can choose your toppings, sauces and protein. My stuff was REALLY spicy hot. I took half of it home and was able to make two meals out of it. Then we went shopping for some baby stuff because Gail has two baby showers coming up. After we got done there we sinned and went to Yolickety for frozen yoghurt. Boy, did that tast good. I didn’t overdo it, but I needed that chocolate rush. We went over to the cemetery and watered the graves well. But wouldn’t you know it, it rained all night and most of the morning. Oh well, I won’t have to water again for awhile. I stopped in to see how Marcia was doing an then headed back. I didn’t want to rid3 in that heat, but I read another book and did some studying. And ate more of my Indian food. Today I met Cousin Dianne, Gail ,Barb and Mason for lunch ant Longhorn Steakhouse. We all had the the shaved steak sandwiches and they were tasty. Then we headed over to Barb’s to play euchre. Nobody plays euchre like the cousins on the paternal side of the family do. We had so much fun, we were howling. We changed partners for every game and Ione four out of six times. Not bad for not playing in so long. After we got done playing, I followed Di while she took Gale home and then we went out to her place. She had done a lot of redecorating and I hadn’t seen it yet. She’s done a very nice job on the place. The color in the living room looks great. Her neighbor came over shortly to meet me. She may have lived here for awhile, but she still has her Brooklyn accent! A very pleasant lady and a great help to Dianne. I got home and Carl did the cooking. He did his famous Brussels sprouts, corn and shrimp. Then tomorrow more good food with Annmarie’s parents. I have to remember not to overeat! The big bike ride will be next week. Details are still getting finalized for that. Then a week after that I have to head back. Boy, the summer has gone quickly. It’s been so great to see everyone again. It’s been great to eat corn on the cob and Zweigle’s red hots. It’s been great doing the Unity Rides and getting some new projects going. I’ve met new people with whom I will definitely be staying in contact. But now I’m getting energized to go back. Our first unit will be about dinosaurs and I’m already gathering materials and thinking up projects. It will be fun to see the kids again.

How hot is it?

It wa so hot yesterday, I turned on the AC in my car! But back to the rest of my week. Friday I hung around and helped Mary Ellen with the weeding, read and studied until I had to get ready to meet Celeste and Frank for a great Mexican dinner at La Casa at the corner of Clinton and Alexander. It’s the best Mexicancfood I’ve found in Rochester up till now. I met them at their house and Frank showed me some of their pictures from their trip to Italy. They had a wonderful time and Frank took some great pictures. Saturday morning was R Community Bikes. I worked the front desk and we gave away 29 bikes. Then I went back and patched some tires before I went to pick up Michelle on Glenwood Ave. she had left her car there to be fixed and we had already said we wanted to hang out in the afternoon, so it coordinated perfectly. We just went to the MacDonald’s on Mt. Hope and yakked for a few hours before I drove her out to Henrietta and then headed back to Churchville. Mary Ellen and I did pizza in the evening and watched “A Very. British Scandel” with Hugh Grant. It was like Saturday Night at the Movies! The 3-part series was very well done, by the way. Yesterday I did a very early bike ride before the heat set in. I went down to Ostia Creek Road again. It’s such a refreshingly beautiful ride with lots of shade. I did some more studying until I had to get ready to go to the Ruby Shooz concert with Gail and Tim in Henrietta. Hey put on a great show. We were lucky to find seats in the shade because it was blistering in the heat. Henrietta does the concert series very well. They always have food vendors there and everyone seems to enjoy themselves. So, today I head out to the doctor’s for my check up and then Gail and I are going to lunch. We are both dying to eat Indian food. I also want to check on information about the big bike ride, because I don’t have any of the details yet. And it’s another hot one today. It’s going to be another AC day for me.

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday

Tuesday was a work, read, ride day. In the evening I met Susan after work at Cheeburger Cheeburger. I was expected a greasy spoon hamburger join, but they made excellent salads from scratch. I had some banana peppers on mine and the vinegar was so strong, I almost choked. I couldn’t speak for about a minute. But the salad was good, as was the conversation. Susan and Jesse will be working the NY Bicyle Coalition stand at the State Fair. That’s a whole lot of preparation and organization for Susan. I think it will be a great opportunity to get the word out about e-bikes and cycling in general. What a venue to have! We’ll get a lot of exposure. Wednesday was a super busy day. I worked at R Community Bikes in the morning and we gave away about 25 bikes. Then I changed my clothes there and headed to the Henrietta library before my dentist appointment. I got some messaging done before I had the appointment. Everything was fine with my teeth, thank goodness. I don’t want to have to go to the dentist in Russia. Now I’ve taken care of my eyes and my teeth. All I need is my physical next week. After I got done at the dentist, I dropped in on another friend and chatted for awhile. It was just a spontaneous, spur-of-the-moment decision to stop, so I was glad she was home. She lives near where I was headed to attend a birthday party, so I figured I’d give it a shot. After a nice visit, I went to Jesse’s party at The Old Toad on Alexander. It was a small, intimate affair and I met some new people. We had a great time and again, some wonderful conversation. I was glad Susan was able to make it for a little while after work. My veggie pie wasn’t anything to write home about, but the other people liked their stuff. Today was another busy day. Mary Ellen and I drove down to the outlet mall at Waterloo. there wasn’t much that I needed, but what I needed was really necessary. I even found three pairs of pants that I don’t have to shorten! So, a lot of the stuff that I brought back from Russia with me can either go in my storage unit or to Goodwill. Tomorrow’s going to be another work, read, ride day until I have to meet Celeste and Frank for dinner at La Casa on Alexander. I’m already dreaming of cheese enchiladas.