Artsy Walk

Thas has been one quiet Saturday. Shortly after 9:00, I returned my rental car -- always a tedious task, for some reason -- and upon returning, grabbed Banks and went straight out for our walk.  It was too hot to do anything really adventurous, so we did the "turn right at Live Oak, left on Travis Heights all the way to Riverside, then weave in and out of the neighborhoods and see the fabulous and overpriced cottages I'll never be able to afford to live in" route.  We serendipitously happened upon the Travis Heights Art Trail, and that was very cool -- random houses along they way occupied by various artists, most of whom had their paintings, sculptures, etc., set up right out in their yards.

I was so revved up for Janette's long-planned birthday party tonight, and it got abruptly cancelled yesterday.  We were all going to meet at Brian's house, take the train downtown, have  dinner and a couple of bottles of wine at Carmelo's, take the train back to Brian's, rent an Italian-themed movie, and have an old-fashioned slumber party. Best of all, Brian's houseguest Sam, who's attending cosmetology school, was going to give us all facials and do our hair! But Janette came down with strep, and since she's in Austin Lyric Opera's season opener next weekend, needs to put every ounce of energy into getting better.  At least I scored two comped tickets to Thursday night's dress rehearsal (Pagliacci -- Janette's the keeper of the tavern).

I had bad sleep for much of last week, so today I allowed myself a three-hour nap late in the afternoon. Jackson poked his head in the door and I made the weird comment, probably half asleep, that I was "sleeping off a bad knee." I didn't even realize until I said it that it was true!  You know how when you're fighting a cold, or have a headache, nothing works better than a few hours sleep?  I just had this sense that while I was sleeping deeply, healing power was surging through my left knee, which right now feels better than it has in a long time.

Literati

Well, this must be some sort of record -- three posts within 12 hours.  I went back and re-read my "lost" post from Halloween night, and learned that I HAD in fact taken Banks that night.  It was a couple nights earlier that I had called Jackson to take him out during the day.  Proof once again that these hundreds of walks now bleed together to the point that they're undistinguishable unless something unusual happens, or unless I write about it the same day.

I have work in Brenham tonight, and a lunchtime commitment, so no time like the present to complete my five.  I started waking up around 3:00 and slept on and off til just after 4:00, gave up, and prodded Banks out of bed.  What a strange morning!  When I first went outside it felt kind of cold, and I wondered if I needed a light jacket, but since I always eventually heat up, I didn't bother.  The wind blew intermittently, and it was a cool/cold wind, but the standing weather was warm and muggy!  So I never actually worked up a sweat, just returned home kind of sticky.  I was going to go to St. Ed's this morning, but at the right turn, Banks pulled me straight, towards Stacy Park, and I gave in. I just took one steep hill today, all the way to South Congress, and then took that almost to the bridge and back.

Book club was so much fun last night!  We met at Mozart's to discuss "Gone Girl." None of us liked it much -- the second half was so implausible -- and a couple of the women hated it, but it was still invigorating to discuss what we liked, what we didn't, the writing style, the author's (lack of) ear for dialogue, etc.  We all agreed that the book was wildly overpraised, and decided it might make more sense to pick a book that's been around a few years at least, that the critics/public have gained a little perspective on.  And we also decided that each month, one of us will pick the book, but only after presenting four or five possibilities to the rest of the group, who will then make the final decision.  Next month is Lynn's turn, and she had some great options we're all going to do a little research on before settling on the winner. We also drew names for a gift exchange for our next meeting -- something from Half Price Books that we think suits the person whose name we drew.  I LOVE BEING IN A BOOK CLUB!

No Ryan Gosling sighting that night, but one of our members, Susan, who lives right near South Congress, has seen him a couple of times. The trailers are usually set up around the Deaf School (Ryan participated in some sort of race or other activity there!) She thinks the movie he's shooting must be about food, because they keep shooting scenes at eateries (Perla's and another restaurant on South Congress that I can't remember, and at the fried chicken food trailer -- the Electric Chicken, I think it's called).  Once she was talking to one of the set people, and Ryan and Natalie Portman got out of a Mercedes van and walked right past her, smiling and friendly. Ryan sightings are tweeted and web sites set up to track his movements.  Movies are shot here all the time, and movie stars and famous musicians are part of the landscape here, but there's just something about Ryan .....

Wet Blanket

NOTE:  THIS is the lost blog from 10/31!

Whatever is the Halloween version of the Grinch, that's what I am tonight.  After a full day of  celebrating at work (costumes, trick-or-treating, big potluck -- oh, we're a fun bunch -- I could not face another piece, let along bag, of candy. So at 7:10, when it was starting to get dark and you could see the kids starting out, I turned out the lights and took Banks on our walk.  Believe me, I had some serious calories to work off.  We started out at Stacy Park, just because I wanted to get some hill work in, but spent a fair amount of time on South Congress, because I thought there would be some fun action there.  Alas, no....I guess all the revelers were on 6th St.  There was lots of traffic, but no one walking around in costumes. 

Wasn't this megastorm, Sandy, kind of anticlimactic?  I mean, I suppose it lived up to its hype, probably beyond, as far as damage goes, but since loss of life was minimal as compared with, say, Katrina, it just didn't get everyone talking like I would have expected.  All the talk was before it hit, and then it hit, and now it's.....over. 

Happy birthday, Jackson! Of course you were born on Halloween.  On what other day would you possibly have made your arrival on planet earth?

What happened?

Okay, I walked last night and I blogged before I went to bed.  Where the hell is it?  It was nothing special -- I didn't take Banks, I called Jackson ahead of time to walk him, it was Halloween, I wanted to climb a few hills so I stayed close to Stacy Park but also ventured out into South Congress, because I was sure there would be a little wildness there, at least a FEW people in costume, but there were none, they all must've been on 6th St.  WHAT HAPPENED TO THAT BLOG?  In the past there have been a few times when I totally lost what I had typed, and then it ended up in the "Draft" box. Right now I can't even find the draft box.  Aimee!!!!????? 

Well, I'll find it and post it, but back to today.  OMG, you would not have believed how much candy I (and everyone else in my office) ate yesterday.  Today I woke up resolved to start November off on the right foot.  My Egg McMuffin for breakfast, a spartan salad for lunch, and unfortunately a burrito from Chipotle for dinner, but I only ate about 2/3 of it -- the rest is in my office mini fridge.  I'm hanging here after work because tonight is our second book club meeting, this time at 7:00 pm at Mozart's.  I don't know how reliable Lynn's source is, but she claims that Ryan Gosling has been spotted at Mozart's innumerable times.  We're hoping for the best.

So anyway, I came in early, worked through lunch, and earned the right to go to the gym at 3:30.  This time I remembered to bring my knee brace.  And once again, my knee, but mostly my upper -- way upper -- thigh/hip started aching any time I got over about 3.6, so I kept it there, but I did stretch myself a bit in that I jacked up the incline to 5 on two separate occasions without too much discomfort.  This was probably the first time I've been to the gym in a month.  What a waste of money this has turned out to be, but again, come January 1, I think I'll be using it a lot more, so I'm going to hang in there and keep having that $32 deducted out of my check.

Alone in the building, I shut my office door and laid down on my partially deflated tennis ball. Oh, God, it feels so good to put all that pressure right on the pinched nerve!  You do that for a while, then when you've gotten to where you can stand the pain, you start shifting around a little bit, and working on the areas surrounding the nerve.  Who needs a $60 massage, anyway?

Five Mile Walk.....in Earth Shoes

Do you remember these things?  I ran across a pair at a consignment shop not long ago, and bought them more out of nostalgia than anything.  They are so freaking comfortable!  And so incredibly dowdy!  But today I just felt like doing the tights-and-earth-shoes thing.

In fact, they felt so great that, worrying a bit about a time crunch tonight, I decided to wear them on my walk.  I took a late "lunch" -- 1:30 -- and walked to the trail.  I didn't keep track of the mile markers, just kept going til I hit 45 minutes, then turned around and came back.  I wore my regular work clothes, and today was just cool enough that I could get away with that.  It got me to thinking, though.  I did this a few times in late winter/early spring, before the heat and humidity made it impossible, and I'm just now remembering that having the noon walk as an option took a great deal of pressure off of me.

Remember a few months ago when I blogged about discovering the perfect breakfast, and how I couldn't wait to fix it every morning?  I must have had that homemade Egg McMuffin for three or four months now, and I mean IN A ROW, eating something else only when I went out for breakfast, or found myself out of a particular ingredient.  Two days ago, it hit me that I'm sick of them.  Really.  I don't want another one, but I have the ingredients for about four more of them, and I'll ride that out.  What should I do next?  It was the perfect breakfast!  Lots of protein, enough food to keep me full for several hours, nutritious.....oatmeal seems so bland, I hate fruit, cereal just doesn't do it for me.  Any suggestions?

muscles

I thought long and hard about taking, and then posting, a particular photo today, but then decided it would be a little weird, even for this blog.

Yesterday just before I started out walking I went to the bathroom, then noticed that my right sock was slipping down beneath the back of my shoe, irritating the top of the heel. I put my right foot up on the bathroom counter to get a better angle, and as there is a mirror that runs the length of the counter, I got a very good view of the side of my right leg. It was quite an eye-opener.  I’ve only really ever noticed my legs from the front, or maybe when I’m walking down the street, I get a hazy sidelong glance at them in a store window. But here my whole long leg was, with the shorts riding up to the top of my thigh, and ….there were some serious muscles there!  I mean, really!

It’s possible these are not the legs that other women aspire to.  “Shapely” would probably not be the right word.  “Athletic” says it better. Along the outside of my thigh there are three distinct sections, look to be about 1.5 or 2 inches each, separated by long muscles.  And in my calf, there are numerous smaller, vertical sections that pop out whenever I move my leg around.  Definitely the legs of an athlete, which I certainly don’t consider myself to be, but – toned, athletic legs!  It’s kind of cool!  And make no mistake, I didn’t get those by walking around a track, I got them by climbing hills. 

So after that realization, you know where I’m about to go – to Stacy Park.  At my request, Jackson took Banks out for a short-ish walk, because I want to walk hard and fast tonight.  The sun is down, it’s perfect hoodie weather, and I am going to tackle those hills.

So rather than a – let’s face it – very weird picture of my legs, which it’s entirely possible you wouldn’t find as fascinating as I do, here instead is a picture of my handsome boy Sam, having breakfast with me at Trudy’s this morning.    

Hip at last, hip at last.....

I finally did it!  Here I sit at one of my favorite coffee places, Fair Bean Coffee on South 1st.  I just finished a delicious salt and rosemary bagel devoid of any nutritional value, am just about to start on my second cup of very strong coffee, COLD outside....life is good.  It was .9 miles here, then of course .9 back, then my plan is to walk with Banks to my car at 11th and IH 35.  That might leave me a mile or so short -- Google Directions seems to be having trouble understanding my destination, insisting it's 15+ miles from my house, when I know it's more like 2.5 -- but I'll clock it on the way back and make up whatever I need to make up.

I'm torn between spending the evening with Brian, Mark and Janette, eating seafood and watching a Halloween themed movie (Janette is very big on themes) and staying in and watching the CNN documentary on Lance tonight at 8:00, "The World According to Lance Armstrong."  Of course they'll run it again, but I continue to be obsessed with this story.  Now they're talking about making him return not only his Tour de France money, but the endorsement money from at least one of his sponsors.  What's next?  Will he be sued by everyone he defamed for calling him a doper?  By every company he ever endorsed for?  Is he going to go bankrupt? Mark thinks he's probably on 24-hour suicide watch, but I tell him that with five kids, no, that is not going to happen.

Everyone keeps saying there is no way to clean up a sport as dirty as cycling, but I think this sad tale could ultimately be what makes that happen.  What if the rules changed to the effect that every cyclist from here on out would have to refund any earings -- prize money and endorsements -- if they test positive, even 2, 3, 5 years after the fact?  I think what has kept the doping going is the knowledge that the dopers are always one step ahead of the testers -- I think Lance had said he was two years ahead of them -- and the lure of money and fame is so tempting that they figure they'll deal with the fallout when and if it comes.  Well, if they know going in that there will be a day of reckoning, and it's going to cost them hugely, that just might be what turns it all around.  I would love to see next summer's race if there were a reasonable chance that at least most of the riders were clean.  Wouldn't it be obvious from their times?

My house needs a severe cleaning, laundry is piling up, I need to make an IKEA run and do my grocery shopping.  See you tomorrow.