Winter Blahs

I'm not making as much progress as Janet on our January fitness challenge, and according to the weatherman, this is our "warm" week. Next week we'll be into negative temperatures - no outdoor activity for me. And even though it's warmish this week, it's very tricky trying to walk around outside, because all the places with ice have a thin layer of melted water on them. 

Luckily, I had a Ladies Out to Lunch which got me a few extra steps walking across the parking lot, but even it had spots of ice. We went to Doug's Diner, a popular breakfast place, so we all ordered egg dishes. I got the Little Billy, thinking it was the smallest thing on the menu. It still came with 2 eggs, 2 slices of thick bacon, hashbrowns, and half a biscuit with gravy. The biscuit was huge (about 6" in diameter). I don't think this restaurant knows the meaning of the word "little."

I refereed another robotics tournament via Zoom over the weekend. This week's tournaments were supposed to be in Springfield and Columbia. But the teams from Camdenton and Sedalia couldn't get there, because of all the ice and snow on the roads. I was kind of tickled to find out that one of the Sedalia teams was from Sacred Heart where my niece and nephew went to school.

I managed to make some progress on my applique wall-hanging. I had to cut out over 50 pattern pieces, iron them onto 26 different colors of fabric, cut them out again, and then iron them onto the background. I got most of the big pieces done. Now I have to sew down all the edges before ironing on the tree and leaves. So far it looks really good, and I only made one mistake cutting out the patterns.

Bruce has been busy in the basement painting the I-beams and support poles. For some reason, the contractor painted them red (he probably figured it wouldn't matter, since most people have refinished their basements, and the poles and beams are hidden in the walls and ceiling. 

But we've kept our basement unfinished, partly so it can be an exercise and workspace, and partly so it can be a play space for Charlie. I built him an agility course with some hurdles and a tunnel I got off Amazon and a few other obstacles I built myself from PVC pipe and old boxes. He's really good at running through the maze, as long as I have a bunch of treats in my hand.

Bruce's passport is going to expire this year, but if you don't have a criminal record, you can renew it online (no standing in line at the Post Office). They allow you to upload a photo from your phone, but you have to be standing in front of a plain off-white background. We tried a million different places in the house, but the sun coming in the windows was so bright that it caused really dark shadows (not allowed). We finally found a good spot in the bathroom, but Bruce had to stand in the tub to get a decent shot.  Luckily, I was able to crop out the bathroom tile behind him.

Cold Again

Unfortunately, the frigid cold temperatures of winter are back. The trees look very pretty covered in frost, but this weather doesn't lend itself to any prolonged outdoor activity. On top of that, we've gotten an additional 5 inches of snow since I took this photo. Charlie loves running around in it, but poor Bruce has to keep going out to shovel it off the driveway. 

I did manage to go out to brunch with some of my Ladies Out to Lunch friends. We went to Le Peeps - a popular Denver spot with a Mexican flair. I got the breakfast enchiladas.

Then we all went over to the quilt store to look for some winter projects. I didn't get anything new. Instead, when I got home, I dragged out the applique wall-hanging kit I bought last year but never got around to starting. Maybe I'll do better this year, especially since I can't get outside right now.

They've also been getting a lot of snow and ice in St Louis, so they've had to resort to remote referring for their robotics tournaments. I ref'd for Brittany Woods last Sunday, and I'm ref'ing for Cape Girardeau this Saturday. It's always fun to see how creative the kids can be, not just in their robot designs, but in their team management. This team had only one student available to run the robot (you're supposed to have at least 2), so he asked if his teddy bear could be his partner. Very clever.

I got off to a great start the first week of our fitness challenge. But Janet's definitely going to pass me this week, because I'm just not that motivated to ride my bike trainer in the basement. And walking from my recliner to the refrigerator doesn't really chalk up many steps. I'm in the middle of winter doldrums and it's only January 10th... sigh.

Happy New Year - First Week

My neighbors (lady on the left and her husband in the middle) always host a New Years' Eve party just perfect for seniors. It starts at 6pm and ends just after 10pm when the ball drops in Times Square (and her big screen TV). Everyone drags out their sparkly clothes which have been sitting in the back of the closet for a year. Since we don't go on cruises anymore, there aren't any other opportunities to wear them. The nice thing about sparkly party clothes is they never seem to go out of style.

The next day, Bruce, Charlie, and I celebrated with a First Day Hike - a big tradition in Colorado. We went to Bluffs Regional Park which has 2 overlooks high enough that you can see all the way to downtown Denver. 

Charlie absolutely loved the hike but hated the group photo - he just wouldn't sit still. So, Bruce finally scooped him up onto his lap - not easy to do with a 30-pound wriggly dog.

The day after New Year's the club meetings started right back up again at the clubhouse. I went to the Quilt Club meeting where they discussed plans for making a group quilt they could raffle off in the spring. The president brought several sample blocks that she thought would make good starting points, BUT, let me tell you... you put 16 different women into a room together and you're going to get 16 different opinions on what you should do. They argued over size, color, fabric, style, pattern... you name it. We finally ended the meeting with no decisions made, but a group of ladies headed off to the fabric store hoping to find some inspiration. I hope they didn't kill each other while they were there.

On Friday, our temperature jumped into the 60's, so my friend and I biked over to Winchell's Donuts. That's only about 13 miles round trip, but I was still huffing and puffing the whole way (too many Christmas cookies I need to work off - it didn't stop me from getting a cream-filled long john, though).

For my January Something Old, Something New challenge I bought a watercolor book. This book is unique in that it is made out of watercolor paper. On the left-hand side of each page, you get a tutorial with some suggested paint colors (they give you a color "recipe" to mix them from basic pigments). Then you paint right in the book on the right-hand side. They even have the item sketched out lightly in gray, so you don't have to draw it yourself (though they recommend recopying it with a black pen). It's probably not quite as rewarding as doing the whole sketch myself, but I figure it will come in handy when there's 6 inches of snow on the ground,

Janet and I decided to start off the year with a fitness challenge. So, for January, she's going to try to walk 300,000 steps. I'm hoping I can get outside and do some biking, so I'm only going to walk 150,000 steps and bike 500 minutes (I'm doing minutes instead of miles just in case there's snow and I need to use my stationary bike trainer in the basement). We'll see if we both stick with it.

2024 in Review

Back in January, I set a New Years goal of resurrecting a hobby I used to devote a lot of time to but haven't in a while - the "something old, something new" challenge. Some of the activities were successful; some not so much (I remembered why I quit doing them in the first place). 

To recap, in January I decided to try my hand creating digital papers for junk journals. I originally thought I would use Canva - the software that many Etsy sellers use. It's easy to figure out, but it's also very limited in its clip art unless you pay for the premium version. I decided it was much easier to create my own designs using Procreate on my iPad. After a month, I decided it's even easier just to buy a kit from the Etsy sellers. Most junk journal kits only cost a couple dollars.

In February, I checked out a book from the library on crochet patterns. I originally thought I'd look for an interesting stitch or two to make a new afghan. Instead, I ended up making a 10 ft long scarf with 36 different patterns. That was a really interesting challenge - just perfect for those cold February days. But I never did follow through on picking one pattern to make an afghan. Maybe next year.

In March, I went back to Procreate on my iPad and wrote a graphic novel based on a Coding Critter called, Blazer the Dragon. I renamed the dragon, Ruby, (because there are no female dragons in fairy tales) and wrote a story about how she saved the town from the attacking googlins with her marshmallow catapult. It was cute and very fun to draw since all of the characters were totally imaginary. 

I ended up giving the book and the coding set to Hazel for her 5th birthday. Getting Ruby, the dragon, to run through her tricks was a bit underwhelming for Hazel (she figured out how to work the remote in about 2 seconds), but launching marshmallows into her sister's mouth with the catapult was a much bigger thrill. 

In April, I found a book at the library on gluten-free baking. My first attempts were successful in that the baked goods came out looking like the picture. But the trouble was the taste. Taking the gluten out of a baked good takes away all the flavor (unless you call cardboard a flavor). I finally found a recipe that I liked - a breakfast cookie made out of cinnamon, raisins, and almond flour. It used butter and maple syrup to hold everything together. I'm not really sure if that's "healthier" than plain old muffins or bagels made out of wheat flour and eggs.

May's challenge was to work on my long-distance biking. I tend to bike 3-4 times a week, but I just can't seem to ride farther than 20 miles. Part of the problem is the terrain in Colorado (extremely hilly). Unfortunately, another part of the problem is probably just age. But I did manage to complete some fairly strenuous bucket rides by the end of the summer and pushed my range up to 26 miles on my regular bike and 32 miles on my eBike. 

In June, I spent some time fooling around with my watercolor paints. I have a very tiny palette that I carry everywhere with me (including on bike rides). It holds 12 different colors that I frequently swap in and out to fit the seasons. Theoretically according to color theory, I could limit myself to 3 or 4 paints and just mix up any colors I want, but it's much easier to just dip into a ready-made green, purple, or orange, rather than trying to mix up colors from a set of primaries (especially when you're sitting out in the hot sun or the cold wind). 

In July, I joined a high protein fitness challenge. This was another effort to improve my biking endurance. I started making Greek yogurt protein smoothies for breakfast, and I'll admit that they seemed to keep me full a lot longer than the oatmeal breakfasts I'd been having. But just like the gluten-free challenge, not all the recipes were appealing, especially the one implying that cottage cheese and chocolate protein powder tasted just like ice cream. It doesn't even look appetizing.

In August, I took a class on Nature Journaling. That was a lot of fun, and with phone apps, you can discover the name of just about any plant based on a photo of its leaf or flower. The only trouble with nature sketching is that you have to really get up close to see the details on the item you are trying to draw. That's not always easy to do, and it's especially tricky if there are bees buzzing around.

I devoted September to bike maintenance. This was partly because I broke the gear cable on my bike and it needed to be replaced. This wasn't really that difficult, but it did take me a long time going back and forth between the YouTube how-to video on my computer to the bike stand in the basement. I also spent a little time working on my eBike's brakes. Most eBikes come with hydraulic brakes, which are supposed to be more efficient, but they squeal like crazy. Supposedly, cleaning them with alcohol should eliminate the squeal, but it didn't work for me. I finally just swapped the front and rear pads, and that seemed to do the trick. Hopefully, both bikes will just keep working, but given the age of my regular bike, I'm not too confident that it won't have more problems.

In October, I always get out my fountain pens, because October is nicknamed Inktober in the Urban Sketching world. But like usual, I didn't stick with pen & ink sketching too long, because I much prefer adding watercolor to my drawings. In pen & ink sketching, you're supposed to add shading to your drawings with crosshatching, rather than dark paint. I did, however, try to add more detail and vary the line width in my initial sketches. Then, I took a class in calligraphy from the Parker Arts Center later in the month.

In November, I found an online class in fabric books. I really enjoyed it. We started out with off-white muslin squares, and every day we would manipulate the fabric in some way - either painting, stenciling, sewing, etc. At the end of the 30 days, we bound them together into a book. Sometimes it was a little frustrating waiting for the next day's lesson, but on the other hand, I might have skipped one or two of them if I'd had them all at once.

My final challenge in December was to learn how to play the game Roblox. Roblox is an online game platform where users create their own 3D experiences or play ones created by other users. It's extremely popular with kids, especially my nephew, Lincoln. Well for me, it was a total disaster. First off, I tried the game, Expedition Antarctica. All you had to do was move your little character to several different base stations until you made your way to the South Pole. I couldn't even make it to the first station, because I kept falling off the icebergs into the water. Evidently, you aren't allowed to swim underwater to the station. I was trying to use a trackball on my iPad, like Lincoln does, but I couldn't run and jump at the same time. Then I switched to an "easier" game called, Adopt a Pet. Again, I never could find the pet store. I just kept running into other players' houses. So much for that challenge. But overall, I think it was fun trying new things each month, so I think I'll continue in 2025. Maybe Goldie will have something simple I can try out on my iPad.

Winter Solstice

To celebrate the Winter Solstice, the Bike Club went on a nighttime ride to see the holiday lights in the neighborhood. Luckily, we had a fabulous night for it - not too cold and very clear. Afterwards, I invited everyone over to our house for mulled wine. I thought it was very good - spicy with a little kick from the brandy. My recipe said to add brandy, but I don't think the wine aficionados cared for it. My street was having a luminary walk that same night where you line the sidewalks with candles (you can kind of see them behind the bikers). Rather than candles, we put out LED lights in lunch bags of sand. Bruce helped with the setup, but I helped with take down because Bruce went to pick Courtney up at the airport. Takedown wasn't difficult, but a little backbreaking (walk 6 feet, bend over and pick up a bag, walk 6 feet, bend over and pick up a bag, etc, etc).

Since we had such nice weather, I planned a bunch of activities to do with Courtney. First up, we went to see the play, "Ebenezer," at the restored Fox Theater in Aurora. It was the classic Dickens tale, but with a twist. Rather than being set in 1840's England, this play was written to reflect the Wild West, circa Denver 1880. All the parts were played by female actors. Unfortunately, they were still mostly male parts. You'd think they would have taken their creativity a bit further and made Ebeneezer and Bob Cratchit women.

Before the show, we had lunch at an international food court called, Mango House. These are very popular in Aurora, but I've never been to one. They're nothing like the food courts at the mall. Some of the booths were Somalian, Himalayan, Burmese, and Syrian. I ordered my lunch from the Syrian booth, because that was the only food I recognized (falafel and hummus). We noticed that a lot of people were getting lunch from the Burmese stall. I think they had some kind of noodle dish.

The next day, I took Courtney to Dutch Brothers Coffee to do a little sketching. It's not necessarily the most interesting place to sketch, but they have really creative holiday drinks. We both ordered the Hazelnut Truffle Mocha - espresso, hazelnut and chocolate milk topped with whipped cream and a caramel drizzle - YUM!

On Christmas Eve, Courtney and I went to an English tea at a local tea shop. Along with finger sandwiches, scones, and butter cookies, we got 4 pots of tea EACH. They had over 100 different varieties of tea to choose from in 6 different categories (black, green, herbal, oolong, Pu Erh, and white). Courtney got some really tasty ones; most of mine tasted like hot water. We actually only finished 3 pots each. By then, we were floating.

This tea shop is decorated with life-size posters of the royal family. People kept coming by and taking my picture, because I was sitting in front of Princess Kate and Prince William. This is the 3rd time I've been to this tea shop. The first time I came here they had a poster of Harry and Meghan, but I noticed it's gone (not surprising given their social media faux pas).

Afterwards, Courtney and I went over to the library to look at their Christmas display called, Forest of Trees. There were 25 trees all decorated based on books. Most of the trees looked like they came from movies, but then I remembered that many movies are based on books. Courtney is standing next to the Indiana Jones tree.

Its decorations didn't seem very Christmassy (more like Dia de Muertos - Day of the Dead), but maybe they would be appropriate for kids on the naughty list.

We opened up our presents later that evening. I got 2 tiny little watercolor sets from Santa and Courtney. (I put a quarter in the picture so you can see just how small they are.) Courtney found the one on the right on Temu. I think I'm going to use it when I go on hikes. It came with a tiny sketchbook and a clip to hold the paint, which makes it a lot easier to use when you're not sitting down. I have to decide which 8 colors I'm going to put in those fingernail-sized holes.

Charlie got a stuffed turkey and a crinkly deer to play with. Courtney brought the deer from Chicago, but we both took him to Murdochs Ranch Supply to pick out the turkey. Charlie loves going to Murdochs, especially when we get to the cash register and the cashier gives him a treat. It was a great toy for about 15 minutes, but then Charlie ripped the tail off. Oh well, it turned out to be a very good holiday this year. 

Last Week Before Christmas

Since Charlie didn't get to see Santa at the Holly Jolly Jamboree, I took him to Nick's Garden Center where the Aurora Animal Shelter was hosting pet portraits with Santa. This was a really congenial Santa who was even letting dogs sit in his sleigh, but when Santa reached down to lift Charlie into the seat, Charlie just freaked and tried to run away. I think it was that big white fake beard that scared him. It was all I could do to get him to sit on my lap for this photo.

Bruce and I took Charlie on a hike to Castlewood Canyon State Park. There was still quite a bit of snow on the trails, but Charlie thought that made the hike that much more exciting (he seems to love snow). Luckily there wasn't much ice, or we all would have been sliding down the hills.

It's been a busy week for holiday club parties. Almost all of them involved a gift exchange. First up, was the Quilt Club. Since we meet in the morning, we turned it into a potluck brunch - great quiche and cinnamon rolls. I got kind of an odd gift at that one - a pack of post-it-notes. Not sure how that relates to quilting.

The next party was the Craft Club. Since they meet in the afternoon, the treats were cookies and candies. Each person was supposed to bring a white elephant craft (something you already own, but didn't finish). I got a set of 48 brush markers in that one - much more practical for me.

Then that evening, I went to the Baking Club party. Since it was a soup and salad potluck, I brought chicken sausage and sweet potato soup (one of my Hello Fresh meals - very tasty and easy to make). This time, I really hit the jackpot, because I got a gift bag full of kitchen utensils, some maple syrup, and some cranberry pepper jelly (the stuff you put on top of brie cheese). We also had a cookie exchange, so I brought home a couple dozen assorted cookies.

I went out to lunch this week with one of my St Louis friends who lives in the neighborhood. Both our daughters went to Nerinx together. We went to Cane's Chicken. It's nice to have a friend who likes simple fast food as much as I do. My Ladies Out to Lunch groups always want to go to expensive salad restaurants.

On Monday, I went on my first Senior Center outing to the ChristkindleMart in downtown Denver. It was nice, but not nearly as big as the one in Chicago. There was a stand called, "S'mores Haus" where you could purchase marshmallows to roast on the firepits in front of the stand. It would probably be a bit more impressive at night. I stuck with having a German pretzel and beer for lunch.

To celebrate the winter solstice, the Bike Club went on a nighttime ride to see the neighborhood Christmas lights. We had a fairly small group, because the Saturday before Christmas is a really busy time for people. We met just before the sun went down, and then rode around several streets, before coming back to our house for mulled wine and popcorn.