22 June 2014: Sunday ... High Clouds, Brilliant Sun Thru Window Shades ... TED Radio Hour on iPhone ... breakfast at a packed Crossroads ... lunch @ Hartefeld ... Doug leaves minutes after 3 p.m. for 7 p.m. flight

It's the GUY Radio Hour, I'm Ted Roz. (I found that spoonerism amusing this morning.)

MOM HAS TAKEN HER OWN SHOWER this morning (Hallelujah!). She also made her bed and folded clothes from a dryer load I placed their prior to her shower, but she has a "kink" in her back. Think she feels good about her accomplishment, though. 

"It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see."  ~ Henry David Thoreau 

I saw an elderly couple, similar in perspective (they looked alike), stoic, seated in a booth at Crossroads Restaurant this morning as Doug and I ordered our breakfast (Doug waffles and assorted pork sides, moi a broccoli scramble). Unspeaking, they turned to leave at the same time and got up from their seats, at the same time, and then, she smiled, which broke the frieze.

Hartefeld National, a premier Avondale golf club, features 18 challenging golf holes
designed by renowned architect Tom Fazio.

Great walk today with Dancer at Carousel, almost all off leash, we walked exactly 3.0 miles when we got back to the car, the lone one in the parking lot for Bark Park off Skyline Drive. Where was everybody? Watching Team USA tie Portugal, 2-2. The game was over when I began my walk -- Portugal tied it, literally, in the last seconds of the game on a cross and header (a beautiful goal) -- so USA now has 4 points and missed an opportunity to head straight into the Round of 16 and eliminate Portugal. But back to the reason for this cutline, our walk. It was wonderful and different, a trail that took me through the woods and back out onto a walk leading over the bridge, where Dancer plopped down and drank (I caught a photo of

her on the bridge from below ... ).

12 May 2014: Monday ... Body Pump w/Helena & Body Combat w/Renee ... 1st oil change for '12 Accord ... mowed lawn (Skeesha arrived) ... the birds at Shipley Manor Nursing Home ... pianist/singer audience member

I was the sole male in a packed Activity Room at the Western Y this morning when Helena, the beauty of Brighton, began her Body Pump workout at 8:00 a.m. I have no problem with that but it is a bit lonely and male companionship would be appreciated. It was a good workout as Helena runs a mean and hard working shift with the weights and bar. Before the start, spoke to a regular, Carolyn, who has worked out all her life but says she avoided sports in high school due to inherent clumsiness (which I tended to doubt). She knew my name and I had to ask hers. Tutt, tutt Nyhoff!

Seagull at Brighton Beach in England.

Afterward, took Body Combat with Renee and that's always invigorating and instructive. She is a great teacher, much like Helena but a different style (a different workout, of course), but I got to be next to one of my favorite (and really, only) German friends, Christa. She is  very good at BC and so enthusiastic (she leaves a bit early to do a later Body Pump in the AR) and there was, in the front, the always delightful Heidi. Next to me (there were a total of 3 men in BC) was a newcomer, a self-professed double black belt who taught the art for 8 years consistently, every day. He was short, bald headed and lean and he definitely knew the kicks and punches but was shaky on the routines (of course). All in all, a great workout. I'm learning to really enjoy BC thanks to the enthusiasm of the participants. Oh, forgot to mention the slim (she birthed two 9-pound babies) Theresa, all of 100 pounds soaking wet, who was the Energizer Bunny with her knee lifts and her running in place. Inexhaustible. 

Too chunky for Theresa.