24 June 2014: Tuesday ... Core Challenge w/Maria (Pamela still in Ohio, I think?) ... Mom's exquisite letter to NV ... great yoga (a hand squeeze from Christina) ... Anne Dunlap in the corridor ...

Jul 11 6-9 pm	Chadds Ford, PA Brandywine River Museum of Art
Jul 27 7 - 10 pm	Newark, DE Homegrown Cafe
Sep 14 2-5 pm	Pennington, NJ Hopewell Valley Vineyards
Sep 28 7 - 10 pm	Newark, DE Homegrown Cafe
Oct 19 2 pm	Chadds Ford, PA Brandywine River Museum of Art

The performing schedule, above, of Catherine Marie Charlton, a member of UUSMC and a very creative composer, pianist and improviser, who has a real Web presence with her work, especially at the Brandywine River Museum and her work with the Wyeth estate. She is truly gifted. We need to get her to perform on a Sunday, wonder why Kristen has not encouraged her to perform for the congregation?

Dancer didn't notice her possible prey down the gravel path.  

Susan Siepmann Greco commenting on my serendipitous (aka, random event) discovery of three deer during my walk this evening around Carousel Park, where I parked, for the first time, in the lot where the faux western town is located and where the stables for the New Castle County mounted patrol are. 

• It's always nice when these things just randomly happen!

  3 hours ago · Unlike · 1
• 

  Rudy Nyhoff Eureka Susan!  It is extraordinarily nice, in fact, it is the essence of happiness and serendipity. Each day is a collection of random events.

17 June 2014: Tuesday ... three chimes & a universe (later yoga this am) ... met Joanne (friend of Ruth Ann), a dietitian (suggestions for mom) ... 2nd walk at Hercules CC ... Veronica, RN, mom's new charge nurse

Dancer taking off at the start of second walk at the abandoned Hercules Golf Course. We went about 2.5 miles and ventured into the area by the stream, which she waded into, and then a steep hill before having to turn back and retrace our steps. Dancer dragged a bit and seemed exhausted but she made it.

5 June 2014: Thursday ... LINDSAY sent me abstract/poster from her research ... BodyVive & Dragana ... Jennifer ... sweaty t-shirt ... yoga ... Sue ...

~ Climbed out, tentatively and forwardly (on my stomach), to the roof to clean off the gutters. They are already protected from leaf detritus, et al., but went ahead and wiped them off and cleared some limbs from the roof and sent earthward to an inquisitive Dancer. It is a shallow grade but still harrowing up there. One misstep and you are dead or paralyzed for the rest of your life. It is a good distance from the high points on the roof to the ground below. Not a welcome journey by any means, but it does look better and as I'm typing this, I made it back, safely.

~ We got the check from Homeowner's Insurance Company, Lititz, today and mom signed the check for $1,086.85. I did not go over the details but it's an amount that should be able to cover repair of the dining room ceiling. ~ Good walk with Dancer tonight as the moon ascended (the western sky was beautiful). Did over 2 miles (2.35) and interwove the path and picked up an additional two doggie bags. The walking is good especially toward the end where the incline is steeper for a section and the heart rate gains. Many Mexican families come and play soccer, a game they love, as the parents teach it to their children, but it's unfortunate that many have a weight problem but at least they are active. ~ Call tonight to Katia was settling and meaningful. We will meet tomorrow night and go out and do something. We may do First Friday in downtown Wilmington or just get a bite to eat. Whatever she wants to do as I've promised to give her my undivided attention. She is a special lady and she needs caring at the present time.

20 May 2014: Tuesday ... meeting Anne Dunlap thanks to Gwen ... Katia and biking/brunch ... Bob and Alice ... bike rack & helmet

Gwen Hays, yoga and fitness instructor at the Western Y, introduced me to an extraordinary young woman this late morning, Anne Dunlap, who taught me about perseverance in the face of adversity and disability. She was injured severely in a car accident at age 18 in 1998 (she is a graduate of St. Mark's HS and Del Tech, where she earned her 2-year degree in four years -- she had planned to attend Virginia Tech until the accident with her boyfriend on Kirkwood Highway when their stalled car was struck by a DART bus). She asked that I write her an e-mail and I thought why not take a selfie of us on the tread mill. It does not do her justice as she she is an exquisitely beautiful young lady who could model with her looks. What a delight to get to meet her today thanks to Gwen's initiative. 

Hurried texts with Katia and her proximity to Bob and Alice prompted her request that I pick her up to visit my mom. She also mentioned riding bikes. her own. She wants to start getting some exercise. As a result, my mind went whirring and I called and then e-mailed Bob with the request to bring a visitor to brunch on Saturday. He responded right away and said bring her on, so I'll pick up Katia with my new bike rack (which I just ordered from Amazon) and my new bike helmet (also ordered from Amazon with 2-day shipping, so I should get it by Thursday). 

17 May 2014: Saturday ... a gorgeous day ... a lot done ... drugs arrive (FedEx and DE Hospice unbelievable) ... yard work (pulling and clipping) ... My portrait by Katia at Mt. Cuba Center ...

On this historic anniversary, the 60th of Brown v. Board of Education, my lifelong friend, Bob Hayman, wrote the central piece on the editorial page of the News Journal, entitled 

 
"Remembering Justice Earl Warren’s surprising legacy".


Katia's furtive photo of me at the Mt. Cuba Center
during our extended lunch (hers) visit on Friday, 9 May 2014,
when the gardens were open for a National Day for horticulture or whatever.


Just finished watching an extraordinary performance by a young pianist on WHYY's On Stage at Curtis, Andrew Hsu, playing a piano sonata by Samuel Barber, his Opus 26. Extremely difficult but played with facility and warmth and understanding by this eloquent young musician who is also a composer. He performed songs he'd written to the poetry of Emily Dickinson early in the program, aired each weekend and which was a staple for mom and dad as they both watched it together on the big bed, laying next to one another. 

24 April 2014: Thursday ... eggs for breakfast ... sewing repair ... National Geographic story on boat rendering in Bangladesh ...

"What made you think of eggs this morning," Mom asked as she shuffled hesitatingly from the bathroom, "they were delicious."

I laid down my window blind (had an epiphany, let's give Mom a task that she can do in the bed and that will engage her) in need of a sewing repair onto her bed. She is on it right now. Threading her needle with brown thread. I also DID not cut up her soft-boiled eggs on toast. She did fine. The plate was clean. She did enjoy them. Before I left for the Y at around 7:30 a.m., she'd completed the sewing and I put the curtain back up in the window. Amazing.

I return, after a leisurely workout that ended with "Transforming Transitions" workshop by yoga instructor Christine Shaw, soon to be 50 years of age (11 May, I believe, Mother's Day is her Earth entrance day, 1964) and a veggie omelet, home fries, rye toast and coffee at Mary's Kountry Kitchen in Newport served by Sue, arrived home to find the TV off and mom reading National Geographic, an article on the boat yard that breaks apart old boats in Bangladesh. She sympathized with their plight as the work is dangerous and extremely unhealthy. Good to see her involved and she said she even used the one-pound weights a bit this morning (later, as I brought up her dinner, she was working out with them). 

Looking at going to Suburban Lawn & Equipment, Inc., in Newport for a highly rated Honda lawn mower (HRX217VKA) which is selling for $599.99, a good price. Just got back from purchasing the mower from the aforementioned business, a busy place with a number of workers, from a Mike Petruccelli, who was glad for my business. The mower will be delivered tomorrow morning between 9 - 11 a.m. Will need to be here and workout beginning at 6 a.m. The cost was a penny under $600.00 and I charged it to my Amazon/Chase VISA card. 

Drove to Mt. Cuba Center to check on its location off Barley Mill Road and the event on Sunday. Made my way to the accountant, Tom Szewczyk and office manager, Chris, only to find the office called. Decided to check out where Jane & Bob Frelick have lived for years and according to Bea Webb, the home was built by Jane's father and the first home on Overlook Drive off of Barley Mill Road. It's lovely but I decided not to knock on the door unannounced.

We do have a savings account (mom says there is $120K in it) but the banker, Keli Malachi (who is unaware of who the Old Testament -- Book of Malachi, the last one in the Tanakh before the New Testament -- Jewish prophet was who graces her last name), who told me of the account which is amassing a whopping 1/10th of a percent interest, could not give me the amount. I have to be on the account and that will come about only with mom's presence in the Wells Fargo office (not going to happen) or my presentation of "power of attorney" papers to have my name added. Also spoke to an investment banker about the options to put the money to better use. 

8 April 2014: Tuesday ... Core Challenge w/Pamela and Yogaflex w/Christine (share Bergman's "The Magic Flute") ... dinner Saturday @ Papenhagen's ... Nielsen visit tomorrow evening ...

1 April 2014: Tuesday ... birthday of Rachmaninov (thanks to Jihed) ... also link to Berlin Phil rec. of Beethoven IV symphony ... Core Challenge ... yoga w/Christine ... talk w/Tilly Rotter (talking to Mom right now 7:32 p.m.) ... disquieting phone call from Lindsay ...

• Karen Shields Hi, Dancer.

  April 1 at 6:26pm · Unlike · 1
• 

  Patricia Alcamo Choruzy We have a golden too. An old guy at 12 years.

  April 1 at 9:33pm · Unlike · 1
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  Carol Seay Witzell what a lovely play of the light!

  April 1 at 10:18pm · Unlike · 1
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  Rudy Nyhoff I hope to get a good 12 years and more out of my beloved Dancer, Patricia, and yes, Carol, the light from my window facing west brings in some brilliant shafts of light (which is redundant isn't it? Can there be a dull ray of light?).

  April 1 at 11:08pm · Like

25 March 2014: Tuesday ... Core Body workout (PHEW!) ... fantastic yoga w/Christine (no Brewed Awakenings due to daughter's illness - homemade soup v. Mrs. Grass) ... mom & Beth & Dr. Maged (solving symptoms) ... SNOWING AGAIN! ... .

Final snow of the extended 2013-14 winter, who knows, but we were slated to get 1-3 inches, which I doubt will take place, and as it fell at Delcastle Recreation Park on an early Tuesday evening, it was still beautiful at the conclusion of our walk (about 2 miles in total). It included my first circumnavigation of a lovely school, Brandywine Springs (middle school?) and its spacious grounds.

The day started with high hopes for a coffee & crumpet with Christine after yoga, but that did not materialize as her daughter was ill from school and needed her mother's attention, in particular homemade soup. Another day is suspect. 

Morning Core Challenge truly lived up to its name. Pamela had set up stations, about 10, I think, four-minutes apiece and boy did it "challenge". Thankfully, I had Josh, one of 3 males in the class, who inspired and directed me on each activity and we made it through. Very taxing and rewarding, in a way. I'll be back on Friday for a continuation of this physical endurance.

Yoga was packed and Christine was masterful. Got the heart rate up and I got to see two fitness instructors, Amy (lovely physique and superb yoga form) and Pamela, take the class. It inspired. She led us through a seamless progression of moves that challenged our body posture and our strength, within our own limits. By the conclusion, spread out in corpse, I did feel spent but invigorated. Afterward, I did get to speak with her (she is so popular, I really feel like I am intruding) and she told me of her daughter's illness. No mention of Brewed Awakenings was made. I do not want to intrude or be too bold. My intent for the class was the word resolve. And be it resolved that I will not be a "pain in the derriere" to her in my insistence. I want to become her friend first, but I do not know if I will ever get to first base. It still seems a distance away. 

On a more critical note, mom had a rough day. She really feared that she would die due to asphyxiation and it was good to have Beth visit today and contact Dr. Maged. The decision was that she needed more lasix and potassium for the next 4 days. We will double the dose of the "water pill" to see about lessening the build-up of fluid around her heart and give her the potassium for the tingling in her right foot. She will now be on 160 mg. of lasix or furosemide. 

Christine mentioned, in her words before yoga, which is her specialty, about the notion of letting go of stress and how describing, at the end of the day, through words and writing, what you are especially grateful for that day, is liberating and releasing. I agree. I am thankful for my mother, for the classes at the Y, for this snow, for my dog (sleeping on the floor in the TV room next to me as I type), and my friends (in particular, touching base again with Alice and Bob). 

Failed to mention that the Hayman/Eakin family will not be able to make the ballgame but I did leave a message with Delaware Hospice for Erica, PRN nurse, who has visited mom several times in the past week or so, and who mentioned to me that she'd been to an 87ers game at "The Bob", that the tickets were hers if she wanted them. I will wait to hear her response. 

22 March 2014: Saturday ... epiphany in yoga w/Christine and Gwen at "Fit to Give" fundraiser, Western Y ... mat next to Y director Pam Howard ... won tickets to 87ers game ... great walk with Dancer at Delcastle ... Flyers win 5th straight against best NHL team, St. Louis Blues, 4-1 ...

This morning's yogaflex was team taught by Christine and Gwen and it was special. Covered all the bases. Provided challenge both physically and spiritually as we connected with our bodies. They divied up the activities and as one instructed, the other could circulate and observe and provide instruction. I felt it worked and felt a special closeness when Christine came close by. 

18 March 2014: Tuesday ... sick this AM couldn't make yoga (darn!) ... recovery in afternoon for Body Combat w/Renee ... texts w/Christine and Katia ... Flyers win in OT vs. Blackhawks on Giroux last-second goal ...

https://conf.abrf.org/program (March 22-25, 2014)

Albuquerque, New Mexico 

Introducing the ABRF 2014 Annual Conference

ABRF 2014 “Team Science and Big Data: Cores at the Frontier” will bring together leaders in these emerging disciplines to address the role that core facilities are playing in the information revolution. At the meeting, facility directors and managers, staff scientists, administrators, government sponsors and industrial partners will convene to present their latest research results, technologies, programs and products aimed at facilitating Team Science and Big Data initiatives. 

(S3) The Cores as the Heart of Translational Team Science: Building New Tools for the Clinical Investigator - Cimarron / Dona Ana Room

Session Organizer: Katia Sol-Church, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Thomas Jefferson University, and Director, Biomolecular Core Laboratory, AI duPont Hospital for Children

Speakers: Katia Sol-Church; Shawn Polson, Assistant Professor and Bioinformatics Core Coordinator, University of Delaware; Erin Crowgey, Graduate Research Assistant, University of Delaware

Scaled the sofa to take this photo of a recumbent, solar-warmed Dancer. Got one frame off. 

Just finished watching interview, his 10th appearance on the Colbert Report, of Neil deGrasse Tyson by Stephen Colbert. Humorous, of course, but the astrophysicist, who knew he wanted to pursue that field since he was 11 and visited Carl Sagan in Ithaca when he was 17 in 1975, reminds so much, with his hand movements and mode of speech of David Keesee. 

15 March 2014: Saturday ... the ides of March ... walk to DHS for first time in months ... talk with Beatrice Webb for Church canvass at Panera's ... Liberty Yoga ... dad's travel journal

Two walks today with Dancer, no trip to the "Y" for spinning because of my Pony Express/Canvass meeting with Beatrice Webb (choir member) from Church at Panera's for coffee and a sweet and two hours of revealing and delightful conversation from 10 a.m. to noon. The walks totaled over 4 miles. 

Realigning the books on the shelf where dad's father's ring and the letter openers rest, I found a gem, words penned by my father, a diary of sorts, from his trip with Doug to Russia. I took it, immediately, to his longtime translator (the writing was his usual scrawl), my mother, and she worked out some of it. Pretty basic stuff ... departure times from New York and Helsinki to arrival time in Moscow. There's probably more but I placed it back where I found it (I will remember its location), it is a rare artifact of my dad's writing outside of his professional duties of myriad patient note taking. 

A rarity -- Dad's words describing Russia trip with Doug. 

11 March 2014: Tuesday ... yoga with Christine ... language tutorial with Kyoko ... stray black lab follows us up Nicholby then disappears ... Flyers lose 2-1 to NJ Devils (Brodeur & Jagr, both in their 40s, beat them) ...

Christine told me she'd seen me online and asked whether I knew what that meant just prior to the start of yoga class this morning. I told her simply, "I do," and then we had a great yoga class. I composed, in my head, what I would say to her and then wrote it and sent it from the web site. As of this evening, she had not read it yet.
During class, Kyoko, Japanese-American, but more American in her temperament and language skills, referred to me as Randy and when I corrected her, she gave me a tutorial in greetings in the language of her parents, which, unfortunately, she is not fluent in even though she went, unwillingly, to Japanese school in California growing up. (Spoke to her in the sauna the following day ... 3/12/14 ... and she told me of her two hip replacements and her osteo-arthritis in her knees ... I had no room to complain. She had mentioned my form in the deep knee bends during the Body Pump we'd both been through with pint-sized and teen age-looking Amy, who I took up on her offer for candy-covered pretzels, which she had made, and then went to my locker for a donation -- all I had were $20s, no change at the front desk, so I had her give me back $15 from her stash that she'd already collected for a fundraiser to empower kids.) They have some incredibly good people working as fitness instructors at the Y. 

1. Koh-nee-chee-wah ... greeting in the morning.
   
2. Oh-high-oh ... greeting during the day.
   
3.  Koom-bah-wah (?) ... greeting in the evening.
   
   
   

25 February 2014: Tuesday ... two fitness classes today, a first (yoga with Christine and then BodyPump in the evening) ... vertuccirose@gmail.com IS BORN (Mom has email) ...

Felt a little out of sorts today but was revived by Christine's yoga class and then had the idea, which I should have had a long time ago, to get mom a gmail account and have her learn to receive and send basic email responses through the iPad. It's going to be a learning process but today it began and hopefully it will progress.

The account, which I pondered, is a mix of her maiden name and middle name as the first choice -- virginiarose  -- was not available, so I went to --- vertuccirose -- which was available. Hopefully, she'll get a charge out of it and enjoy using it. We shall see.

18 February 2014: Tuesday ... Yoga w/Christine ... sunshine, warmer temp, snow melting ... calls to family on request to move in ... a haircut from Debbie ...

She has a trained voice that blended perfectly in harmony with her iPod songs, which were tuneful and so danceable -- we actually did a little dancing during some of the routines and stretching. 

4 February 2014: Tuesday ... great yoga class with true teacher and enthusiast Christine ... Rev. Scott Lee comes to visit mom ... watched "Babette's Feast", a Danish film of great depth with mom ...

Had another great yoga class with a wonderful teacher, a true pedagogue in many ways, and enthusiastic believer in the power of the practice, Christine. We gathered in a circle and said our names several times. Then, we went around and tried to name each person correctly. It worked, for some, not for me, but it was a nice gesture by the teacher, who begins each session with a reading that sets the tone for the workout and it is a workout that flows smoothly from position to position. It is true cardio and with the breathing a total workout. Later, upon leaving, I called her Cathy and she said, no I'm Christine, which I knew, and then she proceeded to remember my name.

 

In the evening, Mom and I watched an extraordinary Danish film, "Babette's Feast", about a gathering in a village of about a dozen people and the exquisite meal that is prepared for them that is generously bolstered by spirits. The dialogue, in Danish, is sparse and the faces so picture perfect for the era and the camera moves so smooth and the plot so simple. They eat, talk, and then move into the salon for some musical entertainment and then the evening is over. But such beautiful filmmaking. I think it one an Oscar for Best Foreign Picture.    

Stéphane Audran is a French film and television actress, known for her performances in award-winning movies such as Le charme discret de la bourgeoisie and Babette's Feast and in critically acclaimed films like The Big Red One and Violette Nozière. Wikipedia

Born: November 8, 1932 (age 81)

15 January 2014: Wednesday ... When it rain, it pours, especially when you're napping mid-morning ... Carol, the Jehovah's Witnesses (who will come back), and Skeesha's call ...

Just had an idea for a daily entry on the blog ... why not, like I did in my classroom, have a Word Of The Day (WOTD). One of my FB friends, who I didn't know at Dickinson HS (she graduated in '75), Charla Larrimore, lives now in Hawaii (always wishing me 'aloha') and is a graduate of Stanford University. She is one smart individual. Well, she's sent me a WOTD for the past two days through instant messaging on FB.

Here's the first, or make that the second that she sent, which is part of the definition and not the exact word, but I love the definition offered up from the web site m-w.com. 

1. pecksniffian -- unctuously hypocritical
   
   
   
2. 
   

   
   
   I began this post with the phrase: "When it rain, it pours." Well, what did I mean? I was napping in my jammie bottoms and dad's leather slippers on the couch, listening to WHYY radio and the front bell sounds. It is the volunteer from Delaware Hospice, Carol, who has volunteered for 5 years as a companion and is a retired Special Education teacher from southeastern Pennsylvania for 10 years and happy to be so. It was hard and demanding work and her colleagues were not helpful. She has a wonderful visit with mom, who comments, initially on her name and its matching her sister. Mom loves people and it's good for her to have this companionship. She will return, weekly, to share some time with mom. I think it is good.
   
   Just moments later (here comes the rain), a couple of women, Jehovah's Witnesses, were at the door to talk about my faith. I stated, without equivocation, that I was "agnostic humanist" and a Unitarian Universalist. A lot of big terms, the woman said. And I was up front with my lack of belief and she wanted a conversation and I did, too. She left me with an interesting doc entitled Was Life Created? and it is surprisingly on topic and relatively unbiased. It's basis is the fact that ALL this complexity on earth, all its cycles and species and balance could not possibly have arisen by chance. There had to be a creator. Oh, if it were only that simple.

   

Had a good walk over 2 miles and avoided the mud on the sidewalks and circled St. John the Beloved School and Maplecrest in a mist that wetted Dancer and my jacket, pulled up over my neck (still have a lingering cold and tightness in my throat) and my hat over my ears, a necessity on this chilly, wet night, where the cars seem a lot closer on Milltown than they appear when I move to cross the road.

Some good PBS programs tonight. Fascinating piece on the German Zeppelins, made from cow's intestine (collagen) for its outer shell. It took a quarter million cows intestines to cover one zeppelin. They had a fleet of over a dozen and they flew over England and performed the first bombing runs, many incendiary. As a defense, the Brits put up the first rinky-dink fighters but they had to figure out how to shoot down these enormous, aircraft-carrier size structures. It didn't ignite with regular bullets. You needed to make a large hole to introduce oxygen that made the hydrogen explode and burn. A young pilot took down one and became an immediate hero. He made three passes and his last poured all his firepower into one section and opened up a large enough holed that ignited the gas and brought down the huge craft. Just incredible. 

The German commander in charge of the Zeppelins went on the last air assault and was shot dead in the craft going over the English Channel. Just desserts for a warrior who brought killing onto civilians during war, innocence on the ground.

*Something to note ... I did write Lindsay today!

2 January 2014: Thursday ... snowstorm blows in the early evening and continues to accumulate as I type this note at 12:00 a.m. ...

After a return to Bark Park and muddy paw prints in the car, Dancer took the passenger seat and appears to be watching for the light at the intersection of Limestone and Milltown Roads. An hour later, the first snow storm of 2014 blew in with snow and cold weather. By the morning, about 4-5 inches had fallen and I felt weary and achy. Probably from being a little too active with working out at the "Y" and then walking Dancer.

Took the opportunity to travel on an evening when a snow storm rolled in and headed up Limestone Road on the way to Kennett Square to meet a person I'd met through a dating site and we'd exchanged e-mails and she was teaching a yoga class this evening. It was an opportunity to good not to take advantage of, but earlier in the day, I'd been active. Made it to the "Y" using my temporary membership and using the elliptical -- not my favorite, worked hard for 30 minutes to get a mile registered on the machine (they must tweak them to make them slower to register distance as the machine next to me, for 3 minutes more of working, I put up 5.25 miles on the machine) -- and later, took Dancer to Bark Park as it had been a long time visiting the dog landscape and walked for about 2 miles, then, it was onto Kennett Square for a free yoga class from Heide as the snowstorm approached. I didn't mind and the trip did not disappoint.

I was her only student and rather than working a routine on a mat with just us, we walked across the street to a restaurant, almost empty and containing mostly workers. We had drinks and we talked. She is an amazingly wide-ranging person with so many interests and skills. It was really a wonderful evening.

The drive home was challenging but without incident as the roads were covered but quite passable. Only cause worry was in KSq when I was on an incline and the wheels spinning for a minute and when I left and turned the wrong way and had to pull a U-turn. Otherwise, it was a beautiful evening. I love to drive in the snow with moderation. 

1 January 2014: Tuesday ... got it right but had to look at the right numerical key and not press "3" ... but took advantage of Y offer and worked out today ...

We were actually dancing, with some encouragement from me, to the concluding waltz of the Vienna Philharmonic's annual New Year's Concert conducted for the second time by Daniel Barenboim. 

I needed to make a Dancer post, especially on January 1, 2014, so I grabbed her and she was not particularly enthused but I clasped and then held the iPhone out and shot away and caught at least a decent frame.

Is is serendipity of what ... I get an e-mail from Heide Harper. I read it. Respond to it. Includ my cell number. Think I have and I had in previous e-mails. I think, why not just call her. Go to iPhone and look up number for Heide. Not there. Why? Go to e-mails in the match.com file and find the number posthaste, go to, finally, place number in iPhone. Before I can save, I get a call from ... you guessed, it's Heide. We talk for a good 30 minutes. She's engaging. She's not an Eagles fan, of course, either am I to any great extent but she declares, hesitatingly, that they're in the playoffs, are they not? Well, I say, you didn't hear the loudspeakers in Kennett Square declaring that they'd made the playoffs. She then brought up a love of hers, along with yoga and being a Quaker ... more to follow, I'm sure, KNITTING. I said that I would love to learn and maybe she could teach me ... well, later, mom mentioned knitting and I thought I would bring Heide here to teach her.

Well, to make a long story short. She's having a yoga class at her studio tomorrow late afternoon -- 5:30 p.m. at Bliss Yoga (blissoutyoga.com) just outside of the public parking garage which has free parking after 5 p.m. I said I'd be there for the class, which is free for the first one. See if I can find my yoga mat. Not sure I can. She said there'd be some there. It should be fun.