valeriesbookofme

THURSDAY, JUNE 18, 2009   This is my grand-dog Molly. She has a beautifully loving nature that tolerates the ministrations of three toddlers. She also likes to take humans on walks. She is pretty good about pulling except when she hears a dog barking in a yard or sees a dog. Unfortunately there are a LOT of dogs in dd's neighborhood. Our walk tonight resulted in my almost ending up in a heap on the gravel and almost losing a finger as well. Note to self: be careful about wrapping Molly's leash around hand when walking.   Isis used to be my cat but because we're moving about so much this year, she's gone to live with dd and family. She's 17 years old and quite cranky. Especially when she's being coaxed by a 2 year old to drink from a sippy. But she does fairly well tolerating them and has her own little "house" to retire to when it gets too much. She also likes to sing at night, preferably after everyone has gone to bed. She's done that since we fir

t was a good weekend. Temps were in the high 80s/90s, little humidity. We weren't out in the sun much as family is still recovering from sunburns they received on their vacation in California. They didn't arrive home until midnight on Friday so Saturday morning we were all moving fairly slowly except for dsil who was playing in a workplace football tournament. So off he went at 6:30 a.m. and I stayed up doing some research on my trip to the UK in two weeks--I still can't make up my mind about BritRail pass--until the rest of the family got up around 9 a.m.  We went to a diner for lunch. I ordered a veggie wrap, which was a fairly healthy choice. I did have fries with it though--I'm still a sucker for fries. And then I shared an old-fashioned ice cream sundae with dd. I calculated the calories on Mobile Spark for what I ate and realized I'd only have about 200 calories for dinner. Ugh. And then I went to Sears to look for a bathing suit. I tried a few on and I was su

I went to Ramsay Canyon Preserve this past Tuesday. It is a little gem of a walking area nestled in the canyons just east of Sierra Vista AZ. The woman at the trailhead bookshop said there were loads of butterfly species, hummingbirds and other birds around but although I heard them (the birds that is) I only saw a couple of butterflies and a hepatic tanager (a red bird that looks something like a cardinal) and loads of dragonflies. But I intend to go back out there a few times before I leave because it was such a beautiful spot and there's a good climbing path that goes for a little over 3 miles roundtrip up to the link with Hamburg Trail. Almost 1000' elevation gain from 5500 to 6200 so that will keep me in shape for my UK rambles.  Borrowed a great book from the library yesterday--Lonely Planets' Walking in Britain (52 Great Walks). Had my mouth watering for all the places I could walk through. Problem is I will have to choose my walks carefully if I am going to be alone

Au revoir Santa Fe This is my last full day in Santa Fe, for the summer at least. I woke up this morning and it was pouring rain. I mean POURING. So unusual here!! I still wanted to hike of course because at the very least I thought it would be good preparation for UK hiking weather. So I phoned Dave and asked him if he was still on and he said definitely. Turned out we were the only hardy souls but it was soooo worth it! Here are two photos--it's hard to believe this is desert, isn't it?  Dave admiring the silvery raindrops on the pine branches.    Me beside the Big Tesuque River at full flow    We hiked for two hours, only stopping now and again. My pedometer registered 12000 steps by the time we returned to the car. I've written so much in the past months about how much I loved hiking so I won't repeat myself. But I realized this morning that a lot of why I loved to hike so much here were the people in this group. They are so friendly, so welcoming that I looked forw

Almost finished! Well, Monday is over; two and a half more days before we leave. My hiking buddies Rob and Ken came over yesterday and within an hour had all of the boxes we'd got ready on the weekend over to the storage unit and had reorganized the storage unit. They are so great; I am going to miss them.  I asked them where they wanted to have lunch--my treat--and they suggested an East Indian restaurant. I haven't eaten Indian food in ages; I really like it but dh doesn't. Too spicy. I wondered how it would affect my IBS but I haven't had any ill effects. Except that I probably ate too many calories. I wasn't going to eat any dinner last night but ended up having a large bowl of ice cream with chocolate sauce (fat free) and a small chocolate cake on top. Probably 500 calories; ulp. I'd like to say I burned it all off but yesterday wasn't a hiking day. I did 45 minutes of Leslie Walk Away the Waistline and carried some boxes from my car to the storage unit

On the road again I've been blogging on SparkPeople and decided I ought to move to here so more people can follow my blog. So this one is from June 5th, last Friday: I picked up my birthday present today. A new Macbook :) I've been a Mac fan for almost 20 years now, have always had Macs at home. They don't get viruses, they don't seem to have the problems that my work PCs have had.  This one weighs only 3.5 pounds--roughly equivalent to those fibroids I got rid of last month [hee hee]. And way more fun. I'm taking it with me to the UK of course so that when I find an internet cafe or wireless friendly library I'll be able to catch up with my friends back home. Funny to think about how we used to be patient with sending post cards and waiting for letters to arrive. Now it's all almost instantaneous as long as we have a connection; and golly do I get withdrawal if I can't find a connection!  After my down day yesterday I woke up this morning still feeling