Exhale, Readers!
It's the weekend.
Time for a little breather for Eloise.
My years are not measured from January to December,
they are measured from September to June.
After 38 years in the school systems, the "new year" is always September,
and I save the retrospectives for June.
Google created a great video for high school graduates.
Check this out!
I screamed YEAH! at one part,
and burst into tears at another.
That's one good video if it can evoke that much emotion in just a minute and thirty seconds.
See if you can guess which parts they were---answer at the end of this blog.
Parents, if your little ones are leaving your nest,
Mama Bird understands just how fast they grow.
In just two weeks,
Robins go from this,
(the tuft of head feather!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
to this,
to this!
The Front Porch Faction should be ready to take their leaps this weekend.
Robins weren't the only subjects of my photographs lately.
These are for my favorite Bird Nerd, Kristen C.
While at camp on Memorial Day weekend, this humming bird landed next to me.
This peacock also spread his feathers right in front of me.
While spectators were ooohing and aahing over his magnificent plumes,
I ran around the back to see what his butt looked like.
Did you ever see a peacock's tail end?
This is what it looks like.
Those photos were taken at a little zoo connected to a neat place outside of Cook's Forest, Pennsylvania. The Farmer's Inn is a fantastic place to take kids, and is only about a two hour drive from Erie. Here is the link if you'd like a day trip this summer, Erieites.
I took this photo from the parking lot.
It really is a beautiful place.
We spent the weekend at my husband's family's camp.
This area of Pennsylvania had flash flood damage from heavy rain earlier that week.
This is a snapshot of my kids standing at the spot,
that this beautiful covered bridge once stood.
The furious water took it down,
its bits and pieces strewn downstream.
It's final resting place is along the creek bank about 100 yards from where it once stood.
The power of Mother Nature never ceases to amaze me.
The water cut a new path through the solid earth.
and took this tree with it.
Amazing!
The rain did not stop my friends, however.
They left Erie in a lightning storm, and arrived in Philadelphia 4 days later.
The team that went to greet them wore Natalie's traveling shirt to the Rocky steps!
Rocky is one of Eloise's all time favorite movies.
That is why I named the dog in my children's novel, The Key, Rocky.
Congratulations Doc, CJ, and Nathan!
Keep moving.
That's what I've been doing.
I have hardly stopped for the last six weeks.
End of the school year activities for all five of us,
plus little league has kept Eloise on a tight time schedule.
In April and May I have to set my alarm for half an hour earlier,
and often head to bed more than an hour later than usual to fit it all in.
I still try to find time to work in little bits of Me Time in my week.
I love to try to see the field from different angles.
This week's shots came from my camera in the grass.
The green blur comes from the blades of grass in front of the lens.
Other little league news of the week:
Ellen's name got pulled to throw out the first pitch at the Sea Wolves game on Sunday.
Rapper 50 Cent was a little to the outside.
Let's hope Ellen fares a little better.
Onto more Fitness News:
The Beer Runs will resume this summer.
I see these socks in our future.
I need three more to complete my Six Pack running goal
of running from The Lamp Post to local drinking establishments.
I signed up for the Presque Isle Half Marathon on July 20th.
When I Googled images for the event, my own feet came up!
I'll need some longer runs to condition myself for the event.
The next in the series are long suckers,
9 ish
10 ish
and
12 ish miles.
The next one is tentatively set for June 7th.
Give me a holler if you are interested in joining for all or part of it.
Give me a holler if you are interested in joining for all or part of it.
I got all my gear ready for summer fitness fun.
The Zombies Run ap has 5K, 10K, and 20K missions!
There is also a new feature called an Airdrop that I can't wait to try.
If you do run with me this summer, be forewarned,
I'm completely done with earbuds!
They never stay in!
If you want to trot along beside me, you'll have to listen to my tunes,
and help me run messages from Abel to New Canton.
No takers?
That's OK.
That's OK.
I'm an introvert at heart, so I don't mind going solo.
However, lonely runs can be a safety issue, especially for me,
so I bought this new toy to hang around my neck.
One can always use a compass.
On my Beast training workouts, I will always have my battle ax with me.
It has been part of my clan for centuries.
It holds a map to the location of a treasure's trove of riches.
It has been passed to me with full confidence that I will keep the hidden cache safe and
protect it at all costs.
Come to some Beast workouts with me and see it for yourself.
You can look, but do not touch!
The curse of the Red Eyed Serpent will fall upon you and your entire clan
should this fall into enemy hands.
As you can see, I have lots of fun planned for the summer.
But for this weekend, the last weekend before school lets out,
Eloise is taking a breather.
Sometimes it's good to sit back by a fire, and catch your breath.
That's what I plan on doing this weekend.
I'm taking a few days to enjoy the journey,
and take a couple of snapshots of what I find along the way.
The photo story for the week is set to one of my favorite songs ever--Just Breathe by Pearl Jam. I was reminded of it again, as it was the song that was played on the season finale of The Black List, my favorite show of the year. It's been in my head for two weeks, and now I'm about to put it in yours.
Try this.
Breathe in for 4 seconds.
Hold for 7 seconds.
Exhale for 8 seconds.
Do that for 5 minutes in the morning.
10 minutes before bed.
Thank you Challenge Erie for the life-changer.
It works. Try it.
Eloise
ANSWERS:
Screamed YEAH! at the basketball player's buzzer beater.
Cried at the Down's syndrome kid's acceptance letter.
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