Friday, July 31, 2009

Happy (part II)

Scooby (another rescue dog) is not one to openly show her emotions. Typically reticent, she is often in the front room under the bed or in our bedroom in her kennel pretending that she is invisible when people come over to our house. As soon as the company leaves, Scooby is out in the family room, leaping and jumping like a winning show dog.

I often tell others about what a funny little dog Scooby is, but to date, it has basically been folk lore, as easy to prove as Bigfoot or the Loch Ness monster because I haven't been able to prove it. I submit to you this photo as proof that Scooby is a happy, silly pup!

I took the dogs for a walk Saturday night by myself. We went over to the Junior High because school is out so no one is ever on campus, the rabbits are running loose and the big area allows Daphne and Scooby to run to their hearts content while Shadow can plod along on a slow and short route. The trip was a productive one, with at least 4 lively rabbit chases that had both dogs panting and looking rather pleased with themselves.

The sun was quickly setting, the neighborhood was quiet, the grass was cool and refreshing...Scooby was just feeling happy, so she plopped down in the clover and started rolling around on her back. I whipped out my Blackberry and snapped the photo before she realized what I was doing (I am sneaky like that), and after I dropped the offending instrument back into my pocket, she started to roll again.

It makes me happy to see my dogs so happy and carefree. Blurry or not, this vision makes me smile.

Thursday, July 30, 2009

Happy (part I)

A friend sent me this sign. I think that it is cute and of course I must share with Elizabeth, who is the collector of all fun and silly signs.

Hard not to smile and take on the day with this perspective!

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Midnight Madness

There has been so much blogging about the Walk, that a very important event was almost missed in the blog fodder...Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince opened on July 15th!

Honoring a Newton (women) tradition of seeing the movie on opening day AND celebrating the fact that Holly can certainly stay up late without me having to worry about how she will do in school the next day, we bought our tickets online for the first midnight showing! Rachel and Karina got in on the action too, we were one fine quartet, ready to take in the sixth installment of Holly's wizard heartthrob.

In theory, the midnight show sounds cool. For the 17-20 year old set (the average age of the midnight showing attendees), it probably is cool. For the 40+ parent who worked a long day and didn't get home until 9:30pm...cool is not the word that I was thinking as we were standing in line on the backside of the theater at 10:30 at night, with an hour and a half to go before the movie even started, let alone stay awake for the 2 1/2 hour movie after the commercials and trailers. What was I thinking?

Fortunately for me, there was a McDonald's right across the street so I loaded up on a large iced coffee before we went into the theater. I had to be strategic...drink it early enough to deal with the multiple bathroom stops that will be needed but not so early that the caffeine leaves my system and I succumb to sleep in the midst of a very important plot point.

The timing was just about right and when combined with the excitement of the kids around me (I tried to blend in by wearing a mismatched collection of sweatpants, tshirt and sweatshirt, much to Holly's chagrin), I powered all the way through to the end of the most-enjoyable (albeit somewhat sad in parts) movie at 3:20 am.

I hope that the next two movies come out pretty soon, I am not sure how much longer I will be able to keep up with the midnight crowd!

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Have Shoes, Will Walk

Friday was a smooth day. A little bit of travel, a little bit of touring Berkeley, a little catching up over lunch and a train trip into the city, let the adventures begin!

Holly quickly assimilated to the Walk routine of check-in (we got all of our tents together, excellent!), dinner and a movie (The Proposal, don't expect a very complex or surprising story and you will be suitably entertained) and of course the trip to Walgreen's to gather the last-minute items and water needed to start the morning. The aforementioned sweatshirt did indeed prove to be a smart purchase!

Looking at the fresh and eager faces, it is easy to say, see you again next year!

Monday, July 27, 2009

When Does it Get Light?

Nothing says committed like setting the alarm for 4:15 am on a Saturday. Still a little groggy from our night on the streets of San Francisco on Friday, we all got ourselves - and our gear bags - ready for the big walk.

It was a festival and sea of reflective strips (shoes, jackets, hats) out on the street, as we wound around the block in line and waiting to load up in the buses to take us to the opening ceremony. It was rather damp and a little misty, which added to the fun of standing around.

Given the number of people in the line, we moved pretty quickly and rocked out to some fine 70's music on the way to Golden Gate Park. Holly pretended to not enjoy my fine disco moves as we waited for the bus to fill up, but I know that she did.

It was chilly enough to make us all thankful that we had enough layers between us to bundle everyone up and keep warm. I had decided while at Walgreen's getting water Friday night that I was missing a layer, so I bought the value of the week - a $3.99 sweatshirt. Barb perused the Avon gear at check in and bought a windbreaker. Holly somehow ended up with my sweatshirt (I am not sure that I ever even put it on once) and I with Barb's windbreaker at 1 or 2 cold intervals over the weekend.

Lucky a few of the members of our team are prepared!

Sunday, July 26, 2009

Opening Ceremonies

The team is fed, watered and sufficiently layered. Holly is sporting a white sweatshirt that we did not bring with us from home, where did that come from? I am wearing one of Barb's jackets and Sally has on a different clothing combination every time I look at her. I need to take better notes!

The Walk starts off with a bit of an emotional tug; the organizers worked this year to demonstrate how very personal the walk was to each person participating and had some really good, authentic speakers up at the podium telling the story as to why this was their walk. There were some tears, which is to be expected.

There was also a bit of trickery for those of us who believed that we had the thing dialed in as far as the route was concerned. Barb, Sally and I dragged Holly pretty close to the front and off on the side just a bit for a quick escape out and onto the street once we were on our way. Foiled! The exit was reversed and we suddenly realized that we were at the back of a pack of 3200 walkers, all flooding the streets of San Francisco.

That Sally can bob and weave through a crowd, let me tell you!

Saturday, July 25, 2009

Walkin' on the Bridge of the Bay

Exciting times indeed. The team is walking strong. We have made up some great time from our little detour at Peet's in the first 2 miles...someone decided that they had to use the bathroom, then someone decided they wanted some coffee and by the time we waited through the line, we were almost dead-last in the pack!

I might add some commentary here that when using a public restroom with a single stall and a long line...speed it up, ladies! There was some clothes-changing and dawdling that just didn't need to happen in my humble opinion. We successfully pressured the line as we moved closer by timing everyone, not sure they were as entertained by it as our group was!

A few hills happen before we get to the Golden Gate, but everyone was on their game and moving nicely...the Schnoogs even had enough time to flex her quads as we ventured onto the bridge with 6 lanes of traffic whipping by.

It was rather foggy as we traversed over the bridge on our way to Sausilito (BTW, Otis Redding wrote the song that this blog entry is cleverly modeled after Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay while on a houseboat in Sausalito.)

Entertainment AND trivia, we've got it all for you here.

Friday, July 24, 2009

Half Way...for the day

When walking 26.2 miles in one day, 13.1 can be seen as an accomplishment, but isn't the point of complete celebration.

We hit the 1/2 marathon marker sometime after 12:30 or so; not too bad in terms of overall time, but not at the absolute front of the pack. Sally was our official time/position checker, she would check with the counters at the entrance of every rest-stop to see what number we were in terms of overall walkers. We typically hovered in the 1300's, with the one exception when it was 3200-something...there is probably a story in there somewhere.

We had a nice visit at lunch (which was the stop prior to our 13.1 milestone) from Sally's family (Denise and Nikko) as well as Miss Gabe, who hobbled out on her crutches to say hello! It was a very festive event with the walkers enjoying a bit of fresh air on the peds and a clean pair of socks.

Always looking out for the feet, we are!

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Ice Cream, my feet scream

Winding our way back through the walk to mile 20. A good bit of traveling has occurred, it is getting later in the afternoon, we have traveled through yet another micro-climate or two and drank our body weight in water. Time for a break. Ice Cream!

While not an official stop on the route, you can bet that I already had it planned out, having made the same trek last year. It is in the perfect spot; a nice break after a long flat run through Mill Valley and a good breather before heading up the hills and back to the GG Bridge.

Let's face it, I would identify just about any spot with ice cream as the perfect spot!

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

The Great Golden Gate

Walking into base camp at Chrissy Field was a beautiful thing. Lots of people cheering, tents being set up, hot showers and dinner waiting for us, it could be considered paradise given the current situation.

We got into camp, were immediately greeted by some very kind volunteers who carried our gear and set up our tent for us. We set up our sleeping quarters, grabbed our stuff and trekked over to the showers. Amazing how some hot water and soap can absolutely change one's perspective on life.

We opted to visit the tent with foot and back massagers before dinner because we didn't want to miss out! There were plenty of seats open, and we sat back to enjoy the magic of modern electrics, I've got to seriously think about getting one of those back massagers for home!

Dinner in the big top tent never tasted so good and then it was off to bed. The showers and sinks were a pretty good distance back across the camp, so we opted to do some teeth-brushing over a trash can at the edge of the camp. Holly and I stood and admired the Golden Gate Bridge as the sun finished setting.

Having walked back and forth across that bridge twice in one day gave us a whole new appreciation for the size and beauty of that bridge...

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

What the Hill

The good thing about doing the San Francisco version of the 2-Day Walk versus the Los Angeles version is the weather...it is much cooler in July in SF compared to September in LA (we have likely all heard the droll comment, wrongly attributed to Mark Twain, "the coldest winter I ever spent was summer in San Francisco"). The not-as-good thing about the SF versus LA walk is the severity of the hills - and there are a good number of them - on the San Francisco course.

There are a few areas that are pretty steep, kick-you-in-the-backside in terms of incline, and I must report that Holly did a nice job of powering up them. After all, you might recall the fine boot camp session that I put her through the weekend of July 4th! There were few comments and no complaints as we came to each new section of hill, leaned into it, and powered up it...until Potrero.

The Potrero neighborhood is actually some old stomping grounds for me back when I worked for the Big Blender (Jamba) and their offices were in San Francisco. There were a couple of hills that originated down in front of our office and then went straight up for about 5 blocks...I got my share of nostalgia for the morning as we stared straight up Kansas Street, just 2 blocks over from where the old office used to be.

You could hear the collective groans through the walkers as everyone recognized that this was a steep run. I trotted back and forth between our group, providing incessant chatter to anyone who needed it to get up the hill. Barb was in a zone, Sally enjoyed it and Holly didn't answer. When I poked a little bit, I got a very short answer, "I'm irritated right now!" Got it. Sally and I walked up together and did not provoke the Schnoogs any further.

When we got to the top, Holly had a moment where she just had to have a quick cry and get it all out. It was a long and difficult 5 blocks on the 2nd day of a long and challenging walk, she was admittedly done with the whole thing but then felt badly that she was done. Everything was okey-doke, once she got everything out.

I have to admit that Barb was far more comforting to Holly in that precise moment than I was, thank goodness for Barb!!

Monday, July 20, 2009

A stroll in the Park

Golden Gate Park in SF certainly looks different walking back into it after logging about 39 miles in the 29 or 30 hours since we walked out. It is sunny, vibrant, active and loaded with people doing their thing. When we left if was foggy, quiet and relatively empty, save for the 3200 walkers trudging through it, of course.

Barb, Sally, Holly & I were very happy to see the park and know that the finish line was in the distance. It is a lot more than just about being finished with the walk (although that is a welcome component); it is about recognizing how good we are at getting something done when we put our minds to it.

A lot of good lessons come out of the Walk...the most poignant of which was a sign that was posted on the course, "Blisters don't need chemo".

With that perspective, our two days of walking really was just a stroll in the park.

Friday, July 17, 2009

Memento

Since I have already revealed the ending to you...the walk went very well and both the Schnoogs and I finished, I am going to encapsulate the walk in reverse. A little nod to a cool movie called "Memento" from 2001 that intrigued me for its different approach to story-telling. I don't have as much of the mystery element to reveal slowly, and no one will be tattooing things on their arms, but like to pretend that I've got a new spin on the blogging approach.

The completion of the walk is almost anti-climactic, although the sitting down as soon as possible part is a treat. Holly and I admitted to one another when there were about 2 miles to go (just as we hit the edge of Golden Gate Park) that our feet felt like we were walking on the bone. It was an acknowledgement that there had been much activity on the feet and legs without any attempt to complain...we were wrapping up nearly 40 miles of walking and our feet/legs knew it!

There is something about knowing you have almost reached your goal that makes a person (or the Newton women, anyway), wax on about the experience. Could we go further if we had to? What is the absolute maximum number of miles/days that we could walk? Will we do this again? Did Holly feel cleansed after her Potrero Hill meltdown?

There are a lot of things to talk about in those last few miles, all of which were happy to do to get to that magical moment where we plop down on our gear bags and wait for our ride. Thank goodness for the car!!

Sunday, July 12, 2009

A Tremendous FEET

A short entry for tonight, with the promise of much more detail to come.  

The 2009 Avon 2-Day Walk for Breast Cancer (San Francisco edition) has successfully ended with more than 3200 walkers raising over $6 million.  

Focusing on a couple of the walkers you know (who contributed $3,850 to the grand total), it was a great walk, filled with plenty of good times and moments of challenge that one can only accomplish by covering 39.3 miles over two days (and in some hilly terrain, we might add).

Holly did a tremendous job from start to finish, including camping through one chilly night at Chrissy Field.  We walked with Barb and Sally, both of whom also did great; we've got nothing but good things to report from the walk.

I think that I do speak for all of us when I say that we are happy to be home, off of our feet and looking forward to a good night's sleep in our own beds!

Buy stock now in Band-Aids...it is going to be a while before some of our feet are back to normal.

Friday, July 10, 2009

100+% !!

We brought it in right under the wire, but the fundraising goals/commitments have been made, thanks to many of the fine NFA readers (the acronym for Newton Family Adventures, of course!).

I was very excited to see that I hit my goal this afternoon, thanks to a donation from a mom of someone that I work with...how cool is that? My co-worker asked me for the link and then passed it along. The unity that this walk inspires is powerful and I am still very moved and appreciative of it all.

Holly of course has to point out that she is at 100+% of her goal because she is currently $50 over what she projected she would raise. No matter that my goal was higher, she has the little + and I do not.

Given the event and the fact that we are competitive over who raised more for a great cause, I am more than happy to yield that "+" to the Schnoogs. She has earned it!

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Nervous Nellie

Daphne has a phobia that comes out only a couple of times a year, but when it does, we are all keenly aware of it.

This is often the challenge with a rescue dog; they have fears and issues that we don't really understand and therefore sneak up on us unexpectedly. With Daphne, loud noises do her in. She is a little high-strung in her own right, but noises like thunder or fireworks send her spiraling into a shaking, shivering, nervous wreck.

We first discovered this issue last year when we had a little early-summer thunderstorm in the middle of the night. It wasn't a super strong storm, but it did have thunder and Daphne was beside herself. I am sure that I would have slept through the storm if left to my own devices, but having Daphne jump up on the bed made sure that I was aware of the storm. It must have taken her a good 30-minutes after the storm passed to calm down and it took me petting her and trying to lull her to sleep before she would stop pacing.

The 4th of July is no treat for the nervous one, with the excitement extended this year by the kids living in the apartment complex behind us, courtesy of their illegal fireworks. As soon as the first pop sounds off, Daphne comes galloping/sliding into whatever room we in are to look at us desperately as if to say, "DO something!"

Let's hope those kids run out of their fireworks soon so that Daphne doesn't have a nervous breakdown!

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

New Moon Rising

I seem to recently have gone through some transformation that leaves me (in my opinion) far more observant than I have been for a long while. The most recent evidence of this was last night... a very full moon event.

It isn't as if I haven't seen the moon - tons of times. It isn't as if I haven't seen my fair share of full, bright moons. Even with all of that knowledge in my head, I was enamored with the moon last night to the point that I tripped over a planter while walking the dogs with David because I was craning my neck to see the moon rising low over the houses.

Perhaps a heightened sense of observation is my way of responding to being insanely klutzy!

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

The Unknown Eater

Every now and again I come across a random photo that cracks me up. This is such a photo.

January 2004. Holly and her friends are 13. Old enough to be responsible and serious, young enough to not have to. It was no doubt a typical sleepover where they ran around the house like banshees the night before until I could take the screaming no more and would close myself off in the room. It wasn't their fault that my patience wore thin...but it did when the screaming and jumping out from behind dark corners began (and let me be clear, it was David who was doing the jumping and loud roaring). I would retreat to my room for some solitude and to keep from getting snappy every time someone screamed (roughly every 30 seconds or so).

The morning would be pancakes, followed it might seem by some ice cream. Holly is in charge of the remote, Karina is pleased with her snack and playing the part of the Unknown Eater is...Radical Rachel.

I particularly enjoy the eyebrows that have been drawn and the fact that you can see one eyeball peeking out from the hole cut in the front. Rachel really did eat her ice cream through that bag. She admitted this weekend when I brought up this photo that it was really pretty gross.

That's no reason to stop, however!

Monday, July 6, 2009

A Good Gig

The Schnoogs was never much of a babysitter, not because she wasn't asked to or wasn't responsible enough, but just because she never felt that it was the right kind of job for her.  She found a good gig in dogsitting, especially since she comes with the bonus ability to house sit for the owners.

Last week Holly spent 7 days with her little charge - Claire, an 8-month whoodle (wheaton terrier and poodle mix).  It was weird knowing that Holly was around but not staying at home, so on Sunday we called her up and enticed her over with the offer of dinner (homemade pizza, YUM).

Schnoogs eagerly accepted and showed up at 7 pm with Claire in tow.  Claire ran around the back yard, all of the dogs barked and played, we ate some pizza and then Claire threw up on the carpet...it was quite an evening full of activity!

Props to Holly for taking good care of Claire...and for cleaning up that mess on the carpet, ugh!

Sunday, July 5, 2009

Back for More

Mom Boot Camp Day 2...dressed in some smart shorts and with a CamelPak full of water, Holly once again woke up at 6:45 am to prove her readiness for the Avon 2-Day Walk scheduled for next week.

Not everyone celebrates the 4th of July with a 10-mile trek, but we did!  I dialed things up for the second day of walking, both in speed and difficulty.  We set out for the fairly hilly section of Thousand Oaks/Westlake, including Westlake Blvd. from Erbes which is 1 full mile of incline, and not a gentle sloping incline either, it is the put your head down and power up it until you reach the top kind of hill.

Things were much warmer, faster and tougher than the trek at the beach (minus that pesky issue with the chafing shorts of course), but Holly powered through it just like a pro.  I learned near the end that she was getting a blister (and it is a doozy too, let me tell you), but true to form, there was no complaining and plenty of good times for all.

The blister issue is perplexing, but we will have that resolved by next week.  Stay tuned for a great weekend success story.  Until then, enjoy the photo of a victorious Schnoogs at the top of the big hill and at about the 5-mile mark on our holiday walk.

Saturday, July 4, 2009

Chafe Me

The Avon 2-Day Walk for Breast Cancer is one short week away, which means that Holly and I will be walking a marathon (26.2 miles) through San Francisco on Saturday, followed by a 1/2 marathon (13.1 miles) on Sunday.  We do this all to raise money and awareness for the prevention of breast cancer.

I have been prepping Holly mentally for a couple of months, but realized that she has not really been put to a road test with her shoes, hydration, clothing options, etc.  Friday was a holiday for both Holly & I (woo hoo!), so we suited up and set out for Ventura at 8 am, picking up Rachel along the way for some entertainment and moral support.

The Schnoogs learned a tough lesson at about mile 3:  loose and shorter shorts are NOT the way to go for any real distance...they truly do rub you the wrong way!  Props to Holly for following my one rule...no complaining.  She acknowledged the fact that she was going to have to consider a new option for shorts, but she forged ahead.  

Our original plan was to do a 1/2 marathon, but I had a moment of compassion and gave the option to do just 10 miles...an option which Holly quickly accepted.  We may have cut the walk a little short (not to worry, I will add it on the Saturday distance!), but we maximized the fun and entertainment.  Check out a few of the photos and it will be just like you were there!

Tomorrow is another 10 mile day.  The Schnoogs is up for it...just as soon as we get her some chafe-free shorts!

By the way, I am pleased to report that I have met my fundraising commitment, but Holly is taking it to the wire.  If you are interested in making a donation, click here for her page!

Friday, July 3, 2009

Texas Toasted

I had a consumer moment in Target this week. First, it was excitement as I realized that the family favorite "Texas Toast" was conveniently positioned in the freezer case, saving me a trip to Albertson's later in the day.

I picked up a box in anticipation of a panini night...texas toast with cheddar cheese and avocado...that is deliciousness like you can't even imagine! I tossed the box into the cart and thought that it felt kind of light, so I took a closer look to realize why.

The customary 8 slices (which is a tidy 4 sandwiches for our hungry little family - David naturally eats two) was horrifically reduced to 6 slices. What? I looked at the price. No change. We have a 25% reduction in product but no price break? C'mon, Pepperidge Farm, what is the deal?

I begrudgingly took 2 boxes because it would be inhumane to think that David could just make it on 1 sandwich, but I am not going to lie, I didn't like it one bit.

I might make that trip out to Albertson's after all to buy the house brand. It still has 8 slices per box...last time I checked!

Thursday, July 2, 2009

Car with a View II

Some good stuff in the skies of late! I left this morning at more of what should be the "normal" time, with the sun coming up and what do I see but ANOTHER amazing show of colors in the sky...this time an eastern view over the houses in our neighborhood.

This business of being outside when the sun is around to color things is pretty nice, I will have to do it more often!

Next up, driving home during peak traffic hour. That is tomorrow, it may not be quite as inspiring, but will be entertaining nonetheless.

Really, that is what it is all about!

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Car with a View I

After the schedule of the last couple of weeks, I made it a point to leave while it was still light out. The commitment paid off with a sweet view of a colorful sunset (as seen looking west on San Vicente Blvd).

I am also renewing my commitment to doing daily entries on the blog, so enjoy the view.

I certainly did!