New running venue

I´ve been running at 3000ft for the past week. It´s nice to have a change of venue and conditions. The route through the park has a few nice gentle inclines. I´ve done a couple of 10K.

Not feeling very well the last couple of days so my plans for a 20K over the weekend did not materialize...

The Snowman

The Houston Symphony Christmas Concert featured the book The Snowman by Raymond Briggs and animated short by the BBC. Amazing! We watched the Snowman with the music performed live by the Houston Symphony.

The book tells the story in pictures of a little boy and his Snowman. The Snowman comes to life in a wintry night to share a magical evening of adventures with his friend.

The Symphony Chorus sang the Twelve Days of Christmas "just" for K. She was delighted since she has been practicing it for her school caroling tomorrow. And who better than Santa himself to conduct Jingle Bells?

D loved the music. He sat quietly for the entire performance clapping enthusiastically at the end of each piece.

The Concert was extra special this year. GPa G and GMa M were in town and joined us!

Fantastic Days

I wish I could feel like K did one day last week. She came home and out of the blue, on a quiet moment, she said emphatically,

"Mommy, I had a fantastic day today! Can I get a brownie point?"

- You sure can, Sweetie!

"O.K., Mommy. Thanks!" [she gives me a big hug and goes on her way...]

Come to think of it, all my days are fantastic. I have the most wonderful and healthy kids in the world.

Track on Monday

My track workout this Monday: 4x1200m at 7:30min/mi, 1min recovery. The long run, track, recovery runs and pilates combination seems to be working for me.

Thanks Soaring Ibis Running Coaches and Friends!

http://www.soaringibis.com/

Perfect weather

As you run through the Summer in the heat and humidity you start to believe that "the perfect weather day" will never happen in Houston. Well, today it was perfect for me. Temperatures were in the mid 60s, it was dry and sunny, my lungs and legs were happy - the run was great.

A great 20-miler today

The weather was perfect for a long run this morning. Very crisp, in fact. I ran in my fleece the entire 20 miles.

It was nice to run in the country side with rolling hills just West of Houston. The sag support team was also great. We had our own personalized bags with water, gatorade, energy gels, salty cookies, and nuts throughout the course!

It sure was nice to run with the group. Last week's 18-miler I was on my own... by mile 15 I had run out of conversations with myself and the last 3 miles were a tough negotiation with my legs. Today, I was OK until mile 18 but for the last two I needed a few walking breaks to actually make it through...

My legs are tired but very happy right now!

Not one, but two snakes in the path

The brush grass along the sides of the levee has been recently cut (1-3 days which displaced the snakes out of their hiding places. As I was running up on the levee I actually jumped over a quite big adult Yellowbelly Water Snake. It sure startled me - this is the first time I encountered any snakes all the way up there. I stopped and watched it for while. The snake was also unsure about me. Its tail was pulsing side to side quite rapidly. Had it been a rattle snake, it would've sounded like true maracas.

Then 300m later, another snake! This time it was a small one. I think it was a young botched water snake similar to the one saw a few weeks ago. It was brown with tiny spots on its back.

http://www.houstonherp.com/YellowbellyWS.html

Zion

We just came back from a weekend trip to Zion. We had a great time driving and hiking in the Park.

Highlights
Kolob reservoir: overview, hawk & bald eagles
Hiking: deer and river play
Hiking to Lower Emerald Pool: walking on red mud behind waterfalls

Lots of Grandmas...

K- Mommy, I have lots of Grandmas! And GrandPas, too. Like this! [arms wide open]

F - Well, not lots like that. But you do have 3 Grandmas and 2 GrandPas. GMa M. and GMa E. and Vovo'. GPa G. and Vovo.

K - I don't know GMa E.

F - Yes, she passed away before you were born. Daddy can show you pictures when he comes back. Remember to ask him, O.K.?

K - O.K. [... K asks about GMa E. and if Gma E. has sisters and their names, and this goes on for a little while about family. Then, after a short pause, she starts again]

K - I have 2 Mommies.

F - What do you mean? I think I'm the only Mommy you have.

K - No. Vovo' doesn't look like a GrandMa, so she is my Mommy too. And Vovo doesn't look like a GrandPa either.

F - Well, but even if Vovo' doesn't look like a GrandMa she is still your GrandMa.

K - No. She is my Mommy, too.

F - O.K. She can be your Mommy, too.

K - O.K. [and drifts off to sleep]

Rainy Day Track Workout

The day was dark and wet. Track workout was in the gym today. It was actually a good strong workout 2x(4x800m) with 60s recovery between 800's and 3min recovery between sets. The word was to do it at a 10K pace. My splits were 4x7:47 and 3x7:42 + 1x7:30. For me a 7:30 min/mi is great. I have never been able to run a race that fast. Maybe it's time to try a 5K again after a few more sessions of speed work... who knows.

Saturday Run

15 miles - great run. Made me want to do the marathon again.

Right now I'm wavering between doing the half-marathon in Austin or a full marathon in January.

The Houston Marathon is sold out - so it will be difficult, unless I can get a number from someone that got injured and can't run. Another option on the same day is Phoenix/Scottsdale - it's a Rock'N'Roll Marathon with many bands along the course. Should be a fun one. The Walt Disney Marathon is also in January - I was signed up for Disney many years ago but got sick. I transfered my number to the half-marathon and ran that instead with a burning fever. Yeah, not a very smart thing to do... I want to think that several years later I'm a bit smarter!

One more today...

yet to come.

Dolls and smiley faces

Collage and drawings - beautiful art work. Recycle... 2007 Ikea catalogue.

Roseate Spoonbills are back!

And I have pictures this time! I was able to get really close to the water without spooking the birds.

I was a bit concerned about going down the levee since I had the encounter with the bloched water snake on Monday. But the photos from the levee were just too far and not very gratifying. The grass was not as tall as it looked and going down was just fine.

The spoonbills we great - just posing away. They were very curious about me being there. The camera clicks did get them intrigued.

On the way out, I also spotted some deer tracks on the mud at the edge of the water. So much life is hidden away in the woods.

Google Doodles

I think the Google doodles are the best... love them. Google has a special place for them in their site "museum".

http://www.google.com/holidaylogos.html

Election Day

A history making election is shaping up today...

A snake in my path

I was hoping snakes brought good luck. Yesterday as I was starting my run I hopped over one. It was camouflaged in the grass and I saw it as I went over it and it raised up and opened it's mouth wide warning me I was in its territory. Luckily, I was moving faster than it was.

This morning though luck didn't materialize. I got a ticket on the freeway in a under posted zone...I'll blame it on bad luck from the snake yesterday. I'm quite annoyed at having to spend 6 hours of my life now in defensive driving school in addition to paying $100+ in court fees. @$#$%@#$%@$%.

Just found it on the web http://www.houstonherp.com/BlotchedWS.html

The one I encountered though was about half this size.

A friendlier version

K convinced D to let her draw a jack-o-lantern on his pumpkin. A much friendlier version came through this time.

Our very own

Our very own jack-o-lantern came to life this morning! K drew an original sketch on her pumpkin and I carved it out - with slight adjustments. Since we needed to light it up immediately, of course, the guest washroom had the honor to house it.

A side benefit - it is contributing to K's daily exercise. Now she only goes to the restroom upstairs. Too scary to venture into the guest washroom by herself... even to turn on the light. The darker the room the spookier and more exciting it gets.

Did anyone say Jack-O-Lantern?

ConocoPhillips continued their 54-year tradition of turning a 3-million gallon storage tank at its Los Angeles refinery into the world’s largest Jack-O-Lantern.

Preparing Smilin’ Jack for his annual appearance requires more than 100 gallons of orange, black and white paint. According to refinery engineers, if the giant jack-o-lantern were filled with pumpkin meat, there would be enough to make 26,800,000 pumpkin pies!

http://www.neatorama.com/2006/10/16/worlds-largest-jack-o-lantern/

Happy Halloween!

The kids had a blast at the Community College Halloween Party near our house. They played games, jumped in a moonwalk, had hot-dogs and took a ride in a choo-choo train. As it got dark it was off to the streets to trick-or-treat.

D sat in the stroller for the first couple of houses, then he got brave and joined K. He was so excited to be able to run up any driveway he wanted and get a treat for it, too.

One house he did pass, though. It was too scary!!!!

Getting to bed might be a challenge tonight. I wonder how long the sugar rush is going to last...

I love this google doodle by Wes Craven. We got a pumpkin at school today and I have a feeling we'll be working on a jack-o-lantern tomorrow.

Pre-Halloween at School

All the princesses and fairies in the world were gathered at K's school yesterday. Halloween was finally here for the kids... K was so, so happy to put on her fairy costume.

D was the perfect tiger. Too cute!

They both came home with a bag full of treats.

More sugar to come tonight around the neighborhood...

Samuel

K last week attempted to write Samuel on her own. Phonetically, very close: SMNUOL

Definitely a keeper!

Football

It's Sunday - football. Got tickets for the game this afternoon: Texans vs. Bengals.

I'm feeling brave - taking K & D, on my own...

Happy to report that the kids loved the game & the Texans won!

Firehouse birthday

Our next door neighbor had his birthday party yesterday. The kids had a great time playing around in the yard and riding the firetruck. A real firetruck - sirens, horn, lights and all!

Modigliani

I can't even remeber the last time I went to the movies...it's been that long.

Spa...

What a treat. I spent a couple of days visiting with girlfriends at a spa in Austin this week. It was nice to be pampered with massages and free time.

My trail run in the morning was just perfect with crisp, dry morning air. Before leaving I had a few minutes for photos - the campus had art work and sculptures all around and many butterflies and bees were also fluttering and buzzin' about.

Halloween Decor

We decorated our house for Halloween today. K and I went shopping ghosts, pumpkins, bats, and spider webs - it was fun putting it all together with her!

Scarecrow Festival

We ended up driving up to Chappell Hill for the Scarecrow Fall Festival. The kids had fun walking around the carnival and crafts booths.

My favorite scarecrow-pumpkin won first prize!

Pumpkin Patch

After an hour of classical music and sitting quietly, K and M were glad to go to the park for the Bellaire Pumpkin Patch Festival. They played carnival games, jumped in a moonwalk and went through an inflatable obstacle course.

On the games, the kids spent a few seconds playing and a few minutes selecting their prizes! Serious business!

After pizza and juice for lunch, colorful snow cones!

Green Eggs and Ham

The entire theatre recited together

"...I do not like it here or there, I do not like it anywhere."

The Houston Symphony presented a wonderful family matinee with Sam-I-Am.

K put on the white dress she wore as a flower girl in her cousins wedding back in April. She looked adorable! Clifford, the big red dog, went with us to the performance. K sat on my lap and Clifford had a seat all for himself.

We met with one of her school friends and it made the whole outing a lot more memorable.

Wild Week on Wall Street

What can I say, it was a wild market out there this week...

Clifford is visiting

K got to bring Clifford home for the weekend. He came with Cleo and T-Bone, too. She is, in her own words, " very excited" to have Clifford at her house.

First order of business, brush Cleo's hair because she was all "tumbled up"! Translating, her hair needed a little fluffing up. And since T-Bone and Clifford were around, they got a good brushing also.

Five years in the closet

The weather was beautiful today. It was sunny and cool in the morning (by Houston standards 70F's is cool).

I went for my first bike ride in five years! It was special company outing in Chappell Hill with proceeds benefiting the United Way. The 35-mile route was quite challenging with gently and not-so gently rolling hills through the country side. A perfect way to spend the day. Now that the bike is free of cobwebs, I hope to get it out on the road more often!

Along the way:
Scarecrow festival in the city - halloween pumpkin in haystack, cowgirl riding a haystack turkey, and other creative treats.
A pony farm - it seeemd like hundreds of them out in the pasture.
Turtles sunning on a rock in the middle of a creek
Crickets and butterflies

Classically Modern

September 27, 2008

Houston Ballet - Where are the ballerinas? I want to see the big jump, just like the picture [in the program].

"This is how they dance, Daddy", she says giggling twirling on her tippy toes!

A Hummingbird

September 21, 2008

The lot next door has always sweet surprises for us. This Saturday I spotted a humming bird gently feeeding on this vine's orange flower. It's the first time I see a humming bird around the house. Too bad I didn't have my camera with me...

Brand New Bikes

September 20, 2008

Curfew is still in effect for Houston between midnight and 6am. I set out for my run after light just before 8am instead of the usual 5:30am. The kids were already up and L was not very happy...

I come back a couple of hours later to find the kids sporting brand new bikes! K is all important in her first real bike. She is all decked out with helmet, knee pads, the works... very, very cute. I must admit.

D is not so sure about his new ride. He is sticking to his good old set of wheels. A tiny bike where he can reach both feet safely to ground at all times.

Debris and twisted trees

September 20, 2008

A week after hurricane Ike hit, the debris and damage from the winds is still everywhere. I set out on a 10 mile run this morning through West U, Zoo, and around the Hermann Park Golf Course.

Many are still without power. A common sighting were extensions cords running from houses on one side of the street where power has been restored to others on the other side that still have no power. Piles and piles of tree limbs and bags of leafs are sitting on the side walks and street corners. The golf course remains closed with large trees twisted from the wind toppled over across the greens.

An incredible amount of work still needs to be done to put the city back together
.

Self Portrait – Family Portraits

September 19, 2008

“I'm drawing myself. Those are my eyes, my legs. This is my tummy. My brain... This is my hair. This is the long hair.

I'm going to do my shoes; my ballerina ones because we're going to school.

On the next page, I'm going to draw you [Mommy]. Next to me so you can bring me to school (...).

Oh, I forgot my mouth.

Mommy, this is your mouth – you're sad because I hit D.

Now, I'm going to draw D. This is little D when he was in your tummy.

[On a separate drawing next to D] This is my hair, all in my face!

Oh, now we need Daddy!

He is this tall. OK [eyes]. OK [legs]. Tummy. His shoes, big ones.

Oh, his arms!

We forgot my arms, your arms and D's arms!!! We have to go back! Mommyyyyyy, you have to remember!

[We all got arms and hands...]

No one else in our family, huh?!”

Paths and Garden

September 14, 2008

Here is K's complete analysis of her September 14, 2008 painting-drawing. In her own words...

“These are paths. This path leads to the ocean; this path leads to the sky; and this path leads home.

This is a car and that is Diego.

And this is a beautiful flower in the garden!”

We hung it up to dry on the kitchen wall, way high up - by request.

Book Bath

September 13, 2008

The kids were getting very creative at home all day without any electronic gadgets. L found K and D quietly sitting with all their books on top and around them inside the baby bathtub. Luckily they didn't add water!

Dragonfly Lovefest

The butterflies are gone. Don't know if was the rain and wind or if it's just that time year, end September, early October. Reservoir water levels came up after Ike and remain high. Water is stagnant and started to smell, making outside runs at lunch time quite unpleasant. Dragonflies continue their lovefest.

No Power

Sunday all day trucks were arriving in Houston from all over the country to help in the clean up and power restoration efforts. We met crews from NY and N. Carolina. On the road I've seen trucks from Los Angeles FD, utility trucks and tree services from Ohio, etc. Thank you all for helping put our city back together!

No power for 5 days for us. And we were lucky to get it back that soon. The transformer that serves our house was fixed by a crew from NY - on their down time while waiting for directives for their assigned job. Thanks Asplundh - and the guys from Syracuse.

Some have had power restored recently - 2 weeks later. Others have promises of power returning a week to 10 days from now - Oct 4 to 11!

Assessing the damage - Saturday PM

No power. No house damage. Trees down. Green pool. Piles of leaves.

Radio news. 90% of the city without power. Yes, 90%! The largest power outage in the history of Houston. Water and wind damage are spread city wide. Curfews are in effect.

Galveston Island is under water. Fires, extensive flooding and some neighborhoods completely washed out, nothing standing.

Hurricane Ike - Fri/Sat, September 12-13.

Hurricane Ike is now a reality for us. We lost power for a few seconds a couple of times between 10 and 11pm. At around midnight, power was out for good.

Hard rain started falling around 10pm and the wind picked up considearably. K, D, and I set camp in the small bathroom below the staircase - marshmallows and all - with L close by in the dining room.

Oh, no! Where are the marshmallows?

Just after lunch L tells K that there is a big storm coming and that we're camping downstairs in the evening. K gets excited and immediately wants to know where the smarshmallows are.

We don't have any marshmallows, K. Let's camp without marshmallows today.

No, Mommy. We need smarshmallows. I want smarshmallows, pleeease...

OK, lets see if the cornerstore is still open. We take the Babbyjogger and set out on the search for marshmallows. It's 1:30pm and a beautiful day. Hard to believe the reports that the coastal areas are already flooding due to the tidal surge ahead of the hurricane. The rain clouds have not even shown up yet in our corner of the city.

The cornerstore is already closed. We try the nearby supermarket. They have just closed, the last customers are leaving. The Walgreens next door - still open. Marshmallows? Yes! We grab a couple of bags and run home. The clouds are starting to come in quite fast. We are going from a bright sun shiny day to a gloomy rainy day pretty fast. We get home just as it starts to sprinkle. The real storm is still a good 9 to 10 hours away but these are the some of the rain bands associated with the storm.

In any case, it was nice to see K so, so happy with her smarshmallows. Camping started that afternoon!

Friday Run - September 12

I squeeze in time for a last run on Friday morning before the storm. The city is quiet. Most gas stations are dry and have plastic bags tied around their pumps. A Chevron and a Shell still with gas have a constant 5-car line on each working pump.

I set out on a short leg of the River Oaks Run. Not many runners out there - this route is usually pretty busy on a Saturday morning. On my way back, to my surprise I spot a white tail bunny and just a few steps later a snake. It was a coral snake with black and red bands separated by a thin yellow stripe. Mind you, River Oaks is in the heart of the city. Many lots however are extremely large (and the most expensive in town...) and there is a lot of greenery and water around.

Better head back home after a few miles... still have a few things to get ready before the rain and wind start to pound us.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coral_snakes


.

Ike 6:15am Saturday

The hurricane is over Houston with winds reaching 110mph...millions are without power and countless in the coast have their homes flooded or completely destroyed.

Ike update 6:20am Friday

No rain, yet. But the satellite images are impressive.

Didn't set my alarm, missed the 5am run...

yikes Ike!

The city is in high alert as Ike comes closer. The hurricane is very, very large. Right now it covers most of the Gulf of Mexico!

Friday and Saturday are going to be loooong days for Houston and those around us in the Texas Gulf Coast...

http://www.goes.noaa.gov/GIFS/GULFIR.JPG

Anchorage - Rocks by the Sea

A couple of hours went by as the kids played with the rocks on the beach in Anchorage. I took pictures & L videotaped. We each had out "toy".

At one point K's pants got so heavy from the rocks in her pockets that she declared: "My pants are falling!!! (giggles, giggles,...)"

I managed to find two empty grocery bags and handed them to K and D. They proceeded immediately to filling them with their favorites. K soon realized that she couldn't have the whole beach as "favorite". "It's too heavy, Mommy!"

You need to choose your favorites only, Sweety.

"But Mommy, I like them all!!!"

Cordova

A beautiful day to take the ferry from Valdez to Cordova.

The Denali Highway

The Alaskan Range...

Denali

One out of three days you get to see the mountain, says the statistics...we didn't see it. We were in Denali National Park for two days with good weather for late August, early September but Denali, "the big one" in native Athabaskan language, remained cloud covered.

A family from Boston with 12 year-old triplets! yes, two boys and a girl! were awed by Denali for 2 days in a row a week before us from Wonder lake in Kantishna. I guess it's the luck of the draw! Plus it gives everyone a very, very good excuse to come back to Alaska.

Great pictures at Wikipedia...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denali_National_Park_and_Preserve

In the Kenai Fjords

The first Alaskan bald eagle.

Lost Lake Run - 15.6mi in Alaska

My first day in Alaska was spent running the 15.6 miles of the Lost Lake trail. An incredibly beautiful and challenging run, specially if you come from "flat" Houston. The first 6 miles is an 2100ft uphill climb (yes, my legs did complain quite a bit...) then there is a section of about 3 to 4 miles in a plateau by the lake, followed by the last 6 miles or so downhill (yes!).

The race benefits the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. The mile markers along the course honors someone with the disease in Alaska.

Geopalooza

Amazing rocks and fossils also on exhibit at the HMNS.

The Wedding Crinoid (Seirocrinus subangilaris) is 185 million years old. It was found in Holzmaden, Stuttgart, Germany in the Poisdonia Shale.

These sea lillies are extremely well preserved and look like they have fallen in love. The tiny pinnules (arms) that the animal uses to filter food out of the water extend down to about 3x the size of the "flower" (not shown in the picture).

The Green River Turtle is 50 million years old and was found in Kemmerer, Wyoming in the Green River Formation (Eocene). Note the crocodile teeth marks on its carapace.

Natural Sandstone Concretion from Fountainbleau, France. These nodules result from irregular quartz cementation in a cross-bedded sandstone. The loose sand is brushed away and the nodules are left behind. Reminds me of the Michelin Tire boy...

The crystals and size of this amethist are very impressive. It was one of many in display from Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.

Lucy's Legacy

In Ethiopia, 3.2 million years ago Lucy was born. In 1974, she made an incredible appearance again. Over 40% of her skeleton was discovered revealing her 3'6" (1.07 meters) figure. It is one of the most complete Australopithecus afarensis fossils ever found. The teeth are amazing, very very similar to our human teeth today.

For the first time ever outside of Ethiopia, Lucy has made residence in Houston the past year in the exhibit "Lucy's Legacy: the Treasures of Ethiopia" at The Houston Museum of Natural Science. In Amharic, she is called Dinkenesh which means "you are beautiful" .

http://lucyexhibition.com/

What a priviledge to be able to see her in person!

The Department of Anthropology at The University of Texas has a website dedicated to Lucy with resources for teachers and kids. http://www.elucy.org/

"The Eagle has landed!"

Johnson Space Center - NASA

A glimpse of american space history. The shear passion of the men behind the early years of the program is very interesting.

On the moon...

http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/SP-350/ch-11-1.html

And the kids had a blast with all the games, interactive stations and exhibits.

Devils Tower

Devils Tower National Monument in Wyoming is another very interesting location with columnar basalt in the US.

Devils Tower rises 1267 feet above the Belle Fourche River. Originally below the surface, Devils Tower is now exposed due to erosion of sedimentary rocks that surrounded it millions of years ago. NPS states that the top of Devils Tower is about the size of a football field!

President Theodore Roosevelt proclaimed Devils Tower the first national monument in 1906.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devils_Tower_National_Monument

http://www.nps.gov/deto/

Giant's Causeway

This image from a magazine ad took me back in time this week to Devils Postpile.

This picture was almost certainly taken at the Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland. Definitely on my travel wish list.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant%27s_Causeway

Devils Postpile

A few years back, L and I stumbled into Devil's Postpile National Monument at the end of a vacation day in California. Neither one of us knew what was there - so we went check it out. We found the most amazing natural structures. "Tiles" seemed to have been perfectly laid out on the ground, in the middle of nowhere!

It turns out that those "tiles" were the ends of 60ft high columnar basalts that had been "polished" by glaciers running over them. You can still see the linear streaks of the glacial polish.

Photos and the text below are from the National Park Service website:

"Approximately 100,000 years ago, a lava flow erupted two miles upstream from the location of today's Monument. As it flowed down the Valley, it eventually ran into an obstruction which served as a dam to the lava's path. Pooling up to as deep as 400 feet behind the natural dam, the lava cooled. Conditions were such that the lava--that was incredibly uniform in its mineral composition--cooled at a very slow rate. As it cooled, it contracted and cracked, forming hexagonal columns. 80,000 years later, a glacier flowed through the same valley, overriding the formation and eventually revealing the sides and tops of the columns. Glacial polish can still be seen today at the top of the formation."

http://www.nps.gov/depo/planyourvisit/nearbyattractions.htm