Category Archives: personal

Second Verse, Not Same As The First

Posted on January 3, 2016 by mohawkvalleygirl

So I ended yesterday’s post declaring it was a two-parter (even though my computer seems to think “parter” is not a word).  Additionally, I read in yesterday’s or Thursday’s paper (I forget which) that beginning a sentence with “So” is one of those overused verbal things that some academic group loathes and despises.  Ha ha, I like it and I’m using it.

Where was I?

Ah yes, on my way up the hill to Herkimer College, otherwise known in this space as HCCC.  In yesterday’s final paragraph I intimated that there was some suspense as to whether I made it to the top.  According to earlier paragraphs (and I believe earlier blog posts), there is not much suspense once I start up a hill.  I rarely wimp out halfway and turn around.  However, looking at the first paragraph, I realize there was in fact no suspense.  I pretty much said I set out to do something and I did it.

Nevertheless, you have tuned in for part two and I shall write it.  If I can remember it.

I debated back and forth in my head as I approached the hill, but I pretty much knew I would do it. And, sure enough, up I went.  It seemed to take a long time.  When I was partway up, I decided to turn around and see how far I had come.  I thought it would help.  It did not, and I felt a little dizzy from turning around.  I did mention that I had a raging headache, didn’t I?

When I made it to the top I felt relieved.  I did it.  Sometimes when I make it to the top of that hill I feel a triumphant desire to walk around with my fists in the air while somebody sings, “We Are the Champions.”  Yesterday I felt merely relief.  I remembered to look to my right to see the panoramic view of the Herkimer and the other mountains.  Most of it was shrouded in fog.  That was OK.  I knew where I was.

I took the earliest turn to get to the back road back to Herkimer.  It is a less steep, less traveled road.  There were cones across it, blocking traffic.  Surely they meant vehicular traffic.  One mildly overweight middle-aged runner would be OK (and I’ll call you Shirley if I want to).  When I was running up the hill I noticed they had repaved it.  No doubt they had repaved this road or sections thereof.

I always feel a slight amount of trepidation when I run past cones.  Perhaps they are there for a better reason than I can see, and I am behaving in an inexcusably foolhardy fashion.  As I said, this was not a well-traveled road.  Houses were further down, out of earshot.  No one would hear me if I called for help.  Still, I could crawl to safety. Couldn’t I? I pictured the road giving way underneath me.  I would remain there, trapped, while the snow continued to fall.  Eventually I would be a frozen statue, like what happened to Jack Nicholson in The Shining (I hated that movie).

That road seemed to take a long time, too, but at least it was downhill.  At last I was back in the residential area.   Not much longer now till I was home.  I would share my triumph on Facebook.  I would write a blog post about it.  I would take a hot shower with lots of soap.

As it turns out, I got lots of Likes on my Facebook status and two blog posts out of it.  I had a headache for the rest of the day, but that was probably going to happen anyways.  Looking at my “related posts” that popped up at the bottom of my post, I see that I do so spend a lot of time here complaining about my headaches.  Sorry about that.  I’m afraid I can’t promise much for tomorrow, though. After all, it will be Wrist to Forehead Sunday.

 

Leave a comment

Posted in humor, personal, running, running commentary and tagged , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Spoiler Alert! It’s a Two-Parter!

Posted on January 2, 2016 by mohawkvalleygirl

Sometimes, when you want to do something, you just decide to do it, then you do it.  Some of you are rolling your eyes saying, “I’ve been TELLING you that!”  Others, perhaps also with an eye roll, are asking me if it is really, truly that easy.  My good friends (I hope you know who you are) are saying, “Oh, good for you, Cindy, what did you do?”

I have been trying, without much notable success, to keep from prosing on about my dreadful headaches (my computer seems to think “prosing” is not a word, but I’m sure I’ve seen it used elsewhere).  However, to convey my real sense of accomplishment today, I must emphasize that I have been suffering terribly from painful headaches, often accompanied by nausea.

These headaches often begin in the middle of the night, my most hated kind of headache.  I mean, if you get a headache during the day, you feel that in the last resort you can always lie down to try to get rid of it.  If you wake up with it, what are you going to do?  If you wake up with it in the middle of the night, go back to sleep with it, and wake up with it feeling even worse, I think you may be forgiven for feeling extremely ill-used.

And that is all the whining about my headaches that I have been trying so hard to keep out of the blog.  I am truly mortified. Is anybody still reading?  Should I erase the last two paragraphs and start over again?  Should I mention or refrain from mentioning that I have a pounding headache now which is making it difficult to write?  Should I further mention that I am running out of adjectives to describe my headaches?

What a big, fat baby I am.  My apologies.  At least you can all feel a frisson of virtue that YOU do not complain so much about your aches and pains

Be all that as it may, the last time I ran was Christmas Day, when I took a short run in the cold followed by, you guessed it, a worsening of my headache.  I have walked and shoveled snow for exercise since then.  I did not want to wait too long to begin running again.  When Steven left for work shortly before 9:30 this morning (New Year’s Day; ignore the date under the title), I got ready and set out.

It was snowing and just above freezing temperature, so I dressed extra warmly.  I had it in my head to run up the hill to Herkimer College (which I persist in referring to as HCCC).  I had meant to run up that hill BEFORE 2016, but one does not always meet one’s goals and I find it is best to refrain from beating oneself up but to keep striving.  I turned down German Street, picking my way down the icy sidewalk.  It was not glare ice, but thick, uneven ice, the kind you can easily turn your ankle on.

The falling snow was pretty.  It would have been a nice day for a walk with a dog.  I felt sad all over again, missing my dear departed schnoodle, Tabby.  At least I had the happiness of knowing her.

Would I really run up the hill to the college?  I was out here running at all, I thought that was pretty good.  I could probably feel pleased with myself no matter what I did, short run, long run, no hill, little hill… hill by Valley Health?  Back way to HCCC?  I pondered as I went.  I can’t say I was rocking it as I ran, but it wasn’t too painful either.

If this was in a book, I thought, it would be very important to make it to the top of the hill.  If I made it to the top of the hill, it would mean I would meet all my goals for 2016.  I would finish my novel, do a great job directing for Ilion Little Theatre, lose 15 pounds, clean my house, grow a vegetable garden…  And if I got halfway up the hill and turned around, I would probably be homeless by March, friendless and despised.

I knew, of course, that I was being silly.  For one reason, if I started running up the hill to HCCC, I was going to make it to the top.  I pretty much always do.

Hey, I just noticed something:  I am over 700 words already.  That is a long blog post for me.  I’m going to sign off here and make this a two parter (what, parter isn’t a word either?  What’s that all about, computer?).  Did I make to the top of the hill?  Did I try?  Did I continue to get silly?  Tune in tomorrow, for the first Saturday Running Commentary of 2016!

 

2 Comments

Posted in humor, personal, running, running commentary and tagged , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Turns Out Polonius Was Right

Posted on January 1, 2016 by mohawkvalleygirl

It is New Year’s Eve, although as the previous two posts may have pointed out, it will probably be dated January 1, 2016.  I can’t worry about that now.  I must make my post!  (Said with a dramatic gesture.)

It is not Lame Post Friday, my usual place for half-baked philosophy, yet what better time can there be to wax philosophical than the threshold of another year?  Oh, you can probably think of lots of times (you know who you are). Why do I even bother with these rhetorical questions? HELLO!  THAT ONE WAS RHETORICAL TOO!!!

There is some controversy about the efficacy of New Year’s Resolutions.  Many people firmly eschew them. Others embrace them with fervor.  (Look at me articulating with the E words: “efficacy,” “eschew,” “embrace!”)  I personally am of two minds here.

Part of me says, “Take any opportunity to improve yourself, you need it” (yes, I often talk to myself in the second person).  And for another reason, how can you worry about self-improvement during the holidays?  Start a diet with all those Christmas cookies and candy around?  Clean the house amidst all those decorations?  Work on that novel when you have shopping, wrapping and partying to do?  It’s madness, I tell you! (Again, with dramatic gesture.)

The other part of me says, “You’re setting yourself up for failure!  You’ll never stick to it, and then you’ll feel bad about yourself!”  Quite frankly, I think this is a spurious argument.  Say I start a diet in January then eat a pan of fudge brownies in February.  Does this mean I have to wait until next January to start another diet, thus wallowing in self-loathing for 10 months?  Well, I guess that would give me a chance to eat a lot more brownies…

My real problem is that I feel all self-conscious, like I’m doing the cliche, obvious thing, having a New Year’s Resolution. None of the cool kids are doing it.  And by “cool kids,” of course I mean the unusual, alternative, unexpected kids.

And then I come to the stunning realization:  EITHER WAY, I’M FOLLOWING A CROWD!  Some people make New Year’s Resolutions, some do not.  Whatever I do I’m wrong.

Or, whatever I do, I’m right.

Happy New Year, everybody.

 

2 Comments

Posted in commentary, humor, Non Sequitur Thursday, personal and tagged , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

It’s Just a Jump to the Left…

Posted on December 31, 2015 by mohawkvalleygirl

Well, I am in a hell of a time warp.  I often am on short weeks (I have Friday off). Monday, of course, was Monday.  Then for some reason I thought Tuesday was still Monday.  I was rather pleased to realize it was Tuesday.  However, Tuesday evening I went ahead and wrote my blog post thinking it was Wednesday.  I even put it under the category Wuss-out Wednesday.  What was that all about?

Clearly, days have ceased to have a 24-hour definition for me.  I expected Monday to last indefinitely while Tuesday was over well ahead of time.  Can I offer an mitigating circumstances in my defense?  I fear not.

I suppose one might say, “Oh, it’s the holiday,” and drive on.  Then another might say, “If you’re in that much of a time warp, you’d better not drive.  What would 55 miles an hour look like when you don’t even know how long an hour is?”  Good point.  Still another might begin singing and dancing “The Time Warp” from Rocky Horror Picture Show.

That was what I wrote while on a break at work today.  When I returned to work, my time warp took the form of minutes and hours passing vvveeerrryyyy vvvveeeeerrrryyyy  sssssllllllooooooowwwwlllllllyyyyyy…..  However, since this is a common phenomenon at work two days before a three day weekend, I was not more than usually perturbed by it.

I got home to discover that at least one reader had indeed caught me getting my days mixed up.  How mortifying.  And how not surprising.  If only yesterday had been Non-Sequitur Thursday, everything would have been just fine. What can I do?  I think I’ll take option number one:  say, “Oh, it’s the holiday,” and drive on.  Happy It Really Is Wednesday This Time, everyone.

 

Leave a comment

Posted in humor, personal and tagged , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Not Wuss — Winter!

Posted on December 30, 2015 by mohawkvalleygirl

Winter returned to the Mohawk Valley last night (Tuesday, Dec 28).  I could hear sleet hitting the windows when I woke up in the night.  When I got up I saw the back yard was covered with snow.  Well, we knew it was coming.

I had planned to go running today.  For one reason, I could make a Running Commentary blog post.  For another, I’m getting fatter.  And for just one more, I promised myself I would run up the hill to Herkimer College before the end of 2015.  Perhaps the rain would stop before I got out of work.

During lunch I left stepped outside of my place of employment briefly.  Cold rain was falling and a bitter wind blew.  Even more ominous for my running plans, the sidewalks were covered with ice and ice water.  Yikes!  I could probably talk myself into running in the cold, POSSIBLY the rain (although I don’t usually).  Icy sidewalks, however, are to be assiduously avoided.  I revised my plans:  I would run in place on the mini-tramp while looking at a movie.  I might still have a Boris Karloff flick on my DVR.

I was feeling dreadfully tired by the time I got home, but rather than have a Wuss-out Wednesday post, I was going to try.  Then I saw a neighbor shoveling the snow from his front walk.  The neighbors on the other side had already shoveled their walk, as had other houses.  I felt I should be a responsible homeowner.

Shoveling snow is exercise, I assured myself.  Were the shovels on the back deck?  Yes.  I went inside only long enough to put my bag down then went out and got started.

It wasn’t long before I realized that while yesterday I had worn my work shoes home, today I had sensibly changed into my sneakers.  I told myself not to worry about it.  Even if my feet got soaked, I wasn’t going to be out there long enough for it to matter.  I would be out there maybe a half hour.  Half an hour is a good amount of exercise in the middle of the week.

I started on the sidewalk.  It was crunchy, iced-over snow, but it wasn’t too deep and it wasn’t too heavy. I had my reward right away when a nice lady came along walking her dog.  I petted the dog and chatted with the lady.  She said she had seen me walking a little white dog.

“Did you lose her?”

“Yes, she had cancer.”

She offered her condolences and I petted the dog again before they moved on.  I do hope to get another dog one day, possibly in the spring.

As I continued to clear the sidewalk, a gentleman from the apartment building next door came out and started shoveling the end of their driveway.  We chatted a bit about winter, commuting, and store-brand cottage cheese.  This shoveling wasn’t a bad gig at all.

When I started on the end of the driveway, things got a little less fun.  Between the snowplow piling more snow up and our vehicles going in and out of the driveway, the snow and ice was more stubbornly in place.  I worked away with determination.  I was rewarded with further conversation when the neighbor who lives on the other side came out and started shoveling their driveway.

I ended up shoveling for an hour.  I did not get the whole driveway done, but I cleared enough that Steven should be able to pull in and park.  I wasn’t sure I could get a blog post out of it but decided to try.  You be the judge:  is this better, worse, or about the same as one of my Wuss-out Wednesday posts?

 

4 Comments

Posted in humor, personal, Wuss Out Wednesday and tagged , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Stop Stalling and Start Blogging

Posted on December 29, 2015 by mohawkvalleygirl

I wish I had something that starts with an ST to do.  Then I would have a thoroughly alliterative title.

The sad truth is that once again when it comes to my post, I got nuthin’.   I don’t have much when it comes to other aspects of my life either, but I won’t get into that.  This isn’t Maudlin Monday after all.  I’ve been waiting all day and half the evening for inspiration to strike.  I went to “On This Day” in Facebook.  I always share my blog post, so it is an easy way to see what I published, you know, on this day. Then I re-read yesterday’s post.

You will probably not be surprised to hear that inspiration did not strike.  I finally had to sit down and just start typing.  Hence, today’s title.

My Post-Christmas Letdown kicked in full force today, not surprisingly, since I was back at work.  Oh, it was not a bad day at work.  But work is, perforce, work.  I like my job. I would just prefer to be independently wealthy or at least be on vacation the week after Christmas.  I know, I can’t have everything; it is best to appreciate the things I have and not dwell on what I have not.

Steven fixed us a nice dinner tonight of tomato soup and grilled ham, cheese and tomato sandwiches.  Adding pretzels and a glass of milk, I ate too much.  I suppose that was a seasonal thing for me to do.  You would think it would have alleviated the Letdown, but not so much.

No matter (as I like to say to myself).  I have managed to ramble on for more than 250 words.  I already have a title.  I’m going to categorize this as Monday Mental Meanderings, hit publish and call it a day.  Perhaps you’ll tune in on Tuesday, when I will hope not to be Tired.

 

Leave a comment

Posted in blogging, humor, Monday Mental Meanderings, personal and tagged , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Not So Wrist to Forehead After All

Posted on December 28, 2015 by mohawkvalleygirl

Well, of course it’s Wrist to Forehead Sunday.  It is not only a mere two days after Christmas, tomorrow I must return to work after a lovely four day weekend. WHAT IS THERE TO FEEL HAPPY ABOUT?

In fact there is a lot to feel happy about.  I am actually having a pleasant Sunday.  This morning my husband and I drove to Chadwicks to go to mass with some of my favorite family members including my utterly delightful great-nephew.  After church, Steven and I drove into Frankfort for breakfast at The Knight Spot. Back in Herkimer, we stopped at T & J’s Fruits and Vegetables for red peppers, my latest addiction.

Right now we are indulging in one of my favorite pastimes: hanging out in sweatpants watching true crime shows (Dateline on TLC right now, perhaps an episode or two of Snapped later) while I contemplate what I will do with my red peppers and when I should start.

More importantly, along with my usual Post-Chrristmas Letdown, I am intermittently experiencing Post-Christmas Relief and a little bit of New Year’s Surge.  My relief:  ah, for better or worse, the presents have been completed, wrapped and mostly given (a few are at my parents’ house, awaiting other family members’ arrival),  I’ve done all the Christmas things I can do, even if I didn’t do them well, even if I missed a few (Hmm, I think there’s a poem there somewhere).

And now the New Year’s Surge:  with Christmas over, I can move on to other things.  Bigger and better things? We’ll see.  In the meantime, I have more true crime shows to watch, a dinner to think about, and some serious hanging out to do before I return to work tomorrow.  Happy Sunday, everyone.

 

Leave a comment

Posted in humor, personal, Wrist to Forehead Sunday and tagged , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Post-Christmas Pedestrian Post

Posted on December 27, 2015 by mohawkvalleygirl

I have not done a Pedestrian Post in a while.  Wait a minute, maybe I have… Oh, I just don’t feel like going back and looking.  I’m going to make a Pedestrian Post now and if you don’t like, well, that is the chance I take.

Where was I?  Ah yes, the day after Christmas.  Boxing Day, the Feast of Stephen, and Post-Christmas Letdown Day.  Oh, don’t tell me I can choose to feel happy.  Sometimes you just have to feel the way you feel.  That said, I thought it better not to dwell on how I was feeling but to try to get a few things done.  To that end, I sat down and wrote out several postcards.

I have mentioned before how I like to send postcards.  There are a few shut-ins and semi-shut-ins I try to send to regularly, and I usually write one or two to whoever I happen to think of at the moment.  Today it was a friend I have not one but two letters written to in two different notebooks.   It was just easier to dash off a postcard than to search for the other notebook (I knew where one was).  I’ll get the letter mailed out subsequently.

As I brushed my teeth and washed my face, I had something of an urge to go running instead.  However, I was disinclined to run to the post office with a handful of postcards.  For one reason, I might drop them.  For another, my glasses would undoubtedly fog when I walked into the post office to mail them.  This is all very well when one is walking, but I just didn’t want to deal with it in the middle of the run.  I could run later. I would walk now.  I would take a longish walk, in case I didn’t run later.  This would work.

My first observation on setting out was that it was foggy.  My second observation was that it is much better to walk with a dog.  Oh, how I miss my dear Tabby.  It was our Saturday thing, to walk to the post office with post cards.  Well, I still needed the exercise, so I kept going.

It was cold, but I was warmly dressed.  Only my face got increasingly colder, but I told myself not to worry about it.  I knew it might induce a sinus headache, but I could drink a cup of hot tea for that later. The sun was up so very few Christmas lights were still on and those that were were not very bright.  In Meyers Park the lights on the trees and the gazebo (or is it a bandstand?) shone bravely if faintly in the fog.  I felt a little encouraged on seeing them.

It took a very short time to get to the post office.  My glasses did not fog when I walked in.  At least, I did not notice they were fogged.  As I had walked I could not always tell if the fog was getting thicker or if my glasses were betraying me.  However, since I could see well enough to maneuver, I persevered.

About 20 minutes into the walk, I started to feel better about things.  I read somewhere that a brisk 30 minute walk is the equivalent of two Zoloft tablets.  I do enjoy how my legs feel as I stride along.  I tried not to let my cold face bother me.  I kept my hands in my pockets, so they were warm too.  Walking, I thought, was better than running.  If I had been running, my hands would be stiff by now.

I ended up walking 40 minutes and feeling pretty good about it. I see that I have written mostly about myself and have not included many observations of Herkimer.  I was looking around, and I managed to see things other than the fog.  I passed the Historic Four Corners twice.  Well, I will have to write an observation-filled Pedestrian Post next time.  I hope you are all having a lovely December the 26th.

 

Leave a comment

Posted in humor, Pedestrain Post, personal and tagged , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

And to All a Good Night!

Posted on December 26, 2015 by mohawkvalleygirl

Christmas is not a big blog-reading holiday.  I guess that raises the question of what is (please note: it does NOT “beg” the question, it RAISES  the question), but as I like to say (there are a lot of things I like to say), that is neither here nor there.

Yesterday I felt so virtuous getting my blog post done and published first thing in the morning.  I don’t think anybody thought that little bit of industry was going to last, and of course it did not.  In my defense… oh, I really do not want to get into what could be said in my defense; just forgive me or don’t.

I’ve been having a lovely holiday.  Christmas Eve, as I mentioned yesterday, was unseasonably warm.  In the afternoon, my parents and I took a long walk on the Mohawk River Trail, a recent addition to Rome’s many amenities.  We encountered runners, bikers, other walkers, a couple of dogs and several kayakers.  We greeted everybody with a cheery “Merry Christmas.”

Later that evening, my mom, sister, assorted nieces and two nephews (one great) took a  short walk around the neighborhood looking at people’s Christmas lights.  We also admired the full moon.  At least, most calendars said it was actually full tonight (Christmas Day), but it looked pretty full last night too.

As I was about to make a half-hearted apology for this post not being such a much, I remembered something:  it is Lame Post Friday (I know, YOU already knew that; you didn’t have to tell me) (and I don’t have to tell you who you are).  I think I’ll skip the apology and just wish a Merry Christmas to all, and if you do not celebrate Christmas (ooh, here’s a Freudian slip: I started to type “suffer” instead of “celebrate”; discuss the implications amongst yourselves and get back to me, if you’ve a mind to), I wish you a happy day.

 

Leave a comment

Posted in humor, Lame Post Friday, personal and tagged , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Jingle Bell Jog

Posted on December 24, 2015 by mohawkvalleygirl

I actually don’t call what I do jogging.  Jogging sounds too jouncy for me; I strive for a smooth pace.  But I wanted to sound Christmasy, and you know how I love alliteration.

Be that as it may, I am at my parents’ house in Rome, NY, having arrived last night.  I have not had a chance to run since Sunday, due to Christmas preparations and my usual not having my act together, so I was determined to get out there today.

It was supposed to be warmer, so I only packed shorts and short-sleeved t-shirts. I confess to some trepidation about running prior to sunrise.  After all, doesn’t it get colder in the night?  No matter, I told myself.  Just run faster.  As it turned out, the weather was nice and warm.  It had stopped raining. I could dodge the puddles.  Most of them, anyways.  Off I went.

My plan was to stick to sidewalks and not cross too many busy streets, although there was not much traffic to worry about.  I admired Christmas lights on houses and wished I had found time to run earlier in the week.  My legs didn’t feel bad, but I think they would have felt better without three days off between runs.  No matter, I told myself (you may have noticed that I often say that to myself), I was running now.  I could run tomorrow, this would be fine.

It felt like spring, although some houses made it look like Christmas.  I flashed on Basic Training, which I went through in March 1997.  Running on wet roads in the dark in early spring.  However, there was no drill sergeant hollering at me, and the rest of my day promises to be distinctly more pleasant than the army.  Also, I am much better at running than I was then.  Or do I flatter myself?  Once again, no matter.  I was surprised to feel humidity.  Of course there’s nothing wrong with working up a good sweat, I told myself. Keep running.

My longest run recently was 40 minutes.  I decided not to go for that long of a run today, because I did not want to feel too tired later in the day.  I have a lot of Christmas celebrating to do.  Still, I did not want to do too short a run because of all the calories I would consume later.  I compromised on 33 minutes.

Toward the end of my run, I saw a man leaning on a fence in front of a house.

“Good morning,” I said.  “Merry Christmas!”

“And the same to you,” he returned.

I saw that he had a white beard.  Could I have encountered Santa Claus?

 

Leave a comment

Posted in humor, personal, running, running commentary and tagged , , . Bookmark the permalink.
← Older Posts
Newer Posts →