A Lazy Sunday and Sunrise Pictures

It was a lazy day yesterday, even though the temperatures creeped up and actually touched 60F (15.5C). It's early March, so a bit early for Spring, I fully expect at least one more serious snowstorm before we can call the winter finished. However, the birds are quite happy, the trees and bushes are starting to look "fuzzy" with buds starting to appear along bare branches, and the massive piles of snow are diminishing. They're not gone yet, oh no. But they are shrinking at a rapid rate as we experience our own mini-version of global warming. 

Because of Daylight Saving Time, I'm going to give you photos
of sunrise because I love the dawn. Enjoy! 

It was the return of Daylight Saving Time early on Sunday morning. The "Spring Ahead" never gets to me as much as the "Fall Back", even though I lose an hour of sleep with the Spring rotation. Still, it's nice to have more light in the evening, and I'm quite used to standing at the door for the gym in the dark, so no real changes here. 

I love a misty sunrise on a rural road. So pretty! 

I didn't get any beading done yesterday, and DH is making noises about the fact that we haven't worked on the house for the past two weekends. I'm waiting for one more package of charms to arrive at the shop today. Those should be all I need to step into the next section on my owl project. I know what I need to do and how it will all work, but I need the charms first. I could have made charms of my own with metal clay and my kiln, but cast ones will be fine for this project. There's a limit to how much expense I want to put into this piece. 

Here in the Frozen Northlands, our sunrise will often have a lot
of mist on the ground because of our high humidity. This picture
is a lovely mix of sun and mist. 

So, after a lazy Sunday I'm getting ready for a busy week; chiropractor this morning, accountant for our personal taxes tomorrow night, and work - always - just to keep me occupied. I hope you all have a wonderful Monday and I'll be back tomorrow. 

Snow and Football Go Together

Today's post will be short and sweet (or not) and fast because we got a bit of snow overnight and I've already heard the plows going down my street. That means I need to shovel before leaving for the gym, and since I've got the WBL gym to visit this morning before my chiro appointment, I've got to shovel quickly before driving 20 minutes distant on iffy roads. It shouldn't be super bad, but I am tight on time. 

I'm not fond of shoveling snow. I don't mine the exercise, but it's more
time out of a crowded early morning schedule. Oh well, no choice
today. 

Yesterday was spent in a day of football and computer nirvana. Plans to get Chinese for dinner were scrapped, and we ate reheated frozen convenience meals instead. It was a laid-back easy-going day that we both desperately needed before diving back into crap like taxes today. Ick. Still, it has to be done. I'll fight with sales tax today, then start working on the W2 and W3 forms that have to be submitted on a very picky website by the end of the month. 

Death and taxes - the two items that are guaranteed in our
lives. Even when we lived in small clusters huddling together
against the elements and wild animals, someone still
collected for the "good" of the group. 

I'm quite pleased that Kansas City made it to the next stage in the playoffs. I'm not really a KC fan, but they won my division, so since the Broncos played horribly this year, I'll cheer on Mahomes and his KC Chiefs. The Tennessee Titans are moving on as well, and, unfortunately, so are the Green Bay Packers (I was cheering for Seattle in that game, but they weren't able to pull it off). So this coming Sunday we get the decisive games - Tennessee vs Kansas City and Green Bay vs San Francisco. One of those four will win the Super Bowl next month. As much as I might prefer Kansas City, I'm secretly hoping Tennessee can pull the game out. I'm also cheering San Francisco onward because ... you know - as a Vikings fan, I just can't support Green Bay. 

Tennessee is in the playoffs for the Divisional
Championship game going head-to-head
against Kansas City this Sunday. Who could
have predicted this one!?! 

So I'm wrapping this up, plugging in photos, and heading out to shovel. Have a truly wonderful day and may all of your dreams come true (or as least your dreams of a nice cup of coffee and five minutes of peace and quiet). I'll be back tomorrow. 

Fifteen Cents Then Onward To You!

Fifteen cents, that's what's lacking before the cards hit the mail. I'm just over an ounce on them, so I'll be at the Post Office this morning when the doors open at 8:30 am to buy 15 cent stamps to add to each envelope. Once I've got that, they're in the mail to all of you. I still have EIGHT CARDS needing a home, so if you've been on the fence, just email or message me your address and I'll happily send one out to you. 

One 15 cent stamp for each card and they're
hitting the mail. Yippee!!!

I had a lot of fun with this year's card. Each one includes an ornament I made from sheet copper and a decorative cutout attached to the metal. The card itself has the front and interior images hand-painted, and all of the print, of course, is heat enameled. The back panel was printed, and I adore the envelope seal. I was feeling a bit frustrated, so I chose a Christmas Goose, all wrapped up in tangled lights and looking frustrated with its' Santa hat and striped stockings. I hand-colored four of these images, then printed copies to attach to the envelopes. It was fun, but it's going to be even better once they arrive at their new homes. 

Ornaments are always fun. They can be put into windows or used
as fancy bookmarks (at least mine can because it's flat and sturdy). 

I've got my pie (Candy Cane Pie) reserved for pickup on Sunday, I'll get our Honey Baked Ham early next week, and I only have one more Sunday to work at the shop before my Sundays are once again my own. I can hardly wait! 

I love my annual Candy Cane pie. It's only available in December, so
I make sure to get one each year. It's my once-a-year treat. 

So, since I'm off to the gym and my Chiropractor this morning, I'm cutting this short. Remember to keep an eye out for your cards, and also BE SURE TO CONTACT ME IF YOU WANT ONE! I'm out of here. Have a great Monday and I'll be back tomorrow. 

Progress On Home and Card Fronts

Yesterday was spent ... hold on and wait for it ... CLEANING! Of course - LOL. But I did get quite a lot accomplished and I'm starting to feel a bit optimistic that we might make it to DH's Thanksgiving deadline. Of course, that doesn't count the full bookcase of reference books that we actually still need at the shop and that will have to come home eventually. Still, we'll have to deal with that later. Right now we're still working on the craft room and it's getting better and better. Turkey Day is next week and that's the end of my Sundays off until Christmas. I'm going to be SO happy to be out of retail. 

The next two weeks will be rather crazy. I'll be rushing around
WAY too much, but I have time schedules to keep. 

Today is a bit of a rushed day, though, because I have to go to the WBL YMCA instead of my usual little one. My little Y is all of three miles from my house. The WBL branch is quite a bit farther - a few suburbs to the east. But when I'm seeing my Chiropractor, it's only a mile away from his office and I can still have a workout before my adjustment. It's not a bad drive either way, just takes a bit more time. 

I have a bunch of adhesives and adhesive roller
tapes, but for fast setting, quick application
adhesives, I turn to my Scotch brand
Scrapbooker's Glue. It dries in 5 minutes,
has two different applicators for small
and large areas, and it doesn't bleed. 

The fronts pieces for the cards are all glued and I've started the impressions for the interiors. Although I had hoped to be able to do the full interior in a single pass, it took one try to realize that wasn't going to happen. So instead of doing 50 impressions, I have to do 100. I did get 25 of them finished on Saturday, so I'll try for 25 each morning. Just not today. No time for that today. If I can get the impressions complete by the end of the week, I can start painting. Painting and assembly are the next steps after the impressions are complete, and that will still take some serious time. But it is as it is and I'll make it happen somehow. That's the challenge and the fun of it. 

So I'm going to catch up with some little things before I hit the road, and I'm calling this done for the day. I hope all of you have a wonderful Monday and I plan on being back tomorrow. 

Mountains and the Moon - A Wonderful Weekend

Yesterday's stage in the Pyrenees was wonderful, exciting, and the gaps are growing larger and larger. The Yellow Jersey is still on Julian Alaphillipe, but he lost some time yesterday, allowing Geraint Thomas to catch up 30 seconds. Today is a much needed rest day and then we'll have two days of "flat" as we move from the Pyrenees to three very intensive days in the Alps followed by Sunday in Paris. Are you ready for the final six days? 

Were you alive when the original moon landing occurred? DH and
I talked about what we had been doing during that epic event.
I remember watching it on my small black and white
television in my bedroom in Denver. I think my cousin might
have been with me, if not, it was my best friend from next
door. 

DH and I had a lazy day yesterday, and since the weather wasn't blisteringly hot, we took an hour or so to sit in the garden before grilling our dinner and collapsing. It was a super exhausting week last week since Chickie was out of town. She's on her way back, but won't be at work again until Wednesday, so we will still have to work a few days without her. I've missed having her around, but I've also enjoyed working more with the customers (with a few exceptions). All in all, it's actually been just fine not having Chickie on hand. I guarantee that DH isn't quite that comfortable, since he got absolutely nothing done on his various projects since he had to work for her. 

One of the things I've always been grateful for receiving from
the moon flights and astronaut programs is the view of Earth
from space. We live on such a beautiful and fragile planet. It's
simply stunning when viewed from the Moon. 

I've gotten so used to higher temperatures, that yesterday's 78 F (25.5 C) had me pulling out a long-sleeved T-shirt to wear for the day. I was actually cold when DH had the fan running in the computer room. It's rather bizarre how bodies can adapt to changing atmospheric conditions. I suppose that's why we, as a species, have managed to effectively spread over the planet, from deepest jungle to driest desert. Of course, in my area, having heat for the winter is essential ... just saying - LOL. 

Now the talk is all about living on Mars. I don't think that's
anything I'd ever have been interested in. But given my
basic claustrophobia, space travel of any kind probably
won't be my thing. Still, anyone volunteering to live on
Mars will be risking everything on a one-way ticket. No
way back home to water and breathable air again. 

So today's post is nice and easy, but I'm back into Tour de France mode tomorrow. I'll have a rushed workout this morning, then see my Chiropractor, and then try to get some documentation together. After all that, I'll start my Monday. I hope all of you have a wonderful start to your week and I'll be back tomorrow. 

Sunday Was Very Productive

Today's schedule is totally messed up. No gym today - just won't work. Breakfast in 1/2 hour at 5:00 am, then on to the east for my Chiropractor appointment, dropping back home afterward to pick up my laptop and head back out, open the shop and turn on the computers, then lock everything back up and get to the doctor's in time to get my stitches removed. Back to work and start my day. WHEW! All of that before 9:00 am. 

Although these aren't my specific four bags of
trash, it's pretty close since I also used white bags. 

I have four bags of trash in the back of Minion right now. My own trash receptacles are filled to bursting and trash pickup for me isn't until Wednesday. So I'm taking four bags from yesterday's "going through memories in multiple boxes" marathon to the shop and I'll add them to the dumpster there. Much larger, but also used by all four of the stores and so often overfull. Good thing is, though, it gets emptied every couple of days, so if I have to carry the trash around for another couple of days, I can do that. 

Mine is older than this, but the idea is still there. And
yes, I do have a triceratops in my collection of nine. 

The memories cleanup resulted in some things that I'm very glad I still have. I have the nine small bronze dinosaurs (actually eight dinos and a mastodon), that my Dad bought for me when we went to the Natural History Museum on Sundays. They're perfect and beautiful and even though one fin of the Mosasaur broke off when I was a kid, the rest of them are pristine. I even have the description cards for eight of the nine. I'm impressed and I'm delighted to have them back once again. 

I also found a nice Origami intro book with paper that
I will also send to the girls. I was never very successful at
Origami, but they might enjoy trying it out. 

I found my participation certificates from my time as a finalist in Miss Teenage America - a silly thing, but it was fun for a short time - and lots of photographs, slides and negatives from my high school and early college years. I think I'd rather digitize most of those, but the good ones that are printed I'll probably put into albums. I'm sending my cello music to my nephew's kid. He started cello this year. He's welcome to them, even though he won't be at that level for a long time. I know I won't be using the music. There was also some costume play jewelry that I thought my youngest niece's daughters might enjoy, so I'll sent that to her. 

All in all, it was a very successful clean and the football games were fabulous as well. Combine with a great dinner from China Restaurant and I had a winning Sunday. Chickie got moved OK and is now unpacking and setting up in the new place, and the cats have settled down from the traumatic move as well. All seems good. We'll see. I'll be back tomorrow, but have a wonderful Monday! 

Horror Movies - DH Loves Them, I'm Not As Much of a Fan

After two weeks off, I'm finally heading over to my Chiropractor today. Usually I see him every two weeks, so I'm sure I'll be all cracks when I'm adjusted, rather like an old tree in a windstorm. But, I am an old tree, and even though the windstorm is time, it doesn't make it any less real. It will be a relief to be back onto our normal bi-monthly schedule. Both DH and I benefit from our appointments. 

Movie posters from all of the Halloween movies. Who would have
thought Jason would live for so long in, around and away from
Crystal Lake. 

Of course, it's also the week of Halloween, or Samhain. Lots of things to go bump in the night and the television and movie theaters are filled with scary and horror movies. DH enjoys these kinds of movies. Me? Not so much. Yesterday appeared to be a "Halloween" marathon. DH was watching Part 3 when I came down to the computer room, and between our afternoon football games he wasted the time by watching a portion of Part 8. It's hard to believe that tale went through eight movies and three spin-offs. I guess Jason really does live forever. 

The Shining is one of my favorite scary movies. The
plot, the location, the ghosts and the child - all spin
together into something that screams "Don't
open that door!" 

I'm more of a subtle horror movie fan. My favorite horror movie of all time? "The Shining" starring the amazing Jack Nicholson. Scary - oh yes, VERY scary. The pacing was perfect, the locale was one I'm extremely familiar with (it was just up the road as I was growing up) and yes .... I totally believe in ghosts and spirits. Even though I've watched it often, there are still parts I have problems watching. The mark of a good movie. 

There's just something about Freddy Krueger that
I like. It's scary - absolutely - and he's a fabulous
character, but it's more than that. It's just really
well made and well conceived. 

DH and I and a bunch of our college friends saw "Carrie" in our local theatre. It was a long time ago, but I still remember the ending - don't think I'll ever forget that one. There were other movies of note through the years - "Texas Chainsaw Massacre", "Hellraiser" which introduced the world to Pinhead, and my favorite of the bunch - "A Nightmare on Elm Street" and the immortal Freddy Krueger. Yes - I'm totally a Freddy Krueger fangirl. 

Pinhead in "Hellraiser" was a frightening central character, but
I didn't like him as much as the two previous ones I've
featured in today's blog. 

Do you enjoy horror movies? Are there some kinds that you find fun and others that you won't watch any time or place? Share with me. I don't want to feel alone as I wander through the next few days of weakening walls between dimensions. 

Happy Monday to all and I'll be back tomorrow. 

It Was A Lazy Sunday and Beading Carrier Beads

Yesterday's goal was to pack, and I did ... a little bit. I got the suitcase out from storage and put it into a larger room, and I did make sure that the last few items needed for my classes had been gathered together, ready to go. But I didn't pack clothes or cosmetics/shampoos, etc. Guess I'll be naked? Well, not quite. But it's not a huge trip - only three days at the conference and two travel days, so I won't need to pack a lot. Additionally, I'm still low energy right now because I've still got this damned chest/head cold. So I spent most of yesterday beading instead of doing anything more constructive. DH played his computer game and had the TV on the baseball game. It was a really quiet and boring day. 

I've been spending my time working with carrier beads. These
glass (or plastic - I use the glass ones) are two-holed tablets
which are sized to be covered with Delica beadwork patterns. 

Today kicks off a week where I'm only working Monday and Tuesday because I leave for Milwaukee on Wednesday. I'm really looking forward to getting away for a few days, but also am hoping that I'm more recovered before I leave because I'm a bit dizzy (that's dizzy, not ditsy), and I don't like to drive distances if I'm not 100%, even if it is an easy drive that I've done for years and years. Tonight and tomorrow night, I guess I'd better pack for real. 

For example, here several beaded carrier beads have been
assembled into a fun bracelet. 

I spent Sunday beading carrier beads. Carrier beads are a glass or acrylic shaped 2-hole bead (think shaping similar to a bed pillow) that is sized to be covered with a small beaded cover sewn with Delica beads. The patterns usually are either 6 or 7 beads across and 48 to 50 beads long, so they're very short and easy. I'm having fun with them and playing a bit, something that I haven't indulged in for a while. I've peppered this page with carrier bead projects from others so that you get a small idea of what I've been working with. 

Here, a variety of patterns still look harmonious because
they use a basic palette of colors to form the carrier bead
necklace components. Each bead takes 30-60 minutes to
bead, depending on pattern and the beader's skill. 

I'm off to the Chiropractor today. Usually I'd be swimming first, but the WBL pool is closed for two weeks while undergoing cleaning and repair work. So I gave myself an extra 45 minutes to sleep, and I'll drive to my Chiro directly from home without dropping off at the YMCA first. Have a glorious Monday and I'll be back tomorrow (hopefully with some clothes in my suitcase). 

Unknown Treasures Await

Yesterday, after I tossed the chicken into the crock pot for dinner (it turned out ok, but I need to tweak that recipe), DH and I settled down to a fairly busy Sunday which resulted in my having my car full of boxes *sigh*. It could be worse, but I'm going to be stuck with crap in the back end of my SUV for several days until I've managed to get rid of it all. 

OH!! Here's a question for those of you more familiar with FaceBook than I am - Is there a way I can send a private message to only three people? I need to get in touch with my nieces, and FB is the only common ground we have. I was trying to figure the process out last night but without success. 

Anyway, why is my car stuffed? DH and I dove into the side porch project yesterday, clearing everything out so that we could see what could be put into the shed. The shed will hold a lot of stuff that doesn't have any great value - camping supplies, coolers, an old tent, and other things. At the back of the side porch, I have a lot of boxes that I sent up to myself when my mother died and I sold her place. I drove the Saturn up with some of her stuff, but shipped the rest to myself. I haven't opened those boxes again and it's been years - a very long time. 

I have four of these boxes filled with information from my
old Mall of America business. Somehow they missed the
mass shred I had done a few years ago. I'll drop them by
a local place for shredding, just need to figure out which one. 

It's quite ridiculous to hang on to things this long, especially things that aren't opened. I can't imagine what I was thinking and have no clue what's in the boxes. I'm going to be opening them now and I'm rather excited about that. We managed to clear things out to the point that I can actually access them and I'm curious. I'll have to wait until after trash pickup on Wednesday, though. Our trash can is so stuffed after yesterday's clean that I'll barely have room for our regular Tuesday night bag. 

I'm not sure what's in the eight boxes I sent back home to myself
from my Mom's place. I suspect there are some of Dad's books,
and some this and that from Mom, but I can't have thought they
were very important since I didn't open them until now. 

At least we were a bit productive. It's better than looking at each other on Sunday nights and being disappointed, because even though we had a day together, we really didn't accomplish anything. We can't say that about yesterday. My back is killing me - some of the things we were moving had some serious weight. But we're one step closer to reclaiming the side porch, and that's what we need to do, so I'm feeling much more positive. 

My back has been hurting me for the past few days, but I
really pulled some muscles yesterday when I was
hauling boxes. 

I'm heading off to the pool to work out the kinks and sore muscles, then stopping by the Chiropractor to get the rest of the kinks worked out. An infusion of coffee and oatmeal and I'll be ready to start my day. I hope you had a wonderful weekend and that your Monday is totally fabulous. Enjoy! 

My Snow Mantra Continued

It's rather amazing how something as small as a snowflake can take over a life, but that's my life from Saturday through very early this morning. As promised, the storm started dumping snow on us on Saturday with fierce winds and almost zero visibility. I warned DH that I probably would close early and wouldn't pick up our usual dinner, so he went to the grocery and bought food for Saturday and Sunday. Very sweet of him, really good food, but carb and calorie heavy. Five Pounds gained as a result!!! Ack! 

My car is a garage car, but this is Chickie's car. We own the same
car, just one year apart. As you can tell, we got a LOT of snow
over slightly less than 24 hours. 

I did close the shop early and was on the road home shortly after 3:00 pm. It 's usually a simple ten minute drive straight up the street from work to home. It was 30 minutes worth of white knuckle driving because all of us on the road were steering by instinct. Seeing the road wasn't possible because the snow was blowing so hard there was no visibility. I steered by the stoplights, which usually are centered on top of each lane, but I couldn't see the stoplights until a half-block or so from the intersections. I got home safely, but it was a nightmare. 

The yard waste bucket in my backyard got an additional
layer added to its' snow blanket. Of course there have
been meltdowns over the winter, but I was still
pretty impressed by how much snow was on top
of the lid. 

Throughout the evening I got email notifications from restaurants and grocers in the area that were also shutting down early. I think it was a wise precaution for the safety of both their customers and staff. It was truly miserable driving weather. When we awakened on Sunday morning and looked outside, it was still snowing, although not as much. DH decided we would leave it until later in the afternoon in hopes that it would have stopped snowing. So we snow-blowed and shoveled around 3:30 pm, shoveling away more than a foot of snow in some places. I think in actual numbers we were closer to 6"-8" of snow, but the winds had piled it up everywhere. 

This area is really sheltered, leading down the back upper
yard to the back door. I only had about 3"-4" of snow
here to shovel. I got a kick out of the tracks on
the far left. Animals aren't stupid, they pick the
path of least resistance. 

I got up today at 2:45 am so that I have a clear 30 minutes to shovel again before leaving for the gym and my Chiropractor. At least I can work off some of the weight I gained from Hubby's "snow comfort food". I'll be losing that weight for the rest of the week *sigh*. 

A closer view of the tracks from my "wee beasties". I
suspect we've got fox here, but I didn't see any rabbit
in this grouping. Varmints of various kinds were also
scampering down my sidewalk towards their
cozy homes. I know we've got woodchucks in the
area too, and some of these prints could have
been theirs. 

Here's hoping your weekend was less eventful than mine, and that your week ahead is wonderful and fun. I'll be back tomorrow, a bit sleep deprived, but that's the necessity sometimes up here in the Frozen Northlands. 

A Bit of Oscars Fashion

DH and I spent Sunday night watching a movie - but nothing that would have been awarded an Academy Award. We watched "Guardians of the Galaxy 2" and thoroughly enjoyed it. Although we did catch little bits and pieces of the Oscars afterward, we generally managed to avoid it, which made me happy. I buried my nose in my latest book, and glanced up at the screen occasionally. I did look through a lot of fashion this morning, however, and chose a small number of outfits to share with you. 

I was pleased to see that the trend of transparent or translucent dresses at events didn't seem to carry through heavily into the Oscars. It looked like a return to glitz and glam and I was happy to see it. Clothing wasn't conservative, it was classic. There's an important difference there. Styling was reasonable, jewelry was bling, and political statements, although present, were minimal. I chose a small sampling of Red Carpet clothes to share with you. 

Chadwick Bowman was resplendent in
embroidered Givenchy. The broad lapels
were highly embellished, the cut was
classic, and the ensemble well put together. 

Jane Fonda looked fantastic in this structured and
sculpted white gown by Balmain. There were a
number of older award winners who were celebrated
throughout the evening and they pretty much
looked amazing. I can dream of looking this
good at her age. 

Lupita Nyong'o looked spectacular in this
dress of molten metallic fabric. It suited her
beautifully. I was't able to find out the name
of the designer, and I looked hard, but
I really adored the dress. 

There were a lot of gowns inspired by old
Hollywood, including this stunner worn
by Molly Sims. The design, by Naeeman
Khan, was beautifully draped and the
fabric was total glam. 

Only Nicole Kidman could pull off a giant
bow around her hips, but on her it worked.
The dress, by Armani Prive, hugged her
figure in all the right places. 

I only chose five outfits to show you. but websites abound with the fashion of the night. Color seemed to be common and across the spectrum with some wonderful bright yellow gowns among them - a color I don't see at formal events often. I was delighted to see that this year's fashions truly played homage to Old Hollywood and the 90-year tradition that are the Academy Awards. I guess I should probably at least read the list of the winners. 

I'm in the middle of a Winter Storm Watch, and I'm divided on whether to drive out for my chiropractic appointment, or whether to blow off the appointment and go to the gym that's closer to home. Right now, closer to home is sounding really good. Stay warm, stay safe, and have a great Monday. I'll be back tomorrow. 

What About You? What Did You Do?

I had a really wonderful day off on Sunday, listening and watching some of the Olympics, playing Lord of the Rings Online with DH, and generally relaxing. Of course, as usual, I missed the top skaters since they are always broadcasting them live and it's after I've gone to sleep. I'm bummed about that because ice dancing is my favorite part of the ice skating competitions. DH is bored with all ice skating events except ice hockey and curling. It's not for everyone, I'll admit. I'll try to catch some of the performances streaming on my phone later today. I want to see some of it. 

One of the competitions that DH really loved was the qualifying
runs for Women's "Big Air". The snowboard jump is ten stories
high (there's an elevator on the left of the big ramp). It's
amazingly tall, and they're doing some great flips and turns
off the swoop at the bottom - the one that has the Olympic
rings on it. 

When I learned to ice skate, I learned in Aspen during the summers. There was an ice rink in the western part of town (of course the town was pretty small, so walking there and back wasn't a problem). The "Ice Capades" show summered over in Aspen at that time, and their skaters taught skating in their non-practice hours. I'm bad - I don't remember my teacher's name, but certainly remember his wonderful Samoyed dog - Charlie. Every once in a while, Charlie would squeeze through the lobby doors and nudge open the rink gate, to join us on the ice. It was a merry chase for all of us to catch Charlie, and he loved it - playing with kids on ice was his total joy. 

Charlie loved nothing better than leading the students in a chase
around the ice rink, all of us trying to catch him and put him
back off of the ice. I remember him with great fondness. 

Charlie's owner, who I shall also call Charlie for the sake of convenience, taught me figure skating and ice dancing. I loved ice dancing, but really hated school figures which were still a required part of competition at that time. The older skating fans will recognize what I mean by school figures - those inside edge and outside edge circles on the ice that we had to do for hours at a time. Oy! The worst! In competition, the circles would be judged for how accurate they were, how consistent the edgework was, whether the form was identical from circle to circle, etc. It was a part of the scoring and some good skaters entered into the performance portions of competition already down because of their school figures. 

School or "Compulsory" Figures were a personal hell
for most figure skaters for years and years. Here, Dick
Button works through his figures. Look at the old
pictures and you'll see Peggy Fleming, Dorothy
Hamill, and others of renown working through
their School Figures. These were judged with
rulers and strings. Nasty!!! They were just NASTY!!!

I don't have the greatest sense of balance, so always had a really difficult time with spins and jumps. When Charlie would whisk me around the rink in the basic dances, it was magical. We concentrated on ice dancing for at least one full summer, and I kept up my lessons during the school year the best that I could - a bit harder because it had to fit between my music and my schoolwork. Then I broke my foot, and everything came to a screeching halt. Charlie and the rest of the Ice Capades didn't summer over that next year, and I dropped ice skating from my routine. Sometimes I miss it, but I learned enough to be comfortable on the ice, so a pick-up hockey game isn't out of the question for me. 

The Ice Capades, like many other traveling shows, was founded in
the depth of the Great Depression. It existed for fifty years, even
had a last hurrah under the ownership of Dorothy Hamill. But it
mung up its blades for good in 1996. 

What about you? Was there anything you seriously worked on as a child that you didn't keep up with? Childhood is a time of experimenting - finding out what things are of interest to you and what things aren't. For me ... math and science? Probably not. But music and art? Oh yeah. Those are still my happy things. 

Today I'll just beat the snow as I visit my Chiropractor, and then return to my home suburb. It should start falling around the time I'm at breakfast. Of course, that means DH will be caught it in while he's driving back and forth. That's not a good thing, so I'll be worried about him until he checks in later on. We'll get a few inches out of this one. *sigh* Have a wonderful Monday, I'll be back tomorrow.