Projects

I told daughter Sam that I would make her wedding dress, and the assistants' dresses as well. That was before I learned that I would be moving to Staunton, Va (she lives in Hornell, NY). She said I could borrow her sewing machine, but she sews a lot and I couldn't imagine her doing without it for a whole summer. And anyway, I figured I could borrow Anna Maria's machine, who lives in Broadway, Va--just an hour away. Alas! that was not to be. AM's machine is a wonderful basic machine, but it cannot seem to handle fine fabrics. After weeks of pondering and advice seeking, I decided on a new Brother. About the same time a friend of a friend at church gave me a wonderful gate leg table. Folded up it takes only a scant amount of space in my apartment. Opened up it's a great work table. But the table came sans chairs...

Today I visited an antique shop I often frequent and found these solid, but ugly, wooden chairs with vinyl seats for just $40. No big deal...they're comfortable and I figured they'd work as comfortable sitting chairs for visitors AND as dining room chairs.

I also found this glass washboard, which covers up some nasty mars and nonremovable large black screws on the bathroom wall. And so I made three trips, three blocks down the street to haul my loot -- first the washboard and a chair, then two chairs and finally, on the third trip, the last chair. But on the way home, my ADHD kicked in when I noticed The Golden Tub Bath Shop. I left the chair just outside her shop and went in. Seeing a whole wall of cloth shower curtains, I got an idea. The owner, a widow, asked "the same question I was asked when I moved here...how did you come to Staunton?"
I answered and she asked if she could help,
"I have a very bizarre idea. I just bought four chairs and I'm thinking that one of these curtains would make excellent new seats for my chairs."
In a very business-like manner she asked, "Well, what do the chairs look like?"
"Well," I answered, "I was carrying the fourth one home when I decided to stop, so it's right outside your shop."
"Bring it in. Let's have a look." She then proceeded to bring out four or five options -- in the color schemes I was hoping for, and all in heavy fabric. And then she said, "And I have this one that has a flaw, so I have to sell it for just $15."
I couldn't decide. I said, "My money is at home. Let me take this chair home, and bring my purse and the painting that I'm decorating my room around." I hurried home, and took down a diptich AM had created and carried them to the bath shop. I set them against a counter, and the shop lady laid out the curtains -- one and then the other. It was easy that way to decide, although as she said, "It will look different, of course, in different lighting..." She also asked if there was enough fabric to cover all four. All good things to consider. I decided on the $15 curtain. I really liked the soft, almost suede, fabric of another one; but it was $40 and just not quite the right color. As I went to pay, she said, "Since you're new in town, let me sell this to you for $12." So for $52 and some labor, I could have a gate leg wooden table and four pretty chairs. Excited, I came home and immediately went to work.

The finished chairs...they be can painted or refinished, but the worn look goes very well with everything else in my apartment. So I decided to stick with doing just the seats for now. Now, with a good chair at the right height (I had been sitting on a folding camping chair with pillows stacked on it to bring me to the right height), I dove into the sewing projects for Sam's wedding.

AND I made a lot of progress. No sleeves, trim or hem yet, but it's coming along. To see "the rest of the story," you'll have to keep checking my blog.

Cycling through the Countryside

I cycled from the bottom of that hill, which you can see disappears toward the left. This countryside was dotted with buccolic cows, goats, and a deer. I tried to get a photo of the deer, but it took off.
Near the intersection of the Woodrow Wilson Parkway and Churchville.
My goal was a restful, recovery ride as a recovery from last week's runs. I should have known better; there's no such thing as easy cycling in the hills of Virginia.

Bennie's

My poor feet are a mess of healing blisters, blisters, scabs and bruised toes from running errands in dress shoes for work at a law office and running on hills in my year-old running shoes at night. A few weeks back, as I wandered through the woods barefooted to ease the pain, my daughter Anna Maria said, "Mom, you really need to go to a good shoe store and buy two or three pairs of really good shoes. They might cost $100 a piece, but ..."

I knew she was right. She learned that piece of advice from me and her dad. But being on a very low income for the last several years, the only expensive shoes I've bought were my running shoes.

But a co-worker has repeatedly said the same thing (I have a nasty habit of wandering around the office in stockinged feet).

So yesterday I visited Bennie's. I walked into the store and said, "Please can you find me a pair of shoes that won't hurt my feet." And then I showed her what she had to work with. A bit embarrased, I added, "There are no open wounds at the moment, so there's no danger of me getting germs on the shoes I try on."

The clerk's personal favorite was Dansko's (at more than $100 a piece), but the store also had Naturalizers, Hush Puppies, Clark's and several styles of Naot's, a delightful cork sandle made in Israel.

She found a couple nylon anklets and let me try on several pairs of shoes. Some pinched my already sore upper foot, over the high arch. Some pinched the blisters and bunyons. Some were too sloppy. But there were no other customers waiting and she said, "I have all afternoon."

She suggested a pair of Naturalizers. "Many office workers like these," she said.

I thought they looked like ugly "old-lady" shoes, but keeping my thoughts to myself and being desperate, I tried them on anyway. The stretchy front upper molded comfortably around my mishapen forefoot, and the leather backs conformed nicely to my narrow heel. And, once on, they looked fine. Quite dressy, actually. "Ummm, this IS nice," I said as I wandered around the store with extremely happy feet.

I bought two -- one in natural and one in black. And the Naot sandles -- one style pinched my upper, one was sloppy, but the third...Ooohhh, it, too, was sure nice. The cork sole was the same shape as the bottom of my foot, yet soft enough to be comfortable. I bought that one, too.

And then, outside, there was a pair of Hush Puppies that I bought, on sale, for $30 -- mostly because I had a pair of them once and loved them, and they didn't even have a hint of "old-ladyness" about them. The excuse I gave, "I'll save these for days when I know I have a lot of important meetings."

And the four pairs of shoes came to about $250. So I asked her to order a new pair of running shoes as well. Oh...and an added bonus. All of these can be repaired, right at the store where I bought them in the first place.

Staunton at 6

I took these photos Sunday morning at 6 a.m. for my buddy Nelson (it was just a bit past sunrise unfortunately; I'll have to get up a bit earlier to catch a really good sunrise scene). Nelson works 2:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m., and misses seeing the sun rise. Nonetheless there's a bit of pink in the bottom one. Using the fill flash on the third and fourth would have brought out the landscaping, but I liked the contrast between the rising sun and the still-dark landscape.

Victory...

If you click on this picture to enlarge it, you'll see there's actually a stream behind the shrubbery. This photo was taken near the beginning of a 4 mile run/walk. Again 50% hills. I was ecstatic, as this was the first four mile run since coming to Staunton and this run made this a 10-mile week. Before a fall in November 2005, I regularly ran 10-15 miles per week. Now I can do it again. And while this week's times were slow and hard, I have reached my distance goal. Now I can work on speed again. I'm working hard, as I want to run with my New York friends in the Crosswinds 5K , which benefits the Sands Cancer Center.
The Crosswinds 5K has one long hill near the end of the course, making it a challenging favorite. I am hoping that all this hill running in Staunton will make THAT course seem like a break from the hills here!

Transitions

In the DMV parking lot....off comes New York....
on goes Virginia...

As I exchanged one set of plates for the other, a couple guys were changing their plates two cars away -- and using the wrong tool.
"Need a tool?" I asked.
But they didn't understand. I listened to their conversation a bit as I worked and then I understood. When they finished, they asked something I didn't understand, but I could tell by their gesture that they were offering me a tool.
I said, "No, pero muchas gracias."
Their entire demeanor changed. With big beaming grins, one asked (thumb and pointing finger held close together), "Habla espanol pequito?"
"Se, muy pequito," I answered, chuckling and with a bit of joy that we could communicate at all. "y leo mi Santa Biblia en espanol...a aprendo espanol."
They seemed to understand, reading the Bible in Spanish to learn the language.
"Adonde?"
"El Salvador."
Ahhh...."bienvenido estados unidos," I said (welcome to the United States). And once again they beamed.
"Gracias."

Mind Over Matter Run

Scenes from Thursday's warm up....

A bed and breakfast...

In the running world, there are tempo runs (25 - 30" hard, but not quite race pace), intervals (repeats of set fast short distances -- usually up to a mile -- with a jogging or rest break between intervals), Fartleks (I haven't tried those yet), etc.
On Thursday night I waited till 9 p.m. to go for a run. It was still 88 degrees! I ran up the street (literally--as this photo shows), and on to the track. I was exhauseted before I ever made it to the track, and that was just supposed to be my warmup.

Let me back up a moment. When I first moved here to Staunton I tried to maintain my Fingerlakes (New York) training pace and injured my Achilles. Afterward I read that just running hills counts as a hard training run, and one should limit hard runs to 2 or three a week. So I set up a training schedule far below what I had been working on in New York, starting with just 4-6 miles per week -- all of it on hills, as that's all I saw. Then somebody told me about the track at the college, which is level on half and only slightly inclining on the other half.
So last Thursday my goal was a 30 minute tempo run on the track. Mile one was hard but not too bad. Nonetheless I had to stop for a drink (even though I had drunk two bottles of water before leaving home). I then started my second mile. My legs burned. On laps two and three I took a 50 yard walk break. So much for my tempo run goal. I thought about making it an interval run, but my times were too inconsistent and I was too exhausted to run hard enough for intervals.
At the end of the second mile, I finished my water bottle, determined not to let the three miles elude me. Slowly, but doggedly I kept going. I tried praying for others, so I'd think less about me. I tried praising; that had worked the other day. Finally I reverted to yelling at me, "Nete, don't give up. Push. You've run farther than this before. It's only another ten minutes."
And then it hit me....though not my original intent, I had just invented a new type of training run.

"A Mind Over Matter Run"

Victory Shot...and yes it was dark when I finished.

A Miracle Baby

Danielle Lorraine "Dani" Shaffer

My best friend since high school, Lori Miller, (right) and her husband, Dan, became grandparents last weekend. Although all babies are miracles, this was especially so because it seemed that health problems would not allow Rachel to have children. Rachel's husband CJ is standing next to Lori. That's Rachel's brother Donnie in the green shirt; he and his wife, Erin, are church planters. Lori provided the details in an e-mail message I received today,

"Danielle Lorraine Shaffer arrived on Friday, June 15 at 9:00 pm. She was born by c-section after 12 hours of labor, but both mom and baby are doing fine. Daddy CJ is doing okay, also. She weighed 8lbs 6oz, 19 1/4 in long."

I don't know who took the photo, so I can't give the appropriate credit to the photographer.

Enjoying the camp playground

Hay Ride

The KOA where we stayed Saturday gave free hay rides...so we hopped on and enjoyed a trip around the campground.
Halfway around the driver stopped the wagon for a penny hunt. Both Liza and Maggie found a handful.

Camping

Eliza Grace has been camping with me since she was about six months old and needing her sippy cup in the middle of the night. She's an excellent camp fire builder (though she doesn't light it) and, as you can, see she's learned to pitch the tent as well. Every time we camp she learns a bit more.
Tonight's menu: salmon cooked over a slow campfire and S'mores. As the girls waited for the salmon to cook, Liza said, "Oh my belly is longing for that salmon." Magdalena said, "Dear God, I am getting very hungry. Please make the salmon cook faster." I bought two packages -- they ate a plateful a piece. It was perfect!

Future Flower Girls

Eliza Grace (left) and Magdalena Hope plan to be in their Auntie Ana's wedding in September. On Saturday they tried on the shell of the dresses they will wear. The center front will be from the same fabric as the bride's dress, and the dresses will have long flowing angel sleeves.

Riven Rock

Eliza graduated from kindergarten "with honors" Thursday, meaning she's been invited to join her school's challenge program emphasizing technology, science and math. We celebrated with smoothies at The Daily Grind in Harrisonburg, and a jaunt at Riven Park where Eliza and Magdalena got to splash in the creek; and we all sashayed across a suspension bridge and meandered along a wooden path.
Magdalena, Daddy Steven, First Grader Eliza and Mommie Anna Maria halfway cross a stone bridge.

It Takes a Village

New lamp...a Virginian (Barbara Ray, the lady I stayed with I first came to Va) gave me the lamp base, Eliza Grace and I installed the harp, and Nelson sent the lamp shade from New York (as you'll recall from an earlier post, he also made the base for my bed). I washed my quilt and it's drying; that's why there's just sheets on the bed.

More from Gypsy Hill Park

That's Liza in the front swinging high...being able to pump herself on the swing is a relatively new thing. Maggie is in the red "chair" swing, being pushed by a friend she made today.

We also got to feed the ducks. The geese ate out of people's hands...that's Anna Maria feeding a goose.

Girls on Gypsy Park Train

The engineer waved for the photo...click on the photo and see how much fun he had. The engineer, conductor and all crew members run the train as volunteers. The $1 per passenger fare collected all goes back to train and park maintenance.
Anna Maria came to pick the girls up on Saturday about 11:30 a.m. and she stayed to play a while.

Wind Damage....Trees Down in Staunton

These trees toppled down in Gypsey Hill Park last night; one landed on a picnic table. A gentleman riding the trolley back on Saturday said he had been in the park last night when the wind hit. He claimed he wasn't scared; he likes rain!

This photo was on Statler Drive. I live about halfway between Gypsey Park and Statler Drive. Because of car problems I was stranded in Fishersville when the storm hit. I am thankful I wasn't home in my second story apartment when this hit, especially since the girls were with me.