 I am an East Coast expatriate hiding out in the Midwest... I am an urban gal living in the suburbs and occasionally hiding in the country I am a yoga practitioner, fitness enthusiast, believer in the mind-body-spirit connection... I am a mid-life "revert" to the Roman Catholic faith in which I was raised and which has become an enormous source of support, encouragement, inspiration, and joy in my life... I am a mom, sister, daughter, and wife... I am an explorer; adventurous and curious about the world and people around me... I am educated in the formal sense but I gain insight through everyday living... I created this blog at a time of great fear and apprehension in my life. I chose to sustain it because of the discoveries about myself and the world around me that it has revealed. What you can expect to find here: the documentation of a love-hate relationship with the greater Philadelphia area
reminiscing about the good-ole-days (the 80's!)
complaints about my various ailments and injuries, both real and imagined
pictures and stories of gardening, decorating, shopping, sewing
my love of irony
links to kooky news stories
way too much scatological musing for sane people
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Sunday, April 25, 2004
Hmmm, ironic that my last entry was pertaining to my "bug" costume...now I am dealing with a different kind of bug - a flu! :(
Well, some kind of virus, anyway - the little one has had a chest cold for the past few days and now mommy is suffering with it. It's a bit unpleasant as it produces alot of tightness in the chest and the requisite sore throat...and all I can take is tylenol, plus lots of juice, water, tea...etc. Also plenty of vitamin C...it is so damp outside (and in the houses) that I am not thinking that running the humidifier will do much.
I am excited because yesterday I got a new-to-me classic schwinn 10-speed for my training and races this year. It was all I coudl get in my budget, BUT actually I think it's ideal for me; took it to a bike ship aand I'm having a new adjustable stem put in so that its shorter for me, plus then I can ride upright for tooling around town, or have the bars horizontal for racing. I am already scouring ebay for deals on accessories - aero bars and an indoor trainer, for starts. I already have a cyclometer, seat pad, and other "necessities".
But despite my excitement, I have to hold off on any physical "expression" as I am just too sick now to work out. Yuk. One thing after another...oh well; hopefully by tuesday I'll be in good enough shape to do a nice run for an hour or so.
Maybe tomorrow I'll do a pilates reformer routine, or similar - as long as I don't have to breathe alot (ie - not heavy cario workout) I think I'd be ok with something to stay on track.
On another note, the build-it-youself kit for a Purple Martin 8-nest house arrived yesterday and hubby is supposedly working on getting that together tonight. I hope its done before May - when that species is supposed to migrate back to our neck of the woods. We have had alot of mosquito-borne West Nile virus in Illinois for the past few summers so I am trying to attract a mosquito-devouring species to my backyard. Not to mention they are noisy but in a sweet "chattery" sort of way...
I was considering a bat house, but we don't have a large tree to affix it to, and I think the poor things would overheat of we just put a house up on a pole right in the sun.
When I was walking my dog tonight, I was struck by the exceedingly clear call of a gorgeous male Cardinal, perched high atop a chestnut tree. I wonder if I am the only person in the neighborhood who is aware of what and how many bird species we have taking residence with us? I wonder if my next door neighbor knows that he has an amazing Owl living in a hole of his maple tree? It is fascintating to see the owl occassionaly take a shot - in daylight- at catching a mouring dove - what a racket that chase makes! But the doves know each evergreen to hide in and so they usually elude him without too much drama. It is wierd to think of birds hunting one another but they do...
This year, we have an unusual abundance of robins on our block, and many more doves than I have seen for awhile. I was thrilled to spy a black-capped chickadee eating from my tube feeder the other day. I started out with just sparrows, but now I have 5 species eating from the feeders and some cardinals that seem content to watch from the sidelines. As much as I love finches, I have such a problem with thistle taking root in my yard that I just can't bring myself to hand a thistle-seed feeder for them.
I had plenty of sunflower seeds in my seed mix (in a tray feeder) thinking that it would entice the cardinals but it just brought squirrels, and annoyed the doves, so I bought more corn and millet to mix in, which the other birds seem to prefer.
Of course the robins love the birdbath. I guess digging in the mud all day works up quite a thirst! I am curious to see what will happen when my gladiolus bloom this summer (I just planted a few dozen bulbs last week). If they bloom, I am hoping for a nice butterfly aassortment, and maybe even a hummingbird. We shall see what develops - with my luck, it'll just attract more bees!
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