California Dreamin'

Loping along the strand this morning ("jogging" might be optimistic given what the oxygen-rich ocean air does to my lungs after my high-altitude acclimation to mountain living), the opening strains of California Dreamin' send me back to my many workouts in the Moscow gym. I can suddenly smell the vinegar water used to disinfect the equipment, hear the discofied thrum of Russky rock in the background, see the half-light of a northern afternoon waning through the full-length windows lined up before the bank of kilometer-measuring treadmills.

I remember countless runs on those treadmills, looking through those windows. Some days I would see Sergei the driver enter the compound to pick me up for work (I would be late!), kids walking from the British School to the Sports Center for their Phys Ed classes, Scandinavian moms with their gear-swaddled 3-year-olds riding independently on their bicycles--mostly, however, the Turkmenian workers, slogging through the repetition of their mundane gardening tasks, snow removal, or street and gutter sweeping. Desperate for whatever pitiful wage might accompany the derision of their Russian foremen and co-laborers, they never looked up. They were remarkable for their complete lack of eye contact, interaction, or anything that might mark them as individuals. The residents jokingly called them the "green men" because their uniforms were green, but the anonymity of that label would suit them fine, if they ever knew about it.

Today's playing of California Dreamin' (now that I actually AM in California) seemed to slap me with the comparison--what I saw then, and what I see today. Paunchy, carefully-tanned, middle-aged men balancing laptops on their laps while sipping coffee, --50-somethings walking up and down the beach searching for useless "shells," and the remains of hard weekend partying strewn across the strand are today's landscape. The memories of Moscow's jogging views, idyllic only because they are past, make me ashamed of the abundance California Dreamin'.

New playlist tomorrow.

Bling Cup

What's all the fuss about this silly little cup? (Looks great at my house...)

GnomeNappers Terrorize Hometown

Poor, Poor Blossom

The first message:

"Right now he is being cared for, but if we don't get the cup and the bush then things could be bad for Blossom" 

Some cup (???) and "a shrubbery" were their demands.

The Second message

"Make a good choice--for the gnome's sake!!"

Many of you saw my previous post about my darling gnomes.  You will notice that they were all smiling and happy.  Unfortunately, one of my gnomes has fallen prey to a HEINOUS CRIME.  He was abducted from his home among the moss (yes, fine, there was a weed or two nearby) in our yard--TAKEN FROM ALL HE KNOWS AND THOSE WHO LOVE HIM to a place that can only be described as hell on earth (with a different kind of weed, clearly).  We first received a ransom note.  Not believing that anyone could be so cruel, we asked for confirmation that it was actually OUR gnome.  The pictures above confirm our worst fears.  Our gnome is in the hands of n'er-do-wells.    The messages we received are shown under the photos.  I will soon expose the identities of the gnomenappers, so be sure to check back in a day or two.

Pump Class

Clearly it has been too long since whatever horrible gym catastrophe inspired my abandoment of early-morning workouts (before 10am), because I got up this morning and headed out to my gym partner's house at 5: 48am. Since it was too early to ring the doorbell or call (bet she'd like me waking up her 8 sleeping kids...), I waited on her front steps for 4 minutes until her garage door yawned open. In that 4 minutes, no less than 17 people passed by her house! One group of 5 older-than-5o women, another group of young mom-type joggers, various couples and dogs and one teenager on the walk of shame back to his house.

Anyway, it was a great class, I liked it despite the 100+ pushups, but about mid-way through my sweat went cold and big black spots started to appear all over the room, bobbing around as I started the bicep curls. Hmm. Not sure whether it was lack of sleep or lack of food or what, but it took 5 minutes of holding my head between my knees while sitting on the toilet in the ladies room to even consider continued pumping. I returned and finished out the class, it is only 11:30am and I'm already sore. My supercilious prejudice about small weights and multiple repetitions has suffered another blow. I am definitely planning on pumping again next week.

Gnaughty Gnomes

We had some problems with our garden gnomes today, they just can't seem to stay put. Dylan found them in the waterfall, having a gnice afternoon soak.

Turns out they just got really hot and thirsty. At least they drove away the magpies, who drove away the nice robin family that previously played in the waterfall right where Gnaughty Gnome is reclining.

This little guy swings from my mimosa (see right sidebar) and protects the wasp trap from 2 legged-predators (neighbor kids). I've always really liked him, not sure why.

AH, now its clear, he's Russian (guess how I know?)! PS, these little guys are called Gnomiks in the motherland.

My favorite garden gnome..

...lives in the strawberry planter with some dried out strawberries and some weeds. But I still love him...

How much is too much....

Before I start looking bizarre? I just can't seem to help it....

Twilight is coming!!

Its so nice to have something to look forward to...I'm not the only one, right?

Take one!

Okay, first attempt at customizing a blog, this is one i won't stress too much about messing up just in case my html attempts are fruitless.