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So, for Mother's Day I did what I always do, which is go for a nice long bike ride. Char came along and many pictures were taken, because it was a trail we'd never been on before and the day was beautiful. She took this one:
Hmm! Maybe I will pay for her to major in photography in college, after all. ;-).
Really, all in all, a VERY good Mother's Day weekend.
And as if all that isn't wonderful enough, every night I have a date with my favorite guy. Damn you, Link! You're distracting me from my work!!
Hmm! Maybe I will pay for her to major in photography in college, after all. ;-).
I looked up directions online and we followed them to the Clarence Bike Path...a wonderful 6 and a half mile trail (13 round trip) that passes though woods and farmland. SO pretty. It was COLD so we had to wear warm clothing.
Me in my big stupid sweater.
Charlotte in a hoodie, getting ready to make some weeds.
We saw so much wildlife...birds that I hardly ever get to see like Baltimore orioles and goldfinches and vireos and numerous other songbirds. Most of my favorite trails go along the rivers or the lake, but this one took us into the woods and that was ok. I enjoyed the change of scenery. All along the path (which is an old rail line that's been paved over JUST so it can be used as a recreation trail...isn't that great?) there were fruit trees growing wild. Cherry and apple, mostly, I think. Everything was in bloom.
Between all the blossoms and the turned farmland, the whole trail smelled wonderful...like flowers and clean earth.
The path is wide open in places, and the land here is so flat that you can see for miles. My favorite part is the sky...I just love looking up at the clouds.
Cirrus clouds, my favorites (next to big pouffy cumulonimbus thunderheads, of course). My Dad used to call them "mare's tails" They mean good weather and low humidity...two things we love here in Buffalo.
The trail is straight as an arrow, which decieves you into thinking you haven't gone very far when in fact you have. We rode all the way from Clarence RIGHT through Newstead and ended up in some little town that I didn't know and can't remember the name of. Not much there except cows and a lovely little brook.
Another perfect photo op and then time to turn around and head back. Fortunately (and I PLANNED it this way because I am a weather nerd) the wind was out of the East so it helped us back to the car. Good thing too, since 13 miles is the longest trip I've done so far this season. The legs can take it; it's the butt fatigue that does me in.
By the time we got back to the car, we were ready for dinner. I don't know about you guys, but sushi is just about my favorite thing to eat after a lot of exercise. Anything else is too heavy and makes me feel rotten. I took us to our favorite Japanese restaurant, Fuji Grill in Amherst. O my, I wish I could tell you how incredible the food was, but words fail me. We ordered (on Charlotte's recommendation) this incredible thing they call a Christmas roll (because it's red and green, I guess). Spicy tuna inside, surrounded by nori, then rice, and avocado wrapped around the outside with a generous layer of red fish eggs outside of that! It was the best sushi I've ever had. Expensive too, almost ten dollars a roll for that stuff, but TOTALLY worth it.
AND! I finally got to try Ramune. Proof. It is delicious and pretty sweet, and the glass marble clinks merrily when you drink it. Fun fun!
Green tea ice cream (yum!) for dessert, then home to watch Survivor (my guilty pleasure). My Mom came over and I gave her a lovely bouquet of sunflowers and purple irises. Instead of a card or a gift, Charlotte gave me a two-page letter that...well...it's the most thoughtful gift ever. I told her it was the BEST letter I've ever read...even better than my first love letter. An excerpt:
"Thank you for everything you do in my interest. For the daily chores, for being the "cool mom", for my freedoms, for taking my interests to heart, for keeping my self-esteem high even when I feel like running to a plastic surgeon, for giving me a secure place to rest my head, for late-night/early-morning anime, for showing me how to reject labels society places on others, for our bike rides, for showing me how change surrounds us all...then showing me how to love it (even when it hurts), and most of all, for loving me. There are so many things I'm thankful for when it comes to you, but simply loving me is the biggest and most important thing. That is the thought I cling to when I find myself feeling alone...'I am loved'. So thank you for saving me over and over again. And thank you for making me who I am. Just, thank you."
;0__0; Waah! There was much more to it, and yeah I cried like a big freak. I'm so very lucky, you know. She's a good kid.
Then today, her little friend who comes over here a lot and has family troubles (you might remember me talking about her several months ago...THAT girl) ALSO gave me a Mom's Day letter. Some of it:
"You are my second mother. You take me in when I am down. You make me feel like I am always welcomed. You basically drive me everywhere. You have changed my life."
*sobsob* So now I feel totally vindicated for sticking my nose in other people's business and trying to help this poor child.
Me in my big stupid sweater.Charlotte in a hoodie, getting ready to make some weeds.We saw so much wildlife...birds that I hardly ever get to see like Baltimore orioles and goldfinches and vireos and numerous other songbirds. Most of my favorite trails go along the rivers or the lake, but this one took us into the woods and that was ok. I enjoyed the change of scenery. All along the path (which is an old rail line that's been paved over JUST so it can be used as a recreation trail...isn't that great?) there were fruit trees growing wild. Cherry and apple, mostly, I think. Everything was in bloom.
Between all the blossoms and the turned farmland, the whole trail smelled wonderful...like flowers and clean earth.
The path is wide open in places, and the land here is so flat that you can see for miles. My favorite part is the sky...I just love looking up at the clouds.
Cirrus clouds, my favorites (next to big pouffy cumulonimbus thunderheads, of course). My Dad used to call them "mare's tails" They mean good weather and low humidity...two things we love here in Buffalo.The trail is straight as an arrow, which decieves you into thinking you haven't gone very far when in fact you have. We rode all the way from Clarence RIGHT through Newstead and ended up in some little town that I didn't know and can't remember the name of. Not much there except cows and a lovely little brook.
Another perfect photo op and then time to turn around and head back. Fortunately (and I PLANNED it this way because I am a weather nerd) the wind was out of the East so it helped us back to the car. Good thing too, since 13 miles is the longest trip I've done so far this season. The legs can take it; it's the butt fatigue that does me in.
By the time we got back to the car, we were ready for dinner. I don't know about you guys, but sushi is just about my favorite thing to eat after a lot of exercise. Anything else is too heavy and makes me feel rotten. I took us to our favorite Japanese restaurant, Fuji Grill in Amherst. O my, I wish I could tell you how incredible the food was, but words fail me. We ordered (on Charlotte's recommendation) this incredible thing they call a Christmas roll (because it's red and green, I guess). Spicy tuna inside, surrounded by nori, then rice, and avocado wrapped around the outside with a generous layer of red fish eggs outside of that! It was the best sushi I've ever had. Expensive too, almost ten dollars a roll for that stuff, but TOTALLY worth it.
AND! I finally got to try Ramune. Proof. It is delicious and pretty sweet, and the glass marble clinks merrily when you drink it. Fun fun!
Green tea ice cream (yum!) for dessert, then home to watch Survivor (my guilty pleasure). My Mom came over and I gave her a lovely bouquet of sunflowers and purple irises. Instead of a card or a gift, Charlotte gave me a two-page letter that...well...it's the most thoughtful gift ever. I told her it was the BEST letter I've ever read...even better than my first love letter. An excerpt:
"Thank you for everything you do in my interest. For the daily chores, for being the "cool mom", for my freedoms, for taking my interests to heart, for keeping my self-esteem high even when I feel like running to a plastic surgeon, for giving me a secure place to rest my head, for late-night/early-morning anime, for showing me how to reject labels society places on others, for our bike rides, for showing me how change surrounds us all...then showing me how to love it (even when it hurts), and most of all, for loving me. There are so many things I'm thankful for when it comes to you, but simply loving me is the biggest and most important thing. That is the thought I cling to when I find myself feeling alone...'I am loved'. So thank you for saving me over and over again. And thank you for making me who I am. Just, thank you."
;0__0; Waah! There was much more to it, and yeah I cried like a big freak. I'm so very lucky, you know. She's a good kid.
Then today, her little friend who comes over here a lot and has family troubles (you might remember me talking about her several months ago...THAT girl) ALSO gave me a Mom's Day letter. Some of it:
"You are my second mother. You take me in when I am down. You make me feel like I am always welcomed. You basically drive me everywhere. You have changed my life."
*sobsob* So now I feel totally vindicated for sticking my nose in other people's business and trying to help this poor child.
Really, all in all, a VERY good Mother's Day weekend.
And as if all that isn't wonderful enough, every night I have a date with my favorite guy. Damn you, Link! You're distracting me from my work!!
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From:
no subject
Oh!! Oh oh! And that reminds me! I don't know if you saw in my other reply to your post on my journal, but you should be expecting a package in a week or so!! I'm going to send you a little somethin' this week!! :D
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OMG A package from YOU?? I can hardly wait!! I'm (very slowly...I blame Link)making your (late!!) birthday present right now...it's something I KNOW you'll love. :-)
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If Charlotte really does want to take photography and doesn't change her mind, you might wanna get her to define a few careers she'd like to use her education to fuel, because people who take photography often drift afterward, having no idea what to do with it. Like, will she open a photo studio and take portraits? Be a wedding photographer? To stock work? Work for a newspaper (because she'd be better to take photojournalism if that is her aim)? Magazine? Oh you know what I mean :)
When I was a kid, we did NOT talk about my future, which is probably a small part of the reason I am a drifter down to the bottom of my personality, now. It would have been neat to have to think of actual careers I could use these things for later on, because sometimes the learning is FUN, but the careers you can get into with that particular course aren't 'you' at all.
My butt got used to that teeny racing saddle after only one ride. What is WITH me? I only had to change it because of the front-bit-smushing do to it's curved-up shape. (Though the new one IS more comfortable, too.) Even the bike shop guy says he wears shorts with a heavy shammy for the first half of the season, until he has his 'saddle ass', and then switches to a lighter. Maybe I just don't MIND having a sore butt? Something is weird about me...
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Oh, we talk about what she wants to do and why...all the time. She has a school all picked out & she has a career plan too. I'm just...I guess I'm waiting to see how serious she really is about it. 14 has a way of looking at life unrealistically.
lol...I could NEVER get used to a racing saddle. I need to plant my butt on the softest, most comfy seat I can buy...and even then I'm pretty sore for the first few weeks. :-)
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We have some of those rail trails in Michigan, though I don't know of any close by. The ones I've seen have been really nice. I haven't biked any of them (I no longer have a bike, sniff. No where to store it here, and no where to bike if I did have a bike. And anyway my bike was literally older than I am--it was my mom's bike from her college days. So it was probably time for it to be retired anyway), but I have gone for walks and rollerbladed on them. I think that they are a great way to use the land of old, unused railroad tracks.
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I love paved paths...I think I know of every path within 50 miles of my house and I've tried them all at least once. Buffalo was a HUGE shipping hub at the turn of the century (because of the Erie canal & the lakes...it was the jumping-off point for anyone or anything heading West)so we have hundreds of those old rail lines, just taking up space & falling apart. There's a group called "Rails To Trails" that's slowly renovating those old lines. Every year they add several miles to the local pathways...it's a wonderful project.
Come visit! I'll let you borrow my old bike & we'll hit some paths. It's a ton of fun. :-)
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-- Dagonell
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That's awesome that your kid wrote you one, I think that's a blessing and proof of your powers as a mom, if your kid writes you something like that, and no one MADE HER. lol I hope more moms get letters like that.
What is Ramune??
And the pics are good. Is she looking at photography as a career, or is it just a joke?
I found this link in Vancouver while I was out, and I had wanted to show you. I can't remember what is on it, but I think it might have had some ideas that I thought you could integrate.
www.mindandmatterart.com
From:
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Yeah she really wants to be a photojournalist, apparently. She does have a good eye for composition, I think. I just am waiting to see how serious she is about it next year (and the year after that!).
Neat link! I bookmarked the site...very interesting.
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The pictures are beautiful, too.
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Thank you! It was a beautiful day, so taking pretty pics was easy.
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LMAO, Oh yes, Link is the KING of distractions. I still have too much to do around here to pester the guy at work for my guide back (since I plan to play it through the second time with the guide to get all the crap I missed the first time.) But, he's moving in less than a month *sniffle* so I'll be getting it back sooner rather than later...no!! I have CONS!!!!
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OMG That game is SO addictive. I'm just finishing up the sky city...whatever...thingy. Full of those funny duck-bird-people. Man those things are weird. You just have to look at them & go "...Why??".
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And Ramune is sooo good. My friend sent me two bottles. I love the little marble. XD
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Ramune is so sweet! But yummy. I wanted the marble!!
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So was this classic ramune or one of the fruity-flavored ones, Meri? And have you had ramune candy yet? If not, I may need to keep an eye peeled the next time I hit Nani-Wa or Han Ah Reum...
(Oh, and if you like ramune...have you ever tried Mitsuya Cider? You don't have the fun marble packaging to play with, but it takes that indeifinable-sweet-flavor and super-fizziness and just turns it up to eleven. If this drink were any more highly carbonated you could probably use it as a weapon...)
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Perhaps it's best that it doesn't have the marble. If you shook it up enough, you could use it as a gun. XD