ELEVEN MONTHS

Hi, I am Gilbert. I am eleven months old today. I just ate a piece of dry cat food. By the time my mom discovered it in my mouth, it had already disintegrated. I figure the cat has lived off of this stuff for almost thirteen years, it's gotta' be good for you!


Note from the Mama: As long as he doesn't poop in the litter box, I can let this one slide.

I ONLY MARRY WINNERS

Okay, the title might be a little silly, but that is what I kept saying to Michael after last weekend.

CYCLOCROSS SEASON HAS OFFICIALLY BEGUN!

We headed out last weekend for our first double header cyclocross weekend. On Saturday we headed just NE of Harrisburg to one of the Penn State campuses for Michael's first race. It was hot and dry and a pretty competitive field. Michael did great by holding a top ten position throughout the entire race, and even picking off a few racers on the last few laps. But I have to admit he looked like he was in a little pain. Back to our favorite motto....no pain no gain. Well he must have gained a lot that day with en eighth place finish, earning UCI points.

When I say he must have gained a lot, that is in reference to his superhero performance the following day. We scooted down to Baltimore, after the race on Saturday, to get ready for the Charm City race the next day. This race was put on by Michael's team, C3 Sollay. We ended up staying at the house of one of the organizers. This worked out well, but poor Michael had to get up at 4:45 to help set up for the race.........

Slight side note, Michael has been working mandatory ten hour days for the past month and had reserves last weekend, so needless to say his sleep tank is on empty!


He ended up staying at the venue and Gilbert, Lucy and I met him there around 9:00 am. Michael's race was at 2:30. He did manage to get in about a 20 minute power nap before the race. So at 1:30 he started getting ready, by prepping his bike with Gilbert and then heading out to test out the course before the ladies started their race. He got off to an okay stat in about 8th place with three of his teammates around him. But by about the third lap he and another C3 racer were off the front. They held the lead riding neck and neck until the last half of the final lap where Michael pulled ahead and proceeded to win the race about 200 yards ahead of his teammate.


Yep, that is my husband on the top of the podium...


So the first weekend went well. At times the new logistic of having a baby with us made for a new challenge. But overall it went smoothly and we have a short list of things to do differently for the next cyclocross road trip. It looks like that it only three weeks away, up in Glouster, MA for another double header with UCI points available. Oh and hopefully we will have it worked out so that I can also race. Um, but first I actually have to practice riding the bike. Oh minor details!

And most importantly, we got to stop at the Trader Joe's on the way home. Thank you Baltimore!

THEN THERE WAS LIFE

So we planted a few things this year in our first ever "mini garden". We planted tomatoes, lettuce, peppers, basil, lavender, and rosemary...and a few other spices that didn't last more than two weeks. Well the first list of items went pretty well except for a complete no show on the peppers. The tomatoes took over the garden and overshadowed the lettuce. I guess three feet apart really means three feet apart. But I think we have a better idea of what we can grow for next year. I must say that we were the most pleased with the tomatoes. They are still ripening and some are still on the vine. We even ended up with a few yellow ones, which makes for a very pretty salad.

Here are the tomatoes posing with my Ausherman 5 Miler prize. No I didn't win but came in second in my age group. I would have taken first but for some reason the woman who went to Olympic Trials for the marathon this year beat me. As far as placing overall, the Kenyans took the top five places, yes people Kenyans in Chambersburg.....foiled again!

Looking forward to an even more fruitful season next summer!

COVERED BRIDGE RIDE

On Saturday Michael and I dropped Gilbert off with the babysitter and headed to Lancaster, PA, (Amish Dutch Country) to get a little time to ourselves. Literally this was the first night we spent alone without a baby in almost a year.

Our plan was to do the covered bridge bike ride, which is a metric century ride (62 miles) and then stay the night at a B&B. But with a week of blue skies the week following, the heavens opened up on Saturday and poured sheets of rain ALL DAY. But not all was lost. We saw a sign on the side of the road for a brewery and steered in it's direction. Our usual at breweries is I order a hoppy beer and Michael gets the sampler, and then we share the sampler. So coupled with a side a wings we were pretty happy. Plus the brewery was pretty fancy. I felt like I was in a different world, one that I had perhaps been in before but had not encountered since living in Chambersburg. I'm serious when I say we have nothing like this in Chambersburg.....freaky!

On our way to the B&B we decided to drive through downtown Lancaster, pretty historic place. Along the way we spied a bakery and coffee shop. Making an extra trip around the block to make sure our eyes didn't lie, we stopped and indulged. YUM!

On to the B&B a sweet place in Strasburg, PA. Very colonial and along a road that had Amish horse and buggies passing about every ten minutes. Clop, clop, clop!

Diner that night was at a local restaurant within walking distance from the B&B. This was the first good meal I had had since arriving in the mid-Atlantic. I ended up with a glass of wine and a steak cooked perfectly medium-rare. Sooooooooo good! Michael wasn't sure I could eat the whole thing, but I sure as sh*t wasn't going to let a morsel of the meat go to waste. Yummy!

We'll the next morning we woke to blue, crisp and clear skies! So after breakfast we headed on our way to do the covered bridge ride. After one wrong turn we were back on track and road our way through Amish Country. Being that it was Sunday the Amish folk were everywhere. We passed a few packs of Amish boys or girls riding their bikes around. And I can't even count the number of buggies we saw. Throughout the ride we passed through seven covered bridges.

Pictures? Um, sorry the batteries were dead, but we did get one grainy shot.

This would be a prefect trip to do with another couple...anyone interested?