I think that's Super Granny in the lower middle. Cute kid, awesome granny! Happy birthday, Lillian!
No snow here still. Just frost. It's amazing how the frost is building up on the bike paths so it's almost like a snow pack. But... it's all frost build up. And it's not slippery anymore except at road crossings. Temps today got up to about 20 or so, but by the time I got out the sun had gone down, it was twilight and mid to upper teens. Still, a really nice run of about 5.2 miles. I've got 30+ miles for the week already, and hope to have at least a 20 mile weekend. We'll see! Gotta pack for Hawaii.
Which brings me to two things for Twocat:I'm a "just in time" packer and arriver at the airport. This drives some of my frens nuts, but I know pretty much just how much time we need at our small airport here, and it takes about 22 minutes to get there. As for packing, I like to look at my schedule for business trips, and just count days for personal trips. I might consider how many evenings out, etc, but for the most part, that's the consideration. So, it takes me about an hour to pack for an 8 day trip, and some things are left till the last minute (toiletries). But the laundry and planning in my head starts now!
Also, you asked about our air quality issues, thinking we should have pristine air quality. Well, yes, in most situations we do. BUT, we have forest fires in the summer, so obviously that screws things up, although this year (record rainfall) we had good albeit moist air for the most part. But we have temperature inversions in the winter, with the cold air trapped at lower elevations and no wind to blow it out. In these situations, and especially between +20° and -20° we can get some really bad air conditions. Why? Primarily from people burning wood for heat, and most of that is uncured or "wet" wood. I'd think this winter will be worse than normal because of the wet conditions. But the inversion is what really makes it bad. We like it where we live, at about 900' elevation we're 10° to 20° warmer than in town, but since my favorite winter running routes (read: cleared bike paths) are near town, they're also cold. So the trade off: run hills in warmer temps and better air quality, or run flat terrain in colder temps and iffy air quality... Hmmm, what to do, what to do. See why I run on the treadmill a lot in winter??
Indeed...super-granny is the smiling one in the center of the photograph. Thanks All! and Maraposai for posting.
The photo comes from a book about the first families in Springfield, MA and from the chapter entitled "Springfield's Melting Pot." She was five years-old and her older sister Marion (on left) is 10 in that picture while Ruth, the sister on the right) is seven. Ruth and Lillian were very, very close. Ruth died at 16 (official cause liked as "consumption" back then) of tuberculosis and Lillian has missed her for her entire life. Granny is at the point now where those who have passed on come for visits. I am the grateful beneficiary of so much family history. Not only have we recorded the family history, granny and her late younger sister (born in 1920) kept journals for many years. My great-aunt Elizabeth left 80 years of daily journals when she passed away two years ago. Lillian kept journals from age eight up until about two years ago. Dementia has scrambled her memory, but she is still trucking along and quite the loving and hilarious granny I've always known.
Thanks for all her birthday greetings. Grateful and lucky we are.
Good luck to all the weekend racers! It seems odd and yet wonderfully relaxing to have a weekend without a race.
Saturday is Mr. CNYrunner's birthday and the kiddo will be home. And instead of the "freshman fifteen" the kiddo has "freshman facial hair" It look good on him actually and is also a part of No shave Movember in honor of his former xc coach who is fighting cancer right now.