Making a splash

More than two years ago we visited a "wax museum" and found J.K.Rowling there (looking a little like our Girl) along with a bewildering range of celebrities, past and present.

Tonight I was there again (alas, still no Man around) admiring some of the same noteables as before (Shirley Temple, Thomas Edison) and also one much loved British Olympic diver - Tom Daley - decked out in goggles and Hawaiian swim-shorts (not Speedos).  Though they may not share the same haircut, the Boy did a fine job of representing him.

He wasn't the only less-well-known-in-America athlete present (there was one from Costa Rica, and a speedwalker that I wasn't familiar with).  Baseball, basketball, American football and ice-hockey stars were there in force - but sorry, I didn't know any of them;  politicians such as JFK and Clinton (Hillary Clinton, that is); various rockstars; Justin Bieber (a nice bit of cross-dressing); stars of screens big and small; several beauty queens, but also (aspiring to something more substantial) women artists and scientists.  Julie Andrews.  Bill Gates.  Elvis.  The Wright brothers. Frieda Khalo.  To name but a few.  Special mention to one of the Boy's good friends, who appeared as a rather magnificent Moctezuma.

The Man adds...I've been making a splash in San Jose too this week...conferences are tough work but someone has to do it.

And early morning snow

The forecast had mentioned snow, but seemed to suggest it wouldn't much affect our area.  So I was quite surprised to wake up to about three inches of the stuff, and surprised again to find out the schools were having a two-hour snow delay.  Apparently not everyone in the household found this pretty inconvenient.

The snow has stuck around, but only just.  It has been drizzling on and off all day.

With the Man (my usual taste-tester) away I've been having to try out new recipes on the Girl instead.  Tofu and vegetables in coconut sauce a la Wagamama on Monday (appreciated up to a point), and yesterday I cooked a Jamie Oliver version of Chinese stuffed pancakes - adding my own twist.  I omitted to mention to my daughter that the "meat" stuffing was the fake kind which she disdains.  Anyway, she really liked them - and liked them even more cold in her lunchbox.  She was quite peeved when I finally 'fessed up about the contents....but has nevertheless asked me to cook them again.

Also, in a shocking break with tradition, the I-don't-ever-ever-try-anything-new Boy ate a seasoned roast potato on Sunday night, without ill effects.  Progress!

Early morning ice

Tuesday is our early start day: the Girl has to be at the ice rink at 7am.  This can be quite a challenge for a not-naturally-morning-person (her or me? You may well ask) but we managed it today, just about.  When the Man's away I miss him most of all on Tuesdays - he usually does the ice run.

The Boy also has a relatively early start on a Tuesday, as he goes in an hour earlier than usual for band practice.  This is no problem as he is always up before his sister anyway, every day of the week.

The rest of my day was quietly busy, and this evening has been an enjoyable mixture of cooking and a meeting and helping make a baby blue whale.

Moby stick

The kids were back at school today, so a quiet house for me.  I got a few chores done, and this evening I've been helping the Boy with his whale project.  You know how some whales have that corduroy-looking ribbing underneath?  Well, we cunningly recreated that look with...yay!...corduroy (covered in black tissue paper and glue). 

The Boy has so enjoyed making his whale that he now has plans to make a baby blue whale to go with it.

Blue notes

I saw bluebirds in the backyard this morning (a Five Rivers friend has told me that this early in the year they'll be males, scouting for nesting sites).  It's a sign that Spring is at least thinking of heading our way - even it won't really arrive for quite a while.

The Boy has started on his blue whale model - a monster made out of soda bottles and tissue paper.  It will, I'm sure, be magnificent.

And a touch of the blues for us all, as we waved off the Man on yet another trip.  He's probably watching the Oscars by now in actual California.  Sunshine, pavement cafes...  It snowed again here this afternoon.  Chiz.

Overshooting

Troy Farmers' Market - garlic, parmesan crackers, barbecue seasoning, excellent bread.  We ran into an old friend selling hummus.

The Y - Girl skating, Man running.

Library - recipe books and such, and reading matter for a journey.

Archery - the Girl borrowed the Boy's bow and managed to shoot three of his four arrows over the fence into next door's yard (where luckily no-one was playing - hm.  We will be reviewing backyard archery arrangements).

Not so mean hunter

The Boy had another session at the archery range this morning.  While he was busy with his bow, I kept an eye on a computer screen in a corner on which a TechnoHunt was playing out.  Virtual hunting.  Two guys in the next alley were taking turns firing crossbow shots at video clips of animals in the wild.  After each go the screen flashed up an image of the animal with a cartoon arrow stuck in it, and scores were allocated.  I thought my soft hearted vegetarian Boy would be appalled by this game, but he surprised me by saying he'd quite like to try it - "Because it's not as mean as real hunting."

Later, the Girl and I met up with a couple of the refugee kids in Albany and we went skating on the Empire State Plaza ice rink.  It's free to use the rink, and on Fridays, thanks to Hannaford Supermarket, it's also free to borrow skates.  The thirteen year-old boy had skated before and knew what he was doing.  His eight year-old sister was on the ice for the first time.  She started by chugging around holding onto a traffic cone.  Then she did a few turns around the rink holding first my hand, then the outer barrier.  But after about an hour she was proudly skating without any support - we were very impressed.

This afternoon, a late lunch out and a visit to the second-hand bookstore, and then a jolly time and a cup of tea with the Exiles.  It's hard to believe we're about to hit the weekend and the end of the kids' week off school - we haven't done that much, but it's gone by fast.

Something to get our teeth into

My refugee friends' kids are off school this week, so today I took them to a Family Fun event to celebrate Dental Health Awareness Month.

It was, let's be honest, about as much crazy fun as you'd expect a dental health-themed event to be.  Radio Disney blared out music while an exhaustingly cheerful presenter shouted about the need to brush your teeth for two minutes twice a day, even during the vacation.  Everyone studiously ignored the man-sized dinosaur wandering around with a toothy grin.   But we did get some useful advice from a dental hygenist (dressed as a tooth fairy); and there was swag to be had - the kids came away with toothbrushes and toothpaste (of course) and also pretzels and bananas.

And the event spurred a conversation about dental care, and who in the family needs to visit the dentist.  Now I'm helping them look for an available dentist so that theycan arrange appointments.  So congratulations to the organizers - your event was kind of cheesey, but it worked.

Farewell to a fine feathered friend

I attended the usual monthly Friends of Five Rivers Board meeting this evening, where there was a sad announcement.  Aries, the one-winged barred owl who has been a fixture at the Five Rivers visitor centre for many years, has toppled off his perch and is no more.

According to the official notice he's "at the vets" - but the swept-out cage tells the truer tale.  Centre staff are just trying to break the news gently to his loyal fans, many of whom are small children.  They have loved to visit him and hear him hoot "Who cooks for yooooou?" 

I'm sorry to say I don't have a photo of him - though someone else has.  And we found this appreciation of him from a few years ago, which seems a suitable tribute.  He was a fine ambassador for Five Rivers and will be missed.

The search is now on for a new owl, but Aries leaves a perch that will be hard to fill.

Vacation excavation

In spite of it being "winter break" week, the Girl and I were up early as she had a skating lesson - another competition and a show are in sight, so she has to keep working hard.

Maybe the early start explains her lack of energy for the task of tidying up her room later in the day.  Hmm.  Maybe.  She made minor inroads, not that you'd necessarily know it - looks like this is going to be a long-running effort.  Reluctantly she does admit that digging through the piles of stuff really does turn up some interesting finds (including money!).

For the Boy, a late birthday celebration.  He has a bunch of friends round and they'll be staying the night.  They have put out an incredible amount of energy and noise.  They have put in a horrible amount of their favourite "balanced meal", soda-and-chips.  I hope they'll all crash around midnight.

Presidents' Day

The Man was off work for Presidents' Day.  We made a family outing to Barnes & Noble because the Boy was after a particular book.  While we were there I came across a cut-price copy of the Wagamama cookbook, so I predict we'll be eating Japanese-style food at home very soon.

The rest of the day just slid by, as sometimes happens.  Speaking of sliding, the Man and I made it down to Five Rivers for a slippery trip around the Beaver Tree Trail - parts of the path were as frozen as the icey pond. We didn't loiter as it was very cold again - though at least the fearsome wind of yesterday and last night had dropped.

The kids are off school for the rest of the week and have all sorts of plans for skating, shooting arrows, seeing friends etc - so I expect we'll be fairly busy, one way and another.

Last blast at Willard

As I write this evening the wind is howling round the house.  This afternoon it was howling round us, on the slopes at Willard Mountain.  Woahh, it was cold up there today.

In addition to the wind chill, and the fact that it was just plain old cold anyway, they were making lots of snow.  Everytime you skied past the snow-makers it was like getting sandblasted.

We kept going as best we could, but it wasn't the most enjoyable day's skiing and we all came away with frozen toes and fingers.  It's a shame, as it was our last official day there for this season.  Still, we really did enjoy our plates of fries back in the hut.

The Boy takes a bow

The Boy let us sleep in this morning, but only up to a point.  Fair enough - he had a birthday to celebrate.  So up we got, and there was breakfast, and a first few presents opened.

His Grandma and Grandpa skyped mid-morning and were able to watch him unwrap their gift to him - a bow and arrows!  In the afternoon he had a good time trying out the new kit at the archery range.

We also celebrated with lunch out at a favourite local eatery, a few more gifts throughout the day, a cake with candles, and a family movie night. 

Heavens, eleven.  He was five when we moved out here, and that seems like only yesterday.

Birthday eve

Yesterday the Girl and I picked up two boxes of school supplies collected at her school - lots of notebooks, pencils, crayons and other useful things.  Today I delivered them to one of the friends who will be setting off to the Dominican Republic this weekend, taking as much of this stuff with her as she can carry.  It was kind of so many people to donate to this collection.  

Tonight the Girl has been out at a social evening for local middle schoolers hosted by the YMCA.  I think she mostly used it as an opportunity to show off her skating skills to her friends, and I can't really begrudge her that. 

Meanwhile I've been curled up on the couch watching TV shows with my ten year-old - my last ever opportunity, as I'll no longer have one of those by tomorrow. *Sigh*

Girl on the flying trapeze

A meeting at Five Rivers in the morning; preparing heart-shaped carrot slices for the Boy's Valentine's class party at lunchtime; some mad-dash shopping with my daughter in the afternoon; and this evening I was down at the rink checking people in for their skating lessons (a duty the "skater moms/dads" have to take a turn out every now and then). 

It meant I got to watch the Girl trying out the harness - a sort of rope and pulley set up that gives the skater more elevation while she (they're nearly all "she") gets to grips with a new jump.  The Girl has never used it before.  I'd have snapped a photo, but she still ended up in a heap enough times that I thought I should spare her blushes. Even so, she seemed to have a lot of fun and is looking forward to more of the same next week.

KitKat activist

I managed to get out and about for the first time in a few days, finally starting to feel (and sound) a bit better.  So that's a relief.

The Boy is busy tonight, sticking fair trade chocolate hearts onto pieces of card to hand out to his class tomorrow for Valentine's Day (no individual Valentines allowed - it's give to the whole class or no-one, to avoid any Charlie Brown-type humiliations). 

The Boy has quite a reputation at school when it comes to FT chocolate.  Completely off his own bat (I didn't even suggest it) he recently wrote a letter to Nestle USA to tell them that it would be nice if they sold fair trade KitKats over here like they do in the UK.   Then he got a hundred classmates and teachers to sign it before he sent it off.  Yay - good for him!

School projects

The Girl made it back to school today - with a medal to show, if not much of a voice for talking about it.

The Boy had a full on day of school, starting early with band practice before classes.  At some point there was a bus trip to another local school for a kind of mega-band practice (there's a district-wide music event coming up).  This evening he was back at his own school for Science Fair night (he'd paired up with a friend to make a display of optical illusions). 

I'd forgotten what a crazy year 5th Grade is - projects and special events every week.  Right now the Boy is working towards a concert, a musical, a Waxwork Museum evening...and as of tonight he needs to work out how to make a model of a blue whale, too.  It's all good stuff - but there just seems to be so much of it at once.

Home sick

Having missed out on skiing yesterday, the Girl and I have spent today at home too, not feeling well at all.  It's some kind of chest infection.  I took it up to Lake Placid and the Girl caught it off me before we got back.  We both have nasty coughs and creaky voices and frankly we feel rather sorry for ourselves. 

We hope to be better soon and that the rest of the family (and anyone else who has been near us) will manage to keep the bugs at bay.

Going downhill

The Man writes...sadly both Albaniana and the Girl have gone down with colds and bad coughs, so they had to skip skiing today.

The conditions on Willard mountain were excellent: virtually all trails on were open, with plenty of soft snow, and the weather was sunny. The lines at the lifts were longer than usual, but they moved quickly and were never a problem. All in all, the Boy and I had a great time, but it was a real shame that the others missed out.

Here's a quick clip of the Boy in action:

Placid morning

The Man writes...woke this morning in the Pines Inn, Lake Placid, to find the snow had stopped and the sky was a brilliant blue. Everywhere you looked had a picture postcard quality.

After breakfasting at some great bakeries in the village, we dropped it at the Olympic Center to select a souvenir photo of the Girl.

We drove home, not knowing what to expect weatherwise, but in fact snowfall in the Capital Region had been relatively light. It only received 6-7 inches, compared with a scarcely believable forty inches further South in parts of Connecticut and Massachusetts. And a kind neighbour had even ploughed our driveway!

A day of ice and snow

When we arrived in Lake Placid yesterday it wasn't particularly snowy.  When we woke up this morning it was already very snowy and still very much snowing.  So rather than slip-slide along to the Olympic Center in the car, we walked from our hotel - the Girl rather incongruously kitted out in a floaty skating dress and clunky snowboots.

There was a long wait at the rink for her group to skate.  When at last their turn came, she was last of five out on the ice.  She made a strong start - looked good, like she has in practice - but towards the end of the programme it all went a bit off...  Oh dear.  After all that hard work.

We put on brave faces and waited an even longer time for the results to be posted.  And when they were - surprise!  She came in joint second in her group!  There's just no second-guessing figure skating judges.

Needless to say, our Girl is thrilled.  She can hardly wait to get back to school to show everyone her silver medal.

School... oh yeah, another great thing about being in the Empires was that she got to miss school when all her friends didn't.  Though as it turns out, they did too.  We're in the middle of what the media is dubbing the "blizzard of the century".  Lake Placid locals are scoffing at that, but I gather things are rather worse further east and along the coast.  We're heading home tomorrow and preparing ourselves to find 12-18 inches of snow piled up on the driveway.  What larks!

Games on!

So, we're in the middle of an adventure...up at Lake Placid for a big deal of a sporting event, the Empire State Winter Games.  The Man and I are the proud parents of one of the many young athletes who processed out onto the 1980 Olympic ice-rink for the Opening Ceremony.  Wow!

The Girl's skating event is tomorrow morning.  So it's time for early nights all round.  I shall tell you more about everything soon - here are a couple of photos to keep you going:

The Man adds...this historic arena is where Robin Cousins won Olympic gold, but is known by most Americans as the home of the Miracle on Ice.

As if by magic...

The Man has performed the amazing trick of flying for fourteen hours and arriving at his destination before he set off - ah, the wonders of the international date line!

He is safely home.  Hooray!  Rather tired after 24 hours with no sleep, but still able to celebrate with a slice of belated birthday cake.

He won't have long to catch up with himself, because tomorrow we're all off on another adventure.  Tune in next time to find out more...

Jangsan Mountain

The Man writes...it's great to wake up on your birthday to the view of the sun rising over the ocean. A great shame to be away from the family, of course, although we did get together in the virtual sense. Here was the view from my end:

I took an early run along the beach, enjoying the views from an attractive park on Dongbaek Island.

After brunch I headed out for the main challenge of the day - the 650m peak of Jangsan Mountain. This turned out to be a six-and-a-half hour hike, largely because I kept getting lost. The higher areas of the mountain are a maze of quiet, narrow unmarked trails, with many intersections and almost no signposts.  I followed an arrow saying "Peak 1300m" and half and hour later came to one saying "Peak 1700m".

There were other signs to keep me on my toes:

When I finally reached the summit, for a while I had it to myself (until a gentleman turned up and kindly took a picture of me looking suitably haggard). Despite the cloudy weather, the views over Busan and the ocean were amazing.

  
Then it was just a question of trying to find a way down before nightfall...

Ski fun

We were back on the slopes yesterday, enjoying another good afternoon of skiing.  This is the first year for me when I can put "enjoying" and "skiing" together in a sentence and really mean it - up until the last few weeks, even, anxiety was outweighing enjoyment - but at last the scales are tipping the other way.

It's another tough year for ski resorts, though - they're having to put in a lot of work making snow as there's not a whole lot falling from the sky.  The warm weather last week turned everything to slush, and they were just lucky that the temperature dropped again enough for it to be worthwhile activating the snow guns.

We skied hard yesterday, and might have gone on until late only the lifts closed at 5pm, on account of some sporting fixture (and/or its commercial breaks) that everyone else seemed very keen to get home to watch.

Feeling the beauty of life

The Man writes...after rounding off a generally successful work week Saturday morning, I jumped on the train for a 1 hour $3 ride to Busan, Korea's second city.

I headed straight for the coast, specifically Haeundae Beach. It was a sparkling spring-like day and the beach was crowded.

Away from the crowds I discovered a coast path - the Dalmaji-gil Road, which the sign promised was "one of the eight best sceneries in Korea". It added:

Dalmaji-gil Road is like our long lifejourney.

Feel the beauty of life at Dalmaji-gil Road

I walked through pine forest to a beautiful fishing harbour with two lighthouses.

Finally I climbed up the hill to Haemaru pavilion, built in 2005 for an APEC summit, to watch the sun set.

Freeze a jolly good groundhog

Groundhog Day all over again.  Punxsutawney Phil is, to use US weather parlance, "calling for" an early spring.  Six weeks from now I must try to remember to check if he's right.

It was also Ice Cream for Breakfast Day.  We joined the friends we usually join for this annual celebration of the sweet, cold stuff.  Most of the kids then ran around outside.  The sky was blue and the air was freezing.

Later it was also freezing standing around down at the rink, where I watched the Girl try out her new skating dress (at her coach's suggestion) as she practised her routine.  She worked hard and looked good and there were no wardrobe malfunctions, so fingers crossed she's all set for her next competition.

Hair today gone for Tomorrow

Remember this time last year, we went to see an excellent Middle School production of Guys and Dolls? 

Tonight the Girl and I were in the audience for Annie.

Once again it was an impressive production, with excellent singing and some nice ensemble pieces.  Annie herself gave a great performance, though she looked rather older than the eleven-year-old she was playing (while most of the "adults" looked rather young).  That was maybe the most difficult aspect of the show to pull off - kids playing kids alongside kids the same age playing adults.

It was a good fun evening.  I saved my daughter from deep humiliation by managing not to blub.  Kudos to all the cast and crew, and especially to the teenager playing bald-headed Oliver Warbucks: the youthful actor had gone above and beyond for the role by actually shaving off all his hair.