Dancing again

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It’s been a while since I have two dance lessons a day and today is it.  Just had one with Tim, we did standard and it was quite interesting.  He showed me a couple of silver steps, he he.  It was fun.  Now they are having the staff meeting and afterwards I’ll have one with Minas.  I have not had a lesson with him since before my surgery.  I am quite out of shape and form now of latin stuff.  It would be brutal today.

Last weekend, I helped move e to her apartment.  She has got it setup really nice now.  And she has a good eye on color coordination and the decorating things she bought would fit really nice in the apartment.  The apartment reminds me though of those days that you have neighbors above and below and on the other side of the walls.  And it’s 1000 miles from where you park to your apartment opening several doors and up the stairs.  Another interesting thing we found out is that there is only one big/huge dumpster with a compacter for the whole apartment complex.  One!!  You have to carry your garbage down the stairs, out to your car, drive to the dumpster to throw it away.   That’s interesting to say the least.

I experience my empty nest syndrom again after so many years.  And I worry a little about her in the apartment by herself.  I know we all have to go through these experiences.  I remember I was quite excited as she is now to have my own place and set it up the way I like it.  So I can’t blame her for wanting to have her own place.  But as her mom, I just can’t stop the worrying.

Since we gave her the couches, we have quite an empty living room till the new furniture arrives.  I kind of like it though with it being so open.  Leo pulled my spinning wheel up so I spun some watching TV with him and it’s quite nice.  I like the spinning.  It’s most zen like in all the activities.   The other day, we put some new age music on from my iphone through our music system while I spun and he read.  It was nice to do our separate activities together that way.

Lately my back is bothering me again.  Partly from the moving and partly from dancing.  With Alieve it helps a little.  Old age!  sigh!

Dancing again

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Last night after the Olive Garden dinner with the Gethering Place group, Leo and I and Millie went to Rockside Holiday Inn to do a little dancing.   It’s been a long time since I last went there, and it’s surprising to see so many hustle dancers out on a Wednesday night.  I had a ball dancing with a lot of old friends and some new people.  When you dance with someone who is a good dancer, the enjoyment is hard to describe.  Of course, it’s all lead and follow so you have to be on your toes paying attention to the indication of a turn or a change of direction or a hold.  But when you meet the challenge and the dance is pulled off with mutual satisfaction, the joy is unbeatable.  And I had a few dances like that last night.

I even got Millie on the dance floor and danced a few songs, some with me and some with a friend I asked to lead her east coast swing.  She is not like an 80 year old for sure!!!  She wears contact lenses, she wears the bluetooth headset, she has the fake nails done, she has make up on and she is sharp as a nail.  Her memory is better than I could ever be.  And she dances.  And she can hold her liquor too.  I wish I can be as mobile as she is if I get to her age. 

After getting Daniel and Sandy from the airport and dropped them off at home, we got home after midnight.  And both of us are tired today.  I had a lesson with Tim also.  And his lesson is as extranuous as any exercise regiman.  He said I’ll get the work out one way or the other, if not at the gym, it would be from his lesson.  And he did work me solid for an hour.  We went through the latin dances and Foxtrot and Waltz and then reviewed our west coast and east coast routines.  It was great.  I would dance as an exercise any time.  My legs are a bit sore tonight from so much dancing but my spirit is high and I feel alive again after a few months of  lethargic life after the operation, this is quite a welcomed change of pace. 

On the flip side, I don’t come back here as often as I get more active.  Last week was spent going over to Sandy’s and walk Ben Ben and keep him company, and that’s a few hours during the day.   Days can pass so fast like that.  You have one thing that’s planned and then you pick up a few things at the grocery stores and that’s the day.  I can relate a little now to the saying that the more you do the more alive you feel.  And when I have more physical activities like dancing or going to the gym, I do feel more alive.

Still trying to decide whether I would compete in September or dance in the showcase in October or neither or both and also need to decide when to go and visit mom again this year.  Maybe I’ll try leaving from New York this time.  It’s a shorter flight from Cleveland to New York and there are some great fares to get.  Life is getting busy again.

Chinese Soap and Chinese cooking

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In the last couple of weeks, I’ve been watching DVDs of a Chinese soap called ‘The stories of Time”.  There are 6 or 7 DVDs worth and it took a long time to finish the whole series.  I knew I was going to be hooked so I put it off for a while.  And as soon as I started the first one, I was watching it day and night sometimes staying up in the wee hours of the night, crying with the characters about the situations created in the story lines.

The stories are about families living in a small community in Taiwan from the 50s to the current time.  That was the time I grew up in and the conflicts and life situations were very similar to what was played in the soap.  The time was difficult, there was very little money and there were lot of tragedies created by the political situation between Taiwan and China at the time.  The parents are mostly from mainland China who couldn’t go back home to their families, the kids were raised with limited resources and yet under a tremendous pressure to do well in school and to help the parents.  The material resources were poor but the emotional resources were plenty and thus lots of tears were shed while watching the show.

Watching the show has reminded me of the food I had when I was growing up.  So in the past few days, I was making rice noodles, beef stuffed pancakes, water dumplings and rice porage with salty side dishes.  Although the old houses have been torn down to build sky scrapers and the games are now played on machines instead of running around the neiborhood with friends, the same kind of food can still be found or made.  It provides a little connection to the past even though we are all growing older and friends are scattered and old neighborhood unrecognizable.  Sigh.

Time can create so many unforgetable memories.  Sometimes, the only way to catch a glimpse of the past is through the familiar food you eat then and now.

Mexican and Dancing

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Went with Sandy and Daniel to Azteca for Mexican food last night.  Actually, it was the blue margurita that we went for.  Sandy, Leo and me finished one and a half pitcher of it.  The last time Leo and I went, we each had a jumbo blue margurita and we could hardly walk when we were done with our meal.  So that’s our agreement we won’t get the jumbo one again unless someone else is driving. Daniel has been the designated driver wherever he goes since he couldn’t drink.  So it worked out for all of us.  After we got back to Sandy’s, both of us wanted to dance.  She suggested Grotto, and Daniel finally agreed to go.  The band was playing the 80s music very good for free style dancing.  Sandy and I danced up a storm, I dragged leo down for a couple of songs too.  And he was doing fine.

I haven’t gone social dancing for a long, long time.  I kind of missing the fun.  It would be great if some westcoast or hustle dancer were there.  Maybe I’ll go back to the Friday night at the Rockside some time and see if I still can dance west coast. 

Today, Leo and I did the grocery shopping and when we came home, he turned on the PGA and I started spinning the alpaca.  Finished the first batch (4oz) later and decided to rip some VHS tape for Connie.  I’ve got these tapes from here for a couple of weeks now, need to get moving on them more.

Along the way, I feel so blessed that I can do all the things I love to do, knitting, spinning, dancing at this time of my life.  It really is the fun time in life as Leo said.  The hard working years are behind us and we are looking foward to a fun and relaxing life together.

First day at work

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First day at work after almost 2 years of freedom.  Signed tons of paper, one of them is to declare that I am not a terrorist.  This is probably the most funny one to sign.  Who in the right mind would put down they are one any way?  Whose back is this paper covering, it’s certainly not to help prevent anything just something to show that the question has been asked.  Does not make any sense to me.

Other than the paperwork, the keys, the network connection, the familiarization of the logistics like the bathroom and the vending machine location, I find the new gig pretty nice.  It happens to be Leo’s old office.  And it’s ironic that he retires and I go back to work and it happens that I get his old office to work in.  It’s nice and quiet inside a big empty lab.  I was able to focus on whatever I need to do.  

Besides having to fiddle with the chair that likes to sink down after you pull it up within 15 minutes, I actually like the fact that I’m back at work in front of a computer again.  Even though the pay is dismal compared to what I was making, I get to put time into the system again and it counts towards the retirement.  And I only need to work one day a week.  I remember that I enjoyed working at the computer solving problems before, but the politics and the unfriendly and unsupportive environment is something I would never go back to.  

IIS is not a fun server to play with especially you want to add login and try to keep the script separate from the login required and still keep it relatively secure.  So I spent a lot of time trying out different ways.  It’s good though to get me slowly back into real actions.  Checked out some scripts written in ASP and tried not to disturb the script while I add those security measures.  Copied a whole site from a linux system to my laptop.  That’s one I need to probably rewrite if I can’t port it directly with modifications to live on a windows system.  I certainly got my work cut out for me.

The day passed very quickly.  I liked it.  And I’m glad I’m back working again.

Next week, the parking situation would be a challenge.  I don’t think the office people want to give me the one day pass any more.  So Leo may have to drive me in and pick me up.  I don’t think my pay would justify buying the parking permit for one day a week parking.  He is such a sweet heart to offer that.

Knitting and spinning day

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After Leo went hiking, I unraveled the throw once again and put the Taiwan soap opera that Sandy gave me in the DVD player.  And there I was stuck for the rest of the day.    The yarn I spun from the Coopworth on the wheel didn’t come out very well in the ply.  I was still doing trial and error and by the time I got the hang of it, the ply was done.  So there are lots of overspun singles that got tangled up in the ply.  Not a pretty yarn.  My spindle spun yarn was even better than the wheel spun one.  So I just can’t find the right pattern to hide the defects and yet produce a smooth enough surface for a throw and have a decent size also.  Very high order for the yarn from the first try.  Hopefully, I’ll find a pattern that would be good enough so I won’t have to unravel yet one more time.

I have to finish two bobbins full of the Border Leicester roving and make a ply before I can move onto the alpaca roving I bought at the Alpaca show.  It’s amazing that there was very little fiber being sold at the show, I was very disappointed.  But man those alpacas are so cute and they walk like noble people with head held high and long dainty legs.  Leo met Don and Nancy who raise alpacas in Kansas, I think.  They haven’t seen each other for years, so it was a great surprise that Leo saw them at the show and I chatted with Nancy who promised to send me samples from her alpaca when they are ready.

Anyway, I did finish plying the brown yarn and skeined and washed it.  It’s hung to dry now.   This second roving has turned out a lot better.  The singles are more relaxed and the ply is more balanced.  I’m pretty happy about it.  I still have more than half left to spin but I can start on the alpaca a bit now I have three empty bobbins.  Maybe tomorrow I’ll give it a try.  I’m a bit nervous, after all, it’s only the third roving I bought and it’s alpaca.  I was told to stay away from alpaca as a new spinner, but I just can’t wait any more.  So we’ll find out..

Niagra Falls

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The four day vacation at Niagra Falls was very nice.  The room we had at Fallsview Hilton was on the 30th floor at the corner.  So we got to see both sides out the big windows of both the American and Canadian falls.  The view is really, really spectacular.
From Niagra Falls

We got the frontview seat all day every day.  You don’t need to fight the traffic and walk a long way to get a partial view of one of the falls, you just sit comfortably in the chairs with a glass of wine and snacks in hand and you take in the whole view from one side to the other.  Got to go back again.  Nothing beats the location.  The only complaint I have is that ‘Casino’ building which sits in between the falls of our view.  I wish it was not there.  That building blocks everybody else’s view to the falls and I don’t think you can get the area view as well as the Hilton, it’s too close to see both in the same room.   

We went to Mama Mia for an italian dinner one night.  

From Niagra Falls

Left the car in the hotel and walked the couple of miles to the restaurant.  Souvenir stores lined the streets with very few customers.  But it was nice to walk pass the Imax theater and other shops for the up close experience.  The food is so so, we both had spaghetti and meat sauce.  But the waitress was very friendly.  After dinner, we went down Cliffton Hills through the commercial district with all the shops to the falls.  

From Niagra Falls

And made a big loop back to the hotel.   Took lots and lots of pictures, the camera did a wonderful job of it.  And there were very few visitors this time of the year in the middle of the week.  Very nice to stroll around and not be pushed.  The climb back to the hotel was a bit steep, but we pass the rotating restaurant on the way (can’t remember the name of it right now, senior moment).  It used to be the only thing around that’s high and gives you a good view of the falls.  Now there are so many hotels around it that offers even better view.  Amazing.

We were trying imagine how the first indians felt and what they saw when they discovered Niagra Falls the first time.  And how a big shock it would have been if they travelled down the Niagra river on a canoe and saw the falls coming at them.  

Spent a day at Niagra on the Lakes and visited lots of wineries.  Leo had to find Picaard the peanut store for his chip nuts.  All the way in and before we stopped at any winery, the chipnuts was the only thing on his mind.  We finally stopped at one of the wineries and asked for direction.  We actually missed it coming in on the main drag.  He was finally satisfied and settled down to visit the wineries.  We were looking for the Cab Franc from Hillebrand

From Niagra Falls

but they were out of stock this year already.  What a bummer.  I liked it so much from the Waterfront restaurant in Hilton I wanted to get some for home.  Have to wait till next year now.  But Leo got the merlot from Konzelmann that he liked.  

From Niagra Falls

Their ice wine is also superb.  Too bad I was hesitant to get it because of the price $40 for a 200ml bottle.  But it is really good.  We did however get some ice wine down the road and coughed up the $38 for a bottle in the end.  And it’s not bad either.

From Niagra Falls

We took a trip up to Toronto for Taiwanese food one day.  

From Toronto

 

Leo discovered 407 toll road

From Toronto

and was very happy to avoid the QEW into Toronto.  He said he’s happy to pay whatever tolls it charges.  Canada has built this toll road without ticket booth, everything is handled electronically.  There are cameras to take a picture of your license plate at each on and off ramp to the high way.  And they send you the bills for the toll.   How nice!  You don’t need to slow down to get the ticket and pay the toll, you just get on and go.  No traffic build up at either end.  Genius.  If only the toll is a bit lower.  The waiter at the Hilton’s Blue Martini Lounge told us it’s between $25 to $50 Canadian dollars for the whole way.  We’ll find out.

We went to 369 and Wei’s.  

From Toronto

369 is very good with the Shanghai style dim sum.  We had the beef noodle soup and ordered a couple of steamed buns and pot stickers.  And lots of to go orders.  Then we went to Wei’s Taiwanese restaurant.  

From Toronto

They have a very nice web presence which was why I picked them but the restaurant is very tiny basically a take out place.  It was a little disappointing.  The menu is also limited and they didn’t have one of the major item on the menu that day, the Taiwanese meat ball.  I got my smelly tofu though.  Everything else is ok but not great.  Got to talk to Daniel and find out the good Taiwanese restaurants in Toronto next time. 

We decided we will go back again to do the same thing, watching the falls from our room, winery trip and Toronto. Maybe even spend a day in Toronto so we don’t need to do a lot of driving in one day.  All in all, it was a very nice vacation.

Dance videos and spinning

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As Leo left to take his hike in the Virginia Kendall Park, I hit the shower and started planning the day.  Earlier I thought I would go out to the mall or something to window shop a bit.  Then I realized that I would be out all day tomorrow for dance lessons and hanging out with Connie (maybe), I should stay home and get some ongoing project wrapped up.  So I came downstairs and started the video tape conversion project for Connie.  I have two tapes left to convert and one to burn.  I brought the spinning wheel down with a hot mug of Oolong tea and Brenda Dayne’s Cast-on on my iphone.  The time passed very quickly between ripping, converting, burning and spinning.  In the end, I finished the video coversion project and the bobbin is almost full with the dark brown yarn.  Tonight, CAVs is on and I really hope they win this one.  Magic and CAVs are very compatible teams, but somehow Magic always pulls up to win in the end for the last 2 games.  It’s pretty frustrating as a CAVs fan.

Benny stayed in his little bed with me downstairs.  I bought it for the cats but somehow neither Manfred nor Tido wants to have anything to do with it but Benny jumped right in and barely fit his body in this little cat bed.  He seems to like it though.  It’s an enjoyment to listen to podcast talking about knitting while you knit or spin.  And although I think the music is a bit out of place in the beginning in a podcast, I have grown used to it and sometimes like the songs she is playing.  I downloaded all of the episodes and now I’m listening to Episode 32, still only half way through yet.  But it’s a nice in-between audible books filler for me.  I like Kelly Petkun’s podcast also.  But I”m all caught up with her now. 

It’s been an overcast day, sun barely poked through the clouds earlier and now it looks very gloomy outside.  I really enjoy having this room downstaris for computer work and as a craft room.  Time seems to past very quickly down here.  For the first whole year, it’s not organized and it’s cold so I rarely came down here.  But now all the junk is put away and it’s summer time, I don’t mind staying down here to work on the computer.  With the perfect view out to the lake when you try to think through a problem is a gift in life that I never dreamed of.

Benny got a hair cut

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In the past week or two, Benny has been exhausted after his daily walk in the sun.  So we decided to give him a short haircut.  Took him to Pets Mart this afternoon and he came back looking really cute.
From Pets

I brought the socks in progress with me and knitted in Border’s with a cup of coffee.  Leo saw a contest for a Taiwan tour and he’s been bugging me all day to enter the contest and do the video blogging for it.  I am very hesitant about these things, don’t like competition of any kind.  Hopefully, he will out grow this idea eventually. 

We grilled steaks for dinner, Elim is on call at the hospital so we saved her one for later.  The steak was medium rare but it tasted bland and tough still.  Not sure if it’s from being in the freezer for a while or the store we bought them from.  We decided to get real good steaks from now on maybe from the neighborhood butcher. 

Spinning continues and I think I have settled on the thickness of the yarn to spin for this batch.  Hopefully, it’ll be better when it’s plied.  Got to get the hang of plying the singles on the wheel.  The last try was not very good.