Showing posts with label Spring. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Spring. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Almost!


 
A few more days and our lilacs will be spectacular!



Our Japanese cherry tree will be in full bloom
 with hundreds of soft pink petals...


...and the white and pink dogwoods lining the driveway
 will be glorious!

Almost!

Don't you just love this time of year?
:)

Monday, April 11, 2011

Home Again ...Simple Finds For Spring


Mr. Flea, kitty Starla and I made it home safe and sound!
Starla has turned into an amazing traveler...
...we really think she enjoyed her Florida vacation!

When time allowed,
 I managed to get to a number of fun church sales...
...thanks to sister Lynn and Mr. Flea.

I love church sales!


As I unpack the van I will share some sweet simple finds...
...perfect for spring.


I remember wearing some pretty little pink gloves...
...on Easter Sunday long ago.
...and I still love Nana's crochet trimmed hankies.
(Well, these weren't my Nana's ... 
...but surely they belonged to someone's Nana!)


Sweet pastel china flowers on a lost and lonely little egg cup.
Just a quarter sitting amidst jars and junk on a church sale table.


Now...she sings in the spotlight!
I think she needs me to dye her a pale pink egg!

OK, well I am home again after all these months...
... nursing a bit of a cold but ready to tackle some huge,
 long overdue projects!

Check back tomorrow for a book review and a giveaway!
Hope you are all having a good week! 

:)

Linking up to White Wednesday #95 at Faded Charm.

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Gratitude



Thank you for all your expressions of sympathy and love.
Your support and prayers are deeply appreciated.
  


I am grateful for so many blessings...

...for the beautiful and close relationship I had with my Mom
...for the gift of time to be able to be with her so much this last year 
...for a loving, understanding and supportive family
...for wonderful friends
...for my faith.

Spring is here...
Mom loved this time of year...
...a time for new beginnings.

Wishing you a joyful spring!

With much gratitude and love, Laura
  

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Signs of Spring


The Goodwill bin was recently moved from it's location near Sunflower Market to some other place in the universe. I am used to dumping my old running shoes in there. I have almost a dozen shoes ready to go to Goodwill or somewhere, but they have been sitting in my car for a couple of months because I keep forgetting to find a new location to take them to.

It's been cold all winter and I park in the parking garage at work, which I am sure is the coldest place in Colorado, colder than Gunnison, maybe the coldest place in the universe. But yesterday I went up to Horsetooth Mountain Park to meet Katy for Rock Repeats, and I got a surprise when I opened the door to my car on the warm, sunny morning when I stopped to refill my bottle.

I really need to find a place to unload those shoes. Dennis says they moved the bin because of me and my shoes, I was contaminating it and they had to call in the Hazmat team to decontaminate the Goodwill bin.

I found some cilantro growing in the garden yesterday. And the bulbs in the yard are coming up with green tops.





Maybe I have spring fever, too. I was sweating at night, all week, and not sleeping very well. Damn hormones. Last week was a rough one for me, I've been burning the candle at both ends still trying to clear out all the clutter and detail from my life so I can just concentrate on training.

Basically it's just finishing up with taxes, framing a pile of artwork, miscellaneous commitments, life details and obligations. Nothing bad, but it all takes time, energy, and patience. Patience is what I seem to be missing these days.



Things got delayed with my artwork due to a mistake in the framing shipment and now it will be next week before I can get my artwork in to Tortilla Marissa's, but this coming week should be better than last week. I've been feeling very Towanda-like, hot flashy, hormonal, and on edge. I need to be able to focus on my training and get in the right frame of mind, and I'm starting to resent all the little distractions. Maybe just a few more days and I can do that.

I got my abbreviated workouts in this week, got the basics in, but not many miles. I guess that's still okay at this point. The best workout of the week was yesterday's three Rock Repeats with Katy. That was fun, I miss running with her. Now my legs are sore, but not as sore as after last week's first two Rock Repeats. I'll take that as a positive sign. I must be making progress.

Another one or two Rock Repeat workouts and I will have bashed my quads sufficiently so I won't get sore anymore. That will be awesome. It's hard to get the legs into the hill workouts after not doing hills since October!

And I'm down to nine toenails again this week, after keeping a full set for nearly three months.

And I did 35 minutes in the sauna the other day without my heart rate going up much at all. I think I have permanently altered my body's thermostat. Or maybe it's because my body can't tell the difference between a hot flash and the sauna. Maybe I've been heat training all this time without even trying. Who needs a sauna when you can do it naturally?

Saturday, February 26, 2011

Think Spring!


Just a springy photo from last year to cheer your day!

I will be taking a break here for just a bit...

Until I return...

...take care dear friends!
:) Laura

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Pink Haze

This morning The Buffaloes woke me up at 4:43 a.m. They were wiggling and panting and all excited about whatever Australian Shepherds find so exciting at 4:43 a.m. on a morning when I don't have to go to work, could sleep in, and the weather is cool enough now that we don't have to go out running at the crack of dawn. It was morning treat time and the Mom of Buffaloes dragged herself out of bed.



Later I found myself thanking the girls, I got started early and drove up to Horsetooth and caught the sunrise. A pink haze settled over the reservoir and the city below. I ran a strong 16+ miles on the hills, running an out & back between Hughes Stadium and the intersection of Overland Trail and Bingham Hill Road. I have to admit I was dragging butt in the last four miles but I pushed myself hard.





Today is a special day because I was able to firm up some race plans that I've been struggling with for next year. The Badwater dates were announced today, so I now know when the race will be held, so I can prepare my crew and get all my planning started.

I also got some information on an early spring race in Florida that my friend Mike Melton directs. The LOST 118 is a 118 mile race in February around Lake Okeechobee in Florida. It's the headwaters of the Everglades. Lost means Lake Okeechobee Scenic Trail. My friend Bob Becker offered to crew me, so I am ready to make some plans for spring! Thanks to my Floridian friends, Mike and Bob!



Never go running without a camera! Never, never, never, never!

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Runs with Earthworms


The past two days have consisted of running mostly in downpours, looking like a drowned rat minus the tail. Yesterday morning I took the Buffaloes for their 5 mile loop before the rain moved in. By the time I went out to meet the Wednesday night group at the Roost, the sky was looking dark gray.

We took off on our 6 mile group run and about halfway through we started feeling the drops. By the time we were a mile out from the Roost on the way back, big bolts of lightning were striking somewhere south of Ft. Collins and the rain was getting serious. I was in fast mode and I made it back to the Roost about a minute before the downpour hit. By the time the rest of the group showed up a few minutes later they were drowned rats.

I stuck around to wish Cat and Felix good luck on their run in Kansas this weekend, wishing them no tornadoes. They are running a 100K race on trails, Cat's longest distance yet. I wish I could go, but with three weeks to the Keys I will stay home and run 50K in between downpours.

Today I went out in what started as a light rain, but by two miles into it the water was pouring down my back and I might as well have been running in the shower. I decided to make it just seven miles and go home, hit the sauna, and see if things got better later.

On my way in to the gym, I ran into Rick who is on his way to California tomorrow to run the Big Sur marathon. Good luck, Rick, and enjoy it. That is one race on my to do list.

There was a big blue hole in the sky as I left the gym and I went home and took the Buffaloes for their run before it got cloudy and cool again.

This week I have been tired in general, but feeling good on my runs. Just this past week it finally kicked in, both mentally and physically, that I have made progress in my fitness over the winter. I feel much stronger and can hold a decent pace for a long time, even at the end of a tough run. I still have no speed whatsoever but I can work on that over the summer.

Summer will be here soon. I want to run the Lean Horse 100 in August but I don't want to feel like I'm training for a race all summer. I think I can get away with just a couple of long runs this summer and the rest of my time just doing 10 to 20 mile runs, which don't take up my entire day. I want to put some energy into painting this summer again, I have missed it. I look forward to going out to Death Valley in July again. And Dennis and I will get up to the cabin with the Buffaloes as often as we can.

In other areas of my life, I'm looking forward to change, which sometimes comes slowly, but it will happen when the time is right. I'm tapping my feet at times, but trying to be patient, anticipating good things, and expanding my horizons. It has to rain really hard sometimes before you get flowers. One of these days it will look more like this:


The horizon is a good thing to focus on. Keep looking forward, keep the chin up, focus beyond the shortcomings of the present, and be grateful for all the nice people who are in my life now. And the Buffaloes, always the Buffaloes.