"People usually consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle. But I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air, but to walk on earth. Every day we are engaged in a miracle which we don't even recognize: a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves, the black, curious eyes of a child -- our own two eyes. All is a miracle." - THICH NHAT HANH
My brother, who lives in Albuquerque, sent me a series of emails with some fascinating photos. With his permission and the permission of the people discussed, I'd like to share this with you.
This was the initial email from my brother Russ:
One of the guys at work (Joe) is also Joe The Bee Guy. He got a call the other day at work. A truck driver turned on his a/c and it didn't work. He opened the back of his trailer and a huge cloud of bees flew out! Turns out they were living in the ac duct work and when he turned it on they got sucked into the fan - breaking the fan . . .
When he opened the trailer doors the hive moved to a trailer parked at the neighboring Kenworth dealership. Joe ended up moving around 40 pounds of bees and set up 13 new hives in Bosque Farms!
Note:he's wearing short sleeves - he had about 20 stings on his arms when he came back to work! Vince Valdez is the photographer at the Kenworth dealership.
This was taken the next day. Read more about it and see more pictures here. This and the other photos were taken by beekeeper Mike Kruchoski.
Forty years ago today I went out with my future husband for the first time. He was in a band called Quiet -- he played bass guitar -- and he invited me to one of their practice sessions. We'd known each other since he moved to my area the year before. He lived in Park Ridge briefly when his family first moved to the U.S. from England, but he didn't really feel at home until he started attending my high school -- known as "the hippie school" back in the day.
I'd always been an Anglophile, thanks to early indoctrination by Agatha Christie and the Beatles, so I knew the instant a new English guy arrived at our school. We both worked on the school newspaper and we were both solid Beatle fans. It wasn't long before we became friends.
For a long time, that's all it was. Of course I "noticed" him, but I was still in a long-distance relationship with a boyfriend who had moved to another state and he (future husband) seemed to be dating a good friend of mine. I knew they were friends, but didn't feel comfortable asking either of them if it was serious. Because I was just a friend. Right.
We were interested in a lot of the same books and music, and we talked a lot. He started calling me to tell me about concerts he'd been to. We carefully avoided talk of significant others. This was friends talking, nothing more.
But he told me -- years later -- that he would drive by my house a lot, and he often appeared in my dreams. I felt that my boyfriend and I were growing apart, but I wasn't sure he felt the same way. Because of that, I never thought anything would come of my interest in my English friend.
On April 18, 1970 everything changed. I went to see a lot of bands perform - I wrote about them for our school paper - so on the surface it was no big deal when he invited me to watch his band practice. But of course, it was different and we both knew it.
I remember watching something on TV about Paul McCartney's new solo album. I've checked back and it appears the official release date was Friday, April 17, 1970. We both remember listening to "Maybe I'm Amazed" and being completely knocked out by it. The words of the song also clarified a few things.
So anyway . . . April 18 has always been our "real" anniversary. I broke up with my boyfriend the next day and a few weeks later we attended our senior prom. I went to England with him a few months after that and in October 1971 we got married.
We still have the Beatles and a love of England in common, but we are opposites in soooo many ways. Somehow, it still works. When he's out of town, I'm excited for him to come home. I'm always happy to hear his voice on the phone. He is the best card giver ever. He was, and continues to be, a wonderful father to our two kids and the best husband in the world. Well, in MY world, anyway.
Forty years. 14,610 days (give or take two days). 21,037,950 minutes. And maybe I'm still amazed.
I love that Old Spice commercial with the line, "Look at me - I'm on a horse." I keep thinking of that as I walk on my treadmill while playing on my laptop. "Look at me - I'm on Facebook . . . and I'm exercising."
For a person whose day job, hobbies and career pursuits all involve parking my ass -- sorry, posterior -- in a comfortably padded computer chair, the padding has inevitably, um, spread. I find it nearly impossible to read while walking on the treadmill, but I've often joked that if only I had the nerve to duct tape my laptop to my treadmill, I might actually drop a few pounds.
Imagine my surprise when my good friend Hope recently told me she'd seen a product that would let me do just that, minus the need for duct tape. I did a Google search and discovered the product was called a SurfShelf. At roughly forty bucks, it was a lot of money for a piece of plastic with a Velcro strap, but my husband and I felt it would be worth every penny if we actually used it.
That was the key. We had one treadmill that spent most of its life with clothes hanging on it. We've had this fancier version for awhile and although we do use it, we don't use it nearly as often as we should. So we forked over the money and a few days later the SurfShelf arrived. Despite the missing Tool Guy gene in our family, it wasn't all that tricky to install. (In other words, no drills were thrown in the process.)
Then it was ready for the test. The reviews we read mentioned the importance of a slow, steady pace. REALLY slow, like .5 to 1.0 mph. My son, who runs marathons, would raise his eyebrows, for sure. But we weren't sure we could navigate the keyboard even at that speed. Now that I've been using it for a few days, I find 1.5 to 2.0 is a more comfortable pace for me.
All in all, we've been pleasantly surprised. My husband did two miles the first time he used it without even realizing it. Yesterday I did three miles while answering emails, moderating at B&N and visiting my favorite blogs. I did two miles today with no effort at all. Most importantly, we're both using it, and using it every day.
Okay, I've been known to slack off on occasion. There's no guarantee I'll be faithful to my new friend. But, honestly, this is kind of fun. I'm intrigued by the multitasking possibilities - last night I even watched a taped episode of Castle while working AND walking. The mind boggles!
Of course, there are doubters. I'm known as something of a klutz in my family. When I shared the news of my move toward non-couch-potato status, my brother (who rides his bike on 100 mile treks for fun) said this:
Bec - Looking forward to your emails from the hospital as you're recovering from falling off the stupid thing!
Let's see, we've got drinking and driving, texting and driving, and now what, writing and walking?
But, officer, I was only typing 32 words a minute.
But, ma'am, it's a 25 word a minute speed zone.
What do you mean I was typing while walking 4 miles per hour? I couldn't have been walking that fast - the treadmill only goes to 3.5 miles per hour!
Well, ma'am, when was the last time you had that thing in the shop? The speedometers on those things are notoriously out of whack . . .
Be careful out there.
BTW, Bec, what does "wlork" mean exactly? In the meantime, I'll continue to sit while typing and walk only while outside!
T
Easy for him to say - he's never been overweight in his life! My sister also put in her two cents' worth:
You're kidding! I tried holding weights while walking a few years ago . . . fell and hit my head on the treadmill and got all cut up . . . looked like I was in a bad accident. Computer on the treadmill? I THINK NOTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT!
So, as you can see, not everyone is confident my new experiment with fitness training is a good (or smart) (or safe) thing. But I'm kind of happy about the blisters I've developed this week. My jeans are a tiny bit loose.
