Kentucky-isms

I had a weird moment today. Actually, they happen quite often lately. It came at the end of a busy morning full of errands. Random stuff: cleaning the car, buying new jammies for Leah, a stop at the gas station. My final stop was at the grocery store. As I got out of the car, I heard two guys in the parking lot talking.

"Bout time them fellers fix up that truck for ya."
"Oh yeah, they done real good."

That's when I had a weird moment. I LIVE IN KENTUCKY. I forget sometimes. I live a pretty sheltered life on my 2 acres on the lake. My neighbors are fantastic and so friendly but it's not like I talk to them all day long. Sometimes, I forget that I live in the sticks. And when I remember, it makes me laugh.

Here's a few recent Kentucky-isms of note:
--"She cooks good but she sure can bitch." (From the clerk at our favorite country store. Said to Keith about the previous customer.)
--"Some of my best customers are in prison now." (To Andrea from the same guy.)
--"I'm about the keel over." (Said to Keith in response to a casual 'how are you doing?' Again, same guy.)
--"I wanna bowl of chili, but I ain't gonna get none." (Once again, same guy. I have no idea how this came up while buying a soda.)
--"You may as well go ahead and vote for Obama, talkin' like that!" (Overheard by Keith. Said by an old guy to another old guy while sitting in rockers of the front porch of our other general store.)

I'm telling you, you cannot make this stuff up!!!!

Here's also a few recent Bennett-isms:
--Keith and Bennett were driving down the road near our house. Every time Bennett saw a kid toy, he would say "Hey, there's my friend's house!" He said this probably a dozen times as they drove. At the end of the road, Bennett said to Keith, "Dad, I made a lot of friends today!"
--I was vacuuming the house while Bennett was playing in his room. He did not appreciate the noise. He asked me a couple times to turn off the vacuum. Then in exasperation, "Mom, seriously! Stop!"
--Bennett was watching movies while we did some work in Keith's office. One of the office ladies asked him what was his favorite movie. After sifting though them, he pulled one out and said, "This one is really awesome."

And finally some pics from a good old redneck carnival we went to a couple of weeks ago...

Happy Birthday.....

to ME!!!!! I've been feeling especially old today. I think in large part because Leah kept me up for a couple hours last night. Waking up to 31 felt like a bad hangover (I'm guessing).

Then I met Keith for lunch. He had a patient this morning that told him she was turning 93 later this month. Keith told her that I was turning 31 today. Her response: "Well shoot. At 31 she's got the world by the tail!"

Fair warning, world. I'm just sayin.

To name an estate

I'm sure it's not true but I have always imagined that any residence worth its salt south of the line drawn by Mr. Mason and Mr. Dixon would have a proper name. Of course most of my knowledge about the South came from a movie that my parents made me watch as a young kid. Something about the wind taking things away or something... I sat through it only because we didn't get much TV time. But I came away with the notion that a home in the South needs more than just 135 E. 3400 S. to denote it.



Since we were and still are much more into the rock rather than the house, we have settled on Diving Rock as the appropriate moniker. So now instead of saying, "I'll meet you at home," it's "I'll meet you at Diving Rock." I speed there every night after work to make the jump.




I must admit that I'm still kinda chicken to actually dive but you must admit that Diving Rock has a much better sound to it than Jumping Rock!

Y'all come down to Diving Rock ya hear!

Why would you move to Kentucky?

This was a question I tried to answer to many people who I knew would never understand.

4:00 PM Friday: after a slow drive home fom work which included a side trip to scout for bouldering, the kids are just waking up from their naps and Andrea is ready to get out of the house. We pack a picnic and walk down to our canoe and I paddle the crew for about an hour and a half to the Marina. There we picnic and buy a Klondike bar. We paddle back home throught the lush forest lake and of course swiming and cliff jumping ensue before baths and bedtime.

6:00 AM Saturday. I wake up intime to see the first pink light of sunrise peeking through our oak and hemlock forest to the East. I talk Andrea into joining me for earling morning yoga on the top of a cliff over looking the lake. We watch the lake mirror the sky as it slowly morphs from hazy pink to deep blue with white clouds. The mirrored surface of the lake is just to much. Andrea suggests a jump. As I'm falling and looking down into the perfect reflection of the sky I get a brief flash of vertigo and because the lake is so still I have no idea where the surface is so I hit with my mouth wide open. The water is cool but nowhere near cold.

7:30 AM We climb the trail (100' or so) back to the house and quickly get up the kids and jump into the car. Andrea drops me off in front of the local "general store" where the rocking chairs on the porch are always full of old men with work worn hands arguing about fishing bait and Obama. There I jump into a jeep with a guy I met last week, his brother and his brothers kid. I realize three hours later that only one of these guys is wearing shoes. (After three hours of hiking and running through the brush.) We go about 2 miles down the highway and turn off onto a tiny dirt road through dense forest that looks like it has not been driven on in years. The guys driving on the highway was completely unremarkable. As soon as we hit the dirt track though...he became a maniac. We caught air more than once, slid sideways around trees, and bottomed out the center of the jeep several times. We stopped at the top of a ravine and hiked down to an oasis for a soul thirsty for a little time on the sharp end of a rope. Less than 20 minutes from my couch to racked up and ready to pull on some pockets. The weekend is just begining..."why would I move to Kentucky?" I muse to myself as the steep hard sandstone begins to flow past my quickly pumped forearms.

Lost in the Wind

OK, OK....

So I promised that I would post about Iceland. It has been hard to get over the writers block that has slowly melted like the mouth of a tidewater glacier. The journey was so profoundly personal that it is almost hard to talk about the solitude as if by sharing I might contaminate the deep loneliness that I enjoyed for three weeks.

There is a story of a group of explorers that hired local porters to carry their gear for an ascent of Killimanjaro. After several days of swift marching to the foot of the mountain at a typical climbers pace the porters refused to go any further for several days. The interpreter struggled to convey the meaning of why the porters refused to carry on. It came out something like this. "They cannot go on now because they are waiting for their souls to catch up."

After eight years in Philadelphia, I too needed some time and space to reunite with my soul. For years I had really missed it as I toiled through the drudgery of finishing my training.

Iceland is amazing.

I frequently felt like "the bicycling mute" as many days I spoke less than a dozen words to anyone.

I spent the majority of the time in the remote west fjords region and crossing the central highlands. There is alot of pavement in Iceland and quite a few good roads. I tried my best to avoid them.

The waterfalls are incredible and frequent. The mountains are rugged, but not by Alaskan standards. The weather is horrific or absolutely fantastic. Never just bad or good. The wind is not ephemeral and gasseous like in most places... It is made of concrete...almost impossible to ride a bike through. Of course it is cold.

After two weeks of riding I felt my mettle and gear was up to the task of crossing through the central highlands. I was 100 miles or so way from the nearest pavement and much farther than that from the nearest human outpost when I found out that my bike was not exactly up to the task. It broke. I was riding along late one evening looking for a spot to stop for the night when my back wheel locked up. My hands were no where near the brakes. Anyone who has spent any time on a bike knows that's a bad sign, that sickening skid to a halt. The two days that I had planned to get back to the hospitable world turned into six. I managed to turn my 27 speed cruiser into a one-speed clunker. Not exactly ideal for touring in rough terrain with full camping gear on heinous dirt tracks. I was pretty hungry by the time I reached the "Highlands Hotel" I did not even mind paying $32 dollars for the two cheeseburgers that I had for lunch that glorious day. I have heard Amercans that travel through Europe complain that Euros stink and don't shower enough...well I can say that after more than a week of hard riding, walking, and pushing a fully loaded dead bike across the Sprengisandur that I'm pretty certain that every single European who came through the hotel that afternoon has a much worse opinion of how bad Americans smell...sorry....

Enjoy the pics. I enjoyed taking them. You really have to go there. I can't come close to describing how glorious and beautiful it is. Or how bad the wind can be...If you click on the photos they get bigger.

Some of the houses are very quaint.



All that snow and ice has to go somewhere after it melts.



As long as the sun was shining and the wind was not too stong, the black lava rocks make a nice solar power heated seat.



The continental crack. North America to the right with Europe to the left.



Crusing through the west fjords.



Don't look now Andrea, it's worse than the Jenner Grade.



This road can only be passed at low tide. I had to push for a while through the loose cobbles.



Don't get out the roto-tiller and pea seed just yet Ray. I can't see the horse.



Just a few more hours of climbing to the top of the fjord.



I climbed all day for this view!?! The fog rolled in JUST as I hit the summit.


The last shot of my bike before disaster struck.



Things were bad after this.



No bike repair shops behind any of these hills...trust me I looked.



After twenty-four hours in a tiny tent riding out a storm how good did you think I would look?



Houston this is tranquility base...over...



Does this shot need a caption? I dont think so.



Home sweet Kentucky home!

Back in Kentucky

We FINALLY got our internet hookied up today so I can reconnect with the world. How does anyone survive without the internet? More than once in the last 2 weeks, we've taken the computer and parked next to a hotel so we could pick up on a wireless connection. It's just too hard to be without!

So, blogland, I am back. And I live in Kentucky. How weird is that? Actually, it's pretty stinkin awesome. I'll need to change the name of our blog soon but naptime is only so long. :)

Where do I begin? The last couple of weeks have been so eventful. I'll just fill in a little and will have to catch up later. Also, Keith is planning to post a whole bunch about his trip to Iceland. Don't know when he'll find the time, but he'll get around to it sometime...

After Keith got to Utah (such a long and funny story about his travels...more on that later) we left the next morning to go visit his family and start our trek east. We stopped to see two of his brothers on our way to Wyoming where we stayed with his parents for two days. They took us camping. Good times....



Check out the whoppers Grandpa caught for Bennett--


Camping girl--


Hiking with Bennett. Oh yeah, I got a haircut in Utah. I donated my ponytail to charity.


And here's me being pretty awesome:
(Actually, I'm probably just playing twinkle, twinkle. ha ha)

Wildlife! Right in our campsite!


And here's what he had to say about it...


And one more..just because I like what Bennett's doing....


Then we started our long trek home. Three days driving. With a 3 year old and a baby, that takes a lot of stops. And a lot of wanting to poke your eyes out. But we made it. Everything in our house was just as we had left it. No one showed up while we were gone and unpacked and cleaned everything for us. That was a bummer.

The last week and a half have been busy. Tons of unpacking and cleaning (thanks again to the people that DIDN'T take care of this for us while we were gone). Moving is such a hassle. Seriously, try not to do it. But life is settling in now. Keith started his job on Monday and so far so good! We've also spent tons of time swimming in the lake and jumping off our diving rock. Plus, on our second day here, we bought a new boat. It HAD to be done. So we of course have had to christen the boat and do some exploring. Seriously yous guys (please notice my blend of Philly/Kentucky here), life in Kentucky ain't bad.

Waiting around while the adventure continues

I've been lazy. All I've been doing is playing for the last three weeks and I'm too lazy to blog about it. It's nice to take a break from the routine once in a while!

Bennett, Leah, and I have been having a great time in Utah. It's been pretty nice having a full time nanny (grandma). And manny (grandpa). I've done so much shopping with all this freedom! I never got to do that before (and probably won't for a LONG time)! I have three weeks worth of stuff thrown all over the bedrooms and since we are in the basement, it doesn't matter! Other than the occasional load of laundry, I've hardly lifted a finger (sorry, mom. But not really). We've had a weekend in Park City with my sisters, a few days in Bear Lake, tons of eating out, shopping, seeing old friends, play, play, play, reading books, being lazy. And, oh yeah, taking care of two kids by myself. Except when nanny and manny step in. :)

But, we miss Keith. His trip is coming to an end. Today marks three weeks. He called today and it was the first time we were able to actually talk for a quick couple of minutes. He tried about a week ago but the connection was terrible. He's been able to e-mail but only a handful of times as there's not a lot of connectivity out on the backroads of Iceland.

I know that he's had a good time and there are tons of good stories to be told. I can't wait! This one especially needs some explaining.....I received the following e-mail yesterday after a whole week of no contact. He had been riding through the most barren, desolate section of Iceland:
"Hey, I am back and fine. The sandflats did not explode but a few other things did. You´ll get to hear all about it this weekend. Let's just say that it took a little longer than expected and when I finally landed I only had one peice of flatbread left. sorta like a dry tortillia. Those rain pants that were a little snug...they fit fine now."

I don't know the details. All I know is that he is safe. And probably hungry. But I'm sure he's still smiling! Either way there is a good story waiting to be told. He'll be here Saturday. Stay tuned!!!

CPT = Caldwell/Card Pain Train

Check this major news story out: Brotherhood of Pain Article

All my brothers-
Makes me feel all fat and lazy being surrounded by such burly athleticism. Way to go brothers! Next trip you guys will be wiping the sweat off the brow of us girls....or maybe just holding shopping bags and tending babies. We'll decide and let you know! :)

We all know that CPT also stands for "Card Pain Train" too. Keith is getting hammered by the weather in Iceland but is having a blast. Nothing like taking a good beating to make you feel good, right?

Insane

The last two weeks have been so out of control. All this moving and traveling has been ridiculous! Thankfully I'm staying in one place for a couple of weeks. If anyone wants a playdate while I'm in Utah, let me know!!!

Poor Bennett has had his whole life turned upside down in the last two weeks. His bed was one of the last things we loaded into the moving truck. So that night, when things were gone, I took him upstairs to use the potty. Then, he went into his bedroom and things clicked. "Where's my bed?!?" I explained that we were taking it to Kentucky. That seemed to make enough sense. Then we went downstairs to the kitchen. "Mom! Where's my table?" Then he opened the fridge and with horror said-"Mom! There's no lunch! How am I going to eat lunch?!!!" He gave me the saddest look I have ever seen.

Poor kid.

After we closed on our house (as sad as I was, I haven't really thought about the place since...) we got in the trucks and started driving. And driving. Our new place is about a twelve hour drive which we did over two days. Not too bad. We rolled into town at about one o'clock the day before our closing. We did our walk through that night then bought it the next morning! Keith and his brother Rob unloaded the moving truck all day. When they got to the boats, they had to take a break, of course. Over that weekend, we also painted the kids bedrooms and some of the master bedroom. And we spent a little more time in the boats. We are going to dig that place. We spent two nights in our new house then parted ways for the next three weeks. I headed off to Utah and Keith went back to Philly to wrap up work and then off to Iceland!!

We had a little birthday party for Bennett before we left since Keith would be missing the real thing. We gave him a fishing pole. He LOVED it! The next day as we were on the road to Utah (I'm still wondering why I decided to drive rather than fly...) he said, "Mom, I'm hungry. I need to go home and catch a fish." He already misses his Kentucky house. :)

We are missing Keith so bad and I hope he's having an amazing trip. I've only heard from him once so far. He's been there for a week now and I'm sure he's having way too much fun sitting in the hot pools and watching geysers and waterfalls to sit in an internet cafe. :)

Happy Birthday Big Boy!!!

Big boy Bennett turns 3 today! What an awesome three years. I adore this kid so so much!

No pics since I'm not all connected yet...but just know that he is stinkin CUTE!!!

Leaving

I'm just about to put the computer away for a couple of days. The house is empty except for a box of cleaning supplies and our vacuum. It feels so weird. This house holds so many memories for me. Seven years. Keith became a doctor in this house. Both of my babies were born here. This is the only house they've ever known. Bad times, good times. Really hot times. (Have I mentioned that I can't wait for the central air in our new house!!)

And now this house is an empty shell. No longer mine. Goodbye little house. I'll miss you.



And if Keith were doing the talking...good riddance!!!

Just some pics

Sweet boots!!


Sweet face...


Playing in the rain.


Loving watermelon.


Bike Mechanic


The Girls.


The Man.

The library and stuff

I don't know what's wrong with me. I'm not getting along with the library lately. I'm usually such a good library patron. I always write down the due dates in my little planner and I almost always get everything back on time. I love that I can recheck out online if I need a little more time with the books or on those occasions where I just couldn't squeeze in a library visit.

Last week I paid off an $18 fine. Ouch. And oops. Is time moving faster than it used to? How did I miss a due date by THAT much?

And today, as I was savoring my current book, I happened to notice the library slip in the back pocket of the book. It was due a week ago.

Oops.



And
in
other
news.....




Leah rolled over today.

Kickin it

The house is sold. We got a sweet new casa waiting for us. Now we just gotta hang out until it's time to pack.

So since life is slightly more settled (for a couple weeks at least) I'll get to posting some more pics of the kiddos. But Tara's last post was too good. I'll just have to send you there for now for some laughs. I love the mustard. :)

Thanks Chuck! We are so gonna miss you guys.....

Happiness is.....

As an idealistic young man with only a marginal grasp of reality, I made a few goals for myself.... One of those goals was to always have a ticket to some exotic locale or adventure stashed in my sock drawer.

Tonight I am happy.

I finally convinced Andrea that between our house being under contract and our presidents ingenious plan to give handouts to us po'folk, now is the time I should spring for that ticket to Iceland! Done. The socks will have a nice little friend to keep them company for a few weeks. Every morning when I get dressed I will verify that I am not just waking up from a dream too good to be true as I rummage for the pair with the least number of holes. mmmmmmm.






Of course most of this trip will be in a cold rain far from a warm bed and dry shoes. I can't wait!