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June 2010

Another odds and ends post

I have found that the best way to keep up with this blog is to let the pictures from my camera be my guide, so here goes…

Jordan girls are home!

Amy and Glenda decided to combine their travel home with a road trip, so Glenda flew from Paris to San Francisco, Amy drove from Arcata, CA to San Francisco and there they began their epic road trip home.  They did some sightseeing in San Fran, visited Arches National Park in Utah, saw Ben in Colorado, then drove home!  This picture of them with the puppies is of them approximately 90 seconds after they drove into the driveway.

Their first meal home, specifically requested

Green beans, mashed potatoes, cornbread, sweet potatoes, and key lime pie.  Then back out to the yard to hoop, of course.

the least talented of the Jordan girls hooping
another puppy shot
and another

Friday night we went to First Friday on the square in Murfreesboro where we hooked up with several old and dear friends.

Amy, Glenda, Chris, and Bryson
Amy, Glenda, and Tony
Amy, Glenda, and Tony
Glenda and Mark

Then Amy went served as my main cheerleader and support at a triathlon in Tullahoma the next day.  I’ve done this race several times – it was a great day, and I loved having her with me.

before the swim

I placed 2nd in the swim, 4th in the bike, and 6th in the run (in my division).

Aden and his coonskin cap from Yellowstone

Sometime in the mix, we got in a visit with Aden.

Aden's little Bro Gianni hanging with the pups

Then came Bonnaroo…

needs no caption
the absolutely fantastic interactive sculpture at our volunteer pod!

This art installment was a giant guitar structure with guitars, a mandolin, and a drum set built in for jamming.  Too cool.

the blanket's-eye view of the girls at the Norah Jones concert
Brother Ben's visit!
Ben's visit with Aden
bike ride with my boy

Now we’re almost caught up – this was yesterday’s 3-hour ride with Ben.  We did a loop on the greenway and somehow avoided the downpours all around town.  It was great to be out riding with him, in spite of the heat and humidity.  He flies out tonight to return to Colorado, and he and Kirsten will be moving to Denver for undergraduate/graduate school.

Amy is on a trip to Athen, Ga, to hang with her girl Melanie at UGA, Glenda’s a little under the weather, Jesse is on a trip, and Sam should start his journey home from New Zealand over the next couple of weeks.

Thanks for reading, and thank you again for all of your support and kind words!

3

Trying to be normal

Hi.

Been stuck on the period after the word Hi for over an hour now.

I’m gonna give up on clever, comforting, wise, insightful.  I’m just gonna go with pain, sorrow, and sadness.  I don’t think there is anyone who reads this blog who doesn’t know what has happened in our family; Amy’s longtime boyfriend took his life in Knoxville on June 9.

We have grieved beyond words.  Each member of our family loved this boy.  We had the joy and honor of watching this boy grow up from a teenager into a young man.  We love his family.  We will miss him every day.  He was warm, kind, quirky, gentle, and helpful.  He was always up for whatever adventure we would invite him on (and you know the meaning of that in our family).

We have learned the sad lesson about the power of depression.  We have reached out to those around us to make sure they know we love them and that we can be counted on for help if they need it.  We have worn a groove in our brains trying to figure out why, and if anything could have been done to prevent this.  We have embraced his family in a way to comfort them and get closer to him.  Amy and I both spoke at his service and were overwhelmed by the community response at his visitation – a tribute to his lovely family.

After all the ceremony, visitation, and logistics, we are now beginning our lives without Bobby.  We are finding moments of joy and even now can remember and reflect with laughter.  Ragbrai will be tough; Bobby has gone for the past two years.  His family has already had a sibling birthday, and Father’s Day.  A friend of the family has structured a Facebook page on which we’ve all added videos, photos, and memories of Robert.  What a joy to have had this young man in our lives for the past 5 years.

Bobby and I

I have lots to blog about – the girls have returned from their academic year in Paris and California, I competed in a sprint tri in Tullahoma, Ben has passed through, the girls and I got to do a little at Bonnaroo (Norah Jones, Avett Bros, John Prine, Stevie Wonder).  I’ll try to write and upload pictures in a bit.

Training has been lacking (non-existent for two weeks), but I ran today for the first time.  I was not looking forward to it, but I did it on the property, and even in this atrocious heat and humidity, it felt great to be out.  Tomorrow is either a ride or a swim, and I’m really excited about it.

My fave iPod shuffle was Sheryl Crow’s I Was Always On Your Side – listen to it.

Thanks for reading.

13

Odds and Ends

Shouldn’t it be Odds and Evens?  Or Beginnings and Ends?  Whatever the case, this is a catch-up blog that will be all over the place.

I’ll allow the pictures I’ve downloaded to be my guide on what has been going on the past few days.

new calf on the farm

Here’s a new little guy on the farm – we’ve since had another one, but it looks exactly like this one.  One is a male, and I’m not sure what the other one is.  I’ll try to get a shot of both of them together -they are so cute and snow-white.  We don’t usually give them names, but Jesse gives them some kind of descriptive nickname to keep them apart.

pool at SportsCom

I’ve been meaning to do this for months…this is where I spent my swimming hours.  This is the public pool at the SportsCom in Murfreesboro, lap lanes 6-8am and 11am-1pm.  There’s a regular crowd of us over the lunch hour, getting in our two, three, or four thousand yards.

my riding/running buddy Ron
Memorial Ride

This is not a great picture of a really great ride I did in Murfreesboro about a week ago.  It was an hour-long ride to memorialize and draw attention to those riders who have been killed or injured while riding a bike.  We rode silently, single-file through Murfreesboro and MTSU.  There were about 50 or so of us, and it was moving and emotional for me.  I blogged about a memorial ride I did about a year ago on the last entry.

Bully puppies
love this face
Q T Pi

So they are 6 weeks old now, the ads are running, the calls are coming in, and they’ll be gone before long, so I had to put these in.  There are 4:  3 females and a male, and they are cute, fat, and healthy.

new jersey

Jesse and I continue to train on the Natchez Trace parkway while we scope it out for a bike ride in the fall over UT’s fall break.  This was a 3.5 hour ride, and it must be snake season, cuz we saw 4 different ones, not counting the squashed ones.  I tried to put a video on, but can’t seem to work that out…check out Facebook for a video of Jesse trying to get a snake to strike him or me.

#1
#2
#3
the inevitable if you're training

This flat happened about a mile from the house, so I just walked it home.  I had to leave my CO2 stuff in New Zealand with Sam cuz it doesn’t fly too well, and I haven’t replaced it yet, nor do I have a pump on my Specialized…poor planning.

the things you see on the side of the road

Then here was a bit of odd debris – several hotel room key cards from the Knight’s Inn, scattered on the shoulder??  Interesting story, maybe.

the Smith girls

My mom came through on her way to visit her sisters in Gallatin, and I got to visit with them for a few hours.  I love these women, and depend on them for a funny story, a sweet hug, and an encouraging word.  There is a brother too, who lives in Kentucky.  Then cousin Jen came by with her sweet boys for a minute or two.

Enoch, Jonas, and Simon
and I brought a puppy for entertainment

Finally, I went on a 4-hour ride with Fez, my 3rd son, who had just done a century on the Tour de Cure the week before.

my boy Fez

And just at the turnaround point, I hit a bump and…

on the steps of a church somewhere in rural Tennessee

Fez did have a CO2 cartridge and helped me out with my mishap.  I’ll get both my own CO2 gun and cartridge in my seat bag, and replace a cartridge for Fez this week.

So there’s the spastic schedule for the week.  No pictures of Spring Fling, the soccer tournament I worked last week – just too busy to take pictures.

Amy and Glenda are on the way home (!!!!!!!!!!!) from California and France via Ben’s in Colorado, so the next pics will be of them and then Bonnaroo!

I haven’t forgotten about my 50 things, and I have 2 new things to blog about that I’ve done, but they’ll get their own posts, so stay tuned to this same batchannel…

Thanks for reading!

3

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