Mighty Mermaid Sprint triathalon

As I was in incredibly lousy condition last winter's ski season, my neurologist recommended that I do another Team in Training event.  Having secretly always wanted to do a triathalon, I signed up to do the Mighty Mermaid Sprint triathalon October 6, 2012 in Capitola (just over the hill from us).

Started training last Sunday.  I am not a fantastic swimmer so just a wee bit nervous about an open water swim.  Great news though, I can join the beginner's group within a Masters program and work a lot more with great coaching.  I also know, from direct experience, how good the TNT program is at preparing partiicpants for their event.  Also, supportive is a word that defines their approach and that is a critically important quality for me.

So glad Dr. B made that recommendation and that I'm following through (so far!).  Nervous but overall feel really good about it!

Latest Ski Poem Video

Most recent ski poem video:

Latest Poem Video

Gardening, Poetry and Near Flight Experience

I'm  not writing as much poetry as I was but am still active.  Here is another poem video that I've made called "For Henry," a love poem for my husband.

Very busy working on art and really liking it a lot.  Sketches are getting better......as for watercolor...
never give up!

Our pool, which is 45 years old needs to be re-plastered.  We would actually re-pipe, which means pulling up the concrete, etc......so we are going through attempting to figure out more about
landscaping and garden design.  I'm becoming more involved in gardening, which I've always enjoyed.  Henry bought some design software so we're going to try that out.  Looks like the project will hopefully go off next year as we can't afford it this year!

We were supposed to try out a flight lesson today for each of us (radical discount on groupon).  Put off until next week due to low clouds today.

New Poem Video

I've posted several poem videos under user name Skidisciple.  Attached is the latest one.

Poetry Writing Class

   First day of poetry writing class last Tuesday.  I have a very good feeling about it.  Teacher appears to be very open minded and definitely has a love of poetry (has published a couple of books).  I hadn't written anything in about a month and was a little nervous about the whole thing.  We were asked to write a fifteen minute poem on "'I Am.....".  Here's what I wrote"


Who Am I?

I am the wish for dawn,
the pink and gold tones of each day's sunrise,
the whisper of fresh breeze
across a parched desert.

I am the stamina of wildflowers
in the midst of a dark forest,
the giggle of a child
who chooses to laugh.

I am a palette of evolving colors,
warm and cool,
indigo with patches of yellow.

I am a seed
buried deep under the ground
struggling to break through the soil
and face into the sun.

   We had a suggested assignment for today (not formal) to write a poem along the theme of one in
"Poet's Companion" called "What I do".  I will post mine here later as I'm a bit rushed this AM (oil painting, followed by watercolor, then poetry class).

    I am, for the most part, happy.

Poetry Update

   The poetry reading at Glenwood Inn went very well.  What a receptive audience.  I was asked to come back and to do a full reading of just my poetry!  The two poems I read were "Rainbows Must Be Chased" and instead of "Marathon", I read "Strange Gift" (see poem posted below.)

   To practice reading and because a friend from All Poetry suggested it, I made several videos and posted them to You Tube ("Rainbows Must Be Chased," "Strange Gift" and "Valley of the Moon."  Then as I was perusing videos on YouTube, I found one with a poem by Liesel Mueller "What The Dog Hears" and I thought it was So well done that I wanted to try to do something similar.  So, I created two more videos for "Surfing Maverick Waves" (music by U2) and "My Love For Mountain" (music by Kerrey Muzzey...for which I got specific permission to use!).  Both videos are posted below.

   Next week, I will start a poetry writing class and I'm looking forward to it (though know it will involve a lot of work!).