Scattered Thoughts . . .

This is another blog entry with a lot of photos and a short video down at the bottom of the page. N ot only did Gee and Kenzie get to skate at Rockefeller Center but we also scheduled an early morning skating session at Bryant Park.  Of course, Lukey was supposed to skate with them on both days but he was on crutches with a broken foot so he stuck with me during the skating sessions.   This session at Bryant Park wasn't as early as the session we had previously at Rockefeller Center but it was their earliest session of the day for Bryant Park.  We figured that the crowd would be thinner earlier in the morning plus the ice would be best first thing in the morning.  The temperatures reached into the 40s during the day while we were there which isn't so great for ice, however, the ice would have a chance to freeze well through the night when nobody was skating on it and the temperatures were down around freezing again.  By the end of the day, both rinks had been soft with puddles

I n preparation of ice skating with Lukey and Kenzie at Rockefeller Center and Bryant Park in about a month, Sheila purchased a new pair of figure skates.   We went to an ice rink on Sunday for Sheila's first practice session in about two decades or so.  She did fairly well during that first session.  She was a bit stiff-legged but she did well.  During that first session, she noticed that one of her skates wasn't sharpened properly so we had them sharpened again today at lunchtime.  This evening, we headed to the rink again so Sheila could practice. She was doing very well this evening and it was obvious she was feeling more comfortable on skates.  She was making more progress than in her first session, that is, until she had a bit of a slow motion fall.  While trying to ease her fall to the ice, she did something to her right leg.  Her right leg sort of twisted and collapsed under her. As she limped off the ice, it was pretty obvious that she could barely walk on it so I drov

T his evening, we headed up to Burlington to purchase a new pair of figure skates for Gee.  She plans to skate before some of Kenzie's figure skating lessons in preparation of skating with Lukey and Kenzie at Rockefeller Center and Bryant Park at Christmastime.   Sheila hasn't skated in decades so this will be interesting.  I would like to join them but I know my spinal injuries could not handle skating and a fall would be, at a minimum, painful for my spinal injuries or, at worst, devastating.  Instead, I'll be trying to shoot some photos and maybe some video of them skating.  And, honestly, I really don't need another TBI by falling on the ice either.   Sheila wasn't sure what size skate she needed so she grabbed a generic brand skate that was easily accessible to us just to try for size.  She laced the skate up but, when she stood on the one foot with the skate, she didn't seem all that stable.  The blade on this particular brand of skate was cheap too.  As I

A bout two weeks ago, we went to one of Kenzie's figure skating lessons.  It was actually nice to step into winter for a bit rather than be in the heat and humidity! This was the first lesson of Kenzie's we've seen since purchasing her a new pair of figure skates.  We're happy to say that we noticed a significant improvement in her skating since her ice show back in February!  I'm sure part of the reason for such a significant improvement is simply due to her getting older and stronger.  However, since she was clearly more sure-footed and fluid at this lesson and practice session, we have a very strong feeling that the biggest reason for her significant improvement is due to the new skates. Both Sheila and I feel as though she could be a pretty good figure skater so we're hoping she sticks with it.  Of course, getting ice time for practice is difficult for various reasons so growth comes slowly which can be frustrating for the skater.   _________________________

L ukey's hockey team, the Black Bears, had a game against Stowe this past Sunday.  The game was at the Waterbury ice rink so we made the very short drive to the rink to watch Lukey and visit with the rest of the family who attended the game.   Lukey has been playing the goaltender position for the past few years and he is getting good at it!  He has a lot of saves each game and this game was no different.   Even though this Stowe team was a tier above Lukey's Black Bears team, it was a one-sided game in favor of the Black Bears.  This is a pretty solidly balanced team.  Their offensive line is good with some fast skaters and pretty good stick-handlers.  Their defensive line does a good job.  And, Lukey's goaltending has proven to be difficult to penetrate by most teams his age.   I don't often shoot video at his games but I attempted a few clips this time.  Shooting video is tough at these games for a few reasons.  First, the rinks are tight which means you are close to

I am typing this blog entry as I lie on the couch with my leg elevated and an ice pack on my right knee...  again.   I cut the lawn on Friday.  The lawn was long because I skipped a week (it was too hot and humid for two weeks for me to manage to get anything accomplished outdoors) so I needed two passes on most of the lawn but, even so, it seemed like a pretty easy job since the heat and humidity had broken.  I had absolutely no problems until my last couple of passes on the last section of lawn where I must have turned a little carelessly and twisted my right knee a bit.  All of a sudden, I could no longer put any weight on my right leg without a lot of pain.  I finished the lawn while limping along and then put everything away.  Usually I will water all the gardens after cutting the lawn but I skipped that this time around and went directly inside hoping my knee would feel better after sitting for a while. Unfortunately, since that time, I've been spending most of my time on the

The blog has taken a backseat to my health in recent months.  I haven't had the energy to write at all.  As a result, I am way behind in keeping this blog even slightly up to date!   I shot a bunch of photos of Kenzie the other day (over 2000 photos!) so I'll start with a new blog entry about her.   We spent some time the other day being entertained by Kenzie at her last figure skating lesson for this season.  We had watched her a few weeks ago and I really need to mention that she has improved significantly in the past few weeks.  Actually, she has improved so much in just three short weeks that it came as a bit of a pleasant shock when we watched her the other day.  Both Gee and I were quite impressed.   Kenzie had some alone time on the ice before her lesson.  The ice was clean and fresh and there were only a handful of people here at the rink during her warm-up time doing laps around the rink.  It was obvious that she was working on one thing at a time as she did her d