Sara Skates

useful tea facts

So since quitting coffee a couple of years ago, I have become rather attached to tea.  Most often, I drink some version of rooiboos - a caffeine-free herbal thing.  In the morning, I have a cup or two of black tea - usually vanilla almond, although I have a few others in rotation too.

All this tea drinkage means I periodically get tea catalogues in the mail.  Up today?  Upton Tea's catalogue.  Chock full of not only tea choices, but a lot of information about tea.

*Tea has about half the caffeine of coffee.  So officially? I am not caffeine free.  Though I drink a lot less of it than when I drank coffee - I quit when (a) I realized that my "just two cups" a day were really honkin' huge cups that consumed close to 3/4 a pot in the morning LOL and (b) I got the flu, was really sick and prone and not eating or drinking anything for a few days in a row.  By the time that was out of my system, I figured I had been through much of the caffeine withdrawal effects and just merged them in with the flu effects.

*if you want to decaffeinate your own tea???  It's super easy.  Most of the caffeine disolves into the tea hot water in the first 20-30 seconds of brewing.  So, simple, pour boiling water over your tea leaves, steep for not more than 30 seconds, pour off the water, and pour fresh water over the rinsed leaves.  Voila, pretty much decaffeinated tea.

Someday, I'll buy myself a pretty tea pot, for now, I mostly use this except when using tea bags :)

Skating highlights

Last Thursday, I drove to Toronto and had a luxuriously long lesson with Gary Beacom. Gary is one of the most innovative skaters out there - with superb technique to boot.  About a year ago, I wrote him to purchase one of his books as well as a set of DVDs of his programs - and I mentioned that if he was ever within spitting distance of where I live to please contact me as I would love to work with him.  The stars aligned, and he was in Toronto to perform last week.

II had an hour and a quarter lesson with him, at the Toronto Cricket Curling and Skating Club (or cricket curling skating swimming tennis and who knows what else club), on a very very nice session with beautiful ice (freestyle ice only, no lines on it anywhere, no boards either just a small lip to hop over, lots of mirrors and things like ballet bars on the side to try stuff while holding on to a rail ROFL). After an ice cut (aka "flood" in Canada I gather lol) I skated another half hour or so to try and remember stuff and have it gel a bit.

We played a lot with classic Gary B stuff - deep edges and creative steps and funky spins and he worked on jump technique with me too. I came home with lots of ideas of things to keep working on - and a
number of ways to push my envelope and comfort zone.  And very tired leg muscles - that didn't really appreciate being cooped up in a car following such a skate.

There weren't many other skaters on the session - but all were really good and working on really interesting choreography.

More details re. what we did include:

*Since he didn't know me from a hole in the wall, he had me start just with some crossovers - looking for even solid strokes and no "wobbling". He very quickly said something like "wow, you're a strong skater - you know how it is, you never know until you get on the ice". (Ok, that sounds kinda rude - it really wasn't.) But within about 2 seconds he commented on how I carry a lot of tension in my torso and I
needed to lower it to my core and skate with my legs ROFL. Uh, yeah. It's my achilles heel - I've been working on it.

*we progressed to deep FI edges - and then to adding a pivot after each one - deep RFI, pivot, deep LFI, pivot, etc. I think we did these backwards too with a pivot on the heel - I need to get back on the ice and play and try to remember

*we did a bunch with spins. Some - he just gave some good technique pointers - improving what I have already. Lots - playing with his creative spins. NO way can I do any of them. He unpacked them a bit
for me but one lesson was just not nearly enough to really figure them out.

*then we did jumps - he had me go through each one - waltz, sal, to, flip, lutz, axel. We spent more time on the later ones - he had some technique adjustments for many of them. My axel I have been deconstructing for the last few months and trying to build back up - and his technique matched exactly with what I have been trying to do - so that was nice. I'm not there yet but it'll happen.

*then - lots of steps and footwork things. Just funky little weird things. He showed me some new stuff he was playing with - and he had some good input on things I have and want to make better (my program footwork). We worked on twizzles. Some toe step things - which I never do due to an irrational fear of tripping over my toes. He found the edge of my comfort zone and we did some things going beyond that. He helped me do choctaws better (my BO edge is not very edgy). Weird inside spread eagle things with swizzles making them just go and go and go. Etc.

I was so so sore for days - I still feel it a bit.  The long session wasn't the problem - just moving in ways I'm not used to moving on ice and using muscles differently. My butt cheeks on down were beyond stiff ROFL.

it was a total skating heaven day :)

out of the mouths of babes

Tonight while watching a few particularly worrisome parts of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, Toby quips:  "Oh no, that is o-dear-able."

While tiffing with his sister this afternoon, Toby tries this argument:  "Hannah, I need to enjoy my life.  So you should give me your gum."

To Terry the night after we arrived home (we were gone for a week at Wheelchair Sports Camp):  "Mama, give your son a hug."

There's more no doubt, but I can't recall.  Funny, aren't they? 

You take the good with the bad

The good: 

Toby's at wheelchair sports camp this week - he's having a blast.  Typically, he doesn't use a chair - we have one but it has mostly been a good dust collector in our basement.  He uses a walker well, he's getting speedy on the tripod canes, we just haven't used it.  At camp, they put all the kids into sports wheel chairs (like this and this), and grownups (with motor disabilities and similar chairs) lead them in playing tennis, handball, basketball, football, etc. - and they swim daily.  Oh my goodness - he is having a blast.  He got 47 hits yesterday at tennis, and supposedly 100 today ROFL - though he has the blond co-eds wrapped around his little finger so I dunno if there has been some inflation of the statistics ;)  Tennis seems to be a daily activity on outdoor courts, then they go inside to play another game - yesterday basketball, today soccer but with hands (so I think handball).  Anyway.  What I have learned??  To think about pushing for a sports wheelchair for Toby at school during gym time.  The speed he has in it does not compare to when he's in a walker or using his canes - where he's left in the dust when a gaggle of kids runs off.

We're staying chez Cate and Rhys, and driving an hour and back daily to the camp.   It's working pretty well - I was a little worried about traffic going through Springfield and Hartford, but it has been fine.

The bad:

Knitting.  Holy hell.  I'm on sleeve two of Poppy. Not only have I changed my gauge from 4.5 stitches to the inch on sleeve one to 5 stitches to the inch on sleeve 2?  I also cast on not nearly the same amount of stitches (46 rather than 55).  This results in drastically different sized sleeves - 12 inches in circumference for one, nearly 9 for the other.

Since I'm like that, I brought a number of projects with me to Cate's.  The one I was working on last night?  (Adding a beaded edge to a scarf.)  I ran out of beads, so it is shelved until I return home ;)  Bummer, b/c somehow it was a lot easier to work on it here with the big comfy leather couch than with the setup I have at home.  Something about the arm rest configuration - the bowl of beads sits right there rather than semi out of reach as at home.  I was cruising with it - but stalled.

which makes this project # 2 that is stalled.  I have two more to go...

All in all?  that's how it goes - some good, some bad, lots of living :)

Corrugated ribbing

bites.

It's only 10 rows at the top of a sock, but it's taken two evenings and I'm not done yet.

Corrugated ribbing and dpns? Holy hannah.  The dpns were in a real push for liberty during the first row or two.