Category Inspire

My First Race – Dragon Boat Racing

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IMG_3594I heard a team captain say they were “short” one woman to be able to form a team for the Dragon Boat races that were coming up, so I shyly raised my hand.  DONE – I was part of the team!

Our day started at 5 AM on Saturday. We had to drive to the location, set up and prepare for the day’s events. A group got there before us and set up our tents. We all brought food for a pot luck and stored our bags, paddle, etc.  FYI: Never forget your towel and change of clothes. You do get wet, it’s fun, but not if you can’t change your clothes on a cold day.

IMG_3601When we practice we do not have a dragon head on our boat, so I was curious to see how this would look.  I didn’t realize that there is a real drum on the boat too. For those of you who do not know much about dragon boat racing I’ll fill you in. There are 20 paddlers to a boat. The first two paddlers at the front of the boat are called, “the strokes,” they set the pace for the boat.

The drummer uses the drum to set the pace of the strokes, so this person must have a loud voice for all of us to hear. When we are paddling it’s easy to get distracted by the boats next to us and their drum beats. I also learned that you lose time if you look up to see “how” you are doing in the race, best to stay focused and give your strokes ALL you’ve got. Finally, there is the steerperson at the back of the boat, who steers the boat and also gives IMG_3609commands to the paddlers. Here is a glossary of Dragon Boat terms.

We raced about 500 meters in 2.5 minutes. There were four boats racing at once and it took a little time to get us ALL lined up. I know 2.5 minutes might not seem long, but imagine how you feel when you are doing “planks” at the gym. You start out strong and then your arms get tired and it takes everything you’ve got to keep in the plank position. Same with paddling, you force yourself to continue paddling through the pain and finish STRONG. That’s where the drum beat comes in, it keeps the team focused.

BAD NEWS – We didn’t win!

GOOD NEWS – We had a lot of fun, we worked as a team and after our 3rd time out, we improved our time, and we finished STRONG!  It was a great day!   GO TRY IT!

Happy 4th of July!

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imageAs we celebrate 4th of July this weekend, I thought how American this house looked. I came across this house on my walk and was happy to see the American flag in the window. It reminded me of when I was young, celebrating with a barbecue and fireworks afterwards. Of course, we were always told to “be careful,” so we wouldn’t blow our hands off or burn the house down.

The little community where I lived in Indiana always had a Fireman’s Ball for the 4th of July. They would open the firehouse for the evening, provide some food, hire a band and all of the neighbors would come. A nice way to bring the community together and also to honor and acknowledge our fire department.

I was reading Life In A Word’s Blog. He wrote about the “4 Miles in the Forest” yearly run that he participated in recently which honors and benefits the Black Forest Fire/Rescue Department. A few years ago 500 firefighters were in Colorado battling the Black Forest Fire, which was devastating. You can read the story on his blog.

I live close to a fire department and every weekend, as you can see in the photo, they are taking care of the fire trucks and doing different drills, so they are prepared for any call they might receive.

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With summer here and lots of fireworks this weekend, there is that possibility that a fire might break out. As my fellow Blogger mentioned in “Life In A Word,” the firefighters put their lives on the line every day for us.  It’s true, they are the “unsung heroes.”

So, this 4th of July, if you come across some firefighters, tip your hat to them or treat them to coffee/lunch… for sure, they will smile and feel appreciated!

The Red Quill Pen

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With my red quill pen in hand, I can officially say, “it is time to write.”

My daughter recently asked me how my children’s book was coming along. I told her I was at the cliff hanger part… “You know, where you think the character is doomed and won’t make it out alive, so you sit at the edge of your seat, KNOWING there is ALWAYS a way out, but HOW?! This is a James Bond situation.”

So, I made a joke with her that it was the computer that was holding me back from being creative. If I “just had” a red quill pen, I could think like a Pirate!

I was missing the days of the old typewriter where you had to really THINK of every word you typed; otherwise, you would be yanking the page out of the typewriter constantly, crumpling it up and throwing it in the waste basket only to start again.

So… I was pleasantly surprised when my daughter gave me a red quill pen for Mother’s Day!

NOW, you can write, she said. I really laughed, but where was the ink well and the thick paper that makes a scratching noise when the Pirate writes? Can’t have everything at once, right.

THE UNIVERSE IS AT WORK!

Another interesting thing happened last week. I was laid off work, so it would appear that the Universe is setting me up to write the end of my children’s story “in between job searching,” of course. No excuses now!

I’m following a few good writing Blogs. Visit “A Writer’s Path,” and this weekend on “Live to Write – Write to Live,” there was a wonderful Blog about facing our inner critic for any topic in our lives called, “Weekend Edition – Battling the Writer’s Inner Critic,” by Suddenly Jamie.  You’ll read that and be inspired!

So, with quill in hand I write… “You dare to touch the nose of a sleeping tiger!?”

Pasta Galore!

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image1If you like pasta, there is nothing better than going through an Italian super market. I was walking through the isles of the grocery store in Florence, Italy with my Italian mother and we came to the pasta section. As I looked at the choices with amazement, I asked her WHY with ALL the pasta choices she ONLY used spaghetti or penne pasta when we were growing up. She didn’t have a clear answer, she just kept dinner simple.

My mother was not a typical Italian cook. We did not have ravioli or tortellini.  NO — it was image2always spaghetti with bolognese sauce. Nothing wrong with that mind you, but when I went to another Italian’s house for lunch or dinner it was totally different from my house. My Italian girlfriend would cook with different pasta shapes and add vegetables to her pastas.

Lasagna was different too. My mother made lasagne with béchamel sauce, while my friend made hers with ricotta cheese. If you’ve ever had lasagne with béchamel sauce you can NEVER eat it with ricotta cheese again — it just tastes wrong! My opinion, of course.

image3As I continued on with my mother, we stopped by the produce section to find some tomatoes. Well, I had to smile… they had all kinds of tomatoes to choose from in big bins and our shopping adventure would not have been complete if we had not bought our parmesan cheese!

I think I was especially happy to see all the pasta, because in America the latest diet trend is “no pasta,” “no rice,” etc. and here I was in Italy, my Italian heritage, seeing all this pasta and thinking it’s not necessary to give up pasta completely.  Clearly, I was missing my “Italian heritage.”

So, here’s to exploring new recipes and going “beyond” the spaghetti style noodles! Changing your noodle shape does change the taste of your pasta.  AND REMEMBER, the pasta MUST be “al dente.”  This trip, I have to say, the pasta was almost “too” al dente.  I imagined the cook with his chef hat crooked trying to get pasta out as fast as possible!

Buon appetito (translation: Enjoy your meal)!

Be an Artist

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imageThere seems to be an art craze going on right now. I am not an artist by trade, but I have always wanted to learn how to paint using water colors in particular. So, I was pleasantly surprised when a friend recently told me about a company called, “Corks and Canvas Events.”

Apparently the owners, Lisa Cryder and Stefanie Hare, came up with a great idea of combing painting with visiting different wineries and wine bars in the Seattle area. Visit their website and you’ll see you can choose a painting you’d like to paint and then find the date for that event. Art supplies, instructions and one glass of wine are included in the fee. You socialize with new people, learn how to paint and as they say, “go home with a masterpiece.”image

On another note, have you noticed that Adult coloring books are sprouting up everywhere? I don’t know how I missed that one. It seems like the coloring books have popped up over night. I noticed they are on all sorts of topics and you can choose to color in markers, colored pencils or crayons.

Somehow, I think my attention span might get a little bored with coloring… not sure. I think I would prefer putting a puzzle together or playing Canasta. Although, I’d have to freshen up on the rules of Canasta, I haven’t played in a long time.

The good news is, if you want to be an artist, you don’t have to sign up for a 6 week long art class to learn how to paint anymore. Just find a painting event in an area near you and “presto” you can be an artist in one night! Move over Picasso!