The old lady and the sea....

Another Family Photo

My uncle is the best uncle in the World! We loved visitng with him and spending time in his beautiful home in the desert.

The Oak Tree 5K

First race ever! I finished in 30 min 16 seconds (ave of 10 min miles). I know, kids age 10 finished way ahead of me, but I am happy that I finished, didn't puke and kept it under 10 min miles. That was my goal. Next year, the goal is to get done in less than 28 minutes and perhaps to place in my age group. (If I was in the 30's age group, I would have placed third this year...hmmmm.) Nathan says its b/c women that age are having babies and can't train. By the 40's they have more time and I am of the generation from the late 1970's early 80's where there was a running boom (sic Prefontaine). Okay here we are. Nathan I will say finished in 23:22 and was 36th overall. A really fun race1

Connor Rides on a B-U-Teeeful Geneseo Summer Day

Front and Inside

I was horrified to realize we don't have air conditioning, but then I realized we don't need it! This climate is so great. It gets cool in the evening so if we close up the house on hot days, no problem. Also it just doesn't get that hot here! See the "tree" circle? I'm going to make that all flowers. Also the first "project" will be to rip out the carpet in the living room and replace it with a wood floor.
All in all, I LOVE THIS PLACE!

Good Days and Bad Days

So Linda and crew have been gone from Rapid since Tuesday. Sue has been on 24-hour care since then and Stephanie has been providing her with breaks as needed. Hospice has been to the apartment in one form or another by way of nursing, bathing or spiritual help. Given mom's declining condition Sue is not getting good sleep. Mom's pain is increased and we think she has developed a tumor in her hip area which may be contributing to the pain and discomfort. Yesterday she had a good day and the day before that she got to go out for a stroll around the grounds in her wheelchair. Today is nicht so gut, as she is very weak and tired. Sue is doing an outstanding job and I love her so much.

Linda, Trevor and Connor have begun their journey to the east and are pulling a small U-Haul trailer with the van. We made it to Valparasio, IN today and hope to get the rest of the way tomorrow. Nathan and Kira will remain in Iowa City and the movers will pick up furniture on Monday, then the closing will take place (we hope!) Both our lawyer AND the buyer's lawyers were flooded out andhave been working so hard to make this happen. Keep your fingers crossed.

Just to make life interesting, sweet Nathan has had some health issues. A staph infection in his finger and lots of trouble with his blood pressure meds. The night I got home (Tue), Nathan got up around 3AM to get a drink of water. I heard a big CLUNK downstairs and supposed he had bumped into some boxes or something and thought to myself "at least I don't have to worry about big, strong Nate falling." When he didn't come back to bed I got a little freaked and went to investigate. Kira was mopping him up as she announced, "Daddy fainted". He was there in the kitchen in a puddle of Mountain Dew! He has struggled with some Bradiacardia (slowed heartrate) due to the meds and is now off of those meds and doing better. YIKES.

Trevor and Connor Arrive in Rapid City by Bus after a 21 hour ride

Leave Iowa City: Monday 6-9-08 bus departs 90 minutes late at 10:00 pm CST

Text mail recived by Mom in Rapid City from Trevor on the road: Tue am 6-10-08 from Minneapolis

"They stole it, they stole our CUB foods"

"The Minneapolites stole our CUB foods"

Text mail recieved by Mom in Rapid from Trevor on the road: Tue noon from near Sioux Falls:

"There is a lady here with two kids and a hicky on her neck"

Phone call received by Mom in Rapid from Trevor Tue pm about 5:30pm MST

"Mom Connor is driving me crazy. He won't share his donuts, he is clicking his dental appliance and so he has lost all his talking privileges!"

So 30 minutes later Connor and Trevor get off the bus and Connor looks like he literally has been through HELL. "Mom Trevor made me assume the position!" This means that Trevor, being tired of Connor's antics, had Connor put his head between his knees and grab his ankles. Oh my. The horrors of being a little brother and the horrors of being the big brother who has to deal with the "little fella". Shades of my brothers Mark and Larry! Later Grandma asks Connor, "Do you do everything Trevor tells you? " and Connor answers, "Do I have a choice?"

CRAZY HORSE VOLKSMARCH

Kira and I are taking breaks during this trip and we are exercising for spritual fitness. Sunday we got to walk up to Crazy Horse and stand on the ARM. We did the 10K in very nice time and came back in time to have the rest of the afternoon with grandma.

Final photos

Last Day of the Trip

There was wine
Again Tor was our fearless guide and captain
This ski jump is for Dr. Mark S. who is my mom's oncologist and went to Oslo with me when we were in Band in High School. He has fond memories of visiting this jump.
This is a JELLY FISH and they were all over! I was assured by the cardiologiost (Tor) and theotolaryngologist that they don't astng, so I jumped in. We also knew that if Jelly Fish are out the water temp was at lest 20 degrees C.




This is Marie and she dove in right away and swam for quite a while. She is a true Scandinavian woman.

What a day. Ona took me to Bygdoy, which means island by the sea. This has been my favorite place to run. It is next to the Queen and King of Norway's "country home" and it is on the Fjord. I typically run about 2-3 miles there. Today I ran out to the sea, around the beaches and then I took a path back to Skyoen, which is the dock where Ona and Tor have thier boat, so in total it was a 5-6K run. It was lovely! Ona took the car and then met me at the dock. There were a few times where I was on some back trails and became a little worried, but a nice Norwegian man told me to follow the signs that said Kjersi or something and that kept me on course Here are some more photos of the Fjord. Tor took Ona, her colleague Marie (who is their oto surgeon) and me on a delightful boat ride through the Oslo fjord. We went quite a way out, parked the boat and then we all jumped in and went swimming in the North Sea! It was salty of course cold but very envigorating. Look at our day!

A walk in the park

A beautiful Rapid City Day followed three days after an 18 inch snow-storm in (wait for it) MAY! Sue and Bob took over 36 hours to get to Florida to visit Chris and I got to Rapid City after an adventure myself. Well it was all worth it as mom and I got to spend several hours in the sunshine strolling through Canyon Lake Park. Note to self: take every opportunity possible!

End of a beautiful boatride

Norwegian Wood

A beautifully productive and exercise-filled week. Rip-roaring bike rides into the University of Oslo (man the bike trails are awesome yet congested...with bikes Who knew?) Yesterday a 50 minute run by the Fjord and today a hike in the woods. Two papers are well on their way, a meeting with yet another one of my academic crushes. What more is there to life?

New Home

This will be our new home. The Spencer family is officially moving to Geneseo, NY this summer as Linda accepts a job wt SUNY Geneseo as an assistant professor in the Communication Sciences and Disorders. I beieve I have the best family in the world, as they have been supportive and very brave in accepting this adventure. Here are some photos of the new digs

Mama and Uncle Neil and onto OSLO

Well March meant a trip to the Western NY area (GENESEO) close to where these two grew up, then to Rapid City, then plans were made to hook up with my pal Ona, in Oslo (late May). Busy, Busy times for us all. The Move will begin in late June. Whew!

Our Spring Trip

Began on Saturday May 12. Connor and I made it to St.Paul,just in time to see Macalester Graduates lining up to the tune of Bagpipes. We loaded up all of Kira's belongings from her dorm room and started on our way to Collegeville, MN to watch the finals of the Conference track meet at ST. JOHNS college. After that, we drove to Willmar,MN and spent the night. Started out for Rapid at 8:00 on Mother's day. Windy, HOT and Dry conditions met us as we hit I-90. Prairie Home Companion on the radio and we were set until....KADOKA. Just outside of Kadoka, at the 1880 town, the spedometer plummets to ZERO, then fluctuates between Zero and 180 mph. YIKES. As the RPMs hit 6,7,then 8, I slow her down and pull into the 1880 TOWN, where there is no help available. Cool off the vehicle and think. What could this be??? Transmission? Hmmm. We got back on the road, called my brother-in-law in Rapid and got his advice to put 'er in third gear and ride her into Rapid (about 90 miles) that way. We made it, two hours later, hot and very tired. The temperatures were in the low 90's and the vehicle was strained. Alas, we got Gramma, went to Sue and Bob's and had a great, mother's day dinner. Come to find, we had a relay that went bad, and it took about $140 bucks to fix. Could have been a lot worse! (like it could have happened before MURDO or even at PUKWANA).