Anniversary of Ordination

Yesterday, June 9, was the 25th ANNIVERSARY of my ORDINATION.
I loved the people in congregations and doing interim pastoral ministry.
Opportunities dried up sooner than I expected. I had a wonderful time while it lasted. Retirement is good; life is good.

Next post: Running, Walking in Chicago

ASCO in Chicago (Part One)

ASCO is the American Society of Clinical Oncology, which held its annual meeting last week at McCormick Place in Chicago, 30,000 strong. Don was there as a guest of the International Myeloma Foundation (IMF), to observe the information presented by the many speakers, and to blog about it from the perspective of an ordinary patient. Yay for the IMF! And thank you.

Don's reports on ASCO:
http://myelomahope.blogspot.com/

At the conference exhibits, Don pointed to the lighted graph which showed Pomalidomide patients in a drug trial.
"This is me, right here," he said.


Now my super little Canon camera is taking blurry pictures like I was storing it in a bucket of water. Sigh. . . .
Non-blurry pictures may have been taken by Sweet Pea, or by Don or even by Don with his phone camera.



McCormick Convention Center is enormous and awesome.
There is a two lane bus route from downtown to the Center, no passing, no exits or entrances, just straight out to where you want to be: expediently.


30,000 folks is a CITY! Twelve bus routes, with 15 buses on each, picking up and dropping people off, back and forth all day and evening.
Below is the list of hotel stops for just one of the routes.



After reading Cancer Girl's blog for some time we appreciated the opportunity to meet Karen and her husband Jay.
We recommend her delightful ASCO reports:

http://adventuresofcancergirl.blogspot.com/

Coeur d'Alene Part 3: Coming home

Pilgrim's Market (food store) in Coeur d'Alene provided great fruit, including the first organic red grapes of the season, for the drive home.
Sunday, May 30, we ran the races in the morning, crashed in the hotel, shopped at Pilgrim's and hit the road for Butte, Montana.

Also real organic Idaho potatoes and Montana Huckleberry jam.


We saw spectacular snow on mountains all the way to Billings, Montana.


Like I said... all the way... snow on mountains.....


Theodore Roosevelt National Park, in Western North Dakota, besides being vast and marvelous "badlands", is a tribute to the conservationist President.


Can't miss the prairie dogs.
Also, magpies flew from trees near us. (Too fast for my camera)


Scoria is that red stuff, which makes great gravel roads, besides being awesome.


A family friend, working in the charming little town of Medora for the summer, was our gracious host.


The Painted Canyon... have to use the word "spectacular" again....


Don drove 1100 miles... the day after running the marathon... to get us from Butte, Montana to home in Minnesota.

In Eastern North Dakota we saw the first complete double rainbows we had seen in years (city folks, you know).
In Minnesota we were treated to lightning "fireworks" in the clouds ahead of us for more than an hour.
All the way, the trip was interesting.



The annoying gray spot especially on that last picture, is permanent inside the sweet little new Canon camera I bought last November. Hmmmm.
Some of the pictures posted on this blog are by Sweet Pea... with her camera with the clean lens.

COMING SOON: the AMTRAK trip to Chicago.

Our drive to the Coeur d'Alene Marathon Races

Our drive through the South Dakota Badlands was even more spectacular when we turned
around at a detour and drove the other way with the sun at our backs.




Taking a running stretch at a parking lot...
And a couple of guys played catch on the lawn beyond the road to get a stretch.

From Billings, Montana to Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, we didn't have much of an idea of the mountains we were missing on the way out. It was like a taste of the autumn storms and snow coming in, except, no, we didn't see falling snow.


Coming here soon: the post about our return drive from Idaho.

Coeur d'Alene Marathon/Half

Finisher's medals for Sweet Pea and Sunshine and a
AGE GROUP AWARD medal for Sunshine in the half marathon
Long sleeved technical shirts for participants of both races


The Montana Big Sky hung low on our drive out. We saw fog and rain, but no mountains. Saturday afternoon was rainy in Coeur d'Alene. Showers for the Sunday morning marathon had been forecast for 2 weeks.


The tour of the race course was highly oversubscibed at both 1 and 2:00. Caravans of cars followed the small trolley crowded with lucky runners who were first in line to ride.


Saturday night forecast looked better!


Just enough sun at the start for cheer, but somewhat overcast throughout the race, temperatures were in the fabulous fifties, for a marvelous race.


Maps provided were difficult to interpret, but the course was well-staffed with volunteers. My doubts about experiencing an interesting half marathon were blown away with runs along Fort Sherman Park, a variety of neighborhoods.... AND

A major stretch along the Coeur d'Alene River and Lake Coeur d'Alene both out and back. The wind was stiff and chilling.. but easily excused for the thrill of the scenery.


More details tomorrow.......

2 Celebrations of a Century

Celebrating two 100 year old women!

On Sunday afternoon almost 200 folks came to a 100 year birthday celebration for my Sweetie's Mother.
On Monday morning we attended the funeral for his 100 year old aunt.

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Today we did 10.9 miles in the park. It was a bit warm, but a lovely day.

Race for the Cure

Race for the Cure Minneapolis
50 thousand people: Second largest Cure race in the country
$2.5 million raised to fight breast cancer
3,000 women diagnosed in Minnesota every year


Wearing our hearts ... well, not on our sleeve, but on our backs
This was mine this year. Usually I add sister-in-law Mary and several others, but I was hurrying to get to the start of the race. Sigh.


"In Celebration of" ... names of breast cancer survivors
"In Memory of" ... names of those who have died

Seeing the thousands of pink signs on runners and walkers is enough to move one to tears. Many say "In memory of my mother", some list several sisters or aunts.

This one ran just ahead of me at the start:


Children were all "Number 1". I always wonder what their stories are.


A young man pulled a wagon with 3 small children in it. (at the right)


We finished the 5K in around 50 minutes, stopping to take pictures, etc.


Many friends and families gathered after the race for pictures: good to celebrate and record the survivors for another year.


In the afternoon we ran another hour and a half in the park.

Snow in Duluth on May 7th . . . . Seriously!

Our car was covered with heavy wet snow, fabulous for making snowballs.

Activity/running since Sunday: Ten miles Tuesday, Four miles Thursday in the Twin Cities

Minnesota Arboretum 5K

Bud Break races: kids get to race too.


The 5K race


Running through the blossoming trees of the Minnesota Arboretum is a treat.


We like to walk together instead of running this race.


We even took a little side trip along the way on the "Wild Flower Walk" to see trillium.
Tulips and daffodils carpeted the finish area.

Officer Down

Too many police cars for 5K race security
An officer on foot waved us to make a left turn ... with his rifle.

At the entrance to the park at Lake Phalen in St. Paul, we were informed that the Batten Disease 5K had been cancelled and would be rescheduled.

At home we heard on the news that a police officer had been shot and killed at 6:30 this morning.