 tooting my own
Inspired by Thomas' success on the clarinet, I broke Pop's ol' valve trombone out of storage this week. James is helping me make more than noise come out of the bell. So far I can hold a note - not sure which one yet. It's odd to drive to work with numb lips from practicing. The horn, circa 1907, needs to be shined, but Rita says the valves work great. My biggest critic is Daisy. She runs for safety when I open the case. At first she ran to the basement or to the stairs. Last night, the basement door was closed. She ran from room to room and ended up in the bathtub, her shaking head peeking out of the shower curtain. I'm not ready for a public debut, but I'm having fun trying something new.
century
signed up for the MS-150 Bike Tour for the virginia chapter of the MS Society. it's in may, and james and I plan to ride a century - 100 miles in one day. the farthest we've ridden ever in a day was about 75 miles during the 2001 MS-150 in georgia in september when the event was reduced to one day due to security concerns following the 9/11 attacks. we plan to start training 10 weeks before the ride (march 13) and gradually build up from 10 mile rides to a 60 mile ride a week before the big day. will keep you posted on our progress.
tragic
homer hickam's perspective on the sago mine disaster rings true. "There are no better men than coal miners."
stumbling on...
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launch party
james finally completed the family web site he set out to create 2 years ago. the finished product - yougotthempeacheyet.com - is a wonderful collection of family profiles and hundreds of scanned photographs. I was looking back to our 2003 Thanksgiving visit to his grandmother's house in corry and found this: "James and I spent Friday scanning old family photos and digging into family history for the developing Downey clan website." from then until our official launch party at katy's house last month - what a journey! for the party, james prepared a delicious chicken curry recipe in the crockpot, and a crowd of 15 read aloud, laughed and cried as we shared the site projected on the wall.
headlines
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day to day: If you are looking
for the daily rundown of my action-packed life, it's here.
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farm journal
itsclear2me
gotthempeachesyet
donmcclain.com
virginiamcclure.com
rumrats blog
nell & eric
dooce
dcist
bike rides
harmonica
sudoku
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