Twitter Feed Test

So I just set up my new blog - seedchallengewalk.blogspot.com - and synched it with Facebook and Twitter. However, it seems when I logged into Twitterfeed, my dashboard was empty.
This is my test post to see if it is still synched to Twitterfeed or not. Last night it was. Hmm...

Bashful Blogging

So I did it. I started a new blog tonight, or more so set up a new blog tonight. I've been meaning to do it for a few months now. I won't release the name nor address yet because I haven't posted.

But it looks pretty! That was the easy part.

I signed up for the MS Challenge Walk Cape Cod in January or February, five years after my sister had been diagnosed with the disease. She has done the walk the last 2 years.

Last year, I went up to the Cape to see and support her walking. It was motivating and exciting. I knew I had to walk with her the following year - this year.

Also, in the two years she has walked, she has not finished the 50 miles. Last year, finishing was all she talked about and it was sad not to see her accomplish this goal. Part of me is certain that she will finish if I am walking next to her.

We have never been close, despite being 2 years apart. Her diagnosis brought us closer, but there is still a lot of room between us.

I hesitate to write my first post for my new blog because we are never the types to put our feelings out there, or get sentimental. Yet, I want this to be a blog I can share with everyone, and use as part of my fundraising for the walk.

We are doing a long walk tomorrow. Perhaps I will post on that (Long Legs?) instead of a first post about why I walk. I hope tomorrow is the catalyst I need ...

Ciao Cheese!

I gave up cheese this year for Lent. My only caveat was I could still eat cheese after Ash Wednesday if I made it in a dish before.

Needless to say Tuesday was a cheese feast. I had nachos, pizza, and straight shredded cheddar. I felt like a feign.

A full day with almost no cheese (I am making my pizza last) I continued to crave it - especially melted, like on my nachos. Something about gooeiness of it all makes my mouth water.

Tonight I went to the grocery store. I had decided that I'd replace my cheese with avocado on my burgers and falafels. The first store didn't have any but I stuck with it and moved onto the next.

The hardest part roaming the stores was passing the cheeses - they're everywhere! Not only could I not scope out the prices of the regular deli cheese, but I also had to force my legs to continue past the cheddar popcorn and cheese crackers.

It's been almost two days. I can't say my cheese cravings have weakened or strengthened, but I have found substitutes. Chocolate chip cookies half dipped in chocolate, chocolate, and chips almost do the job.

Almost. But nothing that I've found yet can replace the oily goo I love smothered over my chips and beans or the cool, rich, solid milk slice that completes my breakfast.

And until I do, it will be a long Lental season for this cheesehead. Ciao cheese! Until we meet again!

Summer's Final Storm Scene

I can’t stop looking out my window, even as I type. Three police cars just left my street not ten minutes ago. One was an undercover. Another I watched pull out of my neighbor’s driveway. He may have pulled in there to turn around, but my first thought was “Perhaps they just picked up my creepy neighbor.” Though he lives on the south side of the street and across the way, I know he walks all around. 

Another neighbor, one right next door also on the side opposite where the cops were, has cautioned me about him before, and again recently. He’s mentioned how he has seen creeper walking the streets and it seems he tries to ‘catch a glimpse’ into my apartment. He’ll cross the street and walk on the sidewalk in front of my house. I’ve seen it and seen him watch my house from his front porch. 

He must have taken his walk tonight. Just after the officers left my street, I noticed a light flickering outside. A streetlight is right outside my living room window. Each flash caught my eye. Through my window in one of the lights I noticed someone crossing the street and walking toward my house. A deep breath and a few steps later, I saw him pass my front window. Another flicker and from the sidewalk he faced my apartment.

His frail shoulders and distinct walk allowed me to pick his movement in the dark. The white trough on his head, grizzly face, and stoic silhouette lit up in next flash. Quickly he turned and continued his sojourn back home. 

The thunder rolled overhead and I realized then it wasn’t the street light but the last summer storm to pass through. Yet, I still got up, closed the windows, secured the doors, checked my phone, and lit a candle. A scene from a scary movie a bit too close to home for this one and I am not going to let it play.

Peace Corps

She sat in her chair contemplating. Then she turned to me and said, "I need a job." Mind you she is employed and making a pretty penny. But it's not complete, nor satisfying. I responded with "I need….I don't know." I am pretty content with life as it is happening. I have a simple fun job for which I am grateful, friends to call in a crisis, and a supporting family. I pay my rent month-to-month and I'm able to enjoy the luxuries of Audible and Netflix. However, in my mind, my first response was, "I need my Master's."

The more I thought about it today, the more I want it. But in what??? International Studies? – about just as broad and useful as my Anthropology degree. International Law? – could I really do that? I don't want to be tied up in courts and paperwork. I want to be in logistics, on the forefront.

In the social sciences there is always talk of the Peace Corps. I have looked into it briefly before but the two-year commitment has always scared me. What do I have to lose? All I have to do is give my landlord 1-month notice, and find someone to watch my cat (probably my parents). Otherwise, I know that everything else is good. The people I leave will support my leaving and the things that aren't with me or here when I come home, I don't need.

I am fully confident that my service in the Peace Corps will tell me what to do next. It will be the springboard to the next chapter of my life. Here I go!

I plan on applying at the end of the year as my portion of the 50-year Corps Anniversary.

First Day of Summer

Today is the first day of summer. I had planned on spending the afternoon on the beach relaxing. Of course that didn’t happen. The key to my car was MIA. So instead of pulling out my beach chair after babysitting this morning, I pulled out my phone. My father came and picked me up like I was 15 again.

Back then the summers were easy. Each day I knew exactly what was happening and drifted through the motions. I didn’t pay much attention to how much I spent each week, or the weather. I knew I’d be up early in the morning, get on the bus for camp, spend endless hours there, return home for dinner, and hang out with friends until the moon crested. They were simple. The school year and winter were so very far away.

On the car ride home, my father told me that he and my mother decided I was to go to the dealership two towns away and purchase extra car keys. He expected a spare to be on his key ring by dinner. (Yes, I am 27 and not living home, and my parents made my itinerary for the day.) Fortunately he lent me his car and suggested I take the scenic route because downtown was all torn up.

I make a quick run to the bank to cash my babysitting check and dash to the dealership. I took the scenic route as my father recommended and cruised right along. Right along until I came to the bright orange signs in the distant. All I could do was chuckle.

The road was closed up ahead and the detour routed through a bit of Mystic. On the detour I also passed other “Bridge / Road Closed” signs and detours. So much for avoiding these!

Traveling pt 2

The family sets up camp. The daughters, Jane and Molly, pull out their latest reads and the father examines today’s paper. Mother goes for a walk along the white sand beach. Mere yards away the rolling blue waters of Magen’s Bay crush upon the same sands.


Jane takes a moment from her reading. “Daddy,” she says with a strong French - English accent, “what does recluse mean?” Her father asks her to repeat it a few times. “Ahh,” he replies with his equally strong accent, “to stay inside, to hide away, go into hiding.” Importing her father’s definintion, Jane continues in her book.

Molly is off somewhere playing. Her towel lays abandoned between her family members. Her book is away in her sister’s bag. She is no where to be seen.

Jane turns the page and turns to ask her father another question. This time is about “sombre.” He explains it well enough for the 12-year old to grasp and continue her reading. They say the best way to expand your vocabulary is to see it in context and look it up or define in the context. Jane is well on her way to loquacious life.

Molly gallops up the beach to the family spot. Her sister is reading on the towel and her father is watching the bay seas roll up on the sand. Molly just built a castle or something down the way and begs Jane to go see it. Jane lumbers steadily to Molly’s creation.

Jane returns unimpressed to her towel. She picks up her book and continues in her peruse. Molly follows her back running with her hands out to the side to dry them and not get them sandy again. It’s almost time to go.

Back at the family station, father suggests Molly stay in the area. Shortly mother returns and they begin to pack up their things. It is only 10:30am and they have a big day ahead of them.