Vine Valley on Tuesday

I grabbed these photos near Middlesex, on my way to a job there.

Sunday's Adventure -- Storm Chasing...

well actually that would be the storm chasing me! But I won the race. I walked to Kershaw Park and back (a bit over 3 miles there and back) before the rain hit.

One answer to economic distress...

This is the New York Wine and Culinary Center, near the pier in Canandaigua, New York. Built this summer with taxpayer dollars (i.e. subsidized through tax incentives to new businesses), this new business created 91 new jobs, according to Mayor Polimeni. Of those 91 jobs 80 were part-time, nonsustainable positions ...

My other running partner

Last spring I ran on the treadmill, worked on the elliptical or cycled on a stationary bike at the Y. And I temporarily forgot this watch that Nelson gave me for my birthday last year. It has to be the most unlady like, ugliest thing I own, but the numbers are big enough that I can read the print without my glasses. The bright yellow color keeps it from getting lost amongst the other things in the basket where it sits when I'm not running. And it tracks everything! Well it did once my running neighbor Chuck gave me some pointers last summer on how to use it. It tracks intervals like Monday's Fartlek-type run (3" run hard, 3" walk, 2" run hard, 2" walk; 1" minute run hard, 1" walk). It tracks both laps and total run time for timed workouts, and for timing hill work. And it has a timer for my long slow, who-cares-about-the-distance runs (like this morning's 30 minute run) and my tempo runs.
It's also a motivator...sitting in that basket in that cheery yellow color. It seems to shout at me at times, "Hey, Nete, come on! It's time to play. I'm lonely. Let me outta here."
So between this watch and Bart panting at the door ...

Fall Training

Location: the cinder track at Fort Hill, my favorite running place since the track borders the property where I live.
Last week, after about eight months of bad training starts following recovery periods from injuries, falls, illness and scheduling crunches, I started running again. This morning, using the times from last week's easy, see-what's-comfortable-don't-start-too-hard-and-get-discouraged-again runs, I mapped out a training program for the next two months. Just like budgeting, I'll assess actual-versus-goals and adapt November's runs accordingly. My mission: get back in shape and perhaps even do a 5K at Thanksgiving.

Training partner Bart is always glad to go for a run AND since the vet says he needs to lose a couple pounds, this should be good for both of us. Maybe we can lose some weight together.

A very large corkscrew ...

also taken at Onanda Park

Dog crazy

The woman in blue, on the left, arrived at Onanda with at least four dogs -- three Retrievers (one's headed up the hill and only his tail is visible, just to the left of the lady in blue) and the little white dog between the two SUVs. Shortly after the four canines trotted over to meet Bart, the lady in red arrived with one or two more.

More from Onanda Park near Canandaigua

It rained through most of Labor Day weekend, or threatened to do so. But on Tuesday it cleared up for a hike through Onanda Park. This view is from atop the hill overlooking Canandaigua Lake.
Following the stream down mini-falls meandering through the rock and down to the lake.
The view from a floating dock on what used to be YWCA camp, now owned by the Town of Canandaigua. This photo lets you "see" why this chain of lakes is called the "Finger Lakes". Look at them on a map ... the "palm" is Lake Ontario and these lakes are the "fingers".