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We (my cooking club, significant others and others) had a wonderful make-your-own-pizza party last night at a friend's house, where the pizzas were cooked on an outdoor wood-fired oven--cooking time 2 minutes as the oven is 900 degrees. Though we were kept inside due to the drizzle and eventually rain, we still had a rip-roarin' wonderful good time. We all ate more than we should have, I do believe. My fave? The chicken, red pepper and jalapeno creation from Ed Hayes. No sauce, just some olive oil. Fabulous.

Beverage run: We have a long over-due beverage run this week. Hope you can make it! Lets meet in the parking lot of Dos Amigos on 4th St SW at 5:30pm. We'll start with getting 4-6 easy miles in, then hopefully settle down on the deck at Dos for a toast or two. If you would, please let me know if you plan to attend.

Essex park trail system: Exciting work is taking place up at Essex Park (NW Rochester) in preparation for new running/hiking/skiing trails. Lots more information, opportunities for fund-raising and photos on the RASC (Rochester Active Sports Club) webpage.

Speaking of new trails, there is a new paved bike path in the Cascade Lake area of Rochester. My husband went exploring it after I noticed the connection point to the existing trails at the highway 14/52 interchange. Ted says you can also get on the trail on the west edge of the Mayo parking lot on 2nd St SW near the new fire station/Avalon Cove and in the neighborhood opposite 3rd St NW (which goes into Country Club Manor) on county 22. I think I'll take a run down there one of these beautiful days.

RTC's own Larry Pederson (board member, stair climb, Chester Woods) has been spotted on YouTube talking up hills in SW Rochester. ;-)

We're now going to have complimentary chair massages for all TreadMan Duathlon participants and volunteers. Hope to see you there.

My son Eric posted some photos of Toledo, Spain. I'm jealous. I wish I was there with him! These are the first photos I've ever known him to take in his entire life. But he did great. ;-) He's doing great, and purchased a phone handling the entire transaction in Spanish. That's the idea when you're studying in Spain!

You know the saying 'busy as a bee'? Yesterday I was mowing the lawn and noticed several humongous ant hills. Well, I must say that an equally true saying would be 'busy as an ant'. They are hard little workers, to be sure. As I was mowing, Ted was cutting up green beans for me to freeze. No gender stereotypes in this household!!

Later in the day I went to Aldi for milk. I was perusing the produce and this guy says to me (I had shorts on), 'runner or walker?' Excuse me? 'Are you a runner or a walker?' I replied, 'runner'. He asked me how many miles that day (Sunday) and I said zero as I ran 22 the day before and was recovering. He said that 15 months ago he weighed 511 pounds and now weighed something just over 200, and he was pretty tall. He'd lost 300 pounds in 15 months! I told him that was fantastic--about the equivalent of two people. And it really is fantastic. Good for him!!

The fall colors are advancing on my hydrangeas. Have a wonderful day!

Thought for the day: "Sometimes in the winds of change we find our true direction."