Schierer Space

Nate and I took a little drive this morning to get out of the house (and give K some peace). It was a morning of empty rainy day roads and misty views of the start of fall color.

As we wandered one sight of interest was a private veterans memorial with it’s very own helicopter.

Eventually, we found ourselves in Deruyter where we stopped at the Red and White Cafe. They had obviously not been open very long as the staff was confused and disorganized and the menu fairly limited. One side of the shop has a candy counter and deli, while the other side has a small seating area and a coffee counter.

Also, minus two points for not having a high chair. No big deal, Nate is well enough behaved to sit on my lap… as long as he’s getting fed. I kept him distracted with the tiny little glass of OJ. Breakfast of 3 pancakes, 3 sausage links and a slice of (luke warm) buttered rye toast arrived fairly quickly. Portions were decent but looked tiny compared to the gargantuan servings we get at Emma’s Diner.^[1] The pancakes were really good though (Nate agreed!), I think they were made with a buckwheat mix or perhaps whole-wheat flower giving them some bite^[2] which complemented the real maple syrup.^[3] We took some latte and pastries home to K. She judged the biscotti (almond apricot if I remember correctly) very good but the cinnamon roll was average. I note that this review is somewhat negative at this point, but I have to say the place was well lit and decorated warmly in an old country store kind of way. The owner (I assume) came by to talk with me several times and she apologized for the lack of high-chair and their general unpreparedness. If I’m in Deruyter for breakfast again, that attention will earn her another visit… we’ll see if they get their act together.

1. Strangely, I have never done a post about breakfast at Emma’s, this will have to be corrected. [↩]
2. In the sense of resistance to bite not that they had little teeth or in the hot pepper sense. Hot pepper pancakes would not go well with Maple syrup. [↩]
3. A requisite in my book for any pancake serving establishment in central New York. [↩]

Ice cream melting over fresh apple pie. Fresh like hours ago these apples were still storing sunlight on a New York tree on a cool September day.

… Four hours earlier …

Gala apples warming in the sun…

Meanwhile, at the bottom of a nearby tree, somebody helps himself to the bounty before him…

And then some.

Yeah. Life is good.

Sigh.

Dragon*Con is over, but I’m definitely in withdrawal. The real world seems so grey after my weekend in Oz. We barely had a chance to visit with friends and there are always way too many things to do.
For me, this was quite possibly the most surreal whirlwind weekend I’ve ever experienced. Although K & I hoped that people would enjoy the costume, we had absolutely no idea the stir it would cause. I certainly had no idea the way people would react to the character or the attention it would attract.
On Friday, after we got settled in and scattered to various panels and events, I came back to the hotel room in the late afternoon and assembled the costume (pink fuzz EVERYWHERE). With none of our friends around I put on the costume and headed out (none of them had seen it).
I walked out of the elevator and into the Hilton lobby, and almost immediately had formed a camera circle. Woah. This is going pretty well, but it’s because it’s early in the Con, and not so many people are dressed up… right? (more…)

I saw this bugger traipsing about in the backyard so I hit him with the deer spotter while Martha got this picture. We’re gonna sell it to one of them grocery store magazines!

Seriously though…. Dragon*Con is ON!!!

Yip - yip - yip.

PS: Yes, our house is officially covered in pink fuzz.

So Nate unfortunately learned that wasps are ouchy today. We were out on the back porch and Nate was sitting on the chaise lounge. None of us realized that the yellow-jackets had started a nest underneath.

I was talking with my Dad and suddenly Nate started crying loudly and shrilly. I noticed the insects circling around him.

Ouch.

He was stung on his right forearm and the on his left elbow.

Double Ouch.

Grampa D is allergic, so we are monitoring closely, but so far just some local redness.

I’ve been waiting for the release of the latest John Scalzi novel, The Last Colony since I finished the previous book, The Ghost Brigades, months ago. I’m too cheap to buy it in hardcover though, so I’ve been waiting for the “mass-market paperback”.

Well it’s finally out and I bought it today on the way home from work. I’m already more than half way through. I could probably finish it in another couple of hours but I really must sleep now.

At the Davis’ camp near Unity, ME, I found this beautiful moth. It was quite docile as you can see.

I believe it is a female Polyphemus Moth – Antheraea polyphemus (Hodges # 7757). BugGuide Moth Photographers Group The male has much larger (furrier) antenna.

Nate also played in the ocean, but I’ll want to write more on that later.

Additional vacation pictures are on the gallery.

After Nate and K had gone to bed, I drove up to the Stone Quarry Hill Art Park to watch and photograph the fireworks. The field overlooks the village of Cazenovia and the lake. You can also see Oneida Lake to the north, the Fenner windmills and much of the countryside in between.
I hadn’t thought to go up there for the fireworks before, but obviously others have, as there were probably 2-3 dozen viewers already there by the time that I arrived.
The sun had set and the twilight was fading, so I knew it wouldn’t be long before the fireworks started. There were already several other displays going off in the distance, and a few ‘private’ shows nearer at hand.
It was a beautiful night and after the fireworks ended and the crowd cleared (except for a few intentional stragglers shall we say), the lightning bugs came out and started putting on their own show. So Sis, the last two shots are for you. I think it will definitely warrant another trip up there when it’s darker and later into lightning bug season.
Here are some highlights, but make sure to look at the whole album.

K & I survived our runs. K did great on the 5k with a 32:37 (officially).

Her 1km splits (based on her time across the start line not the gun):
7:01
6:37
6:17
6:32
5:45
—–
32:14 (She started her watch at the start line, but still can’t explain the 23 second difference.)

She said she felt pretty good, and her time was good enough I was able to shadow her on the last km with her before getting ready for my start (about 40 minutes after hers).

As I said in the last post, I had some kind of cramp (or strain sounds more likely from Lisa & Todd’s comments). I lasted about half a mile before the calf started to hurt, but I took it easy and pushed on. I figured if it was really bad it would hurt more and let me know. Since my leg was hurting/stiff I kept the initial pace down, and it only hurt me particularly badly now and then (one pretty bad spike at about 6 miles). By 7 miles I wasn’t really feeling it (or maybe noticing it) anymore and my pace picked up. Here are my splits:

8:46*
8:46* (I missed the split at 1 mile, so this is the 2 mile split divided by 2)
8:43
8:46
8:45
8:20
8:38
8:25
7:54
7:16
—–
84:21 (officially 1:24:11, I can’t explain where the other ten seconds went)

I’m pretty happy with that, but then I’m left wondering how much better I might have done if my leg had been better. Anyhow, a great day for a run, and it felt great to do well.

Of course now I can barely walk, but next week was vacation anyways so I have plenty of time to rest it.

The big 10 mile race is tomorrow. This is exciting. It’s also nerve racking because I’ve been suffering from a ridiculous cramp in my left calf since Tuesday.

K asked me when I got home from work “Are you still going to race?” I said “Well I have to try!”

It’s feeling better today, but there’s not telling if it will hold up. We shall see.