Days of Play

Goodbye Cindy

We saw Cindy off this morning. After dropping her off at LAX we headed down to San Pedro to join other home school kids and parents in a PE/movement class led by another home school dad, Efrain (rare) who also studies Brazilian juijitsu (more rare) with the Machado brothers (rarerist). We ran down a trail, bounding around rocks, throwing and carrying rocks of all sizes, ending up doing sprints, bear walks, duck walks and the like ont the wet sand, a beautiful day to be by the beach, unfortunately we didn't think to bring our suits, oh well.

Off to park day

So I'm on this new kick to really try to make my work outs fun. I think the drudgery of all the runs leading up to the marathon and the repitition of "regular"excercise have kept me away. So here I am, back at it with fun.


The Slackline

We tried out the slackline at the Venice Eco-fest and were hooked. So I ordered one from Gibbons Slackline.
I set it up and it was awesome.



Skye sizing it up.



And soon there was a line to slackline.




River, one step at a time





Okay it was a bit harder than I expected.

I ended up shortening the distance so that it didn't bounce quite so much, making the slack line a little less slack.

We played some frisbee a little latter and then hopped around a bit.

Fun, fun, fun.


Tuesday

Started out with Skye and me doing some yoga.

Later on we were off to the beach for more fun and excercise, swimming and bouncing around in the waves. Again excercise that's fun.

Tommorrow off to circus school.

No really I'm not kidding.

Tomato Bonanza

First Heirloom Harvest

Cindy got a movie!!! Yay!

It's in Atlanta, Georgia. Boo!!! Tear, sniffle, sniffle.

We sure are going to miss her, but it also sounds like a good excuse for a road trip.

But the day before she left, we had our first little harvest from the heirloom tomatoes I have been obsessing over.




Skye appreciating one of the of the lovely heirlooms(the Black Sea Man variety to be precise)





Cindy won't get to enjoy the bounty of the garden unfortunately. But I did cut up a plate and we had it with some salt and a little pepper. The taste was deep and complex, almost like eating meat. And the cherry tomatoes are sweet like candy.

YUMMY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Off and Running

I finally got off my butt and went for a run. It was the first time since I ran the LA Marathon, that's been like almost two months. Took a nice little trail run,, 1hr 13min, in Kenneth Hahn, already hot by 7 am. It felt great to run again. I still have some tightness and congestion in my chest from a little cold that has been lingering for weeks now.

I've been watching the Tour de France, which is an inspiration in itself. Lance being back in it has been quite amazing and the fact that he and teammate Contador have started battling out has been making it a very interesting and exciting race. But I think it took getting into the mountains to get me back to training.

Cindy leaves for a job in Atlanta Monday. So there is a new clarity and focus to what is happening in our household.

Whatever the reason it was great to start training again. I'm looking to lose 10-15 pounds in 3-6 weeks. Setting a goal to slam dunk by end of the summer, which is a big reason I want to drop that much weight. I also don't feel like hauling around 200 lbs on the bike and up and down those trails. Looking forward to a new bag of tricks in regards to fitness. Look out for some fun and different training techniques to come.

What the McFuc was I thinking?

I am obviously a little out of sorts, a lot swirling about in the cabeza, but that still doesn't explain or forgive my decision to pull into a McDonald's this morning and pick up a little order of McDeath.

Now I have been against McDonald's and fast food in general for a long time now for a plethora of reasons. Maybe I just needed a reminder. Boy did I get one, still have it in fact grumbling around in my belly.

My McDeath Breakfast included a McSkillet Burrito which weighed in at a mere 8.4 oz packing in 610 calories 320 of them pure fat, tagging along was 1390 mg of sodium, about 58% of my daily recommended amount. I opted for value, therefore getting the "meal" which included a hash brown thingy 2 oz yet 150 more calories 80 coming from fat and the a Coke instead of coffee(I don' do the bean) 210 more calories.

Are you McFuckin' kidding me? In under 5 minutes of time without even having to get out of my seat I was able to put away 970 calories.

Is it any wonder why Americans are getting so fat?

Birthday Blog Blues

A few years back when I started the blog I was doing a bit more traveling, hence the name "Where in the World is Jon?" I also had yet to turn 40, so it was a figurative "Where" as well. In a funny way it was a journal to see and document how I was going to handle and or deal with a "mid-life crisis"

Well I haven't been doing much traveling. Pretty much ho-hum, homebody, which brings me back to the whole "mid-life crisis" thing.

A bunch of "Who am I?" "How did I get here?" "This wasn't part of the plan" "Is this really my life?" questions took root in the days around my uneventful 42cnd milestone.

Not many answers came back.

But it did stir some of my creative juices.

Not always a good thing.

We'll see.

Tour de France 2009

WOW!!!

With everything else going on the Tour de France started on Fourth of July, with Lance Armstrong entering as at best a long shot. He's on a ridiculously strong and loaded team with 3 other riders who could win, including odds on favorite and 2007 winner Alberto Contador.

First off was a time trial, where Lance finished a respectable 10th. On day 3, a little experience and little luck propelled him from 10th place to 3rd. And then today after Team Astana won an amazing team time trial he was 2/10th of a second from taking the Yellow Jersey.

F--king amazing!!!!!

4th of July

The lower structure is relatively new, the TSS(Tomato Support Structure) as I have come to call it.



I finally got cleaned up and had most of the food going and then the guests started arriving and the second phase of madness began.

It's hard enough to manage a grill or rather two grills on different levels. Add to that pool duties(the pumps decided to fall apart) and playing host and I was set to get burnt to a crisp.





We had a lot of kids over and there joyous squeals and splashing about made it all worth it.




And of course old friends, I mean friends I've know for a long while, like since high school.

Lots of other friends showed up and a great time was had.

3 days latter and we are still cleaning up.


I am dead tired. But it was a fun time, well worth it in the end.

Lead up to July 4th

Our 4th of July BBQ is becoming a tradition, much like out New Year's Party.

And it really almost didn't happen this year. I was broken, beaten and spent and in no mood to entertain, but Cindy wanted to go ahead with it and was excited to think about something other than her current job. With Skye in camp, it shouldn't be that hard, right?

Wrong.

I ended up doing a bunch of work for Cindy and some SDSA stuff and spending way too much time looking for the perfect pair of plants for some pots I was moving around, to the tune of looking at nurseries from Redondo Beach to Agoura Hills and many points in between. I can get obsessive at times, I know. I got some good jui jitsu training in as well, but not a lot of prep for the party.

You see for me preparing for one of these events, entails figuring out which projects I can actually finish in time for them not to be in mid-construction phase. As well as what really actually needs to done. I am usually and overachiever and get in way over my head. This year I was determined not to let this happen....by pretending the party wasn't really happening.

Well as the day approached and we realized we were looking at having at least 50 people over and we also started remembering all the people we hadn't invited, it was becoming impossible to ignore.

Picked Skye up from camp mid-day Thursday, so that we could beeline to her friend's birthday party, picking up a gift along the way. And there went Thursday.

Friday was all about shopping and errands. No substantial work got done around the house. Cindy did have the day off but had a job interview that took up the better part of her day.

Blah blah blah

Saturday...

Off to the farmer's market and then...

The house and backyard are trashed. The back looks like a construction site. I end up sweeping and shop vacuuming for a couple hours alone. The grills hadn't been properly cleaned since our last BBQ, so that took forever.

And I had yet to start cooking or even prepping to cook. We are 2 1/2 hours out and I feel like we are 3 days behind, literally.

So I find myself barking out orders to Cindy and Skye (they both slept in 10 o'clock and 11:30 respectively, very atypical for Cindy, she was just exhausted, quite normal for Skye) and running up and down stairs, getting stuff from the garden, jumping in on the cooking and trying to put together a music play list, making sure to include lots of Michael Jackson. FYI that ends up being 4 flights of stairs that I am bounding up and down.

To be continued, as in the actual party.

SodaStream-My Dream

I got pretty addicted to Red Bull years and years ago, back before it was very popular. In fact it was hard to find back then. They were trying to get it in movies so they were big on product placement they would literally drop off cases to me, all free.

Now, of course Red Bull is huge and very not free. I still drink too much of it. I drink it instead of coffee, which I never got a taste for.

Water. I drink a lot of it. I love water, but after a while it does get boring and so I mix it up with some sparkling water. But I always feel a little silly about paying for fizzy water.

And with both of them, I see the cans and bottles piling up, not so green.

So I was so excited and thrilled when I ran across the SodaStream.

So simple a child can do it.




The machine and its many many flavors.




Skye making me a Red Bull type drink.




Adding some fizz.




And some Skye magic.



And of course the Red Bull mix.

Mmmm yum.

Less stuff going in the bin, keeping more money in my wallet. Good for the planet, good for pocketbook and just plain good sense.

Highly recommended.

A More than $64 Tomato

I have always been a bit extreme granted. And this latest endeavor is right up there, but more or less complete. The Tomato Support Structure now is fully enclosed with doors and supporting my lovely tomatoes.

The other night I canned some salsa using tomatoes from the garden, made a few jars of fresh salsa that have been devoured pretty quickly.

I started reading a very amusing book, The $64 Tomato, William Alexander, a bit too close too home, but really very funny. He kind of figured out what one tomato cost him, after all the money put into renovations, "organic" and "local" gardening, etc. etc. and it came out to $64 per tomato. At the rate I am going I have him beat.



I had to climb up on a bucket that balanced on a cinderblock wall, which was unstable and scary to secure the fencing.



But then it was several a couple of terraces down to fall.





This tomato plant I almost yanked up last year and then it just went wild. But it was becoming a tangled mess until I was able to spread it out on the TSS.




Free to spread out and grow. But not until I trimmed away half of it, dead and lame.





It's like tomato puppetry.




This tomato plant is actually quite famous. It's called the Mortgage Lifter and has some great stories behind it. More on that later, another post another time. But this tomato is supposed to come in between 2 to 4 pounds. WOW!!!





A door to protect the little Koi.

Rancid Mood

I've struggled with my bad temper and bad moods for as long as I can remember. But this latest little stretch has been deeper, darker and longer than in I've experienced in recent years. It's no mystery to me. All the stress factors that tend to trigger my mood swings have been hit. I've not been paying particular attention to my diet. Too much caffeine, too much alcohol, too much sugar, not enough sleep, trying to juggle to many things. But the clouds have not been parting, I've not been able to shake it as easily as I have. I've been a lot quicker to anger. I shouldn't ignore this any longer. Like I said it is not going away.

So new diet, new fitness plan, start doing yoga again and all should fall into place.

I feel better already.

Now and then and in between

Sorry to those of you who know this story all too well but I ran across some old photos and felt like reminiscing. Plus I just finished a new addition the Tomato Support Structure, from hereon known as TSS, more on that to come.

When we first bought the Milagro house, one of the thoughts behind it was that it was pretty much in move-in condition.

Pretty much. Well, as any homeowner knows, the maintenance and improvements never end, particularly if you are me.






Milagro House, shortly after we got it.




This is a somewhat more recent pic.




This is one of our first days in the new pad.

We found out shortly thereafter that neither the stairway or the platform were very structurally sound.



And so my back yard odyssey began. I hired a few guys a couple of times but it didn't really work out. So I would say that the vast majority, like 98% I did myself. Learning new skills and manhandling tons and tons of material.




I laid the foundation. (All ten tons of it) for the oven and stove and then had some mason's build the pizza oven and BBQ.




The grapes have filled in well and note the new structure to the left, the TSS.





The grapes haven't quite taken off.




And now they have. Wine grapes to the left, table grapes on your right. Nothing edible yet, soon though, I hope.




This is before the koi pond, and well before the latest addition of






Note the potted rosemary in the foreground, just keep it in mind.




Pond overboard.






The TSS is actually quite multi-purposed. It started off as a solution to keeping the chickens from flying into the neighbors yard. We don't have chickens, yet, but nothing like planning ahead. Then I realized if it could keep the chickens in it could also keep critters out, notably whatever had raided the koi pond several months ago.

We have since repopulated the koi pond with more koi, a couple of catfish, and some tadpoles but an ugly and very inconvenient covering of chicken wire had been in place since.

Last year I bought some very wonderful heirloom tomato plants from a lovely local grower in Torrance and then got a job and really messed things up. It was a hot summer and I just...well we didn't get that many tomatoes and the plants never really took off. This year I was determined not to have a repeat, so I have been diligent with watering and the like, and I'm not working. And they have gone crazy. I quickly realized I needed some serious support for these guys. So hence the TSS, maybe a bit extreme, but so far it is working out well in all regards.









View from inside the TSS.




Remember the potted rosemary. They didn't like pots, so I replanted them and they are flourishing.





His buddy is doing pretty good as well.






Before...




After. I need to get in and do some pruning.





Something never quite worked for me with these pots. So I decided to move them down by the pool. Now that was a major undertaking, since I did it myself. Those pots are ridiculously heavy.








I planted a fig tree and a pomegranate in their place and they are doing much better.












Little Daisy, the Christmas cat, has pretty much been banished to being an outdoor cat. She seems to be fair alright with the change.

Laker Madness

GO Lakers!!!!!!

Hurray the Lakers won the NBA Championship. On Wednesday there was a celebratory parade from Staples Center to the Coliseum. Now I usually wouldn't get caught up in that kind of thing. I'm a big fan and I am thrilled with them winning, but going downtown, trying to find parking and then hanging out with several thousand people to see the team go by and wave from the tops of double decker buses, is not my idea of fun.

Skye, however thought that it would be a great idea. So that was that and of we went.

No, wait.

First we had to run over to the Santa Monica Farmer's market to get some food for the little get together we were having later that evening. And I had to make sure I got several e-mails sent off . And get ready for the party and bunch of other stuff. No wonder I had woken up, all stressed out at 3 am. Well at least I got those e-mails out of the way. But I had a long day ahead of me.




I love the Farmer's Market. So much wonderful foods. Skye made some wonderfully yummy Roasted Carrots with Sage. I know its more of a Fall/Winter thing but tasty nonetheless. I ending up grilling peaches.

Heading Downtown to Celebrate

I loaded the bikes onto the car, so we wouldn't have to deal with parking, just trying to bicycle around downtown Los Angeles with an 11 year old and the traffic and crowds. I turned out to be a pretty good idea, although it stressed me out a bit.



A lot of people turned up. It was way too crowded near the coliseum, so we headed north where it was a little less crowded.




Less crowded? Yes this is less crowded.

Skye decided it would be a good idea for her to try to get closer on her own, so she'd have a better view. I was not thrilled with this idea but let her have a go.



Well, she did get closer. She ended up squished and couldn't see much. That's the top of her head under that guys armpit.




Here they come.



Lamar's up there some where.




Sasha getting the crowd going.




Ariza, Jordan Farmar

Where's Kobe?





Oh there he is or rather there he goes, holding the trophy for all to see.


And just like that it was done. A bit anit-climactic to say the least.

Then we raced back to cook and garden and clean and get ready for the little Salon Milagro we were hosting. But that is for another blog.

Parkour, Parcourse and Freerunning

I haven't posted since the LA Marathon or ran since then for that matter. As much as I enjoyed the experience and will undoubtedly run another marathon. I keep being faced with how much I am not a "runner". There are certainly many things I like about running, but I think training for a marathon brings out a lot of the things I don't like about running; things like the monotony, the feeling like I have to log in a certain amount of mileage or time and the frustration when I don't. Also one of the things I like most about running is the physical conditioning I get from it. When I train for a marathon, I can tend to get too much cumulative pounding on my joints and in ramping up the mileage my cross training and upper body conditioning tends to suffer.

As with many things, Parkour came at me from several different angles. I had seen some beautiful commercials, featuring people jumping from building top to building top sans the SGI/digital effects. The images mesmerized me. And while the car chases in the Bourne Trilogy and the last couple of Bond movies made it into trailers, it was the pursuits over rooftoops and through buildings that caught me.

At some point recently, I meet another home school dad, rare as that is, who also practice Brazilian Juijitsu with the Machados no less and was doing parkour. Skye and I made it out to a weekly PE/movement class/get-together he had organized and it reminded me how much I loved running and jumping over obstacles.

I held off jumping into this type of training until the marathon, didn't want a last minute injury to blow months of work. But since then Skye and I joined other home schoolers for a romp up and down the 100 foot sand dune at Sand Dune Park in Manhattan Beach. Somehow I had never been there before. It makes for an amazing workout.

Just yesterday, I finally took advantage of the Par Course at Fox Hills Park. I have run past its obstacles many times but I finally actually did them with a twist of course. I definitely had to modify the excercises to make them more challenging and more fun, but man that can make for an intense workout.

Running is fun again.