Tag: Quinnipiac University campus

Our Lives Documented

Stef, your life is well documented. These can definitely be used for blackmail, so always be nice to your parents. We’ll consider this insurance.

We’re straightening up at home. Helaine has thrown some things out. Lots of organizing is still to come. It was VHS tape day today. Good grief we’ve got them by the dozens.

We have a VHS to DVD dub machine in the family room. I’ve only used it as a dubber a few times. It’s time to really put it to the test now!

I threw some unlabeled tapes in the machine. Helaine’s the only organized one of the three of us so they’re not hers.

Stef had recorded a few MTV shows. I came across an episode of the Osborne’s and a Rosie O’Donnell aircheck. I was represented with a TV story about the day I appeared on ABC’s “All My Children.”

There were lots of unlabeled family videos too. In one I am pushing Stef down our snowy though barely sloped driveway as she lies on a Flexible Flyer sled. She pulls the sled back to me while refering to it as “Sleddie.”

Somewhere, not found yet, there is a tape of Stef sledding on the Quinnipiac University campus. I’ll find it. This is a definite “America’s Funniest Home Videos” winner! As Stef pulls the sled to the top of the hill she falls and they both slide to the bottom. This happens three or four times–gracefully and always at the proper instant for perfect comedic timing.

We’ve also got plays from elementary school and her Bat Mitzvah. We were big with the camcorder.

Stef, your life is well documented. These can definitely be used for blackmail, so always be nice to your parents. We’ll consider this insurance.

Deep in the pile there was also a tape of Helaine and my wedding! We didn’t have the guts to watch it today. In fact Helaine has only seen parts of it and then only once. She stopped when her tears were too much to take.

As you might imagine there will be lots of dead people in this 25 year old tape, It’s possible it will be transferred to DVD sight unseen.

The Trail Changes With The Weather

For the first time in my life I have become very conscious of a natural place and how it changes with its environment. The trail now reacts differently to water and wind. Less rain means larger and longer lasting puddles.

I heard some noise early (for me) and was out of bed and downstairs around 9:30. With rain on the way Helaine and I took the opportunity to head to Sleeping Giant Mountain.

There’s no charge for weekend parking this time of year. The word hasn’t gotten out as there was a line of cars parked along Mount Carmel Avenue across from the Quinnipiac University campus.

The trees are going bare. The change from full color to bare branches happens quickly–a few weeks at best. It’s an interesting transition–slightly different for each species of tree and then each individual tree within that species based on location and neighbors. Most lose their leaves fully, though some trees will sadly hold their dead and shriveled foliage all winter.

“It’s like walking through a minefield,” Helaine said. She was cautiously looking down as we worked our way up.

The trail is covered in leaf litter which means the toaster sized rocks that poke a few inches above the surface were mainly hidden. Catch one of those rocks with your foot while in mid-stride and you’re on your way down! Helaine and I have both taken headers this season even though the rocks were easily seen. Helaine was really cut-up and is justifiably skittish.

After seven months of up-and-down. parts of the trail looks different enough that I don’t know where I am! What a strange feeling to be somewhere you’ve been dozens of times and see nothing familiar. All of a sudden there are vistas where there were trees.

Last night’s rain left the leaves wet and slippery. Every once in a while I’d step but not plant firmly–like a car tire spinning on gravel. Our trip to the top was a full minute slower than our recent ‘goal’.

OK–it’s my goal, not Helaine’s. She looks at me when I click my watch like I’m some sort of alien. I like the competitive feel of knowing my time and having a reason to maintain a faster pace.

For the first time in my life I have become very conscious of a natural place and how it changes with its environment. The trail now reacts differently to water and wind. Less rain is needed for larger and longer lasting puddles. It’s becoming more obvious we won’t be able to walk it all winter–maybe not even on the unseasonably warm days.

That’s sad. No piece of equipment will replace our walks. It’s a full hour alone with Helaine in a place of spectacular beauty. I like that.

It’s another reason to hate winter.