Victorious runners

Meg and AlainaOn Saturday morning, Alaina and I met in Central Park to run the Circle of Friends NY Mini 10K. Don't let the word "mini" in the title fool you, this was a full 10K (6.2 miles). To my surprise, Alaina greeted me with the news that she hoped to break her time set last year and that she was looking to run 9:05 miles.

I've been running for close to four weeks now, after taking time off for illness. But I haven't been training that hard. I told her I'd see what I could do. We stayed together through 5K, crossing the half-way mark in something close to 27 minutes. But at the top of the hill past The Ravine, I bade her farewell, told her to run fast, and fell behind into the pack of slower runners. I was hot and tired, and couldn't believe I had half a race left to run. Never had 3.1 miles seemed so long.

But slow and steady it was, with stops at 4 and 5 miles for water. And about a minute and a half after Alaina, I crossed the finish line. My time was 1:00:11, with a pace of 9:42 — quite a bit off 9:05. But I did it, and I've never been so happy to get a silly medal in my life. From here on out, I'm doing more speed work so I can get faster. I think I've said that before, but this time I mean it.

A new Nantucket perennial garden

cranesbill geranium from gardenOne of the things I did while on Nantucket was plant a new perennial garden along the edge of the lawn. My Nantucket Perennial Garden gets lots of sun, so I picked plants that would thrive with sun. I also selected plants that were relatively tough, since the soil is sandy and during the summer it can get pretty dry.

It took about three days of work to get the garden completed, and my mom helped me get all the plants into the ground. It was lots of fun, and if I had more money to buy plants, I'd keep extend the garden along the rest of that edge of the lawn. For now, what's there will suffice. And who knew I could make a stone wall? Not me.

It’s not Provençal, it’s fauxvençal

This afternoon I picked up some swordfish chunks at the fish market on the way home and cooked them up on the grill. Not knowing what else to do, I concocted a sauce to put on top of them in the spirit of Provence (in the south of France) and using all kinds of things I already had in the kitchen. I call the tasty resulting dish, Swordfish a la Fauxvençal, since I really don't consider it an authentic dish from Provence. Quantities are approximate since I was winging it as I threw it together. But it came out quite yummy, and I am sure I will make it again.

Reconnected!

This is a just a note from happy ol' me saying I'm back in the land of the connected! The cable modem has been successfully installed, the wireless hooked up, and the annoying files and settings hoisted upon my computer by the Comcast cable modem installation program have been deleted. While it's been quite nice to be pretty much disconnected for the past two weeks, it will also be nice to be able to connect again when I want. Yay!

USA! USA! USA!

Though I had wanted to see it when it was in the theatres, I missed Miracle, the story of the US Hockey team at the 1980 Lake Placid Olympics. But I caught it the other night on DVD and was not disappointed. It was everything I'd expected: great hockey, great 70s hairstyles, and great Minnesota and Boston accents. Oh and of course, great endings, with the US defeat of the Soviets in the semi-finals and the US defeat of Sweden in the finals for the gold medal. I love uplifting sports stories, and Miracle certainly delivered, even though I missed Mike Eruzione's game-winning goal against the Soviet Union because I was in the bathroom. Guess I'll just have to watch it again!

One of the best days of her life

On Sunday I had a special date with my seven year old second cousin, McKenna. We planned to go clamming together, that is, dig up clams on the beach at low tide. (And then take them home and eat them!) The day broke clear and warm, a slight breeze but nothing too chilling. We sat in the sun as we awaited the low tide in the early afternoon. And as 1 PM neared, we climbed into the pickup truck with our rakes, basket, and brand new rubber gloves and headed to the western end of the island. Our destination was a small strip of land inside Madaket Harbor called Jackson's Point (here's a map of west Nantucket, we went right above the "E" on the map).

We arrived to find the beach deserted, not only of people but of the soft-shelled clams (aka "steamers") we'd hope to dig up. The sand was littered with empty scallop shells as we began our explorations. Soon we happened upon clusters of mussels all wrapped together in sand, mud, and grass and we changed our plan. Mussels it would be! We gathered about three pounds as we explored the beach at low tide.

In addition to mussels, we found a knobbed whelk (the whelk was still inside the shell) and the cutest little hermit crab. We watched sea gulls catch and eat crabs on the beach and collected some shells. And after it was all done, we drove into town for an ice cream cone. More than once McKenna said to me, "Meghan, this has been one of the best days of my life!" And you know what? It was a really special one for me too.

That night, McKenna and I steamed the mussels for the rest of our family. Since we didn't have any white wine, we substituted beer instead. Everyone agreed the mussels were delicious. If you like mussels, why not try McKenna and Meghan's Mussels next time you're preparing some.