Spring adventures

 It has been a busy spring around here. There has been tennis, of course, and I ran the Little Rock half marathon for the third year in a row (it was cold and wet and not my best day, but I finished).

In March I completed the requirements to become a Notary Public. At the library, we get a lot of people seeking a notary, and we only had one other librarian certified, and he is often off on other business, so I figured it would be a good idea to get certified myself. So far, it has been a good investment - I've notarized something every day I have been at the office since I got my stamp.

Malcolm and his award certificates

Malcolm has been enjoying kindergarten and is learning so much. Every day I am impressed by how much he has grown in the last year. He is beginning to read (which means we can no longer spell in front of him to hide what we are saying!) and add and subtract. But the most exciting thing has been watching him on his new bike. At the beginning of spring break we bought new bikes for him and for me, to replace his outgrown balance bike and my old, heavy mountain bike. Hands down the best purchase we have made in a long while. Thanks to all his experience on the balance bike, Malcolm didn't need training wheels and was riding without any assistance after just a few minutes. It took a few more practice rides to get the hang of starting by himself, but now he is riding like a pro.

Family bike ride!

 It has been wonderful to have a new outdoor activity to do together. And again, I am so impressed with Malcolm. He has had a couple of crashes, but always gets back on the bike and keeps going. And he has stamina! For my birthday, he and I went on a bike ride together on the River Trail, and ended up going SEVEN miles in an hour. It was cold and windy that day, and I hadn't planned to go that far, but every time I suggested heading back to the car, he wanted to keep going. So we did. He was tired by the end, but he never complained or gave up. It was a great birthday gift.

Birthday bike ride!

Grandma Candi came to visit over spring break, and one day we took a family trip down to Garvan Gardens to see the tulips. So many tulips! Unlike the tulip fields in Washington or the Netherlands, the tulips at the gardens are planted among the trees, so you don't get huge stretches of colors, but you do get some lovely groupings and an idyllic stroll through a blooming forest.

It was a lovely day and the flowers were at their peak. We spent several hours just wandering, taking pictures and admiring the flowers.

Malcolm is skeptical about the paparazzi

Weather-wise, this has been an odd spring, with freezing temperatures followed by an 80 degree day, followed by rain and more rain. On repeat. But it is finally feeling like real spring (and the pollen is coating everything in yellow), and it is lovely.

Blackberry blossom

The year in reading, 2017

How did it get to be February already? It seems like we just finished the holidays! Since the year is already getting away from me, I am a little late with my reading roundup for 2017. Oh well, better late than never. Here goes:

In 2017 I had a goal to read 75 books (not counting the picture books and so on read to Malcolm) - I read 80 (a couple of those were chapter books read to Malcolm, but since they were actual books, I let them count). I am pleased with my total, especially since I started working a month into the year and my free time declined precipitously. I didn't keep track, but I suspect the number went up from 2016 because I have been listening to more audio books during my commute every day. I can read faster than I can listen, but I can't read while driving, so audio books are a great solution. I didn't break the books out into categories, but I definitely read mostly science fiction and fantasy this year. Probably because the news is so dreary and dreadful most of the time that I need something to take my mind somewhere else entirely, even if that world is even more wrecked than our own.

For the last two years I have had goals to increase the diversity of the perspectives I encounter by reading more books by women, minorities, and non-US/British authors, as well as more poetry. In 2016, about 60% of my books were written by women; 2017 was about the same, with 63%. I am actually a little surprised about that - at times it felt like I went weeks without reading any male authors. But I am pretty happy with 63% and aim to keep the ratio about the same for this year.

In 2016 I read only eight books by minorities - six of which were by two authors - and I made a very concerted effort to increase that number in 2017. I was pretty successful - I increased the total to 21 books by minorities, one quarter of the total books. There was some duplication of authors, but not much. In 2018, I want to keep seeking out diverse authors and hope to get closer to 1/3 of my books.

Foreign authors is still a hard category for me and needs improvement. I only read five books by non-American/British authors - one Cuban, one Japanese, two South African, and one Nigerian. One of the American women I read is also Nigerian, but since she was born in the US and lives and works here, I didn't count her in the foreign category.

Poetry: I only read two full books of poetry this year, but I did read all the poetry every month in Literary Mama, and occasionally dipped into favorite books of poetry for short snacks. I don't think this category is every going to be a big one for me - poetry just isn't something that I connect with regularly, even though I do enjoy it from time to time.

Favorite books of 2017 in order read throughout the year:
Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman
Binti (and its sequels) by Nnedi Okorafor
The Hum and the Shiver by Alex Bledsoe
The Woman Next Door by Yewande Omotoso
The Collapsing Empire by John Scalzi
The Heist (and the other four books in the Fox and O'Hare series) by Janet Evanovich
Shadowshaper by Daniel Jose Older
The Stone Sky (The conclusion of the Broken Earth trilogy) by N.K. Jemisin
Provenance by Ann Leckie
Artemis by Andy Weir

There were a lot of pretty good ones that I didn't put on this list too. You can find my complete list of books read in 2017 on my Goodreads page.

It's been a minute

As they say around here. I can't believe 2017 is almost over and my last post was back in May! So, a quick catch-up post, before my annual end of the year round up. A bulleted list, I think:

• Job: I am still enjoying my job at the Faulkner County library. It has been great to have a transition time to learn the position and all the details while the person I will be taking over for is still around. She retires next week, and I will be full-time starting in January. Not entirely looking forward to full 8 hour days all the time, but at least I like my co-workers and the actual work itself. 
• Running: still getting up at zero dark thirty to get in training runs. Now, not only is it very dark, it is finally starting to get cold - it was 26 this morning, after being almost 60 last week. It isn't too hard to get the runs in, unless it is six or seven miles like the other day. It tends to be hard to get up early enough to get it in before I have to be home getting Malcolm ready for school. I can do it, but it is a big rush. Thankfully, I only have to do that long of runs once a week or so. 
• Malcolm: he is in kindergarten this year at the local elementary school and seems to be enjoying it. He is learning to read and count and do addition. He's started taking tennis lessons and is getting better at hitting the ball.
• Books: I have read some really good books this year, but I will save those for the end of the year wrap up. I do a lot more listening to audio books these days, during my drives to and from work, even though I can't listen while running as much (for safety reasons in the dark).
• Baking: I'll be honest, I haven't done much baking at all since I started working. It is just hard to find the time these days. I still make cookies or brownies once in a while, but I haven't experimented much. 
• Tennis: Sort of a tough year for me - haven't won a lot - due to a lot of different factors, but I am still playing regularly, and look forward to the next year.

OK, enough catch-up for now. I'll be back shortly, I promise!

Nostalgic moment

After a busy couple of months, I am (finally) starting to think about summer vacation. Malcolm has been out of school since the beginning of May, but it isn't really summer yet. Not really. Since a trip overseas isn't in the cards this year, there is really only one place I want to go, one of the rituals of my childhood that I want to share with him - backpacking on the Olympic Peninsula.

This is the place I think of as part of home, even though I usually only went there once a summer for three or four days at a time. It is my happy place that I go to in my mind when I need to be somewhere else. And it is the one thing I miss most, living way out here in Arkansas. Yes, I miss my parents and childhood home and all that, but I can keep in touch with them, I visit them regularly. The beach is much harder to get to - a ferry ride, a several hour drive (long stretches of which used to be on gravel roads), a hike through the woods. It isn't somewhere you can just drop in on a whim in the afternoon, like a city park. The journey is part of the experience, part of the shedding and then regaining of normal life that makes it so special.

So this summer, I am hopeful that I can take Malcolm there, to see the endless stretch of the ocean at the edge of the continent, to play in the cold ocean, to get sand in his hair, toes, teeth, ears. To eat simple camping food around a fire after a day of running and hiking and digging. To see the stars without the lights of the city dimming them.

Bunnies in the dawn twilight

Almost two months after my half marathon (yes, I realize I never gave a recap - maybe another day), I am still managing to run regularly several days a week. My plans get derailed more often these days by late nights, weather, and a child who hates sleep - without a plan and a firm goal to keep me in line it is easier to turn over and go back to sleep, or at least run a shorter route. However, now that I am truly addicted, if I don't go running every other day or so my mood suffers, and I feel off until I get in another run. So, I persist. At least I do not have to do the entire run in the dark anymore, since the sky is starting to lighten earlier. I still wear my reflective vest, blinking safety LEDs, and small flashlight, but the latter is completely unnecessary for most of the run.

And the best part of running in twilight is the bunnies. This is the time of year when they are more likely to stay out later and are more noticeable, munching on lawns and hopping alongside the trail. I miss them during the winter, when they must be hunkering down and feeling cautious about venturing out in daylight. Last summer, Malcolm and I would count bunnies and pick up recyclables as we went - it was always a good day when we had more bunnies than cans and bottles. Alas, I no longer run with Malcolm, so I only count bunnies. That is still a good reward for getting up early though. As I see them, I count in my head like a cross between the Count from Sesame Street, and Mr. McGregor from Peter Rabbit. "One leetle bunny, ha ha ha." This morning, I counted ten bunnies, and almost wished for an even dozen, but that felt greedy, since I had already seen so many.

The other lovely thing about running so early right now is the scent of spring. The honeysuckle is blooming, and so are all the privet bushes. Both are, rather unfortunately, invasive species that take over far too easily here, but even knowing that, I think they smell divine in the damp morning air, before it is dirtied by cars and heat and dust.

2017 update

This has already been a wild year, and not just in the wider world. I recently started a new job in collection development and cataloging at a public library in our area - I had been planning to start looking for work in the next few months, with the intention to go back by summer or fall, when Malcolm starts kindergarten. But this job came up in a networking group I still belong to, from my former working days, and it looked so good I couldn't pass up the chance at it. I got it, and started work the first week of February. So far, everyone in the household is adjusting well, and I am enjoying the job. It is sort of surreal to be working again, since it has been so long; on the one hand, it feels completely normal to be at a job all day again, and on the other, I can hardly believe that less than a month ago, I was a full time stay-at-home mom. Since I am not full time for now, I do still have one full day at home with Malcolm during the week, and come home early one other day a week. Also, they are pretty flexible about my schedule, which is great. It is a pretty good situation, all in all. 

The job has meant a change in my running routines, of course - no more long leisurely daytime runs on weekdays while Malcolm is at school. Now I am trying to get runs in at 5:30 am, in the dark, before Malcolm wakes up and needs to get ready for school. I have to squeeze my shower in between my MIL's and Benjamin's, since they are both getting ready for work too. The change in status is less painful than it might have been, however, because for the last month or so, I have been running less anyway, thanks to a tennis injury. During a tournament in January, I pinched a nerve in my hip or lower back, didn't rest it properly, ran 14 miles after less than a week of "down time," and then could barely walk, sit, or lie down. My foot felt odd and stiff and weak for a week or two, especially when trying to run. So much for the aggressive training plan I had been following for the Little Rock Half Marathon next month! After several weeks of low, gentle mileage, I started adding distance again and trying to speed up a bit. Now, with less than two weeks before the race, I am feeling pretty good, but I am barely following a plan anymore, and I doubt I will get the big PR I was hoping for. Oh well. At least I think I should be able to run the whole thing - for a little while, I didn't think I would. 

I actually don't mind getting up early to run in the dark, since I feel much better all day when I do. After the race, I plan to add some gym time to my routine, to strengthen some muscles in areas that have been neglected (probably leading to the injury in the first place). And it is spring tennis season, so there is tennis to look forward to. Let's just hope that the remainder of this year is a little slower and less exciting than the first two months! 

2016 in reading

Last year I set a goal of reading 70 books, which I barely managed to meet, squeaking in at 71 - once again not counting the hundreds read to Malcolm. I also set a goal to read more books by women and minorities, more foreign fiction and more poetry. How did I do? Let's break it down, shall we?

1) More books by women: This was a success. Without even trying to select books by women, 43 of my 71 books were by women - this includes fiction and non-fiction - for 60.5%. By far and away my most successful goal.

2) Minorities: Only eight of the books I read were by identifiable minorities (nine if you count someone with a physical disability). Not as successful, but not a complete failure. I am actually kind of ashamed of how few minority authors I read, because of those eight, six of them were from two authors. I haven't tallied up the children's books I've read with Malcolm, but I have been making an effort to find and include minority authors there too.

3) Foreign fiction: Apart from one Italian novel and two Finnish children's books, I read a few books by Australians and some British authors. Not very good. Not good at all. I am rather sad about this, because I have many foreign works on my to read shelf on Goodreads - I guess I need to make more of an effort to search them out at the library.

4) Poetry: Well, abject failure is one way to put it. I did read some poetry now and then, but I didn't finish any books, and apart from the poetry on Literary Mama, nothing new.

Going forward into 2017 I have the same set of goals. More women, more minorities, more foreign, more poetry. So far, I have finished three books - two fiction and one anthology of essays. Of those, the two fiction are both by women, and the essay was edited by a woman and includes some minority authors. So, yay me - off to a good start! And of the two books I am currently reading, one is by a woman and one is by an African American.

The best books I read in 2016? Absolutely no contest - The Fifth Season and The Obelisk Gate by N.K. Jemisin. She is my new favorite author, hands down. If you are into audio books, I highly recommend the Audible versions, both narrated by the excellent Robin Miles.

Happy 2017!

Happy New Year, and where did December go?! Well, I know where it went: into a long drawn out celebration of Christmas that saw Malcolm meeting Santa at least three times, maybe four - I lost track, a trip to Grandma and Grandpa's, decorating two Christmas trees, Malcolm's first time ice skating, and way too many cookies.

No one fell down!

The trip to Bellevue was a good one. I managed to get in all my scheduled runs, including a 12 mile one on Christmas Day. We got to go to Sequim to visit my cousin and her family, a trip which included a couple of ferry rides in bitterly cold weather (Malcolm and I still went outside, of course!). Riding the ferry always feels like home to me. It was a part of some of my happiest childhood memories during our annual trips to the Olympic Peninsula, and it just feels like somewhere I am supposed to be. I don't know if that makes any sense, but it is the only feeling that comes close.

Home

It was only about 25 degrees in the sun, without the wind. And it was really windy.

As I have done for the past few years, I tallied up all my running, walking, and tennis playing over the past year. My walking miles have steadily decreased over the three years I have been keeping track - partly because I am now running for exercise and partly because I am no longer walking Malcolm to get him to nap. But I still managed to walk around 220 miles. And I played about 30 more hours of tennis in 2016 than in 2015, although it really felt like I didn't get to play as much as I wanted to!

The really exciting category for me this year was running. I ran my first and second half marathons (so, really, I ran a marathon, right?), and am now training for my third. On New Year's Eve in the morning, I counted up my miles for the month and realized that I was only 10 miles away from 1000 for the year. Yes, 1000 miles of running. That is more than I ran and walked in 2014, combined. And only about 80 miles less that running and walking combined last year. So, of course, I went for a 10 mile run. I was supposed to run 10 over the weekend anyway, but I had planned to go on Sunday. I cannot believe how far I have come in running. If you had told me 10 years ago, or even five years ago, that I would be signing up for multiple half marathons and running 1000 miles in a year, I would have thought you were crazy. I'm not particularly speedy, and I never will be, but I get out there and cover the distances. And I love it.

So, while there were plenty of things to hate about 2016 in the wider world, I am pretty happy with how my personal 2016 turned out. Here's to 2017 being better in all the ways that matter!

Hello Southern Winter

It feels like I have to relearn how to survive winter every year. In Arkansas (and Texas before that) we get cold weather for a relatively short period every year - Late November/December through March, maybe, and then it is spring and even if it is sometimes cold, the sun is out most of the time - that by this time of it year it has been almost nine months since I was truly cold. That means I have had almost enough time to have had a baby since I last had to layer on a daily basis.

Cold enough for the hat, mostly

Now I have to rediscover scarves - they aren't just for occasional decoration, they actually keep my neck warm! - and remember to wear slippers and socks around the house. (And let me tell you, after almost nine months of wearing Chaccos and no socks, my feet are not thrilled to be back in shoes for anything other than running and tennis.) I have to remember where we keep the thermostat so that everyone is mostly happy, and the heater isn't running all the time. Malcolm demands footie pajamas and a space heater in his room at night. I will probably start drinking a lot more tea. When running, I have to remember to check the weather conditions before I go out, to make sure I won't catch hypothermia, instead of to decide how much water to take for a three mile run. There is always a sort of calculation going on when it is cold - is it actually cold enough for the hat? Will it warm up so much that I will be sweating as soon as I am moving, or is it really windy, so that no matter how much I work, I will always be cold? The summer is just hot. After about 70, you just know you are going to be sweating, and while you might check the humidity, there isn't anything you can do to make it better, except stay inside on a treadmill. *shudder*

I can hear all my northern friends laughing and rolling their eyes at me, and I suppose it is their turn. After all, I do the same every summer when they start moaning about how hot it is. And don't get me wrong - I don't dislike this weather, I just have to become reacquainted with it. Now, I think I need a cup of tea!

Soaring Wings Half Marathon Race Report

After the last week, it seems a bit odd to be writing up a report for a race that feels like it happened in another world; I honestly don't have much to say about anything right now, but I will try.

 

I prepared my clothes the night before, since I had to get up around 5 a.m. to have time to eat something and drive to Conway and have time to use the restroom. For you non-runners out there, this is a very important part of race day - almost any book or column about racing will have something to say about it. Anyway, I didn't want to forget anything important, so I laid out my clothes, pinned my bib on my shirt, packed my bag with extra clothes, a towel to sit on after the race, energy gels, water, and phone, and tried to go to bed early. I was less than successful at that - I was already having trouble falling asleep, and then Benjamin, on a business trip, called in a bit of a panic and needing help contacting his hotel, since his plane had landed very late. Of course I couldn't sleep until I knew he arrived safely, so I got to bed about an hour and half after I intended. 

Compared to the Little Rock Half in March, this race was quite a bit smaller and far less intimidating, at least as far as the number of people went. The course was quite a bit hillier than Little Rock though, and given my times while training, I was just hoping to stay close to my previous time. I also planned to run with my heart monitor on, to keep me from going out too fast or not pushing hard enough later, but when I tried to pair it with my watch, I got a message saying its battery was dead! Great timing! If only it had died on my last training run the day before! I had to stuff it in my waist pouch, along with my phone; in retrospect, I probably had time to run back to my car and drop it off, but I wasn't going to risk missing the start, or wasting my energy. I started out with a pace group that was right about where I thought I would be, and was able to stay with them for a while, but the leader was going a bit faster than his stated pace, and I quickly fell behind. After a couple of miles, I just tried to keep myself going at a steady pace even with the hills. I had to stop and use a toilet at mile 4 - something I managed to avoid in my previous half - and that dropped me even farther behind that pace group. After the pit stop though, I was more comfortable and was able to make up some of the time I lost. 

Around mile seven, my left leg started to ache in the knee and hip, something that was new - usually it is my right hip complaining. It wasn't so bad I couldn't run, but it was definitely an unwelcome distraction. Eventually, I decided it must be from the slant of the road - we were running on the right side of the road for much of the race, which had a slight but definite angle to it, and I think it was enough to throw off my alignment. I tried running a bit more towards the middle, but there were a lot of stretches where we were supposed to stay in a lane about the width of a sidewalk. 

When we reached the split for the marathoners to head off in another direction, I was once again grateful that I was not going with them. My hip and knee hurt, my stomach roiled at the thought of any more gels or sugary chews, and while I was having a certain amount of fun (if deliberately torturing oneself can be called fun), I was ready to be done. I had some kick left in me, and picked up my speed a bit in the last mile or two - I accidentally started my charge a little too soon when I got excited on a downhill that was a little farther away from the end than I thought and had to keep pushing when it leveled out. 

In the end, I finished only about two minutes behind my previous time, and given that my watch said I had run 13.4 miles, instead of 13.1, maybe I actually ran about the same. (Yes, I know, watches are not as accurate as whatever devices used to measure courses, but race directors have been known to make mistakes about length.) Anyway, not as slow as I feared I could be, and given the hills, quite good.

I have already signed up for the 2017 Little Rock Half Marathon, and am looking forward to running it again, but I am reconsidering my plans to run a full marathon next year. I'd like to say I have done it, and I know I can do it, but I am not sure I really want to right now. Two hours of running seems like enough, and given my (lack of) speed a marathon would take me around 4 1/2 hours. Maybe for my 40th birthday in a few years, or my 45th. 

One week to go until race day

I have one week left until my second half marathon. On the one hand, I am not too nervous this time, because I have already run one and I have done all (or almost all) the training my plan calls for. On the other hand, all that training has been in hot, humid weather, and has seemed really slow and slogging. So, my expectations are teetering between high - I'd like to get a nice PR and improve my time - and low - I don't feel speedy, and have a feeling that the course will be a slower one than the Little Rock course.

Not that it matters, really. I am running for fun, right? And it is only my second attempt at this distance, so, as long as I finish even close to my previous time, and don't get injured, I am going to try to have a good time.

The Wrong Shoes

Those of you who know my wardrobe well enough, or just have a thing for tennis shoes, will note that the shoes on my feet in this picture are my tennis shoes. And when I say tennis shoes, I don't mean that in a generic sense - I mean that they are the court shoes I wear when playing tennis. Those of you who both play tennis and run will be aware of the differences in feel of tennis shoes and running shoes - for those of you who are not, tennis shoes tend to be stiffer and heavier than running shoes, since they are built to support you as you move from side to side with quick stop and go motions - and you would probably not voluntarily wear the former while doing the latter or vice versa. But that is exactly what I did this morning.

This morning my training plan had me scheduled for a session of interval torture - 10 minutes of warm up followed by 8 speed intervals with cool downs in between, followed by a 10 minute cool down. Not my favorite workout, but slightly better than hill repeats, since at least the intervals are flat. Anyway, throughout that 10 minute warm up, something just felt off, but I was listening to my book (The Obelisk Gate by N.K. Jemisin  - you should totally follow that link and read the first book in the series and then come back to this one) so I wasn't really paying too much attention. I just chalked it up to my cold and 3C (cat, chinchilla, child) caused lack of sleep. It wasn't until I was partway through my second interval that I looked down and my shoes and said "Hey, those are my f*%^ing tennis shoes!"

I was sort of surprised I hadn't noticed when I was trying to tie my laces, because that took longer than normal, thanks to Sabetha's interference. I guess I was more focused on stopping her attacks on the laces and my fingers to notice that they were the wrong shoes. I should also have noticed that my Road ID was not on the laces, but I didn't notice that either.

I don't think I did any lasting damage to my shoes or my feet, but I am totally going to use the shoes as an excuse for why my intervals weren't faster!

Dinner for your weekend: Chicken Enchilada Casserole

Tex-Mex is one of my favorite types of food; when Benjamin and I lived in Austin, we were in heaven, calling it our Golden Age of Tex-Mex and mourning its eventual loss, even as we took full advantage. When we first moved to Arkansas, the lack of really good Tex-Mex was a huge disappointment - I mean, Arkansas is right next door to Texas, surely something should have rubbed off! I once tried to order enchiladas with a verde sauce - usually made with tomatillos - and instead got enchiladas topped with nothing but ground up jalapenos! And Benjamin has been constantly disappointed when he tries to order something spicy, only to be "reassured" by the waiter that the dish isn't really too spicy. 

Lately, the options for good Tex-Mex in Little Rock have improved quite a bit with the opening of Local Lime, Chuy's (an Austin original that is welcome here in Little Rock, but one which we never went to in Austin - not dive-y enough, with long wait times), Heights Taco and Tamales, and The Fold. We don't eat out that often anymore though, and my craving for Tex-Mex occurs far more frequently than our trips to restaurants. What to do? Make my own, of course. We have several good cookbooks for Tex-Mex and more authentic Mexican food, we have various taco and taco salad recipes, and we have Chicken Enchilada Casserole.

This is a family recipe that my dad passed along to me when I first moved into an apartment of my own, and one that I don't remember liking all that much as a child - casseroles being a problem because the good stuff (chicken, cheese, tortillas) is all mixed up with more dubious stuff (onions, canned tomatoes, sauce). But now, I love casseroles, and this one in particular, precisely because everything is all mixed up and the flavors can meld and intensify. I have made a few modifications, because the recipe is originally from a 1976 issue of Diabetes Forecast magazine, and needed a little simplification and spicing up, but it is still pretty healthy, easy to make, and easy to scale up. I imagine it would be easy to freeze in individual portions, if you like that sort of thing (I might, but there are never enough left overs in our house).

So, for your dining pleasure, I give you Chicken Enchilada Casserole:

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon oil

1 large onion, peeled and diced* 

1 or 2 cloves garlic, minced

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

2 teaspoons chili powder (I use 1 3/4 tsp regular, and 1/4 tsp chipotle for more spice)

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 can diced tomatoes**

2 cups cooked chicken, chopped*** (approximately 2 chicken breasts. I simmer mine in some lightly salted water until cooked through, then let cool and chop)

1/2 cup chicken stock

6-9 corn tortillas, cut in quarters

1 1/2 cups (or more) grated pepper jack cheese**** (the original calls for sharp cheddar - use whatever you prefer)

Sour cream and avocados

1) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Get out a medium (2-3 qt) casserole dish.

2) Heat the oil in the skillet and add the onion and garlic. Saute until tender - do not allow to brown. Add the salt, chili powder(s), cumin, and oregano and mix well. Add the tomatoes, chicken, and chicken stock, mix well, and cook for 5 to 10 minutes on low heat.

3) In the casserole dish, layer the chicken mixture, tortillas, and grated cheese, repeating until you have used all the ingredients. You should end up with a cheese layer on top.

4) Cover and bake for 25-30 minutes until bubbling and the cheese is melted. If you prefer, remove the cover and broil for a couple of minutes to brown the cheese. 

My dad always serves this with extra flour tortillas for sopping up the sauce. We like to top it with sour cream and avocados, if they are on hand.

* Our go-to Mexican cookbook always recommends white onions in its dishes, but we usually just use yellow for this one

** Do NOT use the canned ones with herbs and spices already added - just plain. The original calls for three medium tomatoes, and if you have flavorful, ripe ones go ahead and use them instead. I use canned for convenience.

***  For mine, I usually use two chicken breasts that I have simmered in some lightly salted water until cooked through, then let cool and chop. My dad microwaves his, and I think you could use a pre-cooked rotisserie chicken too, if you wanted.

**** The original calls for sharp cheddar, but I never use cheddar for Tex-Mex these days - use whatever you prefer or can find. To save time, you could also use a Mexican blend of prepackaged, shredded cheese.

An unintended hike

Over Labor Day weekend, after all the tennis was over and the cobbler had yet to be eaten, we decided to go for a family walk at one of my favorite trails - Two Rivers Park. During my half marathon training, I did most of my runs in the park, and I have missed it over the summer. The paved trail has loops of various lengths that make it perfect for running, bike riding, and taking a not-too-long family stroll. On Sunday, we set out to take one of the latter, with Malcolm riding his bike.

Before the hike, all smiles and no bug bites

Shortly after crossing the bridge onto the trail proper, we took a diversion down a dirt trail to see the river. Then, in a spirit of adventure we later rued, we decided to follow a dirt trail off into the woods, parallel to the paved trail. At first, it wasn't bad at all. Malcolm could ride his bike, the trail seemed clear and well-maintained, and it was fun to be in the woods.

The trail is straight through there - see it?

Then we hit the first of the downed trees. Malcolm climbed over, Benjamin carried the bike. Malcolm started riding again - he was having a fabulous time. Then we hit more downed trees, covered with vines, and I scared a couple of large black snakes (I don't know what they were, but I fervently hoped at the time that they were just king snakes or rat snakes, and not water moccasins). The mosquitoes, ticks, and fire ants made their presences known.

At least we can see the trail again!

And the trail just kept going. I thought I knew where it came out, and it seemed that we had been walking for a very long time - longer than I thought possible on that narrow spit of land. We weren't lost, not really - we always had the trail and could have turned around if the trail ended completely - but we had no idea how much longer we were going to be there, and we had a potluck to get to! Eventually, the trail widened out into a clear track, there were no more fallen trees, and we found a picnic table. This, we figured, had to mean we were close to the paved trail at last. We stopped to pick the burrs off our socks, then set off, renewed. Only to discover that we were on the horseback riding trail that crosses the park, and it wound around for quite a while. Well, OK, it wasn't that long, but we were all getting tired and hot and thirsty and I figured we had walked at least three miles by that point (we had water, but it was only supposed to be a mile hike).

Finally, we came to the spot where I thought we had to emerge - I was right, just a little off on the distance - and made it back to the paved path, and eventually back to the car. Malcolm was getting tired, but he never complained. The entire time we were bushwhacking, he kept saying "Nothing can stop the Riders!" and charging ahead. I was amazed at how well he handled the whole adventure - I certainly wouldn't have been that good about such a thing, considering how much I whined about walking on the boardwalk path when hiking!

It is too bad that the city has not kept that trail cleared, because it could be a very nice hiking/biking trail if they did. Just take some bug spray!

A cobbler for Labor Day

Peaches and blackberries. Didn't take a picture fast enough...

I have made this cobbler at least four or five times already this summer. Until this summer, I would not have described myself as a cobbler-baking type of person, really. Apple crisp, apple crostata, berry crumble - yes, enthusiastically yes. But traditional cobbler just seemed too much work for a casual summer dessert. You have some berries, maybe a couple of kinds, but not so many that you can make a pie (never mind the fact that it is far too hot and humid to be rolling out pie crust) and you need something to do with them. This, friends, this is it. 

My friend Mina first recommended it to me back in May or June, when I invited her to bring her kids along with Malcolm and I to pick berries. They couldn't come, but she said I needed to make this recipe. That it was so simple and so good. And she was right. I have made it with blueberries and blackberries and raspberries, peaches and blueberries, and yesterday, with blackberries and peaches. I bet it would be good with plums, or strawberries and raspberries. And Malcolm loves to help make it, because it is so simple. He mixes the batter as I add ingredients, and helps sprinkle the berries on top. 

It is a Pioneer Woman recipe, and here is the original, Blackberry Cobbler #1. I made a couple of changes, but nothing too drastic. I hope you have time to give it a try this Labor Day weekend!

Blackberry Cobbler #1 (with adaptations by Hope)

Ingredients:

1 stick unsalted butter

1 cup sugar + 1/4 cup for sprinkling on top (I only use 1 TBSP)

1 cup self-rising flour or 1 cup all purpose flour + 1 1/2 tsp baking powder and 1 tsp salt

1 cup milk

2 cups blackberries or a mix of berries and stone fruits

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Butter a baking dish (the original recipe doesn't specify a size; I use a Pyrex pie plate).

Melt butter. Combine 1 cup of sugar and 1 cup flour in a medium mixing bowl. Whisk in the milk and mix well. Pour in the melted butter and whisk until smooth.

Pour the batter into the baking dish. Sprinkle the fruit evenly over the top. Sprinkle the entire thing with 1 Tbps sugar (or more, if you want it really sweet).

Bake for 1 hour, until golden and bubbly. (The original suggests adding another tsp of sugar over the top 10 minutes before it is finished. I have never done this; it is sweet enough as is for me.) Let cool a bit, then serve. Top with ice cream or whipped cream, if you like (yes!).

Running in the summer, in Arkansas

Here I am - proof of life!

What you probably can't tell from this picture is that it was in the mid-80s, with about the same level of humidity. I was dripping wet, literally. Not a dry spot on me. That is how most of my runs have been this summer. For a week or two, it wasn't blazing hot, but it was raining non-stop, and I got just as wet. Can I tell you something? I am so over summer. At the beginning of the summer, I was all proud of myself for running in the heat, playing tennis in the heat - it made me feel, well, superior. I was out doing, when so many people were inside, sitting. Now? I am just tired of being so damn wet, of my clothes needing to be wrung out after a run or a tennis match. I can still handle it, but the feeling of superiority has been replaced by a sigh of resignation. If I want to do the things I love, I have to endure.

Thank goodness fall is coming. Oh, true fall in Arkansas is still a ways off, but there is a hint of a cool breeze in the mornings now. The temperatures at only in the low 90s during the day, and it isn't quite warm enough for the pool some days. (That in itself could be an entire blog post - when I was a kid, any day the pool was open was a day warm enough to go swimming. Now, it has to be at least 85 for me to feel the need to get in.)

Anyway, I have been running in the summer in Arkansas so often because I signed up for my second half-marathon at the end of October, and I need to be prepared! I almost signed up for three halfs in a month, but reason kicked in and settled on one. My hope is that all this heat training will make the fall weather seem so glorious and easy to run it that I can break my PR from the spring. So, c'mon Fall!

Malcolm is Four!

Happy birthday to my wonderful, goofy, creative, smart Malcolm.

You have grown so much in the last year, and I can't wait to see what comes next.

I am so grateful that I get to share all my favorite things about this world with you, like blueberries, gardening, bird watching, books, and tennis (although we don't always share a fashion sense).

Never stop sparkling, little super hero!

Back to blogging, with book reviews

I have been trying to read more lately, and spend less time on computer games and Facebook. I also challenged myself to read more books by women and minorities; so far, 15 of the 21 books I have read so far this year are by women. Anyway, here are short reviews of two books I have recently finished.

Cold Magic by Kate Elliott
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is closer to a 3.5 for me. I enjoyed it enough that I want to read the rest of the trilogy, but there were some things - stylistically and plot-wise - that kept me from truly loving it. Initially, I had a hard time getting into the story, since the beginning was a bit slow - I tend to prefer a quick start. A large portion of the middle of the book is occupied with Cat and Anduvai traveling up and then back down the length of the country, seemingly to no great purpose - I mean, important plot things happen, but they start and end in the same place with lots of running around in between. And as much as I liked the mash up of cultures, I was often distracted by them, enough that I would get thrown out of the story for a bit. I am not entirely sure why this particular brand of alternate history/fantasy should do that, since I have read plenty of books set in alternate versions of our world, but somehow, the redrawn map of Europe, combined with actual bits of ancient Roman and African history, and magic, was just a bit too much.

As I said though, I do want to read the rest of the series. I like Cat and Bee, and I am interested to see where they go next.


His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed this, and read it in two days. It is like Master and Commander, but with dragons. Napoleon and Britain are at war, and both use dragons as their aerial power. When William Lawrence, a British Navy captain, captures a dragon egg from a French ship, he is dismayed to have it hatch and pick him as his companion, because the aerial corps are looked down upon by society and especially the Navy. But he is a man of honor and duty, so he does what he must to keep the dragon safe and help his country in the war. Along the way, he forges a friendship and partnership with the dragon, Temeraire, that changes his views of society and duty. While I did find Laurence a little stuffy at times, given the setting I suppose that is forgivable. And the dragons are pretty cool. Too bad it wasn't illustrated, in full color! I will be reading the rest of the series.

View all my reviews

Easter weekend - egg hunting and hiking a mountain

This past weekend we crammed a lot of activity into one Saturday. Malcolm got to go on an egg hunt at our church. He had been anticipating it for weeks, and it did not disappoint.

There were dozens and dozens of candy-filled plastic eggs scattered around, just waiting for some hot little hands to grab them up. Malcolm got his fair share, and then some. He will probably still be eating them in May. He also got to meet the Easter Bunny. That hug is a big improvement over this time last year, when he saw a person in a kangaroo outfit somewhere, and edged away with a panic-stricken whimper.

In addition to being Easter weekend, it was also the last of spring break. Since I was out of town the first weekend, and Benjamin had been busy all week trying to catch up/get ahead with work, we hadn't had much chance to do something really fun. Saturday was a glorious spring day, with blue skies, warm sun (but not too hot, yet), and gentle breezes. We had to head outside.

Pinnacle Mountain, from the parking lot

So naturally, we decided to climb Pinnacle Mountain. It is a large and steep hill just outside of Little Rock, on the edge of the river. Now, I know some of you are from places with real mountains, and would scoff at calling this hill a mountain, but hey, this is Arkansas. We don't have volcanoes or young mountains - ours are all old and short. Pinnacle is one of those places that attracts both serious hikers (one time we were there, an older man in spandex was climbing it, repeatedly - he passed us three times while we were there) and casual "Hey it's nice out, lets do something outside" hikers, the ones who show up in flip flops with one tiny bottle of water between them. And since Saturday was such a nice day, it seemed like all of Little Rock was there to enjoy it.

Lately, Malcolm has been asking to go hiking, which has meant tromping through the woody areas of our hill - he and Benjamin found a deer antler on one such adventure walk. He is really getting into it, which is great, since we love hiking too. We figured that his enthusiasm meant he might be big enough to tackle a real hike. And he was.

The top

He hiked the entire way to the top of the mountain, almost a mile of just climbing, only stopping a couple of times for water. In fact, he did better than a number of the adults we passed, never complaining about the rocks or the climb at all.

He did get a ride most of the way down the hill, passed between Benjamin and myself, but by that point, he'd earned it. And I know there were some other hikers who probably wished for a ride down!

Race Report: Little Rock Half-Marathon

So, as I may have mentioned a few (hundred) times, I have been training for a half-marathon since November. Yesterday, I finally ran that marathon, and not only did I survive it, I crushed my personal goals. I finished with a time of 2:08:53 - when I first started training, I was hoping just to break 2:30. As it became clear over the weeks that I would be able to make that time fairly easily, I began to wonder if 2:20 was realistic. Then, a few weeks ago, I ran around 2:15 on my one race-length long run, and repeating that time during the actual event became my goal. Well, I made that for sure!

 

Approximately 6:30 race morning. I have already been awake for 2.5 hours...

I used the "Finish It" plan from the Another Mother Runner book, Train Like a Mother, and I give a lot of credit to that excellent training plan for preparing me so well. Yes, I had to do the work, and trust me, I did! But it really helped to have such an organized and easy-to-follow plan.  I only missed or skipped a few workouts (although I do admit to using tennis as both a "fun workout" and as cross-training. What? It works!) In hindsight, more strength work might have been a good idea, but that is why you race again, right? To fix stuff and get better!

Anyway, the race itself. I woke up a number of times, exactly one hour apart, during the middle of the night, in anticipation. I wasn't worried that I would sleep through my alarm - I am far too light a sleeper for that to ever happen - but I was keyed up. The final time I woke up was around 3:50 - a full hour before my alarm. I lay in bed for a while, trying to will myself to get just a little more sleep, but gave up around 4:30. In the end, that was fine - it gave me time to do a few sun salutations to stretch out, make and eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, drink a cup of tea, use the bathroom, get dressed, and out the door by 5:20. I wanted to leave that early because I was worried about parking and getting to my proper corral on time. I really didn't need to worry. I found a good parking spot almost immediately and decided to walk over to the convention center to stay warm and find a bathroom until it was time to head to the starting area. 

This is when I started to wish that I had a running buddy. There were so many people there, and most of them were in pairs or groups, chatting and planning and finding ways to stave off nerves. I did see people I knew, and I said hi, but I didn't come with anyone, and wouldn't be running with anyone. I didn't even have my iPod, since the race instructions discouraged using them. I almost always run by myself, and I often turn off the iPod part way through a long run, so it wasn't as if this was a new experience, but a race is a different sort of event than a solo training run. It would have been nice to have someone there to share it with, this big new experience. As Winnie the Pooh says, "It's so much friendlier with two."

Eventually, everyone else at the convention center with the same ideas as me started heading for the doors, so I did too. We were divided up into starting corrals, to make it easier to actually start running, once we hit the starting line. I intended to try to stay with the pacers who were leading the 4:25/2:12 group, but that idea fell by the wayside as they got started at a faster pace than I was wanting to go right then. So I stuck with the pacer on my watch, trying to keep from going out too fast. Mostly, that was my whole strategy - stick with the pace I had on my last training run for the first half or 2/3s of the race, then try to pick up my pace near the end. 

Slightly crazed race smile, check. Photo by Charlee Hinton

And that is what I did. I am not going to bore anyone with my mile splits (although I will, if you ask), but basically, I kept a steady pace for the first half, and then started going just a little faster every mile after that. I was almost sprinting by the end. I was also incredibly happy that, when we reached the point around mile 12 where the marathon course split off from the half marathon course, I was not going to have to run another 13 miles! 

The weather this year was just about perfect - not too cold, not too hot, not windy, not rainy. I could have used sunglasses, but compared to past years when it has been sleeting or thundering, that is a pretty good complaint to have. 

Overall, a good race. There were lots of aid stations with water and Gatorade (and porta-potties). There were also quite a few informal aid stations handing out beer in tiny cups, and some with donuts or candy. I snagged a peppermint from a police officer somewhere around mile 7 or 8, but avoided the beer and donuts (the former with no pangs - even if I did like beer, 7 AM is too early for me - and the latter with a bit of regret, although I knew my stomach thanked me). Around mile 12 there was a gauntlet of people handing out beads and lipstick - in case you wanted to get fancied up before hitting the finish line. This, I didn't like. I was trying to pick up speed at this point, and I kept having to dodge people who really wanted me to have beads, not to mention the discarded tubes of lipstick. 

Now that I am done, I am already plotting out my next race. There are several 5K and 10K races that I have run in the past coming up, but I kind of want to do another half. Not really soon, but maybe in the fall. I want to see if I can get faster!

And I want another medal!