Fruit salad is Jeremy’s dad’s claim to fame. According to him, it’s his “best” dish, especially when you mix granola and yogurt with the fruit. Today Jeremy and Vince made fruit salad for breakfast and we all thought of Bob.
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Common name: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow
Scientific name: Brunfelsia calycina
Location: Choa Chu Kang park
This plant is so cool, the flowers fade from purple to white over the course of a few days, hence it’s common name, “Yesterda, Today and Tomorrow”!
First, I wanted to wish my mother a very happy birthday! May you win all your mah jongg games today!
Edda took a long nap today. Here’s sleeping beauty.
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Common name: Red Trailing Bauhinia
Scientific name: Bauhinia kockiana
Location: Choa Chu Kang park!
More skiing resources.
I know there are several ski areas that offer the equipment and instructors
for adaptive skiing across the country. Here in NH I wold say the majority
of ski areas either have full blown programs or are in the process of
beginning. Sunapee, Loon, Waterville, Breton Woods have well established
great programs. Gunstock, Ragged, Crotched Mountain have also started some.
I spent the day doing training on Sunday at Waterville for our adaptive
program. I have been a volunteer instructor both at Waterville and Loon for
10 years now.
Skiing! From the RETTNET mailing group.
Mt. Sunapee, in New Hampshire, offers adaptive skiing. It’s WONDERFUL!!!! We took Abby, 9, there last year, and I don’t remember our family ever having a better time. The lessons are thru NEHSA-New England Handicpped Sports Association. If you can get there, they’ll get you skiing. We saw kids with Down Syndrome, kids with one leg, kids with no arms, kids who are blind–anyone. And it’s not just kids, it’s grownups too. We saw an 85 year old woman skiing with a walker! The program is entirely volunteer run, and they are HIGHLY trained. There are always two instructors with each skier. Abby tried standup skiing first, but since we were only there for the weekend, we switched to sit-down, so she could have more fun and not work so hard! She headed to the top on her first run, and you should have seen her face when she came down. Definitely saw a touch of heaven there. When we go this year we will stay longer, and she’ll try both standup and sitting. The instructor skies with her in a sled with handles–like a dogsled. If the skier begins to get the “feel” of things, the instructor will begin to let the sled move ahead on tether lines, feeding them out until the skier is pretty much on their own. The instructors brainstorm to figure out how each individual skier can have the best experience. It’s a real bargain, too. The family joins NEHSA, for about $40 a year, and then the entire family can rent equipment and buy tickets through them at a fraction of the regular cost. I remember rentals being 15 dollars a day. And Abby paid $25 total. skis, tickets, and lessons. You can’t get a hamburger at a mountain for $25!! The people were the nicest–every single one of them.
Ruby went swimming today. It is always a banner day when Ruby gets to swim.
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Common name: Trumpet Plant
Scientific name: Solandra longiflora
Location: Choa Chu Kang Park
Frank’s Deep Eyes – Picasaized.
Ronnie at the Left Bank in Santana Row
Well, tonight, I went off to a pre-turkey dinner night at one of Frank’s friend’s place. Of course, most of the people there were Christian, since they were mainly people from Frank’s church.
Now usually those are snorefests for me since it seems to me that nobody wants to talk to me – me being the only non Christian in the crowd. Or perhaps it’s just that everyone knows each other and it’s easier to be cliquey? Who knows. I went anyways, cause Frank wanted me to and the night turned out to be better than I was expecting. I found a comrade in arms – the younger brother of the hostess was sort of a non practicing Christian and we chatted for a bit.
Also there was the Chargers – Broncos game on, and everyone bonded over football and fantasy football. The Broncos lost (Sorry Scott, but you still want to trade Portis now? :P) but the better news is that Ladanian Tomlinson has scored 18 TDs in the last 6 games, and he pretty much is going to win fantasy football for me this year.
It was also a sorta funny event, since it was BYOM (Bring Your Own Meat). Frank bought some ribeye steak from costco for everyone and grilled it to perfection. There was chocolate fondue involved later on also that was quite yummy. I asked the hostess what the inspiration was to the BYOM party. She sorta laughed, and joked, “I didn’t want to pay dinner for everyone.” Heh.
I woke up in a great mood. I had so much fun at the Thanksgiving party yesterday. Usually I am so awkward as a hostess – I never know what to say or when to offer food/drinks. But I did well! The 5 hours flew by. So many people coming and going, I hope they all had fun. I had so much nervous energy I didn’t really eat. Only after everyone left and the kids went to sleep did I eat 2 turkey sandwiches.
Today was a letdown/recovery day. We went walking a Bukit Batok Park to work off some of the turkey.
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Common name: Yellow Saraca
Scientific name: Saraca thaipingensis
Location: Bukit Batok Nature Reserve