Today, Billie made gluten-free English muffins – a first for me.
Delicious!
I didn’t bring my whole bike, just pedals, shoes, helmet, and mirror. Billie arranged for TWO bikes for me to ride depending on the riding surface. JD swapped out the pedals and got the bikes ready for tomorrow’s adventure.
We went to dinner at The Home Place in Catawba. On the weekends or when Virginia Tech has graduation, it could take 2 hours to get a table. The placemat explains why and the food is really good.
L-R: JD, Billie, Rickey (Billie’s 15-year-old grandson), Jackie and Herb (JD’s brother).
To Virginia
Sacramento – Las Vegas – Chicago – Charlotte NC. This is what you get when you select the cheapest ticket available. It also means there are more opportunities for flight delays, so I arrived in Charlotte at 1:20 am. Thank you Billie and JD for driving from Roanoke to pick me up.
Going home is Charlotte – Houston – Portland – Sacramento. Almost a nationwide tour.
Ambrosia Cafe
Downtown Sacramento,
Ambrosia Cafe for a late lunch
with Dave and Phyl.
Lunch was good, but our main purpose was to look at the art exhibit recently installed. The artist, Kathy Dakan, fulfilled a lifelong dream to present 20 years of collected (mostly) pen-and-ink pointillism drawings. I first met Kathy and husband Glenn at Westside School when I taught her two older children, Shane and Tyrah.
Hello Ella Rose
Dick has a new grandchild! Ella Rose was born today to Mike and Nicole in Boulder CO.
8 lbs 4 oz, 21″. Isn’t she beautiful?
Penn Valley retreat
Retreat? Or 4 days at a foothills spa with gourmet cooking? That’s what it’s like when I visit Maria and Tim. Their backyard is beautiful. It starts with not-a-swimming pool – not allowed in Lake Wildwood – but rather a “water feature” that you can splash around in. Duh, I didn’t take a picture of this. Going up to the next level is a putting green. M&T set up a chipping net so Maria could practice for a golf tournament next weekend.
Further up the hill,
Tim’s garden with a tall fence to keep out the deer. The entire plant including roots is inside the black plastic container.
Maria is a great cook and Tim is a master on the barbecue. Grilled swordfish, tuna tartare, cheeseburger salad better than the restaurant that invented it (Lefty’s in Nevada City) and Up-the-butt chicken.
Yum!
Maria had to work periodically and I found time to make a “Hawaii dress” for Sophia.
Hoofin’ it to read
Sally at the Sacramento Public Library did a great job organizing the kickoff event for the summer reading program. The Friends of the Library provided the funding.
Deno from the Natomas Farm.
The trick roper was a big hit.
And now, everyone is ready to begin their summer reading!
Tree Tour at McKinley Park
This tour was led by Anne Fenkner, an arborist with the Sacramento Tree Foundation.
There was quite a large group.
Sidewalk rerouted to accomodate the tree.
The rows of palms were planted in the 1930s and lined the trolley tracks up to the turn-around.
Phyllis and I both thought this tour was excellent.
Project Ride Smart
Oh my goodness, it’s been HOT! Nevertheless, we persevere with our last day of street rides. Teaching at Regency Park has been so wonderful. The school climate, fifth grade teaching staff, working with Elle = “I love my job!”
And I got another surprise from a former student. Heather Long from Westside School, is now a parent at Regency Park. She married another former student Nathan Anderson.
CBET at Woodlake
CBET at Woodlake ended on May 19. My students told me the principal was reitiring and a surprise had been planned by the parents to say goodbye. They wanted me to come to the celebration. There was no way I was not going to be there. I couldn’t stay long, I had to get to Regency Park for Project Ride Smart.
The principal, Doretha Hayes – I first knew her as a teacher in RLUSD long long ago, time passed, Doretha became a principal, I retired, 11 years went by, and I happened to be teaching CBET the year she retired and was invited by “mis estudianates” to be a part of the event. Wow.
Project Ride Smart
If there’s a bicycle education program to emulate in the Sacramento region, it’s Project Ride Smart for 5th graders in the North Natomas Transportation Management District. For those of you familiar with Rio Linda, this area is just west of the E Levee Road, sort of the backyard of where I grew up on W 6th St, now it’s all subdivision housing, but they do have some very cool things happening. Regency Park School is part of NNTMA and the only school in Twin Rivers USD to benefit from this excellent program. It was developed and promoted by Mellissa Meng about 5 years ago. Here, she stepped in on Day 1 to introduce the course. Every 5th grader had the opportunity to participate. Bicycles were provided. There was about 3 hours of classroom instruction, 3 hours of blacktop drills, 3 hours of on-street riding, and 1-hour follow-up/debriefing. This is an intense course and one reason why blogging gaps happen to me. 
L-R: Matthew and Elle. Elle is my co-LCI lead teaching partner this time. This is her website http://www.tinyhelmetsbigbikes.com/ 
Matthew is working toward achieving his LCI status by practice teaching with us. Matthew’s story is incredible. He was struck from behind in 2011 while riding his bike on Elkhorn Blvd. He generously shares his story to encourage everyone to wear a helmet. His brain injury left him without emotions and without the sense of taste.
