Week 52-Squam Lake II

The last and final photo. My son, Jack (chief photographer), Gypsy on the kayak and my toes.
In closing, alas, a perfect toe point!  My coach would be proud.
Below were my goals for this venture. I stated these goals on September 13, 2009.

1.  Succeed in actually taking one photo a week.
2.  Maintain a 5 second handstand.
3.  Maintain a 10 second handstand.
4.  Not to make this blog too "self promoting," to include interesting people, places and things while     making a mini-autobiography of the year, August 2009-August 2010.
5.  Get creative with the photos.


1. Well, not quite!  85 %
2. Check
3. Check
4. I will leave behind a pictorial and historical snapshot of 8/09-8/10. Check!
5. Definitley, Check.  Thanks to all my photographers and photo shopper!


I am sad and relieved to see the end to the year in handstand photos!  It was very challenging to get to the photos in the last few weeks of the summer when I was working full time at the pool!  One of the reasons I wanted to do this blog was to take my mind off my mother's ailing health, so I could focus on something "lighter," but in addition to that, also to make a commiment to something.  A commitment to something I could actually commit too.  My husband would surely say,"You already commit to an extensive exercise program! Why this too?" Commitments and goals give us something to look forward to and to focus on.  I have a wandering mind.  I am always looking for the next thing!  When you are looking for the next thing, but don't know what it is you are lost.  It helps to have a focus to achieve your goal whether it is big or small.  After my 148 miles bike ride from Quincy MA to Windsor VT my husband asked me, "What's next?" Surprisingly, he hasn't asked me, in reference to the blog,"So, What's next?" 
I have had 2 thoughts on what might be next.  I have been on a Jack London kick lately.   I hear that there has been a Biography written about him recently.  I entertained the thought of trying to write a specific number of words each day.  Jack London was said to have written 1000 words a day!  This entry has 378 so far.  Don't know if I can commit to that.  The other thought I have is a blog of vintage sign photos.   I love vintage signs!  I would like to start a collection of vintage sign photos and perhaps pursue the history of them as I come across them.  No dead line each week!  Sounds marvelous!  Definitley something I can commit too!


Finally, I will still practice my handstands and on occasion take photos of them and post them here.  Maybe I will post some that never made the cut.  It's been fun!  Thanks for following!


Photographer: Dan Donovan
Location: Squam Lake

Week 51-Squam Lake I

Last year about this time one of the first few handstand photos was taken in my house with my nephew balanced on my toes. Here I am at Squam Lake in NH with my nephew, brother and sister-in-law hanging around "at my hands" at the dock.  We had a lot of fun out here on the dock rocking it, doing cartwheels off of it, swimming out to it and sunning on it.  I was fortunate to have both my brothers and their families come and enjoy a family vacation on Squam Lake this year.  The two babies, my nephew at 15 months and my niece at 8 months, had a swell time floating around in the little intertube you see near the dock.  My nephew was also a fan of the Shock Rocker!  It's a giant intertube with a center cut out where he could dangle his feet.

Photgrapher: Dan Donovan
Location: Squam Lake NH

Week 50-The Ice Cream cloud

This was taken at dusk and as you can see I could not hold perfectly still for the camera, but pretty close. Jack asked us to all come outside to check out this cloud so I said (as I often have over the last year) "Let's get a handstand photo." I was hoping one of the bats swooping around our yard would accidently get caught in the photo! No such luck.

Photographer: Jack Donovan

Location: Backyard

Week 49-Outdoor Shower Complete!

This shower, built by my husband, Danny, has been in the works since last summer. I had the idea of the shower stall as a round wooden structure. "Possibly with a stone wall at the base," I said to my husband. I believe I may have caught him rolling his eyes at the stone wall suggestion. The plumber/slash/ Harley guy took my vision and made it a reality. The circular bands are old wagon wheels with 2 inch redwood boards (to which he also rolled his eyes) are screwed on to form the round stall. A job only for a big stong guy! He and Jack went through several drill bits in the process. They had to cut the circular bands to make the door. They cut them then welded the end pieces on one side and attached the door with hinges on the other. The shower floor is gravel with a large slab of stone over the gravel. It's fabulous! (and so is my handstand)

Photographer: Jack Donovan

Location: Backyard

week 48-Summer Flowers

In a field of Black Eyed Susan's near my house.

Just trying to get the job done in these last few weeks while I am working full time at the pool!

Photographer: Jack Donovan

Week 47-Seriooously behind in POSTS and handstands!

This is a mish mash of photos. I am going back to what I think is my best handstand so far and my friend Tracy's perfect handstand. Still working on perfection! And a photo of my B2B buddies just before we left Boston.

Alright, it's just no fun when I am behind in my handstand displays. It's like when I haven't called my mother in the last few days or when I keep putting off playing the bills, but hey, I rode 148 miles in one day last Saturday, so I am going to use that as an excuse and promise to get back on track.

On June 19th I did the B2B which is an epic ride from the Harpoon Brewery in Boston to the Harpoon Brewery in Windsor, Vermont. To even enter the ride you have to guarantee that you will ride at 16+mph. I declared that I would go out with the 17 mph riders with a couple of friends, Chad and Mark. Over the course of the ride there is 4500 feet of elevation climbing. The 90th mile brings a ~5 mile climb of which one of the Harpoon beers is named after, a beer that is an _ _ _ kicker, known as Leviathon. As I approached that hill I was thankful my friend Amy got me out to the White Mountains to climb the Kangamangus Highway because Leviathon seemed a breeze compared to that. I am sure they are very similar, but once you have conquered something like that it just doesn't seem so scary the next time around!

I finished in 10 hours with about an hour and a half of rest/water&food stops. I rode at just over 18 mph average for the ride, which is very cool, very happy about that! My legs were tired and a bit sore for the next few days, but no more sore than after some of my grueling training rides. The last few days I have been enjoying some easy rides on my single speed, riding back and forth to my summer job. Not sure what my next big ride will be. I am thinking about maybe riding to NYC, but not all in one day.

Week 46-Handstand with Arley and My 1968 Schwinn

My daughter Arley and I are in a handstand next to my/Jack's new vintage bike. Arley is know stranger to handstands. During her first year of track in high school she did some training with the pole vaulters and spent a lot of time working on handstands. She says she is a little out of practice, but she is workin' it here and looks pretty darn good! She is home from college for the summer. We are going to practice doing a back to back handstand. We haven't tried it yet. Hopefully it will be a success before the 52 weeks are up so we can include it in the blog! I might have to get my handstand coach back for some dual handstand training.

The bike is a 1968 Schwinn Racer. Check out the hunkie men who used to ride the Schwinn Racer back in the 60's http://www.re-cycle.com/images/Schwinn/1968cat/12w.jpg Jack had asked Danny to look for a bike at the dump that he could tootle around on and ride down the bike path on. This is what Danny came back with. I fell in love with it. Had to have it! Now, Jack and I are working out the terms of ownership. I have purchased some new tubes, tires and brake pads. I have been scrubbing off the rust and grime with some steel wool. It will be ready to roll soon! It has a shifter on the handle bars with three gears that are a mystery to me. I have to read up on this type of shifting mechanism, it appears the gears are hidden inside the hub. There are no chain rings that create the shifting.

Photographer: Jack Donovan

Location: backyard