No. 22

After finishing off the last-ever Davidson culinary mystery, I grabbed this James Patterson off my shelf:

No. 22, 1st to Die, was a great read: quick, captivating, twisty. But then I got to the end. I won't spoil it, but I will say that yesterday held a lot of tears, with my sister saying goodbye to her beloved Max, and a co-worker also losing a fur baby. I curled up with a fire, a blanket, and my book, hoping for some relief from recent stress. That didn't happen. Ugh.

No. 21

No. 21 was David Badlacci's The Target on audio book:

I have one more, then I've read every Baldacci mystery out there. Any recommendations for a new author to binge?

:)

18 snowy miles

During our record-breaking winter, I was training for marathon No. 5. Icy conditions forced me to do a 14 miler and a 16 miler on the treadmill. But for my 18 miler, I took advantage of a no-school day and ventured outside!

The snow was still fairly fresh, so that meant good traction. I only fell once - on a sidewalk that had been shoveled and cleared for safety. Ha!

I had to carefully watch my foot placement. Some places were easier to pass than others, but that added to the challenge :)

Beef Bend was especially tricky because the road had been cleared and I had to run in the deep, crunchy plow pile. My ankles were tired by the end of that section!

Beef Bend and 131st:

Purple pants :)

I didn't fly down 131st as fast as normal: 

Highway 99 bridge over the Tualatin River: 

Sledders were using this hill at Hazelbrook Middle School: 

The other really tricky part was Leveton Drive in Tualatin. It's an industrial/office area that hadn't been used since the snow fell. So the sidewalks were extra treacherous. When no cars were coming, I ran in the road. It was easier than high stepping through the sidewalk muck.

Back home, icicles covered the bushes by the front porch: 

18 miles DONE in the snow and ice!

:)

More snow... because I love snow

I know a lot of people hated Portland's snow this year. I loved it - every minute of it!

From Jan. 11, 2017:

 We went running in the evening. SOOOOO beautiful :)

:) 

No need to head to Hood

How should we celebrate our spring weather? SNOW!

We only made it to Mount Hood a few times this year because it snowed so much in our own nearly sea-level town!

The fam hit the road Jan. 11 for some snowy fun on foot. We walked through Cook and Tualatin parks and ended up at Bridgeport Village. The storm was too fresh, and all the businesses were closed. But Qdoba was open!

We wondered around the deserted mall for a while. So strange to have this much snow at home!

Back in our own neighborhood:

A group shot before parting ways:

Walking in a winter wonderland. What a treat! :)

Nos. 19, 20

No. 19 was David Baldacci's No Man's Land.

I'm almost out of Baldacci's to listen to... who should I "read" next?

No. 20 was Diane Mott Davidson's The Whole Enchilada:

Eryn scored this from the library and shared :)