Sunrise 5:49: In need of a botanist

With challenges in the gimpiness department, the Dawn Joggers headed out this morning nevertheless on a walk to the San Mateo bike bridge and back. (The female DJ just couldn't take another day on the elliptical but she's not going to be [too] foolish.) It was already warm when they came upon some plant that appeared to have been dropped from outer space. It had low to the ground large green foliage and blooms three or four feet long that featured yellow flowers and, for lack of better words, downy-like fur. They'd never seen anything like it...

Sunrise 5:48: Grace's Giant debut

Father's Day festivities included a visit from Grace, who found one of the female DJ's many Giants ball caps and made her fan debut under the glowing gaze of proud Papa. The gathered group shared a delicious barbecue meal overseen by the man of honor, the male DJ. If the female DJ was still a dawn jogger, she'd be noting that the sun rose a minute later today than yesterday...

Sunrise 5:47: Saturday morning takes a different turn

For a long time after the male DJ was diagnosed, Saturday morning was a source of pain for the DJs. This had been the time for them to share a long run together, and in the first year, the female DJ had to set out on her own. Then sometime last year after the male DJ increased his walking mileage, they did a successful adaption of sharing outdoor time on Saturday. They'd go to the same place and the female DJ would jog while the male DJ would walk, and they'd top it off with breakfast out. The "bad foot" has now interfered with this satisfying arranged. The female DJ headed out for another boring session on the elliptical because she can't walk, while the male DJ set out on foot for the two mile walk to the shopping center to buy provisions for the Father's Day barbecue to be held later this afternoon (given some conflicts tomorrow). The female DJ picked him up and they did share a good brunch together...

Sunrise 5:47: Drive by shooting - #6

Pure and unadulterated envy. That's what the female Dawn Jogger felt when she stopped at the gate to the Big Dish area this morning and encountered a runner on her way up. But it was off the Y and the end of this silly drive by series. Maybe her ankle feels the teeniest, tiniest better, but not much...

Sunrise 5:47: Drive by shooting - #5

When the radio alarm went off this morning, the female Dawn Jogger heard that temperatures were can to warm up today and for the next few days. So it wasn't surprising to encounter a cloudless sky when she stopped at the gate to the Big Dish area. The result was a long shadow. Almost the end of this silly series but a new venture begins...

Sunrise 5:47: Drive by shooting - #4

Today it was all about the clouds - again. But still too late for dawn...

Sunrise 5:47: Drive by shooting - #3

The early morning sky, while not cloud free, was clearer than it's been over the past week, when the weather has been unseasonably cool (although when asked every local remembers just how cool June can be). This morning the female DJ liked the pinkness of the clouds in juxtaposition to the golden hillsides. The shot is looking south, not west...

Sunrise 5:47: Drive by shooting - #2

The female Dawn Jogger was about three hours earlier today than when she took a similar shot at the edge of the Big Dish area on Saturday - but still too late for actual sunrise, which had occurred about 30 minutes earlier. And this morning she really was behind the fence looking in - whoever was responsible for unlocking the gate into the area hadn't done so. Just down the road, a bunch of walkers/runners were waiting outside the gate near Stanford Avenue...

Sunrise 5:47: Sunday morning surprise

The Dawn Joggers were eating breakfast this morning when they saw a car drive by very, very slowly with the passenger looking intently at their house. The reason for the interest became apparent when they got a knock on the front door a few minutes later. The couple explained that the woman - Paula Romie (maiden name) - had lived in the house in the late 50s (1956-1961 to be exact). She now lived in Southern California but was north with her husband for their son's graduation from UC Santa Cruz. She was particularly interested in seeing the grove of Redwood and cedar trees her father had planted on the corner of the lot. The DJs had understood that they had bought their house from the original owners (the DePuys) so were surprised when Paula told them that it was her family who had bought from the original owners (the Hales). Stick around on a Sunday morning and get surprised...

Sunrise 5:47: Looking longingly over the fence

Just to add to the torture of not jogging at sunrise, the female Dawn Jogger has to drive by the entrance to the Big Dish every day on her way to the gym for her appointment with the elliptical machine - but from the "wrong" side of the fence. The next week will feature the longest hours of daylight of the year, so she's decided to do a little experiment and shoot the same scene when she passes by. Today's shot was taken three hours after sunrise, no need to get up and out on a Saturday. She misses being outdoors and seeing the textures of earth and sky...

Sunrise 5:47: Drive by shooting

The female Dawn Jogger is still pondering the fate of First Blush, a blog about jogging at dawn when the jogging part is off the table, even if rising at dawn is not. Maybe time for new direction, new focus. Meanwhile the time soon after sunrise when she travels to and from the local Y presents the opportunity for an occasional drive by shooting, such snapping a photo of the construction ramp up at Oak Knoll School now that the kids are home for the summer. The scaffolding for the new multipurpose room went up while the DJs were in Ohio. The crew this morning was busy putting up murals to shield the construction site. Nothing stays the same...

Sunrise 5:52: Farewell to Ohio

The Dawn Joggers were treated to near perfect late spring weekend in Ohio - with temperatures warm enough for shirt sleeves but without much humidity - and lots of great catch up visiting with classmates, friends and faculty. (The male DJ promises a picture page.) The sunset was particularly pretty on Saturday night from the Memorial Garden (which was rimmed with peonies at their peak) on the Western Reserve Academy campus. Back to the realities of more regular activities now...

Sunrise 5:53: Morning in Hudson

The female Dawn Jogger has been coming to Hudson, Ohio, to attend the male DJ's reunions at Western Reserve Academy every five years for their entire married life. That's given her a chance not only to get to know his classmates but also the charming town of Hudson, a somewhat New England looking place, thanks to its history as part of the Connecticut Western Reserve. At her first reunion 25 years ago, she discovered what is one of her favorite boutiques anywhere in the world, the Grey Colt. She later learned that the store was originally co-owned by the couple who had been so influential in the male DJ's life while he has at Reserve, Pris and Ash Graham. (This weekend they're staying in town with daughter, Timmie.) After a workout at the WRA gym, it was time for the female DJ to make her pilgrimage to the Grey Colt, where she's always found something unique and fun to buy, as she did today. It was also an opportunity to catch up with current owner Katie Coulton (daughter of original co-owners Patty and Stewart Coulton) and do some reminiscing about what a grand lady Pris was - and how much she is missed. The year the Grey Colt celebrates it 50th anniversary in business...

Sunrise 5:54: Back to Western Reserve

The Dawn Joggers are in Hudson, OH, to attend the male DJ's reunion at Western Reserve Academy. They spent a fun evening catching up with friends and classmates (and all the gossip that small town/small school brings)last night. This morning the male DJ met with school art master Alan Doe who is being good enough to facilitate a retrospective of the male DJs' photographs from the 80s in the Moos Galley. As a teacher Bill Moos had a significant impact on the male DJ...

Sunrise 5:48: Grounded - indefinitely

The clouds were pretty about a half hour after sunrise this morning. But most of the female Dawn Jogger's view was through the car windshield on the drive to the Page Mill Y for her elliptical workout. It was so hard for her to start running again at dawn without the male DJ after his diagnosis almost three years ago. It's just as hard to be forced to give it up herself. She thought about this especially today, as Wednesdays are the day of her usual mid-week Dish run. All she could do was stop the car at the gate and snap a quick photo. And wish she was there...

Sunrise 5:49: Gym rats

The female Dawn Jogger remains firm that experiencing the first blush of dawn is just not the same inside the walls of gym (although she wouldn't be complaining as much if this was during those months she ran in the dark). But she headed off first thing with the male DJ soon after sunrise this morning nevertheless. Their positions were not unlike their jogging patterns from years past - the male DJ always in front, now on the treadmill while she uses an elliptical machine. No, there won't be photo after photo of one of the other of them at the Y, way too boring...