May

How were we in past May?

2024.  2023.  2022.

5/31/2025.  
If you ask me what my favorite flower from a flower shop is, I’d say “Lily of the Incas” loudly and confidently. In these days, I prefer to get them for friends from flower shops. Usually I trim all leaves and make a bouquet nicely. Trimming all leaves might sound weird. But I like that way. 

See my old post on 12/30/2022

Here is a good read about Lily of the Incas.    
“In the language of flowers, Alstroemeria is often associated with friendship and mutual support.”  Friendship! (Yay!) 

https://www.flowerpatch.com/10-fun-facts-about-alstroemeria-flowers/?srsltid=AfmBOoqlHjBIouYIDbCtwddh7ZF87k1uZ8zM0e13UCmzFIRtp7YpZqpU

It’s also called as Princess Lily(!) Did you know that?? 

It is Alstroemeria: Common names = Peruvian Lily, Parrot Lily, Princess Lily and Lily of the Incas.  
When I wanted to get some of them for my friend but the flower shop didn’t have them, I found a very interesting one instead. It was not Lily of the Incas, but it looked like a relative kind according to petal color patterns (at least to me). So I bought them. I was satisfied and fond of them, in fact. (Yes, and I shared some of them with my friend.)  
I did my homework then and found out the fact of these flowers.  
It is Astronova(!)  
The website says;

“There is a new development in Alstroemeria breeding which has resulted in these new "disbud" form, in other words, one large bloom per stem. The series is known as "Astronova".”

https://thursd.com/articles/worldwide-introduction-to-a-completely-new-flower-astronova

Very interesting, isn’t it?? Which one would you like better? 

Entry#412. 5/30/2025.    
There is a local theater production called “Oxford Cooperative Theater Company” = OCTC in this town. 

https://octchouse.wixsite.com/octc/past-productions

I discovered this production because of the director, her family and friends. I have wanted to watch her production shows for a while but couldn’t visited it before.  
This year, I finally made it! Thanks to my lovely music teacher friend (she is a wonderful pianist, singer and gardener), she gave me a ride to the show place in Eaton.  
It was a play-show (not a musical show). The title was “The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe”. Yes, that famous story of The Chronicle of Narnia by C.S. Lewis.  As I wrote it before, “plays” make me a bit nervous because of my language barrier. But I was more excited this time because I know the movie (at least the first movie).  
Also I had wonderful companions with me, two of them. (Music-teacher-friend and her daughter ).
It was such an amazing show indeed, more than I expected. I loved everything, literally everything!  
This production is cast by talented homeschool kids. Costumes, tech, lightning, choreography are leading by students as well (with adult advisers).  
I brought flowers for the director, of course.  
There was a special bonus, too. The director’s son and his wife were there and I got to meet them. It was a wonderful reunion to me.  
The outing this time was a success! I still cannot stop smiling the next day. 
Note: My brain was working so hard during the show, you know. 

5/28/2025.    
After my husband became a paraplegic (SCI = Spinal Cord Injury), his house entrance is always the door inside the garage. He doesn’t use the regular front door anymore. I know that I should start my project on making an accessible front door with accessible long ramp. I know that from the beginning. But once we got the widened door inside the garage and we got smoothed the bumpy edges (both the door and the entrance of garage), we kind of satisfied with the result. (We really appreciated help from many thoughtful friends/supporters at that time.)  
So we don’t use the front door much. When my husband went outside from the garage as usual, his eyes caught something by the front door. It was at the right side of the door underneath.

Do you see it???  
It was a fawn!  

A long long ago, we had a similar situation. We still remember about it well.  
We know that we just leave it be, not bothering it at all. So we did.  
It was exciting when we saw two figures moved along at the backyard in the evening, mama-deer and that fawn. Yes, mama came back to get her baby (fawn) and walked away together.  
Made me so happy and smile.  
Do you have a fawn around your house just like we had??

Entry#411, 5/28/2025.
When we go cycling as a family long distance cycling, we sometimes encounter something interesting. We discover new towns, new stores, new road signs and more. This time, we biked from Troy to Piqua for the first time. We all were excited to see what comes up next on the road.
Sometimes my husband sees something near the ground surface because his handcycle position is very low and I don’t see it. On the other hand, sometimes I see something up high and he doesn’t see it. Funny.
While cycling to Piqua, I saw something up high on the pole (like an electric pole) on the bike trail. I passed it once. But I biked back to the place to make sure of what I saw.
Guess what? Ta-da!

I’ve never seen this before. Especially on the bike trails. Is this familiar to most people?  I had to Google about it at home.
Found two videos.

So this is basically to prevent vultures from nesting in this area?  Don’t let vultures stay in this area?  Why this point specifically?
Then it made me think about my backyard. I do have turkey vultures in my backyard often. I don’t think they build their nests here. But sometimes we see their active behavior out there. So do I need to get this “Vulture Decoy” in my yard??  
photos: another finding.

5/26/2025.  
We are a family of three always. Our parents are in Japan. We don't do activities all together often. It won't happen rarely (sadly). But when three of us do family cycling, it's so much fun, all the time. 

Entry#410. 5/25/2025. 
It’s so interesting to learn something new, always.  Paratriathlon sounds so hard and tough but there are “relay” events sometimes. It might be “able bodied athletes relay” or/and “adaptive athletes relay” (or mixed teams maybe). 

When my husband told me about paratriathlon, he meant adaptive relay-triathlon. 
He and two other adaptive athletes are in the team. One does 750m swim. My husband does 17.8 mile bike (hahdcycle) and the last one does 5K run (rim-pusher/ racing wheelchair). It’s a relay event. Did I get your attention?  Yes, it does sound really interesting to me. Also it sounds more capable and fun to him. 
So if this race would happen for real, that would be exciting. How could I watch him and two his teammates?  What do you think? 
 
 

Entry#409. 5/24/2025.
Do you remember when our son finished his first ever triathlon with his friend?
It was in July 2024 (See 7/28/2024 story). When he informed us of his plan, I was like “shocked” because he never had been involved in the swim team at all. Triathlon = swim+bike+run. That sounded really serious and tough indeed. So when I got the news that both of them finished strong with their best effort, I was relieved and was very proud of them.

Their performance gave me the chance to learn “what is triathlon?”.  Plus I learned a bit about para-triathlon as well.
When the Paralympic Games happened in July 2024, I was astonished watching not only how they swim/bike/run but also “how to transit from/to each legs”.  Have you watched it? Have you imagined it?
No matter what types of disability they have, sometimes they just need assistants to move themselves to the pit, to change clothes, and to transfer into a handcycle/racing-wheelchair.  That make sense?
You should know how much I awed and was amazed to watch how they did.
Here are photos I screenshot from a video (below).  Two Helpers carry each adaptive athlete. (photo 1). An assistant helps to change clothes. (photo 2)  I believe that they practice the transition parts additionally.

Now you are getting familiar with para triathlon. So, what do you think when your husband tells you that he might attend paratriathlon??

Wait. What?!

5/22/2025. 
My mother uses a iPhone, but she hasn't used a desktop/laptop computer. At age 81, I think she is good at using her iPhone. Whenever she sends me photos, it makes me smile and happy. Especially if it's a photo of her, it makes my day brighter. I always ask her to send me a photo of my father, but it won't happen much. He refuses. 
I got a photo after Mother's Day. She commented about it like this. 
"Here, your dad is the only photographer to take a photo of me. Did he a good job?" 
I often feel bad and sorry for my parents because I live in the States far from Japan. It's been such a long time, since 2001.  But imagining their lives and their conversation makes me feel better. They are doing well, they are doing their things one day at a time.   I believe getting older is tough. They have some pains in their body.  I'll think of them often. This time, she in the photo looks wonderful more than ever.  My father also did a great job. 

Note: I often tell my husband that I want to have extra copies of my "body" just like a science-fiction movie. At least 2 extras. One for gardening. One for cooking/baking. So that the original me could focus on biking.  Well, I need to add one more extra which is for traveling to Japan. That sounds right. 

Note 2:  Do you see her background on the wall? All of them is her art creations. Calligraphy and drawings. They decorate them together. That is a cute thing for them. I love seeing these, as well.  Do you? 

Entry#408. 5/20/2025
I used to run/jog for fun before my husband got injured (July 2021).  I ran both on the road and in the trail. Trail running was more fun personally. I was not a runner when I was in high school. Not at all. You might be surprised. I had no interest in running at that time. (Why not? Maybe Japan thing.)
Our son’s Cross Country time impacted me a lot. We had Family trail runs on weekends. I was always slower than them. They competed in their paces which I never kept up with. 
In summer 2020 (= Covid quarantine time), I went running a lot. It hit the record mileage in my whole life. 
According to my Facebook old post. 
week 1:      23  mile     (37km)
week 2:   19.3  mile     (31km)
week 3:   22.4  mile     (36km)
week 4:   22.5  mile     (36.2km)
week 5:   22.9  mile     (36.8km)
week 6:   24.2  mile     (38.9km)
week 7:      30  mile     (48.2km)   Woot woot!
I commented like this. 
“I’m pretty sure I never do this again, I cannot. 
For now, I’m just proud of myself. Simple enough.”
It’s a good old memory.  Hitting 30 mile/ week was a huge accomplishment to myself. 

And now I am doing cycling instead of running. I got the idea of “long rides”, “hill training” and “cadence + power”.  
The last week, we biked 100 mile total / week! That was my record distance indeed.  Then guess what?  My body knew it was a record distance because my whole body said it needed a rest.  
Do you think my body could get used to this biking amount? Hmmm that’s a mystery.  
My husband looked so proud of 100mile/week. 

5/20/2025.    
When we pedal as a long ride through Xenia downtown, there is a nice mural to see. Finally we managed to capture it with us on a photo.  As a mural lover, it’s always fun to add a new one to our collection. Have you found a new one near your place? 
P.S. The photo of mural has to be have a human in it. 

Entry#407. 5/18/2025.    
I want to add something about two organizations/companies from the experience of Amway River Bank Run 25K handcycle race. 

Creative Ability Solutions (CAS)

https://www.creativeabilitysolutions.com/

Mr. Steve Chapman is the director of this company. Ms. Patti Bills is the Chief Operating Officer.  
We learned and will learn more from their knowledge, experiences and resources. We are grateful for knowing their new company. And the connection with them made the epic group ride happen. 

The Bridge Adaptive Sports and Rec

https://www.thebridgeadaptive.org/programs-2024-all/calendar

The executive director is Mr. Danny Meyer.  
Our beloved nonprofit organization in Cincinnati. They gave us many adaptive sports opportunities in past years.  
Mr. Danny Meyer had an idea (= a pilot project) in his head when my husband told him he was attending to Amway River Bank Run 25K handcycle race. He wanted try to bring some of his Bridge handcycle athletes from Cincinnati area for the race.  They don’t have transportation system for their handcycles. Mr. Meyer planed to transfer them with his Bridge van. 4 Bridge adaptive athletes registered (besides my husband) as the original plan. Unfortunately two of them couldn’t make it. 

They did a great job at the race. It was their longest distance race ever. I was proud of them. I hope they felt good and satisfied with their great effort out there on the course. The out-of-the-state ride is something special, so as I believe.  
Also I’m grateful for Mr. Danny Meyer, his determination and dedication for his adaptive athletes. Without his help, transportation system, it wouldn’t happen. 

This time, The Bridge did meet CAS officially out of Ohio. It was wonderful.  
My husband is willing to keep representing “The Bridge Adaptive Sports and Rec” more and more in future.  Their brand new bike jersey looks great and wonderful, don't you think? 

Entry#406. 5/18/2025   
I’d love to attach information about each great handcyclists that we met and my husband competed with in Grand Rapids.   You can see how awesome and how amazing they are literally. (They are super fast.)   It was meeting “movie stars” to me, personally. They became my heroes. It was an epic experience with them.  It was honor to meet them. 

The 2nd place at River Bank 25K handcycle; Mr. Casey Falkner  
Watch the video. The article is wonderful.

https://youtu.be/jCCLWrBMPtk?feature=shared

https://www.maryfreebed.com/speed-spirit-elite-wheelchair-and-handcycle-athletes-ready-for-amway-river-bank-run/

The 3rd place at River Bank 25K handcycle; Mr. Todd Richardson

I borrowed this photo from the social media post. I labeled with white arrows. One of them is Mr. Richardson. 

The 5th place;  Mr. Steve Chapman

https://youtu.be/4dm8nIADW80?feature=shared

The 7th place;  Mr. Jared Fenstermacher

https://youtu.be/zyAqzx46YHc?feature=shared

This video was filmed by Mr. Jared Fenstermacher. Amazing sights. 

That's why this photo is so precious to me. 

5/18/2025.  
Another day, another life with deer. You have to laugh. I was totally off guard because Iris was safe from deer always. I was doing happy dance for Yellow irises. Then a few minutes later, yellow flowers were eaten. By deer. German iries are still safe, though. 
I have a question. You have an answer, maybe?  Do you call German Iris, Iris sanguinea, and Iris ensata (=Japanese Iris) differently and separately?? 

These different iries are my favorites. The small white-purple ones are totally safe from deer. Interesting. 

Is the last one Japanese Iris = Iris ensata?

Another day, another ride. You have to laugh here, too. Once the semester is over, my husband's summer starts. That means handcycling everyday as long as the Sun is up. And I need to pump efficiently. 

Entry#405. 5/17/2025.    
My husband told Mr. Steve Chapman that we were coming to Grand Rapids to attend the Amway River Bank Run 25K handcycle race beforehand.  
We got a good connection through his job. He and his partner visited our house to set a power meter in a handcycle in January 2025. See Entry#350 (1/18/2025).

Then Mr. Steve Chapman said that he would have a group ride after the race day, my husband and I could join. That made us so happy and excited.  
That was a rough idea at that time. That was why we made sure to bring two bikes with us just in case, whatever it would happen. So guess what?  

Yes, the group ride happened the day after the race day. I was a little bit nervous, as you can guess easily, that I had to make sure two bikes were ready mechanically and technically.  
We drove up to Mr. Steve Chapman’s house in Cedar Springs. Then my nervousness hit the top when we found out all the members in this group ride and how many miles we were about to pedal together.  
See the photo here. I labeled them with the placements at the 25K race. These handcyclists lineup is fabulous. This was something.

They said “It’s a recovery ride. We will do 30 mile.”  
Oh, okay, you say “30 mile recovery ride”. My eyes widened. My stomach was a bit dancing.  
Do you remember my experience of GOBA in June 2024. Great Ohio Bicycle Adventure.  
See  Entry #270 - #274 (6/21/2024 - 6/23/2024) 

We joined two handcyclists and 5 cyclists to pedal 36 mile. At that time, I told them it was my husband’s dream ride. Yes, it was. On that ride, I barely survived.

This time in Cedar Springs, Michigan, we were with 5 handcyclists and 1 lady-cyclist. I was way too happy and excited. I told Ms. Patti Bills (the lady cyclist) “This is my husband’s dream ride!” It was true. Riding with TOP handcyclists, 5 of them(!), is our dream ride indeed.   
I couldn’t believe that happened for real. I had to focus on following them with a good pace and finishing 30 mile without any trouble. 

We pedaled on their everyday routine route. It was beautiful, nice, perfect and joyful.  I was thankful and grateful for their invitation for a recovery group ride.  
All 6 handcyclists finished 25K ( = 15.5 mile) the day before with their maximum power. Then we pedaled 30 mile. Which ride would be the main event to them?! We laughed.  
We made it!! I was very relieved. I was happier and satisfied. It was obvious that I made their pace slower down. But I believe everyone had a great time together.

On this trip, extra stuff gave me joy. Can you guess what?    
I saw and met top handcyclists’ wives and a partner. I saw how they support their athletes. What they do at the race place. In which parts they take care of them.  
However the time in Grand Rapids and Cedar Springs passed so fast. In the blink of an eye. I wanted to chat with them more. I couldn’t make it this time. Maybe next time.   
Thank you for the wonderful ride and meaningful time. I believe this was the beginning of many future gatherings. I do hope so deeply. 

Entry#404. 5/16/2025.  
When my husband shared his plan to Grand Rapids with me, he said “We will bring your bike this time with my handcycle, there is a chance to pedal together somewhere.”  
This made me feel excited and at the same time nervous. If I could bike in Grand Rapids, that’d be my very first out-of-state ride as well. That’d be wonderful! I love that.    
On the other hand, I’ve never done a road trip (with hotel staying) with two bikes (his handcycle and my roadbike) yet. Never.  
Do you know why I’m so nervous about it?  
Usually I use a nice bike rack inside a van. I really love this item. However it takes a bit of space.   See the photo? 

We have stuffs for 2 nights staying including his shower chair and catheters. Those are not small.  
And don’t forget the extra space for his wheelchair and a front-wheel (a travel must-item. an attachment gadget).  
I don’t want anything to touch his handcycle at all (especially to wheels, chains, shifters and handles).  
I was told that disc breaks of my bike were delicate and I should be very careful with them.  
All of these stuffs made me nervous. See?  How do I take care of everything to fit into our van?  

I had to remove a front wheel from my bike so that there was an extra space. I put my bike upside down and secured it with two strings. I practiced to sort and set everything in it, several times. Once I felt comfortable to take a front wheel off and to put it back on, it made me feel better. Funny?  I am still a beginner cyclist. I was glad at least I was able to do this process finally.  

In the morning we were head to Grand Rapids, I was relieved that everything fit in the van.  
I made it to bring two bikes to another city out of Ohio. Now do you think I biked with my husband in Grand Rapids? 

5/15/2025.  
The new page is up now. Here is"Amway River Bank Run 25K handcycle race."

There are part1-3. I will add more topics here later on. I have tons of stories to tell you. 

5/14/2025.  
My Christmas cactus update. It's blooming gorgeously in May. You might not believe it but it's my view right now in a rainy day. You like it?

5/13/2025.  

Coming up (hopefully soon) Title: Whoa, there are more and more amazing people in the world!  New experience in Grand Rapids and Cedar Springs, Michigan!

I'm going to make a separate page about Handcycle 25K race in Grand Rapids.  P.S. We found the Blue Bridge. 

Entry#403. 5/13/2025.
When several events happen almost at the same time, both my brain and my mind overwork and have to shut down. Right now, my body system is at that stage, yes.  
At least I can report about my husband's Lab gathering. It happens every end of the semester to celebrate their accomplishments and cheer for undergrad students' final exams. Plus celebrating to students who graduate. We had one student this time.  
You can re-read here at Entry#340 (12/18/2024) about my thoughts about our party.  
There were several highlights this time.  

1. We found a fun gift for the student. Of course, it's from the Charley Harper store. It is a Memory Game box.  I used to play Memory games a lot when I was a girl, using just a plain "Playing card". As I am getting older these days, I don't play this game much anymore. But when we found this box at the store, my eyes were twinkling.  
At the same time, I didn't expect that we would play the Memory game with these Charley Harper cards at our house at the party time. Well, we DID!  And it turned out to be a lot more fun than I imagined. I was super happy for everyone.   
https://www.charleyharper.com/animals-memory-game.html?srsltid=AfmBOoqi-oo83m-5x8jqLabV0b0sSvCyaQ4ffTKdYaqSoqQ3jzU0j6Ra

 

2. I asked all my husband's crew "bring your favorite chips" beforehand. Funny?  I thought it would be fun to taste them at the party since I don't buy chips much. It was fun.  
One of them got an extra bonus point!  Can you guess?  
He brought this! 

Poker CHIPS!!!  He made me smile. Everyone was chuckling, too. What a clever idea. 

3. One student surprised us very much with this. Have you seen this kind of thing??   
Picture1 and Picture2 are the same thing.

I am learning new things now.  It's called Lithophane. She explained to us that it is a 3D print from a photo. A 3D printed object that appears as a picture when light is shone through it. Yes, only when LIGHT is shone through it. Wow. 

I am grateful more and more each time at the Lab gathering party when these things happen. 

Entry#402. 5/12/2025.  
In these past few days, I told my husband "If I made it through all this and I survived, it would be a miracle." And tonight, I am relieved very much. I made it. We made it! 

This photo is meaningful (to me). I'll explain more later. I want to frame this picture. This was yesterday in the town near Grand Rapids. 

"This is US" picture 2025 Spring. Our tradition happened safely (!) and there were tons of laughter. I was satisfied with whole atmosphere with my husband's students. 

I was proud of my meal prep. We were biking in Grand Rapids yesterday. Then I provided these meals today. See? It feels like a miracle.

Entry#401. 5/10/2025.  
This day is one of the most unforgettable days. I want you all to feel my excitement and joy. How lucky we are. How epic everything is.

Let me put pictures here chronologically so that you can see why my adrenaline level is so super high. My husband finally made it to attend Amway river bank 25K handcycle race to compete with some Michigan local "legends" and some "national level legends"!!!
You need to spot same faces of handcyclists in each photos. 

How it started. (Sep 2023 @AFM Dayton)

How it went. (Sep 2024 @AFM Dayton)

Between then and now, @Boston Marathon 2025.
(A photo from their team/company posts.)

How it’s going. (May 2025 @Amway River Bank 25K Grand Rapids)

5/09/2025.  
Guess where we arrived at??

An Extra!! 5/09/2025.
Here are snapshots from the gathering after 10K race.  I feel so fortunate that I got to know about them through handcycle. 

Entry#400(!)  5/09/2025.  
See the number of my entry of writing? It’s since March 2022, I’ve kept writing randomly and casually. Themes are anything around me. Some stories are related to paraplegic and spinal cord injury (SCI). Some are related to my favorite things. Some are related to awesome humans out there. 400 is a big number to me, anyway. I’m smiling. Hurray!

For 3 years, about 3-4 friends per day visit my blog page. (I’m still using a free blog-app which isn’t searchable in public. It’s not much visitors, but it’s constant numbers each days. That makes me smile.)  I’m grateful really. Thank you, friends.

Here is the title of #400. 
“He pedaled hard under the wet conditions. He made it!”
 
Our “absolute must” = The Bridge adaptive sports and rec once again collaborated with Pig Works this year for handcycle division 10K.  It started in 2023 with 12 (10 male & 2 female) handcycle athletes (including one recumbent).  At that time, there were 2 quadriplegics(!). They worked pretty hard really.  (You should know it’s harder to quadriplegics more than to paraplegics.) 
Last year in 2024, there were 15 (9 male & 6 female) (4 recumbent included). (Only 1 quadriplegic). 
This year, there were 20 total. It was more variety than before this time.  14 male & 6 female.
•15 handcycle 
•4 recumbent (adaptive trike) 
•1 push-rim (racing wheelchair) 
(One 1st timer participant was from Lexington, KY!) 
As you can see obviously, this handcycle division program has grown bigger each year. We have to celebrate this growing really. 
To me personally, one push-rim (racing wheelchair) athlete did a tremendous job from the Bridge team to represent “what push-rim looks like”.  
 
To my husband, it was his 3rd 10K race as a handcyclist. (He has done full marathon distance twice. But the 10K race is a bit different settings.) 
We were excited, of course. We got familiar with how to get there, how to be ready at the starting line, what to do at the finish line and how to get back to our van from the past two years’ experience. My husband did set his goal time. 
Things were looking good until rain came. 
After all, rain stopped. Everyone looked fearless and strong at the starting line. 
When we all saw the first handcyclist zoomed into the finish line, I was relieved. It was my husband! I was glad that he and his machine were still one piece (!) without any damages. 
Other handcycles, recumbents and a racing wheelchair athletes did finish strong as well. It was a huge success, I can say that. Congratulations to all of them.  
 
Coming up Part2: title,
“Everything you want to know about My husband’s handcycle 10K race in the rain” Flying Pig 10K 2025. His 3rd time of Flying Pig.

5/07/2025.  
In honor of "Mother's Day" coming up, I found this quote. Guess what I did next?  I sent it to our son by texting. Funny. My husband expected his response as receiving a text of "WOW".  Do you think he did?

5/07/2025.  
My Iries are up. How about yours?  Purple and yellow are coming late always. Interesting. 

And at the end of the day, purple is UP! Hurray.

5/05/2025.  
It is almost the time! Our tradition. My husband's Lab gathering. The end of the semester party! Just because my husband and I will travel for 3 days and will be back home the day before the party. I am a bit (maybe even more) nervous than usual.  Well, at least I put this one.  

Do you get my idea? Now are you feeling you wanna come visit us? Fun!  Wish me luck on "cooking".

5/05/2025.  
I'm still writing about our Virginia Tech visit a while ago. I put these photos here anyway because I was so proud to wear this pin on the day my husband gave his research talk at the zoology department seminar. Do you see the pin?  Can you tell what design/shape (!) it is?  You have to laugh. Or maybe you make a face??

5/04/2025. May the forth be with you.  
(I am still recovering from the excitement of yesterday's my husband's race. It will take some time to write all about it.)   
In the meantime, some joys from my yards and Glee club.
1. My very first Iris of the season. I think this year Irises are a bit slow to start blooming. 

2. I missed Miami Men's Glee club Home concert last night. My wonderful friends' son was there to sing. It was his very last performance because he is graduating this month. I watched YouTube video of the concert. It was wonderful. I loved it very much. 
In case you wonder, I put the link of their whole show here. 
https://www.youtube.com/live/6YzCrpGPUJc?feature=shared

I found my very favorite in the show. Title: Let the River Run.  (I put 2 videos from YouTube. It's not the performance of Miami Glee Club. But you can listen to the tunes anyway.)   
In their performance video at 1:28, my eyes were wet. It was that good really. 
Sending a cheer to my singer-architect friend on his great future journey.  
I visite their concerts before in person. Here is a story in 11/04/2023. There is a video of them. 

5/03/2025.  
He won! at Flying Pig 10K handcycle division.

5/02/2025

I haven't focus on a photo of my backside of the house much. Sometimes sunshine makes me feel so grateful looking at the house at the far end of backyard. It feels so good. On the other hand, I feel bad because my husband cannot have this quick moment with joy easily and casually. But he can, of course. It just takes a bit extra time to do it.  I am grateful that we still have this our house. I love it.  Here it is. It was several days ago.

And this (below) is the view of our house from the front, today!   You like it? I did a quick mowing, beating the shower (stormy rain). It is like a "The peaceful beautiful moment right before the storm coming".  This phrase also fits perfectly to my husband's mind status today. I believe so. Do you know why?  

Tomorrow morning at 7:00am sharp. He will be waiting at the starting line with other 19 cyclists with disabilities in Cincinnati. Exciting. But....  Guess what? The weather forecast says "it will be raining".  He has never pedaled in the rain before. None. 

Well, I think I am the one who feels afraid and scared pretty much. A side note. We will do different ways than past 2 years this time. We won't stay in a hotel the day before the race. We will leave our house at 4:50am to Cincinnati. (That means we will get up at 3:00am to do the morning routine to be ready.) Wish him luck!

5/02/2025.  
Sometimes I find some familiar faces on social media posts or news articles. This time, it was Farmer School of Business page. I recognized him quickly. It made me smile and I thought back on old times, high school Cross Country times. My son was in the team, as well.  
Here is the photo from it.

Then I remember I wrote about him and CC on the Entry#78 (9/24/2022). I am so honor to know him really.  I wonder how much young generations including our son remember things from the past? It depends "which memories they loved the most", maybe.

Entrt#399. 5/01/2025.  
Happy May 1st!!! The Lily of the valley Day! (and May Day.)   
https://frenchly.us/why-do-the-french-sell-lily-of-the-valley-on-may-1/
After heavy raining with some thunderstorms, my Lily of the Valley is full blooming right now. It's just in time. Some people might say "Don't have them in your garden. It's very aggressive and strong to spread, might hurt your other garden flowers." That is very true. I'm gradually getting to know them better in these days, maybe. I just need to be careful and cautious to keep remembering where I have them. And I need to control the amount and areas before it outgrows too much. Basically, I have to admit, they are really easy to take care. It grows without any care, in fact. 
I have them in front yard, in back yard and around my mailbox. Well, in future, they might take over entire my lawn(!), maybe?  
Do you have Lily of the valley?? I love the smell very much.

This mailbox area is new. I had daylily here. But always, always deer munch them up. Lily of the valley fits better here, I guess. I love it so far. 
This area is too far away my water source in my house. So usually I cannot water them. It's a tricky area indeed. 

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