Bonnie does Epcot

Bonnie is quite a photographer. She puts Gary and me to shame. But then again we only have $50 cameras. This is a slide show of some of the pictures she took at Epcot.The music is from Walt Disney's Aladdin.

CONGRATULATIONS TO US ALL

Thanks To Mary Murphy For the Excellent Summary of the walk and important notes

Here are the stats from the 3/29/2008 walk

- Attendees-
1-Mary Murphy 2-Tony 3-Gary 4-Susan 5-Bonnie Fischer 6-Julie 7-Marie 8-Deborah
9-Bonnie Powell 10-Pam.

Julie went - .6 mile Bonnie Powell went - .6 mile Pam - went - 1.2 miles.
Rest of the group - 3.1 miles each = 21.7
Saturday Total =24.1 miles Year-to-Date Total = 620.55
Miles to go to hit "2008 miles in 2008" - 1387.45 miles

We had a good walk this morning. We are not sure if we saw AL, the alligator, or not. We saw something near the surface of the pond on the way out and it was gone when we got back, but we are not sure what it was. There was no Suzie this morning and I guess most of the birds were sleeping in along with Gary who missed the WW meeting on RED LIGHT Foods. Marie and Julie kept their Perfect Attendance record. They are amazing!

We have missed many Nameless Walkers the past few weeks. We hope their schedules allow them to be with us soon. Betty the Banker took donations this morning from the back of Tony's car. Betty will be off next week, so save up your quarters for April 12th, when Tony and Mary are back from Cumberland Island.

News from the Group - Gary, Mary, Tony will be away next Saturday, April 5th.
Bob's wife, Chris, had her surgery, yesterday. We are praying for her speedy recovery. Don't know if Bob will be with us the next few weeks or not.
Pam will be gone on a cruise next week, so she will miss next week's walk. She is up to walking 6 miles a day in preparation for the Cancer Walk.
Bonnie F. leaves for Hawaii next Saturday, April 5th. She will be gone for 3 Saturdays. We are looking forward to hearing about her trip and seeing her pictures, when she returns.
Bonnie P. and Jean are off to EPCOT, today. Bonnie has her camera, so we are sure to see some of her EPCOT Flower and Garden Show pictures on the blog.
Deborah is waiting for Nameless Walking Group members to sign-up for the JDRF walk on April 19th. If you need help signing up or need additional information e-mail Deborah at the e-mail address provided for Deborah by Mary in her e-mail on 3/29/2008.

Tony and Mary, I thank you for inviting us to your home and providing us with a wonderful breakfast. You guys are truly the best!

Later........

IMPORTANT NOTICE

Baseball Season officially opens tonight at 8:05 PM EST with the Washington Nationals and the Atlanta Braves. The game will be played at National Park, Washington DC. Here is a link to the pre-game analysis and a really nice picture of the National's Stadium. Let's Play Ball!

President George W. Bush will throw out the first pitch.

Let's Walk For Juvenile Diabetes

Just Click Here To Step Up To A Very Worthwhile Use Of Your Walking Time and we can get credit towards our group goal of 2008 miles in the year 2008

Walking 3/29/2008

This is my first effort at making a video using this new software I purchased just for this purpose. I definitely have a long way to go, but I hope you can enjoy the photos in the meantime. We have received the initial video footage compliments of Tony. I am still learning so much from him. This is such a beautiful walking trail we have chosen and I discover new things every time we walk there. So take a look at the production and let us know what you think. Have a great week!

Later..............

Bob's Wife Is Through The Worst and Resting

I received a note today from Bob letting us know that his wife Chris has successfully undergone surgery and is resting well. Below is the note that Tony, Mary and I received from Bob today.

"All:Chris made it through her operation yesterday without incident. The doctor removed a 3 cm tumor from her left kidney. He told me that it was malignant but that the clear zone around it was very large so he was able to get it all and he didn't think that there would be any further complications or chemo involved. They expect her to be in St Joe's for 5-7 days. My bet is 7 days so they can keep the meter running as long as possible. I'm heading down to hospital now so I'll let you all know tonight how she is doing."

Let's us all give thanks that she has come through such a scare in tact

03-26-08 Walkers

Wednesday, March 26th Mileage Update -

Mary M., Tony, Bonnie F., Susan and Wayne - Wednesday afternoon Parkway walk - 3.1 miles each = 15.5 miles. Bonnie P.and Deborah - Wednesday evening Parkway walk - 2.6 miles each = 5.2 miles. Mary M., Maria, Tony, Bob, and Gary - Wednesday evening Park Way walk - 3.1 miles each = 15.5 miles. Year-to-Date Total = 596.45 miles
Miles to go to hit "2008" - 1411.55 miles

It was a lovely afternoon and evening to walk.. The parkway was very busy with walkers, a few roller bladders, and some bicycles. It was nice to have Susan's husband, Wayne join us. Wayne was instrumental in The Nameless Walking Group getting t-shirts. Wayne knows the husband of the owner at the Image Depot and was able to help Mary get it all pulled together. We hope Wayne will be a regular Wednesday Nameless Walker. There were lots of wildlife sightings on both walks. Check the pictures on the blog to see what was sighted. You can thank Tony, Gary and Bonnie P. for some great photos. AL, the alligator, was dangerously close to shore this evening. Other people on the trail said that there are actually 2 alligators in the first pond. One of the ladies said that Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. will be coming to take the alligators away in the next few days. We will look for AL on Saturday to see if he is there. He most often comes out in the evening.

The Thousand Hands Of Buddah

This has got to be one of the most beautiful and intriguing displays of human performance and cooperation I have ever seen. These dancers are deaf. I have a brother who is into Eastern philosophies and he directed me to this. I just needed to share it with you all. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. I'm on a video kick for 2 reasons. One, I'm trying to get better at making them and secondly, the more I research and explore the more incredibly interesting things I find. I'm like the proverbial kid in the candy store. Did I mention that these dancers are deaf? The human spirit and our capacity for greatness is boundless. I just love that about us!

An Interesting Observation

From Answers.com

Mario Puzo had only written a 20-page outline of his novel The Godfather when Paramount Studios exec Peter Bart decided to buy the film rights. The book was released in 1969 to rave reviews and, on this date in 1972, the film version made it to theater screens. Director Francis Ford Coppola and Puzo wrote a screenplay that was so faithful to the novel, that Coppola insisted on calling the movie Mario Puzo's The Godfather.

Quote: "Friendship and money: oil and water." — Mario Puzo and Francis Ford Coppola, The Godfather III

Likely one of the best films ever made, to really get all the movie had to offer and to see how absolutely brilliant Francis Ford Coppola is, one needed to sit and pay attention. I have seen the movie no less than 25 times and I still find new things everytime I watch it.

However, as with most things the newer generation is able to distill the essence of an epic and reduce it down to the significant parts. To wit, watch the following video and tell me if you don't think these kids are as brillliant as Francis.

Easter Greetings From Mary's Cow

May You All Enjoy A Wonderful Easter

This is very cool. Enjoy

Bugatti Veyron vs Eurofighter Typhoon

This is not about walking. but it is about movement and it is fun! Thanks to my friend Gary Joyce for bringing it to my attention through his BLOG.......

The Saturday Before Easter Walk

Mucho Thanks Go Out To Mary Murphy For Putting Together The Following Notes:

- Attendees-
1- Mary Murphy 2- Tony 3- Gary 4- Bob 5-Ruth 6-Susan 7-Bonnie Fischer 8-Julie 9-Marie 10-Drema 11-Deborah 12-Bonnie Powell .

Julie went - .6 miles/ Bonnie Powell went -2.6 miles/ Rest of the group - 3.1 miles each = 31.0

Saturday Total =34.2 miles Year-to-Date Total = 547.85

Miles to go to hit "2008 miles in 2008" - 1460.15 miles.

We had a good walk with nature this morning. We saw Suzie, the nutria. Suzie was up on the bank and then went into the water. It looks like she has been eating well, even though we have not seen her in a while. There were some birds along the trail today. We saw mallard ducks, a muscovy duck, a wood stork, a roseate spoonbill, an anahinga, and a couple of moorhens. We did not see Al, the alligator, this morning.

Marie and Julie kept their Perfect Attendance record and were awarded recognition pins for attending all 19 weeks of Nameless Walking Group's Brandon Parkway Saturday Walks. Way to go, Julie and Marie!

Betty the Banker, a cow bank, was introduced to the group. Betty is replacing the Little Green Pig as the Group's donation repository. We have out grown the Little Green Pig, so we upgraded to Betty. Mary M. is in charge of keeping Betty. Mary M. will also transfer the funds from The Little Green Pig to Betty.

As for group news - Val and Keith were back at the WW meeting, today. We were so glad to see them. They are planning to walk next week. Faith was busy after the WW meeting today, so she was unable to walk. She should be with us next week. Pam had a great weight loss this week. She is training for the 3 Day Susan G. Koman Cure Breast Cancer Walk. Pam had family commitments this morning, so she was unable to join us to walk. Pat overslept this morning and missed both WW meeting and walking.

- Pat will be in Virgina on Saturday, March 29th. * - Bob's wife is having surgery this week. Pray for her speedy recovery. * - Kathie will be at Camp Boggy Creek with here family on Saturday, March 29th. *- Bonnie Powell will weigh in at WW on Saturday, March 29th but will not stay to the meeting or walk because she is going to EPCOT's Flower and Garden Show with Jean. Hope they have a great time. *- Bonnie F. is leaving on the Hawaii cruise with her husband on April 5th. She will be gone 2 weeks. *- Gary will be at his Mother's Memorial Service on Saturday, April 5th. *- Mary and Tony will be in Cumberland Island on Saturday, April 5th. *- We have not seen Cindy or any of her gang for a few weeks, now. We miss them. They are busy working and getting ready for the new grand child. Hope to see them soon.

A Saturday Remembered Fondly

We had a wonderful walk today. Gary (me) was the last one across the finish line.....by a lot! Somehow though, I came in ahead of the pack in some other categories that needed tending after. I think this morning's walk was particularly beneficial for me. You see I've been out of balance as of late and that is something that I have come to recognize as a real force and a challenge that must be met and overcome. It is quite normal and routine to face situations that test us. What age and experience have taught me is that these situations don't go away on their own. They need to be reckoned with and forced out of existence

I think we all know this intuitively from the daily challenges most of us face in making food choices. When these forces and their kin take contravening postions against our physical, mental or emotional equilibrium then we are usually in for a struggle. I've been there before and for me, it never gets easier. There was a time that I would lose out all the time to these forces. I would come across a particular problem and in response I would smoke, drink, eat, stay up too late and get up too early. When I came to my senses, most of the time the problem that set me off on these tangents remained.

Getting older has taught me that if I am to solve a problem I need to face the problem and not circumvent it in the hope that it will just go away. I have found that walking is an incredible tool in facing life's little twists. In talking this phenomenon out with Tony this morning he pointed out that running actually kept him more focused and got him to the solution faster than walking. I like to run as well and do agree that running seems to have a more hypnotic effect than walking and it does work some kind of strange magic for me as well. However, I am much more consistent with my walking and it doesn't beat me up physically as badly as running does.

Notice that nowhere in this discussion have I mentioned smoking, drinking, pills, food or self prescribed pseudo-comfort in anyway. All of that (except te food hurdle) is long behind me. I still have my challenges and I suspect will continue to do so until the day I die. Without all the avoidance and self-destruction though, I just get to overcome these challenges and emerge victorious on a much shorter timetable. I stepped somewhat into the light this morning and it did feel good. I do like my walking and I thank you all for being a part of this very effective therapy.

This is a placeholder for the Wednesday Walks

The Ides Have It. Walking On 3/15/2008

BEWARE THE IDES OF MARCH? Maybe it's just a day to take out the trash.

On this day in 44BC Julius Caesar went strolling into the Senate when the "liberators" led by none other than the very Marcus Brutus that Caesar had spared from death only a short time before took turns using the poor dictator as a community pin cushion. Here we are 2000 years later and we still recognize the assassination of Caesar as one of the all time creepiest things that political types can do to each other. Although just a few days off the mark, I was pleased to see Elliot Spitzer fall on the heap of overthrown political tyrants. Spitzer of course could never walk in Caesar's sandals and so it is altogether fitting that he should not share the Ides of March as his day of infamy with Julius. My heart does go out to his wife and daughters and they are in my prayers. Next in line I hope is none other than Andrew Cuomo. This man who like his predecessor preaches as he shakes down his deep pocketed targets is no stranger to hypocracy either. Look up the sexual harrassment charges brought against Saint Andrew when he was Secretary of Housing and Urban development......tell me if he shouldn't be on the heap as well!

Oops! I almost forgot this was a friendly walking BLOG! Being from NY it breaks my heart to see that such shananigans are going on in a time when serious people are needed to do the work of Government. Those guys I mentioned are to government what Marvelous Marv was to baseball....As they used to say in the "good ol' days "A bum's a bum! Did you all happen to see that in a recent AARP survey the number one concern of Americans over 50 was governmental incompetence? Is it any wonder?

Now that I've had a chance to rant and I'm off my soapbox (at least for now), I would like to thank Tony and Mary for all that they do to keep this Group flowing. I would also like to thank each person who participates in our walks week after week and helps to make the Walking Group experience so meaningful and such a powerful motivator for me. Thank you for your participation and thank you for all of your smiles and great conversations. I plan to start up my individual profiles again soon.....so be ready. Julie, you are an inspiration...but please be careful and get that heel looked at. Bob, absolutely none of this would have happened if you had not dragged me down to Weight Watchers.....

Later.........................

It's St. Patrick's Day-Technically!

It is indeed approaching St. Patrick's Day which has been traditionally celebrated on the 17th of March. I personally have never celebrated St. Patrick's Day (officially) on any other day than March 17th. However, as evidence that very little is certain in life, Tony did some rersearch to learn more about the good Saint and the spirit in which his big day is celebrated. Much to my chagrin, Tony found through his studies the Church of Rome has ruled that when St. Patrick's day falls within holy week there is some alternate procedure that must be followed in order to properly recognize Patrick. Not that I am brash enough to defy the Vatican, but this ruling is stressful and after long and considered thought I have decided to ignore Rome and celebrate St. Patrick's day on Monday. I am curious though to see if the pub keepers have fallen in line with Rome or if they have decided to honor tradition. I have a friend who owns a thriving pub in Pinellas....I think I need to give him a call. In matters of religion I generally seek out the publican before the priest.. It has been more effective for me over the years.

Oh! I made this collage just for my Nameless Walker friends. It contains pictures that capture many memories of Ireland and good times gone by. The arm and the greyhound tattoo belong to a very dear friend of mine (also Italian Tony). For those who are curious, the design was taken from the cross a Dissert O'Dea Castle in County Clare. The big cross in the collage is that very same cross. The cross sits in the middle of a cow pasture now. However, my Italian friend with the Irish (Celtic) tattoo now rescues greyhounds as a means to repent for his wild youth. He is truly a wonderful man and I will lift a pint or two in his honor this Saint Patrick's Day.

I'll also be lifting a few for my friends in the Nameless Walking Group. By way of recommendation, I suggest that you each tip one or two in honor of the good Saint and then look at the picture of Bono and of St. Patrick in my collage. Do you think, maybe, could it be? 1500 years later...one and the same, wouldn't that be something?

Later...............

Where did those guys get those cool tee shirts?

I can't believe how far our group has come. We are now working on the idea of creating a unique tee shirt that we can all wear when we are on our walking adventures. Many thoughts and contributors have been involved in the genesis of our new logo and printing on tee shirts. But once again, it is Mary Murphy at the center of the effort, leaving me with no doubt that we will all be proudly wearing our new shirts in just a few weeks. If you haven't contacted Mary yet about your shirt size please do so as soon as possible. The shirts are very reasonably priced and they will be unique to our walking group. the logo above is a modification from the logo that will be printed on the shirts, but I wanted to play around a bit.

The Morning Glories of 03-15-08



These updates will also on the blog - http://namelesswalking.blogspot.com/

With the time change last weekend, our walk started a little before sunrise, so it was dawn as we started on the trail. There were 14 attendees today.

Here are the stats from the 3/15/2008 walk -

Faith and Jesse went - 2 miles = 4 miles
Drema and Ruth went to beyond Oakfield - 3 miles = 6 miles
Rest of the group - 3.1 miles each = 31.0
Saturday Total = 41.0 miles
Year-to-Date Total = 478.75
Miles to go to hit "2008" - 1529.25 miles

Jesse, Faith's grandson, was our youngest walker today. We really enjoyed having such an energetic participator. Ruth was new to the group today. She is a Weight Watcher member and she is attending the 6:30 AM meeting. Marie and Julies kept their Perfect Attendance record in tact. The other Bonnie says there is not much room left in the little green Pig for our quarter donations. Next time Cindy is able to join us, we will need to see if we can get another green pig.Hopefully with our Wednesday walks we will log over 502 miles. That means that we are a quarter of our way to our goal. I will take another poll of the group to see if there is interest in walking other days of the week.

Cindy is busy house renovations for the new grandson's nursery. Our sympathy and prayers go out to Jean who lost her older sister this week. Jean is the baby in the family, her sister that passed away we 89 years old. Deborah sent out information about our next charity walk on April 19th. This a fund raising event, rather than a fee event. In order to get a JDRF Official T-shirt, you must collect $100.00 in donations. Collecting donations of $100.00 is not required to walk in the walk, but you must register on-line as a participator on Deborah's Nameless Walking Group Team.The Nameless Walking Group T-shirt goes in on Monday, March 17th in the afternoon. If you want a T-shirt, please e-mail truvalo@verizon.net with your size. Payment for the T-shirts will not be necessary until the shirts have arrived. We should have them for JDRF walk on April 19th.

The Afternoon and evening walkers from 03/12/08


Susan took a break from picking tile for the bathroom and joined Mary, Bonnie F. and Tony for the afternoon walk. There were some beautiful birds along the trail in the afternoon. We were pleased to have Deborah join us on the evening walk. She got back from her trip to Las Vegas on Tuesday. Her daughter had a beautiful wedding and Deborah had a wonderful time. We saw the alligator in the first pond along the trail. Gary thinks it is a very young alligator only about 4 feet long. Deborah will have more information on Saturday about the April 19th Charity Walk for Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. Mary will have the t-shirt logo for people to look at and will take orders for The Nameless Walking Group T-Shirts on Saturday.

Here are the mileage updates for the Wednesday Walkers:
Mary M., Tony, Bonnie F. and Susan - Wednesday afternoon Parkway walk total of 12.4 miles
Mary M. - Wednesday evening Park Way walk total of 3.4 miles
Deborah, Tony, Bob and Gary Wednesday evening Park Way walk total of 12.4 milers
Year-to-Date Total = 437.75 miles
Miles to go to hit "2008" - 1570.25 miles

Just some quick video and slideshow from this morning

Tony The godfather Aka Tony the Horse


It was a very windy walk today. All of the ponds along the trail were full of water from the rain last night. There was no sign of Suzie, the nutria. We asked the ladies who were feeding her and they have not seen Suzie either. There is a sign on a tree on Paul's Drive by the trail that has a phone number to call to have " Wildlife Removed". We are thinking that Suzie may have been removed. We hit a mileage milestone today. We have logged over 400 miles, 409.55 miles to be exact. We only have 1598.45 miles more to meet our goal of "2008 miles in 2008". Group t-shirts are in the works, more info will come via e-mail. There are members walking at the Parkway on Wednesday afternoons at 3:00 PM and Wednesday evenings at 6:45 PM. Anyone is welcome to join these walkers. The more walkers we have the sooner we will get to our goal.

Brandon Parkway Walk Update For 3/1/2008

This in from Bonnie Powell reporting on the Nameless Walking Group members who navigated Brandon Parkway this week. We need to talk with Mary to be sure we account for the miles walked on this segment.

There were 7 of us walking the parkway this morning -- Julie, Marie, Pat, Faith, Val, Keith and Bonnie P.

The three leading the pack were Julie, Marie and Val going the distance to Hwy. 60 and back. If my figures are correct that would be a total of 9.3 miles.

Pat and Faith went as far as the fountain and back for a total of 4 miles.

Keith and I brought up the rear at a much slower pace, with many stops along the way for pictures, and also had a total of 4 miles.

So, I'm thinking our little group added 17.3 miles to the grand total.

I thoroughly enjoyed my walk with Keith and the lessons in photographing the beauty of nature that surrounds us every day. Unfortunately, we so often don't take the time to embrace the beauty. Looking at it through the lens of a camera gives one a whole new perspective of what is right there in front of us for the eye to behold.

Congratulations to Tony and his trophy and to all who walked the "Run for you life" today.

See everyone for our mid-week walk.

Bonnie P.

The NL-800 Pedometer- Some thoughts from Mary

To: All
From: Mary
A few people have asked me about purchasing pedometers Below are the URLs for ordering a New Life Styles NL-800 pedometer and a safety strap. The NL-800 is the model Tony and I have. They have been the best pedometers we have ever owned. They are on sale for $30.00, which is a good deal. You need to also order the safety strap for $3.00. When we purchased our pedometers over a year ago, the on-line member ship was free.

Now if you buy the on-line membership, the NL-800, Safety strap, and the calendar log it will cost you $67.90 plus the 5.95 shipping. I think that is a lot of money for what you get. If you do want to record your steps daily and don't want to buy the New Life Styles on-line service, and you have EXCEL on your PC, Tony has a year log he created that he would be glad to share. If you have questions, please feel free to ask us.

http://www.thepedometercompany.com/nl800.html
http://www.thepedometercompany.com/boxesandstraps.html

And By Cecil B. Ruvalo

Tony's Video Is Nice As Always, But This Time The Music Is More Fun! Give it a try.

Run For Your Life Video Produced By Clay O'Shea

Every now and then we each have the opportunity to do something that just leaves you with a great feeling. Today was such an occasion for me. The Run For Your Life 5K Run/ Walk was just a small event, maybe some 300 participants, but it had the heart and organization of an event ten times its size. From start to finish I enjoyed myself. Doing these events has gotten to be kind of routine for Bob and I, but we have not done anything along these lines with other members of the Nameless Walking Group. Mary and Tony, Deborah, Bonnie F and Susan all came to the event. We met in the morning, spent the next several hours together during which time we participated in a 5K event, a post race party and a raffle. Everything was over by approximately 10:30 and we each headed our separate way. However, we took with us the memory of a great time that we shared and the expectation of repeating the experience elsewhere. It looks like we may be trying to get everyone to head up to the trails along Boyette Road for some fun and a change of pace. Hope you can all join us for the trails or the next sponsored event that we participate in. I Garontee you will have a marvelous and memorable time. I hope you enjoy the video I put together from the event.
Later...........................

RUN FOR YOUR LIFE RECAP

BLOGGED BY Gary (Clay):
And This Just In From Ms. Mary Murphy:

To: All

Today was the Nameless Walking Group's first sanctioned event and it was a great success. Members participating were Mary M., Tony, Bob, Gary, Deborah, Susan and Bonnie F. The event, Run For Your Life or Someone Else's, took place near the Campo YMCA right off Bloomingdale and was sponsored by the MOMS Club of Valrico/ Bloomingdale and the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life.

Everyone finished in with very respectable times for a 5K. We had a trophy awarded for a Second Place finish to Tony for the men in their 60's category. Congratulations to Tony!! There was a great after race party and there were raffles of which we had some winners.

Our Total mileage for this event was 21.7. Year-to-Date Total = 330.65 miles.
Miles to go to hit "2008" - 1677.35 miles

Gary and Tony took pictures today and they will be out on the blog soon, When I get the stats from today's Parkway walkers, I will publish it. Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.