Tag Archives: Linda

Linda’s new car

Yesterday I told you that we sold our minivan, the Kia Sedona. We sold it because Linda got the car she’s been lusting after for about the past 6 months – a Toyota Prius V. She has always wanted a Prius, but didn’t feel it was right to ditch a minivan with all of its cargo capacity for such a small vehicle as the Prius. However, Toyota recently introduced the Prius V which is almost like driving a Prius minivan. It’s not quite as big, but it has plenty of cargo room. It only seats 5, but with our girls getting older, we don’t really need that 3rd row of seats now.

Importantly, the car gets about 43 miles per gallon – which is a whole lot better than 20 mpg that the minivan was getting.

We have fully fallen in love with the Prius V and everything about it – including the syncing with the iPhone and handsfree phone calls. I’m sure the car can do a lot more that we aren’t even aware.

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Now the question is – do we replace my car with another Prius?

Great day to ride

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70 degrees with fair, sunny skies and only 5mph wind makes for perfect biking conditions. Weather and schedules have kept us off our bikes for much longer than we’d like. However, when a day like today presents itself, you can bet you’ll find us in lycra and jerseys.

Looking forward to many more days like today and the chance to get a lot of miles in before our big summer bike trip.

Happy Birthday, Linda

Linda had her birthday today.

We were able to surprise her with a gathering of cycling friends at our house after she was done teaching.  Thanks to Nan, Chris, Dave, Mary Beth, and Stephanie for braving the cold to join us at the house for snacks and drinks.

Linda received her cold weather riding pants and some new (faster) tires – so she’ll be able to join all our biking friends for more cold-weather rides.

Happy Birthday, Linda.  We all love you very much.

Steinway of Vladimir Horowitz

Today we took a trip to our favorite piano store, Schmitt Music, to see the concert Steinway of Vladimir Horowitz (1903-1989).  The piano (CD #503) was given to him in at the time of his marriage to Wanda Toscanini, the daughter of Arturo Toscanini.  He took this piano with him on his concert tours in a custom waterproof case.

Schmitt Music is where Linda holds her piano recitals and also where we purchased our own pianos.  As a piano teacher, Linda is well known to the staff and we were quickly welcomed in to view the Steinway.  After talking a bit and taking pictures, Linda sat down to play on the very piano played by Vladimir Horowitz.  What a sound.

Following is a clip of Linda playing, however she will quickly point out she was merely testing out the sound of the piano.

http://youtu.be/REfrCGL7EtA

20th anniversary of proposal

Yesterday was the birthday of Linda’s father; it was also the anniversary of a very special day in our lives.

20 years ago yesterday, I asked Linda to marry me.  I’d been back from the war in Iraq (Desert Storm) for about 6 weeks and we’d spent many days traveling back and forth between Manhattan and Topeka during those 6 weeks.  Several conversations included future plans, including marriage, but we were young and in college and still had a lot to figure out.

However, I woke the morning of July 2, 1991 and decided that I couldn’t wait any longer to have Linda as my fiancé.  The ring I had purchased was not quite 3 months worth of paychecks, but it was close.  The downtown jeweler in Manhattan sold it to me for $300 – $25 per month for a year, which was a lot of money for me.  It was decided that July 2 was the day I needed to give it to her.

I called Linda to see if she would be around because, being home for the summer from college, she was working both at the public library and at a softball diamond concession stand.  It turned out she was home and, to my luck, was stuck to the house because she was waiting for the washing machine repair guy to arrive.  I drove to Topeka as quickly as I could.

I’m sure I surprised Linda when, on one knee, I asked her to marry me in the middle of her parents living room.  She quickly said yes…and then pointed out that I’d need to leave before her parents got home.  There was a birthday celebration dinner planned and I wasn’t part of the plans.  It’s my understanding that Linda even hid the ring the whole night.

One of my regrets is that I didn’t talk with Linda’s father before asking for her hand in marriage.  I’m sure it was quite a shock to her parents when they found out we were engaged.  They didn’t know much about me and it would’ve been good for them to be able to ask questions about my future plans.  In my defense, my future plans at the time weren’t all that great – I wanted to write music for a living.  Everything, thankfully, has turned out for the good.

We were finally married two years later and have spent 18 happy years on our very circuitous road to where we are now.  Twenty years ago seems like a long time; just look at how young we were!