HAIL, CHOWDER AND RUNNING

It was a chowder kind of day. The cold, rain and then a blast of hail covering the plants on the deck. It melted quickly into this slush.
Out of the blue, A guy, or a gal by the name of Chris zapped me a great recipe for razor clams, how to prepare them and how to add them into a chowder. You cut them finely while frozen and add them at the end of the chowder. Do-Not-Boil! Chris was giving me a hand because I failed razor clam cooking 101 last year while in Washington. Thanks, Chris. whoever you are.  I just opened the can today but I'm game to try your method when I return to Washington.

   Earlier in the day, I met an old friend who spent at least 40 years running. Mel and his wife Victoria, have led this enviable, fascinating life, literally running thousands of miles across the United States, New Zealand, Austraila, England and Hawaii. Mel, (I believe he told me he is closing in on 90) doesn't have a bend in his back.  He doesn't show his age, but he does spend part of his day running around on a "portable roadster" he jokes. He and Victoria are writing their memoirs. Victoria won many races in the over 60 category, "simply because not many women over 60 run," she claims.
 I remember from many old conversations the astonishment with which people greeted them, simply because they were walking the long strip of asphalt more suited to trucks. People were warm and supportive where ever they stopped. In England, they visited the Queen's stables and visited her horses, quite by accident. In Coos Bay, they bumped into a guy who had traveled 25,000 miles in a canoe.

"O', the places we've been and the things we've seen!"  I know that's a line from a poem.
Victoria says its like living those marvelous times all over again to go through the journals and put pen to paper, that is,  fingers to keyboard.

I'll keep you posted. Mel and Victoria live in Murphys and ran with the Arnold Running Club for many years. They quit running at ages 80 and 83.