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adventures / cycling / Monday / photo / video — Comments Off
11
Nov 24

It rained!

I had to document this, because no one would believe it. It rained last night. This is the first rain since September 27th. I have read that we are in the worst drought in 130 years of record local meteorological observations.

It didn’t rain long enough to break the drought. Probably it couldn’t rain that much at one time. In fact, you don’t want it to do that, because it invites other problems. We need several good soakings, but none are in the forecast at the moment. Standing out in the rain last night, though, was a delight.

The farmers have been out in their fields just moving dust around. We saw some examples of that on our Friday afternoon ride.

This guy’s just playing around, just getting outside. I’m sure of it. What could he possibly be accomplishing over there?

My lovely bride and I did one part of one of our regular routes on Friday, only we did it backward. And then we took a different road which was not the best idea. But we had a nice day out, it was bright and warm and lovely and that was the beginning of the second week of November.

We went right by this guy on Friday, and I couldn’t have timed that much better if I’d asked that guy to coordinate his laps around the field.

It was colder on Sunday, and then nice and mild for today’s ride, when I saw a combine out of it’s natural environment. Look at the treads on this guy.

And here’s my shadow, riding off to the side as the sun started to dip in the west.

Two-hour bike rides in November? They’re a gift.

memories / music / photo / Re-Listening / Thursday / video — Comments Off
7
Nov 24

I’m grading, so you get the simple version of the day

I made a Christmas present today. Can’t be talked about. You never know who reads this stuff. And another present arrived. Ssssh, don’t tell anyone.

Christmas? I am in no way prepared for the Christmas season. I never really am. But it doesn’t seem like that time of the year should be sneaking up on us. It never really should. But all of this happens every year.

If I wrote about that today, what would I do in the next six weeks? I should get back to grading, anyway.

I started the week with 148 items to grade, and I’ll finish those up tonight. It’ll be a fury. Or a flurry. It’ll probably be fuzzy.

Let’s return to the Re-Listening project. In the car, I am playing all of my old CDs in the order of their acquisition. And I’m writing about them here, occasionally, to pad out days like today. These aren’t music reviews, because who needs that. But they are sometimes a good excuse to dredge up a memory or two. They’re always an excuse to put some good music here.

And this good music is from Will Hoge. He’s from Nashville, and he fits the overlapping areas of Americana and country these days, but his debut was pure blue bar rock ‘n’ roll. He had a band that almost made it, then toured the South as a solo act with a supporting band. Dan Baird stood there and played guitar next to him, so it was basically a coronation. Carousel came out in 2001, and this song broke speakers all over alt rock stations.

I loved it immediately, it was the frenetic pace, the driving rhythm section, the desperate way he was screaming out the lyrics. Hey, it was 2001, but it was five or six years before I picked up this record.

It’s a debut album, which is great, but also limited. He was still growing into his craft. And I’ve yet to see him live, but it looks like a good time.

Here’s the title track.

Somehow, this was one of those CD mixes, one with a provenance I’ve forgotten. But whoever made this did me a real solid, or maybe I knew what I was doing, because there are five live Will Hoge tracks tacked onto the back, including this phenomenal Bill Withers cover.

He’s got a peppy little version of “Mess Around” that apparently no one has ever uploaded to the web. I’m not saying this version of the song being online would solve the web’s problems, but we can’t disprove it, either.

And there’s a sweaty bar version of one of the other key songs from this record, one I didn’t share earlier because I wanted to put it right here, in a live version worth hearing, in all of its clangy, brassy, Telecaster glory.

Since then Will Hoge has put out 13 more records, and I’m going to introduce his music to a relative soon, because some things just need to be passed down.

One day I’ll even get to see him play. He is doing some touring right now, just not close by. (Update: Turns out he was here about three weeks ago, and I had no idea. Come back, Will!)

The next time we return to the Re-Listening Project, we’ll go all the way back to 1992. This was a CD I picked up to finally replace an old cassette and I guarantee you that every time I’ve listened to it, I’ve wondered why I waited so long to do that. It’s going to be a great listen.

cycling / photo / Thursday / video — Comments Off
31
Oct 24

The bow on October

Today’s bike ride became an important and record-breaking bit of effort. Somewhere right in here …

… or probably just before it … October became my second-biggest month of all time, in terms of mileage on the bike. The top month was this last February, and it was all indoors and I’m not sure how I did that other than it was February, and what else was there to do? Also, that was a, for me, ridiculous number and it’s hard to imagine getting back to it again. The gap between my most prolific month and the second month was substantial, but it’s a little more narrow now because of today’s bike ride, a 50-miler, and this lovely, dry, incredibly mild weather we’ve enjoyed all month.

So it was about three hours in the saddle today, enjoying the sun and the warmth and the trees.

And I spent a bit of that time thinking I need to find all of the roads that look like this, and ride up and down them all the livelong day.

I also, as is customary, spent some time wondering about the authenticity of this personal mileage achievement. It is the curse of the foreknowledge, and the spreadsheets. Sure, I rode every mile, turned every pedal crank. But without seeing where the numbers were last night, I wouldn’t have taken the ride I did today. If it is that purposeful, is it still organic? Is it more so?

The things you think about when your mind goes away from the world and comes back to you.

Not too long after that I ran across a woman who was trying to wrangle a dog into her car, which she’d parked in the middle of that road. I asked her if she needed any help. She asked if I had a leash. I did not have a leash. I carry a lot of things on the bike with me — three tubes, a pump, some set of lights, fuel, my phone, a tire lever, a few bucks, two water bottles and one or two other things depending — but never a leash.

So I found myself wondering Should I carry a leash? On the off chance that that, which has never happened in all of the years of riding a bicycle, happens again? And if it doesn’t, what else could I use the leash for, if necessary?

Not all of the things that you find yourself thinking about are particularly deep or useful. But I decided against it. For now, anyway.

So this older lady was struggling with this sickly looking dog. I opened the back door of her car for her, and went on my way and she went the opposite direction to get it some care. Hopefully it is a quick bounce back for the dog, and the lady will be pleased to have helped. I will imagine them being reunited and each loving the other in selfless devotion.

I did a little under half the ride on my own, but circled back to the house to pick up my lovely bride, fresh in from her day of doing things, and she joined me for the rest of the ride. I pulled into the driveway as she was topping off her bottles. I might be getting pretty good at timing these things.

By the time we got back to the road in that video, the same one you see here …

I was ready to be done. On the one hand, I want to do these longer rides, and longer one still. On the other hand, my bike fit isn’t great, and my fitness might be worse.

There’s only one cure for the latter, so I’ll just keep riding.

But not right now. Right now, I have to go write something about riding bikes.

While the miles counted today, this doesn’t count as the writing.

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28
Oct 24

Across the cold, watery expanse

We were supposed to go over the river three times this weekend. But I only went two times. And it was still a lovely weekend, despite my coming up short.

On Friday we went over to watch a field hockey game. The team we were cheering on won, 1-0 or 2-0, it was difficult to see the tabletop scoreboard from across the field. They are on the verge of going undefeated for the season, and I finally got to see them ply their trade across a bumpy, lumpy field on a beautifully warm and sunny fall afternoon.

Our favorite player was a defender and that is most certainly a big part of why they pitched a shutout today.

On the way back over, I managed to get this shot on the bridge.

And in the driveway, I could hear the geese before I could see them. I’m not sure if I really saw them, even as I was trying to take a photo. They can make for a beautiful photo, in better light.

There’s a slew from the river back that way. Maybe that’s where they were headed.

I’d been fighting a sore throat and woke up feeling like I was losing the battle on Saturday morning, so I did not make the second trip over the river. There was a 5K that my lovely bride ran, and she was kind enough to tell me to stay in bed. I still got my t-shirt, though.

I went outside that morning to do outside chore and was rewarded with a few minutes of beautiful light.

You could probably write a poem or two about scenes like that. They might come off maudlin, or Irish, or both. That would not make them bad.

Some of the bushes are still doing some amazing work, here at the end of October. They have to be confused. Cool yesterday, outrageously warm tomorrow.

I found this tree on a Sunday afternoon walk at just the right time. What a lovely tie dye moment. If you’re going to go maple, go maple with flair.

Another shot from that walk.

And then we went back across the river again, meaning we went over the bridge, which gave me this shot.

We went to the Flyers game. Hockey! People sliding on frozen stuff. And, at times, the ice was a part of the display. Makes for a nice canvas, really.

The Flyers have an impressive graphics package. The LED ribbons are everywhere in the venue, and they make an impression. Then they shoot pyrotechnics out of the screens that are raised and lowered around the central scoring display. There’s a lot to see, and it’s not all on the ice.

On the ice, the good guys got off to a bad start, and then it got worse. Starting the third period it was 4-1. The home team battled back, putting two pucks in the net in the last two minutes, but the clock ran out, and so they have started the season 2-6-1. They’ll get it figured out soon. I’m sure we’ll be back to see it happen.

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24
Oct 24

A period of time short and marked

It was a lovely day. Was it a lovely day for you? It was a lovely day here. We’re in a nice long stretch of them, and it’s worth soaking up a little part of them whenever you can. I went out for a little run today, and before I started I stood under this beautiful old tree and watched the wind toss the limbs and leaves back and forth.

And then I ran two miles. I did not think of that tree again, which is a shame. It probably would have made the time pass more quickly, which would have been good, since I run slow. And it would have been less painful, since that’s a thing when you haven’t been running, and i haven’t been running. I should have thought of that tree.

We’re in this beautiful phase of things — and I suppose all of phases have their beauty — where the aging, shifting, changing seasons still have these beautiful colors we’re used to, but take on new hues.

The bees are unbothered, still going about their work with no additional hurry. Just the same amount of hurry they’ve always known. The same degree of purpose.

The still bright vibrant colors, the weathered, weary look. It captures a mood. Feeling it, but still here, still with our own purpose, still glorious. Still.

We all feel like that from time to time, I suppose. It can be beautiful.

Or maybe it was just the day. The angle of the sun this time of year, while we’re now so aware of being cheated, is simply stunning. This photo means nothing the rest of the year, maybe it means little now, but it’s playful, isn’t it? It’s full of expectation. It’s waiting for something.

I decided to try a little ride in the late afternoon, to see if I could pedal the run out of my legs. I went out seven miles into a headwind, the slowest, ploddingest ride I can muster. It was going so poorly I was able to compose this photo.

But then I turned around, and I put up perhaps some of the fastest splits I’ve done in … a while. Maybe that’s what makes the season, and days like today. It’s a sense from somewhere deep, deep enough you can’t ignore. So we try to absorb it through our eyes and skin and all of our senses because … we know. We know it’s only for the short while.