Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta

Today was the last day of the balloon fiesta this year. I didn't get to see any balloons up close except for the one in the following post. These photos were taken about 8am.























































Darth Vader in the center















Wells Fargo Stagecoach

















And they were gone.

Pig Figurine

My dad brought me this pig playing a flute when he came back to Texas after being stationed in England for a year about 1955.

Aspen Meadows

Calm before the storm

Hurricane Dennis is on the way.

Keeping my fingers crossed.

Ice piles at Stoney Point

I heard through the "photo grapevine" that some big waves had produced some HUGE piles of ice at Stoney Point between Duluth and Two Harbors. So, yesterday I woke early to drive down and photograph the ice piles. I timed it so I would be in Grand Marais for sunrise, which turned out to be a very good plan. I arrived in Grand Marais about 15 minutes before the sun was to come up, and there was sea smoke (steam) drifting in and out of the harbor. There was also a large cloud bank on the horizon, which meant that it took a while for the sun to actually come up. This didn't hurt the images I made, however. The sky had a beautiful pink glow that easily made this one of the best sunrises I've ever photographed on the lake.




After shooting the sunrise I continued down the shore, headed for Stoney Point. I arrived at the point shortly after 10:00 a.m. which turned out to be a very good time for pictures. There was still some sea smoke over the lake, but the sun was also showing itself every couple of minutes from behind the clouds. The lighting was awesome. And, the ice piles were indeed quite big! It was definitely worth the two and a half hour drive!

A Change of Scenery

On the day of my arrival, the temperature reached a scorching 68°F and the sun came out for the entire afternoon! Yes, summer is in full swing in Northern Ireland. I have relocated here temporarily - to the countryside along the coast, not far from the city of Derry and the town of Limavady. As I write this, a sheep is looking over my shoulder. A mountain looms in the distance. And the breeze is so gentle, I am almost tempted to remove my wool blazer.




What am I doing here? Mostly two things: writing and riding. I've brought over my roadbike and I have a Brompton on loan from the lovely Chris Sharp. The nearest town is 3.5 miles away. The nearest mountain is just around the corner.




The food situation is pretty straightforward. There is plenty of fish in the Lough Foyle and berries in Ballykelly Forest. In a pinch, there is also the Tesco down the road.




I am still getting my bearings after 2 days of no sleep, but posting should be pretty regular. The wifi is fired up and working splendidly, so long as I add coal every half hour or so.




Later this afternoon I am off to watch a time trial. What more could a girl ask for?

Blackberries

My brother-in-law Jim was unable to go on our trip to the Park because he had to work, and he seemed glad to have us back, too. The next morning he fixed us a wonderful breakfast of biscuits and bacon, with lots of blackberry jelly that he and Jan had made the previous summer. Not only was there the delicious homemade blackberry jelly there was fresh picked blackberries. Jim, with the help of his dog, Paddy, had risen very early and ventured into the blackberry patch to pick fresh blackberries. It had been years since I had eaten fresh berries, just picked from a thicket. I remembered doing it as a teenager when we lived in Sandpoint, Idaho but had not had a chance to do so after we left there. I love any kind of berry - blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, elderberries, and especially huckleberries - and I will include cherries in that list, too. You might just say that I love fruit, but berries are best. I recently received a care package full of blackberry jelly from my wonderful brother and sister. In the photo are blackberry blossoms.

The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone

Thursday, September 1st - - With the campsite in shade and temperatures in the low 30s this morning I went and found a nice sunny spot in which to eat breakfast. Then it was off to see the sights!





Sometimes, I guess, Buffalo prefer an easy route to wherever they are going! They were frequently seen alongside and on the road, usually only one or two bison at a time.



My primary destination this morning was the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone with its beautiful Lower Falls and Upper Falls. Located at the northeastern corner of the southern highway loop, the 40 mile drive from the campground took about two hours, with stops along the way at the Mud Volcano Area and Sulphur Caldron.





My first stop in the “Grand Canyon” area was Artist Point on the South Rim.



Artist Point provides stunning views of the 308-foot Lower Falls. It is, quite simply, breathtaking! The morning light along with a hazy sky enhanced the view allowing details in the sides of the canyon to show up, though the colors are somewhat muted.





A closer view of the Lower Falls.



And, even closer.



The colors of the canyon didn't show up clearly in the photos of the Lower Falls, but, oh my, how they “popped” when looking to the northeast! The fantastic colors of the north side of the canyon come from rhyolite and sediments that have been altered by hydrothermal action (i.e. hot water from springs that were active in years past).





The Upper Falls is not quite as impressive (only 109 feet) or photogenic as the Lower Falls but it was still worth the walk down a short trail to see it.





It was also easier to access the Brink of the Upper Falls from another short trail. The Brink of the Lower Falls was a strenuous trail that dropped 600 feet in a very short distance. I passed on that one but did go to the Brink of the Upper Falls, shown above.





The view from Inspiration Point, on the North Rim, looking to the northeast.





As I drove up to the northwest side of the park to the Mammoth Hot Spring Terraces, the clouds moved in.





I walked along most of the boardwalk trails in the lower terraces but my legs were getting a little wobbly by the time I made it to the upper terrace area. Whether it was from the lighting conditions or the fact that many of the springs in that area have gone dormant, I was disappointed with my visit there. The photos I took were rather blah.





The view from the front of the upper terraces was rather impressive though. On the drive back to the campground, I took the “shorter” route along the west side of the northern loop then cutting across to Canyon Village and the eastern side of the southern loop. It was still about a 75 mile drive back to the campground.

We Have a House

Yesterday I had a conversation with someone and in the midst of the conversation the other person said some things that left me in a state of being completely stunned. They shared their view on some aspects of our life and what they believed to be true. Now, this is just a part of life. People spout their views and assumptions all the time. Some more than others.




This was a person who has been around us enough, though, that I didn't realize until that conversation they did have many assumptions about us and our life that were just not true. At all. I started to share the truth as I see it, but then a voice inside of me said: Do.Not.Even.Try so I hit the backspace button and deleted it and just let them know I heard what they shared.




They then went on to share something they did, that I think they were sharing was the same as how we have lived for four years now, and given it was not even in the same ballpark, my brain really went on full tilt. I'll be honest, I'm still reeling from that conversation trying to truly wrap my brain around some parts of it.




As I was pondering it today, Dr. Phil's "you either get it or you don't and you're not getting it" popped into my head. Sometimes we just don't get it in life. All of us. But then I pondered my experiences where I have wanted to get it and am starting to get it and just need a bit more information to understand it. So while Dr. Phil might have some wisdom on that topic, I don't think it represents the whole truth. Sometimes we are simply on our way to getting it and in between those two places.




I remembered how much research I did before we decided to be full timers. I remember how it took us about two years from the time we first considered it, until we really did it. And I needed, desperately needed in fact, to hear how it really worked. I wanted to get it. I just needed others to be willing to share the nitty gritty of it all. I needed to know this was not only possible, but what would our lives look life if we did do it.




I had this fear that doing this might be this unstable, bizzaro world experience...one that would have me deeply regretting it. I wondered just how much doing "this" would change everything. We are on year four with this now and so today I understand a few things that I didn't know then.




To me, how we live our life is very simple and easy.




We have a house. This is what it looks like:



To us, it is just like our last house that looked like this:



It is a place where we eat, sleep and hang out some. No, the houses are not exactly the same. They both served the same purposes in our lives though. One has wheels that allows it to go with us as we move from place to place. The other doesn't. We sold the one because it didn't have wheels. We bought the other because it did. That's it.




Other aspects of our lives are pretty much the same. We needed love, peace, joy, community and family before. We need those things now. We needed food, shelter and some material goods before and we do now. We needed income of some sort to provide those things then, and we do now.




We had a job that provided income when we lived in our last house. And even though we had an unexpected job and income loss last year, except for three weeks in between "jobs", we have had a job that we worked to provide income since we moved into our current house.




We aren't rich. We aren't retired. And as much as we joked last year about maybe having to get a J.O.B., that was about us being spoiled and both being able to be home all day long with our kids while making money and today one of us leaves the house for some hours of our day to make money. Someday both of us might have to leave our house for a few hours each day to make money. While that is not our preference, we are mature enough to roll with that if it does happen. That might happen no matter what kind of house we choose to live in.




We would and do pick jobs that we think would work well for us. We think that is only fair to ourselves and our employers. We have both been in positions of management so we get how truly awful it is for a place to have employees that aren't happy there. So we have pretty much always done that. Again, no difference there in our view.




For those that are considering this lifestyle and do wonder, how does it work when you are a bit younger than the normal full timer: if you have a job that you can do from home, you most likely have a job that you can do from a home with wheels-even if you do move around with that house. Yes, you might have to figure out what is necessary to do so, but isn't that true of any job? Jobs with insurance are available to both. Jobs that don't have insurance are available to both.




If we want to settle down meaning stay in one place, we will and more importantly, we can. We are doing that now in fact.




If we want to move around, we can.




We don't think that limits our options because we have done the math and when you have a house that will allow for both, we think that means that increases your options. In this economy, we think it is a smart choice to increase your options as much as possible. If we were in a different field of work, this might not apply. We trust most adults to be able to tell the difference between the two. We believe we know the difference between the two. If we didn't, we would not have been able to live for four years on the road.




Even when I thought I'd try this for a year, we did not do this to get a vacation. We did not want or need to escape our "life", even if for a season, so there was no need for a vacation. We had a goal long before doing this to not live a life that we needed a vacation from. We reached that goal long before we ever did this.




We did this to take our life that we already enjoyed and moved it to this space to continue to enjoy it. We hoped we would more fully enjoy it. I have shared time and time again, we just took our life we already had on the road. And for the most part, it really is that simple.




We did want less of some things (stress, material goods and working hard to maintain those material goods) and wanted more of other things (time with our kids and each other) and we wanted to see our country up close and personal and learn tons while doing so.




In many ways, even though we took our life on the road, we do live a very different life today. But it still isn't so much that we strive to not live our old life.




It's that we fully immerse ourselves in our new one. And in doing so, we have in fact experienced a whole new way of living, being and interacting with each other and the world than we did before. Wouldn't it be wise to do that no matter what your circumstances though?




For us, we took the route that worked for us because of who we are. We have seen others leap and do this in ways that would have struck terror in my heart. We have seen others do it in ways that we deeply admire and still it would strike terror in my heart to do the same.




We do what works for us today. We see others doing the same. My guess is both of us are pretty much the same people we were before and both of us have grown and changed in some ways since. Again, I think that is true of people that live in houses too. It really is that simple.

The Robin

After setting off for my morning ramble intent on taking photos of Fieldfare that have flocked here from Scandinavia I came across this Robin who was happy to wait for me to get focused unlike the Fieldfare who left early laughing. Also along the way there was plenty of Goldfinch, Greenfinch and a Bullfinch which I have yet to get.

Seaside Tandem

Over the weekend we wanted to take our bikes to Cape Cod and cycle on theRail Trail. Unfortunately, our lighter bikes are at the shop and the Pashleys are too heavy for the car's rear rack. Browsing the rail trail brochure, I noticed an advertisement for tandem rentals. Tandems! Within seconds, I was making a reservation.



Our tandem was a modern Fuji mountain-road hybrid, with an aluminum frame and carbon fork. With our mismatched beach attire and sunscreen-streaked faces (it was a hot day) we didn't exactly look glamorous, but it was quite an experience!



Tandem bicycles look charming and fun, which makes them seem easy to ride. I assure you that they are not! Despite Sheldon Brown's detailed description, we did not expect it to be so challenging. The tandemists must learn to coordinate their pedaling and coasting patterns, pedaling cadence, and even their body movements, so as not to disbalance the bicycle by leaning in different directions. This takes some time! Steering, shifting gears, and turning corners require considerable skill.



The person at the front of a tandem is called the Captain, and the person in the back is the Stoker. The job of the Captain is to steer and balance the bicycle, and to control the gearing. The job of the Stoker is to provide extra leg-power on the pedals and maintain the balance.If you are the Stoker, the Captain's back will be your view (inches from your face), unless you turn to the side!



The Co-Habitant was a natural captain and could even ride the tandem stretched out from the rear pedals.



I could not, but I was a good Stoker!



One of the benefits of a tandem, is that it can go very fast. Once we got the hang of operating the bicycle, we were flying on that thing, grinning with delight and leaving other cyclists in the dust. Overall, I prefer to ride an individual bicycle, simply because I like the control and independence. But on occasion, a tandem would be so much fun. It's a tandem!

Happy New Years Day ice climbing...

Happy New Year to all! Hope everyone survived the welcoming of . My New Years was much like the rest. Laura and I stayed home, didn't do much. We stuffed ourselves with some Kielbasa, Hot Dogs (veggie dogs), Sauerkraut, and some New Years Pretzel Bread that Laura baked up (see photo) which was bomb diggity! We rung in the New Year and made our way off to bed to rest up for my annual New Year's Revolution ice climbing! The temperatures weren't very favorable the previous days up to New Years Eve, but we still kept our spirits up as the weather forcast was for below freezing temps by morning with it going down as the day went on. Well it did just that. There was also a small amount of snow on the ground. A welcome sight from the dreary day before. We loaded up the gear and made our way to Secret Cliffs II. As we neared the cliffs, the snow deepened and winter seemed to be back in action. We hiked down to the climbs, only to find that the ice was still EXTREMELY wet and not very well bonded in most places. We seriously debated for a while whether or not Called on Account of Security would go. I'm sure it would've, but the delaminated ice at the top looked way too unsettled to rappel down from and we opted to let it go and continue to build for the upcoming cold week. After leaving Secret Cliffs we opted to continue our quest. We decided that to surely get in some climbing we should go to Lower Meadow Run to get on the mixed lines. We found that the ice there was in reasonable condition. I'd been itching to get back on Caveman and try to get the redpoint. I tooled my way up to the crux (3rd. bolt) and made it to the ice. I couldn't pull up around the corner and came off. The ice was poorly bonded and was washing out as I was climbing. I pulled back on and clipped the 4th bolt. The section above the fouth to the Rhody was very unstable as was the mucky topout. Given a little more attached ice and I think I would've got it. I can't wait to get back on it again. Laura gave it a quick go. Despite having a severe reach disadvantage she gave it her best. Captain Caveman proved to be more suited to those with long limbs. We roped up Anger Managment and took some turns on it. We did much more climbing than initially thought. It wasn't the best New Years Revolution conditions, but we climbed what we could and had a great time doing so! -As always climbing is a great way to bring in the New Year. Welcome !

Night Time Bike Art

After the 90F heat subsided yesterday, the evening offered some interesting photo opportunities.

Bike against the Harvard Square skyline.

Self-portrait with bike in shop window. (You can see the outline of my hat on the far left.)

In that spirit, we stopped by the opening of the Momentum show at Open Bicycle's Chorus Gallery, which was amazingly well attended. My treacherous camera decided to run out of batteries, so I only have a couple of shots. The show features the work of graphic designer Matt W. Moore, including paintings, limited edition prints, and painted bicycle frames.

The painted frames made me think of Anna from Cycling is Good for You. Anna, I can so easily imagine you riding this in Vienna, especially one of the red frames!