Valley of Fire

Packed up the car. Breakfast, and hit the road for Las Vegas. Don't remember the deep canyon when I drove the corner of Arizona some 20 years ago. First stop was the Information Center once I entered Nevada.

Off the interstate to see Vally of Fire State Park. Lots of red rock! Similar to Kodachrome Basin, but much larger area. Today's photo was taken at Valley Of Fire State Park.

Instead of dropping over to I-15, I took the scenic route through Lake Meade Recreation Area. The only problem was finding my way into Las Vegas from the recreation area.

Very windy today. Warm (80) and windy. Front coming through this evening. Coolerr for the week, but still highs in the lot/mid 70s.

I got my bearings and made it over to Las Vegas Blvd and the Riviera. Some of the other of our group were checking in as the same time. Once i had the camera, laptop and bicycles in the room, i took it east. Alternated trips from the car and stopping at the Hospitality Room.

Some of the folks were eating at the steak/seafood restaurant in the hotel. Just too much food for me. I found the food court and had a good cheese-steak sandwich and onion rings.

After an visit in the hospitality room I went to the room. Watch debate coverage on CNN (the hotel TV carries Fox News but not MSNBC. Gonna have to complain about that! Processed my photos from today. Now bed time

THE LONG AND WINDING ROAD TO THE PAWNSHOP

Today was Farmers' Market Day in Louth, it's only held once a month so we always try to go when we can. It is a proper outdoor market, so much nicer than those horrible indoor ones.





We usually park at the top of the hill and walk down past some lovely cottages (sorry about the shadows).

including this lovely one - check out those wibbly wobbly windows, goodness knows what the floors are like.

The road leads down the hill past the auction rooms, a pub, a chocolatier, beauty parlour, hairdressers and nail technician all located in the wonderfully named Pawnshop Passage! I'm not sure which ones were the old pawnshops.



until we come out in one of the main shopping areas. Chuzzlewits is a fabulous bakery and coffee shop. A short walk brings us out into the market square







with some lovely stalls dotted in and amongst the boring ones. Our favourites are the wonderful Matt's Deli bakery (fabulous bread, rolls, etc) and Redhill Farm for their free range pork and Lincolnshire sausages, Belleau Trout Farm with their smoked trout, fishcakes, pate, etc.





Shopping done, we head back up the hill and take the scenic route home...

This lovely gateway is the entrance to an old Rectory.





Once we had turned off the road out of Louth we didn't pass a single car this morning - one of the many reasons why we love Lincolnshire!***





I hope you have enjoyed seeing the old familiar roads Jonny - now let me see some more photos of Shanghai - please!!





Lots of love,





Mum

xxx

You know you're addicted to cycling when...

This afternoon I spent an inordinate amount of time getting an old bike, otherwise known as The Black Magic to regular readers of this page (both of you) back on the road. The details of the repair are unimportant and really unspectacular (and probably would have been concluded much quicker but for an unexpected hitch). The point is, this bike is being "pensioned off" tomorrow when my new MTB arrives, but I'm so desperate for a ride tomorrow, and The Blue Flame is still having rear tyre problems (that will be fixed tomorrow as well), so once again, I am dragging out The Black Magic for one final hurrah. It just seemed like a lot of work to go to for one ride, and at just 100km, it's not even a long one.
Picture above from Mt Nimmel this morning.

Water Abstract - Pigeon River

I haven't been posting many pictures lately. My apologies to those that might be missing my posts. I have been busy going through a selection process to determine which photos I want to display in my upcoming "Visual Stories" exhibition in Grand Marais. Also, I have been without my camera for the past week! It turns out it got a little too wet during my last outing (remember the lightning photo at the Spirit Tree from a week ago?) and would not let me shoot anymore. I was getting an "Error 30" message and had to send it in to a Canon Service Center. I should have it back sometime this week.



In the meantime, here is a photo from this spring. This was taken at Middle Falls on the Pigeon River in Grand Portage State Park. The water just above the falls has many areas where the flow is silky smooth, which makes for some very intriguing abstract images when shooting with a telephoto lens. Another interesting thing is that the water here often nicely reflects the colors of the sky. On this particular day there was some blue sky along with patchy clouds and you can see both reflected here in the water.

Flashback!

About six months ago I finally achieved something I'd been waiting for for about three years -- having had droughts, floods and landslides preventing me from doing so earlier. The walk of the Coomera Falls circuit at Lamington National Park is indeed spectacular and beautiful. I post these pictures here now as a reminder of it. In another couple of weeks I plan on a "dry season" visit to Lamington in order to sample a completely different environment. I'll post those pictures up here too, just to show the wide variety that Lamington truly offers.

Hex Floor Tile Redo

I need advice. I've read somewhere about how to make grout black, other than mildew, between tiny hexagonal tiles. When we put this floor in with white grout, I didn't think about how it would look twenty-two years later. It's a dingy shade of tan. I've bleached it and tried all kinds of cleaners. It just won't come white again. So I want to make the grout black. Would a Sharpie permanent marker do the trick? Any ideas or suggestions?

Sunset on the bay

Grand Portage Bay on Lake Superior - Grand Portage, MN. Here is a shot of the BEAUTIFUL sunset that we were fortunate to witness last night! Because of the cloud cover it seemed as though sunset wasn't going to be very good, but by the time the sun dipped below the horizon there was a small break in the clouds which allowed the sunlight to shine through and illuminate the underside of the clouds. SPECTACULAR!

Another Gilia Tricolor

A bird's eye flower that opened just after a rainstorm.

More Dirt

This morning I HAD to go back the the Reforestation Camp and ride some more dirt. Today, I bypassed the first part (more difficult). I was looking for a relaxing ride (yesterday I ending up with a headache from taxing my brain).
I was riding better today - even remembered some of the sections of the trail. Took a couple more photos. Eventually, they will end up on my web site.
Happy to be back in the woods. Another "Grade A" ride.

Bike Bash

Last night was the Psycowpath Mountain Bike Racing Series awards banquet, also know as "Bike Bash". The party was held at Platte River State Park. Many rode the trails before the banquet.

Thanks to the cooks and promoters for putting on the feed. Thanks to the race sponsors (a couple which were in attendance (and racers).

Turn-out was a little smaller than previous years. Of course, we had races out of the area at other races this weekend in Bend, OR, Cable, WI, and Iowa City, IA. Some of the podiums were missing winners. A couple were empty.

MCs for the evening were Roxy & Ryan. Psycow-Spirit award(s) went to "Em" Kenoyer and Dave Packard. Karl "Crash" put together the video presentation highlighting the season.

All-in-all. it was a fun evening. Photos I took during the bash are posted on my race and events photo web site: http://win-photo.photoreflect.com

A #10 Day - (almost)

It was in the upper 60s yesterday afternoon when I headed to town for a ride. Brought the hybrid for a pavement ride on the bike paths. Mostly sunny, light breeze from the south.
Stopped at the Western Historic Trails Center. From there, rode across the "Bob Bridge" to Omaha. Stopped at Lewis & Clark Landing for a break - Gatorade and Clif Bar. I have been over the bridge many times, yesterday I stopped to take a photo of my bike straddling the state line.
Back on the Iowa side of the river, I headed back. Planned to ride down the Veteran's Memorial Trail to the construction of the new bridge. That plan was scrubbed when I got a flat at the I-80 bridge.
Getting tired of the flats on this bike. Three flats in the last 4 rides. I had ridden about 300 miles on the new tires without a flat. Now 3 in 100 miles. Will be stopping at the bike shop later to do post mortem on the tubes.

With no more spare tubes with me, I canceled the part of the ride to the Veteran's Memorial Bridge construction. Got back at the bike shop and was able to mention the problems to Blaine. For now - think I will ride one of my mountain bikes for a few days. (Have not had a flat problem on them - other than the goatheads in AZ and NM).
Special Note: Xtreme Wheels is now operating under winter hours schedule. Shop opens at 11am.

One Little Man Unlocked So Many Memories

When I was a child and living in Hong Kong, I was given my pocket money on a Saturday morning. It always burnt a hole in my pocket.

I was given $4 HK. Half was put into my bank account, and I was free to do as I wished with the rest. It would have amounted to 2/6d in old money, 12 1/2 new pence...but then I am going back 50+ years!

I had to put some money aside for my weeklyBunty comic, but the remainder was almost invariably spent in a small, local, Chinese shop.

Most of my purchases would be stationery, pens, pencils, erasers, pencil sharpeners, crayons.

The stationery gave me countless hours of fun as I filled notebooks with stories. I was determined to be the nextEnid Blyton... this was shortly before I just knew I was going to be the next Pat Smythe (a showjumper)... which was followed by the period when I decided that I really needed to combine the two. I would write equestrian stories, like thePullein-Thompson sisters.


Occasionally I was tempted away from stationery and bought little china figures, cats, or horses.
They cost very little - or I wouldn't have been buying them.


I would have one final purchase to make. During the season I would buy a mango. Then, with the aid of my fingernails, I'd peel the soft, yellow skin back and bite into the sweet, juicy flesh. I have no doubt that I must have ended up as a sticky mess.

Recently my aunt decided to throw away a lot of clutter and was about to discard this little fellow.

I had to intervene, and offer him a home. I couldn't bear to let him go to the charity shop. After all, I can practically remember purchasing him all those years ago. He brought back lots of hidden memories.

These days I still love buying new stationery and I still love eating mangoes.

However, I think the last china figure I bought was this chap.

I don't plan to buy any others.

Two miles through the snow

Along the snowy "dusty"

Tyre tracks and footprints

The reluctant sun

Deep by the gate

The path through the houses - and oh, dear, those fence posts look like a row of people . . .