Baby Update

More baby photos. The twins are doing exceptionally well. Piper even nursed. Laurel said she was ravenous and was screaming about it. She already has quite a reputation in the hospital nursery. Yikes! Just what we need, another drama queen in the family.
The children in our family are very hard to raise. They're self-willed and stubborn. None are easy going. But they sure make interesting adults and friends. If you can get to that point! I about lost my everlovin' when I had four little ones at home. Note: I don't know if 'everloving' is a Southern thing or a modern word. Anyway, it means 'my mind' as in "I about went crazy" or "I lost my mind". Does anyone else say that?
Babies and mama are doing well. The pediatrician said last night that their lungs will be compromised until ages 2-3. We all have to get a flu shot. I was whining about needles when Laurel said you can get a squirt of the vaccine up your nose. Oh boy, flu germs in my airways. Actually, that may not work for me. I have viral issues anyway. I'll have to check. Anyone have any experience with this?
The girls are going to be called Piper and Scout. I think those are the cutest names ever!
Piper getting some Nana love.

Blewett Pass ..

Technically it is Swauk Pass. The old highway went over Blewett, and the name was kept when they rerouted over Swauk Pass. I headed out with the intention of seeing if there was any climbable ice in the area, but as best I could tell there wasn't any. It appears to me that the terrain is not steep enough, but there could be other issues as well.
I took the skinny skis out on the ungroomed forest service road 800. I have always stayed away from the Blewett Pass area because it is an area where snowmobiles coexist with skiers. This is usually not that pleasant, but I wanted to give it a try. After a few hundred feet into the woods, I could almost no longer hear them and I had stopped coughing on the two stroke fumes. Then it was a peaceful ski in. If I stopped, all I could hear was the snow hitting my body.
Peaceful skiing up the road
There are a few turns in getting to the correct road on the ridge, but it was fairly easy navigating. A group of three women started off long before me, so I had a decent track to follow, although with how heavy it was snowing, it wasn't obvious to me if they had been there the day before or not. (It wasn't until I caught them at my turnaround point that I could confirm they were there the same day.) I think they were following a track put in earlier in the week. Unfortunately I brought my track poles which were way too long to use efficiently when my skis were 4-8" in a trench. It really turned out to work my shoulders due to that fact. For future reference, I'll bring shorter poles in this type of scenario.
Snowing hard
This route would be fairly scenic if it wasn't snowing so much. But I did get some nice glimpses at the surrounding area. There isn't a whole lot of hills, and it made for a nice workout plugging along the road. Some of the downhills I could coast a bit, but mostly I had to keep kicking or double poling on the downhills as the snow was offering a little too much resistance to just coast every hill. At about the three mile mark or so I stopped to have a bite to eat and turned around. I wanted to get home to see Jennifer off to work, and hopefully eat dinner with her.
By the time I got back to the car it was covered in two inches of fresh snow. It was coming down fast enough that I had to scrape the windows three times before I eventually left the Sno Park. Then it was a slow ride down from the pass and out to I90. There were a few cars in the ditch on 97. From I90 things didn't get much better and I maintained a ~35mph pace from Cle Elum to Snoqualmie Pass. The area between Cabin Creek and Hyak was the worst. A plow hadn't been by in a while and there were stiff peaks of snow between the wheel ruts that made driving difficult. Heading up the hill from Hyak plows had recently cleaned the road, so it was much easier. Then everyone got stuck behind the plows on the downhill side and there were a few cars in the ditch near the big right hand turn before the Denny Creek exit. Soon after that we were low enough for the change over to rain and the speed picked up to near the limit. The forecast hard rain was being delivered, and I had to turn the wipers on high.
Being from the Northeast US, I had never associated insects with snow. Having lived in Seattle for a while now, I have learned to see spiders and insects on melting snow in the Spring and Summer. But now twice this Autumn I have seen this one type of insect on the snow. A quick search on the internet makes me believe it is a snow fly or winter crane fly. I have seen a bunch of these walking around today, and a few weeks ago with Steve at Hyak.
Snow fly?

Cactiprunes

I've read that they're supposed to shrivel in winter, to prevent damage when it freezes. But this seems a little extreme.

Opuntia humifusa, Eastern prickly pear cactus.
It's the only cactus that's native here. I remember being really surprised the first time I ever saw one growing out in a field.
It likes poor soil - dry and rocky suits it just fine. So where it grows in our backyard is probably not a good place for flowerbeds.
When the previous owner scraped out a road and put down chert on part of the property, this cactus sprang up in sunny areas along the edges. The healthiest plants are growing in a small area that was apparently cut over as a turn-around for the trucks. Wild hyacinth (Camassia scilloides) flourishes there in the spring.

Night Wishes

I am really having a lot of fun with my Canon 5D Mark II. This camera is allowing me to capture images that I never thought were possible. It certainly is a wonderful camera for night photography! The waterfall seen here is Partridge Falls on the Pigeon River in northeast Minnesota. This river is the border between the U.S. and Canada in this part of the state. My friend Roger was up for the weekend and when Roger visits we usually try to do a session of night photography. The concept portrayed in this image was actually Roger's idea. I was in between shooting images when all of a sudden Roger walked out in front of me and stood near the base of the falls, using his flashlight to paint light up, down, left and right across the falls. After I saw his image I knew I had to try one of my own. I have always wanted to try shooting Partridge Falls with the stars above it but with the cameras I used to have the results, while interesting to view at web size, would have been too noisy for printing. The Canon 5D Mark II changes that. I have already had a print of one of these images made, and it is stunning!

(Above: I used my Petzl Tikka headlamp to "paint" light onto the falls during the 30 second exposure.)
(Below: In this image, in addition to my Petzl headlamp, I was also holding my flashlight in my right hand. My intent was to try to look like I was holding a lightsaber, making me look like a Jedi from a Star Wars movie. The effect sort of worked, except my lightsaber is really long!)

After shooting at Partridge Falls, Roger and I then headed down to the Spirit Tree to do some more star shooting, this time with longer exposures to produce some star trail images. In this first image below, I was looking for a unique angle on the tree and was lucky to have both the North Star and the Milky Way in this image behind the tree. Overall, this night was one of the most fun times that I've ever had with a camera!

Lake Manawa Trail

The week continues to be a beautiful week for bike riding. Thursday and Friday I parked at the Wabash Trace Trailhead and headed out for the Trails Center.
At the trailhead, there still are signs that the trail is closed. Again near the bus bar, and at the end of E South Omaha Bridge.
I had heard that the water was down and could get through there. The worst of the mud has been cleared from the trail. Looks like there were waiting for the "mud" to dry when it can be swept off. It is dry, except for one short section under the railroad. (today's photo)
Thursday was a bit breezy - winds from the NNW. It was rough pedaling up Indian Creek into the wind. Stopped at the Trails Center for the normal visit. Next stop was Xtreme Wheels, then back down to the trailhead. A good 19 mile ride.
Friday, I started off with the same route. Wind was not as bad, but still basically from the North. Instead of riding up to the bike shop, I rode back via Manawa - did not want to ride Harry Langdon with Friday afternoon traffic.
The two rides where enough that I made my first 100 miles week this year.

Downtime

Downtime is not something that I particularly enjoy, but after suffering mild burnout last year, I'm reaching the conclusion that sometimes it's a necessary evil. The weekend just past was a little like that. Apart from riding to Brisbane for an errand on Saturday morning, I just didn't do a great deal -- hence a picture from Thursday's early ride to Little Nerang Dam in the rain. It was fairly convenient to schedule a lazy weekend, given that my bike currently has some mechanical issues that need resolving. Quiet contemplation was more my style last weekend, mixed with a stint of garage cleaning, but in an increasingly shallow and vapid world, contemplation is an activity that seems unlikely to hold my interest for very long.
It's clear that I need a new project, something capable of holding my interest when I'm not actually riding. This blog looks like needing a complete redesign because of it's apparent non-functionality for anyone who uses anything other than Internet Explorer, but that's hardly a fulfilling challenge. I could always get involved in cycling advocacy again, but that felt more like banging my head against a brick wall, and it's probably worse for the burn-out factor than simply riding all the time anyway.
I suppose I just need to look at downtime as a necessary evil, and just grin and bear it.

The Lure of the Garden

My garden all is overblown with roses,My spirit all is overblown with rhyme,As like a drunken honeybee I waverFrom house to garden and again to houseAnd, undetermined which delight to favourOn verse and rose alternately carouse.                         Vita Sackville-West-a sonnet
I really understand her feeling about wanting to be outside, and as soon as she is, she wants to be back inside.  There's so much to do and delight in, it's hard to pick sometimes!
Here's another poem fragment from The Land by Sackville-West:  'She walks among the loveliness she made,Between the apple blossom and the water-She walks among the patterned pied brocade,Each flower her son and every tree her daughter.'

Pink- A -Phobic

Were there too many pink rooms in my Boomer childhood, too many pink sheets and towels piled high at bridal showers, with subsequent weddings themed Blush & Bashful? Could it have been an overdose of girly gift shopping in the Pink aisle of the toy store? Whatever the reason, I can put up with a small amount of this color, but I don’t love it … yet it appears uninvited all over my garden.
Nature is against me: A group of white dianthus plants may suddenly display a pink heart, as the default-color seedlings sprout and bloom, their roots too entangled to separate. All the peachy, yellow, white and dark purple verbena will die, but the neon pink plant thrives and lives through the winter, ready to resume its battle with the pale yellow Ladybanks rose. The seed packet shows vibrant purple zinnias, not the actual washed-out pink ones that appear. The skullcap tags read ‘Cherry red’ but the plant shouts pink!
Back in .., as we pulled in the driveway of our just-purchased home, the very air seemed to have a roseate cast to it. The crepe myrtles were in hot pink bloom, lightly frosted with the powdery mildew that usually accompanies the flowers. Our neighbors to the North had several large trees; the East-side neighbors grew a row of 15-footers along our mutual back fence, while the South-side neighbor had a mere half-dozen in his yard. More crepes sprinkled across the street added to the spectacle. On our quarter-acre we counted twenty-two Lagerstroemia “WayTooPink”. Our guess is that the eight largest trees were intentionally planted. The rest were 4 to 7 feet in height, apparently seedlings that had been allowed to grow against the windows, inside the boughs of flowering shrubs, and right on top of the few existing roses.
We took out many of the pink myrtles, pruned and cared for the rest, and as you can see, they're blooming again. Over time the numbers were reduced to 7 trees. Last year we released two semi-dwarf, mildew resistant crepe myrtles from the deck containers where they’d sulked for years, planting them into the yellow/blue/purple border, where they are now opening white flowers.
Once rescued and revived, the climbing rose bloomed pink.
I love it.

A Cool Photo

There was this little Catholic church close to our B & B in St. Mary's, GA where we stayed before going over to Cumberland Island.  It was surrounded by a white picket fence that had crosses attached to the top at regular intervals. 
As we were walking back from eating that night, I saw one of the crosses' shadow on the side of the church.  Since I had 3200 speed film in my camera, it came out really well even though it was very dark.  Cool, huh?

Manawa Trails

Monday and Tuesday I rode from Xtreme Wheels to the Trails Center. Weather has been great for noon bike ride.
During Tuesday's ride, I dropped down to the Lake Manawa dirt trails to check on the water level. Today's photo shows that the standing water is gone. From what I could see, the area is still muddy.
BTW - rumor has it that the Psycowpath race scheduled for Lake Manawa on September 25th, is being moved to Swanson Park.
Three 20+ mile rides this week. Yesterday's ride was my fastest ride for the year (20.4 miles at 13.91 mph). No, I am not turning into a "roady".
I like the variety of the difference of my bikes. My hardtail is still the "go-to" bike. Its the bike I ride on the Trace, snow/ice rides, and trail work. The hybrid is good for photo shoots while riding pavement (hardtail and hybrid have racks where I can carry my good D-SLR camera). My full suspension bike is still the preferred bike for dirt trail riding.

Anything you can do...

After Beechmont turned on a beautiful day yesterday, it was Springbrook's turn this evening. My legs felt like lead climbing the mountain in the fading light -- evidently darkness takes a while to actually arrive at this time of year. Nevertheless, it didn't stop the beauty of this place from making itself apparent. First of all was the mist closing in above 920 metres -- always a special delight at night. It was for moments like this that I spent $600 on a lighting system, although that can complicate things with the white, ghostly glow that appears when lighting these conditions.
Right at the top of the mountain, a colony of fire-flies had decided to nest in a tree. The flashes of the light were quite spectacular to behold for a few moments, while I pondered the descent into the mist and the aforementioned white glow. It was soon after this that I got to watch the moon rise -- twice! The first time was on Lyrebird Ridge on the western end of the escarpment. A few minutes and a 350-metre descent later, I was able to behold a repeat performance, this time from the eastern side of the escarpment. Further down the mountain, I got another view of the glow worms that make this place what it is -- even if they're less prevalent under a full moon.
Nights like this are what living is all about.

Sun dog

When I was researching heiligenschein recently, I also read about Sun dogs a.k.a. parhelia or false suns. I'd heard the term but had never seen the phenomenon, although it's apparently not rare.
OK, so if sundogs are fairly common, I should start seeing them once I started looking for them, right?
Yep.

Sun dog!

Cool.
It looked much brighter in person. There are usually two, spaced evenly on either side, about 22º away and at the same altitude as the sun. I couldn't see the twin on the other side, even when I moved to a vantage point without trees. The clouds on that side looked different. Thicker.
When I first saw it, I thought it was a rainbow, or rather cloudbow. It looked like the lower arc in this picture, with the addition of a bright white spot just to the left. We were almost home from the grocery store, but by the time I rushed in to grab the camera, the long "bow" portion of the parhelic arc had vanished, and never returned. The sun dog got brighter and dimmer as the clouds shifted.
I was a happy camper.
-----
Parhelia are formed by light passing through horizontal hexagonal plate ice crystals in the clouds. Certain types of clouds produce them more often, and they are most often seen when the sun is low. (See here.)
Another good site for atmospheric optics:
http://www.meteoros.de/indexe.htm

Back at School

This week I'm at the John  C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, North Carolina to take a watercolor class with my good friend Katy.  We only have one more day.  I don't want to return to real life!  I'll write more after I get home about our experience.
This is a photo of the red barn at the school that I took on another trip.  I took a weekend course on Medicinal Herbs.  Great stuff!  
More later!

Welcome to an Interior of Theatrical Excitement...

I love old church buildings. This one is particularly special, although you wouldn't know that from the outside.



Located just a few miles from Lincoln, on a single track road which leads to nowhere,

it has a plain and simple exterior.

Step inside...



...and prepare for a surprise...




The very small interior is filled

with enormous marble

and alabaster

monuments.

They are decorated

to the nth degree, sculpted,

painted, gilded,

every surface, inside and out.



It was difficult to capture the whole of this

marble six-poster bed.

This is the view through the monument, down to the entrance

and font.

The figures are Sir Thomas St Paul and his wife, Faith.

Thomas was a Member of Parliament for Grimsby

and twice Sherriff of Lincolnshire.

He died in 1582.



The canopy of the bed is richly decorated,

the small figures are their eight children,

only four of whom survived infancy.



The base of the tomb bears family crests

and an inscription..

Here lies Thomas St. Poll, knight, who died on the

29th August A.D. 1582,

in the twenty-fourth year of the reign of Queen Elizabeth,

and rests in Christ.

Reader, you see what I am,

you know what I have been.

Consider what you yourself must be.







There are two more monuments.

The larger one depicts Sir George St Paul, who died in 1613 and his wife, Frances.

He was the richest and most influential of the St Paul's.

This vast structure is about twelve feet high

made of alabaster and marble.



It is full of Jacobean symbolism - I have tweaked the intensity

of colour so that you can see just how elaborate

it really is.



Sadly, the lower part of the monument

bears the effigy of their

only child,

a daughter.

Mattathia St Paul, who died before

she was two.

She was buried in the church

'and since then her mother

has never been free from mourning

and weeping for a single day'.

Mattathia St Paul

Sir George was a staunch Puritan, who even worried about

whether it was right to kneel on a cushion

during his long prayer sessions.

It seems it was fine to spend a vast amount on a memorial, though.

He left a legacy to 30 'poor old men' from the area.

They received cash and a free gown annually.

His marriage was unexciting but happy.

He was survived by his wife, Frances.

She went on to lead an interesting life...



...she was a wealthy widow.

After much wooing she was persuaded to marry

the rather unsavoury Robert Rich, Earl of Warwick, depicted

in this monument (which is considered, by some, to be the finest of the three).

Robert Rich was very wealthy, but had little else to recommend him.

His first wife was a beauty who had been forced,

by her guardians, to marry him.

He ill-treated her

and in retaliation she sought consolation with another man

who fathered at least five of her twelve children!

Robert Rich divorced her in 1605

and began looking for a suitably wealthy replacement.

He decided he wanted Frances, so he set about winning her;

eventually she married him in 1616.

Lady Frances proved herself to be a very able business woman and rapidly

increased her personal fortune.

This enraged the Earl,

as he lost money in poorly advised ventures.

He died in Lincolnshire in 1619, and was buried in Essex.

Frances remained in the tiny

hamlet in Lincolnshire

'doing good works',

until she died in 1634.

Perhaps surprisingly, she chose to be buried with her second husband, the Earl, in Essex.

Presumably he had something good about him.

There is so much more to tell, but I have gone on too long already.

I'll save those stories for another time.

Given that these Elizabethan and Jacobean monuments

are of national importance

it is quite astounding to think that the church is open at all times,

other than when repairs or maintenance are being carried out.

I love Lincolnshire.

Not Berry Many

Many northern bloggers posted photos of their berries weeks ago - an idea that seems to have started when Lisa of Greenbow made a comment on May Dreams Carol's post on Beautyberries. After the challenge to display our berries was taken up by Mr McGregor's Daughter photos of beautiful berries appeared on garden blogs everywhere.
In my garden the yaupon hollies and Burford hollies are still developing their green berries - they won't turn red for weeks. Birds stripped the beautiful purple berries from my Beautyberry a month ago. I'm tired of waiting to post! I found only a few berry-like subjects to photograph and for some of them the definition of berry needs to be a fuzzy one.
Above are berries on what is called a Japanese Yew here in Austin. If you live in other places that name usually refers to some cultivar of Taxus japonicus (as in the famous Green Moustache) but my young shrub belongs to Podocarpus - maybe Podocarpus macroplyllus. Another name for this plant is Buddhist Pine.

I've seen related plants at the Hartman Prehistoric Garden - their plant list calls them Cephalotaxus fortunei - Chinese plum yew and Cephalotaxus harringtonia - Japanese plum yew. On our first visit to the Hartman Dinosaur Garden I fell in love with the place and I've tried to recreate the effect with similar plants in my garden.
Even if they weren't growing at the Hartman I'd have wanted a 'Little Gem' magnolia. It's made flowers in the 3 years since we planted it, but didn't make seed cones until this summer - they sort of look like berries glued together so I'm counting it.
I found a few berries left on the liriope edging in the Secret Garden. The birds aren't giving them a chance to turn dark this year.
Can you see the St Augustine grass in the background at right? That might give you an idea of how small the leaves on this plant really are. It's called Dwarf Greek Myrtle, Myrtus communis 'Nana'. I first saw this plant growing in the garden of one of the Divas of the Dirt. Buffy's pair of myrtles were already medium size shrubs when I saw them around .. and the tiny neat leaves were attractive. After we moved to this house I added three 10-inch tall plants of these compact Greek myrtles in the back garden, thinking they might have impact at some future date.

When we met at Buffy's house for a recent Diva project I was stunned to see that her compact myrtles had reached 8-feet tall. They're planted to shield the view of her Secret Garden from the gate and do their job well. Mine are less than 18 inches high, but I'm keeping an eye on them!
Buffy had beautiful berries in her garden - produced by a shrub I've already killed once but will probably buy again. For a look at the luminous blue berries on Buffy's 'Spring Bouquet' viburnum see the October 12th post at the Divas of the Dirt Blog.

Pigeon River Paradise

This image is of the Pigeon River in northeast Minnesota, just downstream from Grand Portage State Park (which is where I work for my "day" job). The Pigeon, like many rivers, is a river of many moods. The majority of the river is characterized by very rugged terrain, with the water tumbling over boulders and through narrow gorges in rapids of varying intensity. Some areas, like the one pictured here, are very serene. The area shown in this image is only about a mile upstream from the mouth of the river.
The Pigeon originates on the edge of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, and after its mostly violent but sometimes peaceful journey through the rugged valleys of northern Minnesota it empties very quietly and with little fanfare into Lake Superior. As mentioned earlier, this particular spot along the river is just downstream from the state park where I work. It is one of my favorite places along the river and I often stop here after work to see what the conditions are like. On the evening I made this image, I had already gone home for the day but as sunset approached I was very intrigued by the clouds that were lingering in the sky. I immediately thought of this place on the river and how calm the water usually is... little did I know what an incredible sight I would find when I arrived!
This is without a doubt the coolest cloud I have ever seen over this part of the river. This image was made only moments after the sun went down behind me. The point of view in this image is actually looking east/northeast, but as often happens immediately after sunset the clouds took on quite a glow. My outing to the river resulted in an experience (and an image) that I will never forget! Shot with my Canon EF 17-40mm lens, shutter speed was 1/50, aperture f8, ISO 200. Since the sky was a bit brighter than the reflection on the water, I did also use my Singh-Ray 3-stop graduated ND filter in the creation of this image.

Illston circular - Kings Norton, Little Stretton, Burton Overy, Carlton Curlieu

Led by me, with Gordon, Barry and Maureen, Cloudy at start, then v hot. Dry underfoot. Eight and three quarter miles.


Mostly the same as two recent walks done on Thursday 18 July, and Thursday 11 July, but this time anticlockwise, and with a short extra loop.

We take the right hand path after the small field in Illston, hugging the hedge, then through the wheat and behind Illston Grange, over the pasture, with a small stand of trees on our right and the house on our left. When we leave the field at the crossroads, we turn right and walk a short distance along the road before taking the byway to Kings Norton.



The views of the church from this path are magnificent, and Gaulby Church is visible as well. The byway goes in a straight line to the road, and then uphill to the church and the village.



At the road junction we ignore the road to the right and carry straight on. The footpath goes to the left past a farm, and through the farmyard. We follow the way marks over a couple of fields and across a bridge through the hedge to a road, where we turn left, and just after the junction to Little Stretton, we pick up the path at a farm gate, near some large agricultural buildings.



There are a fair number of butterflies on the wing, and around the thistles.

Hmm - just closed its wings!

Over a few more fields, and the odd stile, and we arrive at Little Stretton. As last Thursday, the church porch is a pleasantly cool place to sit for a while.



We follow the path, past the old Manor House and the pond, along the avenue of trees to the road. We turn right and find our path just after the junction towards Stoughton. We turn left and walk along the edge of a field of wheat. At the far end a quick read of the map sets us on the right route and we follow the path past The Cottage, across the road and over pastures towards Burton Overy. The pub appears to be closed today.



I offer two alternative routes - one of about 2 miles, one of 3. Barry says decisively, "Oh, I think the longer one!" Suits the rest of us, so we walk uphill from the village on the Carlton Curlieu road. When the road turns to the left we continue through a farmyard and fields directly to Carlton Curlieu - we can see the church on the hill ahead.



This village has a tempting bench so we take another rest - Maureen and I almost have a nap. But we must onwards. From the Illston Road theres a bridleway to the left, which swings right between two hedges as far as Carlton Curlieu Manor.

Gordon strides ahead

Here's Maureen, with Barry as lanterne rouge.

Ha! caught this one just before it closed its wings!

Across the road the path takes us below the Manor, beside the hedge, then uphill and through a large wheat field. We reach Illston before too long - quite pleased to get away from the heat.

Bikes & Beer

Today was a day filled with Bike & Beer (with some singletrack thrown in). It was rough getting out of bed this morning. Had some breakfast at the hotel. The coffee did not seem to help.

Off to the festival, bringing the Fuel EX7. The first function was the Ladies Ride with MTB Hall of Famer - Jacquie Phelan. After the ladies headed out, the guys (me included) hit the trails.

I rode up to behind the chalet. Found number 4 singletrack trail. The area is full of Nordic ski trails. Many of the ski trails also had sing;e/double track trails down them.

From Trail 4, I turned right onto Trail 7. Rode this loop trail back to the intersection with Trail 4. Back on Trail 4 to the chalet. Was a good 2.7 mile ride. Most of the trail I was able to ride without problem - Blue trails. Had to walk sections where heavy rooted and specially rooty climbs.

Next, we met the Ladies Ride at another parking lot. That's where the Dirt Cat started (ending back to GnomeFest City Hall). After the group departed, I went back to the hotel. Picked up "good" beer for the Beer Pot Luck. (I selected Totally Naked by Glarus Brewing - figure the Penske truck)the name was at least appropriate for the function) Then some food at Texas Roadhouse.

Was thinking of maybe riding again in the afternoon - but we were hit with a shower so put the bike in the room and headed to Awards and Chili Cook-Off. The storms were brewing in the West, so moved things into the chalet (thanks to Marathon County for letting us use the chalet).

We got a couple of deluges just before and during the awards. Was a bit noisy in the chalet, but I suffered through. shot photos, ate some chili, drank some beer, and hoped to be a winner in the raffle. Winning a raffle prize was a bust.

Back to the main meeting area with the evening's bonfire. Chatted and took a few photos. Drunk O’Clock (dark) – The Dwarfcycle Figure Eight Death Races was on the schedule. This old body had just had enough, to headed back to the hotel. Downloaded photos and wrote this blog posting.

Watch for photos posted on my race/event photo site - Win-Photo.photoreflect.com

Madeleine L'Engle

I just finished reading The Summer of the Great-Grandmother by Madeleine L-Engle. It is a poignant true story of the last summer spent with her mother before her death.
She looks back on her childhood and growing up years as an only child of parents who were very cosmopolitan and well-travelled. She laments the fact that she can no longer communicate with her mother as she once did while having morning-long talks over coffee at the kitchen table.
She has to come to terms with the fact that after her mother's death, she's now the 'matriarch' of the family clan; a role she doesn't want but has to accept.
Here's a quote from the book about one thing that formed who she became as an adult. "School was mostly something to be endured; I don't think I learned nearly as much from my formal education as from the books I read instead of doing homework, the daydreams which took me on exciting adventures in which I was intrepid and fearless and graceful, the stories Mother told me, and the stories I wrote. It was in my solitudes that I had a hand in the making of the present Madeleine."
I agree with her, because that is also my experience. I've learned so much more out of school than in. Only in solitude can I work out solutions to problems, think in peace, and be creative.
If you've never read any of her books, I highly recommend them. She's probably best known for A Wrinkle in Time. I prefer her non-fiction. She was also a writer of spiritual books. In the above mentioned book, she was struggling with who God is and traditional religion, but later on she became much stronger in her faith.
*The lady in the photo isn't Madeleine L'Engle, she's an ancestor of mine, Lydia Walker.

Raspberry Pi

Over the last couple years, I have been looking at some electronics projects. Have the micropic kit. One of the problems is that the development kit needs running on Windows XP - my new laptop runs Windows 7. Another issue is the programming - in assembler.

This fall I started looking at the Raspberry Pi single board computer. The credit card sized board runs Linux as operating system. I have been playing with lunux for several years - so should be able to get things running quickly.

Raspberry Pi can run programs in python. That's great, since the programs can be ported from Linux to windows to OSX.

Found a US supplier for Raspberry Pi. Before purchasing the device, I picked up the user's guide and spent some time reading. I would be interested in developing a interface to trigger my cameras. Looks like it will do the trick.

Downloaded the operating system.

Ordered my Raspberry Pi with case, AC adapter, SD card, and connecting cables. Looking forward to receiving the device.