Dogwood Sunset

After spending a long afternoon hiking in the deep woods of northern Minnesota, I went down to the Lake Superior shoreline on Grand Portage Bay to photograph the sunset. After a quick look around, I found this piece of Red-Osier Dogwood laying in the shallow water. I don't know how it got there (wind, or perhaps someone threw it out there), but it made for an interesting foreground for this image. This image was captured with my Canon 17-40mm lens, shutter speed 2 seconds, aperture f16, ISO 100. I also used my Singh-Ray 3-stop reverse graduated ND filter.

Hummingbird vine

My sister was sold this plant labeled as Hummingbird Vine.
I knew right away that it wasn't what most people call Hummingbird Vine. (That would be Cypress Vine, Ipomoea quamoclit, shown below.)

I suspect that what she bought was actually Campsis radicans, a.k.a. Trumpet Vine, Trumpet Creeper, or (my favorite) Cow Itch.
Looking around the internet, some people do apparently call the first plant Hummingbird Vine. But it's certainly not the preferred name. Not here, anyway.
I was all ready to blame Walmart or Lowe's for the mistake, and tell her to demand a refund. But it turns out she bought the plant from the Birmingham Botanical Garden's plant sale. (Whoops.)
Trumpet Vine is native here, but many people consider it invasive in the garden.
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Cypress vine photo by Janice Waltzer via Flickr.

Jamestown Virginia Images

Since Jamestown is so close to Williamsburg, we make it part of our annual fall foray into Colonial Virginia. These photos were taken of the chapel there. I particularly love the symmetry of the hanging bells. The baptismal font is from the 1600's, I think. Click on it to be able to read the verse hanging above.
It's a great place for children as well as adults to learn about colonial history. Next time I'll post photos from the glassblower's hut.

Winter wonderland

At least it will be, when it's finished. 'Edinburgh's Christmas' is now a brand, enticing visitors from across the world. Two weeks before opening it's rather less than glittering, but work is going on apace. This is the ice rink being laid out. Given our mild climate, the Scots are not natural skaters, and a fair number of bumps and worse will be sustained over the next few weeks.
A sign on one of the barriers promises delights to come, and also gives the standard British apology.

Three days later, and the big wheel is up. On this very grey day, anything less like a winter wonderland is hard to imagine, but with a bit of frost and all the lights sparkling it will come alive again.

Weather: Typically Scottish: frost early, then rain followed by grey skies, and a gleam of sun to end the day. Minimum temperature -1 C, maximum 10 C.

Cyclocross Photos

Velo Veloce Cycling Club and Xtreme Wheels Bike & Sport sponsored the Omaha Cyclocross weekend October 4th & 5th. The race was held at Swanson Park.
Weather was not typical cyclocross weather. The afternoon was in the 70s and sunny. The course was dry.
I only attended the Saturday race - I had another function on Sunday - a ham radio flea market.
Here's the link.
http://www.tomwinfield.com/bike/mtn-bike/mtb_races/c-cross1_08.html

Does anyone out there actually enjoy this?

A little off-topic perhaps, although perhaps not, as it's the reason I've not had as much time on the bike as I would have liked this weekend. But seriously, if I hear one more thing about Christmas, I'm just about going to puke violently. It seems that everyone out there is happy to nag me for things, but it's just about impossible to get anyone to co-operate. Yes, I know this is an exaggeration, but right now it's just how I feel. I've been trying to get a bed moved from Brisbane to the Gold Coast all week, and all I'm getting from the so-called removalists in this area is short shrift. Even those who claim they can do it are asking ridiculous prices, or worse, making promises and not keeping them (I'm glad I didn't rely on that lot who promised to call me back).

Then there's all the other rubbish with regard to family get togethers. Now I have nothing against my family at all. However, is all the other rubbish really necessary? Is it really that important that I spend all afternoon tomorrow (after a near full day at work mind you) pushing through the last minute shopper crowds trying to find a heap of ingredients to some salad, most of which (the ingredients) will end up going to waste because they can't be purchased in the exact quantities required, and because they're unlikely to have any other use?

Then there are the hours of preparation in what will undoubtedly be oppressive heat (this is summer in Queensland after all), and the hours of cleaning up (ditto), which usually falls to whomever gets bored first and is still sufficiently coherent to do it (i.e. me). Forget about looking forward to the "holidays" -- I think I'd rather still be at work.

I'm planning to head for Hinze Dam tomorrow morning regardless, just for a bit of relief. A quick 4.15am ride out there isn't quite a rainforest-filled night at Austinville, but at least it might take my mind off things for a while. At least the sunset this evening was nice.

Soap stuff

The soaps I make now are all made from the same recipe. The oils I use are olive, palm, coconut, avocado, castor, and stearic. Only the scents, colors, and additives change from bar to bar.
But lately I've been playing.

Red palm soap
It's made from red palm oil (virgin palm oil), which makes it turn this cool yellowy-orangy color. Other oils are coconut, olive, rice bran, shea butter, castor, and stearic. It's scented with a mixture of Ylang Ylang, Patchouli, and Ginger essential oils, and I got cutesy and stamped it with a Red Palm (dipped in mica).

Hemp soap
The oils for this one are olive, palm coconut, hemp, shea butter, castor, and stearic. The scent is a mixture of Vetiver and Ylang Ylang essential oils, and the color comes from French green clay.

Island soap
The oils are olive, palm, coconut, macadamia, shea butter, cocoa butter, castor, and stearic. I used red Moroccan clay and scented with a mixture of Rose Geranium, Ylang Ylang, Lavender, and Patchouli essential oils.

Sunflower Shea soap
I think my new stamp is kind of defective. It's supposed to be a sunflower but the middle portion is sunk very low and doesn't come out on the soap. Bummer. I decided the outline of a sunflower was better than nothing at all, then towards the end I worried that anyone who'd seen The Ring would be afraid to buy it. Argh! The soap smells great, though - Clary Sage and Rose Geranium essential oils. I used Rose clay, and the oils are olive, plam, coconut, sunflower, shea butter, castor, and stearic.
These are all experiments. I've been playing with this idea for a while - to make soaps using pricier scents and ingredients. I'll have to sell them for more $$ so we'll see if people are willing to pay more.

I heart my infrared thermometer, it's one of my favorite soapmaking tools. But guess how many times I've headed off to town with that in my pocket instead of my cell phone.

Ribbon Cutting and a Ride

This morning I attended the "ribbon cutting" for the new Cuyuna Lakes Ride Center. Because of threatening weather, the ceremony was moved into the Hallett Community Center in Crosby, MN.
A host of officials spoke during the ceremony, from the former Congressman (Jim Oberstar), State Legislator, Commissioner of Minnesota DNR and staff, local politial leaders, local Chamber of Commerce, Mike Van Abel (Executive Director of IMBA) to others in the mountain bike community. Cuyuna Lakes is a Bronze level IMBA Ride Center. There are 22 miles of singletrack in Cuyuna Lakes.
Other than Cuyuna Lakes Ride Center, I cannot find much information about the IMBA Ride Center program. In , I first heard about the concept during Black Hills Fat Tire Festival. Now, Cuyuna Lakes is open and it appears the Oakridge Oregon Ride Center is threatened.
A local food vendor was offering box lunches for $6.00. Looked like a good amount of food, but I wanted some hot lunch. Stopped at Coaches' in Deerwood (very close to my motel). Good food.
Now, to get out to ride. To feel more comfortable, I decided to head out on the Cuyuna Lakes State Trail. This is a paved trail that connects Crosby, Ironton, and Riverton, MN. Today's photo is of the Cuyuna Lakes State Trail.
The Cuyuna Lakes Mountain Bike Festival actually gets underway in the morning.

The weekend has started

This could be the start of something awesome here. This morning was only supposed to be a warm-up ride through Currumbin Valley, but look at the results.







As I said, if a warm-up can offer this, who knows what the real thing is going to be like?