Esk 300k

I was in trouble basically before this ride even started. 36 hours before the "official" start I discovered that my transport options to and from Esk weren't available on weekends. This, in itself, didn't make things impossible, but having to ride to and from the start from Ipswich would make it a lot more difficult. The really hot, humid nights in the lead up didn't help sleeping patterns much either.
As it was, I still got off the train in Ipswich at around noon, and started to ride north. Ipswich is one of those places that's built to keep people in but not let them out again (anyone who's ever been to Ipswich can probably understand why). It seems every exit from the city is uphill. The most exciting part was the rather witty sign outside Ipswich North State School -- "INSS Rocks!" I made my way out of the urban sprawl and headed to a slight detour through Borallon and Pine "Mountain". This route, while hillier and slightly longer than the main roads, was much more scenic, and it's an area that I might consider for more riding in the future.
The remaining 50km or so to Esk after getting back on the Brisbane Valley Highway seemed to pass without any major problems -- except for the heat. The temperature had risen to 36 degrees C by the time I climbed over the wall of the rapidly dwindling Wivenhoe Dam. Normally this is the most scenic part of the ride to Esk, but the lack of water was really evident. As it was, I was running a little short on water, and arrival in Esk (where is was now 35 degrees C) couldn't come fast enough. At the "official" start there were probably around 10 riders (although I didn't to a head count). I was wondering how many would finish.


The initial part of the ride was a loop through Eskvale and Toogoolawah, with a first checkpoint over at Lake Somerset after passing through Mt Beppo. I had been planning to pass through that area last weekend for a tour until fate intervened. I took note of the "free" campsites along the way, before joining up with Matt (a.k.a Recumbent Guy) who I'd actually known from bikeforums.net, activebody.org and the bike-qld mailing list. It's actually quite interesting to meet someone you've only ever conversed with "online" -- especially considering my slightly controversial past over at bike-qld. Fortunately, Matt and I tend to agree on quite a few things, there's an old saying about great minds thinking alike.

The ride itself started to become difficult around Mt Beppo as the wind was picking up from the East. Matt and I basically held on grimly until Lake Somerset, where pretty much everyone agreed with my "this is insanity" suggestion. Needless to say, returning from Lake Somerset to Esk with the same wind behind us was considerably less stressful or eventful, and we made surprisingly good time getting to the start of the Hampton leg of the ride.

The Hampton leg was originally intended to climb the range up to Hampton, but was removed from the route due to the state of the road. As it was, we still climbed a substantial portion of it. I got into a really good rhythm on the climb and would have liked to have finished it. Next time. This is where pacing alongside a recumbent rider gets interesting. I found myself faster on the climbs, but considerably slower on the descents. As it was, we all made it back to Esk, and were all set for the next leg -- even if a local police officer was "wondering" what we were doing riding at that time of night (funny how these people seem to be more interested in people who aren't breaking the law than those who are).
I had already ridden the next stretch south to Fernvale, but it was completely different at night. We joined a couple of other riders, Dave and George here but Matt and I left them behind on the rolling hills. Fernvale was just another deserted country town, and we then headed on a back road toward Lowood. The final stretch into Lowood is brutally hilly, but also very beautiful. In daylight I would have paused for a photo of the surrounding hills at the top -- as it is, I'll never forget the image of the moonlight silhouette -- nor the final, screaming descent.

There were actually two checkpoints in Lowood -- separated by a loop of 31km. This loop was flat enough to make me struggle just a little. To be honest I'm not entirely sure which localities we passed through, I was just following the directions on the route slip. It was after leaving Lowood the second time that I really started to struggle. We were all heading South against a slight headwind, but it was that pre-dawn stretch that I always seem to struggle with, and it was on dead flat, dead straight roads that make staying awake difficult. Given the number of "training rides" that I've done in pre-dawn darkness, it's incongruous that I should find this difficult, but it always presents a problem.
At dawn we were all heading toward the town of Laidley, I dropped back from our little group. I actually fell asleep while riding three times in 15km. It's funny how the rest of the body falls asleep but the legs keep pedalling. It's perhaps lucky that I didn't crash during that time. A muesli bar, the onset of daylight and the promise of some minor hills between Laidley and Forest Hill woke me up, and we managed to make the service station/McDonalds at Gatton which provided the final checkpoint.
It was at this point that Matt and I dropped off the back, deciding to ride the final 50km together and let Dave (who was very kind to offer me a lift back to Brisbane after the ride) and George go. I was really feeling the effect of the extra 70km I'd ridden to the start, and with plenty of time in the bank, I didn't see any problem with using some of it. We headed back on almost dead flat roads to Coominya, before rejoining the Brisbane Valley highway. I would like to provide some details of the surrounding countryside, but the truth is it wasn't all that interesting.
On the final part into Esk I started to feel strong again. It was hard to believe I had ridden this stretch some 16 hours previously, and I was still riding. I just seemed to click into gear over the rolling hills. It was not far from here that I had a particularly memorable day on one of my formative bike tours, and I began to feel good again. I paused a couple of times to wait for Matt as he was finding the last few kilometres difficult, but with 5km to go I began to realise that I was running a little low on water, and that it was starting to get hot again. I pushed the "go" button and finished reasonably comfortably.
The next challenge, of course, is to complete a 400k. My immediate thought after this ride was "no way". However, after thinking back and realising that I had just done a 375k ride instead of the requisite 300 (plus another 12k to and from Robina station back on the 'Coast), it dawned on me that I'm already not that far off. Now I just have to find one that won't require me to ride 70km to the start.

The Intent of the Gardener - GGW Picture This Photo

The theme for this month's Picture This Photo Contest is "The Intent of the Gardener", something I've pondered ever since we moved to this small plot of land in July ... Rich Pomerantz, the judge for the contest, advises us to look for the unifying principle of the design and also "Look to see if the designer took her cues from the land".
Are there many cues when you buy a 25-year old house on a boring, irregularly-shaped lot in a subdivision? Bulldozers shaped the land, men built the houses and privacy fences carved it into wedges, trapezoids and rectangles. There is, however, a slight rise toward the center back of the lot, which we tried to enhance.
I know exactly what the unifying principle is in this garden... it's the same principle that 'unified' every one of our gardens, although it may only be obvious to Philo and me. Underlying everything is our wish to Not Be Bored. This does lead to a rather messy looking garden - the back yard went from blank to busy in one day after our kids helped us bring all the portable landscape items from the previous Austin house - more than 100 containers full of trees, shrubs, vines, a metal arch, hypertufa troughs, the birdbath from Illinois, wooden benches and patio furniture. Our intent was to have somewhere to go, something to do, someplace to be - and with luck - something to eat. So far so good. I tried to get the yard from the same angle as in the Before photo above. Click this After photo and it should enlarge.
This smaller version is my entry for the contest. The rules say the photo should be under 500 pixels on the long side and when uploaded this was 495 x 359 pixels. What happens now is up to Blogger.
Edit 10 PM - website says size rule no longer in effect.
GardeningGoneWild has a photo gallery for the contest, where you can view the more elegant entries.

Is it a Brush? Is it a Hedgehog?

It was one of those wonderfully sparkling, cold, frosty mornings and I just couldn't wait to get outside with Jonathan's camera and the macro lens.





Later, while viewing the photos it took me a moment to work out what this 'hedgehog' was - then I remembered, it was a tiny clump of moss on the side of the bird bath!





This is up close and personal to the frost on the arm of a wooden bench.

Some berries which were on one of the Christmas wreaths

A miniature clump of grass in a vegetable bed!

A tiny mushroom next to a vegetable bed!

The surface of a stone!

Some flowers which still managed to look cheerful, despite the frost.





Thank you Jonny! I am still having great fun with your camera.

Ideas from Zilker Garden Fest

The annual Zilker Park Garden Fest takes place toward the end of March here in Austin. This is the modern name for our annual plant spree, and while it's descriptive, long-time Austinites like MSS of Zanthan Gardens still call it "Flora Rama". Was gardening more fun years ago? In 1978, Mayor McClellan declared an entire Flora Rama Week.
It's always fun to wander the winding paths filled with vendors of every kind of plant and decoration - we found interesting plants and stopped to buy another Cobrahead from Geoff. You'll also find music & food, a flower show and lots of information. There are garden talks - in .. we heard Felder Rushing. The park itself is always beautiful and inspiring - before I had a place for my own Mutabilis roses, seeing them blooming at Zilker Park made me even more determined to grow them.
The Hartman Dinosaur Garden was begun while we still lived at our previous house. From the first sight I fell in love with the Hartman garden and the Hartman plants - Magnolia/Michelia figo/Banana shrub, large Magnolias, evergreen plants similar to Podocarpus, Purple-leaved Loropetalum, palms and sago cycads, orchid trees and horsetails, with Texas Mountain Laurels and palmettos tucked in. We began to add some of those plants almost as soon as we moved in to this house.
Sometimes what grows at Zilker Park does well here -like the Loropetalum, Podocarpus, 'Little Gem' magnolia and the Banana Shrub... and sometimes my attempts at copying have failed. After 4 years in my garden, two miserable leaves of Bletilla striata struggled to the surface. They've never bloomed.Above is the patch of Bletilla/Chinese Ground Orchids at Zilker Park last Sunday! This week my underperformers took a ride on the garden fork to a different border - maybe they'll like it better and bloom some day.
One of the informational booths was run by The Austin Herb Society, tucked in next to the charming herb garden with raised beds so you can see the plants up close, and benches so you can rest and people-watch.
I fell into an enjoyable conversation with Ann, the volunteer at the booth, telling her that seeing the thriving rosemary shrubs reminded me of an odd sighting in my garden last week. A pair of goldfinches (my guess is Lesser Goldfinches) spent more than 15 minutes working over the rosemary just outside the breakfast room window. They tugged off petals and tossed them to get to the ends of the branch where the seeds developed. They were so intent on their work that they didn't fly off when I held the camera to the window pane for a blurry photo.
Ann's theory was that some of the usual seed plants for finches were so affected by drought that they didn't make seeds, so even the tiny rosemary seeds are sought after in this dry spring. This idea makes sense to me, too. Ann also thought it would be a good idea to post about this interesting behavior and I agreed.
Has anyone else seen birds eating rosemary seeds?

Reflections from Gift From the Sea

I'm rereading Anne Morrow Lindberg's Gift From the Sea for the tenth time. It's like the Bible in that no matter how many times you read it, you'll find something new every time. This morning's reading had this (she's talking about the marriage relationship) jumping out at me: "There is also a dead weight accumulation, a coating of false values, habits, and burdens which blight life. It is this smothering coat that needs constantly to be stripped off, in life as in relationships."

For several years now I've been decluttering our physical space. I think I noticed this paragraph above because maybe now it's time to simplify and clean out our marriage relationship. I'm not getting rid of him (ha) but would like to become more friends again. Now that all but one of our children are gone, it'll be easier. We don't have to wait to talk or shout to be heard over the din. We definitely have a 'smothering coat that needs to be stripped off' but how to go about it is puzzling to me. I think I'll treat it as an on-going, never-ending project and have my checklist made and ready.

Anne again, "One learns to accept the fact that no permanent return is possible to an old form of relationship, and more deeply still, that there is no holding of a relationship to a single form. This is not a tragedy but part of the ever-recurrent miracle of life and growth."

We've come a long way and shared a lot since we were married 37 years ago come August 28; five living children, three in heaven due to early miscarriages, moving cross country and back, building a house, home educating five children for 28 of those years, having three of those children seriously injured at different times and ages, three children married, six grandchildren, etc. We've had a good time together, and hopefully, God will grant us more years to try and perfect this thing called marriage.

In the Spotlight: Monument to a Century of Flight

Humankind is a continuum of pioneers sharing timeless dreams and the boundless possibilities of vast unexplored worlds.

The above words are on the front of the brochure for the Monument to a Century of Flight, located in Kitty Hawk, the birthplace of powered flight.

The monument was a surprise find when we stopped at the Aycock Brown Welcome Center in Kitty Hawk on April 15.  My DSLR camera and the lenses I needed to photograph the monument were packed somewhere in the basement of the coach, so I had to be content with a couple of quick snapshots.  Today, when we drove through Kitty Hawk to explore points north, we made a second stop to capture a few more shots of the monument.  (Note the black arrow near the top of the map to the right; it points out the location of the Welcome Center and the monument at Milepost 1.  You can click the map for a larger image.)

The monument was dedicated during the 2003 First Flight Centennial to celebrate “the human odyssey of flight in a single century from earthbound into the mysteries of space.”

In celebration of the “soaring human spirit.”

The monument consists of 14 stainless steel pylons, a bronze dome, a brick courtyard, and a black granite marker.  The wing-shaped pylons, designed to represent wing foils, are positioned in ascending height from 10 to 20 feet (3-6 m) to symbolize “the steps humans have taken to reach the heavens.”  On the face of each pylon is a polished-granite marker inscribed with 100 of the most significant aviation achievements during the period 1903-2003.

The circle of aviation achievements.

The 120-foot (36 m) orbit in which the pylons are set is no coincidence.  This number represents the distance the Wright Brothers flew the day they made flight history.  By the way, it wasn’t that no one had flown before the Wrights.  What made their flight so important was that it was the world’s first “powered, controlled, sustained manned flight in a heavier-than-air-machine.”

Left: Appropriately, the first of the 14 pylons starts with a tribute to the “first” flight.
Right: an “i was there photo op” … and a means of showing the challenges of shooting the
inscriptions on the polished-granite markers.

A black granite marker greets visitors at the entrance to the site.  The marker is inscribed with High Flight, written by John G. Magee Jr.  Magee was a 19-year-old American pilot who served in the Royal Canadian Air Force in England in 1941.  He was killed in action, flying over England in his spitfire, just a few months after he wrote the poignant and powerful words.

“oh!  I have slipped the surly bonds of earth … and touched the  face of god.”

The orbit of the pylons culminates at a dome that represents the world.  The bronze dome, which measures 6 feet (1.8 m) in diameter, is sculpted with raised images of the continents.  A ribbon of words — a centennial message from Kitty Hawk — rims the etched images of flying machines that trim the edge of the dome.  These vehicles of flight range from the Wright flyer to the space shuttle — from the simplest to the most complex.  Nearly 4,500 bricks make up the courtyard within the pylons.

The world has shrunk in size thanks to the achievements in aviation.

Many of the bricks are inscribed with messages of sponsors of the monument.

As I noted above, photographing the inscriptions and tributes etched into the polished-granite markers on the pylons was a challenge.  At times, it was the sun shining bright that was a problem; at other times, it was the fingerprints and smears left behind by previous visitors.  I itched to get my hands on a rag so I could do a bit of spring cleaning.  In the end, I did the best I could and will have to be satisfied with that.

[Clockwise from top left]
first walk on the moon — Neil Armstrong; 20 July 1969
determination and perseverance in the face of tremendous odds  — Tuskegee airmen; 1941-46
First American aircraft carrier commissioned — USS Langley; 20 March 1922
first flight — Wright brothers; 17 December 1903
first woman & second person to fly solo across the Atlantic — Amelia Earhart; 20-21 May 1932
first solo flight across the Atlantic — Charles Lindbergh; 20-21 May 1927
first man in space — Yuri Gagarin; 12 April 1961

For those who’d like a full listing of the 100 events selected for recognition on the pylons …

[click this collage of images to view a larger version of the design of each pylon]

Finding the Monument to a Century of Flight at the beginning of our OBX getaway set the tone for a week filled with new places and new things to explore.  A great start!

For more information about the monument, click here to go to the website.

For the full set of photos from our visit to the monument, click here to go to my gallery.

Seven things

While I was gone, Twinks asked me to do a meme. I'm supposed to list seven random things, but since I'm contrary, I'm going to list seven things that happened during my lost four months. It's longer than my normal posts, but since I'll be out of town for a few days, feel free to read in shifts!
1. I joined The Gym.
Really, that's what the gym in Oneonta is called: The Gym. I joined with a friend, and wheedled my way into a good deal via a long-term, prepaid, early-hours contract. I can't say I've lost any weight, but I feel in better shape. I'm getting to know my friend a lot better too, since we gab for about four hours a week more than we used to.
2. I thought I'd found a diamond.
People with a five-carat diamonds don't shop at Wal-Mart, I suppose, but I was momentarily dazed by the karmic thrill of it all. My mother lost her engagement ring stone over 40 years ago, and I imagined it had returned, with interest! Turned out to be only a cubic zirconia though, drat. Here is how you tell the difference. I couldn't read a newspaper through the CZ, and was already dreamily wondering how long the police would have to hold it before it was deemed unclaimed. The dot test worked like a charm, though. Like a big, balloon-bursting charm.

3. The garden refused to bend to my will. Again.
I had fun with the Zinnia experiment though. I got a late start, and Powdery Mildew crept in when we left town for a week. The grass got way out of control, as usual. Somehow I still managed to grow a few flowers to donate to Hospice. Maybe next year I will finally have my act together enough to get them there throughout the blooming season.
4. I won a major award.
Because I could remember the Alabama state bird, mammal, fossil, etc., when an emergency preparedness expert spoke to our wildflower group. OK, the award wasn't really all that major, but I basked in the egghead trivia glow anyway. Then a guy even more pointy-headed than me whined that my answer of "some kind of whale" to "What is the state dinosaur?" wasn't up to par. "The Basilosaurus cetoides is the state fossil, not dinosaur!" he moaned. I hugged my MRE and ran out of the meeting room.
5. We let Anatoli go. He'd developed a lump that we decided may have been from improper nutrition or insufficient sunlight. Since he was wild-born, we figured he'd fare better on his own. We saw an unusually high number of anoles this fall, but I was never sure if any of them were Anatoli.
6. I had to wait in line to vote!
There were all of four people in front of us when we arrived at our polling place. An elderly couple let us cut in front of them though, since the man was still searching his wallet for ID. There were a few local issues on the ballot so turnout was very high. The tallies from my precinct, not exactly what you'd call a democratic stronghold, included:
Obama 45, McCain 450
Figures 52, Sessions 442 (US Senate race)
Tag fee increase: Yes 59, No 392
Wet/Dry referendum: Yes (Wet): 226, No: 270
The ratios for the whole county were similar. I still haven't figured out how Vivian Figures, a State Senator from Mobile, received more votes than Obama. Most people in north Alabama weren't even familiar with her. I read that her budget was $22,000; the incumbent Sessions spent multi-millions. (I have loved her ever since I read that she was able to get the outdated, misogynistic Alabama State Senate dress code changed... the one that said women couldn't wear pant suits or slacks on the Senate floor!)
We needed the tag fee increase ($15), which would have gone strictly towards road maintenance. I had a feeling it wouldn't pass, but I was surprised at the resounding defeat.
I'm glad we stayed a dry county. I wouldn't mind alcohol sales in stores or restaurants, but didn't want a bar across the street from us. Rural counties don't have a lot of regulations, so it could have been a real possibility.
7. Alabama football, woohoo!
I had to say that before we play Auburn and Georgia Florida, just in case.

Tire Repair Bike Ride

Friday was a clear and mostly calm day, weather wise. A great day for a bike ride. As I got near to the bike shop, the "low tire pressure" light came on. Great! Checked the tires and sure have one light on pressure.
Headed on into town to Lyle's to get the tire fixed. Grabbed the bike on the car and head out on a ride while the tire is repaired.
Rode from downtown Council Bluffs to the Trail Center, Had a good ride. Stopped to take a couple photos of the road bike on Indian Creak Trail.
Picked up the car and went to the bike shop. Looked at the odometer on the bike - need 5 miles to break 500 miles on the new bike. So, rode from the shop to IWCC and back.
Valley View Trail just North of McPhearson is blocked for construction of the new College View Elementary School.

Danny Friedman

Danny was always the guy on the other end of the phone.Danny I need200M ofrope. Danny I need 50 harnesses. Danny I need 100 carabiners.Danny works at K2, I manage a school camp. So it was a delight to meet him and find out he's a really sweet guy and a motivated climber.



Now when I say sweet guy, it turns out he's got a creepy side.



Like you,I browse the net for comforting stories about kittens and sunshine.

Danny's guilty pleasure is immersing himself online in the ugly world of gruesome crime.

I know, what a sicko! But it turns out he is a trained Forensic Scientist. OK, forgiven.

I feel sick, let's see some climbing.







Danny set off in , climbingthe modest grade of 21, to Turkey, Kaly and Ton Sai, picking up four grades along the way.



Then more Thailand, Castle Hill and Bluies. And before youcan say deoxyribonucleic acidhe is ticking "Spoonman" 28



Danny says his goal is to tick 8a by the end of his Euro Tour this year.

His friends say he is stronger than he thinks.

Senior climbing analysts here at jjobrienclimbing have reviewed the available data and can confidently predict he will better it by .

I don't want to make this sound like a dating profile but here's the twist:

He's a sweety, no doubt. He has a jones for Gummy Bears, butdon't expect him to sit through a Rom Com with you. He likes his films Noir, and his music on the dark side.

Danny is off to the Grampians tomorrow, presumably to leave his fingerprints all over Taipan Wall.

Theinvestigation continues.

jj

Castles in Scotland

This is a photo of Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh.  I bleached the 4x6 photo and enlarged it on my copier onto canvas.  But this isn't the subject of this post.
I'm reading a book called A Charmed Life by Liza Campbell.  It's about her childhood in Cawdor Castle in the north of Scotland.  Several years ago, my husband and I stayed a week in Scotland very close to this castle.  We toured it and many others while there.  I never get tired of seeing castles and cathedrals.
So when I saw this book in the Quality Paperback Book Club, I had to get it.  I'm a third of the way through and really liking it.
Another good one is called The Guynd-A Scottish Journal by Belinda Rathbone.  She is an American who married a Scot, moved to his ancestral home, restored it, and got divorced.  That was very disappointing.  I like happily-ever-after endings.
I love reading about people restoring homes and the millions of details involved.  I hope someday to write the saga of  building our home.  We couldn't find what we wanted plus land with it, so we build a new-old house.  But that's another post.
Next time I'll talk about staying in a Welsh castle last Spring.  They restored theirs too and wrote about it.

Strawberry Pickin' Time!

Laurel and I showing our hands stained with strawberry juice after picking at our local farm.



I froze all I picked (subtracting the ones that got eaten first).  I have jam left from last year, so I don't need to make any. We'll probably go one more time before the season is over just to get fresh ones to eat.  Yum!  Nothing better!  I've eaten so much strawberry shortcake I'm sick of it.  We even had it for breakfast.  Such decadence!