the week in pictures

Here are some pictures I took this week:

Iced-tea in the garden on a hot summer afternoon. Yep, that a mint garnish. Homegrown.

Gardening tools...

Tomatoes are almost ready...I've got my eye on this one. After I showed Adria this picture, she commented, "It looks so industrial." That gave me an idea for a short-story about the life in gardens that we don't see. 

This is the view of the smoke from the Lockheed fires from just outside my office, on my bike ride home this week...
Another shot of the smoke mixing in with the clouds on my ride home...

A walk in the redwoods, two minutes from Adria's front door...

Some Greta portraits. She is quickly working her way to the top of the list of "Best Dogs Ever"...


Wild blackberries ready for the pickin'....

halfway through Kentucky, almost to Guatemala

A few big "bike" wins recently.

I crossed the 2,000 mile mark for this year.

That got me thinking, "I wonder how far from Santa Cruz that would get me if I rode in one direction?"

That's halfway through Kentucky, almost to Guatemala, nearly to Hawaii, and just into Alaska.

Second, I crossed the 1,000 mile mark since tracking my mileage in April for Commute for a Cause (http://www.commuteforacause.blogspot.com). I'm raising money for this great non-profit organization by donating .10/mile for every mile I ride, and accepting donations from others, as well. So that's about $100 for them.

Another win...I had a seven-day stretch of car-free living last week. Having a vehicle is a nice option for supporting myself, and I'm truly happy that when I wake up in the morning and run through my options on how to get to work, or how to run errands, or how to have fun, that "driving my truck" is the last one to pop into my head.

pictures from my phone

I was going through the pictures on my phone the other night, waiting for a band to start playing at Don Quixote's, and thought it would be interesting to share (most of) them.

My dentist's office, with a beach cruiser in the lobby...

My dentist's office, with CDs in the lobby. They let you pick out your music to play while they fix your mouth. They give you headphones and everything. I chose Led Zeppelin when I had a crown put on a few weeks ago. But turns out that your teeth are real close to your ears and when they drill, you can't really hear anything anyway.

Greta, running errands with me...

Fruit salad on the "community table" at work, with Adria's homemade zucchini bread next to it...

Our fresh fruits and veggies at home...

Adria's homemade zucchini bread (homegrown zucchini) at my work, about 8 minutes after announcing to work folks, "Hey, there's homemade zucchini bread in the kitchen..."

Scotch and beer at Don Quixote's show...

A nail in my foot...

What random pictures do you have on your phone?

new shoes make you a faster runner...

...and new cameras make you a better photographer.

When I was a kid and wanted new shoes, I told my parents that. Of course, new shoes did NOT make me a faster runner. I think my parent already knew that, 'cause that argument never convinced them to buy. That, or my older brother had already used that argument on them.

But, this new camera WILL make me a better photographer. I've reached the point with my digital point & shoot cameras where the vision in my head is limited by the camera's ability.

So after a lot of research, I bought the new Lumix LX3. It's an "in-betweener" - bigger than a point & shoot, but smaller than those bulky digital SLRs. The lens is Leica (excellent quality), and is only 24mm - which means very wide angle, and great in low light conditions. It's "only" 10 mega-pixels which is more than enough for my needs, and it was a conscious trade-off made by the manufacturers. Instead of competing in the "megapixel race" with other cameras, these guys decided to reserve more of the sensor technology to quality rendering.

So now I've got total control over aperture, shutter speed, and ISO.

"Can I take your picture?"

The Band of Heathens

I stumbled upon these guys on Monday night at the best Mexican-food-slash-music-hall ever, Don Quixote's. For those who don't live in or near Santa Cruz, Don Quixote's is one of the best places to get up close to some amazing artists. The guy who books the music is phenomenal. And the people are super-nice. The lady who was collecting money at the door said to me when I walked up with my $10, "Just one?".
Me: "Yeah, unfortunately. I'm all alone."
Her: "Oh, you're never alone!"

Some of the best shows I've seen in Santa Cruz have been at DQ's.

Anyway, these guys are from Texas, and when I see Texas bands pass through I always like to check them out. The last Texas artist I saw at DQ was an old cowboy singer. He sang songs about stampedes, river crossings, and trains.

These guys sang songs about going to Mexico.
And "...girls who move like smoke, and sneak under my door..."
And "...get the girl a brisket and she's happy..."
And "...you're the sugar in my black coffee..."
And "...Jenny was a keeper. She kept my hat. She kept my truck..."
And an eight-minute jam on a song about cornbread.

Check these guys out on iTunes - you'll dig 'em if you like country-rock-bluegrass.

my quiver

I carry a little notebook around with me. I write stuff in it.

Sometimes I write a to-do or grocery list. Sometimes I write funny things I hear people say when I'm out and about. Sometimes I write down blog ideas. I was flipping through my most recent little notebook a couple of days ago and ran across this old note:

BLOG ENTRY BIKES

That reminded me that I wanted to do a blog entry about my bikes.

Now, I don't have kids, but I bet that the way I feel about my bikes is the same way that people who have kids feel about them - they love to talk about them, they love to take pictures of them, they love trying to convince their significant other that they need more of them, and they love seeing them hanging on the wall in the garage. Oh, wait.

Anyway, now seems like a perfect time to start a multiple blog entry about my quiver, since this week I just added a new push-bike to it.

It's a classic (that means old) 1973 Schwinn Continental. 

Shifters near the headset (this was the "in-between" stage, after shifters moved from the down tube, but before they made it to the handlebars)...

Look at those "classic" tires...

Front dynamo light (it'll stay on for looks)...


The full boogie...

And here's a picture of it from Schwinn's 1973 catalog:

That guy's laughing because he just found out that I paid only $18 less for it today then what it listed for in 1973.

I paid $100 for it. And it's totally worth it. I found it chained to a stop sign with a for sale sign on it, next to the Santa Cruz harbor.

I've been telling Adria for a few months now that I'm on the lookout for an old steel frame in my size (the only two disadvantages to being tall are finding clothes and bikes that fit). 

My plan is to remove the drivetrain and make a single-speed out of it. It's got semi-horizontal dropouts. Perfect. It's got almost no rust (that means it's got a little) and the chrome fenders and dynamo lights are in great shape. My vision is to leave it old and classic looking. I'll leave the faded red paint. Maybe I'll put cafe-style handlebars on it with brown tape and wide tires.

Stay tuned for updates...

joy

Young thai coconuts with the tops already cut off!
Maybe WF isn't so bad after all...