Colours of autumn

This is for those who are under some delusion that it's "winter" in these parts. For my "recovery" ride from a shoulder injury, I decided to do a quick loop around Tumbulgum Rock, or whatever the official name is (I believe someone enlightened us all in the comments of a previous post), yet it was this grand old tree in a Murwillumbah park that provided the most breath-taking moment of the whole ride. Not that the rest of the ride was ugly, the clouds over the horizon just after sunrise were playing tricks with the light, and made the early route along the coast a little more scenic than it otherwise might have been.

It was after this that I was going to give the shoulder some extra activity, with the 16% gradients on Hogans road just before the entry to the rainforest that occasionally force me out of the saddle. The shoulder could cope, but only in short bursts. Still, the climb was negotiated fairly comfortably, allowing me to set off into the rainforest, before descending crazily into the Tweed Valley. The following climb was the gentle switchback road at Clothiers creek, which then led to the pretty ridgetop route at Farrants Hill. I've long enjoyed this particular stretch of road, not so much for it's views, but for the flowers that always seem to bloom up here.


The descent into the valley was followed by a hard slog into a westerly wind. It probably wasn't a huge wind, but as I was out of condition, it did require some effort. I may, however, have expended too much effort on the way past the rock, but by this stage I wasn't planning on worrying about that. I did pause under that beautiful tree at Murwillumbah for some more water, and probably should have used the opportunity for some stretching in hindsight, but we're all a genius after the event.

The final climb of Tomewin can be a testing occasion, but this time I was fortunate in that the last time I had done it was at the back end of a 260km ride with around 3,500 metres of climbing. Today was a considerably easier day, so I realised that it was very doable, even if I was a little short of conditioning. As it happened, the valley below, and the coastal strip that followed proved more difficult as an unseasonal northerly wind made an appearance. In the end, however, I was quite happy with the ride. My shoulder didn't suffer any lingering effects, and the scenery was pretty. I now plan on riding up at least one mountain every weekend for the foreseeable future. A nice little target until I regain 100% fitness.

Tosspot of the Week

You just can't have an award like this without Warwick Capper winning it at least once.

Like many critics of his footy career might have claimed, Warwick Capper's brief foray into Queensland politics was mostly show and little substance.

And the former AFL star handballed the blame for his failure to register as a candidate before the Tuesday deadline directly to the men's magazine that bankrolled his campaign.
The mag, in turn, has flicked the blame to Capper's manager but one thing's certain - the stunt-happy Zoo Weekly is the only party to have kicked a goal in the form of heaps of free publicity.
At noon on Tuesday, Capper was busy telling reporters about his desire to become the elected member for the Gold Coast hinterland seat of Beaudesert.
The only problem was no one had bothered to register him as a candidate before the midday deadline expired.
Capper, who denies his political campaign was a publicity stunt, insists the blunder wasn't his fault and he was serious about addressing rural problems including a high suicide rate.
"Zoo magazine were responsible for my application, because I'm working for them, and they said they would do it for me. I'm a bit dirty at them," he told AAP.
But Zoo pointed the finger at Capper's "self-appointed campaign manager" Mark "Jacko" Jackson.
The magazine also denied Capper's political tilt was a stunt, despite admitting the former Swans full forward is about to join Zoo as a columnist.
"Warwick's just about to come onboard as our sports columnist. So we were only helping out with the campaigning by sending some Zoo (bikini model) volunteers and were in no way responsible for his campaign," Zoo Weekly assistant editor Dan Robinson said.
Robinson said while it was disappointing an "upstanding member of the public" wouldn't be running for state parliament, it was safe to say it wouldn't affect the outcome of the March 21 election.
As the registration blunder played out, an apparently oblivious Capper told reporters in Beaudesert that his bid for the seat was legit.
He seemed mildly affronted by the suggestion he was intent on turning the contest into a circus.
"The suicide rate is pretty bad out here because of depression and anxiety," said Capper, who teamed his tight pants with a T-shirt emblazoned with Zoo magazine's logo.
"I have a lot of friends who are farmers who are struggling and I know what they are going through and I want to help."
But that's about where the serious stuff ended.
As he toured local businesses, Capper popped into a lingerie store where he fondled a mannequin, paying particular attention to the undies it was wearing.
"Hey baby - are you going to vote for me?" he asked as he kissed and fondled the mannequin before his manager pulled him away.

There's really not much more I can add to this. To be fair to Capper, at least he upset Pauline Hanson, so he deserves credit for that much. His withdrawal from the election means that I've now shelved my plans for a temporary move to Beaudesert. There's not much out there, but it would be almost worth putting up with for a few weeks or so just to vote against both Warwick Capper and Pauline Hanson. Oh well, maybe another time.

• In other news, why did some f*ckwit decide to shoot a cat 27 times? I wonder if whoever was responsible would be so "brave" if the cat could shoot back? I say let's find out by feeding them to the tigers at the zoo when they're found. At least would be more interesting to watch than the usual "suspended sentence", which seems to be all Australian courts are capable of handing out for even the worst of atrocities. Hell, if this keeps up, I might just have a crack at politics myself. I probably couldn't do any worse than the people running the country at the moment.
  

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"Wows" written with a color-changing fiber optic pen. 15 second shutter exposure.

RAGBRAI Day 4: A little inspiration on the road

Prior to this week, whenever I told people I was biking across Iowa, the common response I'd get was this: "I'd never be able to do that."
People look at the sheer mileage (442 miles this week) and immediately believe it to be an insurmountable distance for them. They either don't think they're in shape for it or they don't think they have the motivation to submit themselves to a week's worth of biking.
Make no mistake: This is no picnic. We're more than 250 miles into the trip so far and signs of fatigue are evident in both myself and everyone else. We're all sun burnt and sore from biking and I can't imagine anyone is looking forward to the 82-mile ride tomorrow (the longest day of the week) from Charles City to Waterloo.
However, if there's anything I've learned from RAGBRAI this week, it's this: Anyone is capable of making it across Iowa if they really want to.
Want proof? Take a look at the photo on the right. I saw the guy in the photo while biking into Swaledale (first town after Clear Lake) today. To be clear, that's not Photoshop; he really is riding a recumbant bike with no legs. He apparently lost them in Iraq and has to pedal with his hands.
I didn't get a chance to talk with him (it's tough finding people again on the road, it's a never-ending wave of bikes), but a friend of his assured me that he's not a daily rider. He is in fact doing the entire bike ride. This also isn't his first RAGBRAI. His friend said he's completed "several" of them over the years.
I've seen some inspiring riders on the road this week. A 10-year-old boy trying to keep up with his dad, a just-married couple using RAGBRAI as their honeymoon, a 75-year-old man participating in his 20th RAGBRAI.
But there's something incredible about a person doing something like this with no legs. Rather than complaining about the knee pains I have while biking, I should be thankful that I have knees that can feel pain.

"Troubled Times"

First of all, we wants to thank you for your kind comments about the photography on the last post. (Huge woofs!) And we want to bigtime thank Sam (http://howsamseesit.blogspot.com/) for an absolutely wonderful pressie. We guessed what the painting in the corner of Sam's "Troubled Times" montage was and received an 8x10 picture of his very self in that blog post. So go and check that post out if you haven't already, pups!
Here is the pressie!
Oooh Mama! What is this? Know it smells like Golden!
It IS Golden, but what is this all about? Looks a bit dangerous and naughty, Ma....
Ahhhh.... who cares about that... I like this dude - look, Ma! He signed it!
Sam - wait til you see where I'm gonna hang your picture!
Hugs xoxoxoxoxox,
Sammie

Williamsburg Watercolor

I took this photo at the Powhatan Plantation outside Williamsburg where we usually stay. As ya'll probably already know, I'm a sucker for fog and impressionistic images.
Here I tried re-creating it in watercolors. I haven't viewed them side by side, but as I'm looking at them, I didn't capture the right colors of purple that was in the photograph.
I also felt that I had to make the road more distinct or the whole thing would have been a dark blob. I'm still happy with the outcome. After all, I wasn't striving for photographic realism. It makes for a good excuse, anyway.

Ireland Reading Challenge Coming Along Well

I'm doing well on the Ireland Reading Challenge so far. For January I read A Monk Swimming by Malachy McCourt; for February In The Company of Others by Jan Karon; in March it was The Luck of the Irish by Niall Williams and Christine Breen; and now I'm reading The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde.
I'm very much enjoying the challenge. Ireland is a place I hope to visit in the not-too-distant future. In the meantime, I'm reading about it and watching travel videos from our library, and of course dreaming in green.

Not Zanthan's Mystery Weed

Check out the Mystery Weed photos and comments at Zanthan Gardens, [linked at left]… she’s received an identification on her mysterious, tradescantia-family plant via Valerie at Larvalbug, [linked at left], but my plants are not quite the same. Both small, jointed, green, ground covers have larger leaves than Zanthan's ¾ inch Callisia repens exhibits.

Here are the two green-leaved ones that grow here, with a ruler for scale. I think the smaller-leaved plant at the left side might be the Tradescantia fluminensis suggested by Julie from the Human Flower Project, [linked at left], since the leaves are in the 1 ½ to 2-inch range. This plant was already growing here when we came, possibly rooted from sections that fell from a hanging basket.

The mysterious tradescantia-looking plant on the right side of the ruler has even larger leaves, between 3 to 4 inches. The leaves don’t have the succulent feel of some houseplants called Wandering Jew, or like the Purple setcreasea at left, which also grows in my garden – the leaves of the larger green plant are almost papery.

The green mystery plant was growing as a groundcover in the garden of one of the Divas. I rooted some several years ago, and they grew in a hanging basket on the covered porch. The coco liner was disintegrating when we moved here, so I sort of flipped the whole thing out into my new woodland area, the Divas of the Dirt project for October .., just leaving it on top of the soil. The little colony quickly rooted and has been very happy in this shady area - seeing them at this time of year makes me happy, too.

The flowers are appropriately scaled somewhat larger than the possible T. fluminensis. They’re such darling little flowers, but my point-and-shoot can’t show this. [It also can’t take photos of bees on flowers – many failed attempts have proven this!] Whatever the name, this plant has lived through heat, drought and some freezes, with minimal watering and attention. The flowers are even useful when I make an arrangement on a needle frog, adding greenery and some delicate misty white to whatever else I can find in bloom in my garden.

Festive, Moray style

We were in two minds about the tastefulness of these Christmas tree decorations in Johnstons of Elgin cafe. On the one hand the mill produces tweeds worn by gamekeepers and lairds, so pheasant tail feathers adorning a Christmas tree seem quite in keeping. On the other hand, they struck us as somewhat removed from the peace and goodwill message. Perhaps we're growing soft down in the pampered south.

More comforting, in that familiar hasn't-changed-a-bit-since-I-was-a-child way, was the window display in Walker's of Aberlour. I was glad to see that this vast enterprise, purveyor of shortbread to airport shops all over the world, still has its retro window display of Christmas cake, mince pies, shortbread and Ecclefechan tarts. And against a holly-patterned cloth that reminded me of the Christmas wrapping paper of the 1970s.

MAT Makeover With New Trip Planner

Quite randomly, I clicked onto the Omaha Metro Area Transit web site and was surprised to see a major enhancement to the bus service web site.
In addition to a new look and feel on the same old content is a brand new interactive trip planner. Gone are the days of looking at a digitized copy of the printed bus schedules trying to figure out where on the line your stop is, and here are the bright, new days of planning a trip online.
While there still seem to be a few kinks to work out, the planner tells me what I need to know. I can tell the system where I am, and where I want to go, and when I want to get there. The system will respond with step by step instructions of where to go, when to be there, and how long the trip will take. The trip info also details transfers and walking distance.
Even if you don't know exactly where you want to go, the system can help make suggestions for destinations like "Grocery" or "Train Station."
I've seen systems like this in other larger cities, so it's cool to see MAT rising to the challenge of transforming Omaha into a more accessible community though easy to use public transit.

Dry creek

Even though it rained (yay!) one whole inch (yay! yay!) the day before yesterday, the creek still looks like this... mostly rocks.

The ground was so dry that it sucked up all the excess water like a sponge. Nothing left over to trickle down into the creek. Fish, crawfish, snails, etc., survive only in places where the water pools.
One of the ponds is so low as to be practically non-existent. The Great Blue and Green Herons are constant visitors -- to them it's a treasure trove of little fish with nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. (And Red-shouldered hawks seem happy the creek is so low, since they seem to love crawfish dinners.)
The garden loved the rain. I can water and water and water with the hose, but it's just not the same as getting rain. The garden and I had been pretty miffed lately... it was getting on our last nerve to hear the thunder and see the many dark clouds, only to have it all pass by just out of reach. Day after day after day.
But now I have to go pull weeds, or rather, grass, before it gets too hot. Always trade-offs!
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Alabama's governor has asked everyone to pray for rain. I had to roll my eyes. Call me cynical, but I don't see him asking people to pray for our dysfunctional state constitution. (Or to end poverty, stop the pedophiles, achieve world peace, etc.) So why pray for rain?
Those three words (pray for rain, not our dysfunctional constitution) always make me think of Guadalcanal Diary.
Don't call for love
Don't ask for gold
our daily bread
or no more pain
pray for rain
Thinking about Guadalcanal Diary always makes me feel better. Highly recommended for washing the bad taste of politicians out of your mouth.
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Visit the Friday Ark for your weekly dose of crittery goodness.
And don't forget the fantastic latest edition of I and the Bird. (It's Frodo-licious!)

Return to the valley

For some reason it's been quite a while since I rode out through Currumbin Valley. Today I decided to do something about it. It was a reasonably pleasant morning, and once I escaped suburbia the rolling hills surrounding were about as green as one could possibly expect at this time of year. I was, however, slightly surprised at just how little water was coming over Cougal's Cascades at the western end of the valley. I'm hoping more rain falls before I visit Minyon Falls in the near future.



I also paid particular attention to slaughtering the climb up the ridge on Piggabeen Road. I could pay for it tomorrow, but sometimes one just has to make a statement. It was at the top of this ridge that I got an idea just how big the so-called "eco-village" being built at the eastern entrance to the valley is going to be. According to the "for sale" signs, it's going to stretch right up the northern side of the ridge. I suppose it promises to be a lesser evil than the stupidly ugly subdivisions they keep building in the Nerang and Robina areas if one actually believes the advertising. On the other hand, I'd prefer it wasn't built in an area where it might obscure the sweeping views from Piggabeen.



There also seemed to be a lot of idiots on the road this morning. One particular moron on the way home sped out of a bottleshop way too fast when I was passing, I think he actually accelerated when he saw me in a deliberate attempt to cause a crash (it wouldn't be the first time). I saw this particular moron late, but found enough of a sprint to get away from it. I can only hope this idiot wipes himself out of the human gene pool without taking anyone else with him.

Recovery day 1, again

Wakey Wakey Mr MacLeod. Feeling rather spaced shortly after coming round.
Yesterday I had my ankle surgery, which went quite well. Quote of the day from the surgeon was ‘articular surface intact’. Thank goodness for that. However, I did have a small flap of torn cartilage in the medial gutter of my ankle. It was very small and right on the edge of the cartilage, so it may not give me any trouble in the long term, or it might. We’ll have to see. I’m also still sore at the back of my ankle which couldn’t be properly seen but the surgeon’s opinion is that this is not a big deal and will settle. Again, we’ll just have to see. The large tibial bone spur which was creaking around in my ankle was chewed up and pulled out and I’m pretty sure that will help matters a lot!
I’ve got instructions to proceed to full weight bearing as pain allows. Obviously, 24 hours post operation I certainly don’t feel like putting my foot anywhere near a floor. On Monday I have to be in Wales for a big Gore-Tex event, but then I’ll just go home and work on my book for a week or two and then if everything feels ok, I will try to begin some gentle climbing. I do have a lingering worry about the back of my ankle. But there’s not much I can do except see how things pan out. I’m trying not to base my feelings on how it feels one day after being under the knife.
I do have a rehab plan in mind, but it’ll have to stay in my mind for a few more days until everything settles and I know exactly what the starting place is.
I feel lucky to the point of feeling guilty about having got away without more serious damage and disability. Much as I’m aware that we have a lot of power to get ourselves out of all manner of holes, there are some things that cannot be changed, and others have far more serious misfortune to deal with. What can you do except take the luck you’ve been given and run as far as you can with it?

Cascade River Waterfalls

Here are a couple of waterfall shots during our outing to Cascade River State Park earlier this week. We had a perfect day for exploring the river and looking for flowers. The sky was overcast which makes for ideal photography of waterfalls and flowers.

Lazy game cam

The game cam is triggered by heat, so when the air is warm there's not much action. These photos are from the last two months.

We thought this was a fox at first, but it's a reddish coyote instead. Here's how you tell the difference: Foxes have black "leggings" and ear tips, and white tips on their tails.¹

Other than bobcats, I think turkeys are my favorite game cam find. We get most pictures of them on dark cloudy days.

I love this photo of their tailfeathers! I'm always excited to find turkey feathers on the ground, but finding them still attached to the turkey is even better.

The weeds might be getting too tall for good critter pictures.

It looks like this deer has a tick in her ear.

The weeds are definitely getting too tall for good critter pictures.

Extreme close-up... the deer can evidently hear the trigger mechanism, and are more curious than you'd think.

Dang. The only spotted fawn game-cam picture ever, and he's already exited the frame.

Not-so-wild Deere and Bush Hog.
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¹You can look at the Red Fox wiki if you don't believe me.

Grandma's Letters

If our house was burning and I could rescue three things, this stack of letters would definitely be one of the three.
They were written to me by my maternal grandmother after I left home in 1973. They cover my college years, my marriage and move to California, our move to Georgia, and go through the birth of our second child in 1983.
Grandma was a letter writer. She kept in contact with all of her siblings, her daughter-in-law, her children who lived away, and her grandchildren. She also wrote a few friends, too.
My favorite memory of her is when I would walk into her house and see her sitting in her chair listening to the local radio station with pen and pad in hand writing to some lucky someone. She would smile sweetly, say hello, gaze out the window, and continue writing. It was enough for me to just be with her.
She was the most influential person in my life growing up. She showed me what a godly woman looked like. Her life was simple. She took care of her home and family. She took in strangers and helped out the sick and needy. That's why her letters are so precious to me. I want to be just like her.