A good morning meditation while on a Pugsley beach ride.
Waves
House, Pittsfield, VT
Seen on my scouting trip for the upcoming VT400k. Lingering scars from Hurricane Irene.
Growing
NERds VT Lake Champlain Brevet
We had a nice group of folks out riding around our almost great lake last weekend. We offered up a 200k route and a 300k route. Both included about 80 miles of as nearly flat as you can get for Vermont from Burlington up through the Champlain Islands and then south in New York state. Leaving Plattsburgh the terrain turned up and down – affording some lovely views, and some very fast descending.
As organizer, it makes my day when folks roll into the finish with a smile on their face. Even a 300k rider, who DNF’d due to a catastrophic derailer failure.
Puglsey Ride
A mellow morning ride in the woods down to the beach.
Growing
More growing. Some strawberries are turning pink. We have a single pear on our tree. Sunflowers are opening up. Chive smells delicious. Snap peas are starting to blossom.
Growing
Strawberry blossom:
Baby strawberries:
Baby beans:
Water droplet (on the broccoli?):
Slow Roll
Took the IF out for the first time since late winter. What a lovely ride, once my body remembered how the bike fit. I might have to put some splayed bars on this rig. I tapped my knee several times on the bar ends, and managed to mash my wrist into the flats a few times when climbing in the drops.
I was hoping to roll for 30-40 miles. I cut that short as I just wasn’t feeling it when I got out of town. When climbing in granny gear, and a granny (with a fanny pack) passes you – its time to come to terms with your fitness. (yeah, she was ripped and probably on a recovery ride getting ready for a triathlon or the BTV marathon… I only hope to be half as fit with another 20 years on me…)
Anyway. This lil critter should be my new mascot:
And these freaked me out a bit. Was standing at the waters edge and heard a splash at my feet:
Beautiful day out. Blue sky (should have brought the polarizing filter), mild temp (going to get toasty this afternoon), and no wind.
Spring
Spring is firmly planted here. The pear and apple tree are blossoming, along with the strawberries and blueberries. The dandelions are in full attack on the lawn. Garlic that went in last year is 18″ tall. Snap peas are starting to climb their trellis – they are about 8″ tall, and will hopefully go to 5-6′ this year. This weekend we’ll be moving the balance of our starts out of the basement to the garden – about 300 plants. A sample of what we are growing this year: snap peas, beans, tomato (3 varieties), basil, chive, endive, sunflowers (80 of them!), chard, escarole, romaine, radish, turnip, carrot, asparagus, cucumber, squash, pumpkin, watermelon, cantaloupe, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, corn, zucchini, and … probably more that I’m forgetting.
We have just about the same area of living space in our house as we have growing space in the garden – and we have a bit more expansion to do this year – too many starts, too little room. We are slowly trying to move from a ‘normal’ backyard to one the produces more food than grass clippings. And we our sketching out the front yard to be a wildflower bird and butterfly haven – but that will take some $$ and muscle to get moving. The backyard garden will likely to soak up extra $$ and free time for the rest of the summer.
Pugsley on the Beach
A lovely morning, and another quick stitch. Water is tough, as the waves mess you up when panning across the scene. I have some work to do with the horizon, and I’m sure there are more artifacts. I put a stick in the sand and used it to reference the lens as I panned around, handheld.
