We're back from vacation and I have a picture post about that coming soon, but I just realized I had this other post almost finished and ready to go. Seems prudent to publish this first and if there's anything I could use more of is prudence.

Like many people who watched the Olympics, I felt awe, pride, inspiration...laziness and regret. I watched the women's Olympic road race and felt inspired to spend some more time in the (bike) saddle. I've been majorly slacking on training this summer despite my high hopes this past spring. Does intention count for anything? I felt I properly intended to ride more and so I deserve my due credit! I can't put my finger on exactly what happened but I ended up insanely busy this summer and didn't have time to do much in the way of riding. I picked up this book from the library to help with motivation. Why yes, I am a time crunched cyclist. I am also a time crunched parent. Is there a book for that?



I was able to squeeze in a nice long ride to Old Folsom last month. It was an excellent ride! We stopped for lunch at Samuel Horne's Tavern and spotted a band of pirates. They did not order rum in their first round, but did for their second. Sometimes stereotypes are comforting.



Here's that new bar tape I put on. I really like how it goes with the color of my frame. I also got new black brake hoods, which I was so happy about that I actually wrote an Amazon review. My old white ones (originals?) were super sticky, grimey and breaking down into rubbery goo.



I am also back on the 30 Day Shred. I love and hate this stupid DVD. I need all the squats I can get for my riding legs. Sometimes as I roll out of bed at unreasonably early hours to get my fitness clothes on, I repeat this brief mantra, "you deserve this." Often times it's much more of a scold than an affirmation, like "you made unhealthy choices and now you will pay." More recently, I try to think of it in a more positive light as in, "you really deserve this special time to better yourself, be fit and get stronger." I do deserve it.

Nomnivores

We did some camping this last weekend. I didn't get many pictures, which sort of bums me out. I don't know what to tamp into the Excuse Cannon® (patent pending), but it will probably be something along the lines of "why bother, my kid hates pictures and won't sit still." Yes. That sounds right. This picture came out a bit blurry, but I love what is captured here. The big one and the little one sharing a laugh about something. Ira was cracking me up all weekend. I love having a funny kid. His non-sequiturs and out-of-nowhere anecdotes are the best. My favorite of the weekend had to be his completely off-topic story about the dangers of lunch meat.


Ira: "One time at school, I slipped on a piece of salami and I thought it was so funny!" [Reenacts salami slipping] I admit that the humor in this largely was that it was told so out of context.


But it's true. Lunch meat can be very slippery. He also told me that he tried pig at snack yesterday. Pig? Yeah, I know. It's a fancy preschool with a lot of foodie parents and I wouldn't be surprised if someone had brought an entire leg of home-cured Iberico ham. Turns out it was just regular lunch meat-style ham. The kids are learning about dinosaurs and the difference between carnivores, omnivores and herbivores, and were offered corresponding snacks at circle time. What macho little man wouldn't want to have what a T-rex would have? Anyway, he tried it and he liked it. He also told me he taught the class about nomnivores, which only eat noms. We might buy some lunch meats. Do any of you know the best place to find some top quality stuff?


Back to camping. We went here:

This is Goose Lake and it's somewhere, way up highway 49. There were tons of alpine lakes in this region and the scenery was stunning. Our site was right next to this lake and we felt like we were camping in one of those motivational posters, except with way more mosquitoes. Actually, I'm being dramatic. The mosquitoes were not really that bad after heavy application of repellant. And they really only came out for about an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening. The fire and clothing kept them mostly at bay. If I had brought appropriate clothing, I might not have mentioned the mosquitoes at all. All in all, I would go back. It really was that beautiful.

Sitting in

In the band I'm in, if someone or multiple someones can't make it to practice, the rest of us gather and play anyway. It's fun and always interesting how the songs feel when one or more of the instruments are missing. Our rhythm section was missing last Friday, but I just have to have a beat, so I took it upon myself to make a little double trouble. I sat behind the drums and kicked my way through the songs. I also have some picture of me somewhere playing bass and guitar.

Oh, here it is:

It's been suggested I should take myself on the road as Sacramento's only all-female one man band. Multi-tasking has always been a strength of mine. Musical proficiency however...not so much.

Photogenic status: Not photogenic. I am just dead in the water when it comes to this stuff.

Weekend Shastafarians

We went up to Mt. Shasta for a quick weekend. It's always relaxing and beautiful and all that. A weekend is just about all you need. Any longer than that and you'll go batty because they are missing crucial services. Get this: there is no ice cream shop there. Not a one. I can't even live in a place like that.

Sadly, I forgot my real camera. So I had to snap a bunch of pictures with my phone. Ira still refuses to be still for photographs, so there are serveral flesh-colored blurs that are kind of shaped like my child, but you can't see the face, so I can't really be sure who it is. At any rate, there are just a couple of him from the weekend. And now you know why.




There were lots of animals where we were staying. One morning, I woke up to my ultimate dream come true. You think I'm exaggerating, but if you knew how much time I have spent Googling "pygmy goats," "baby goats," "goats playing," you would know how elated I was to find that two young goats had broken into the yard to feast on a breakfast of wild sweet pea flowers. My heart spontaneously melted. I wanted to cry. I think I ovulated. I fed those goats sweat peas and I'm sure I'll never participate in anything more precious.

Goats getting ready to dive off the dirt mound:


Having a spot of sweet pea:



Nose first in noms:


Heylove wants me to have a goat and all of the other things my heart desires. She's so sweet that way. But you know what? This poor dog! She is a hearty city beast, but country living got the best of her on this trip. She faced hungry farm dogs, annoyed horses 20 times her size and walked long gritty granite paths with tender paws. Poor thing was pretty nervous most of the time (those horses and farm dogs), but I think she was happier for having come along. She's relieved to be home and is almost back to normal.


Big horse face. This horse is some kind of fancy one, but I forgot what kind. His name is Jellybean, which tells me that he was probably surrendered by a horse girl (you know the kind) who found her horse-owning whim fading with age. Kind of depressing, or not?


Here he is again. He was actually totally dusty and when I pet him, my hand stirred up a horrifying two pounds of dust from his coat as fine as what you'd empty out of a vacuum cleaner. My hand was a terrible mess. I only did it once.



On our way out of town we took a short break in Dunsmuir and hiked down to Hedge Creek Falls. Although I was anxious to get home, the view of the falls were so worth it and I'm glad we took the detour.


It's hard to tell, but the cave under the falls was tall enough for an adult to walk in. The whole thing looked positively Tolkienian.


So glad to be home.