Sunday, July 20, 2008
Happy times are skyr again
We're so lucky to have such thoughtful visitors from Iceland. The pear is my favorite, while Ed loves the flavors he told Silas are "manly": vanilla and banana splitti. Yum.
Tour de Friend
Friday was a big day.
We started off with breakfast in Boston at the Logan Hilton with Fiona and Silas, who were passing through on their way from Iceland to Washington DC.
We had lunch with Blake, Cindy, and Hattie in Northampton, the Asheville of the north. (They'd flown up from Asheville to see family and were on their way from Hartford to Montpelier.) We went to Paul and Elizabeth's -- so yummy. We forgot about our camera ("camnesia") until it was almost too late.
After this we pretty much gave up on the camera. :) We went to Meg & JD's in Easthampton to hang out for a bit. So fun! We talked about Apples and home improvement and kittehs and D2R2. We had so much fun in fact that we were a bit late heading back home.
When we arrived, Brad, also passing through from Iceland to DC, was waiting for us in our front yard. We had some dinner, did the Career Anchors quiz (because we are so much fun like that), and watched some Tour.
I hope we have some more friends passing through New England again soon!
We started off with breakfast in Boston at the Logan Hilton with Fiona and Silas, who were passing through on their way from Iceland to Washington DC.
We had lunch with Blake, Cindy, and Hattie in Northampton, the Asheville of the north. (They'd flown up from Asheville to see family and were on their way from Hartford to Montpelier.) We went to Paul and Elizabeth's -- so yummy. We forgot about our camera ("camnesia") until it was almost too late.
After this we pretty much gave up on the camera. :) We went to Meg & JD's in Easthampton to hang out for a bit. So fun! We talked about Apples and home improvement and kittehs and D2R2. We had so much fun in fact that we were a bit late heading back home.
When we arrived, Brad, also passing through from Iceland to DC, was waiting for us in our front yard. We had some dinner, did the Career Anchors quiz (because we are so much fun like that), and watched some Tour.
I hope we have some more friends passing through New England again soon!
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Attleboro and New Britain
Two races this weekend. Attleboro went pretty well. It was a combined masters and 3/4 race and sketchy as hell. At one point someone came up on the inside of turn one and hit my elbow with her shifter. I think this same rider also hopped on the granite curb to cut turn 2. I get the feeling that not everyone needs intact collarbones and acromioclavicular joints to do their jobs like I do. :) I managed to get near the front before the finish and got 4th overall, 2nd in my 30+ field. Cathy got first in the 3/4 field. I'm so proud of her!
Today was a different story. It was super windy and the breakaway strategy I had proposed was clearly unwise. I rode poorly and kept getting stuck behind riders who were letting gaps open. I popped off in the wicked headwind to the start/finish about 2/3 of the way through and jumped back in after getting lapped. With one to go I got stuck on the right as the pack drifted toward me and had to put on the brakes to avoid hitting an outcropping from the curb. I felt like such an idiot. After that there was no getting near the front to try to help Silke, but she pulled off an impressive 3rd place nonetheless. Ah well. I had the best time with Brenda, Silke, and Pauline, so that made it all worth it.
All the driving was boring and kind of silly. 300+ miles for 2 crits? I decided to scale back next weekend and am just doing Claremont on Saturday and then Wells Ave with Ed on Sunday.
Today was a different story. It was super windy and the breakaway strategy I had proposed was clearly unwise. I rode poorly and kept getting stuck behind riders who were letting gaps open. I popped off in the wicked headwind to the start/finish about 2/3 of the way through and jumped back in after getting lapped. With one to go I got stuck on the right as the pack drifted toward me and had to put on the brakes to avoid hitting an outcropping from the curb. I felt like such an idiot. After that there was no getting near the front to try to help Silke, but she pulled off an impressive 3rd place nonetheless. Ah well. I had the best time with Brenda, Silke, and Pauline, so that made it all worth it.
All the driving was boring and kind of silly. 300+ miles for 2 crits? I decided to scale back next weekend and am just doing Claremont on Saturday and then Wells Ave with Ed on Sunday.
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
The Great Kitty Rescue of Aught-Eight
Betty and Lola mostly ignore each other, but are usually within 10 feet or so of one another. Cats are weird like that. So when I saw Lola sauntering out of Ed's closet this morning (the door was accidentally left open -- closets are generally cat-free zones), I was pretty sure Betty was in there too.
Sure enough, we couldn't find Betty after searching the house. We didn't even hear her distinctive bell. (Both cats have tags and bells so we can find them easily in the house. Although it was unplanned, the different metals in their tags -- stainless for Betty and aluminum for Lola -- make it easy to tell who's who without looking.)
Ed got out a flashlight and found Betty in the unfinished part of his closet, which is over the stairs.
She had managed to creep down into the area in the ceiling above the stairs and under the particle board (through a tunnel with 5" of clearance). Betty is just 2/3 the size of Lola, so she fits into tight parking spaces. Ed pried up the floorboards to get to her.
Betty, no worse for the adventure, immediately ran off to snorgle with the catnip cigar.
Ed took these photos even though I didn't ask him to. He wanted to make sure I could blog the rescue ops, which took place after I left for work. :)
Sure enough, we couldn't find Betty after searching the house. We didn't even hear her distinctive bell. (Both cats have tags and bells so we can find them easily in the house. Although it was unplanned, the different metals in their tags -- stainless for Betty and aluminum for Lola -- make it easy to tell who's who without looking.)
Ed got out a flashlight and found Betty in the unfinished part of his closet, which is over the stairs.
She had managed to creep down into the area in the ceiling above the stairs and under the particle board (through a tunnel with 5" of clearance). Betty is just 2/3 the size of Lola, so she fits into tight parking spaces. Ed pried up the floorboards to get to her.
Betty, no worse for the adventure, immediately ran off to snorgle with the catnip cigar.
Ed took these photos even though I didn't ask him to. He wanted to make sure I could blog the rescue ops, which took place after I left for work. :)
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Monday, July 7, 2008
A nice end to a long weekend
I read about the Bedford Farmers' Market in Cathy's blog a few weeks ago. This afternoon Ed and I finally went to check it out. We just had the most amazing dinner as a result: a radish green/green onion frittata (ingredients from Kimball Fruit Farm and Chip-In Farm), with some yummy bread (SwissBäkers) recommended by Claudia on more than one of our long rides. We also ate grape tomatoes from Kimball Fruit Farm, which were the absolute best tomatoes I've ever had. We decided they were too good for salad and should be eaten on their own. For dessert, we had Greek yogurt with Kimball blueberries, some homemade granola from Neilie, and some local honey from Jennie. Yum.
The Bedford Farmer's Market (I've heard) is smaller than some others around, but Monday works pretty well with my schedule and the selection was really good without being overwhelming. I'll definitely be back!
P.S. Dad: Kimball Farm had rhubarb, which I've already cut up and put in the freezer for your next visit, whenever it is. :)
The Bedford Farmer's Market (I've heard) is smaller than some others around, but Monday works pretty well with my schedule and the selection was really good without being overwhelming. I'll definitely be back!
P.S. Dad: Kimball Farm had rhubarb, which I've already cut up and put in the freezer for your next visit, whenever it is. :)
Sunday, July 6, 2008
July 4th weekend
We didn't do much to celebrate July 4th -- we had planned on going to a Sloan Fellows event but were both feeling icky (bronchitis) and so stayed in. The first season of Mad Men was so entrancing that I couldn't even be distracted long enough to check out the Boston Pops on TV.
We spent all day yesterday on Cape Ann with our friends Craig and Neilie. After a very hearty breakfast at Sugar Magnolia's, we wandered around downtown Gloucester and Rockport, including Bearskin Neck. Halibut Point was a lot of fun.
It ended up being so warm (and non-rainy!) that we almost could have gone to a beach, which was our original plan. We joked about a junk food stage race with fried clams as the third stage (after stage 1's brunch and stage 2's ice cream), but it was just too much.
Today, feeling nearly recovered from the bronchitis, Ed and I headed to Wells Ave. He got to wear his new NEBC kit for the first time and I felt surprisingly good considering that the only ride I've been able to do in the past two weeks was the MS Ride. So I've registered for a couple of crits next weekend and hope to make it up to the track on Wednesday before heading to McLean for work on Thursday and Friday.
I'm taking tomorrow off and am looking forward to sleeping in. I hope you all had a great weekend as well!
We spent all day yesterday on Cape Ann with our friends Craig and Neilie. After a very hearty breakfast at Sugar Magnolia's, we wandered around downtown Gloucester and Rockport, including Bearskin Neck. Halibut Point was a lot of fun.
It ended up being so warm (and non-rainy!) that we almost could have gone to a beach, which was our original plan. We joked about a junk food stage race with fried clams as the third stage (after stage 1's brunch and stage 2's ice cream), but it was just too much.
Today, feeling nearly recovered from the bronchitis, Ed and I headed to Wells Ave. He got to wear his new NEBC kit for the first time and I felt surprisingly good considering that the only ride I've been able to do in the past two weeks was the MS Ride. So I've registered for a couple of crits next weekend and hope to make it up to the track on Wednesday before heading to McLean for work on Thursday and Friday.
I'm taking tomorrow off and am looking forward to sleeping in. I hope you all had a great weekend as well!
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