Have A Happy New Year

OSLO, the COTU and family enjoyed their trip to Gasparilla Island yesterday.  I'm told that it was their favorite location so far in this part of the state.  Last night Brad fixed pork chops and steaks on the grill, and they all spent some time in the spa.  Except for some plumbing difficulties, everything is going smoothly thus far.

This morning OSLO and I took a walk before they packed their things up and headed north to spend the New Year's in Orlando.

Their destination is the Universal Studio theme parks -- the COTU are excited about seeing the Harry Potter themed attractions.  Their plan is to spend two days there, then return here late Sunday.  They'll still have a couple of days left to hang with the grand 'rents before they head back home late Tuesday.  That's next year.... It must be time to say those words again.  Happy New Year!

The Storm

Look what blew in behind the storm that came through here yesterday. Visitors from the north. The other two members of their traveling party were still doing breakfast and showers when we headed out for a morning walk, but all five of them are here. We are happy to see them.

They brought some cooler weather with them -- it's a good ten degrees cooler here today than it's been the last two weeks. Still, a high of 65 seemed to sound fine to them, and they have gone off to explore Boca Grande and Gasparilla Island for the day.

The Calm

Christmas was pretty quiet here, so I don't have much to report. Our dinner menu was traditional, except for dessert, where we decided to acknowledge our southern location, and had Key Lime pie.

I took the photo above of the butterfly outside our front door as I was returning from a walk around the neighborhood and the park on Christmas morning.

The cactus in this photo looks like it is about to bloom.  It also looks like someone had tried to string Christmas lights on it and gave up.

Winter in this part of the country sure looks strange.

Baiku

Sun warm on my back
Butterflies float in my face
Pedaling circles.

Long shadows cast
Whirring tires break the silence
Winter solstice ride.

Pondering

Subtitle: What I Think About While Riding My Bike.   Numbers, quite a bit.  A lot of geometry issues come up.  The Pythagorean Theorem gets a regular work out -- and just how much is the square root of 2?  The rules of triangles in general, figuring out which route to take.  Also, lots of word problems -- time vs. distance, mostly variations on how much further, how much longer?  (We never outgrow "are we there yet?")

Bigger numbers.  I've ridden 149 fewer miles so far this year than I rode in total last year.  While I certainly won't ride that much in the next 10 days, I'm pretty sure that I could, given sufficient motivation (and a better bike.)  Even so, I will likely be within spitting distance, or at least shouting distance, of last year's total by the end of the month.  Which leads me to ponder these questions.  Given this year's obstacle course, what the heck happened last year?  And where did the phrase "spitting distance" come from, anyway?  It's gross.  And so it goes.  (Bench photo courtesy of a ride today on my Fuji Absolute.)

Florida Winter

This year we decided to go without a land line here. Our cell phone package isn't really suited to being put on hold for long periods of time by the cable company, either. So if you need to get in touch with me, it is either the cell phone or email or Skype. We did get a gmail phone number through Google Voice that will also work. I can email it to anyone who thinks they may want it.

The roofers arrived at 7:15 this morning -- something about not working on the roof during the noon day sun, or something. The new ridge cap is on, but it isn't shingled over yet.

We Skyped with OSLO and TJ yesterday, and there is no snow on the ground there yet.  Yay.  Our front window, that was broken when the house was broken into this fall, was fixed this afternoon.  I made soup this morning.  I think that's all the news that I have that's fit to print.   (The photos are of Ollie's Pond Park, one taken on Saturday and the other one taken today.  You can tell that it is winter by the lack of leaves on the trees and bushes around the edge of the pond.)

Southern Exposure

Nothing is as easy as it used to be.  We have had no TV, no internet and no hot water since we got here.  Add in a leaky roof and a broken front window, and it has been a rocky start.  On the plus side, this is what it looked like outside my back door yesterday.  The sun has warmth even if the showers are cold.

I've accumulated a few Florida miles, but only a few.  Yesterday I rode my hybrid to the other side of Spring Lake and found a bench or two to photograph for the blog.  I hung out there for a while contemplating the fact that we've bought 3 new water heaters this year.  Life seems too complicated.

Today's ride was also short, a quick trip to the beach complex to check out the sea grapes.  

The cable guys were here for three hours this afternoon, and we now have both internet and TV.  A trip to Wal-Mart for a wireless router, some fumbling around with settings, and we're up and running.  The roofers and the GlassDoctor will arrive on Monday.  Progress.  I need a nap.

Santa's Elves

The Centers of the Universe (COTU) arrived on Saturday to help out with the details of getting ready for an early Christmas at Grandma's house.  "Scratch" sugar cookies are a tradition -- mostly so that we can re-tell the story of the year when TJ was just beginning to talk.  It was one of the first times that I involved the kids in the making of the sugar cookies -- from scratch, of course -- and I sent some of them home with them.  The next time he visited he went to the refrigerator, opened it, and asked "Do you have any more of that scratch, Grandma?"  (I love that story.)

The girl compared the cookie making process with what she is currently learning how to do in her ceramics class.  Not all that flattering to my cookie dough.  She liked the gingerbread man shape the best, even though it isn't really a Christmas character.  Nor does she eat sugar cookies.  But she's a patient baker.  As is TJ. 

Sunday the rest of their crew arrived for snacks and the exchange of gifts, then dinner.  Totally Jammin' made a chocolate pie for dessert -- the only kind of pie that he'll eat.  The cookies (and fudge) are gone, but there is still a little chocolate pie left.  I've absolutely had my allotment of refined carbs for the season. 

After the gifts, but before the dinner, five of us took a walk down to Tunnel Park.  There was a strong wind from the south, so we took the beach north, and walked back through the neighborhood to avoid the irritation of sand blowing in our faces.  DR, above, had to borrow an old jacket of JB's -- or freeze.  Actually, I think he did both.  The wind was both cold and fierce, and anyone without ear covering ended up with frozen, aching ears.

DR took the high road -- up the long stairs and down the running hill.  OSLO, the COTU and I went through the tunnel.  The stairs from the beach to the tunnel are completely blown over and buried under the sand, as you can sort of see in the background of this photo.   It is the first time we have celebrated Christmas at the beach house, and a walk on the beach seemed somehow appropriate to the occasion. 

Winter

Mall walking will be the exercise mode of choice for a while.

Season Over.

No Cows

I don't know where to even start looking for cows around here, but I do have access to a lighthouse, which has probably shown up on my blog even more often than cows have shown up on Mr. MooHoo's blog. Like the cows, I never get tired of it.

Taking photos into the sun, even in December, is not a sure thing.  The picture above turned out okay, but the end of the video below, where I pointed the camera at Big Red, and thus into the sun, went all weird and splotchy on me.  Fortunately I know how to do some basic editing, and I managed to cut out the worst of it.  Other than that bit, I like the video. 


These last couple of days our TV weather people have been encouraging us to be thankful for Lake Michigan, which is doing an admirable job of keeping us too warm for snow.  I think our lucky streak is about to end, with accumulating snow probably arriving tomorrow night.  It isn't supposed to be a lot however, and temperatures are expected to rebound into the upper 30's to near 40 on Monday.

It's been hard to keep my exercise discipline going this week.  I have to keep reminding myself that exercise has gone from being a good thing to being a necessary thing.  And I don't think shopping really qualifies as exercise, though it is more tiring.  We have three holiday related gatherings this week, plus we had dinner last night with some old friends.  That's a lot for people with our limited social skills. We may have to leave town in order to recover.

Too Cold, Still No Snow

The snow is still missing us here. That can't last much longer at this late date. I don't think that my last ride of the northern season has ever been to the PSPS. This year might be that year.

My secret weapon, an old cashmere sweater worn as a base layer, did its job and kept my core warm enough.  I rode straight north on Lakeshore to the PSPS cut-off at Idlewild.  I arrived too late for pigs, again.  I got a coffee instead, and cooled it off with the very cold water in my water bottle.  It was a sunny day, light breezes, only above freezing by a handful of degrees.  Firearm deer season is over and  I didn't want to miss a rare opportunity for December miles in Michigan.  It was nice to be out in the countryside again.

December comparisons are fun.  I've already passed two previous Decembers' mileage totals -- 5 miles in '08 and 11 miles in '05.  Today's ride also kept my streak of non-zero months going for another month.  (The last month with no recorded biking miles was January of '04.)   The COTU and I will be doing some holiday stuff this weekend, and next week looks cold with lake effect snow forecast through Wednesday.  So this might be it.  If so, it was one of my favorite rides to one of my favorite locations.  Normally I'd want some time off the bike before southern biking begins, but I've had a lot of time off the bike this year, and I'd be happy to keep riding here right up until we leave for Florida.