Something different.

I will be posting on my other blog for a while...

You can find it here -- it should also show up on the list on the side bar.

Happy Fathers Day to all the Dads.

Never Trust an East Wind

The college girl is studying for final exams in her summer courses and her brother went to Indianapolis this weekend with his Mom and her fiance, so to break the monotony I took a bike ride.  I am usually reluctant to ride east into an east wind, since the usual result of that is that a west wind off the lake cancels it out and I get a headwind both directions.  Today I took a chance and it worked out okay, for a change.

Blueberry country extends most directions from here, so once I got away from the lake shore I saw quite a few sights like the one above.

And also like this.  I like my country roads, and even though it was a gray and cloudy day, a long ride in the country is good for me.

My loopy route meant that it took 12 miles to get to the PSPS, which was part of the plan. The total distance ended up around 20 miles, a long ride for me at this point.  As a bonus, the college girl came over later to hang out with us for a few hours before heading home to resume her studies.

Mrs. Smith asked about this scarecrow a few days back.  Here's a wider view of it.  It was dressed in Hawaiian garb when I rode past it today -- some things have to be seen to be believed.

The State of the Beach

In the comment section of yesterday's post, TT asked about the state of our beach.  I took my camera to the beach around mid day today and took a few photos to give some idea of what it looks like at the water's edge.  These three were taken from more or less directly in front of our house.  This one is looking north towards Tunnel Park.

This one is looking south towards Big Red.

Santini for scale.  The dune has eroded back to a height of around 5 feet in that area.  (I'm 5 ft 8.)

It is not possible to walk the length of Idlewood on the beach without getting your feet wet.

And a video.  The quality is poor.  Of course.  That little bracket thingy in the bottom right hand corner will let you watch it in full screen, if you like.

Same song, another verse.

It was a split screen weekend for weather here.  Saturday was lovely and the Grands made good use of it.  They have picked up another lawn to mow here in the neighborhood, and worked hard to make a good first impression on their new customer.  Mowing, trimming, and weeding followed by cleaning the sidewalks and driveway with a leaf blower.  (The new customer is Jill, one of the Angels.  She and her husband bought a house here in the neighborhood.)  After supper the Grands and I took a walk on the beach, or at least as close to it as we could get.  High water has eaten into the bluff pretty substantially, and getting to the water is pretty tricky.  Sunday was a little rainy and a lot windy, an inside day.  Summer is elusive so far, though there are hints of it here and there, now and then.

 Today looked like as good a biking day as we were going to get this week, so I made another trip to the usual location.  Unlike the weather reported on the tundra west of here, highs inland were in the 70's, and it was cooler near the lake.  I think the high today at the State Park was in the upper 50's.  I spent most of the ride between those two zones, a pretty decent range for biking.

Most of the lilacs have finished blooming, but this variety -- I think it's a Japanese lilac -- is very fragrant and still blooming.  I am still upright and walking -- and occasionally biking.

The Birth of the ....??

Yeah, I'm pretty sure I've used that title before.  The birth of the blues.  Soooo obvious, but they really are pretty in the early stages of their life.  Baby blues, perhaps?

This photo was taken in the same blueberry field as the one where GZ took a photo a few weeks ago, with the comment that  "later on this will be a blueberry field."  On that same ride he took a photo similar to the one below, as well.  Today in the parking lot of the PSPS a youngish man commented that he wished he could take the day off and take a bike ride.   Interesting to be the object of envy by someone who's still young enough to stand up without getting dizzy.

Today was the first bike ride I've taken for a while that seemed like a real ride -- though I've done some short rides, mostly for the exercise.  Just to catch you all up, lake levels are high, the grandson is taking final exams this week, and the granddaughter has a couple more weeks of the summer session at her college.  Plus we're all looking forward to summer activities beginning soon.