Monday, June 30, 2008

Wisteria Lane

It is good to be back in Boston, just in time for Thanksgiving. We are off to visit family - but first, I wanted to share this:

I spotted this unseasonably floral bicycle in scenic Somerville. It is a Batavus Old Dutch, in "head-to-toe" lilac. The pannier-basket is decorated with garlands of faux wisteria.
When it comes to pastel purple, the owner obviously follows the "more is more" principle - which I, for one, very much appreciate on dreary November days like today. (I wonder whether colourful bicycles could be used to treat Seasonal Affective Disorder, just like "light therapy"?)

Hooray for lovely bicycles and have a good Thanksgiving!

Fire in the Sky



While driving down an old logging road off the Arrowhead Trail one evening, I came across this opening that had a grouping of trees that stood out nicely against the sky. I was passing by right after the sun had gone down and the sky behind the trees was filled with this beautiful orange glow.

Saturday, June 28, 2008

What's Your Urban Speed Limit?

When I ride through parts of town with chaotic car and pedestrian traffic, I find that I need to limit my speed in order for my reaction time to be adequate. I told this to another cyclist one time and he laughed: "But the speed limit is 20mph here! You can do 20 and still be fine." But I don't believe that's accurate. Maybe a car can do 20 and be fine, but their braking system works differently. A driver is unlikely to flip their vehicle over if they brake suddenly at 20mph, but a cyclist is quite likely to either go over the handlebars or be unable to come to a complete stop quickly enough.



Some hold the theory that instead of braking, the urban cyclist should be quick to accelerate so that they can go around swerving cars and leaping pedestrians. But that isn't always possible. Earlier this week during the holiday shopping rush, I found myself in a situation where I was basically trapped between several moving objects simultaneously and had no choice but to slam the brakes: Two car doors in a row swung open ahead to my right while, at the exact same time, a pedestrian jumped into my line of travel (which was out of the door zone). I could not swerve right because of the car doors, I could not swerve left because of the moving cars in the travel lane, and I could not continue straight because of the pedestrian. Within milliseconds, I had to come to a complete stop.



Over time I have determined that my self-imposed "speed limit" when cycling through areas where such situations are possible needs to be 12mph at most. Any faster than that, and I cannot guarantee that I can come to an immediate stop safely. Do you have an urban speed limit?

When Traditional Meets the Unconventional

I truly love the life we are living, and normally embrace the unconventional aspects of it. It has been good for me. It has grown me as person. I confess that when it comes to holidays, I have a real problem with it though. There are two dynamics that I've noticed are becoming a part of our holiday theme. One is that we no longer have that same excitement about holidays. We live the life we normally looked forward to when holidays did occur. So holidays are just not all that unique or special in the same way. We don't have the same need for days of rest or for family time since that is how we live pretty much every single day.

The other thing I've noticed is that I still tend to want to cling to the traditional while the rest of the family is like...not so much. They want to keep our holidays more in kind to our whole lives and feel no need to continue doing the same things we used to on those days. And really, I understand the logic in that thinking. Because it makes more sense to overall live the life you want than to strive for that a few certain days out of the year. But the emotional side of me is having a temper tantrum because I still want some days that are really different than the rest. I like special sometimes, even when I'm not sure how to make that happen. Our desires have clashed in some pretty ugly ways because of it. It has me feeling a bit like this:



Today, I decided to try something that would in fact make the day different for me. If the old traditions aren't working, maybe it is time for new ones I thought. So I hopped in the truck and went and took one of those Sunday drives that I said last year that I was going to try to do and learn to like.



It was a great day for it. Sunny and warm. The air smelled sweet from blossoming flowers. And since it was just me, I could go at my own pace. I confess, I rather liked this Sunday drive thing. I still don't see myself doing it on a regular basis, but I really might be able to make this one of my new holiday traditions.





I've been stressed about some things to do with my girls. I could feel that stress just melting away the longer I was out and snapping pictures.

I don't think I really hit my groove with the whole thing though until I came across these fine creatures.

I was pretty captivated by them. They were somewhat intrigued by me. Mostly, we just stared at each other. Ok, I confess that they were probably staring at me because I was in a noisy dually truck. Standing on the hood to get better shots. In a skirt. I stared at them because it's been a long time since I realized how awesome cows are.

And somehow, that was enough for me for the moment. Just being outside, alive and aware of the life around me seemed special enough. I'm a woman in my forties, so it remains to be seen if that will be enough next time. But it was good for today and today is all that matters, right?



Happy Easter from Florida! Hope your day was special too!

By request: chicken coop

Someone asked about the details of our chicken coop. I'm sure you can probably build one more cheaply than hubby did, but here you go. Click on any of the pictures for a larger version.


Open yard in front, woods in the back. The chickens used to roam picturesquely around the yard, but nowdays they're in the woods most of the time. If we fenced around the coop we'd have fewer predator losses I'm sure.


The ground is rocky and slopes a little here.


One of the Easter Eggers wonders what I'm up to. That cinderblock in front is really for me, but the chickens use it too. Hubby originally designed the back wall to have a door with a ramp for small chicks, but it turns out that they can hop up on the block too, so we never open the other side.


The door is person-sized rather than chicken-sized.


Fancy door lock #1 (closed door position). There's one at the top and another at the bottom.


Fancy door lock #2 (open door position).


Fancy footing. Jasmine crawls under the coop at this end sometimes. Not that a little thunder would frighten her or anything... she just likes it under there.


Hubby poured concrete for the corner footings. He says that he wishes he'd made a row of footings down the middle (underneath) too but it's a little late for that now.


Left (front) side wall. We made two roosts on this side, one low and one high. They only ever use the high one though. Hubby went back and added some of these wall beams later because the side was bowing out a little. Whoever is the top-dog rooster usually roosts directly by the door on this side. No idea why! If you enlarge the picture, you can see that some of the chickens like to roost on that little support piece that's between the roost and the wall.


He's having the same problem with the back wall bowing, and says he needs to add beams here too. The roost is shorter on this side. When we had a lot more chickens, they'd divide up between sides. Nowdays they all roost on the same side, but usually divide up on either end!


The roof slopes and has space for ventilation on both sides. I thought we might have trouble with critters getting in, but we've only had a problem once with a rat snake that ate several eggs and killed a pullet. The ventilation really helps in the summer and doesn't seem to hurt in the winter. (We are in zone 7 so this might not work in colder areas.)


Here is the chickens' favorite nesting box. Yep it's a cat litter box. You can see a little piece of the never-used lower roost. I really need to remove it, since it's only good for banging up my shins.


White leghorn tries to give me the evil eye. She is the oldest chicken we have left now -- in the spring she will be three years old. She still lays very consistently, although her eggs are smaller than they once were.

All the chickens have begun laying again. I wanted to get more chicks in the spring, but hubby is trying to talk me out of it. We have been eating fewer eggs, but I really like having chickens just for pets. And I'm afraid that if we begin the spring with only 6 hens, we'll have none left by fall. There's still time to think about it.

Fireweed Sunset



I was driving through a logging cut when I saw this nice patch of fireweed. I only had to wait about 10 minutes for the sun to drop to the horizon in order to make this image.

Friday, June 27, 2008

Expanding Comfort Zones

Over the past couple of weeks I've had things to do in downtown Boston and the Financial District, so I have been going there more than usual. As I cycle through this dense urban area, my company includes mainly bumper-to-bumper car traffic and bike messengers weaving through it. It was a hot afternoon and I was waiting in the left lane at a red light - a black SUV behind me and a gray pick-up truck on my right - when it suddenly occurred to me: I was quite comfortable. Any moment now, the light would turn green and I would make a left turn in a way that would not conflict with oncoming vehicles. The awareness of this was not one of nervous anticipation, but one of calm preparedness. Perhaps I am no longer quite the "beginner" I still tend to think of myself as being.

I say all of this not to brag (and I am sure many would mock the idea of cycling in downtown Boston as any sort of accomplishment), but to point out that the "baby steps" principle really does work if you are patient and allow yourself to expand your comfort zone at your own pace. Last summer, I wrote this post about overcoming my anxieties and cycling outside my immediate neighborhood. Now those anxieties seem in the distant past, as I cycle all over greater Boston and beyond.

Of course the city's ever-expanding bicycle infrastructure helps as well. Not so much because the bike lanes are spectacular (note the amount of debris on the left and how close the car gets on the right), but because the sheer act of painting all sorts of bicycle signifiers seems to make drivers more aware of cyclists' existence in general. Overall, conditions for cyclists are improving here.

If I wanted to cross the river to Boston last year, I would cycle along the Charles River Trail at a snail's pace. Now I just go right on the roads and cross the main city bridges. It takes 15-20 minutes to get where I need to be, and I no longer feel anxious to cycle in this manner. I make no secret of the fact that I am a neurotic wimp with a poor sense of balance. So, at the risk of perpetuating a cliché: "If I can do it, anybody can." Choose a bicycle you love, take it one neighborhood at a time, and expand your comfort zone.

Just be sure to make way for ducklings...

And don't tease the swans!

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Why I'm busy



My soap's in the Father's Day gift guide.

Of the June issue of Better Homes and Gardens magazine!



Holy cow. I'm hoping that business will be good, but not so good that I can't handle it. It's coming out this week... wish me luck!

Lovely Details and Elegant Solutions

The paint on my mixte is finished and Circle A. has emailed me some pictures - so allow me to share my ecstasy. And since I can't just say "yippy, isn't this pretty?" over and over, I will attempt to maintain a coherent narrative. What I feel is really special about the frame Royal H. made for me - aside from it being a lugged mixte with twin lateral stays in an age when these are no longer made - are all the little details that Bryan added.

Behold the lugged brake bridge (is that the correct term?)

...and the custom cut-outs on the flat-top fork crown (which accommodates a 35mm tire, with fenders!)

...and little braze-ons all over with even littler cut-outs

...and these unusual "bullet"-style rear stay connectors that add visual interest to the seat cluster and (to me at least) communicate the idea of speed

...and the uniquest, biggest deal of all: the custom drop-out sockets. For those to whom this picture means nothing, let me explain: See those three adorable little lugged thingies? Well, that adorableness is not standard on this part of a bicycle. Normally, this area looks like this. See how the three stays on my Motobecane transition directly to the dropouts without the cute sockets? Not as nice! Furthermore, while a frame maker can buy these sockets for diamond frame bicycles (which have only 2 stays that need to go into the sockets), the part simply does not exist in a mixte version, which would require an extra socket to accommodate the third stay. So what did Bryan do? He made the part himself out of several existing sockets! Bravo, non? Seriously, I can't believe he did this. We are pretty sure there is no other mixte frame out there with socket dropouts.

Finally, for those who enjoy seeing elegant solutions to practical problems, I present this. What is this, you ask? It is Bryan's beautiful alternative to a traditional kickstand plate. When we were discussing the frame build, I told him right away that I planned to put a kickstand on this bicycle and would like a kickstand plate. Bryan agreed that this was necessary, as bolting a kickstand directly to the frame can ruin the paint and dent the tubes. However, he confessed to me that he did not really care for the look of kickstand plates (read about them here), and asked whether I would trust him to find an alternative solution.

The alternative solution he came up with was this: two subtle stainless steel platforms directly on the chainstays. Not only are they harmoniously incorporated into the frame design, but they are unpainted stainless steel - eliminating the danger of any paint being chipped by the kickstand setup. Ah the genius of it.

Here are some more details of the frame, like this mixte upper head lug, split to accommodate the twin stays. On my Motobecane the part where the stays come out is not lugged, so this is really a visual feast for me - as is everything about this frame really.

Well, I get emotionally exhausted if I look at these pictures for too long, so I better end here. Get a custom frame from Royal H. Cycles - they are glorious!

Monday, June 23, 2008

Road Trip for the Country Bumpkins

The other day Nathan and I drove up (and over) to Clearwater. On the way back, I missed the exit for the interstate so it took me through downtown Tampa instead. I am not sure if we have ever been in this particular section of Tampa. I saw some new buildings there that were really cool. Since it was very busy traffic wise, it allowed for me to take my phone out and snap a few pictures at each stoplight.



I didn't realize how funny this probably looked to others, me sitting in my huge truck snapping pictures of building like I'd never ventured into the big city before. Then I noticed people just staring at me like what on earth is she doing? I started to feel a bit self conscious. Not that this stopped me you, but I did want to add a disclaimer to my activities. At one light, I almost rolled down my window to let the girls in the car next to me know that I see cool buildings all the time. My picture taking was not an indication of me not being exposed to things, but rather my neurotic need to photograph everything no matter where I am.



You gotta admit, this is a pretty cool building, right?



I decided not to worry about it and just take my pictures.



Living the life in interesting Florida!




Friday, June 20, 2008

Anti-Theft Cozy

Spotted around Harvard Square, this road bike is sporting a green knitted U-lock cover!

Knitting a "cozy" for your U-Lock is a fabulous and pretty hilarious idea. But if I think about it, there might be more to it. The hand-knitted cover humanizes the owner of the bicycle. It calls attention to the deeply personal anxieties over the safety of our cherished belongings. If cruel acts are possible because the perpetrator depersonalises the victim, then perhaps this piece of knitted handywork will disrupt that process by evoking empathy.

Edited to add: After searching for "knitted U-Lock cover" on google, I've discovered this post from Bikes and the City. Bi-coastal trend?

Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge

I've been counting down the days for something exciting-my dear friend Barb and her husband John coming to camp with us. We met them at the Pea Island Wildlife Refuge and wandered around for a short time. A very short time compared to how long we probably both would have stayed because the mosquitoes were out in killer force even with bug spray on. It is a beautiful refuge from what we did see and we saw a few birds while there.

Refuge Facts

  • Established: May 17, 1937.


  • Size: 5,834 acres (land), 25,700 acres (Proclamation Boundary Waters).


  • Located on the north end of Hatteras Island, a coastal barrier island and part of a chain of islands known as the Outer Banks.


  • Approximately 13 miles long (north to south) and ranges from a quarter mile to 1 mile wide (from east to west).


  • Location: 10 miles south of Nags Head, North Carolina on NC 12.


  • Administered by Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge as a part of complex; Alligator River Manager supervises the Mackay Island, Currituck, and Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge Managers.


  • The Comprehensive Conservation Management Plan for Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge is complete.

Natural History



  • Area was historically used for market waterfowl hunting, commercial fishing, farming, and

    livestock operations.


  • Refuge is comprised of ocean beach, dunes, upland, fresh and brackish water ponds, salt flats, and salt marsh.

  • Bird list boasts more than 365 species; wildlife list has 25 species of mammals, 24 species of reptiles, and 5 species (low number due to salt environment) of amphibians.


  • Concentrations of ducks, geese, swans, wading birds, shore birds, raptors, neotropical migrants are seasonally abundant on refuge.


  • Refuge has 1,000 acres of manageable waterfowl impoundments.


  • Several shorebird nesting areas and wading bird rookeries are located on the refuge.


  • Endangered and threatened species include: peregrine falcons, loggerhead sea turtles, and piping plovers.

Refuge Objectives

  • Provide nesting, resting, and wintering habitat for migratory birds, including the greater snow geese and other migratory waterfowl, shorebirds, wading birds, raptors, and neotropical migrants.


  • Provide habitat and protection for endangered and threatened species.


  • Provide opportunities for public enjoyment of wildlife and wildlands resources. Public use programs focus on interpretation, environmental education, wildlife observation, wildlife photography, and fishing.