Mystery Photo # 7

This is the sixth post (and 7th photo) in a series of unidentified photographs from the Charles Wiseman Family Bible. See this post for background information. Click on the "Mystery Photo" label at the bottom of the post to see all of the photographs in this series. As always, you can click on the pictures to enlarge them.



Paper photograph on card stock. 2 3/8 x 4 1/16. Printed on back: 1856-1884 H. C. Millice, Photographer. Warsaw, Ind. P. O. Box No. 246.

The date 1884 on the back of the picture may provide a clue - if the photo was taken in 1884 it could be Nathaniel Howard Wiseman, born July 18, 1884 in Tippecanoe Township, Kosciusko County, Indiana. He died May 14, 1956. I knew Nathaniel Howard as "Uncle Howard" - All of Dad's relatives that were older than him were called "Aunt" or "Uncle" regardless of the relationship. Howard was actually my Dad's first cousin once removed. Howard was the son of Laura Mariah Alexander and Henry Weir Wiseman.
Take a closer look at the top of the picture. . . It's been altered, perhaps hiding the face of a person beneath the coverlet holding the baby?

More Orchids

Been trying different locations, lights, and shadows on the orchids I got recently. Here are a few.

On Beginners Helping Beginners and the Paradox of Expertise

[image via Thomas Hawk]

It's been over two years now since I began cycling as an adult and writing this blog, and I still think of myself as a novice: Two years isn't much. Looking at some of the other female-authored cycling blogs that appeared around the same time as mine,I see a similar pattern: The authors start the blog not to give advice, but to share their experiences as eager, clueless beginners. And over time they become more knowledgeable - helping their readers along the way just as much as their readers help them.



This approach tends to evoke polarised reactions. On the one hand, I've noticed that beginners - and particularly female readers who are just getting into cycling - respond to blogs written by other beginners more than they do to blogs written by experts. On the other hand, there is a great deal of scorn aimed at such blogs in some internet circles - mainly on male-dominated cycling forums. The other day I received a link to a venomous thread where the forum members basically take turns quoting snippets from my posts and mocking my writing. It might have upset me, if I hadn't witnessed a near-identical thread attacking another woman's blog on a different cycling forum several months earlier.The bashing we get from these guys is predictable: We are silly, we are consumerist, we know nothing about cycling yet presume to advise others, and our writing is annoying. Whether they have a point is not for me to judge, and it's useless to defend myself against grown men who get off on mocking other human beings. But I'd like to explore the question of why a beginner's writing about cycling can be more compelling to some audiences than that of an expert.



[image via acme59]

Beginners are enthusiastic.

When we are in the process of learning about something new that excites us, we tend to be more interested in that thing than once we already know everything there is to know about it. The eagerness to learn is what drives us to research and experiment, and then to share our discoveries with others. Once the learning is done, that eagerness subsides and we become less motivated to discuss the topic. We become jaded, we know it all. Why bother write about something that is old news to us? Enthusiasm is contagious, and so is jadedness. That is why a beginner's blog - that gushes about things that seem boring or even silly to experts - is more engaging for those who are trying to learn about the same topic.



[image via simplybike]

Beginners offer documentation.

Blogs written by novices are a bit like note-taking sessions made public. When was the last time you felt compelled to take notes on a process you already knew by heart? There is no motivation for it. Doing things like taking pictures of yourself on your bicycle and describing short rides in elaborate detail seems ridiculous to someone who has done it all thousands of times. But to those for whom cycling is a learning process, documentation is helpful. Novice readers seek out blogs that provide detailed documentation, and those blogs are usually written by other novices, precisely because experts wouldn't bother.



[image via mtwash125]

Beginners are more relatable to other beginners.

Today's post from Dottie on Let's Go Ride a Bike provides some great insight into this one. Dottie describes a commute to work that to her was "just perfect," yet to a novice cyclist was an absolute nightmare. It was a funny discrepancy, but also a telling one. After several years of cycling for transportation, we no longer even notice things like exhaust fumes, vehicles blocking the bike lane, car doors suddenly swinging open into our path, and cars cutting us off. Our methods of dealing with these problems become so automatised that we take them in stride: Overall, it is still a great commute, because nothing unusuallyhorrible has happened. But to beginners who are just mustering up the courage to cycle for transportation, other cyclists are no longer relatable once they reach that level of comfort. And this goes for everything - from transportation cycling, to roadcycling skills, to understanding frame geometry, to being able to work on our own bikes. Little by little, we begin to take stuff for granted and stop bothering to explain it, losing the readers who find our very ineptitude relatable. Paradoxically, while experts know more, they also come across as less approachable and they often write about things in a way that is difficult for non-experts to understand.



[image via Bart Omeu]

Beginners are unselfconscious.

As we gain knowledge in any given topic, there is often a degree of self-cosnciousness and competitiveness that sets in. We want to show that we are not "newbies" anymore and so we become more careful about what we write and how we present ourselves - lest the "cool people" make fun of us. But the nice thing about blogs that haven't reached that stage yet is their sincerity. They don't even know what the right vs the wrong thing to say is, so they express what they actually think.



Despite my two years of writingLovely Bicycle, I feel that I have somehow managed to remain in that state. I am so remarkably uncool as far as "cycling culture" goes, that I cannot even fathom the full extent of my uncoolness. That's one of the things that keeps me going and allows me to continue writing this blog, so as far as I'm concerned it's for the best.I enjoy novice cycling blogs of all types. And I hope that beginners continue to feel motivated to document their growing love of bicycles in their unique, authentic voices without worrying about coming across as silly. Beginners helping other beginners can be of greater value than expert knowledge.

Jacqueline Rides Again

If you've been reading this blog for some time, you are familiar with "Jacqueline" - the vintage Steyr Waffenrad lugged swan-frame bicycle that I ride in Austria. Though she does not belong to me, my friend Wolfgang lends her to me when I am in Vienna. I keep Jacqueline parked outside the flat where I am staying, and use her to get around everywhere.I am very fond of this bicycle and we have not seen each other since last summer, so the reunion was joyful.

The more other classic city bikes I try, the more I realise just how unusual this one is. It is somewhat similar to a Dutch bike, but with a shorter wheelbase, lower bottom bracket, and a shorter head tube - allowing for the handlebars to be set lower. It is unliftably heavy, but rolls very easily and accelerates well. The fork has an insane rake that would make toe overlap impossible even in size 20 workboots. The steering requires a very light touch, or else the entire front end wobbles. Jacqueline always takes me a few minutes to get used to, but after that she feels incredibly natural. The bike is not effortful to ride long distances, and last summer I took 30 mile trips along the Danube on it easily.

The lighting looks ancient, but works just fine.

The rear folding baskets work perfectly for carrying my stuff. I feel like I have a system with this bike, and we understand each other. Given how heavy it is, I am not sure that it would work well for me in Boston. But it's perfect for the Vienna infrastructure.

Wolfgang has an extensive collection of old Austrian city bikes, and some of Jacqueline's friends were parked next to her when I came to pick her up. I was in a hurry, but I have my "good camera" with me here this time - so will try to take some decent pictures of Wolfgang's vintage bikes and his other projects. In addition to offering bicycle tours of Vienna, he recently started a company offering moving and delivery services via cargo bikes, and has recently opened up a cargo bike shop that carries nearly every single manufacturer of box bikes and longtails in existence. Hopefully I will be able to test ride a few.

After last summer, I did not think I'd be going to Vienna again any time soon, but I am glad to be back here. I will actually have some free time during this trip and much of it will be dedicated to bicycles. Among other things, I will get to try a bike with a Sturmey Archer duomatic drive, which should be interesting. And who knows, maybe I will even get to finally do my century, along the Danube. After all, my love of long rides began here.

Pueblo Montano Trailhead

There is a small park at the Pueblo Montano Trailhead that I went to this past week. I had been meaning to go for about a year or so and no one wanted to go with me so I went by myself. I found that a firefighter had made these wonderful chainsaw sculptures out the dead cottonwood tree trunks that were left from a fire that went throught this area in ... I had to take lots of photos of the sculptures and now I want to share them. I hope everyone appreciates this artwork as I do. My thanks to the artest for for doing the scuptures.

Fall Views

Some more fall views from the Jemez Creek bridge leading to Gilman. We even saw the apallosa horse in a field. He let us take his photo then went back to eating.

Balloon Fiesta

The Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta is in full swing, or should I say flying high. It is held every year in October. This year my two aunts, ages 80 and 78 came to visit us and other friends and relatives in New Mexico and wanted to go to the fiesta. I had not been for a number of years and decided it would be fun so off we went to see the balloons. On the weekends the balloons do what is called a mass ascension, and during the week they have different kinds of competitions. There is also, balloon glows on some evenings, and a special shape rodeo when the odd shaped balloons are featured. In this photos are mostly the normal or regular shaped balloons. Some are up and flying while others are just rising.