300

Yes, this is my 300th post to this blog. My blogging pace has slowed since I returned from my tour and am not cycling with the “club” anymore, but the quality of my life is greater than before and I’ll take that. When I began, I was attending Weight Watchers, losing weight, enjoying a return to cycling after an 18 year hiatus and planning a 12,000 mile tour.

I’m no longer attending WW, but do hope to return if I don’t begin to shed lbs within the w

The house that might have been

bloodroot

Our WV home

fur coat

eek as I am back to cycling more regularly. I’m enjoying cycling in a much different way, in the sense that it’s more relaxed and I’m cycling off-road and with my spouse more. The tour came to just under 8,000 miles and I no longer have my father, which tears at me. My Dad was a wonderful Dad, friend and generally a glorious human bean

I’m posting pictures of our house in WV, where I just spent the weekend, as I was at a quilting retreat. I had 2 fabulous classes and a third class that was a bit beyond my reach, but one that did inspire me to persist. The trail in WV is also included, as I got in a trip of several miles today (maybe 12) on the 3-speed Townie. It’s nice to see that the trail has been cleared of the trees that were across it just a month ago.

I left WV this morning to come to Schuyler and have a brief respite before heading to the DENTIST tomorrow. I’ll probably die in the office, and never be able to post a 301st post. I have a paralizing fear of dentists. Keep me in your prayers.

Anyway, the pictures of the butterflies are on the vibernum in Schuyler, VA.

It’s been a wonderful day. I brought John’s Surly Long Haul Trucker (touring bike) back with me,because I miss cycling with him.

Go make your own breeze and remember: if you’re not having fun; you’re in the wrong gear.

no photos; did ride

Today was a generous day! I got a great deal done. I may have ticked off everything on the list, including a 14 mile ride. It’s short, but I’m consistently getting out, on the bike, which is what I need.

Temps were 90+ today. I loved it. I think this is my perfect cycling weather. Hot sun, gentle breeze and many flowering trees. I also got Uncle Sam taken care of. So taxes are done for one more year. Class was taught And I’ve tied up all the loose ends to head out on my quilting retreat. Since I’m staying at the house in WV and the trail is right across the street, I’m hoping to get some cycling in on Friday and perhaps Sat. While in WV, I hope to pick up John’s Long Haul Trucker, so we can ride together some this spring….summer.

I’ll be back in VA on Sunday. 

We now have 10 chickens (one is a rooster) and a pair of Bobwhite quail! Love it. Soon, we hope to have a pair of ring neck doves, a pair of golden pheasants and a pair of bronze heritage turkeys. Once the birds are taken care of, I’ll continue my studies of the bees, so I can be fully ready to start an apiary in 2014. There are some concerns that the birds and the honey, as well as the apple trees will attract bears >:-( Yikes!  Or, I guess I’ll have a bearskin rug to lie on as I nibble apples in honey?

Hope you had a great a day as well.  Go make your own breeze and remember: if you’re not having fun; you’re in the wrong gear!

Cycle joyfully (and don’t forget your sunscreen)!

Love, Love, love introducing others to special things

I love cycling, touring, nature and yet, as I’ve mentioned before, experiencing these things alone is a hollow experience for me. Months ago, when we bought the house in WV, John took his bike to WV so we would have it to cycle on the Greenbrier River Trail. BUT, that is too far away for him to do any regular cycling with me, as he isn’t yet, retired! We’ve missed cycling together.

Yesterday, I prodded John to go to the James River Heritage Trail with me and we rented a mountain bike for him for the day and we rode together. We had the most delightful time I was smiles all day, enjoying my best friend/boyfriend/spouse. We had lunch at the Depot restaurant, cycled a couple hours and then had dessert at the depot, before heading home. He loved the trail, though it was very crowded and he stopped numerous times for traffic jams on the trail. People were out in groups of up to about 10, walking, walking dogs, cycling, running and fishing along the trail. Need I say,” the weather was glorious” yesterday?

Upon our arrival home, I picked up trash along the roadside along our property….. 2 large trash bags full. Then I curled up and read. For several days; maybe months, I’ve been wanting to follow my cyber-friend, Tom’s lead and shoot the birds. We have so many lovely birds here, in Virginia and right here, in my own yard.

John and I have put up several feeders and made some natural feeding spots for the birds. This morning, I got up and set up a comfy spot and waited for the birds to settle back down. We had been noticing a lot of blue Jays, which I do love, but they seem to be the first to fly away when I go outside.

I did get pictures of several types of birds, but I don’t know all of their names. John will identify them for me later, but here are some. The ones I know, I’ll mention by name

collards

Peonies

seedlings?

growing garbage

garbage celery

BLUE JAY

male cardinal

The female cardinal

Chickadees?

This might be a house sparrow.

The James River Heritage Trail; Blackwater Creek Trail

Looking for a little variety, I decided to try the trail the guy I met on Friday mentioned. I waited for the day to warm a little and headed to Lynchburg about noon. The directions to the trail were pretty simple from here. One long shot and one right hand turn and a second, left-hand turn over 48 miles.

When I arrived at the trail, I immediately realized this is a well-loved, well-used trail. It’s nicely cared for with parking and overflow parking, as well as a nice restroom facility at the trailhead. I was beginning at mile 0. The first mile or so was pretty steady downhill and I couldn’t help but that I was going to dread the trip back. At mile 1, the pitch increased significantly, with a few added switchbacks, that made the downhill difficult even on a short wheelbase recumbent. This wasn’t going to be a fun return trip >:(  The obvective, however, was to ride, enjoy and review the trail.

The terrain leveled out. As it turned out, nearly the entire trail is paved. There are several obvious alternate trail options and some less obvious ones as well. I stayed on the primary trail, with a few accidental acceptions. After the steep decline at 1.25 miles, I encountered a parking lot right in the middle of the trail, so I took a left and rode by the creekside, believing this to be the route. It was just a little loop for day visitors, I think, but I was able to make a sharp left and get back on the trail on the other side of the parking lot. Another quick steep little downhill brought me to the bottom of a dam and a very nice crossing of the creek.

After this, the ride was more level. There was a point, when the trail came to an overpass and there was a convergence of trails, that I really couldn’t figure out where to go. I headed uphill only to find there was no trail, just city streets. I headed back downhill only to find railroad tracks and gravel. The gravel was the correct alternative. There was a 1/4 mile section that was ambiguous and more of a day park, than an obvious trail. I opted for the Lynchburg streets and hand a nice little uphill pedal on cobbled streets. It’s early in the season for my legs to work so hard, but on the recumbent, it’s very tough to stop quickly from a slow struggle. I was fighting for my dignity! After a couple of blocks through cobbled streets and construction, I found a trail again, took it to it’s head, thinking it continued down the road and re-established itself. The road was busy with industrial traffic and I had no helmet with me, so i turned around, took the trail in the opposite direction, and am very glad I did. It crossed over the creek, or perhaps a river, at this point, giving me a pretty shot:

From here, there were a couple of more miles to the trail, which is technically, a 6 mile out-and-back. There were a lot of people on the trail. I did notice back at the 1 mile marker that I could have taken an alternate which lead to a currently closed train station, but chose not to and perhaps visit that when the station was opened. Upon my return, though, I decided to take an alternate that went under a high trestle. As it turns out, that hooked up with the trail to the station.  In order to get there, however, I got to go through a great little tunnel.Unlike the Big Savage Tunnel, though, it’s paved and lighted. Perfect for a more urban trail. Having had a very nice ride, I headed back. Oddly, I arrived at a very familiar intersection along the way. It was the point at which the trail had become a definite downward hill with the switchbacks! Somehow, I had by-passed that dreaded portion of the trail, but choosing the “adventure” of an unknown alternate.  I loved the trail. Look forward to riding it with my husband, or other friends. Good things are best when shared.  Along the way, I encountered these giant bugs: There were also wonderful iron bridges and in places, the original tracks still paralleled the trail.  I’m looking forward to riding this again.

It’s an hour by car to get to the trail, so It will only be for special occasions.

 

Getting out on this great trail made my feet itch to get back out on a tour. I’ve been researching and see that there is a great 370 mile trail in Canada that is considered a mountain bike trail. It’s the Kettle Valley Trail. I can’t find much on it, except for some journals from some cyclists that did it in 2008. At that time, it presented some serious hazards, so I’d like to find out whether it’s rideable now.There were major washouts and very dangerous, illegal ATV traffic on the trail.

Go make your own breeze and remember: if you’re not having fun; you’re in the wrong gear!

Bloodroot, Hepatica and yes, a ride

This gorgeous day is drawing to a close. It was sunny, and warm with blue skies accented by unproductive clouds. We got up early to go to the poultry swap this morning. Marans and Lemon Cuckoo Orpingtons were high on the wish list. However, when we arrived, the only hens mature enough to be proven layers were Rhode Island Reds. My husband has spent the better part of 2 weeks of his leisure time building a beautiful hen pen and he wasn’t leaving without hens. I told him I would buy the 3 mature hens if the farmer would come down $5/hen if we bought all 3. The deal was struck, as one hen laid an egg. In addition to those ladies, we bought 3 additional RIR’s that were only 7 weeks old. They won’t be laying for another 11 weeks, but in that time, we will allow the hens to hatch a brood out. We are hoping for a flock of about 10-12 hens and a rooster or two. I am still looking for Marans and Lemon Cuckoo Orps, though. Hopefully, as our flock grows, I’ll be able to trade some birds.

We got home from the swap, feeling like we had gotten a full days work in, only to find that it was 10 am. I took a walk on the property and shot pics of the wildflowers I mentioned yesterday.

 

 

It was a great walk. In addition to the flowers, there is a lot of evidence of people dumping trash out their cars onto our property. There was a beach ball, a carpet, tires, lots of bottles and fast food trash. Sad. Tomorrow, I’ll have to try to get some of it into a trash bag.

After my walk, I headed to the VBRRailway Trail again. It was a good day to ride and apparently, other folks felt the same. I ran into many walkers and quite a few folks bicycling.  There were more women than men on bikes, which is contrary to what I am accustomed to seeing. There is a lot of evidence of hunting along the trail. There is a warning at the trailhead, however, letting you know to the season dates, which are just a couple of weeks in DEC/JAN. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The water was beautiful, clear and delightfully audible. The sun was warm but not hot. Just a perfect day for a ride. There are two shots of some trail “hazards”. ONe is a minor washout and the other is a place where the trail has a truckload of large gravel on it. The gravel isn’t deep and I’ve never had a moment of instability in it, but it is unexpected. The one picture with the gate is the end of the trail. It just ends at the gate. Hopefully, they are planning on extending it.

Another cyclist said that about 20 miles further is the Blackwater Creek Trail. He believes it is about 3 times the length of the Railway trail, though the map only shows it at 9.5 miles. I’ll give it a try soon and post pictures.

For now, we are beat, as you can see from John’s contented face as he cascades into oblivion.

Go make your own breeze; and remember: if you’re not having fun, you’re in the wrong gear.

Cycle Joyfully. And we are busy moving our son tomorrow, so Have a joyous celebration of Christ’s resurrection.

A simple day – ride included

For over a week, John has been building a wonderful Hen pen for me. It’s finally finished and tomorrow, we will go and find some inhabitants for it. I’m looking for Marans specifically, because they lay dark brown eggs. Sometimes, people mistake their eggs for dark chocolate. There is a poultry swap tomorrow morning, and we will go.

Today, however was a day to ride. It warmed up beautifully and offered a beautiful, blue sky to cycle under. I loaded up the bike and rode the VBRRT again. This time, under sunny conditions. I zipped down and zipped back, without stopping. I did acknowledge the cedar that provided shelter in the storm last weekend. Very close to the trail, is a great country store and I did stop in to get air for my tires, or a pump. They didn’t have anything, but there is a country tire garage right across from the trail head, and Randy, pumped the tires up and is quite a friendly guy.

On the way home, after the ride, I stopped at the Thai restaurant (this isn’t a place you would expect a Thai restaurant. It’s so country and remote, you really only expect little country convenience stores). The couple that does the cooking are very sweet. They are heading to Thailand for a month, so I won’t see them again until after that. The lady is in her 70′s and she tells the other folks to take orders or not to take orders based on how tired she is It’s mostly take-out and they do a very brisk business!

Anyway, after a great 13 mile ride, I arrived home to find John had gotten to the house also We took a walk through the woods and discovered that our hillsides are covered with bloodroot and it’s all in bloom. We also found several healthy colonies of hepatica. That’s a favorite of ours. On the way back up to the house from the creek, we found 2 blue jay feathers (my favorite feather to find in the woods) and to top off a perfect day, we headed into Charlottesville to cook dinner for our elder daughter’s 22 birthday. We made hot pot for 13 people and lotus root salad. It seemed to go over well.

Now we are home. Simple pleasures can be such great blessing.

Go make your own breeze and remember, if you’re not having fun; you’re in the wrong gear.

Cycle joyfully and God bless you on this sacred weekend.

Snow again!

It’s been a very wet week. Wet and cold. I haven’t gotten to cycle again. An end is near, though. The forecast shows a warming trend into the 60′s for the weekend and to start next week. It also shows a sunny weekend. I write this, as the sun shines on the snow covering the deck behind the house and warms the bamboo culms beyond. I shot a few pictures on the property yesterday, as John worked on the hen-pen.  The vinca is blooming. Since we have a proliferation of it where the landscaped stream and pool used to be, it’s a lovely contrast of green and violet on that small hillside. Walking down the back yard, toward the old railroad bed, I came across several twisted vines. I love the little curlicues on grape vine and there is always an abundance of wild grape in the woods in this part of Virginia. It doesn’t make for interesting photographs in the snow, though. These two sets of twisted vines were showy and though I don’t think I could cut them, I thought of all kinds of beautiful things that could be made from them. If I cut them to make something, that would be the end of them. I began reminscing about how beautiful plants become when they develop the character that occurs by adapting and re-adapting to circumstances and of course had to extrapolate that to humanity. I would much prefer a gnarled, twisted, craggy tree, than a poised and attentive pine, for a visual stimuli.  This second vine pair looks absolutely serpentine. And, with the warming spring just around the corner and having seen a lizard two days ago, I know that the rattlesnakes will be awakening soon. Yes, we have rattlesnakes here in Schuyler! They are in West Virginia also, so it looks like we won’t be getting away from them as we retire.

The snow piles up quickly on the bamboo. It’s been very heavy snow lately and while many people are losing limbs from trees and having whole trees overturn from soggy ground and treetops heavy with snow, we are suffering in the bamboo grove. The tops catch the heavy snow and the culms bow completely to the ground. Some of them are splitting. I’ll need to find a use for these split pieces, as they will have to be cut. It’s fascinating to watch the bamboo as the day warms. The bowed branches release one by one, as the snow melts from their tops and they arise like the heads of horses glancing up from their grazing.

One pretty  cold weather bloomer is this: 

We have two of them in the yard. They are branching, like forsythia. Very beautiful and I’ll be happy to find out what they are. I’m tossing the rest of the pictures in just to put them up. I enjoyed shooting them and hope to convey the beauty that surrounds me. 

Our forecast shows that as soon as the calendar  page turns, we should be getting into the 60′s daily. Hopefully, April showers will just be a misnomer, as I’ve had enough spongy ground for a while.

Last night, John went out to check on something in the front yard and a Great horned owl greeted him. I looked out the kitchen window and saw his silhouette against the sky. I didn’t get to hear him, but he did speak to John.

Today, I head back to Richmond. I’ve been here, in Schuyler for a week. John came for a couple of days and left this morning. I have class tonight and some work that will keep me away for a couple of days. Since class registrations were lethargic on the other nights, I just cancelled those classes. It means that 5-6 days a week, I can come here, to the “retirement” house and plant and sew. It’s almost like giving myself a vacation.

A friend turned me on to the Charlottesville Bicycle Club’s map site. They are good about showing their gravel road “rides” separately from their on-road rides. Some of them are very close to our house, so I may be trying some of those on the recumbent. It’s here: CBC

I must go. I’m working on that quilt for John and hope to finish it again (yes, I finished it, then thought of putting a border around it and am working on it again) and get it to the longarm quilter to put it together this week. This one, has led to a commission for another one like it. Both of them want the quilts machine quilted. It will be nice to finally get one on the hand-quilting frame and see whether my arms and hands can quilt or whether the carpal tunnel and the tendonitis will prevent me from doing it. My guess is that moderation is the key.

Go make your own breeze and remember, if you’re not having fun; you’re in the wrong gear!