Posts tagged ‘winter’
riding toward year-end
Hard to believe it is December. Even harder to believe when the temperatures are in the 70’s (F).
Christmas decorations are on mailboxes, trees and houses as we pass by … in shorts and short sleeves.
The Sandhill Cranes have started to arrive on their annual migration. Many of them won’t even continue on to places further south; huge numbers are now wintering here at our nearby Hiwassee Wildlife Refuge.
It all feels strange. But I will enjoy the warm days on my bike, and on my back porch. Snow and cold feel like some kind of fantasy.
riding through puddles
The weather continues to mystify me. Heavy rains and severe storms have rolled through the area, and to see tornado destruction in AL and AR in January is mind boggling. I cannot bear the thought of a repeat of last spring – and we’re still in the middle of what is supposed to be winter.
Rain or not, I needed to get out today. It was gusty but warm, and I revisited a road I hadn’t ridden in quite a while. Cows, barns, creeks (overflowing) and plenty of mud. But I still have fun riding through puddles…
same old
Getting out, wandering around, same old, same old … it may be cold, but it sure doesn’t feel like winter.
(un)remarkable
Even on a trip to the store, biking there always erases the “un” from unremarkable.
It’s been a rather dismal week, weather-wise – rain, thunderstorms, hail and and even a brief showing of snow. All of which make me want to hole up inside with books, knitting, tea and a fire, rather than riding around looking at cows. My (brief) trips out were basically camera-less this week; I just wanted to get where I needed to go and be done with it.
Today the sun appeared – which is a good thing, because I had run out of milk and orange juice, having put off riding to the store during the past few days. So we set off on a quick trip to the store, along with a couple of errands. It was nice to be out on together on dry roads with the sun shining. Unremarkable (minus the “un”).
my struggle with brevity
still waiting for winter to arrive
I tend to fall behind, as you know by now … On my bicycle, as well as in posting to this blog in a timely manner. I try and tell myself that I should just try to make a habit of “quick and simple” – make it brief – rather than trying to wait for a time when I feel I really have something to say, something to write. I should possibly (probably?) treat this more like my messy disjointed journal and be more spontaneous, simple, and concise.
So I tell myself. And of course I never listen.
This time of year tends to be slightly less than crazy with the holidays just around the corner. My boys have all come home (smiles), the music has returned, the boys and their friends gather around the table for epic games of Risk late into the night, the shopping and the wrapping are in progress, and the baking will hopefully begin soon. (And to my friend Myrna, I am sorry but I have yet to try the macaron recipes… sorry.)
Rather than try to write anything more, I’ll leave it to the iPhone pics to tell the story of recent ridings and other sights. Brief. I’m trying to be brief.
cars passing
... and cows
knees and knickers
love match
$0.00 per gallon (and $1.00 for the newspaper)
no snow ... only white fluffy stuff of a different kind
rain commute out-takes
rain
When you’re going to end up jumping into a pool anyway, does it really matter?
One of the big gaping holes in my blog, I think, is … well, the rest of it. The not-so-pretty stuff, the traffic, the rides around town that don’t take place on the pleasantness of the greenway, but rather, tailing exhaust pipes and edging away from distracted minivan moms texting on cell phones.
view of traffic from the handlebars, in the rain {-P
I rarely take pictures while on the commuting rides, largely because it’s tricky business, not-so-safe, and I typically don’t carry my DSLR along. It’s not the kind of shooting where I can take time to stop, compose the shot. When I manage to capture anything, it’s typically blind shots from the hip with my point-and-shoot. And on days like today, rain on the lens and blindly shooting … well, not a pretty picture.
blind shot from the hip
like I said ... my arm (and a truck)
I had a couple errands to run, and since it was a better day to be swimming than cycling, I wanted to head to the pool. The weather was pretty high on the crappy scale – upper 30’s, rainy, gloomy – and probably a blessing in disguise. I ended up having the pool largely to myself.
going from wet to wetter at the Y
pool to myself
Had a great swim, got out and dried off …. just to go back out in the rain. {-P
So, although I may try to tip the scales and balance the biking photos with some real-life-on-a-bike shots, don’t hold your breath. I think I am obviously more suited to old barns and quiet rural roads. 😉
blindly shooting wet legs heading home
sun and snow
#330daysofbiking, Day 260
In my book, there is nothing, nothing, more beautiful than being outside on a cold, sunny day with snow on the ground. I think it is my idea of heaven.
I felt like I was riding in CO today … temps in the 20’s, the warmth of the sun, hills and fields covered in snow, brilliant blue sky and the beautiful blue snow shadows. I know that this little wonderland can’t – won’t – last much longer, but I am loving every moment and can barely make myself head back inside at the end of the day.
Day 260 – definitely on my top 10 list of #330daysofbiking.
snowmageddon 2011
eight and a half inches on the ground!
Well, it’s official … it actually snowed! Snow Day fulfilled. And basically the entire eastern end of the state of Tennessee (as well as north Georgia and Alabama) is paralyzed by the storm.
And, for the record, we are loving every minute!
The roads are mostly impassable at this point. We just don’t have enough snow removal and salt spreading equipment to adequately clear the roads in a timely manner. And with temperatures expected to remain at freezing or below, it could be a few days before conditions improve.
about as good as it gets; TDOT came by and plowed, but only a sparse handful of people were out driving
where are the porch steps?
So we spent the day playing, and skiing and sledding and generally messing around in the snow. Biking proved to be a little too impossible without studded tires and too much ice on the roads. So we hauled out our “vintage” cross-country skis, and Mark managed to use the tractor make a pretty decent ski track out in the field and back to the woods.
skiing on the tractor track
snowgoat
snowdog
snowkid (on the vintage skis)
I apologize for the absence of bicycles today … but hopefully tomorrow will bring a little change to that. I suspect we are going to have a very interesting week ahead. 🙂
snowflower
snowfence
shebicycles 