Narcissus Space Oddity

That's what the card in the florist's window said, so I suppose that's what it is.

Southern California Skies

A Kentia palm invokes thoughts of the tropics.

More great weather and new routes

Nice new route on Ben Nevis, climbed with Helen last week. Once again I was feeling a bit jaded after cleaning new boulder problems the day before, so it was nice to give the legs a workout instead. My ankle seemed to handle the strenuous bridging ok. However, there were some positions it just didn’t like, so I ended up using the old knees a fair bit!

Holy Work

Like Snow

Suppose we did our work
Like the snow, quietly, quietly,
Leaving nothing out.Wendell Berry

Ready for Ignition

These 'Thai Hot Dragon' chile peppers are great. After turning from green to orange to red, they take on a heat that is 8 times more intense than a Jalapeno.
Some of the peppers are crinkly, and have almost no flavor or heat. They seem to die on the plant and dry before getting any flavor. Any suggestions as to why this is happening?

The wedding photographer

A wedding photographer at work last Saturday outside St Andrew's and St George's Church of Scotland, Edinburgh.

MidWest Mountain Bike Fest

Today was a busy day the the mountain bike fest. The day started with a pancake feed sponsored by the Eldridge Lions Club. Needed the food and coffee to get started. The breakfast was served at the Sac-Fox campground site - convenient for all the camping festers.

Next was MtB101 workshop. I want to give a SHOUT OUT for the instructors - Ray Nees and Becky Barnard. This was the best presentation of building mountain bike skills I have ever seen. I should have brought my bike this morning and participate in the class.

MtB101 was a logic progression starting with basics like pedal location, attack position, looking up the trail, et al. Each participant learned riding: a large stick, stick & log, skinny, short drop, log bridge, teeter-totter, and combo with ramp ending with logs. On the naugabike web site I will spend more time detailing the workshop (with photos).

Also in the morning group rides were heading out to ride the other trails FORC maintains in the area - Sunderbruch Park, Sylvan Island, and Illiniwek Park. Others stayed at Scott County Park for group rides. I positioned myself on Long Grove Loop to take photos of the some of the groups.

By this time, it was lunch and then heading back to the hotel for some horizontal time.

By the time I got back to the park, it was about time for the games. Billed as the "Not Lame Games". There was the ever popular "Huffy" toss, followed by Bunny Hop, and "Dodge Tire".

There were more games, a cook-out at the camping area, beer potluck, movies, and night ride. Just a bit too much for this old body. I headed toward the hotel, picked up a Blizzard, and settled in for the night.

Watch for my fest photos on my photo web site: http://win-photo.photoreflect.com