Not that we've had much winter here--it's been extraordinarily sunny, cold and dry--but there's something about Imbolc-Setsubun-Candlemas-Groundhog Day that really does feel like the season turning its face towards spring.
The urge to fling open the doors and windows and start sprucing the place up hit me right on schedule, and after ages of dithering, today was suddenly the right moment to paint the window trim in my bedroom prior to installing the Roman shade I've been half-heartedly working on for several weeks.
Paint is never just paint, of course. There was masking and scraping and screw removal and spackling. Then I thought, you know, I hate this carpet...
( What lies beneath )
The urge to fling open the doors and windows and start sprucing the place up hit me right on schedule, and after ages of dithering, today was suddenly the right moment to paint the window trim in my bedroom prior to installing the Roman shade I've been half-heartedly working on for several weeks.
Paint is never just paint, of course. There was masking and scraping and screw removal and spackling. Then I thought, you know, I hate this carpet...
( What lies beneath )
Tags:
It's spring. The neighborhood is full of daphne-scented breezes. Tulip spears are poking up everywhere. I picked up my cashmere pullover at the drycleaner yesterday and didn't even bother to un-paper it--it's going into storage for the next eight months. I slept with the bedroom window wide open last night.
( I hate spring. )
( I hate spring. )
Tags:
Signs of spring
30/1/11 14:12Cross posted from ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
shutterspeed, where prompts and challenges are posted every couple of weeks and you go out and take pictures to fit the prompts. It's a fun and friendly small community, and I would love to see more people joining, so if you like to take pictures, come on by!
The current prompt, just ending, is "Signs."
( Signs of spring )
shutterspeed, where prompts and challenges are posted every couple of weeks and you go out and take pictures to fit the prompts. It's a fun and friendly small community, and I would love to see more people joining, so if you like to take pictures, come on by!The current prompt, just ending, is "Signs."
( Signs of spring )
Mine is an evil laugh
20/3/10 17:53Ha ha ha ha! I have inducted a new member into the cult.
Today I met my good pal![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
roseambr at Waterfront Bicycles* in downtown Portland, where she rented a bike so she could experience this thing I've been raving about for six months.
Rent-a-bikes
( A perfect day for brainwashing )
*If you ever want to rent a bike in Portland, go to Waterfront Bicycles. They are extremely helpful, their prices are good, their service is outstanding, and they have lots of good bikes to rent. I watched them treat every single customer--young, old, fast, slow, newbie and old hand--exactly the same, with friendly respect. They are my new bike shop for sure.
Today I met my good pal
roseambr at Waterfront Bicycles* in downtown Portland, where she rented a bike so she could experience this thing I've been raving about for six months.Rent-a-bikes
( A perfect day for brainwashing )
*If you ever want to rent a bike in Portland, go to Waterfront Bicycles. They are extremely helpful, their prices are good, their service is outstanding, and they have lots of good bikes to rent. I watched them treat every single customer--young, old, fast, slow, newbie and old hand--exactly the same, with friendly respect. They are my new bike shop for sure.
Okay, maybe not thousands. Fifteen miles. But they were kind of hilly miles, and my knees are saying "thousands."
I rode Clyde out to the big Asian supermarket FuBonn Shopping Center today to see what kind of fabulous non-wheat flours I could find. When they say "conveniently located on busy SE 82nd between Division and Powell," emphasize the "busy" and de-emphasize the "conveniently" when you're going by bike. That's one nasty urban suburb out there.
But it was a nice ride through a bunch of neighborhoods, and I found, let's see, teff flour, sweet rice flour, white rice flour, soy flour, and tapioca flour. Plus some sea salt from Hawaii and some vegetables.
On the way back, I stopped at Trader Joe's and spent the money I've saved by not driving to work for two days on tulips.
( The view from here )
Now to figure out what to make with the weird and wonderful new flours. I'm thinkin' pancakes.
Hah! I just realized that I could have called this post Flours and Flowers.
I rode Clyde out to the big Asian supermarket FuBonn Shopping Center today to see what kind of fabulous non-wheat flours I could find. When they say "conveniently located on busy SE 82nd between Division and Powell," emphasize the "busy" and de-emphasize the "conveniently" when you're going by bike. That's one nasty urban suburb out there.
But it was a nice ride through a bunch of neighborhoods, and I found, let's see, teff flour, sweet rice flour, white rice flour, soy flour, and tapioca flour. Plus some sea salt from Hawaii and some vegetables.
On the way back, I stopped at Trader Joe's and spent the money I've saved by not driving to work for two days on tulips.
( The view from here )
Now to figure out what to make with the weird and wonderful new flours. I'm thinkin' pancakes.
Hah! I just realized that I could have called this post Flours and Flowers.
This day has the following advantages over other days:
( Photo of the day )
*It's a bike computer! It tells you how fast you're going, and how far you've gone, and how long you've been going. It's bike-geek heaven!
- It is Saturday
- It has a temperature of 60 degrees
- It is blessed with sunshine
- It is making the birdies sing a lot
- It brought the tamale guy to my neighborhood so I could buy fresh hot cheese and jalapeno tamales for my lunch and they are absolutamente deliciosos
- It presented avventura1234 with some free time so we spent the morning doing bike maintenance out in the sun in my driveway, during which masses of black gunk came off of Clyde and lo! his gears are much shiftier and he is much shinier
- It has brought me a special present* in the mail from
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
executrix - It still has many hours left in it!
( Photo of the day )
*It's a bike computer! It tells you how fast you're going, and how far you've gone, and how long you've been going. It's bike-geek heaven!
This perfect day
18/2/10 12:08Every time something goes wrong with my bike, and every time I drive my car, or even walk in a busy area--especially downtown--I start to think how hard and scary it is to get on that bike and proceed into traffic. I wonder how I do it, and think I might not have the nerve next time.
I was thinking that as I was walking Clyde the eight or ten blocks to my new best friend, Bike Gallery's downtown store, an hour ago.
They fixed the flat for me in a few minutes (during which I resisted the strong urge to buy a new helmet, a front basket and a floor pump with stern self-talk about waiting for my tax refund), and when I emerged onto SW 10th Avenue, I was still a little hesitant. I thought, maybe I'll just walk him back on down to work.
Yeah, right.
It's 57 degrees out there today (14C), all buds and shoots and blue sky, and ten BAZILLION people were out grinning and squinting at the sun. I hopped on Clyde and oh my God, it was glorious. For a ten block ride I didn't even bother with my helmet. Hair, meet breeze. Retinas, meet Vitamin D. Mouth, meet idiotic grin.
I haven't ridden on a spring day before. There is NOTHING that's gonna keep me from doing it every day from now on.
I was thinking that as I was walking Clyde the eight or ten blocks to my new best friend, Bike Gallery's downtown store, an hour ago.
They fixed the flat for me in a few minutes (during which I resisted the strong urge to buy a new helmet, a front basket and a floor pump with stern self-talk about waiting for my tax refund), and when I emerged onto SW 10th Avenue, I was still a little hesitant. I thought, maybe I'll just walk him back on down to work.
Yeah, right.
It's 57 degrees out there today (14C), all buds and shoots and blue sky, and ten BAZILLION people were out grinning and squinting at the sun. I hopped on Clyde and oh my God, it was glorious. For a ten block ride I didn't even bother with my helmet. Hair, meet breeze. Retinas, meet Vitamin D. Mouth, meet idiotic grin.
I haven't ridden on a spring day before. There is NOTHING that's gonna keep me from doing it every day from now on.
