Pretty and Affordable

So what if you really don’t want to spend a kilobuck (or two or three or six) on a bicycle?

Well, you don’t have to. I still recommend going to your LBS (local bike shop) instead of Walmart or Target or the like. Go to where there is somebody who can really help you find one that will be comfortable for you, and will know how to adjust it for you.

But I saw one of these at my LBS and have you ever seen anything so sweet?

The ones I saw were blue & white and red&white and cost a little over $300, and other Raleigh Retroglides come in yellow and periwinkle and even purple!

I think this would be a fabulous budget bike for somebody wanting to get more into the urban cycling scene. You know, pretending you’re in Amsterdam!

(And okay, I’ll admit it, it’s a way of getting you consider being just a little bit greener!)

Get out there and look around. Your LBS is usually your friend. Or check out REI. Just skip the discount warehouse stores.

Now. I’m on my way out to ride, maybe even to stop by Starbucks!

 

I love living in Seattle!!!

Okay, I am going to gloss over the floods and tragedies that have been happening in recent weeks due to the weird rain we’ve been having in North Texas — every single day.

Instead I’m just going to say that I have not missed the sun and the heat, that I have loved opening windows and hearing rain, and today since there was no lightning I had a fabulous bike ride. I set out to go to the post office in the rain. Light rain, so I figured, big deal, so I get wet, I’ll just come home and get dry again. I was just desperate to get on my bike.

And the sweet, soft rain was so lovely — I rode for an hour. Then I went to Starbucks and got a cappuccino (not a latte — I’ve switched) and their new (old) fruit and cheese tray (that I love-love-loved when they had before and they’ve now brought back) and it was a lovely-lovely-lovely afternoon.

If this is what Seattle is like, I could get used to it really fast.

Genes don’t lie. My Irish/English DNA may have been in Texas for five generations, but it still longs for the old country. This is proof.

ETA:  My cell phone is possessed.  When it rang at Starbucks, it kept ringing even when I tried to answer it.  No matter what button I pushed, it kept ringing.  Now that I’ve been home awhile, it is beeping at me.  The little beep it makes when it’s going in and out of network service.  I turned it off.  It turned itself back on.

Now, I just sit and watch it beep.

If only my microwave worked, I’d pop it in for a few secs.  (Maybe it got damp when I was cycling?)  But my microwave is sending off sparks for no reason when I use it.  So I don’t use it.

I don’t understand why these electronic thingies don’t like me.

‘Tis the Season

Movies of the season. (My faves, anyway.)

In which movie did Clarissa say, “Diz, here we go. “

In which movie did we witness the debate between “inalienable” and “unalienable” (and which won)?

In which movie were we saved by Morse Code?

And in other news,

Has it only been a year?

( And I don’t know where he got it, but I got that wonderful projector image from this guy.)

(I’m watching the action at Wembley and wishing Di were there with her sons, dancing in the crowd. On the other hand, maybe she is….)

(And are y’all seeing all those Dallas Cowboys stars behind Joss and Tom? Wooo!)

On the other hand….

So.

Miss Max had the audacity to challenge my selection of destination sites because they didn’t include anything from the Jolly Olde Country*. The nerve!

However, it is also true that I struggled with myself not to include my favorite remnant of an ancient civilization which does just happen to be in, okay bite me, ENGLAND.

I present for your edification and pleasure, Castlerigg Stone Circle.

(Surely you didn’t expect me to recommend those Other Big Rocks? Every tourist who sets foot in England makes it there, and you will likely have to elbow your way betwixt and between them to get your photos. Besides which, I just don’t think they’re as evocative as Castlerigg. Even though our first visit to the Henge was in a gale with it raining sideways — which was really rather cool, and we were the only ones who braved the weather that afternoon. But our first visit to Castlerigg was at sunset when the sky was truly on fire — red, red, red. Gorgeous. And we were the only ones there, as well, and I didn’t want to leave.)

And, speaking of coffee, I’m still struggling with this fair trade organic thing. I just hate having to mail order it, but I have trouble finding one I really enjoy drinking. So far my fave has been Bishop’s Blend — more specifically, their Cafe de la Paz, because I am not that fond of the truly strong coffees so many love, which makes my taste as plebian as those who think Stonehenge is the best rock collection in the UK, but I digress — yet I hate having to order it online. (Even though it has been very fresh when I got it, or I guess so, since the beans are glossy instead of dry-looking which to me makes it look fresh.)

But the stuff I’ve found from time to time at Starbucks or Whole Foods Market doesn’t suit me; in fact, I have to force it down. So this morning I decided to order some more Cafe de la Paz and then discovered a couple of interesting things.

One, even though it seems pricey at $8.95 per 12 oz bag, I notice that it is cheaper than the other Pura Vida coffees on that site. I wonder why, especially since the profits are going to charity. (Or maybe that’s why? Maybe the ERD doesn’t feel the need to jack the price up as high?) Oh wait. Pura Vida is nonprofit, too. So, hmm. I have no idea.

However –

Sojo Blend on the same site is only $9.95 a pound. So I ordered a bag of each and will try to remember to do a taste test at my mom’s when there are plenty of coffee drinkers around.

And if you are wondering what is the big deal about fair trade, here is a bit of an explanation from the Sojo website.

And while I’m on the subject –

Bicycles. Yes, bicycles. We were driving home (sniff, whimper, sniff) from RoMo and listening to Art Bell (shut up) and “In the first hour, researcher Matt Savinar commented on peak oil.”

And every time Savinar mentioned bicycles as an alternative, Art Bell growled, “And don’t say ‘bicycles’ because nobody is gonna do that.” (Because we all know that it’s one thing to ask the American public to believe in space creatures inhabiting earth and an entirely different one to expect them to actually want to do something proactive about the oil crisis. Oh wait. It is. I hate when I confuse myself this way.)

Anyway, back to the point at hand –

Mr. Bell, with all due respect, bite my ass.

Thanks for letting me get that off my chest.

* By the way, that is my favorite travel guide. The writers are not above using a bit of snark and attitude and because it is thick and text-based (rather than pretty photos) it gives info on villages and sites that never get mentioned in the glossier books. It has been my right hand on every trip we’ve made across the pond, or the Scottish and Welsh equivalents, as needed. Of course this may only be important when you have rented a car and are all about getting off the beaten path. If you’re just staying in London and taking day trips out (yawn) maybe the ordinary travel guides are enough.

You know who you are.

You are the person who reads my blog a little suspiciously, maybe a little longingly, because you’re thinking –

Okay, I really do kinda think I want a bike, maybe, but if I bought one, would I really ride it, or would it gather dust or am I too old or too fat or too lazy or too busy?

And I can’t answer that for you.

But this is what I would tell me if I could go back twenty years and didn’t even know I wanted a bike. Or if I weighed 200 pounds more. Or was older.

I’d say,

WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR, DUMMY?

Now that’s what I’d say to me. I’m not talking to you (and you know who you are) because I don’t think you’re a dummy. I just think I’m a dummy for waiting, for not even knowing. And I’d want to bitch-slap myself to get my attention. And if I weighed 200 pounds more, maybe I’d be gentler with my psyche but the question would remain the same.

I know, some of you aren’t even tempted. I’m not talking to you. Go read something else.

But the person (or people) I am talking to know who they are.

If you never learned how to ride a bike, you can learn. Adults do it all the time.

If you think you weigh too much, there are blogs out there written by people who ride bikes who weigh more than you do, I can almost guarantee it.

Age doesn’t matter if you’re still in good health.

Being out of shape really doesn’t matter, because nobody is more out of shape than I was.

But today’s entry on 3speedblog is as inspiring as any for me. I look at those pictures and think, that’s why it’s worth it. That’s why it’s worth it to get stronger, to ride farther — to be able to get out in the world on a bike and smell it and hear it and see it and taste it.

And we all aren’t so blessed when it comes to a ride to work, but damn, that’s pretty.

Now, this isn’t really the post I was going to write today, either.

I started out just replying to comments in this entry (hi, Ann!!!!!) but I couldn’t respond to Mrs. Harris (to whom I was going to say, yes, I agree, I love Greek little lamb!, and also, that’s a perfect image to me, the his and her bikes outside a great place to eat) because I wanted to link to an image of bikes outside a place and needed to do that from an entry so I want to 3speedblog to find that image and thought I’d found it but –

This is not it.

Although it does have its own charm.

This is it.

And seeing that argyle post reminds me of slipstream though their argyle is a really strange color combo if you ask me.

Anyway, I’m off to taunt the past me and bless the future me by riding my bike.

(And…you know who you are.)

A scene from 3speed’s commute.