Geese Traffic in England

If in my recent trip to Jordan they have camel, goat and sheep traffic issues, in England, they have, interestingly... geese traffic.



Mother Goose fairy tales and nursery rhymes comes to mind. As well as the Old MacDonald Farm song that I learned from my piano lessons a loooooooooooooong time ago.



Old MacDonald had a farm,

Ee i ee i oh!

And on that farm he had some geese,

Ee i ee i oh!

With a quack-quack here,

And a quack-quack there



Here a quack, there a quack,

Everywhere a quack-quack

Old MacDonald had a farm

Ee i ee i oh!



Oh dear, this brings back so many memories of my childhood. After school, I would have piano lessons together with my cousins at our piano teacher's house. We always dreaded entering the house because there is a large cruel mother goose guarding the gate and garden, and every time she sees us, she runs after our little butts! This mother goose bites really hard! It was a scary ordeal for us kids and it was always a riot and a laugh everytime we go there, LOL.



Best part of the piano lessons were the cookies and Archie comics. Good old days!





Geese spotted near Clifford's Tower/York Castle Museum in York, North Yorkshire, England.

Leaf Season

Having returned to Boston from our stay on Cape Cod, we were greeted by the "Leaf Season" in full effect. It happens so fast! This is very new for Eustacia Vye, who has never seen Autumn before. I had to keep reminding her to pay attention to the road, as she continuously got distracted by the leaves. She thinks that the Fall season matches her colour scheme very nicely - I agree!

This is the fist time I have ridden my Pashley in over two weeks, and the absence made me hyper-aware of the differences between her and my Motobecane mixte. To my surprise, the upright sitting position took a bit of re-adjusting to: To be completely honest, I was somewhat frustrated with the bicycle's composed and stately demeanor after having grown accustomed to the faster and more responsive mixte. Also, I do not have a front rack or basket on the mixte, so another thing that took some re-adjustment on the Pashley was the enormous basket obstructing my view of the front tire.

Mulling this over as I went on various errands, I did not really begin to enjoy the Pashley again until our trip to the grocery store: With the basket and saddlebag fully loaded, the Pashley truly shines - a super stable, super comfortable, utterly luxurious ride. I would have been miserable trying to do this on the mixte.

It was a crisp Autumn day, and it felt oh so cozy to glide through the streets in my soft, flowing cream sweater upon the nicely broken in leather saddle.

I tried to capture the sweater here, but this wasn't my day for successful self-portraiture. Wearing it made me feel as if I were officially acknowledging and celebrating Autumn.

Tweed hat, bought at the Provincetown Army/Navy store - my current favourite cycling cap.

And an attempt at a "Panda shot". Not very informative I admit - but hey, it captures the moment. Happy Autumn cycling!

All mountain skis? The Dynafit Huascaran.

I've been lucky enough to ski a dozen new skis in the last couple of weeks. All of them hand picked for possible inclusion in my personal "ultimate" quiver. No skito date more of a surprise or more impressive as a true "all mountain ski", than... the new Dynafit Hauscaran. This is truly one amazing ski. Helped to have 2+' (yes 2+ feet) of new, untracked hero snow today to play on. It is the Cascades after all so anything you can actually ski here that is 2' deep IS,almost unbelievable, hero snow. And it was snowing hard enough to fill it in all day long.Did I mention it was almost untracked from 9AM to 4PM because it kept snowing so hard? Just one of THOSE days :) Butliterally, from water ice, to cut up crud and a hard rain crust to some amazing POW;the Hauscaranwill rip fast GS turns or dance in the deep and steep stuff amid tight trees. Effortless in either situation, even for me! An amazing ski. And now I know why so many decide towear a helmet.












Even more impressive to meknowing that I was doing all thiswhileskiinga pair of light weight TLT 5 Performance boots and the new TLT Speed Superlite RACE Binding (185g). The same boot the original designer said it was "stupid to ski them off the lifts". They are that light. But they do ski well ;) Turns out, for no special reason, it was a Dynafit day. I hadn't planned it that way. This set up was to be my "lwt fat" ski for longer mid winter touring days. The Hauscaranis all that and a bag of chips! But I am rethinking what might be its other uses now and what it would do with a "real" ski boot bolted on. Something like the Mercury or Vulcan. may be even the One. I know my Zero4 Carbons are way, way too much boot for this ski, in a 177. No need for that much power!













These are short @177cm. Taking advantage of the size/weight ofthe binding these(ski & binding) weigh in at 8# 10oz. First time I have ever thought about buying a 2nd pair of the same ski...the next one in a 196cm. Two sizes, two different boots to drive them and two totally different usesfor the ski.



The 178cm is 134-112-123 and 1780g weights in at . The 196cm is 136-115-125 and weights in at 1940g. And yes, it was snowing :)


In the next few weeks hopefully I'll get the time to write up all the skis I've been ridingrecently.And my ideas behind the "ultimate quiver". Along with some old and new boots and some of the accessories I've found really useful this winter for skiing in bounds and out.



But as I mentioned this ski was a total surprise. I wasn't expecting much from such a big skis. And what the Hauscaran delivered was pretty impressive in my limited experience. Enough so thatI wanted to do an early heads up on it tonight. 'Cuz it is snowing like crazy at the house right now and likely a huge dump upon the hill for tomorrow!

Confusing Relationships

This past Friday, Charlene, a new-found "Shuder" cousin and her son came down from central Michigan for a visit with me and one of my first cousins. We got acquainted, shared some information, had a good time, and got a bit confused.

Our common ancestors, Nancy Jane Lavering and Isaac Shuder, were related to each other before they got married. As I attempted to explain their relationship and determine our relationship it just got more and more confusing. We finally did get it figured out though, I think. Nancy and Isaac were 1st cousins once removed, and Charlene and I are second cousins once removed, as shown in the image below, which can be read by clicking on it to make it bigger:


The problem I have with the standard relationship charts, is that you have to know your relationship to your common ancestor as well as the relationship of the person you are trying to determine your relationship to. Now, if I'd had the basic information for those ancestors and their children entered into the genealogy software that I use, which is Legacy, it wouldn't have been a problem, but I didn't and still don't. Actually, I did have it entered a couple of years ago, but that's another story. Anyway, Legacy has a neat feature that allows you to display and/or print a fancy chart mapping out these things. It's really a nice chart, but I couldn't use it. . .

Examples of the Standard Relationship chart can be found at:

• http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~gentutor/chart.html


• http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~hornbeck/chart.htm

A rather nice, slightly different chart with a pdf file available for download is at:

• http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~kordyban/chart/relationship_chart.html

** Update July 31, .. **

What is a First Cousin, Twice Removed? is an article in the Genealogy.com Learning Center that provides some helpful information on relationships. The Learning Center is a very good resource whether you are just starting your family search or even if you are a more advanced researcher.

Redefining Sunday Mornings

Apologies for the over-abundance of road themed posts lately, but I need to write this down before the details fade, or before I get too embarrassed. This morning, instead of sleeping in like normal people I woke up at 7am to get ready for the Sunday Morning Ride at the Ride Studio Cafe. I have done their Women's Rides, but never the mixed gender Sunday rides. While some have tried to lure me to join, others warned that these rides are faster and more difficult than described. Especially after reading this, I was inclined to believe the latter and sensibly steered clear. So why now? Well, I need to train for the Hell's Gate Hundred and time is running out. And also these people convinced me that I could do it. With a straight face they said: "Oh you can definitely do it." And I believed them - figuring that since they were designated to lead the ride this weekend, they ought to know.




So, could I do it? That really depends of your definition of that concept. I mean,I finished the ride. I didn't crash. I didn't walk uphill. I didn't throw up or cry (though I came close). So in that sense I guess I did it. But it was such a humiliating struggle, that I can hardly think of it as an accomplishment. It was worse even than my first paceline ride last May, when I showed up on a touring bike and everybody else rode racing bikes. Only this time I did not have the "slow bike" excuse - it was all me. At least now I know where I stand.




When I left the house this morning it was 25°F outside with a brutal headwind. Of all the mild Sundays we've had this winter, I just had to choose this one. As I pedaled the 10 miles to the ride's start my eyes were watering and my lungs were burning; doing this was beginning to seem like a terrible idea. But I'd already told people I was coming and didn't want to back out.




As cyclists arrived bundled up and in good spirits, I felt more relaxed.By the time we got ready to ride, it warmed up to 30°F and the sunny morning made me optimistic. "This will be just like the Women's Rides," I told myself, "only with men." There were only 4 of us in the slower group; this was going to be fun and social.




Trying to analyse it in retrospect, I am not sure what exactly made this ride so difficult for me. It was probably a little bit of everything. The speed in itself would have been fine, if it weren't for the headwinds we were continuously assaulted with. The hills would have been fine, if there weren't so many of them. It was also difficult to breathe the cold air while already struggling to breathe from exertion.




Werode 34 miles through the towns of Lexington, Weston, Wayland, Sudbury and Lincoln. We climbed two substantial hills, with lots of littler hills in between. I was without a doubt the weakest member of our group, and on hills this was especially apparent. I wheezed. I whimpered. I swore out loud. I almost fainted from pushing myself to try and keep up. And still I lagged behind. My legs felt like lead.Flats and downhills did not offer much respite, since I had to work harder than everyone else to keep up the pace. My face was bright red from shame and effort.




I employed various coping techniques to get through the ride. At one point, I mentally talked myself through it. "It's okay... Pedal, don't think... Look at the pretty trees... Focus on the wheel in front of you... What doesn't kill you makes you stronger..." After that stopped working, I began to play Bach in my head until the repetitive harpsichord pieces started to feel like a seizure. Then I tried to separate my mind from the physicality of what I was doing, as if it were happening to somebody else. Some time after that delirium set in and I don't remember anymore.




At some point - I think this must have been closer to the beginning - something really cool happened. The faster group caught up with us and "swallowed us" before speeding away. I have never experienced this before and it wasn't the same as merely riding in a group. Suddenly, the faster cyclists were ...everywhere. On my right, on my left, in front, behind - some seemingly no more than an inch away. I felt carried along, swept away - it was scary and exciting at the same time. "Like a school of fish" said a rider in our group later. Is this a taste of what racing is like?




When we finished the ride I could hardly walk. I vaguely recall being hugged and given high-fives as I rapidly chewed a croissant. I had done a Sunday Morning Ride. It was hard, and it was embarrassing, and I will do it again. I rode 55 miles total by the time I got home. Sunday mornings will never be the same.

Hershey Thousand Trails

Dance in the North Sky

Some friends had told me about seeing the Aurora in the early morning hours of March 10th, but unfortunately I was already asleep and missed the activity. The following evening, however, I noticed the telltale green glow in the Northern sky at 9:30 PM. I called a friend of mine and within 15 minutes we were both headed up into the woods to get away from any man-made lights. Just moments after we arrived in my planned shooting area the Aurora intensified and really started to put on a show. By 11:00 PM the sky was bursting with dancing lights. At one point the lights filled about 50% of the entire sky. I would have needed a fisheye lens (which I unfortunately do not own) in order to capture the entire breadth of the lights. We stood in awe at not only the movements but the colors we were seeing. Dominated by green, we also saw shades of red, purple and white. Rarely is the aurora seen this powerfully in Northern Minnesota. I was almost in a trance staring at this amazing show and I kept having to remind myself to keep taking pictures!