Saturday 22 March 2014

rally this!

My parents used to engage in navigation rallies back in the 1960's. They were quite good at it.

This would be one of the cars they drove back then.


What an awesome little car.

a very special relationship

One exists between these two pictures. What is it?


Friday 21 March 2014

lazy days of summer


Oh for those lazy hazy crazy days of summer when we were young. We look like Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn here :)

Wednesday 19 March 2014

old gifts



A most valued gift was given to me by my father the other day.

I am so glad these have been digitized and moved to more than one location.

Monday 17 March 2014

daydream believers

My wife and I have an idea.

She loves camping.
I love bicycles.

Seems like a marriage made in heaven, no?

***

She got into riding when we met, and really enjoyed it. Due to various health concerns and an injury, she has been unable to ride much in recent years. However, she acquired an Optima Orca recumbent bicycle which she can ride. This machine is not made anymore, but Optima still makes bikes similar to her orca. Basically, the orca is a very competent touring recumbent. The kind which can be used to complete a self supported world tour over such gentle terrain as one might find in Mongolia.

It is a tough bicycle.

Now she likes to ride it, but does not love to ride it like I do my own bicycles.

But she does love to camp...

***

I am the first to admit that I do not really like to camp. The biggest problem is not the dirt, the sleeping outside, the food, or anything else. It is the quality of sleep. I simply don't sleep well and this makes me somewhat crabby. Ok ok, really crabby. I need my non-ugly sleep.

Last summer, we improved this for me by getting a nice cot for me to sleep on. Bad sleep conquered, I really enjoyed camping. At last.

I have been on trips where I slept well on the ground, but they were trips which lasted typically longer than we have been able to take since we got married. I had a chance to get used to it. It became "not so bad" after about a week.

So I don't love camping as my wife does, but I do like it.

But I do love my bicycles...

***

Due to a rather nifty series of circumstances, I am zeroing in on making my love of bicycles and my wife's love of camping meet and form our very own version of that grand old thing known as bicycle touring.

It will take a while to get this show on the road - likely next year at the earliest - due to basic fiscal realities, but dreaming is free.

So let's dream...

***

It would not be my blog without a picture of a bicycle.


So tada!

This is the bicycle I am thinking of getting. There are several reasons for me to get this bicycle. I present them to you in a list:
  1. It is a bicycle. That is explanation enough, no? n+1 theory.
  2. Happy circumstances make this delightfully affordable.
  3. It would get use beyond the rather specialised function that is touring.
  4. Seeing as it comes fully kitted with useful things (racks, fenders) and my current bags will fit with ease, it makes for a superb long distance commuter bicycle; handy since we are moving in two months much farther from one of my current jobs. Yes, I have more than one job.
  5. My Brooks saddle (the chocolate brown one) will look dead sexy on it.
  6. I want to mix bicycle riding with photography very very very much. My Jake the Snake gets ridden my version of hard and fast and is not great to carry a camera on. Add a handlebar bag to this one though and hey presto! A bicycle suited for a long distance photoroam.
It would not be my bicycle without me making some changes to the basic as you see it bicycle. I likely won't Frankenstein it like I have my other bicycles, but a few things need doing. I present changes to you in a list (I like lists tonight):
  1. The seat has to go. I have a lovely, dare I say delightful, brooks saddle which will fit quite nicely on it and match the paint of the bicycle perfectly. How handy is that.
  2. The handlebar tape will be replaced with drop dead gorgeous brooks leather handle bar tape hopefully in a colour which matches the saddle. Yummy. I realise I risk being overcome with a bad case of smug, but I think it worth the risk...
  3. I need a kickstand. This bike is not about fast. It is about practical. Kickstands are practical, and I need one which will hold up a fully loaded touring bike. And, it can be done. Enter this lovely thing from Pletscher. The double bipod one. I have one on my commuter and have used it for years in all sorts of crap and it still works and does not wobble. It is awesome. Very awesome. Get one if you ride a bicycle you load up with bags. It is worth it.
  4. Luggage. Oh yes, luggage. This luggage in fact. I have used axiom stuff for years on my commuter and it is very very tough. When they say it is waterproof, believe them. It is.
  5. I own lights. They will fit and help me see cool. Yeah, that's it.
  6. Pedals would be nice. I was thinking some Shimano all mountain type pedals like these. A cage around the clip in bit would be good to add stability since I want to use touring shoes vs my race ones.
 So there you have it.

A bicycle dream all wrapped up in fun riding and vacation time. Believe the daydream; it will come true.

a picture of much importance


Why is it important? What delights are mysteriously held within? After all, it is just a picture of blue sky, trees, a field, a bit of brown grass...

Wait! What? Brown grass you say? Could it be?!?

Yes. Yes it could.

Spring just might be around the corner after all.

I wonder if it will snow tonight...

Saturday 15 March 2014

two night snap

Spent a bit of time tonight visiting with a friend at a local coffee shop. The result, besides a good visit and some tea, was a two night snap.


Wednesday 12 March 2014

cat stories, one

I want you to picture a large cat. A very big one in fact. One which, in his prime (when this story takes place) massed approximately 18 pounds with no fat on him at all besides that needed to survive. He is a grey tabby Hulk.

Now this cat is an absolute jerk. He is temperamental, opinionated, and possessing of a soul both loving and evil. He is his own cat, and tolerates idiots with very poor grace. He is also too smart for his, or anyone else's, own good.

Sadly, he is dead.

Sadly because he loved me very much, and I him in return.

The following is a true story:

Create an image...

A sunny bedroom on the main floor of an old house. House built in the 1920s. Bedroom is the formal sitting room out front. Queen sized bed with earth toned bed coverings tossed recklessly over top. Dappled sun enters through old windows. Patches of light and shadow shift as wind blows a maple tree outside the window. Newly weds live here.

Stretched lazily in one of the sunny patches lies the Grey Jerk. Sound asleep. King cat, he thinks of himself, at one with the world, the sun, and his nap.

Slowly, creeping as if from a pit, comes his nemesis. Nemesis (we shall call her nemesis because it does, in fact suit her) is a calico cat who is a complete and utter moron. A fierce hunter, she has all the personality of cold pasta. She also greatly enjoys trying to cute up to the Grey Jerk.

The Grey Jerk is sleeping.

"Mew?!?", says the Nemesis, in his face.

The Grey Jerk is sleeping.

"Mew?? Mew?? Mew??", continues the Nemesis, repeating her high pitched mewling incessantly.

The Grey Jerk, King Alpha cat, wakes up, proving to the Nemesis that at this time her persistence was in error.

She has time to turn, and take one frantic leap towards the pit from which she crawled.

But it is too late.

The Grey Jerk has her by the back of the neck in a leap from full sleep reminiscent of a jaguar pouncing on some hapless animal, muscles rippling in a display of raw power. Crushing her to the bed, teeth closing, the Grey Jerk shakes the Nemesis like a rat and releases her.

Back to his nap, the Grey Jerk is sleeping.

Never again did the Nemesis "Mew??" at the Grey Jerk, sleeping or not.

Tuesday 11 March 2014

I know I have mentioned this before

But that is ok.

Should I ever be in a position to get one of these, I will. Purists would hate me, but I would add brakes and a freewheel hub to this exceptional build, but that is just my personal preference showing.


Full information about this and other fine bikes can be found here, at the company's website.

I think I am in love.

Saturday 8 March 2014

oil, leather, grease, metal, and proofide

Spring fever has hit me full force. After this past winter, with its excessive snow and frequent very cold days with no real mid winter thaw, the merest hint of spring is enough to drive me away from the house in search of my favourite outdoor distractions.

Walks with family and friends, roams with the cameras, exploratory drives through the countryside, and protracted wanders with the bicycles top the list of "must do" things at this time of year. Anything which allows me to breath fresh, growing, spring air gets a happy nod. Smells during the spring play a powerful role in my enjoyment of the season.

My commuter bicycle has taken a pounding this winter. Salt, water, and crashing over ice and potholed roads have done their negative magic to the machine. The thing needs refreshing. Maintenance checklists need compiling. It is an annual and important ritual done in the early spring. And it carries with it its own combination of smells, some of which date back to my childhood.

I am, at best, a poor bicycle mechanic. I know how to mount various parts to my bicycles, and how to overhaul some of the basics, but much of how to adjust my bicycle properly remains a mystery to me even after years of trying to make things work. Despite that, the smells of metal and broken down grease which assault the nose when a hub is disassembled make me smile. The odour of a cleaned and lubricated chain has the same effect. Proofide rubbed into the leather of a saddle until it shines... Enough said.

It is not so much the smells on their own which please, but the promise of a future escape on two wheels they represent.