Two months in update

Downtown in the distance; Starbucks HQ is the tiny bump to the right of the two right-most cranes

Two months into 2021, I'm at 265 miles on the year which seems not so bad, all things considered. Less encouraging, of course, is that I seem to ride more slowly all the time and to find hills more challenging rather than less. Or maybe it's the final slow but steady half mile of relentless incline that kills me every time. Whatever. The weather was decidedly blah this today, but this morning's ride to the farmers market seemed like not enough for the last day of the month so I nosed around online to find a bakery that still had croissants available and we rode to the Fresh Flours in the South Lake Union neighborhood, adding a bit more than twelve miles to the month's numbers. And, okay, some might suggest we now have an excessive supply of baked goods in the house--and maybe it's the baked goods that make me struggle more cycing--but you won't hear me saying any such thing.

The South Lake Union Fresh Flours exterior lacks the charm of our West Seattle store.

 It's late so I record hastily that the grapes have been pruned and the peas planted. It looks like Mr Oxman will be coming by to deal with the sickly old cherry tree in the corner this week. In short, life goes on; I'm not sure why.

Stats as of February 28, 2021

Fish and Chips to the Rescue

 

I didn't even think about a photo until we were on the way home, so this is shot of Spud's sign, stolen off the internet

Let me just say that it's been not a great stretch of days lately, and that the mood chez Aurora sans Gradka has not been pretty. So down were we that we didn't even take the sled out for a coast down any of the many neighborhood hills during the snowy weekend. And of course the bikes spent the slushy, snowy days indoors as we took walks instead.

Today it seemed like the roads were clear enough for me to bike into the office to print out some pages and that was something anyway; outings with Bessie pretty much always improve my outlook. On the return ride I got to the T-junction where a left takes me up the hill towards home while a right leads to Alki. It was after 2:00 in the afternoon, and all I'd had to eat was a few slices of toast. The sun was sort of shining and it was really too warm for the heavy coat etc. that I was wearing. I pulled over, called Scott, and asked how he'd feel about a fish & chips date on Alki. He sounded enthused so I waited while he coasted down the hill to meet me. 

A lot of people love Spud's. I'm going to admit that it was not the best fish & chips I'd ever had, or even had in Seattle. But it was quick and it was hot and they gave me a bunch of extra lemon wedges. We ate it at a picnic table across the street from the shop overlooking the Salish Sea, too, so I am so not complaining. And it meant another eight miles or so of mileage for the bike log. 

Slice o' life

Incidental Altar

 

Snow Day Walk Snaps

Following up on yesterday's snow report, today's blahdeblah again features ZERO bike miles and a handful of photos taken during yesterday's walk in our end of West Seattle. In no particular order because that's how Blogger likes to work these days.

The classic shot: snow on some sort of red berries

The bottom portion of the totem pole by the Admiral overlook

As a rule, I'm not a big fan of the "locks on every possible public bit of railing" mania, but I liked the bits of color on a gray snowy day.

Not that there weren't other bits of color: a repurposed bits of metal burro in someone's yard.

More natural color: snow teaching some early-blooming fruit trees a lesson

And still more color: a neighbor started putting up color vases, etc. in his yard some years ago. It's a bit weird, but oddly charming, especially when topped with snow. This is perhaps 20 percent of the complete collection. Maybe more like 15 percent, really.

Anyone who has ever seen one of my calendars knows I'm a sucker for fennel in every season.

Today we didn't leave home. Scott cleared the sidewalk again. I made a snow angel and some bread. A pleasantly quiet and sweet Saint Valentine's Day chez Aurora.

Snow day birds

In order to produce this year's calendars I had to break down and sign up for Photoshop, while today's snow sort of compelled me to break out the old camera. Inevitably, photo posts will result. Both my photography and ID skills are more than a bit rusty, so I don't swear to the accuracy of all these IDs.

I sort of thought there was a white-throated sparrow in the yard this morning. I'm thinking, however, that this is a golden-crowned sparrow. Maybe.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dark-eyed junco

I will never not be charmed by thumbprints (technically: a female bushtit)

99.99% certain this is a ruby-crowned kinglet though I've yet to spot its ruby crown and it's been hanging out for the last week.

Now is this the same bird as the first one above, or is it a white-throated sparrow?

Quite the unexpected visitor! I'm thinking it's a hermit thrush.

A handsome bird, the spotted towhee, even with snow on its beak.

A couple of American robins enjoying the berries on a neighborhood tree.

Looks like a day to birdwatch from the back door

And because it vexes me that the video goes dark rather than freezing on the final micro-second:

Snowy weekend prep by bike

Life-sustaining supplies: books, hand lotion, beer

 

I'm not saying anything about how long it took me to get the photo above saved properly, nor how many hours of a day I was supposedly furloughing that I instead worked*, but instead I'm sharing that the snow has been coming down for some hours, I'm told, and the street in front of our house is now quite white with snow. It's fortunate that we wisely took a bicycle break this afternoon--before the snow resumed and while the streets were bare--to visit Paper Boat Booksellers as well as the local award-winning brewpub, Good Society. We've never had anything from Good Society before, and I haven't a clue what a "kolsch" is, really, but it seemed best to lay in supplies while we could. I think we're set for ham hocks and guitar strings.

 

 

*I lie: about a quarter of an hour and more than eight hours, damn it

Bike-by update

 

Unadjusted, unstraightened view from the upstairs window

 

We've had some unexpected gloriously sunny days, but it's also been cold (by Seattle standards) and hella-busy (by my standards) so I've not racked up a lot of miles, and I've not been getting photos while out with Bessie. But I bravely persevere for blahdeblah, offering up the view from my office window after I returned to work following this afternoon's bracing ride. It's too bad I didn't get a photo of Rainier; it was partially obscured by clouds, leading Scott to say he had an "off the shoulder" look going.

It's so easy to fall out of the habit

 

Recovery cocoa after January's last ride

I ended January just short of 150 miles and February is off to a slow start, but I insist that slow and steady, if it doesn't win the race, is at least better than not doing anything. Right? I don't know if I believe that, so much. This year is off to such a relentlessly dreary start--not that the previous year was so shiny--and like most of the world, I'm just damned tired. But, for posterity, the mileage and rides to date: