Not that I'm a good cyclocross racer anyway (which is not a problem for me, it's just the way things are), but Quad Cross 2009 is just not my race. We just had a very active vacation in which we mountain-biked 7 days out of 8, so I thought I was in good shape. But nothing prepares you for 30 minutes of hell like actually being there and doing it ( Read more... )

I just finished this e-mail with a gardening "pen pal" in VT so I thought I'd paste it in here. I'm sort of embarrassed by our feral tomatoes ( Read more... )

We had a great trip to Maine and northern VT and NH!
Right now I'm in the process of getting caught up at work and watching as new bruises form from a weekend of riding at the Kingdom Trails! We hit our vacation "goal" which was to see both loons and moose!

Yesterday I received a call from the Caitlin Raymond International Registry, which is a bone marrow donor registry. Apparently, they have found a match for my bone marrow, a 13 year old girl with severe aplastic anemia (yeah, I looked it up; it's pretty awful). So I have consent forms to sign for further testing. I'm totally nervous as I'm not a ( Read more... )

Yesterday on my way to work I smelled freshly-cut grass and it brought me back to pre-season field hockey practices in high school. It's amazing how the humidity and heat change the smells because I ride through athletic fields every day but it's not until now that they smell like double-sessions in late August.

I'm leaving in two hours for a train to NYC - we will be there until 5 PM tomorrow, with one purpose, brunch with Grandma. Her health is looking threatening and it seemed a good idea to go down and say hello. She is so feisty that it's anyone's guess, but she's 92 and is not eating much. On the other hand, we didn't see her at July 4th because ( Read more... )

We had a week in there where ( Read more... )

I dug our first potatoes of the year on Tuesday evening, and they are so beautiful - they came out barely dirty, perfectly formed, and in an entrancing variety of sizes. Wednesday night dinner was fritatta ( Read more... )

Well, it's only now truly acting like summer, but Nick and I have been able to get out once or twice a week to ride in the woods after work. Last night we were in Whipple Hill, and there is so much to explore in such a small space. In fact, we only ride in half of it this time of year, because the easy half gets overgrown with poison ivy ( Read more... )

I took Tuesday and Wednesday night off from afterwork rides or other socialization (although work was quite social) and it really recharged me. Last night at K's, even though I was tired from not eating enough (or sleeping enough, watching Apollo 13 on Wed night had me all wired way too late!) I was in such a good mood hanging out. We had a small ( Read more... )