Monday

The Weather Is Here

I woke this morning to the sound of car wheels on rain drenched streets. We are having serious rain showers, which is a darn shame for all the clothes that were drying out on the line, and a bit of a shame for me, as I have a full day of errands and running all over town today. By bike. As they say over at the Minus Car Project "the temperature is no excuse to not ride today!" Nor is the weather. I have been comforting myself with the knowledge that, whatever the weather, I wont be facing signs like this while cycling:

The photo comes from the brilliant and talented Tim over at Bicycles and Icicles, a blog that I just discovered and very much enjoy, despite it's lacking nude celebrity photos (inside joke, check out the site)

8 comments:

Da' Square Wheelman, said...

We here in Chicago are gearing up for bikewinter 06-07. I've really enjoyed your blog and would like to put it in my blog list at http://bicycle-diaries.blogspot.com/.

Would you do same?

Thnx-

slowmotionrevolution at gmail.

gk

Jennifer said...

We're such traditionalists over here, holidays-wise. I can't wait to see what you come up with, though!

westwind said...

Welcome abord, wheelman!

Zilla, a tradionalist HA! I'll keep you posted on what I come up with. The Boy and I already know we are going to have a full on movie night featuring It's a Wonderful Life" (we are the only two people in any branch of the family who loves the film classic) some time in December, and we are also going to make a treck to the mountains to play in the snow. Not rituals per se, but we are looking forward to them none-the-less

steve said...

About the only tradition we have (apart from me grumbling about how Christmas sucks when it starts in August, TYVM big box stores) is to have both a plastic tree (reused every year), and a real tree (used once). The real tree comes from our back yard, and consists of me chopping off the end of a twig off a fir tree, sticking it in a pot, and hanging some tinsel off it. I don't like getting a "full size" tree as I think it's horribly wasteful to cut down a tree in order to throw it in the landfill after a month, but I don't mind harvesting a twig...

My wife thinks I'm weird. Fortunately, she puts up with me :-)

westwind said...

Hey, it makes more sense than all the "live trees" that I killed because evergreens dont do well as potted plants! I'm for anything that preserves trees --and boy do I know what you mean about Christmas starting in August for the Big Box stores. My complicated family structure requires that I do a bit of advance planning (especially now that I am trying to start new traditios), but I dont want to see Christmas decorations while I am back-to-school shopping!

Anonymous said...

Take this with a grain of salt, because I only heard it secondhand myself and haven't really checked it out yet, but I heard that the Northwest is in for a relatively dry September and October. I haven't really been here long enough to be able to gauge...but it makes me wonder.

Jeff Moser said...

We never travel on the holidays, and usually spend them with immediate family, neighbors, or close friends. My family has gone mostly vegetarian in the last year, so cooking a turkey will be questionable... As for the XMas tree thing...it's been a debate. A plastic tree made from petroleum byproducts, or a real tree that can be turned into mulch? Traditionally, I've cut a live Pinion Pine from designated BLM lands. It is supposed to help with healthy forest management. But as the population grows, I'm not sure this is the best way anymore. Traditions are weird...you feel compelled to continue the tradition even though you think it's silly.

And since we’re networking here, I’ve added your blog to my Facility Bike Club list of other biker blogs! Keep up the great blogging, you're on my list of daily reads!

westwind said...

Hey Jeff, thanks for the high praise. I know what you mean about the petroleum tree thing --they were just talking on NPR today about all the things we use every day that are petroleum derived. Yikes! I love the idea of spending the holidays with friends --and I have always HATED traveling on the holidays, am hoping this will be the last year of doing that.