Talkin' About That Little Lady.

Hey! Whoa! It's almost the end of April, and I still haven't done my traveling through books post for April. Ready? Here it goes:

I read seven books in April.

1.) The first book I read was "A Gambler's Anatomy", by Jonathan Lethem. It was entertaining enough and took me to Berlin, Singapore and Berkeley. It was about a guy who played backgammon professionally and had to have a procedure to remove a tumor that supposedly took away his psychic abilities. There's a whole bunch of other stuff that happens and some weird double dealing. It wasn't always the best trip, but it kept me intrigued.

2.) Next I read "Possession" by A. S. Byatt. I loved this book. It took me to England in the late 80's, but also during the Victorian era. It is about a literary scholar who discovers a letter in an old book. The letter gives him new information about his favorite poet and leads him on a chase to dig up more information to confirm his suspicions. It is a love story, and detective novel,complete with seances. It was a very looong journey, but definitely worth the trip.

I then read "My Absolute Darling" by Gabriel Talent. I was interested to read it because it took place in Mendocino County California, a little South of where I used to live in the mid-eighties. It was a hard trip to take. It dealt with the physical and sexual abuse of a young girl by her father. I had some problems with the writing too, but it is the author's first novel, so I'll give him a break on that.

4.) Book number four in April was "Swing Time" by Zadie Smith. It started in 1982 in London and it was about two girls who meet in a dance class. They are both from low income homes, but their family situations are completely different. It is about what happens to them as they get older. It took me to London, Africa and New York City. I think I would have liked it better had the main character had some real hobbies or friends as an adult.

5.) The fifth book I read was Henry James' "Portrait of a Lady". I had never read it before. I know some people find it boring and depressing, but I really liked it. It was about a self-possessed woman who came into some money, and was deceived into marrying a horrible man who wanted her for her fortune. It took me to England and France and Italy and I got to meet all kinds of interesting people through it.

6.) To follow "Portrait of a Lady", I read "Mrs Osmond", by John Banville. It was not, like you might think, about Donnie and Marie's mom, but rather a sequel to"Portrait of a Lady" written in 2017. It took place where the original novel left off. I liked that it answered questions, since Henry James left so many things up in the air. It was kind of dumb of me to read it right after "P O A L", because it went back and told the back story for most people reading it after having read "Portrait of a Lady" a long time ago, or not at all.

7.) My final book trip in April was "The Power" by Naomi Alderman. It took place all over the world, but in the future. A future where women suddenly had the power to shock or electrocute people. I really liked it. It was a look at power and how it corrupts, no matter what your gender.

Now that we're heading into Summer, I am much looser about my reading restrictions. I'll read whatever sounds entertaining or whatever I'm in the mood for. I am all ready for it to warm up, so I can lie in my hammock and get lost in a great story...Hopefully, sooner rather than later.

Here Comes the Rain Again. Falling on My Head Like a Memory. Falling on My Head Like a New Emotion.

Oh, kids. I remember how the month of May used to be when my girls were younger - basically, a sh*t show. It seemed like everything happened that month - the last choir and orchestra concerts, track meets, soccer games, all the end of the year parties and I had no time or money with which to do it all and stress, and stress, and stress.

I always thought that when my kids got older, that would all calm down, and it did...A little. Now, it's all self-imposed stuff that I occupy my time/stress myself out with.

All that above is supposed to be my excuse for not blogging very prolifically lately. Also, sorry about that.

 What has kept me so busy, you ask? Oh, all kinds of crap. Mostly, I have been spending a sh*tload of time bitching about the weather. Again, you ask? Still, I respond.

It has been rainy and cold almost every day for the last few little whiles. Today the high is in the mid-fifties and it's raining again. Hopefully, it's supposed to start warming up tomorrow and we'll see if it continues to rain like it's been doing.

The last two weeks we've also been keeping busy trying to do good deeds when we can. John and I volunteered to bike pace a running race for low income/at risk kids as part of a program to help them channel their energy toward more positive things like running and working together as a community. This is the second year we've volunteered and we hope to get the chance again. It is a wonderful program.

A couple of Sundays ago was Mother's Day. It was cold and rainy that day as well, but not so bad that John and I couldn't get in a nice 66 mile bike ride to Cedar Rapids and back.

In the evening, we met the girls and Stinky's husband for dinner at Pagliais Pizza. If you'll remember, last year I cooked a meal for us and the kids and neither of my daughters offered to help with the cooking or the clean-up. That disappointed me, so this year, I decided to avoid the disappointment and just go to a restaurant and not have to worry about it. Mission accomplished. I made it through a Mother's Day with almost no disappointments. Score!

I guess the thing all this cool and rainy weather is good for, are my salad greens. I have tons of spinach and leaf lettuce and mixed greens. It's a good problem to have, I'm just trying to think of new and different kinds of salads to make. Wish me luck!

This past weekend was...Wait for it...Cold and rainy again. On Saturday we found a window between rain storms and rode our bikes to Amish country and back. It was a lovely ride.

We also found an opportunity for our weekly good deed. As we were riding back to town, we noticed a turtle starting to cross the street. We stopped our bikes, rode back and waited for a break in the traffic in order to carry her/him across. Look how beautiful she/he was!

I read on the internet (they would print it if it weren't true, right?) that you shouldn't move a turtle back the way it came, since it will just go right back into the street it was originally trying to cross. Instead, you should take it where it was headed. So, I made sure to deposit her/him in a nice grassy spot with a lovely view of the lake. Good luck, pretty, little, turtle. I hope you have a nice long life.

On Sunday it didn't seem to stop raining or sprinkling, so I gave myself a goal of finally planting every last seed, root, bulb, seedling or whatever, I had to plant.

After much digging, weeding, some volunteer tree removal and lot's of sweat (EW!), I finally finished up planting my gardens. I'm a little worried about my tomatoes and Mexican Torch Sunflowers, since they are not handling all of this cold and rain very well, but I guess all I can do is wait and see how they do.

So, I'm hoping to be better about blogging and if we're lucky, the weather will improve so I won't have the excuse of whining instead of writing. Of course, there are always the cats to whine about, so I can't promise anything...

She's Got a Smile It's Seems to Me. Reminds Me of Childhood Memories.

I'd like to wish Coadster the Roadster a wonderful 27th birthday. She's definitely had her ups and downs in her twenties, but this has been a good year for her. She started teaching at her alma mater, she's working on her master's degree, coaching track, and slinging beer and burgers in all her spare time. She is so sweet and conscientious and she has been working hard on finding ways to live well with her depression and anxiety issues.

I can't wait for sushi dinner with her and the family tonight. Most importantly, I can't wait to see how much Coadster grows as she gets closer to her 30's.

Man Oh Man, You're MY Best Friend. I'll Shout it to the Nothingness. There Ain't Nothing That I Need.

Well, the weather for most of this week sucked a$$, but last weekend was amazing. I was smart enough to take Monday off, so I had three whole days before the weather took a turn for the worse.

How did I know it was going to be such an amazing weekend? Because one of the first things that happened when I got off work on Friday was that I found a morel mushroom in my front yard while I was cleaning out one of the flower beds. So, now I have proof that it pays to wait until WAY too long to mow your yard for the first time in the Spring.

If I could have arranged a perfect three day weekend for myself that included most of my favorite things, last weekend would have been it.

I started Saturday with a trip to the Farmer's Market. I got all kinds of goodies. Since we only had one morel mushroom and I had never had them before, I bought some oyster mushrooms. I also got John some black walnuts. He loves them and they are hard to get at a regular store. I bought some herbs to plant in the garden and I bought a 6 pack of Mennonite made cinnamon rolls. I kept one for myself and gave the rest to the kids.

Speaking of gardens, my friend Carrie went to Marengo because she found someone selling these cool, old tractor parts for $10/piece. She asked if anyone else wanted one and I said, sign me up. I love the way it looks in our garden...And I can always use it as a very heavy Ninja Star when anyone pisses me off.

I spent much of the morning in the garden. As I always say, having a front yard garden is a super social thing. I cleaned beds and planted things I bought at Earl May and my neighbors stopped by to ask me what I was planning and talk to me about their dogs and one of my neighbors stopped by and said another neighbor was having a plant sale down the street and that I should go with them. So, I did. I got a thyme plant for $3 and got to meet the woman having the sale and check out her amazing backyard, chock full of all kinds of flowers and plants.

I ran home from the sale to make a quick lunch before our friends came over so we could all go on a bike ride.

We pedaled about 50 miles to Sutliff Bridge and back. It was such a beautiful day for it.

On the way home, we stopped at Big Grove in Solon and John and I split a small shrimp and asparagus pizza and salad.

I feel asleep pretty damn early that night. I was exhausted.

On Sunday I woke up and went for a 3.5 mile run. Since I wasn't in a huge hurry to go fast, I decided to do a little plogging - picking up trash while I jogged.

This time I found a plastic bag from Walgreens and a face mask. It gave me an idea to create a story around the garbage I pick up. A Walgreens bag and a face mask? It could be an environmental short story, or some kind of medical drama...

After the run, I ran around town dropping off seedlings for my friends. One of my friends traded me for more of her seedlings - red kale, some kind of funky marigold and night blooming tobacco (I've never heard of it before, so we'll see what it grows up to be).

I dropped some stuff off to one of John's ex-girlfriends and she traded me for a loaf of fresh baked sourdough bread. I really do just give out seedlings and stuff because I like to share. I don't expect anything back at all, but it is really nice of people to do trades. It feels so sweet and old timey.

On Monday morning I went for a nice five mile run. The temperature was perfect and all the flowering trees looked and smelled so damn good.

I got home from my run and hung some laundry on the line, made myself some tea and peanut butter and honey toast, then sat on the porch and read a little of my book before I started working on the garden.

Originally, I was going to go for a bike ride in the afternoon of my Monday vacation day, but after I spent most of the morning digging new garden plots, planting seeds and plants and roots, I realized that I had way more work to go, so I decided to skip the ride and and spend the rest of the day working in the yard. I figure it was still a work-out, just not training for specific sport.

I was so happy after playing outside in the dirt all day. I was going to make veggie lasagna for dinner, but we went to Shakespeare's for dinner instead. It was nice not have to cook after working in the yard.

Sooooo, I got to do all of my favorite things in three days - I rode bikes, hung out with my kids and friends, got a couple of runs in, worked in the garden, and ate really good food. It still amazes me that I have such a great life. There were so many hard years for me when I was younger. Being older for me means I finally know what I need to do to be happy, I have a partner in crime to play with, I am still able to do those things, and I actually do them. What would a perfect weekend be for you all? Do you love to play outside or inside? What makes you happy? I hope you are all able to do the things you love.

I Can't Tell One From the Other. Did I Find You or You Find Me?

Hey! look at me. I'm finally writing a blog post.

Since it's been a while, I'll just do a quick recap of the races we've done in the last few weeks.

The end of April sees us switch from running races to cycling races.

The last trail running race I did for the year was the Sugarbottom Trail Race. My problem with trail races, is that I always go out too hard. I started doing that this race, but caught myself pretty early on. I stopped to walk up a hill and decided that was the last time I would walk during the race. So, when I started running again, I slowed it way down to a pace I could comfortably keep and that sped up my race in general.

The last couple of miles, I ended up running with a couple in front of me and a couple directly behind me. We all kept a nice pace together and it was nice to have people to run with. Somewhere in the last mile, I must have been getting tired, because I tripped over a rock and almost fell flat on my face. I had a dramatic (arms flailing, leaning over in several different directions trying not to fall) recovery and just barely kept from falling hard. It shook me up for a minute, but I'm hoping the couple behind me we able to get some entertainment value out of it. It must have been fun to tell their friends, "So, we got to run with a female Dick Van Dyke today..."

Anyway, When we got to the gravel section and I could see the finish, I had enough energy left to pick up my pace. I went past the four other people I was running with and realized someone else was coming up behind me. I looked over to see John (who ran twice as far as me but left in the first wave of runners, while I left with the second to last wave of runners) coming up behind me. I cheered him thinking he would run past me, but he didn't. He even lost a place to a guy in order to cross the finish line with me. That was pretty sweet of him.

I ended up being second in my category and I had a blast during the race. I wish there were more trail running races that worked out for me to do. Maybe next year.

Last weekend was the Iowa City Road Race weekend. If the weather was going to be nice, I would have done the road race on Saturday, but it was in the 40's with snow and rain and high winds, so I bailed on that.

John did the criterium race on Sunday. The weather was much better then. He has mostly been training for running races, so he hadn't focused on the bike much yet.

He thinks he went out too hard at the beginning and got dropped on the big hill a couple of times.

We had camped out in front of the Deadwood to cheer him on and some of our friends were drinking beer and then they started a dance party.

John had been dropped from the pack and was basically riding by himself, when he gave up. He rode right up to the outdoor beer garden where we were hanging out and left the race. I asked him if he wanted me to buy him a beer and he said, "Sure!". Done and dusted. Race is over. Some days are just like that.

Thanks to Matt Hartman for the photo.

This Wednesday, our team put on the first of our Time Trial series outside of Solon, Iowa. It was in the mid 50's, so we weren't sure if people would show up. We got 29 people there and a few others said they would try and come for the one in June when they had more time to train. It has been a long, and seemingly never ending Winter, so I get it.

For me, I'm stronger than I've been in a long time. Which is good. I'm also heavier than I've been since the last time I was pregnant in 1993 (thanks, perimenopause). Which is bad. So, I wasn't sure how I would do in the race. I've been training on longer, flatter courses than the one for the race, and it showed.

I went out to slowly. By the time I made the turn-around, I was feeling pretty good, so I tried to go faster up the hills than I normally do. I was having problems with my gears and toward the end, when I was tired, I messed too much with trying to get my chain to go in the big ring, instead of just going hard and not worrying so much about it, which cost me some time. I finished and didn't feel too bad. Which isn't good, but luckily, I got my best time on the course by .04 seconds (the blink of an eye, but I'll take it). I will try to train differently, and better for the June race, and we'll see what happens.

So, we had a mixed bag of good races, bad races, ugly races, and everything in between. The thing I like about racing is how it keeps my mind and body sharper and the social aspect of it. I know I always say this, but the racers I know are some of the nicest, weirdest, funnest people to hang out with.