I Got You to Walk With Me. I Got You to Talk to Me.

Last week I was talking about my weird year and how things haven't been the greatest for me lately. I'm happy to say, that a couple of weeks ago we went to the Chicago area to race bicycles and it was just what the doctor ordered. I needed a wonderful weekend, and I got it.

The race was in the town of Woodstock, Illinois where they filmed the movie "Groundhog Day".

The race organizers had a lot of fun with that fact.

The first day I raced was the Illinois State Cyclocross Championships. They offered masters women's categories for the first time.  Of course, I was the only woman in the 55+ category. There were few women who were just a year or two off of that. So, most of the women were so sweet to me about being the oldest old lady out of all of the old ladies who raced. One woman doing registration there even hugged me when I hopped off of the podium. How nice is that?

John also had great races that weekend. He was second place in his race on Sunday for most of it, but he didn't wear warm enough gloves or put a knobby enough tire on his back wheel, so he kept sliding out and his hands were so numb, he couldn't switch gears. He ended up 5th, which is pretty damn good anyway.

Sadly, out about 150 selfies we tried to take, this was the best out of all of them. I look insane.

After our race on Saturday, we got to meet up with my friend Sarah at a show downtown. John and I both love Sarah. She is hilarious and fun and super smart, and she always takes us to the coolest places when we come to Chicago.

This time she had us meet her at this cool old warehouse area that they turned into studio and shop spaces.

It was a neighborhood benefit celebrating the 20th anniversary of Bloodshot Records, which is a small record label that mostly deals in alt-country bands. The best thing about the show was that started at 4 pm. Perfect for us old folks.

We listened to music for while and then got really hungry, so we walked down the street to an amazing taqueria to eat dinner.

When we got back to the show, we decided to check out the shop spaces. They were all really cool.

Since it was getting dangerously close to eight o'clock, and we had to drive over an hour back to Woodstock, we had to say goodbye to Sarah and be on our way. It was so great to see her, and I love traveling to places so different than where I live. I don't think I could live in a big city again anytime soon, but I love to go visit.

On Sunday morning, I raced again. On Saturday, the course was pretty muddy, which is always good for me. I didn't do too badly, when racing with the other women, and I wouldn't have even been last in the masters women category if you put us all together.

Sunday was a different deal. I'm still not all that strong, so after racing on Saturday, I was feeling weak and tired. On Sunday they only had a 35+ women's category.

I was second to last in my race for at least half of it. Close to the end of the first lap, I rode my bike to a muddy uphill section and had to get off of it to get any traction. Then, for whatever reason, I had a hard time hopping back on my bike, so the woman in last place was able to almost catch me. On the second lap, John told her that she could probably catch his wife. She told me later, that him saying that spurred her on to try a little harder, and she did catch me by the third lap. I had no energy to fight her, so I stayed as close to her as I could and only finished about 30 seconds after her. It was fine by me. I'd much rather have someone to race for last place with, than to ride all by myself for a podium position. Plus, that woman was so nice and cool. I didn't feel bad at all losing to her.

After our races, we went back to the pub we had lunch at the day before. It was in the old jail of the town, and it looked pretty cool. They had great food, and I even had a beer with lunch.

Unfortunately, we forgot to drink to world peace.

After lunch, we left the town of Ground hogs and bike races and headed for home.

We had a great weekend. It was just what I needed, but Archie was so glad that we were home.

In the Snow White Cottages, Every Day Looks Like a Myth

Well, kids. It's the tenth anniversary of me buying my first house. The only way I was able to buy a house was because Obama had that program that gave me (a first time homeowner) an $8,000 credit, and my brother fronted me that money until the government paid up, and I got an FHA loan that allowed me to only put 3% down. So, thanks, Obama! No, really. Thanks so much.

When I first bought the house, Coadster was a senior in high school and Stinky was a sophomore. I wanted a three bedroom house and a basement and a garage and a sunny backyard. What I got was a three bedroom house, with a crawlspace, and a garage and a shady front, side, and backyard.

I got the best that I could afford, and I still feel very lucky. The Ash trees in my front yard eventually were full of disease and the city had to take them down (thank jeebus they were on the easement, so we didn't have to pay for that). So, I finally got a sunny yard, albeit in the front, but my neighbors don't seem to mind.

After Coadster left for college, We were finally able to pull up the nasty stained carpet (Coadster loves carpet and I can't stand it) left by the old owners, and sand down the hardwood floors in her old bedroom. Now, it's turned into a giant closet where we do our bike trainer work-outs, but it's nice to have a place for all of that.

About a year after I bought the house, John and I started dating. Eventually, he moved in and bought into the mortgage. He was able to put enough money down to get rid of our stupid mortgage insurance and bring our 30 year loan, to a 15 year loan. Last year, we refinanced our house to get money to get a new roof, work on the foundation issues, and make some more improvements on our cottage.

So, now we have most of the things we ever wanted in a home. I never wanted a brand new McMansion. I'm glad we have a little cottage that is a perfect size for me and John, has a front yard that we turned into a garden, that brings over all kinds of bees and butterflies and provides us with flowers, herbs, and food. It is also our sanctuary where we retire to heal from anything bad that the outside world causes, but also to celebrate all the good that the outside world causes.

Sure, I'd love a second bathroom, but if that's all we're lacking, yeah, I'd say we're pretty damn lucky. Here's to many more happy years in our cozy cottage.

And Now It's Winter, Winter in America

It's been a weird year for me so far. It started out just fine, but the sometime in the Summer, things started to go South. With anything, it's never all good or all bad, but for me, starting around June, things got pretty damn bad.

In the early part of the year, I hardly had any migraines and I was feeling strong running and riding my bike. Sure, the Winter was pretty brutal, but I felt good, and I was coping just fine. In June I started having little migraines all the time and I just couldn't ride or run or do any of the things that help me deal with stress.

In July things calmed down some. I didn't have any migraines, and we went on the best vacation I've ever been on...And the when we go back, things really went to shit. I had a horrible Summer cold, and then we had bad family issues come up, and then I had a migraine for over a month straight. In the past two weeks, I took my car in to get my oil changed, and I ended up having to spend over $500 for new tires, and my daughters' cousin apparently killed himself by jumping in the Mississippi River.

Things are hard, but they aren't impossible, and they aren't the worst they've ever been. At least I had the money to buy my new tires, even a few years ago, I wouldn't have. I talked with both of the girls about their cousin. They were both very upset and I checked in with Coadster to make sure she's been taking her anti-depressants, and she has been. My migraines have also calmed down quite a bit, and the other family problem we're having we'll deal with and support each other the best we can. I know I'm lucky to have a supportive family and daughters who call me to help talk them down when they're upset. I am also very lucky to have John who is one of the most empathetic people I have ever met.

I'm hoping things get better at the end of this decade, and through the new one. I'll just continue to feel gratitude for all of the good things, and to be supportive and ask for support when things get rough. It might be another hard Winter, but I am very lucky to have warm clothes and a car to function in it. I also bought a ton of epsom salt bubble bath, some good books, chamomile tea and I have fun movies to watch to help me to relax through the stressful times. Comfort and escapism is my favorite cocktail in the Winter. I'll just keep trying to take care of myself and my people and pets, and be ever hopeful. Speaking of which, I hope things are going better for all you all.

We Could be Heroes Forever and Ever

Now that it's late October in our fair city, it's time to play a game. When I see someone wearing a cape, I have to guess whether they are dressing up for Halloween, or whether they are a theater major*.  The woman above is definitely a theater major, since she isn't wearing anything else that looks like a costume.

At the beginning of October, I saw a guy wearing a cape that didn't seem to be either. He was riding a skate board, without wearing a shirt on a cold day, with a cape that looked almost like an animal hide and carrying a large stick, as if it were a staff (sadly, I was on my bike, so I didn't get a photo of him). You might think that it was a costume, but other people have witnessed him in this get-up on other days, so I think that's just who he is - a man living his "Clan of the Cave Bear" superhero fantasy on wheels.

*If you were a theater major, you know what I mean...

He Was Lookin' For a Soul to Steal. He Was in a Bind, 'Cause He Was Way Behind, And He Was Willin' to Make a Deal

Well, it's almost November, so I better do my "Travel Through Books" post for September.

I read six books in September. Not a whole lot, but we were busy most weekends, so I didn't have as much time, and my constant migraine for the month of September didn't help with the reading list either. Anyway, the few books I did read did help me with my "Calgon take me away" moments.

1.) As far as I'm concerned there's no better way to start your monthly reading list than with Jane Austen. the first book I read last month was "Mansfield Park". I found it very entertaining.

2.) The second book trip I went on for September was "Universal Harvester" by John Darnielle (the guy from the Mountain Goats band). It was a great premise. It took place in Nevada, Iowa in the 90's. A guy in his early twenties works at a video store, and videos start getting returned that have some brutal homemade movie scenes spliced in them. I wasn't super excited where the book went from there, but I did like the way it started.

3.) The third novel I read was "Manhattan Beach", by Jennifer Egan. I really liked it. It took me to New York City during World War Two and the main character was one of the first women divers to work on ships during that time. It was fun and glitzy and the Irish mob was involved. What more do you need for escapism?

 4.) The Fourth book trip I took was to Indiana and Kentucky from post WWII to the present. "Hillbilly Elegy" by J. D. Vance was an interesting look at that culture. I didn't always agree with his take on things, but it was still an interesting trip.

5.) The fifth adventure I took was to our future planet, in the South America region. Octavia Butler's "Adulthood Rites" was the second book in the Lilith trilogy. I liked this novel way better than the first book in the series. It looks at the question of whether humans are irredeemable, or whether we will make the same mistakes we originally made to ruin our planet. It's a good question.

6.) The last book vacation I went on was to Moscow in the late 1930's (?), and to the Middle East during the time of Jesus' crucifixion. the novel didn't get out of the Soviet Union for many years after it was written. It makes fun of the Soviet government and the devil comes to Russia to create havoc. It gives an entirely new meaning to "The devil went down to Georgia".

I had some strange trips in September, but it was just gearing me up for my scary, freakish, murderous books that I read in October.

Arkansas, Land of Opportunity. Arkansas, Oh, What You Do to Me.

Okay. So, remember how I said we went to Fayetteville to race a couple of weeks ago? Well, it just happened to be the first time I've ever been to not only Fayetteville, but to the whole state of Arkansas before.

I haven't really spent any time in the South, and so I have all of these stereotypes in my head from TV and movies about how Southerners are racist and misogynistic, and from watching "Deliverance" in particular, they might terrorize and rape Northerners, but worst of all, I heard that people dress up a lot more to just do simple things, like go out to eat or get a drink at a bar. Really, though, how frightening is that?

Well, I'm happy to report, we didn't encounter any of those stereotypes when we were down in Arkansas.

One of the things I like about going to different towns to race cyclocross, is checking out a new city and finding out the best places to eat and drink and look at art and get tea and whatever other things to do in a new town.

I checked things out ahead of time, and decided on Friday night we would get good seafood at the Power House, that used to be an old power station building back in the day. I also wanted to go to Maxine's Tap Room, not just because it has the same name as my grandma and my niece, but because it was rated one of the best cocktail bars in the country by Esquire magazine. It was such a cute place and all of the bartenders were super sweet and attentive, even to us old people. Also, because I can't really drink alcohol when I have a migraine, they had what they called temperance cocktails. I got a non-alcoholic drink made with mashed strawberries and some kind of lemon lime soda (?). It was amazing.

I loved the cool sculptures around town.

I read about the old post office close to campus, and we wandered over on Saturday afternoon after we got done watching the pros race.

The little walkway around the post office was so pretty.

Even the utility boxes were gussied up.

We walked around the whole downtown area and checked out the murals.

There was an area that was kind of like a mall, that had a bunch of different peace sculptures.

After our little walk, we went into eat at a place called Cheers at the OPO (old post office). It was really cool inside. We sat at the bar and had really good food. We got fried artichoke hearts as an appetizer and they were so damn good.

On Sunday we raced in the rain and mud and had some time to kill before the we went back to watch the pro women race, so we went to Torchy's Tacos for lunch. We went to the Torchy's in Austin when we were there in 2015, and we loved the food. So, we went back for more in Fayetteville. It was just as delicious as ever.

So, my take on Fayetteville and Arkansas? I give it an enthusiastic two thumbs up. The food and drinks were great, the art around the downtown area was plentiful, and the people were so nice and friendly. Most importantly, we didn't really have to dress up to eat or drink anywhere. We'll be back!

Not Much, How 'bout You?

Hello, yeah, well, it's been a while. After I said I was doing all of that finger/eye/leg crossing to keep the migraines at bay, it just didn't work.

A couple of weeks ago, I signed up to race in Arkansas, and got a migraine the very next day. Damn it.

I took some migraine meds and raced the next day anyway. So, in between and during my migraine battles, I did three races in the last couple of weeks. Here are some reports about them all:

We went to Fayetteville to race and I was worried the course would be too technical and too difficult for me since I haven't trained since sometime in July and I was weak from the lovely combo of the still there migraine and migraine meds. So, I was just fine with the course being easier to ride.

Saturday was beautiful in Fayetteville. It was warm and dry and the course was really fast. There was only one other woman in my category, so I knew I was going to get second anyway. Since I haven't raced since the end of August, I felt rusty at first. I just tried to stay steady. The other woman in my category was super fast and she took off at the start and I never saw her again. I did pass one of the women in the category higher than mine, but I think she may have been having troubles with her bike.

Earlier that month I asked the person in charge of such things within the Iowa Bicycle Racing Association if I could cat down - which means to go down to an easier category since my stupid health problems were preventing me from going very fast anymore. If I ever start feeling better on a regular basis and I can race better, I'll try to cat right back up, but for now, I basically demoted myself and I am just fine with that.

Mostly it means it's not quite so disheartening to race against people who are so much better than me that they take off and ride so fast, that I don't ever see them in the race, unless they lap me. Hopefully, now there will be people that I can actually be close to and see during my race. I guess we'll see if or how that works.

Anyway, I felt okay during the race. I wasn't afraid to ride anything, and I only crashed once when the muddy section we rode down hid a slippery root underneath my tire and I went down in that lovely mud.

Luckily, it usually doesn't hurt anything to crash in the mud at slower speeds, but it does make for some bad-ass photos.

So, basically. I got a participation prize, but I look at it like this: It's hard to get up off of the couch and go to a different town where you don't know anyone and there are very few women my age still trying to race, and obviously, there were only two women in my category of any age who made the effort to go out and play on their bikes. So, I'll take that participation prize and be glad for it.

The next day was a horse of a different color...And that color was brown. It rained six inches in Faytteville from Saturday night to Sunday night. My migraine was manageable during my Saturday race, but got way worse after I was done racing, so I took another migraine pill on Saturday. It seems like the more often I take meds, the more weakened I become.

I was the only woman in my category who showed up on that rainy Sunday, so if I could finish the race, I would win. That seems simple enough, right? Well, all that slippery mud and the little lakes to ride through made that a little less likely.

John raced right before me and while I was at the starting line, he came up and told me to run more of the course than he did. It would be faster. Usually, it's a badge of honor for people to ride their bikes, more than they run them during a cyclocross race, but with those conditions, it wasn't necessarily faster.

When we took off, I went out too hard, it was really difficult to try and plow through the mud and tall wet grass and it took a lot out of me.

I had to slow way down, and let a couple of people pass me so I wouldn't blow up and have to quit. Once I got a better pace and figured out that I needed to listen to John and run more of the course than I had at the beginning, I started to pass a lot of those people back.

I was the only person in my category, but they put all of the different women's categories together and added most of the junior racers too, so I tried to compete against any of those people who were near me. I passed four or five people before they pulled us off the course...And I finished, so I won.

I felt like I deserved my participation trophy (or free tires in this case) even more on that day. Anyone who rode in that muck and mess was a winner, as far as I'm concerned.

Thanks to Burne Sippy for the Twisted CX photos.

My third race this month happened last weekend in Cedar Falls, Iowa. It was great to see a lot of women I hadn't been able to hang out with all season, even if I'm still in no shape to compete against them.

As always in cyclocross, the weather was a consideration. this time it was cold. I hadn't raced in cold temps since Nationals in December, and it seems like I forget from year to year, what I need to wear in what temperatures. I just brought everything I could think of and it worked for the most part.

I did pretty well with my clothing choices, and my feet were really the only part of me that felt cold during my race.

Luckily for me, Twisted CX has a master's women category, but it's only 35+, so some of the women are still 20 years younger than me, but at least it's something...

There were seven women in my race. I knew I wasn't in any kind of shape to be competitive, but the only way I can get better is to keep trying to race. Of course, I had another migraine on Friday, so I took more meds. That's 3 days in that past week for taking meds, for those who are keeping score. Ugh! One of these days I'll do a race where I haven't had chronic migraines and have to take meds that make me exhausted, but who knows when that will be.

Anywhooo, I did my thing and I was in fourth for most of the race in my category. There was a woman right behind me and I noticed that she ran the sandy section, and I got a little time when I rode it, so I kept trying to ride it, and the 2nd to last lap, I lost momentum and had to get off my bike and run the rest of the sand. I have no idea how, because I wasn't even on my bike, but I tripped and basically did a face plant in the sand, giving the woman behind me a fine opportunity to pass me.

I tried to catch her the rest of the race, and I also tried to ride the sand again on the last lap, where I lost momentum again and got even further behind her. Sigh.

I ended up finishing fifth in my category, which was just fine.

These days I'm just thrilled when I feel well enough to race. Even when I don't get a participation prize, just being able to show up and, well, participate feels like winning this year.

Made of Wet Boots and Rain and Shiny Black Ravens on Chimney Smoke Lanes.

Well, kids. It's October already and I haven't really written a ton on the blog lately.

I am a Summer person. It makes me nervous when it starts getting cooler outside and darker earlier. I do like Halloween, though. So, I'll have that to get excited about.

I had a stupid migraine for pretty much all of September. I'd take meds and it would go away for 24 hours and come right back the minute the meds wore off.

It got me down, and I was so dizzy and in pain from the migraine, that I couldn't even run or ride my bike much, which is normally how I deal with being down. I'm happy to say that I did just go an entire week without having a migraine or taking meds. Woo hoo! I had a very light one the last couple of days, but nothing like it was last month. I'll keep my fingers and my eyes and my legs crossed that things stay that way.

Since I was having trouble getting excited about things through the fog of my brain pain, I bought myself a pretty bike.

I know it's stupid. John keeps telling me that a new bike won't make me faster, and I was raised to know that consumerism doesn't help anything, but I wanted a pretty bike, dammit! A few years ago, I said I wouldn't buy anything (except our house) that I had to borrow money for. I could actually afford this, and I got it and I'm riding it and it's fun and pretty and I'm not at all faster, but that wasn't the point. The point is that I wanted something to get excited about, and not having a migraine and then having a new bike is doing that for me. As always, I'll take what I can get...

Two weeks ago we went to Madison, Wisconsin for a bike race, and it was really fun.

Saturday was John's 55th birthday. His favorite way to celebrate anything is to race his bike. He had three full days of bike racing, plus hanging out with friends and my family (sorry John) and watching the pros race their bikes. He said it was a great birthday weekend for him.

 The next day was Stinky's 26th birthday. Holy cow! But my kids are getting older. It's a damn good thing that I'm not.

We celebrated her birthday the next day with dinner and drinks and cheesecake and free beignets. It was a lovely evening,

John caught a cold, so we decided not to go to Des Moines and race last weekend. Instead we did a slow gravel ride to our friends rescue farm where they had a lovely party and I got to meet their Vietnamese pot bellied piglets. They were so adorable.

So, now we're back up to speed. It's October, and it's been raining too much, but I'm hoping my migraines are calming down and even though I'm not in great shape, I want to try and "race" again. We'll see how that goes...

And for all the rest of you? I hope you love Fall and that you aren't in any pain and that you have a million things to be excited about.