I've Got No Deeds to do. No Promises to Keep.

Here is Archie lying on (oozing over) our hot water heater.

My weekend was wonderful. On Friday night, I made pan seared sea scallops, steamed asparagus, salad and sourdough bread and then we watched Bull Durham. It was perfect.

On Saturday I got up and went running right away. It was supposed to snow/rain all day, and I thought I'd try to get a jump on it. I ended up running a little over 8 miles, but The Guy ran for at least 11 miles. Pretty amazing. We ate lunch and then made it to the pool, where we swam laps. We had to hurry and get home and take showers so we could meet my friend K. and her husband at the Dublin at 6. We had a drink and then went to a restaurant called Basta for dinner and had a really good meal and conversation.

On Sunday, We got up and I got to work. I painted as much of the quarter round as I could before I went to run. At noon, we got on our bikes to meet our friend, Bry and his girlfriend at a coffee shop in North Liberty. We had a nice visit, and then they headed home and we rode further. We got 34.5 miles in altogether.

I picked up Stinky from work and got us some take-out Chinese food. We ate quickly and then headed to the Hilltop to watched the Superbowl with some friends. I wasn't all that interested in the game, but The Guy and I did shoot a couple of games of pool and I talked to some folks and we still got home around 9. Not too shabby, I'd say.

She's Breathing Quiet and Smooth

Here are a series of pics of me seemingly squishing other people's heads. I quite like them.

This weekend was nice. We had a few plans and then they changed...As plans sometimes do. I ended up taking The Guy out for Thai food on Friday night and then we went home and watched Fellini's La Strada. I hadn't seen it in 20 years, and I didn't remember it being quite so sad.

Even young children aren't safe...

On Saturday morning, we got a lot done around the house. I finally finished painting the trim in Coadster's old room and The Guy got almost everything out of his storage space. Sure, things are a bit crowded in our garage right now, but we'll get it all whittled down and put away or taken away. It's just nice to have it all at home for The Guy to easily work on now.

In the afternoon, our friend E. came over and The Guy took us out on a trail run. We went all through Hickory Hill Park and then out the other side and ran for however many more miles. We estimated that we ran around 8 miles altogether. Which is about half of what we're going to be racing in the middle of March, but it was nice that we knew we could at least do that.

In the evening we met back up with E and our friend Eggo and her husband at The Mill for pizza and beer. After running off about 900 calories, we figured we could load up a little. Around 8 we headed over to some other friends to play a game called Mad Gab. Of course, the kids who were there, were much better at it than any of the adults.

Oh, squishing heads can make some people so sad.

Sunday was another beautiful day. I wasn't feeling very well and was a bit migrainey, so I didn't get much done in the morning. I did run again, for about 4 miles in the afternoon. The Guy rode his bike for a couple of hours in there too.

In the evening, The Guy went to play pool with his friend Bry and I hung out at home and read my book. I'm currently reading The Marriage Plot, by Jeffrey Eugenides. Right now it takes place in 1982. It reminds me a lot of what I thought college would be like from reading too many writers' experiences in literature, but never was for me.

She Said It's Cold. It Feels Like Independence Day.

Stinky with a friend on NYE. Her braces are doing a great job, don't you think?

Oh, and it's the weekend again. I just started reading Ann Patchett's, The Patron Saint of Liars yesterday and I really like it so far. I have been ridiculously obsessing about books lately. I went so many years as a single mom with no time to read, that I feel like I can't get enough literature in my current life. I am devouring novels and stories. I am voracious.

I've been Googling, and then printing "Best of" lists. Best novels of 2010, 2009, 2008, the first decade of this century, literary prize lists and then every month I get to go to Prairie Lights and buy a book or two. Of course, this is my latest excuse for not blogging very much as of late, but it's a good one, don't you think?

Coadster with some friends, around Christmas time.

Last night was very nice. We invited a woman named Jess, who is a bartender at the Dublin and her boyfriend over for dinner. I made brown sugar glazed and garlic butter baked salmon, savory sweet potatoes, a Greek salad and sourdough bread. We had a nice talk and listened to music and we were all done at a decent hour, because it was a school night. I do believe having a couple of people over for dinner is one of my favorite ways to socialize.

I'd Rather be a Comma Than a Full Stop.

The asshole, peaking out from the kitchen sink.

Winter finally came down hard on us Iowans yesterday. Making up for lost time, I suppose. It snowed and got blustery and cold.

The Guy and I shoveled snow right after work, and then we ordered pizza. We drank a couple of glasses of wine and watched The African Queen. I do like watching movies that take place in extreme heat when it is ridiculously cold outside. I hadn't seen the movie since I was a kid, and I had forgotten how deliciously schmaltzy it was.

The asshole in a more pensive state.

I am happy to report that Archie did let me sleep last night. I gave each of the cats a small handful of food before I went to bed and locked them out of our room. I heard Archie meow at one point, but ignored him and he stopped once he realized he wasn't getting what he wanted. Whew!

This weekend is the first in a while where we don't have big things planned. We are having a few people over tonight for fish tacos and frijoles. The rest of the weekend should be pretty mellow...I hope. I want to swim and ride the trainer and run and if we get really lucky, we might actually be able to cross-country ski. My other big goal is to finally paint the trim in the spare bedroom and read as much of my book, Last Call (about Prohibition) as possible. Thank the gods and goddesses, I have three days off to try and do all of this.

I walked Down the Primrose Path

Riding into Hills on New Year's Eve day.

Sooo, I've been told I have this thing called a blog? And that I might want to actually write in it again? Yeah. That. Anyway, here goes:

Archie helping us play Twister on New Year's Eve.

New Year's weekend was all so very nice. On Friday we went to a friend's house. They were planning on watching the Hawkeye bowl game. We came for the food, basically and played frisbee golf on his Playstation 3. I'm better at real frisbee golf - which still isn't saying anything.

Us ringing in the Irish new year at 6.

On Saturday we woke up and lounged around the house. We met some friends for a New Year's Eve bike ride at noon. It was 50 degrees but ridiculously windy. Luckily, we had a tail wind on the way home.

The Guy and some friends showing off their steppin'-out shoes.

We came back from the ride, took a quick nap, and then headed out again for the Irish New Year. It was packed at the Dublin, but I got to see a mess of people and had one drink and then we scurried back to make the fondue and other food.

Fondue'ing and fondon't'ing.

We ended up with about 10 guests and played Pictionary, Twister and Battleship. I had a migraine for most of the day and evening and shortly after midnight, I finally had to go to bed. The Guy stayed up with the few guests who lived within stumbling distance from their homes and therefore stayed until around 2. A good time seemed to be had by all.

The cats vying for the best birdwatching spot on the couch.

I woke up on the first day of the New Year with a lingering headache. The Guy was wonderful and did all the cleaning-up from the party. I did manage to make a delicious breakfast and then spent the rest of the day reading. I finished Swamplandia! and started Truth and Beauty a Friendship, by Ann Patchett. We also watched the movie Cowboys and Aliens. My friend Toby had a small part in it and I got t see him get dragged away by horses. The movie was much better than I thought it would be.

I hope all of your New Year's were just as wonderful as mine, but migraine free.

We Love All the People and We Love to Rock the House

Here is the mall, taken from the bowels of some annoying teen clothing store where they played a song that sampled the Clash's "Revolution Rock". Wow.

Well, kids it looks like we're reaching the end of another year. This year was so great, I can only be excited about next year.

Our plans for New Year's Eve look like this: We will try to go for a bike ride during the day, since it's supposed to be 50 degrees again. Then hit the Dublin Underground for Irish New year at 6. We'll head home by 7 and have a few people over to play board games and eat fun snacks - including fondue. I'll let you know if we actually stay awake for the American New Year at midnight.

May next year be even better than this year for all y'all.

It's You and Me and All Other People

The Guy competing in the State Cyclocross Championships.

I figure I should probably try to post on here at least once a week....

Last weekend was ridiculously social. My friend E. came over for dinner on Friday night. We had a great talk and I love it that my girlfriends can come over and feel free to have a completely open conversation and not feel the least bit self-conscious around The Guy.

She left around 9:30, so we watched a Nurse Jackie episode instead of Armacord, before we went to bed.

This man goes to every cyclocross race in Des Moines and tries to give people a can of Hamms while they're racing.

Saturday we woke up early. I dropped Stinky off on campus, so she could take her ACT's before we headed to Des Moines.


Sometimes people take a break from their races to drink...Even for Hamms.

I didn't race, because I wussed-out. It was cold and the race was longer than I'd ever done and the only few people who rode were super good, die-hard types and I didn't want to end my season being last. So, yeah. I know it was lame, but I chose not to. The Guy chose to and got 3rd in his category, even though he had to stop for mechanical problems.

The Guy finishing his last cyclocross race in the state of Iowa for the year.

After the race, The Guy and I went back to El Baitshop for lunch and a beer or two, before we drove back to Iowa City.


Some of our friends on the garage trainer ride party. What we do for fun in the Winter in Iowa.

In the evening, The Guy and I went to our friend J's house for a little wine drinking. Our friend's Ted and Katie were also there. We had a great talk, but I drank WAY more wine than I wanted. I have to be so careful and count my drinks, because I can't keep up with the big kids. But J. kept filling my glass when I wasn't looking and so I got a little messy (er).

The food was excellent.

Sunday started our VERY slowly for me. The Guy was amazing and took care of everything before our party. I slept a lot. I finally got up, took some Advil and a shower and was ready to cook. I made some soups and some corn bread and guac to go with the black bean chili. A friend of mine supplied Christmas cookies and fruit dipped in caramel, to counteract all my healthy. Gawd love her.

We had a crappy beer tasting (I abstained). PBR was the loser, followed by Schlitz and then Rolling Rock was the winner.

The garage trainer riding party ended around 7'ish, after some love was given to Archie. The Guy and I finished up the night and our weekend, with a viewing of Raising Arizona. I hadn't seen it in forever, and I was so glad I did. Perfect.

You Know I've Seen a Lot of What the World Can Do.

I took this at The Living history Farms in Des Moines. It's a little crooked, but fitting for the subject matter, I think.

Oh, you know...I don't have a lot to say, or I do, but I don't have time to process it all. What the hell, I'll just blather on anyway.

Things are just fine at home. The Guy and I are happy as clams. We are having a little cooler day reunion party for the Monday Night Ride tonight. It's too cold for anyone to really want to ride at night here, but we are still going to have the normal riders over for Mexican food and drinks. The Guy was wonderful in helping me cook. We made veggie enchiladas, and refried beans and de gallo salsa. When I get home tonight, all I have to do is make guacamole, finish refrying the beans and put the enchiladas in the oven. With dinner parties, I've found the less cooking or drink making I have to do, the less stressful it is. I'd love to serve margaritas from scratch, but I wouldn't love to spend the whole evening, trying to make them. So, instead we're drinking beer and some sipping tequila. Let's hear it for simplification!

Oh, sure. It is a subtle beauty, but I do like the look of Iowa.

I get off work early today to sift through Stinky's senior picture proofs and pick the ones we like the best. I'm looking forward to that.

From what I hear, my friend G. had a bad day yesterday. I'm sure she's reaching the saturation point with her headaches. Her chiropractor was going to work with another friend of her's to arrange coming over to help with her pain and I told G. about a good physical therapist to go to, but I can't make her go. G. is at home for now, so all I can do right now, is wish her the best and let her know that I'm here if she needs me. I will post on here the second I hear that her headaches are finally gone. I can't wait for that day.

You Float Like a Feather in a Beautiful World

The only smiley one.

Okay. This will be a quick and dirty post...just not all that dirty. Sorry.

I'm a fan of the black and whites.

So, I took Stinky to get her senior pictures taken yesterday afternoon, and we're both pretty happy with the ones we've seen. We went to a friend of a friend's studio and it was soooo much better than the guy we went to for Coadster's. This guy was cool, he worked out of a house and put on an old Radiohead CD during the studio session.

The color ones turned out well too.

Stinky wanted some outdoor shots down by the river, because I had taken some of her and her sister when they were little and there was one sculpture in particular that she wanted to be photographed in. Of course, Iowa in November made for some beautiful, if not very cold shooting locations.

We had to get at least one showing even a little bit of her attitude.

The photographer put a few of them up on his FB site. Most of them, I put on here for you all. next Thursday, Stinky and I will go through the hundreds of photos and pick out a few of our favorites to make into 8 x 10's and wallets. From the looks of things, it could be pretty tough to do that.
This is one of my favorites so far.

In other news...My friend G. is doing much better. She's actually eating and starting to get her short term memory back. She finally went to her own home. She is going to stay at our house from Sunday evening through Monday evening, because there is some construction work scheduled for her house. I can't wait to see her now that she is mostly conscious.

And the Water Rolls Down the Drain. The Water Rolls Down the Drain

Here is a leaning gladiola that I grew in my garden.

So, a quick update on my friend G. She is out of the hospital but still has a looooong road ahead of her.

She is staying at a friend's house. Their house is very large and so she can sleep in a basement room that is completely dark and free from most noises. She is pretty much just sleeping. Her sister is a little worried that she isn't eating much, but I don't really want to eat when I have a migraine, so I can imagine being in that kind of pain can really kill an appetite.

Since we have no idea what to expect with her recovery, we're trying to make decisions about where she will stay and what kind of care she might need. The great thing about Iowa City, is that no matter what G. needs to heal, all of her friends will get together and make sure she gets it.

A Thousand Years in One Piece of Silver.

Heidi fell asleep using "A Filed Guide to Iowa's Birds" as her pillow. I hope she had sweet dreams.

So, today I will drop some bookish names. Partly, because I love it when other people do it on their blogs and I get more reading suggestions, and partly because it is part of my story.

Yesterday RJT of Illiterati blog updated her FB status, raving about how wonderfully engrossing Justin Cronin's books are. She was talking about The Passage, in particular, but others were talking about all of his work. So, I Googled him and read some reviews. When I read that it was another vampire story, I almost stopped there. Not that I don't love vampires as much as everyone else, but I'm starting to reach my saturation point with them. I read on, and review after review complained about houses going to hell and marriages dissolving because the book was THAT distracting and addictive.

Archie was a little cranky that I was on the other side of the screened in porch from him. Big baby.

Even though I'm still only about 200 pages into the Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, by Michael Chabon, and I have a to-read list about a mile long, I decided I must possess The Passage. I checked out Amazon and they had it for about $10 (not including shipping). Because I like to try to support local businesses, I stopped off at our local, independent book store, Prairie Lights over my lunch break.

I walked in and my favorite employee, Paul was working. He is just as big a book nerd as I am, and we are always happy to see each other. He came over and gave me a hug and asked me what I wanted. I told him and he said, "Oh, then. let's go upstairs and get you a signed copy of that." We walked up and another employee who I really like and on who's suggestion I bought Anne Patchett's latest book, State of Wonder, was working. I'm always happy to see her, as well. I got my book and looked inside and it was a first edition, paperback. Because it is signed, it might actually be worth some money someday.

I'm not exactly sure what the moral of this story is, except that for 4 more dollars, I got a free hug, and a signed first edition paperback. Not too bad at all.

Now I know That. Now I Understand. You're Turning a Monkey on Me.

Dorothy, Toto and G.

The following day we rode our bikes from Altoona to Grinnell. It was a pretty damn nice day. I will document it in pictures with cheeky little captions, as I am wont to do from time to time. Here's how it was:

The Guy and I as cyclists of the corn.

This lake was the last stop on the way to Grinnell. It looks like S. and I are teaching some kind of class. Heaven help the students of whatever class S. and I would ever try and team teach.

We stayed in some people's yard in Grinnell. They had friends who owned a bar and asked us to drink there. Who were we to say no? Try not to be jealous of my amazing bike short tan.

Bry with his fake tattoo, Put on for him by a 90 year old woman in a drug store, in Colfax, Ia. For real.

A lot of the boys in our group taking a pic with the guy who has done every RAGBAI there has ever been. Don't be jealous of his socks, either.

We were riding down the road when an either Amish or Mennonite guy yelled that they were giving away free homemade ice cream. Boy, nothing would make me stop my bike faster than that. So, we stopped and bought the best pie I'd ever had to put the ice cream on and then found a gorilla suit just sitting on a table there. It was too hot to wear the whole thing. But I think this pic gives you a good idea of just how fun even parts of a gorilla suit can be...

Gonna Ride Like the Wind

The whole wacky gang with our hostess in Boone.

First, I just want to say that Stinky had a good friend die in a moped accident on Friday and she has been very, very sad about it. The girl was only 17 and Stinky had just been at camp with her a week or two before it happened. We did a lot of talking about living our lives to the fullest, because you never know how much time you'll have. My heart goes out to that poor girl's family. I don't know how people ever recover from something like that.

I have no idea how these guys were able to see when they rode in this get-up.

Okay. So, now I'm finally back to RAGBRAI again. Before I left for RAGBRAI, I had noticed an old bloggers FB status update asking people to stop by his gray house in Boone by the Walgreens. At the time, I thought I might try stopping by, but then the day we were supposed to ride there, we still needed a place to stay, so I let the driver know to try that guy's house. Of course, I had screwed up the direction of the house and the driver went to the wrong one.

Instead of the ex-blogger, he came upon a family and they said they knew nothing of any blogger, but they would gladly let us stay on their yard and Walgreens said we were welcome too.

Us taking a break with our hostess.

The family turned out to be very sweet. They had three kids and ordered us pizza at night and fed us oatmeal in the morning. We gave them the money and they went and picked it up for us. They also let us use their shower - which, on RAGBRAI is a HUGE luxury.

They were very christian, so we were careful not to get too rowdy or to swear around them. It was the first time I've ever heard The Guy use the word, "Gosh!" before.

The mom stayed at home with the kids and from what I could gather, probably home schooled them and didn't get out much. The boys in our group tried to talk her into riding a day with us. She said she'd love to, but she didn't probably have the right kind of bike and who would watch the kids while her husband was at work? The boys said they'd work on her bike and one of our rider's daughter's was 16 and would babysit the kids. Her husband agreed to pick up the sitter and the kids after he got off work and meet us where we would camp in Altoona at the end of the day. How sweet was that?

At our carwash camp site. The cops stopped by and told us our tents were too close to the Casey's store and we had to move them.

The mom seemed to have a great day. We rode slowly and tried to coach her on the important stuff about riding a 50 + miles. She got pretty hot and tired at one point, so we stopped more often and made sure she ate and drank enough.

Us taking a very cold RAGBRAI shower/laundry behind the car wash.

We finally made it to Altoona, to our car wash camping spot. Our hostess' husband was there with the kids and a bucket of chicken for them all for dinner. She thanked us over and over again and told us she had never done anything like this before in her life. We thanked her right back and all agreed that Iowa in general, but RAGBRAI in particular can renew your faith in humans as a species.

Comes a Light. Feelin's Liftin'.

Free sweet corn with a vat of melted butter to dip it in? Hellz yeah!

Apparently, we felt it was time to dance right then.

Soooo. Where were we? Oh, yeah. The century ride day. On RAGBRAI, they make it so you can ride 100 miles one day, if you want. Those of us freaks who were into that kind of thing, left a little early. We detoured from the regular route to take about a 30 mile extra loop and complete 100 miles of biking for the day.

I had a bad start to that day. I hadn't been listening to The Guy when he told me I needed to eat at least 300 calories an hour when I was riding on RAGBRAI. It was so hot all the time and it's hard to eat and ride sometimes, but it definitely caught up to me on the century day. The Guy had stopped for coffee and some of the other guys rode ahead. JH and I were riding together and I felt more and more tired and dizzy. By the time The Guy called me to find out where I was, I was losing it. He made me eat food and drink Gatorade and then told me to please, please, please make myself eat more food. Duh! I don't know why I always have to learn everything the hard way...

This woman offered to spray us with a hose, if we would take our show on the flat bed truck. It was about 100 degrees, so who were we to argue?

About an hour later, I felt great and we rode the extra loop for the century ride and met our other friends in a town called Paton, Ia.

The Guy was so helpful. He was very worried about sun exposure on such young beauties...

From there we rode the rest of the way to Boone, Ia. There was one last killer hill to get there, but I took it slow and steady and I had enough food in me, finally to tackle it just fine.

Check in tomorrow when I tell you the story of the people who put us up in Boone.

Those Summer Nights Are Callin'

Machines cranking out ice cream by some silos.

The thing I love about RAGBRAI, is that you have no idea what you'll stumble upon on any given day. I'd say that the second day (Tuesday) was probably the funnest of the week.

This is a building with a thatched roof by the corn maze.

Monday was hot and hilly, just like Sunday, and I found myself riding by myself in the morning. When I reached the first town, I texted a bunch of people and found my group. We ate breakfast burritos by a Casey's gas station and took off for the next stop.

The polka band we happened upon.

After lunch, some of our group wanted to ride to the corn maze. They were trying to get as many RAGBRAI'ers as they could to stand in the maze while a plane flew overhead and took a pic. Apparently, the plane came too early, so we missed the shoot. Since it was close to 100 degrees out, I wasn't too hip to the idea of checking out a corn field that blocked the wind.

Instead, I heard people yelling, "hey, go to the lodge. There is good German beer and air conditioning!" That would have been enough for me, but once inside, we discovered a live polka band and chocolate sauerkraut cupcakes too. Is this heaven? Very, very close.

Me trying to polka with my friend who just moved back from Prague.

Even though we were exhausted, we danced like fiends, and had a couple of beers and cupcakes, before we headed off to our next adventure.

The town of Templeton was dressed-up in Prohibition era cars and whiskey casks. These guys are pretending to drink from the empty casks. Too funny.

The next town we hit was Templeton - where they make the whiskey. We rode through and headed out to where the still was. there was all kinds of crazy drunkenness going on there. They sold shots of Templeton Rye for $7. I abstained, but I think I might have been the only one who did. There was a group of kids who put their foreheads on a bat after drinking and then ran in circles around it, until they fell down. Um, wow.

One of the guys hanging around the fake casks asked me if I wanted to post for a pic and of course I did.

We finally left the still and headed to our next camping spot. They found us a great spot in a state park outside of Carroll, Ia.

The boys in my group partaking of the whiskey.

There was a murky green lake we swam in, and actual showers too. It felt so extravagant. It was a perfect place to get some sleep before we had to get up early and ride the 100 mile day on Tuesday...