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Day 26 Biking Every Day! Went too late again, am reminded midsummer has passed so I need to haul my butt out there sooner and sooner (or switch to mornings <shudder>). I started with the neighborhood, then got curious what the river park would look like. Almost stood in the water to catch the last bit of pink light in the distance, then thought better of it. Despite my effortless, delicate grace (🤣), slogging through a river in the dark with no one around could end poorly.

Two park benches along an empty paved trail. It's dark and the streetlight is throwing off beams of light such that it looks like a tiny UFO or visitor from the astral plane is descending on the park. Church doors up some cement stairs, it's night out and the sky and building are dark. The doors and stairs are only visible because of two small porch lights.

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DAY 25 of Biking Every Day! My biceps are definitely developing, when I pull the bike up our couple little stairs, it just follows easier. T’was a short ride, I rode a few postcards for friends to the post office, including this one about the day Greg brought walnuts into our house, and then got to deliver some beans (long story) to a friend at a cafe nearby! I still very much love this biking experiment. :)

Two women in blue t-shirts smiling in front of an outdoor cafe wall that has some pretty stained glass windows. A watercolored postcard of cinnamon buns, that says, GREG'S BUNS ARE FULL OF EVIL, May 7th, 2024, In which Greg brings walnuts into the house.

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I have this ongoing mental list of minor, non-spectacular, somewhat mundane things that I think would change the world. One I added today was “eliminate pop-ups”.

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Okay but you know who I feel sorry for? All the people in this grocery store who do NOT start dancing barely-perceptibly when David Bowie’s Fashion comes on. Is all I’m saying. How can you not move, just a little?

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Day 24 of Daily Biking: HUZZAH! My biceps, on hiatus lo this past decade of chronic illness, have returned! As I hauled the bike back in, they ENGAGED. I’m still squishy (today I tried to tighten my abs in the kitchen so I could tell Greg to poke them and be impressed; then I literally couldn’t find them 😂), but it’s a beginning! I love evening rides but still don’t enjoy night ones. But I liked this neon sign (and our walnut tree is doing great since the ice storm!).

A very old small town car dealership that has a sign saying BUICK Springfield Motors, the last two words lit up in golden neon. Inside the building one can see a red mustang facing the window.Night time, looking up into a tree, only the dark blue sky has some light, the tree shape is just a silhouette, so it's moody black on blue.

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Day 23 of bicycling every day. Another hard chronic illness day, but then CompostableSpork and I got texting about music and it really helped take my mind off everything. I biked late to feel the cool breezes, and ended up riding for twenty minutes! It was GREAT. Took my open-ear headphones and wove all over my neighborhood with Offspring, Robert Plant, Beastie Boys, Adam Ant, INXS, and anything else that reminded me of the workouts I used to do before I got sick. It was divine. :)

New to me hidden Homer mural! He's covered in mud and walking while giving a grumpy look at the viewer. The wall is green and it's under a little parking structure roof so it's a bit hidden. My blue beach cruiser electric bike parked in front of a pretty glass brick window.

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“Thank god she’s finally dressed and ready for adventure. But why is she so DRY? How does she get so DRY when I licked her so much yesterday? I must MOISTEN her, MOISTENING IS THE WAY, I’ve told her this, why doesn’t she listen to me…..”

A corgi in a lap, licking a knee (held down with one paw) repeatedly as though dryness offends him. A sweet black Lab is laying on the floor, looking up.
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The moon looks golden tonight, like it was dipped in honey.

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Day 22 of bicycling every day. Another very short trip, been a rough day with chronic illness and anxiety issues. I don’t even have the energy to write. I rode for about ten minutes and then came home because I was just struggling so much. I hope everyone is well!

A wall with a mural of....characters from the Simpsons but I don't recognize them? On the left is some version of Goth Lisa in a purple dress with grey hair and fishnet sticking, and on the right is Bart but in some kind of green ghoul form. Looking up through the roofs of four buildings that touch each other and sit over four streets. All you can see are the four golden brown wood walls of the roofline, some of the bricks below, and a rectangle of blue sky.

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I finished the class yesterday, learning to take an old paperback book and turn it into a hardback. My project was this precious old copy of The Wisdom of Insecurity by Alan Watts that I got in high school. It helped me with anxiety back then, which was a bit ironic - coming home from the class I had an epic panic attack in the car, my heart rate so high Greg started driving toward the ER just in case. But then it stopped, and I was okay. Brains are a handful. And Watts knew it.

My station in class: a book partially covered in red paper, laying in the book board pieces that will soon be its cover, making sure of the size. Behind is a bottle of clue and a box cutter, and a pencil case, scissors, and a roll of yellow book cloth. The book board, getting covered in a forest green clothe. The finished book, open to the title page, and my name and the date I got it - 12-27-91. The freshly glued green cover, and a box cutter and a pad of notes for the class.

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Watching a movie and Finn has snuggled up. He’s too long to lay that way normally, so I set a meditation cushion on a stool and then shove that whole thing under his head, like a little couch extension. He’s used to this routine and just goes right to sleep. 😅

He looks cute, but when he eventually woke up and went to slide off the couch, he left an impressively gross trail of drool down my knee. Thanks dude.

A corgi laying on his side cuddled up against my legs. His eyes are closed and he's sound asleep while a movie blares.
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Day 21 of bicycling every day! Still tired, but I wanted to try sketching, so I headed out to the bridge. I figured it’d be easier to sketch than a forest. I was wrong. 😂 About halfway through, a couple showed up and sat right behind me (on a long pedestrian bridge with several empty benches - why do people do that?). Tried to finish it when I got back, learned I don’t enjoy that as much, so next time I’ll just paint with an audience.

Sketch of a tall highway bridge over a river, mostly blues and greens, but the cab of the truck is red.A very quick shot of the I5 bridge over the Willamette, blue skies and beautiful rushing water.Pedestrian map of the Ruth Bascom River Trail System

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Day 20 of bicycling every day! In a lot of pain today and on the edge of a fibro crash, so I stuck close to home. I was only out for fifteen minutes or so, but as usual the positive effect on my morale was profound. This is what I find so powerful about an electric bike, that if I didn’t have the assist I wouldn’t be able to go. But with it, the barrier to a ride is so low that I can get out even on bad days, and say hello to the trees and the moon. Bikes are magic.

Looking down a neighborhood street, lined with trees and a few cars in the distance. The horizon is pink and yellow, the sun has just gone down. The moon floating over some green trees. A neighbor's yard, with two cats arranged as I often see neighborhood cats arrange - sitting apart from each other by about ten feet, both facing the other direction, but both acutely aware of each others' presence.

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IT’S HEEEERRREEEE! I LOOOOoOoooVE IT! :D

Okay fellow P&P nerds remember when Jane is talking about Mr. Bingley and she’s like, “He’s JUST what a young man ought to be!” Lol this is JUST what a uke ought to be! I LOVE the bari sound, it’s so low and pretty! Will never give up my two favorite GCEA ukes but playing DGBE is SO NICE! :D

The inscription is a line from my favorite Deb Talan song, Big Strong Girl, that has gotten me through many a tough time. The date is my 50th birthday. :)

A ukulele sitting on a shelf in front of a window, the body is shaped like a soft triangle, and the top is a warm yellow spruce. The neck and headstock are both maple. The back of the uke, showing how the body is a deep brown injection molded thermoplastic.Inscription on the back of the neck, reads: THE BEST MADE PLANS ARE YOUR OPEN HANDS <3 31 JULY 2024

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Day 19 of trying to bicycle every day! I was almost going to apologize for taking photos of the same places all the time, but something fierce swiftly cut that off - another nod to nervous system healing work: I’m apologizing less. :) I love going back to the same places. Visited my new creek, then to the pedestrian bridge over the river (under I5 as you can see). I love the color of the water on the calm side. Hung out, saying good morning to the folks who jogged past, then home!

View into the green water of a river, a shadow of a pedestrian bridge along the bottom and on that a shadow of a person waving. View under the Interstate 5 bridge, with the Willamette River flowing underneath. The river is a bit rocky, and the freeway consists of two great bridges, one heading north and one south. A small creek ambling through a dense green forested area of an urban park.

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Now that my photo printer is working, I’m digging through old photos and found this gem of Finnegan and a 12 wk-old Zoe in March of 2016. Finn was a year old. We brought this puppy home and immediately she was HIS BABY, he was OVER THE MOON with joy, in love with her from the moment we set her down in front of him. We had to set up a little fence around her so she could sleep, because he’d wake her up to play. They even shared a single food bowl for the first few years. Such sweeties.

A black Labrador puppy sitting next to her corgi best friend, who at that moment was roughly the same size she was.
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Day 18 of cycling every day: The Finn Is Not Even Remotely Amused Edition. This is fully my fault, I completely forked this up. First: I FORGOT TREATS. EPIC FAIL. Second: in terms of minutes we were out a short time, but in terms of distance it was too far too soon. He barked and whined all the way home on the trail, a dozen people with their leashed dogs laughed as we rode by, me trying to placate Finn, Finn giving me an auditory middle finger.

Finn in his dog trailer on the way out. He is looking out at our housemate with a PLEASE SAVE ME expression. The trailer is yellow with a black mesh window. He hated the window, he just wanted to be free.Finn standing in the river, blue sky and trees behind him, looking at me with an expression on his face that suggests he might, in eight or nine years, consider forgiving me.My bike and trailer parked on the trail, river behind it. It's a blue beach cruiser, and the trailer is yellow and black canvas.

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Day 17 of riding every day! Tried to get out early. So many dogs today! Met Cal the tiny dog, and later Levi the Great Dane, who actually had a signal for “go meet the person” (very cool training for so huge a doggo!). Found a new wooden bridge over a pretty creek, what a little gem, so quiet. On the river counted two boaters, one wading fisherman, three kayakers, two innertubers.

A paved pedestrian and bike path through a meadow of holden dry grass, green fir trees off in the distance. Half a person's face, wearing shades and a helmet, their bike behind them leaning on a wooden fence over bridge covering a deep creek winding through a forest. A poplar reaching up toward the sky.

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Sitting on my bench next to my bike, under my favorite poplar (I’ve named it Lou), listening to people go by behind me on the trail. Two people on fancy electric bikes talked loudly about whether they should lure someone away from a position. I’ve noticed people talking business often talk very loud. Another woman with her dog, a tiny white floofbeast named Cal, who decided getting pets from me was far preferable to the march his (very friendly and warm) human was ordering. Good luck, Cal. 😅

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Day 16 of riding every day: I LOVE THIS! :D Rode through the park to the bridge - a raft of laughing teens floated under my feet, I waved! The meadow is dry but full of Queen Anne’s Lace. Met Herb, who lives only a few blocks away from me, and his dog Charlie. Herb gave me lots of advice about local rides. Said hello to a young family with a new baby, said hello to my favorite poplar, said hello to a tiny grey-haired woman on a very fast bike.

My blue bike parked in front of the guardrail on the pedestrian over the Willamette River. The worse DUDE is written on the rail. Blue skies, gorgeous day. Gorgeous golden meadow filled with white flowers. Three people riding down the path, the last guy has an inner tube over his head for riding the river. CHARLIE! Small brown dog in a basket on the back of a red bike.