• Category Archives day by day

  • This is the category closest to just being a plain diary. Places I go, things I do, people I see, what’s happening in my life.

  • Looking Back At Looking Back

    Posted on by Don

    I’m currently battling a cold/sinus thing, no COVID according to the test (and from what I see I’d guess it’s a bacterial infection anyway), but I still feel pretty shitty: stuffy nose, sore throat, headache and stomach ache, and just feeling really tired. I’ve been hanging indoors for the past two days, sleeping and working on my Native Paths project, which is now almost halfway through the foot segments. (The canal museum is doing their next project on native paths in the Corridor, so it’ll be interesting to see their take.)

    Meantime, here is what I wrote, ten years ago, about my first bike race. Enjoy!


    day by day looking back

  • Back In The Old Groove

    Posted on by Don

    I’m back fro a weekend visit to my folks, Friday through yesterday. I helped them with a few errands, we went to Manasquan Reservoir during the nice weather Friday afternoon (first time there, for me), and on Saturday night we went out eat at Appleby’s. The rest of the time was just hanging out, talking and reading.

    (I’d managed to get my Cloud Library app back up and running, so I borrowed Titanium Noir by Nick Hardaway, and just burned through it during my visit. Pretty good: a near-future sci-fi murder mystery, like Phillip Marlowe by way of William Gibson, and fast-paced.)

    Now I’m home, doing laundry and getting other things done like cello practice, my Native Paths project, and bike maintenance –bikes took some heavy use the last few weeks, and there’s much overdue work that needs to happen.

    Anne is home from Vermont, and is now working on her own projects. We both made it through a very busy time mostly unfrazzled (mostly!), and are both ready to just get back into our usual routines.


    day by day

  • Salisbury Beach

    Posted on by Don

    What a great weekend! Anne and I went to visit friends at their Massachusetts beach cottage, on the beach and practically in New Hampshire, for a few days of road cycling. We were there with our hosts Ed & Jan, and their friends Gayle and Bob & Beth, and Jen C. We did 32 miles Friday, 30 miles Saturday before the rains came, and another 20 on Sunday before we drove home. In between was pizza, and lobster, and a potluck at the cottage…

    Now we’re almost back to our regular routine: we’ll have Iris overnight and tomorrow, and I’m planning to do some Museum volunteering this week. I have yet to get back into the swing of the cello, but I played last night and it felt good.


    day by day

  • Odds & Ends

    Posted on by Don

    Well, that went by quick — no posts for all of September! So, just some things that have been happening:

    • We just did a CAT-sponsored bike camping trip to Jim Thorpe this past weekend.
    • Last week was the final Shawnee Road Scholar bike program.
    • My mom’s birthday dinner (earlier in the month) was a success.
    • The cello ensemble is back together, we had our first practice a few weeks ago.
    • Plenty more, but it’s all starting to blur together…

    day by day

  • My Heart

    Posted on by Don

    I really don’t have much to say, but I wanted to post a few photos of Iris:

    Iris

    I took that Monday, when we had her for an overnight. She is so fun! She’s taken her first steps, and is just about to start walking on her own, and we love just letting her explore her world. (We are constantly forced to upgrade our child-proofing…)

    Iris

    day by day

  • Summer In Deceleration

    Posted on by Don

    We went out to the Velodrome last night with Shari & Rick, and met Bill & Marie M there along with Joe & Laura. It was the last race of the season, the weather was perfect, and the place was as full as I’ve seen it in years — the whole scene still hasn’t recovered from COVID, and maybe it never will, but last night it was almost as full as the Friday nights of old. And it was just a lovely night, with some truly exciting Madison Cup racing, good friends, beer and french fries, and a spectacular fireworks show at the end. (I realize now that, between MusikFest, New Years, Independence Day, Heritage Day, and the odd Friday night at Coca Cola Park, I have become a fireworks snob…)

    Anyway, it was a good night, and today we’re off on a birthday ride: Sean C set up a slopeside party and overnight camping trip for Jen at Blue Mountain, and we’re all biking there together.

    It’s not the end of summer yet, and we’ve got a few more things planned before the cold weather arrives, but the late-summer bugs are singing, some kids are already back at school, and you can feel the plants getting ready to turn color. The seasons are turning, as they always do.


    day by day the sporting life

  • Chillin’

    Posted on by Don

    I’m home at the moment, just waiting for Anne to get back from the big Women’s Overnight Bike Ride. This was a combined CAT/Adventure Cycling event that our friend Jennifer C put together, and I helped by borrowing Sarah A’s pickup truck (she was also on the ride) and doing support duties. It was a long exhausting two days, but now I’m just hanging out at home in our newly air conditioned house…

    Yes, we finally broke down and got a species of AC called a mini-split, which works like a heat pump: heat in the winter, cool in the summer. It took about a week to get installed, and we’ve had it running for maybe a month now. I love it, though it’s a bit weird to be so disconnected from the outside weather in our comfort bubble.

    Here are pictures I took while they were installing the system:

    Mini-Split Wall Penetrations
    Mini-Split Wall Penetration
    Mini-Split Inverter in Living Room
    Mini-Splits: Piping Partially Installed
    Mini-Splits: Outdoor Unit In Place
    Mini-Splits Fully Installed And Functional

    We have no room for ductwork in our walls, so the working fluid (air? water?) runs in the piping/conduit installed on the outside wall; I guess this is what makes it a “mini-split.” They are super quiet and really efficient, and are very popular in our neighborhood, where most houses are of a similar age and design. Anyway, we’re keeping with the Joneses…

    We had them installed and working for one day, when I had to travel down to Florida — but that’s a story for another post.


    day by day

  • Happy Anniversary!

    Posted on by Don

    Happy 61st Anniversary to my Mom & Dad! We visited them for their anniversary, and took them out to dinner at a steak place called The Edge. Awesome meal, followed by some complimentary prosecco for the anniversary couple:

    Mom & Dad At Dinner

    Salute!


    day by day

  • Bike Update

    Posted on by Don

    Well, the bike parts showed up yesterday afternoon, and I changed out the cassette and the chainring last night. The chain itself had to wait until morning, I was just too tired. (Good decision: the job was a piece of cake once I was fresh and rested.)

    Among my Master Mechanic Moments last night:

    1. dropping a wrench, reaching down and finding the chain whip I thought I’d lost months ago, just lying there on the floor, and
    2. Struggling to get the rear thru-axle back in place, while at the same time looking for a missing spring on the old-style skewer I’d used to help take off the cassette, only to find the spring jammed into and blocking the thru-axle threads. Lord knows how it got there…

    Anyway, everything is done except replacing the front tire. If it’s nice tomorrow (fat chance) I might go for a test run on the towpath. We had Iris today, so cello duets got pushed to early afternoon tomorrow; lets hope for a reasonably dry afternoon.


    day by day

  • All Better

    Posted on by Don

    I finally got rid of that cold — it took a week of rest, Advil and Mucinex-D, but it’s in the past now. Unfortunately, pretty much everyone in our extended household is currently still under the weather: Iris is now recovering from an ear infection, Emmi and Kyle are both sick, Anne looked like she was over it but is in the middle of a relapse, and Ben, who visited for just long enough to be exposed to the Whole Sick Crew before flying to LA, came down with it and is probably giving the cold to his girlfriend and her family as we speak. We’ve all been using a lot of tissues lately…

    So while I was spending my days in bed I managed to finish the first “Wheel of Time” book. I’m still on the fence, though I have to say I read an 800-page book in about a week, which might be an indicator… I downloaded the second book, but I’m finding it to be much more of a slog, so I’m back to “we’ll see.”

    Meantime, I went for a bike ride yesterday, my first in about a week: fifteen miles or so, riding with Anne and Julie to check out a new assisted-living facility for walkability issues — someone in CAT noted/complained that the place was isolated from anything around it. Turns out it’s true, but it also looked to me like the place was purposely designed to discourage non-automotive accessibility. Anyway, it was a nice afternoon on the bike.

    The mountain bike is currently out of commission: I found a broken part on the chain, and bought a chain to replace it, as well as a new front tire and handlebar grips. I discovered I also need to replace the cassette and chainring, and am currently waiting for the parts to come in. Soon…

    I hope soon — I really want to get up to Jim Thorpe to do some real mountain biking, where I can ride among the mountain laurels if they’re still in bloom. I missed them last year, I mostly missed them the year before, and I fear I’m about to miss them this year as well.


    day by day