Just a bit of clarification by this great TED-ED video.
I'm heading to the ARCTIC, not Antarctica.
Where there are polar bears, not penguins.
Thursday, June 26, 2014
Wednesday, June 18, 2014
Mosquitos
The map of Manitoba I ordered arrived today. It's full of lakes. Sure, it's north of Minnesota--land of ten thousand lakes, but it's Canada, so it's like Minnesota on steroids, eh? Serendipitously, this morning KOUW aired a report on mosquitos.
I'm leaving the delight of a northwest summer to head into the swarm. Lakes + arctic = mosquitos.
I'm already thankful for bug nets.
Sunday, June 15, 2014
Riesling Ride
Woodinville is home to over 100 wineries/tasting rooms. Taking two wheels to wine just makes sense.
I pulled the new-ish speedster out of the basement and found it had a flat. So I walked it up the street on his rear wheel like I was riding a rearing bronco to the fabulous local and lovely 2020 cycle shop. We discovered a shifted rim tape was at fault, so we fixed the flat and the tape. I rode off through the next crux--hundreds of UW graduates lining the bike path around campus--Congrats! I met Irena at Silver Cloud Hotel corner of the Burke Gillman to push off again. Biking close in race team style we chatted, caught up, and enjoyed the ride. North of Matthews Beach park I had another flat. Same issue--we fixed that sucking hole with a band aid and luckily it held all day.
The trail was dry and lush with greens. I hadn't been that far north on the trail in a long time. The bike road well, quick, fast, and fun. We crossed the Samamish River and headed into town. We pulled out a map of the warehouse district for wine tasting and oriented ourselves. A block later, we pulled into Celæno Winery and enjoyed visiting with the owner and his friend who was volunteering. We tasted an unoaked Voigner from Okanogan, and an then an Oaked Voigner. We also learned more about oak barrels than I knew you could know. French Oak, I'd heard of--but never Hungarian Oak. And American Oak, sure--but to define Pennsylvania Oak from Kentucky Oak for your Pinor Noir. Hmmm. Turns out the Kentucky Oak for the wines are toasted oak, unlike Burbon oak barrels which are charred. So interesting.
We enjoyed lunch at the Red Hook Brewery, and when we tipsily didn't order a beer, the waiter said, "You do know where you are, don't you?!" We pushed off again into the Hollywood district to enjoy another wine tasting at the Goose Ridge Winnery. There was an artists reception--a painting throw down. People were invited to paint onto Lois and John's canvases, where Lois had done the "underpainting"--a values study, so to speak of darks and lights. I painted orange poppies on one canvas, and purple lavender on another. These paintings were then framed and raffled off to one of the people who participated in the process. While Irena nor I won, we were both fascinated by the process and how the paintings changed in just a short time. So instead of biking home with a painting, we biked home with a bottle of Riesling!
42 miles, and lots of smiles.
I pulled the new-ish speedster out of the basement and found it had a flat. So I walked it up the street on his rear wheel like I was riding a rearing bronco to the fabulous local and lovely 2020 cycle shop. We discovered a shifted rim tape was at fault, so we fixed the flat and the tape. I rode off through the next crux--hundreds of UW graduates lining the bike path around campus--Congrats! I met Irena at Silver Cloud Hotel corner of the Burke Gillman to push off again. Biking close in race team style we chatted, caught up, and enjoyed the ride. North of Matthews Beach park I had another flat. Same issue--we fixed that sucking hole with a band aid and luckily it held all day.
The trail was dry and lush with greens. I hadn't been that far north on the trail in a long time. The bike road well, quick, fast, and fun. We crossed the Samamish River and headed into town. We pulled out a map of the warehouse district for wine tasting and oriented ourselves. A block later, we pulled into Celæno Winery and enjoyed visiting with the owner and his friend who was volunteering. We tasted an unoaked Voigner from Okanogan, and an then an Oaked Voigner. We also learned more about oak barrels than I knew you could know. French Oak, I'd heard of--but never Hungarian Oak. And American Oak, sure--but to define Pennsylvania Oak from Kentucky Oak for your Pinor Noir. Hmmm. Turns out the Kentucky Oak for the wines are toasted oak, unlike Burbon oak barrels which are charred. So interesting.
We enjoyed lunch at the Red Hook Brewery, and when we tipsily didn't order a beer, the waiter said, "You do know where you are, don't you?!" We pushed off again into the Hollywood district to enjoy another wine tasting at the Goose Ridge Winnery. There was an artists reception--a painting throw down. People were invited to paint onto Lois and John's canvases, where Lois had done the "underpainting"--a values study, so to speak of darks and lights. I painted orange poppies on one canvas, and purple lavender on another. These paintings were then framed and raffled off to one of the people who participated in the process. While Irena nor I won, we were both fascinated by the process and how the paintings changed in just a short time. So instead of biking home with a painting, we biked home with a bottle of Riesling!
42 miles, and lots of smiles.
Thursday, June 12, 2014
A plethora of P's to play with
Pingo
Palsa
Pisuw
some of the great words I have to look forward to in the Arctic this summer!
Palsa
Pisuw
some of the great words I have to look forward to in the Arctic this summer!
Monday, June 02, 2014
Summerland and the beach
What an incredible May this has been. It felt like Summer, so I went to Summerland.It was one of the objectives Erik and I laid out together this winter to ski in this spring season. I hadn't been back there in more than 15 years or so with the other Eric. (yes, I have two sets of friends named Erik/Eric and Melissa--both who are ski partners). We had a great day and skied some fine fine corn in the glorious sunshine. It feels good to laugh when I'm out there again.
You can laugh with us here: https://vimeo.com/97089222 (password is skiya)
Then Sunday I went to Golden Gardens to celebrate Jenn's "little brothah"'s birthday! After Jenn left, Nathaniel and I played paddle ball, I ran into some friends, and enjoyed the sun.What a magical place to live where I can do both in a weekend.
More adventures to come!
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