lovely ladies July 23, 2009

today after kari jo and i tackled
a big project in her basement
we rewarded ourselves
with lunch at aroma.

it’s a delicious israeli sandwich and
salad place that opened on 72nd
street a few months ago.

we ordered our salads and took the
girls upstairs on the roof deck.
it’s a charming area on the second floor.
we had a nice lunch outside in
the humid but breezy pre-rain,
new york city summer air.

we browsed the toy/office supply
store a few storefronts down and
hit the pet store on the way back
home.

card games
puzzles
barbie dolls
blank notebooks
colored pencils
goldfish
rabbits
hamsters
parakeets

our last stop:
buttercup bakery for a cupcake.

what a fantastic morning/afternoon.
i love my cates girls!!

    

this lasted about 0.5 seconds…then back to
the silly smiles i love so much.
p.s.-do you see the chunck of hair missing under
the bow above her ear?  she got a little too friendly
with the scissors.

afternoon with lightning July 23, 2009

i just got back from a lovely
afternoon ride, just me and
lightning.

i went down to toga bike shop to price
some new pedals for my cycling
shoes to clip into.  it turns out
the pedal that matches the clip
i have on my cycling shoe is no
longer being made by look, the
brand of clips i have.

bummer!!!

i’ll figure something out.

the minute i set out for my ride it
started to sprinkle/rain and
continued in varying sererities
throughout my ride.

i went over to riverside at 68th
street and up the hudson river. 
then i went out to the street and did
a power loop. (by power i mean
steep-killer-hill-loop) it was an
accident, but i loved it in the end.

then i went down and over to the top
of the park at 110th.  the road entrance
at that spot dumps you onto the bottom
of this big massive hill and doesn’t
quit for a good while.

i tried to get a good workout out
of this ride as well as attempted to
learn my bike…but i sort of got
distracted by my surroundings.

this was my thought process:

okay, i can make it up this hill…
go
go
go
go

oh, those flowers are so pretty!
that’s where you’ve got mail was
filmed…

relax your shoulders
use your abs
breathe
breathe
breathe

that little pond is so charming!
the moss
the benches
i’ve never seen it before
i bet that couple sitting there is
having a romantic time…

push
pull (if i was clipped in with my shoes)
push
feel the pedal
push down through your heel
don’t point your toes
keep your knees in line

oh, the reservoir looks so grand today!
what a view of the city!!
i love the city!

dig in
dig
dig
take this hill like a man!
don’t stand up!
don’t do it!
almost there…

that man is wearing a scarf
and capri pants?
he must be european….

change gears
make it a bit harder
try and pass that guy up ahead of you
relax into the pain in your legs
push
push
push
don’t run over anyone…

ohhhh, sheep’s meadow!
it’s so empty
so green today
another beautiful view of the city
i wonder what those tourists are doing
for the rest of this rainy day…

as you can see i need to focus a
bit more when i do a serious
ride.  i should be thinking about
the bike and my body and going
fast and covering lots of ground…
not men’s scarves, romantic couples,
tourists, and bodies of water. 

i’ll work on this.

bicycle gang July 10, 2009

a couple fridays ago  

i got a new bike!

i haven’t ridden a bike since
i lived
in china.
it all came flowing back to me…
riding in the streets through traffic
with the cars,
weaving in and out of people with grace
(actually, just without killing anyone),
looking up at the city around me to
find myself amazed and breathless at the
beauty of my surroundings…

old memories began to flow freely and
i chuckled to myself more than once.

meghan and i went to the lower east side
to find bikes

FRANK’S BIKE SHOP

is the place to go. 

but on our way we stopped
for breakfast at doughnut planet
it
was
AMAZING!!

now, back to frank…
he reminds me of my dad
in about 20 years.

he basically gave me 2 free locks!
he took lots of time to explain our bikes
to us and teach us how to lock them up
properly. 
i sort of love frank and his cohorts. 

we met rob, a nice man with the most classic
new york accent i’ve ever heard.  he gave us
info on a triathlon on staten island in aug.

we took our bikes and rode east to the
river.  there we went under/along side the
FDR  and next to the manhattan and
brooklyn bridges.  it was so fun!!

                  

we kept yelling to eachother
“this is so amazing!!”
“i love my bike!!!”

from there we continued south down the
island to south street seaport…
cobble stone roads and a boardwalk.

after this we came upon the staten island
ferry port and the boats that go to
lady liberty,
whom i love.

lightning and thunder needed a picture alone
with the statue of liberty…do you see her standing
tall in the background?

we curved around the tip of the island
and headed north through
battery city park.

we cruised past a bunch of yatchs
and the fleet of boats owned by the
manhattan sailing school.

continued up battery city park
along the hudson river.

we took a pit stop for lunch at
a sweet little place.
THE PARK

it’s like eating in a neat old greenhouse.
we were able to sit at the edge and park
lightning and thunder next to us.

that’s our bike names.
we’re starting a bicycle gang.
our name is

weather on the 1s

new york one is our awesome
local news station that gives
you the local weather every
ten minutes on the 1s.
10:11
10:21
10:31
and so forth.

i personally love meteorology
(just check out the #1 request on
my christmas list two years in a
row…that i have yet to receive)

we might call ourselves the 1s|
or storm
for short if we need.

so all our bikes will be named
after some sort of weather terminology

lightning-my bike…she’s yellow
thunder-meg’s bike…he’s gray
cyclone-conrad’s bike…he’s blue
tsunami- whitney’s bike…he’s silver
angi and cory’s bikes i can’t remember
and julia has yet to purchase one.

cory is carrie love’s boyfriend,
not kari jo’s husband, although he
does have a bike and is included
in our bike gang… but has not gone
out with us yet.  i think his bike’s name
is wind and i can’t remember the
color.

carrie love is my new roommate.
i will introduce you to her soon.
I LOVE HER!!!  

all of our bike gang members are
required to have weather names if
they want to be in…

and
who
wouldn’t
?!?!

answer: NO ONE!!

so back to our inaugural ride.

we got back on the road after
lunch and finished up our ride
by going from 17th street
(the location of our lunch destination)
to our home on 72nd street.

we had a fantastic time.
taking a tour of new york on a bike
is highly underrated!!! 

why did i wait so long to get
a bike?!

i’m going to be looking into
t-shirts for weather on the 1s.

in the meantime me and lightning
are becoming good friends.

i will treat her well and lock
her up always.

when i lived in china me and
my family there went through
25bikes for 11 people during
our first year there.  i had three
bikes stolen in my 2.5 years.

this will NOT be the case with
lightning.  lightning will be with
me always!

i also promise to wear a helmet
when riding in the city streets
and not to talk on my cell phone
while riding.

this is the beginning of a beautiful
relationship…