Photographs: January 2009 Archives

Hey, it's me. Remember me? The girl who used to post every other dayishly.

Yeah. Well.

I keep writing these little posts and then deciding they are too personal, or too dull, or half a thought but I don't want to tell you the other half, or I am not sure about that pic, blah blah, and then it sits there in the drafts getting cold, and who really wants cold brain mash anyway?

Which is ironic, since my brain is such a hotbed of feverish activity of late. Yes, I know, that's two warmth-related terms in one phrase. But there's a whole lot of cookin' going on up there right now.

Which is just as well, because we're headed into the coldest week thus far this winter, and I am madly strategizing ways to keep pedaling whilst also keeping my toes attached and in good working order. Not sure if it's even possible, honestly, with my current shoe-pedal arrangement, but we shall see.

They did actually clear the bridge this week, and I had a gloriously unfettered ride into town yesterday, and an only slightly icy one home tonight, which I handled well enough. Had that moment when I realized I was barreling downhill at about 20 mph and right onto a series of icy patches, kept my head when I began to skid, slowed down with my legs, braked a little in a relatively clear spot, and all in all kept control of the vehicle.

Yay me.

Yay me in several other ways this week, I think, though it's merely Monday. Again I am being cryptic, but I talked it all out with Boywich the other day, and it was all very interesting. Here's the general outline:

Everything is fixable. No opportunity is ever lost.

Also, I am a replicant, apparently. Or maybe not. Jury's still out on that one.

Aren't my clementines pretty?

This will sound a bit bipolar after yesterday, but honest, I'm quite mentally healthy on the whole. I have noticed, however, that sometimes a down day is followed by a delightful one, as if to show myself that life is still worth its salt.

So here's a list. (It's been a while since we had a good list, hasn't it now?)

Things That Make Me High:

1. Exercise.
2. Preferably on a bicycle.
3. Buying new bicycles.
4. Coffee.
5. Socializing, especially after a protracted and perhaps unwelcome period of solitude.
6. Vinegary collard greens. Also yams.
7. Cute boys.
8. Sunshine, especially in midwinter.
9. Good music.

Okay, there isn't a tenth.

Apart from the cute boys part, and the good music (which I now have on but which did not figure largely into my day), I had all of those things today.

Oh yes, and:

10. Getting a haircut.

So there is a tenth.

Just don't tell my mom about the bike, okay? Or my dad. Or anyone I know.

xoxo,
Lizbon

All his hands are in flower form. But still he sinks. - uh, me, actually. written yesterday.

Welcome to the new year. Feels a lot like the old year, if you ask me. Knee still hurts. Back still messed up (and I'm an hour late for taking my Naproxen so I'm feelin' it).

This was my first cup of coffee of the new year, and it looked so fetching that I took a picture of it. I then decided that taking pictures was what I wanted to do with my remaining daylight, so Nikon and I went for a nice walk together.

I mean, it was cold, and I just missed Golden Hour, so the light was fading fast, and my back hurt just carrying that little camera, but still and all it was good to get out and look and think.

I realized, as I was walking along, that I don't get into those deep thought processes when I'm riding my bike, which is weird at first glance, because you'd think there'd be something meditative about all that pedal-turning. And there is.

It just doesn't bring on thoughts about much else other than the bike itself. And the meditative bit only happens at night, when I start to focus on the sounds of motion.

Of course, there's a very good reason for this - during the day, or earlier evening, the streets are a very real, and deadly, videogame. And if my mind were wandering away from me even a tiny bit, I'd be paint on somebody's bumper. You need your wits about you in this joint.

I watch, sometimes, one of my faster, more nimble friends threading his or her way through traffic and am amazed at the physics of it. In the spectrum of cyclists, I am quite cautious, and lately, very slow.

When I was less injured and it was warmer out (knees like warmer), I had gotten a bit faster, and I remember going for a ride with one of my friends with whom I hadn't ridden in a long time, and he, after turning to wait for me and finding that I'd kept up, exclaimed, "Hey, you got fast! I turned to see where you were, and you were right there. That's so cool."

And it was such a happy, perfect moment.

I hadn't even realized what a good, good summer I had until it was gone. And now, I am not sure of course, but I suspect I am having kind of a bad winter, with one thing and another.

Funny how you can never see just where you are when you are in it. As if we've always just come up from underground and stand here, blindly looking around, trying to get our bearings.

Wow. Didn't mean to be a downer today; that just seems to be where the stream led.

Enjoy the pics anyway. I think the blog's been a bit Nikon-starved for a while.