Vegan Scone

Point Reyes Station Blackbird dad feeding his teenage daughter a crumb of delicious Bovine Bakery vegan scone. High time for the youngster to feed herself, I say.

 

Motorpacing

Driving along the Nicasio Valley Road I overtook a bicyclist hot on the tail of a motorscooter, a sight I had never seen before. I drove ahead, then stopped the car, and got out to take a picture, the Tour de France having rekindled my interest in bicycle racing.

 

When I got home I rushed to my trusty Google and found the following, rather cute account of motorpacing ~

 

I have this one fantasy where I am fabulously wealthy, live in an architecturally elegant yet not too big house, and have a live-in housekeeper who motorpaces me on the weekends. She'd wear a French maid outfit even while driving the scooter and she'd have the French accent too. Well, Herriott Performance Sports doesn't have the more fantastical elements, but they do have the motorscooter tricked out with a Kreitler roller. The roller is a safety device in case the front wheel of your bike should get too close to the scooter. Why would you want to motorpace, as in ride in the draft of a motorized vehicle? Because a bike handles far differently at 30 mph than 20 mph, and to really be competitive at the upper levels of cyclesport, you need to be able to handle a bike properly at that speed. Plus the effort of turning a big gear at high speed can't quite be replicated at a slower speed. To become skilled and strong at speed, one needs to ride at that speed.

 

Unfortunately, a close look at my picture reveals no French maid, but you can clearly see a roller in the back of the scooter.

 

It's All Margie's Fault!

It's all Margie's fault! You see, Margie and Dick recently went on a cruise to South America, aboard the Holland America Line's ms Amsterdam. Each day, they found a towel on their bed, creatively folded, and decorated with a pair of eyes. Margie, in her generosity, saved me a couple of these, certain that I would know what to do with them.

 

Yesterday, walking on the Bear Valley Trail in Point Reyes, the opportunity presented itself. A traffic cone, with a smiling mouth! I wrestled it to the ground, and the rest is history!

 

Tug-of-War

On the 4th of July, tradition has the towns of Bolinas and Stinson Beach engage in a fiercely fought tug-of-war, with the rope stretched across the inlet of the Bolinas Lagoon. My picture shows the Bolinas men's team pulling to a victory, driven by the crowd's ear-splitting shout of "pull, pull, pull"! Earlier, the Bolinas women lost on an unfortunate technicality.

 

Don't tell anyone, but each year Bolinas sports the best Independence Day celebration of Northern California! You won't find Bolinas anyway, because the Bolinas Border Patrol religeously removes all signs pointing to the town as soon as they are put up!

 

Rope

This is meant to be an Artsy-Fartsy picture.

 

If that description doesn't satisfy you ~ this was the rope that was used in the 4th of July Stinson Beach vs Bolinas tug-of-war. One end of the rope was taken by boat from Bolinas, across the Bolinas Lagoon, to Stinson. My picture shows the rope resting before the big event.

 

Bolinas - 4th of July

The Independence Day Celebration in Bolinas is my favorite. It all starts with a tug-of-war across the inlet between Stinson Beach and Bolinas. Here a bunch of Bolinas kids are watching intently.

 

The sculptor Beniamino Benvenuto Bufano was born in Italy in 1898. He spent most of his life in San Francisco. Tiny of stature, he created many large sculptures, favoring granite. Among his better-known works are a statue called 'Peace' at Lake Merced and another of Sun Yat-sen in Chinatown. Bennie, as he was affectionately called, was an anti-war activist who chopped off his trigger finger at the outset of World War I, and sent it to Woodrow Wilson. He died in 1970. Strangely, there is a Bufano sculpture garden at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. While I liked Bufano, whom I had seen a number of times, and enjoy his work, I don't believe that he was a great artist. None of the major museums own any of his work.

 

The 'Bear' in my picture stands in front of the Ross Town Hall. It was gifted to the town in 1971. The town fathers/mothers decorate it for most holidays, such as Christmas, Easter, and, as you see, the Fourth of July.

 

A Respite from Bird Pictures

A RESPITE FROM BIRD PICTURES

 

Canada Geese

The early bird catches the Photoshop.

 

This morning at the Corte Madera Creek.

 

Audubon Canyon Ranch

Last Saturday, Bob T. and I hiked up to the Henderson Overlook at the Audubon Canyon Ranch in Bolinas, to witness Egret chicks taking their first flight, from nests high up in the large redwood grove. We were told there were more than 100 chicks in the trees. Soon they will be gone. Look closely at my picture and you will see a couple of the large nests. It is hard for me to imagine taking such a "first flight". But then, I am "chicken", obviously the wrong kind of bird!