Merry Christmas

It's Christmas Eve, but before we went on our trip around to see friends in the area, I got out for a little ride.   The main goal was to make it to Highlandtown to get a picture of this:

That's right, that is a bust of Frank Zappa, dolled up as Santa.   Mission accomplished, I rolled out to try and generate enough heat to warm my hands up.   Not much luck with that (40 degrees today), but I did spot this full block mural along the way.

Then it was back to the house and clean up and grab some breakfast.   Every year we go around and visit friends on Christmas Eve down in DC.   We even got a little snow on the way down there to round out the Christmas feel.   We made the rounds and had a bunch of laughs, then headed back to Baltimore to get dolled up for dinner.   We stopped over at Larry and Rachel's (our neighbors across the street) for cocktails, then headed down to Della Notte in Little Italy for our traditional Christmas Eve dinner.   Here is Kathleen at dinner, you will have to excuse the grainy quality, I had the camera exposure up because the flash picture looked like crap.

Then we headed up to Hampden to see the Miracle on 34th Street, a truly Baltimore spectacle.

We got back a little while ago, and got this picture before Kathleen went to hide so Santa could do his thing.

Merry Christmas everybody!

Celtic Solstice

Today was the Celtic Solstice 5 Miler at Druid Lake Park, and since Kathleen was running in it, I did my thing and went up to spectate.   It was cold (about 40 degrees) when I left, but the bitchin' Mavic jacket that Kathleen got me for my Birthday was nice and warm, still need to work out gloves though.   I made it up to the park in time for the start, and waiting around on the bridge I noticed this, can't say I disagree.

But then the race started, here are the guys from Twenty20 leading them out.

I missed Kathleen at the start, but got a blurry picture of my shoe, a little while later I caught her coming by as they doubled back.

I went down to the lake, and managed to successfully catch her again as she came by.

While down there, I noticed this stump that had been made into art. Very cool.

But then it was back to the house to shower and warm up while Kathleen went to breakfast with some Triathlon friends.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Kathleen got up early this morning and went and ran the Turkey Trot in Harbor East.  I originally intended to get up and ride around and take pictures as I have for the past couple of years (2011, 2010.)  but I flaked and slept in instead :).   But this afternoon we did go out for a ride around the city.  We headed out to Fort McHenry which meant a trip up the Federal Hill segment on Strava.  I knew this was coming and powered my way up to a PR :).   Kathleen got the women's KOM (king of the mountain) on the same segment, and was faster than I up it.   Then we rolled through the neighborhoods on our way to Fort Ave.

Once on Fort it was out to Fort McHenry (cleverly situated at the end of Fort Ave).

On our way back up Key Highway I managed to take a rolling self portrait with Kathleen, love the fact that the roads are so empty this afternoon.

We ended up going up the epic Calvert Street grade at North Ave we spotted this mosaic on a rowhouse.

Then we continued across North Ave with the intent of cutting back over to Broadway for the newly painted bike lanes.  On our way we passed this school with groovy art out front.

Then it was back down to the house, this is the view down the hill from Pratt & Chester, Kathleen pointed out the various elements, the church, the water, and the ships across the way.

Then it was home to get cleaned up and getting Thanksgiving dinner together. Here is Kathleen moving the pork roast (from our local farmers market dontcha know).

And the full extent of the destruction in the Kitchen, this will be my problem after dinner :)

But the dinner was delicious, hope everybody had a nice Thanksgiving.

Fall Colors

We were planning on going for a ride today, however, I was not planning on having to take more gear down to Constitution Hall for Aretha Franklin.   Surprise, they decided they were having a string section for the show we are doing tonight, and didn't tell us.   I got back about 3PM and Kathleen and I went out for a ride before it got dark.   The trees are truly colorful this time of year, I am glad that Sandy didn't blow all the leaves away as I feared it would.   Riding up Washington Street there were some good ones.

A little further up is this mural, I have ridden by it dozens of times but never seen it because it is on the side of the building you never see if you are going with traffic, I am sure it is celebrating the rich heritage of the rhinoceros here in Baltimore.

A quick lap around the lake, then up 33rd to St Paul where I spotted this tree doing it's thing with the sun setting through it.

On our way home we passed these houses in Fells Point, not many wood houses left, and usually the trees out front hide their colorful paint.

Then it was back to the house and down to Verde for dinner, which was delicious, and new to the neighborhood.

Nigel Tufnel Day

Today is 11/11 which means that it's Nigel Tufnel Day.   Who you say?  Here is a reminder.

At any rate, Kathleen and I went out for a quick ride this afternoon, after a a couple of weeks of very traditional fall weather, today was in the mid 60s, it would have been criminal not to get out.  We rode up to Druid Lake Park, here's Kathleen following me up the switchbacks from Falls Road.  I thought that Sandy would ruin the fall colors, but they are still going on.

Once we got up to the park it was a quick loop around the lake, here's downtown from the bike path around the lake.

But then it was time to split, we were supposed to go to a baby party thing with Kathleen's running and wine drinking friends.   I bombed the downhill, all the stars lined up just right for the run, netting me the second best time ever down the segment (see the map, it's called down the switchbacks).   I waited for Kathleen to come down, here she is coming down the hill.

On our way back to the house, I spotted this arrangement around the corner from us, not very often a big crane is in the neighborhood.

Since the weather was so nice I got to wear the groovy bamboo cloth jersey Kathleen got me for our anniversary a couple of weeks ago.

We got cleaned up and headed over to the party.   The idea was that it wasn't going to be a traditional baby shower, and instead spouses/significant others were going to be there.   However, upon arrival it seemed that most SO's had decided to skip out.   So I met Kathleen's friends confirming my existence, the headed home to ride over to Federal Hill on the city bike for cat food.   On the way back I stopped to get this picture.

Then a quick stop at the BOP for a couple of slices of pizza and a soda before heading home.

Election Day!

Today was election day, obviously, so I got my butt out of bed and went out for a ride.  Brisk fall morning, about 38 degrees out when I left, but nice and sunny.   I headed down towards the Inner Harbor, when I encountered this on Eastern Ave.

Some sort of big fire going on, they had hoses on every hydrant on the block.   I cut over to Aliceanna and then back up Broadway to Fleet, where this was the scene.  Apparently this is the second fire in that building this year. 

I left the scene and did the loop out to Fort McHenry, then back through the neighborhood to my poling place, the firehouse at the end of the street coincidentally enough.   The firefighters and equipment were down the street, but lots of people lined up to vote.   I took my place in the line, enjoyed some sun, and after 20 minutes or so got to vote.   No drama with bringing my bike in either thankfully, I wasn't keen on leaving it outside.   Once inside I did my thing, got my sticker and a compliment on my new jacket (toasty warm by the way), and then headed up the block to shower and head off to work.

As I have decided this is my tradition (voting by bike) here is my de rigueur shot of my bike proudly wearing my I voted sticker, new ones this year too!

Brrrrr!

Today turned out to be very windy, it was about 48 degrees, which isn't so bad, but 20-30mph winds made it brutal.   We loaded up the bikes on the Subaru and headed out to join the Baltimore Bicycle Club's group ride in Ellicott City.   It was windy in the city, but even more so out in the sticks.   We made it there on time but then missed the start of the ride to tighten Kathleen's saddle mount on her bike, but we took off figuring we would catch up.  Here's Kathleen bombing down one of the many hills of the day, as we were in pursuit of the group.

I caught up with her and got a little riding portrait.

The route was gorgeous, once again here I am chasing Kathleen down.

The early part of the ride ran along this river, as you can see, Sandy pretty much took all of the leaves down, starting to look very winterlike out.

After riding along for a little while, we decided that it was just too unpleasant, but we are going to try and go back and do the whole ride (48 miles), but for today we shortcut the loop back to the car, we never did see the rest of the ride.   Here is our map for today, we actually started at the same place where we ended, but I forgot to start my computer at the beginning in our rush to try and catch the group.   On our way back we saw all sorts of other stuff though, including this old barn.

Not to mention some open roads, and brutal winds in parts like this, here is Kathleen dropping me like a bad habit on one of the many climbs for today.

A little further along we passed a farm where there were bison (we think), sorry for the blurry picture, I was fumbling with the zoom when I took it.

Then it was back to the house, and down to the Red Star for brunch.

Errands

After a sleep in day (for me) Kathleen and I went out on the city bikes to get some sneaky pill hiding treats for Sophie.   We rode down through Patterson Park where there was some sort of festival going on.

We continued to Dogma in Brewers Hill, but they didn't have what we were looking for, so our quick jaunt turned into a ten mile epic ride (for these bikes) to Federal Hill to get the treats. Then back to the house for dinner.

The Frankenstorm is Coming

It was a nice (mid 60's) day today, and with the Frankenstorm coming, I decided I better get out and see some leaves before it's too late.   So I commuted to work on my usual route, and got some leaf action.  This shot is on the Gwynns Falls trail coming into work.  It was a gray and overcast, but I was hoping for a little sun for the ride home.

I ended up having to split at 2:00PM to take Sophie to the Vet, so off I went.   This is looking across the bridge from the shop side.

Across the street is our closest neighbor, and the last house on the road before the park starts.

This is down at the end of Wetheredsville (opposite end from the shop).

Then it was to the house, to the vet, and dinner before heading down to Matt's in Rockville to work on his car windows.

Sunset Ride Around the Harbor

After a day fully consumed by work, Kathleen and I got out on the road bikes this evening for a ride.   Just a quick spin around the harbor out to Fort McHenry and back.   Here is the Inner Harbor at sunset.

Here is Kathleen caught in the middle of stretching her neck out while waiting for me to take the first picture.

Then it was back to the house to get my act together for an 18 hour trip to Miami.