It wasn't raining in Florida

But it is raining here.Port Charlotte, February 16, 2007. I think it WAS windy that day.

Wind advisory

I became convinced fairly early on that there would be no rain today. Even so I was firmly parked inside the house. The National Weather Service issued a severe weather warning for straight line winds. It was in fact blowing very hard here but it never reached dangerous conditions, in my opinion. Except possibly dangerous as a cross wind for a person on a bicyle.

But around 1pm there was a noticeable diminishment of the howling and by about 2 I was feeling as though I should be riding. So out I went.

It was way too windy.

But I rode on anyway. There was only one time when I came out of the shelter of a building and caught a cross wind that nearly blew me over that it seemed even vaguely not a good idea. It was way too windy but it was fun being out there, just riding along. I concede that I did ride past one tree that had been blown over by the wind. However it did seem to me to have a bad case of dry rot of the trunk, so it was just standing there looking for an excuse to fall down.

An observation is that the white flowers come first. Another observation is that they are already starting to leave. Here are a couple of nice white flowering crabs with some pink flowering crabs in the background. These are at Commonwealth Terrace on Como Avenue.There are lots of lilacs about to reach full bloom and plenty of other signs of late spring/early summer out and about. It was windy but it is always good to be out there to see what is happening, what is changing.

Sarkozy has apparently been elected President of France. Royal has conceded and Blair and Bush et al. have telephoned congratulations. Washington can "count on our friendship," Sarkozy told hundreds of cheering supporters, though he added that "friendship means accepting that friends can have different opinions." So that seems good to me.

Arsenal 1: Chelsea 1. Manchester United clinches the league championship, unseating the two time defending champions, Chelsea.

Nantes 1: LeMans 1

I knew I could make it rain today if I tried. And eventually I did. As long as I stayed in the house the storm stayed just to our west. I was pretty sure that if I got on my bike and started down the road that it would begin to rain. I got a little more than a mile from the house before the first drops hit and managed to get home without getting very wet.

Nantes stays alive, but barely as Claudiu Keseru scored in extra time to rescue a 1-1 draw at LeMans. As best as I can determine from the game story on the FC Nantes website (in French) Nantes dominated play early but went to the half down 1-0 and were somewhat fortunate to keep it at that score until the late tally drew them even.

With only 3 games remaining the only sides outside the relegation zone still within mathematical reach of Nantes are Nice and Valenciennes. Nice now leads Nantes by 7 but did not improve themselves in losing 3-0 at AS Nancy. Valenciennes leads by 8 after falling 1-0 at Sochaux.

In England Manchester United wins the latest renewal of the Manchester Derby by defeating Manchester City at City 1-0. Chelsea is at the Arsenal in the Sunday game requiring a victory to keep the league chase alive until Wednesday's game when Manchester United visits Chelsea. Chelsea is 8 adrift with games at the Arsenal and home to ManU and Everton, needing all 9 points to overhaul ManU. ManU finishes at Chelsea and home to West Ham needing just a single point to clinch.

The FA Cup final still looms, of course, May 19 at Wembley.

Tulip time

This isn't up to the standards of tulip time in Holland by any means but when I scan through the "My Pictures" file on my hard drive I come upon this shot which in that file is labelled "Tulip Time in Tuileries". The software identifies the date the photo was taken as April 25, 2004. This is our guide wearing her Oakeys. The picture was taken near the reflecting pond at the Louvre end of the gardens and that is one of the wings of the Louvre in the background. The Jardins des Tuileries are so named because the site before becoming the location of a palace and later of these gardens was a clay pit. The kilns (or tuileries) located at the pit baked clay into the tiles which were used for the roofs of many of the buildings in the oldest sections of the city.

The photo appears here today because it prominently features a flowering tree and therefore fits into the recent theme and because it is raining here today (no bicycling).

Crown Jewel 7,722: Look 7,747

I had a CLE today which means that I was downtown at the Bar Association CLE center. That meant I was able to have lunch with Wireless. She showed me the ropes at Au Bon Pain, a soup and sandwich joint in the City Center and then we walked through Dayton's and looked around a tiny bit before she had to go back to work. She was looking very IDS today and quite springlike in her new flowered blouse. Thanks for lunch sweetie, your Daddy loves you.

This is, I am pretty sure, Boyd's house. No, obviously not those Boyds. This is Paul Boyd, a guy I played softball with for many years on the Saint Anthony Park Lutheran Church fast pitch softball team. Roy pointed out the house to me when we were stopped on the street one day last fall (me on my bike, Roy on his way to Speedy for some carrots). These Boyds live in the Park, as the locals call it. On my southern route I ride over the highest hill in the Park and then downhill past Boyds before I head out south along Raymond towards the river. It looks to me like the Boyds have one of those maples that has the reddish leaves, a Schwedler maple, I think.The Look passed the Crown Jewel today for the most miles I have ridden on any bike. This is quite significant, obviously, and it reinforces yet again that the Look is my bike. When I first got it I was only thinking that I would ride it a bit and then revert to the Crown Jewel. The Crown Jewel is a spectacularly nice bike and I never imagined that I would ride anything else. I only got the Look because it was such a good deal and because I wanted to have a carbon bike before I got too old to have a carbon bike. I had no idea that it would be such a spectacularly nice bike. It is a great, great bike. I used to have bike lust fairly regularly but it seems to be gone. I already have a spectacularly nice carbon bike and I already have one of the nicest steel bikes ever made. I look at other bikes and all I can think is that I already have two bikes way nicer than any of those, why should I bother?

Also today the Look passed the Axis for most miles on one bike so far this year. It was a mileage milestone day.

And today for the first time I rode hard enough to make it hurt. Up until now when I got tired I just went ahead and gave in. But to get stronger at some point you have to stretch, you have to try to do the work even in the face of fatigue. Today I got tired and I went ahead and pushed anyway. It is a good kind of hurt, but today it hurt.

It was a beautiful day for a ride. I had fun.

Cooling through the 60s

68 and sunny should be warm enough. And it was warm enough at the start. But cooling through the 60s is not as nice a day as warming through the 60s. Again today I was right on the edge of not being warm enough when I got home. Getting the right gear on is tricky in the spring as the rapidly changing conditions leave you guessing at least a little bit. I must admit I was surprised to find that base layer, jersey and arm warmers were not quite warm enough for two rides that began each day with the temperature at 68.

I wasn't going to start putting the shrub pictures up until they are in full bloom. But I rode past the bush that had the very first flowers that I saw and the white flowers are gone. This reminded me of how brief this burst of color is. And there is also the issue of whether I will be back past these trees again before the bloom is over.

So here is a pair of trees on the regular route in Shoreview. I have seen them more beautiful but they look pretty good today.I thought that was it for today but then as I rode through the farm campus on the way home I came upon this large bed of tulips. Upon reflection I believe that the intent here is that these tulips be viewed as maroon and gold, the school colors. I must admit to me they look mostly yellow and red. But here they are anyway, Goldy's Tulips.
Sharp eyed observers may notice a return appearance by one of the cow statutes in the upper left corner of the photo.

AC Milan proved too big an obstacle for Manchester United, winning today 3-0 in Milan. Milan's Brazilian superstar Kaka had the first goal after scoring both goals for Milan in last week's 3-2 loss in Manchester and may well have clinched European Player of the Year and maybe even World Player of the Year.

Liverpool v. AC Milan in the final, I believe May 23 in Athens. Manchester United and Chelsea still have two big games against each other, May 9 at Chelsea in the penultimate game of the regular season, and May 19 in the FA Cup final at the newly reconstructed Wembley Stadium.

Hooray, hooray

Theme day it is then.The west face of the Cathedral at Chartres.

ADDENDUM: We have tulips here too. Probably not as nice as Tulip Time, but still a nice sign of spring. Lots of flowers are now out, the lawns are green, the trees are starting to fill out. Soon enough . . .It wasn't as nice as it seemed, coolish but sunny. The wind was out of the north however and it picked up during the ride. For the first time in a really long time I wasn't dressed warmly enough. It wasn't terribly uncomfortable but the stretches into the wind were just not quite warm enough.

Major football news today, in Champions League semi-finals, Liverpool defeats Chelsea 1-0. This produced an aggregate 1-1 tie so they played extra time and eventually penalties before Liverpool prevailed. The four trophy quest for Chelsea is over as Liverpool advances to the final. The other semi-final second leg is tomorrow in Milan where AC Milan tries to overcome Manchester United and a 2-3 goal deficit.