Label me advised

Today the National Weather Service issued a wind advisory. They were completely correct this time, it was windy. But it is the first day of the month. It isn't quite as significant to me as the last day of the month but I hate to not ride on the 1st. It gets the month off to a bad start and I just feel like I am riding the whole rest of the month to catch up.

So the wind advisory warned of wind gusts of 30mph from the southwest. I went anyway.

The sky was described as mostly cloudy but the sun was shining when I started. My costume felt OK. However, by the time I had ridden a mile the mostly part of mostly cloudy had asserted itself and I started to fell like my costume was not OK. I was still close to home and I have the gear so back I went for leg warmers. It was only about 60 at that time. It was mostly cloudy while I was riding but not totally, the sun made another appearance as I turned into my street as I neared home.

The wind was really, really strong. I had tenuous directional control for large portions of the ride as I had to lean into the wind when it was cross to stay upright. It is tricky steering when you are part way leaned over. In one particular gust (must have been that 30mph deal) I came as close to being blown over as I have ever come. I got shoved off my center of balance and had to make an immediate emergency balance correction to keep from going down.

Today's theme for daily photo blogs is statues. With the wind from the southwest and statues in mind it was an easy decision for me. South and west of me are these cows.That picture also includes my other recent theme, flowering trees. I found myself questioning though, whether or not those are statues or sculpture. I decided to head on down to the main campus of the University, expecting to find some statues on the mall. I mean, Folwell in front of Folwell Hall, or maybe Pillsbury in front of Pillsbury Hall, for god's sakes, certainly there must be Mariucci in front of Mariucci Arena (Minnesota inside joke, I absolutely DID NOT expect to find a statue of Doug Woog or Don Lucia anywhere near Mariucci).

Alas, I found none of the above. I had despaired and resigned myself to going home without a statue. It was going to be a good ride anyway as I had now turned and started to ride towards the northeast (20mph tailwind). At nearly the last moment on campus I came across, voila, a statue in front of the Armory.The plaque says: "Erected in honor of the students of the University of Minnesota who served their country in the War with Spain 1898-9" And the Armory is a pretty nice old building.

So in honor of veterans from 1898-9, that seems pretty old, right? Not nearly as old as this statue.That statue is located in Place Jeanne d'Arc in the tiny western French town of Chinon.

In the early 15th century the heir to the French throne, Charles VII, also known as the Dauphin, sought refuge in the town. The town remained faithful to him and he made lengthy stays at his court in Chinon. In 1429 Jeanne d'Arc, the Maid of Orleans, travelled to Chinon. There is an intersection of two streets in the town that is said to be the spot upon which she became aware that she was not merely a peasant girl. It is the spot where she had the divine revelation of God's plan for her, that she was destined to lead armies. It is a small town, the intersection is still cobbled streets, the buildings are still there, it must look very much like in did in 1429. She later trained her army in the public square of Chinon, this statue in that public square in is her honor.

She met the future king at the Castle of Chinon. One story is that the king was uncertain of her motives. He had another member of the court dress as the king while he himself wore the clothes of that man and mingled into the crowd in the room. The meeting occurred in the Great Hall of the Castle. The Castle was heavily damaged by shelling during World War II and restoration is still under way. However, this is the Great Hall, roofless now, but the very spot where Jeanne met Charles.The story is that Jeanne was presented to the faux king. She turned immediately away from the imposter and went and knelt before the true Dauphin, greeting him as "My sweet lord".

As I was leaving the University campus today I happened to ride past this rodent.I recently read a newspaper article that said the University baseball team is playing all of its games this season at the Metrodome. The softball team has a field on campus, however, so I presume that this is Softball Goldy. Lots of people were honking and waving, Goldy was in character. I suspect that there are rules, when you put on the head, you have to stay in character. He did not, however, change his head or his body(another Minnesota inside joke).