Recommended by Opal

Opal said that it was the best cinnamon ever.  When she was a girl the Watkins man came to their farm and her mother Olga always got some cinnamon.  Best cinnamon ever.

Later on our beloved dafter worked for a corporation that was also the owner of Watkins.  When I first started buying this cinnamon it was at least partly because of the employee discount available to me through that offspring.  I buy in bulk directly from the name on the can.

Because it IS the best cinnamon ever and I use it exclusively.

Every year we get a coupon book for the State Fair that features a discount on a single 6 ounce can of Cannelle.  We get two of those coupon books and always make a swing down to that end of the grounds to purchase our discounted two tins.  Best cinnamon ever.

The last time I purchased directly from the name on the can I bought a very large amount.  I calculated how many cans I would have to buy to raise the amount of my order to the level where I would get free shipping.  I think it might have been something like 18 cans.  I know that the cinnamon comes 12 to a box and inside my shipping carton I had a full unopened box and several more cans.

Well, I am almost out.

I went to the website as I have in the past.  I don't really want that much cinnamon on hand at this point so I was going to order a couple or a few cans and figure out how to minimize shipping.  Something has changed at the website and now in order to figure out shipping before checkout they required that I call them.  I've been trying to get around to that.  In addition I decided that I should check the local grocery store price to be sure how many I needed to order to make the price worthwhile with shipping included.

The price at the website was $9 almost $10.  When I checked earlier today they were running a special for $8.54 per 6 ounce can.

After poker tonight I stopped at the grocery store for the sole purpose of visiting the spice aisle.

$3.99

I bought all they had in the store which admittedly was only three cans.

Best cinnamon ever.

Favorite pavement

Some of my favorite pavement is closed to me for a while.

I got out in the morning but by the time I got home it was too hot and starting to get windy.

GRider

In her occasional appearances in our garage BGR of late has begun to comment on "Grandma's bike hanging upside down."

Well, do not despair little girl, that problem has been remedied.

And, in fact, Grandma has been out for a bicycle ride.

She is now fully updated on the construction projects at the Fairgrounds.

OOTNDITHOD.

Kid from Minneapolis in a red hat

Lots of good stuff here, a tribute to the late George Harrison, an all star band playing "While My Guitar Gently Weeps".

Prominent in the first half of the video is the late Tom Petty.

The second half of the video is dominated by the not gently weeping guitar genius of a kid from Minneapolis, Prince Roger Nelson.

Andy wrestled him when they were both in junior high.

George Harrison's son plays guitar and is prominent in many of the camera shots.

PSPS

I rode on Saturday.  I got a photo but didn't post anything.

It was my first ride of the season to a destination.  A destination ride means you go somewhere.  Life experience dictates that you not go somewhere until you have confidence that you will be able to get back.

The first destination was Lake Como.  Here is LOOK at Lake Como.

Lighting for that photo may make it indistinct but the ice is definitely out.

Saturday made three days in a row, again something that I haven't done for a long time.  I took Sunday off.

But I was out again today.  I added a couple of miles to my previous distance and can now report that if bicycle fitness does not significantly degrade between now and August that I will be able to make the out and back ride to the PSPS.

I was just across Snelling heading to some JRA at the Fairgrounds when a young person on a pretty nice bike passed me.  He took the time to tell me that he really liked my bike.

So the old bicycle still has it even as the old bicyclist increasingly does not.

The extra couple of miles took me down to Dead Man's Curve.

That spot actually has been well within range almost from ride 1.  There didn't seem any reason to go there though as there isn't anything very close on the other side of the underpass to justify going through there.  What you get is some unpleasant traffic, an uphill I really don't care for and usually a bunch of broken glass in the bike lane.

The thermometer said it was 82 when I was at the Cattle Barn.

A nice day for a ride.

Auckland Rule

Today was much too windy for bicycling but I managed to eke out a ride anyway.

And it turned out to be a day of glorious scenery, starting with the quite nearby tulip yard.

Not even three weeks removed from 16 inches of snow.

I also circled by the tree that I mentioned last week.  The leaves are a bright and pretty shade of green.

Last week they were even more fresh looking but I think the shrub is still looking good today.

And sure enough the first sighting of some slightly pinkish flowers on someone's yard shrubbery.

It is a late spring but having finally arrived the season is definitely now moving rapidly.

I also realized that I did not report yesterday's largest piece of bicycle content.

It is now May and as I have made a few rides since the blizzard I have been monitoring the street sweeping.  Most of Roseville has been swept including my street and the nearby streets that make up my usual egress and ingress from my neighborhood.  Lauderdale has not been swept yet but most of Falcon Heights has.

We had day care pick up on Wednesday, I did not ride.  But on Tuesday I had noticed that the nearby streets in Saint Paul that I ride a lot, the streets between here and the Fairgrounds, were posted for no parking on Wednesday, strongly suggesting that those streets were going to be swept.

I went all in, figuring that the sweeping of the streets meant that the season had arrived and I could ride my summer bicycle.

I was determined but, and here comes the bicycle content, I almost didn't get to ride at all.  The tires on FirstLOOK needed to be pumped before I could ride that bicycle and my pump didn't seem up to the task.

It took a while and a bit of fiddling with three different pumps but I eventually got the tires up to a pressure sufficient for riding.

Last evening I embarked on a project involving my main pump.

What the heck was the problem and was it something I could fix?

The metal parts comprising the pump head needed to be tightened and indeed that was something I could fix.

A tiny bit disappointing.  When you set out to do something expecting that it will be a project and it ends up being way too easy you don't get the big satisfaction reward of having conquered something difficult.

*sigh*

But I did get to ride today.

South wind at start. north wind at finish

Which means head in wind in both directions.

*sigh*

But by starting out into the south wind I passed by a couple of things that I mentioned the other day but which I had previously failed to photograph due to user error (I forgot to bring my camera).

So here is the many times previously pictured first flowering shrub that I encountered this year, and many other years in the past.

Less than three weeks after 16 inches of snow.

This one is a different species but pretty showy.

The white flowers come first, the blossoms with some color seem to take just a bit longer.  But soon enough there will be some pink and then some darker pink and all sorts of springtime joy.

One last look though, here is the State Fair parking lot approximately across the street from the Toro building.

Even with temperatures into the 70s that pile has not quite given up yet.

I would be surprised to find anything there tomorrow though.

The garage thermometer today reports 77F.