Bike everywhere week

Instead of the widespread "Bike to Work" event of recent years, there has been a low key "Bike everywhere" week.  Will and I necessarily bike everywhere because our car is in Colorado -- it was left there with the idea that we would pick it up when we returned in the middle of August.  Even electric assist bikes give us some exercise.

Biking to drop off a bag of yard waste was so interesting that the city employee who was collecting the bags took my picture.  (Unfortunately they have stopped accepting garden waste curbside.)   they did not, however, have paper bags to give away as promised on line.  Son Dave brought me some today. 

And biking to pick up mulch for the garden generates interest from those who pass by.  Will biked yesterday to drop off the glass at the recycle bin (since they do not accept glass curbside any more).  And I biked today to the Post Office.

Old fashioned newspaper

Can't deal with digital any longer...... Not easy to scan articles, and to find articles.  I read too much of a few articles and miss the big picture.  I will still have digital subscriptions to the Japan Times and the New York Times and the Washington Post.  And I will even check out the English language paper from Mongolia.  And we may continue listening to NPR's Up First.  But......

It is inefficient to cut down trees for this, and to drive it to my home every day.  But it works for me.

What is going on in the back yard?

Yow!   A new pond is being dug -- aiming for 15 X 15 feet with shallow margins and 3 feet deep at the deepest part.  Who is digging?  Will is digging and hauling, Peg is helping haul the dirt and organize the terraces for receiving the dirt.

What is going on in the garden, part II

Blue and Purple

What is going on in the garden?

Because spring had been cool, the colors are rolling through in a leisurely fashion:

RED

YELLOW

What is going on in the neighborhoods?

Once a week, for my longer run (about 5 miles), I run through the neighborhoods.  In one driveway, I saw a personal trainer working with two adults.  In another driveway, I saw a small pile of gravel and several children's earth mover and dump truck toys.  In the street, I saw a man shoveling a very large pile of gravel -- I suggested that this was his coronavirus exercise program.  I saw a lovely homemade sign thanking the health care professionals, mail carriers, grocery workers, and others who provide essential services. 

Altercations

Altercations -- I don't like this part of the pandemic....

In the grocery store this week --  I arrived by 6:15 am for senior shopping hour.  Giant has one way isles, cashiers behind plexiglass screens, with masks, and often face shields too.  Sounds pretty safe.  And there are only a few shoppers (2 to 4) in the store, and a few staff working on shelving.  So I was at the end of an isle.  The end of the aisle was narrow because of displays in the aisle.  Someone starts towards me to pass at the narrow point. I say "Keep 6 feet away."  Instead of slowing down, she bends over and pushes past me at close distance.  She had a basket of groceries, and maybe even a Giant name tag.

And in the woods today -- remember that I am running in the woods twice a week to avoid the bike trail after altercations there.  I hear someone running up from behind.  I turn around, hold up my hand, and say "wait, I will get out of the way".  I walk maybe 6 feet along the trail, 5 feet off the trail, and face away so he can pass.  This is a man of about 40 years.  As he passes he says, he says "Passive aggressive."  I say, "SAFE."  And I add, "I don't need your snark."

I wish folks could keep their distance in a civil way.

From one batch of whole wheat dough

Old Mill of Guilford, North Carolina shipped me stone ground whole wheat flour.  I mixed up a 6 or 7 cup batch of almost completely whole wheat dough with the no-knead recipe -- made a couple of baguettes, and put the rest in the fridge (where it keeps for 2 weeks).  Then I made whole wheat pitas, then a small round loaf.

Forest bathing in the mountains

Escaped.  We spent a socially distanced weekend with Dave and his family on their land (Wolf Mountain) in the Shenandoah mountains.  We had our own campsite, and cooked and ate on opposite sides of the fire.  Madeline and Dale led us on a 4 mile hike -- including some complex navigating.  They came face to face with a deer, and found a box turtle.  It was really good to get out of Arlington and sleep in a tent!

Souvenir from the trip: Chigger bites!  The chiggers are not active until the temperature gets above 60, and we had a delightful day over 60 degrees -- they had been waiting for us!  The bites itch and last longer than mosquito bites, but they do not carry any diseases. 

Another sunny day in Arlington

We are getting only one very sunny day a week recently.  With this, we can think ahead about what to cook.  Today I did poached salmon (with fennel and leek) and strawberry cobbler (with a cornbread mix).  I also did a potato/carrot/onion mix for potato salad again.  I actually stacked the cobbler on top of the potato mix in the Sun Oven cooker-- cooking both dishes at once. 

Can I cut my own hair?

I have been watching stylists cut my hair for YEARS, and I used to cut my boy's hair when they were little.  So I was pretty sure wiki-how could help me with this.

But wiki-how said that you should probably leave tapered hair to a professional.  Not a choice in Va at the moment.  I could let it grow -- but the bangs were getting in my eyes.  So the only thing to do was to try.  Wiki-how did suggest that you should hold the hair in your non-dominant hand, so as to use the scissors with your dominant hand -- that was helpful for getting started.  However, it was almost impossible to look in the mirror and aim the scissors. 

So I switched to a tiny pair of scissors -- much easier to aim.  I figured that the goal was tapered hair -- so the unevenness in my cutting would just add to the tapering effect.  The first night I just did the front and top.  The second night I did the back and sides.  It was easier to do the back by feel than by looking.  The third and 4th nights were for evening it up.  It actually came out fine.  You can be the judge. This is the look at the end of the day -- a bit scraggly, but fine.

What to do with a sunny day in Arlington -- solar cook and....

Wed. was a sunny day, with predictions for several days of rain to follow.  Perfect for solar cooking and a bike ride.  All this fits within the stay home, but go out to exercise guidelines. 

Old-timey steamed brown bread is perfect in a solar cooker -- any temperature over 200 degrees works.  Renamed in our house:  Solar Brown Bread (or Corona Bread).  It is the right balance of healthy, sweet and rich-tasting (and vegan to boot).  The recipe is mostly from my 1964 rebound Joy of Cooking (which will also tell you how to cook a squirrel).  My Mom made it sometimes in tomato soup cans covered in aluminum foil tied with a string.  Nick and I tasted this made in a volcanic steam vent in Iceland.

1/2 cup cornmeal
1/2 cup rye flour
1/2 cup spelt or whole wheat
1 teaspoon soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup molasses
1 cup soy yogurt (regular yogurt works fine), or buttermilk, or milk with vinegar
1/2 cup yellow raisins (or regular raisins, or dried cranberries)

(Not traditional, but sliced almonds were a good addition too.)

After that was cooked, there was a lot of the sunny day left, so I put assorted vegetables in to

cook, and later turned them into a "potato" salad.  The vegetables cooked while we took a bike ride. 

After finding this wild azalea in bloom, I ordered two for the back yard (native to this part of VA).

Safe and sane running in Arlington

Running is designed to keep me sane -- but arguing with other runners and annoying the walkers is not working.  Walkers think runners should wear a mask to keep the vapors and germs that stream out from heavy breathing from infecting the walkers.  In fact, runners who are training for high altitude running sometimes run in a mask to simulate lower oxygen.  If I were training for the Denver Marathon -- that would be a great option -- but I am not. 

So here are the last 3 runs:  one through the neighborhoods for about 6 miles.  One into the woods for about 4 miles (more below), and one on the running/walking/biking path in the rain for 4 miles.  All of this avoided the density which is stressful and possibly germ-ful. 

In the woods there were two people walking dogs -- very eager to keep their distance from me.  And there was one person down by the water fishing quietly.  And there was one Mom with two kids, again, eager to keep a distance.  With the whole woods around us, it was easy to keep at a distance, and yet greet each other warmly. 

Running in the woods is good for the mind and the body -- mostly soft dirt rather than paved surface, and each footfall is a little different, putting stress on different parts of the body.  The mind needs to focus on each footfall, and also keep track of the changing seasons. 

The first picture is an improved version of the poison ivy picture.  The others show some of the season.

Poison ivy

May apple

Violets

Prairie Smoke

Prairie Smoke was the "emblem" of our church/fellowship in Madison.  Then Dan's wife Mary Beth gave me a plant from her Prairie when she was about to move and leave the Prairie behind.  It does fine here in Arlington, even though it is a long way from a Prairie.

 

Time to try trail running

My last run on the shared bike/run/walk trail had a bit of an altercation.  A runner came by me practically shoulder to shoulder.  I said, "Next time you need to be further away.  I am old."  He ran a bit ahead, stopped, and turned around, a bit confrontational. "What?"  I said, "You need to keep 6 feet away.  I am old." He said, "Relax."  I said, as he turned away to run, "I will relax when you agree to take this seriously."

Then there was the New York times article about the unpublished study suggesting that there is a plume of breath 15 feet behind a runner.  So people on the neighborhood listserve were becoming anti-runner....

Time to try trail running.  Woods.  Hiking trail of dirt, not paved.  I cannot run on the whole route:

But when I am running, the mind and brain are fully engaged with finding good footing.  And scrambling across the stream, climbing down steep steps, and avoiding rock and roots are good exercise too.

It is easy to forget that we are a short distance from a waterfall and from the Potomac River!

And a full complement of spring wildflowers, including Virginia bluebells.

And even the poison ivy is pretty this time of year from a distance.