Like Riding a Bicycle

I got back on my Purple Bicycle yesterday after who knows how long without riding. Was meeting friends for lunch at San Martin Cafe. It was a gorgeous day (sunny, 72 degrees, not windy) so I pumped up my two flat tires and took off for San Martin. I was definitely out of shape in the bike riding department, huffing and puffing by the time I got around the corner while still on Easy Street. My bike odometer battery was out of juice so mercifully I could not tell how slow I was going. It did feel good to be peddling again and I do intend to make it a more regular occurance than it has been during 2010.
San Martin Cafe has reopened with its new owners and my chicken soup was excellent. And the visit with friends was great. They were all overly impressed with the fact that I had riden my bike to lunch. It was really close but a very reasonable distance for my first bike ride in months and months.

A Photo of the Photographer and Her Photo

So what has Purple Bicycle been up to lately? Well, obviously, not much
Purple Bicycle blogging and not a lot of PB Riding. This was taken at the
opening of a photo show at The Morgan Hill House. I had 3 photos accepted
and this one, my favorite, actually ended up being sold (my first sale of a
photo). It is of El Toro Mountain with Llagas Percolation Pond and
California Poppies in the foreground.

This is our grandson Isaac on an early Easter egg hunt. The Easter Bunny hid 13 eggs for him in our back yard and he found all of them. For now he has no competition so he stops to examine and taste the contents of each egg before proceeding to the next find. Inside the eggs were loquats, cumquats, Cinnamon Toast cereal, a Thin Mint Girl Scout cookie and a tiny bunny in a basket. Once Amber and Owen have a few more years of experience they will give him a run for his eggs and I suspect that he won't stop to examine and eat the contents of each one during the hunt. Only time will tell. But for right now, at 8 and 1/2 months Amber and Owen aren't that mobile yet.

Compost Happens

Here you can see an Official CBT for Recology (formerly South Valley Disposal).
Oh, don't know what CBT is? It's Compost Bin Tester. I volunteered
about two years ago to be a CBT and it has been a very rewarding
experience. The bin came with some assembly required. Son Jay
willingly helped me with that. I have been composting for many years
but never in an Official Bin. It has a door on the back side that you
can pull up to get out compost that has been in the bin the longest
and thus it is the most "composted". My plants are happy, I am happy
and Julie from Recology is happy.

Tree on Tree

Here is the tree I made out of about 100 pieces of 24 gauge steel
wire. The tree is mounted onto a piece of petrified wood that my
nephew Gordon gave us when we were on our Arizona road trip November
2009. The trees were silver until our teacher Earnest "cooked" them in
the oven at 550 degrees until they turned bluish black. Then he
sprayed them with cold water to finish the tempering process. The
trees will gradually turn a darker black as it ages. Everybody's tree
is unique and each person is proud of their own tree and is so glad to
have gotten to participate in the class. If you want to see some of
Earnest's trees go to www.nanajos.com.

The Six Whens of Wine

I am in the throes of making a wire tree under the tuteladge of a true artist. Earnest has been crafting trees out of wire for 40 years and agreed to let a small group of us sign up for a four-week class. Once a week, we twist and twist and twist and then take a break for nuts and sweets and coffee and wine. Since I had my camera I couldn't resist snapping this advice about wine. If you would like to see our teacher's handicraft you can go to his website at http://www.nanajos.com/. Earnest is truly a renaissance man. Besides being an artist he is a Lutheran minister, a master chef, a very patient teacher and no telling what else that I don't even know about! I promise to post a photo of my finished tree. Today I did some homework twisting during the Super Bowl - a pretty exciting game. Right now the score is Saints 16 and Colts 17. I am rooting for the Saints since they have never won a Super Bowl.

Santa Clause Welcomes Jesus

I just could not resist capturing this historic moment. It's not
every Christmas that you see a yard display featuring Mary, Joseph,
Jesus, Santa, a reindeer and a bunny, not to mention 2 spiral
Christmas trees. God got me though. As I got out to take the photo my
cell phone secretly unclipped itself from my waist and landed in the
wet street. I got a call the next day from a policeman who found it.
Alas, it was drowned and could not be resusitated but at least I found
out what happened to it instead of thinking somebody was out there
using it to call Santa or Mary or Joseph or Jesus...

RX: Take a Sick Day and Pamper Yourself

This seemed like a good day to pamper myself since I am fighting off a
sore throat and a cold. I decided to use the fizzy mango papaya fizzy
bath cupcake that my favorite daughter Jennifer gave me for Mother's
Day last year. It was almost too cute to use so I took a still photo
and a movie to document its charm and its fizziness. I would be
interested in hearing what some of you out there in the eithernet do
to pamper yourselves...

Mr and Mrs Santa with Amber, Owen and Isaac

Amber, Owen and Isaac had BRUNCH with Calinda Clause and Santa Clause
at the Morgan Hill Community Center on December 17th, 2009. A good
time was had by all: games, face painting, balloon animals, Christmas
songs and candy canes.

The Road To Hell Is Paved with New Year's Resolutions

Happy New Year Everyone!

I have made a few resolutions for Twenty Ten. This photo illustrates
my first one which is to "religiously" use my Neti Pot at least once
every day. Yes, it really works and no, it does not feel that good
while you are using it. They are available at drugstores or you can go
to http://www.nasaflo.com/.

Here's a few others: Use up the teas I have before buying more.
Take a walk or a bike ride every today. I went on a nice walk today
and so far I am at 9708 steps at 4:15 pm so should have no trouble
making 10,000 steps today.
Try at least one new recipe every week. (I'm reading Julie and Julia
and cannot imagine myself being as ambitious as she was with all those
Julia Child recipes). I actually have a cookbook called "The Busy
Woman's 3 Ingredient Cookbook". I have lots of other cookbooks and
many recipes I have saved from newspapers and magazines.

That's enough reporting of all my good intentions for today. The list
I started is upstairs. I'll report in a later blog if any seem worth
mentioning.