June 23

Yesterday I went to exercise class in the morning and I'm really glad for 2 reasons:  1) I got panicked in the afternoon preparing for a trip and wouldn't have made it to the gym, and 2) it got really hot in the afternoon, so the morning ride was more pleasant.  Though I do like the hot weather.

I'm at the airport right now and the network is too slow to upload images.  Plus I still can't find my battery charger so took crappy pictures with my cell phone; so it's no great loss to not have the pics,  even though there was a cute one.

The temperature was 70 F at 7 am, dewpoint 70 F!   Winds were calm.   It was sunny.  I do like the morning rides because there are so many active birds especially behind Olbrich gardens.   And there was a buckeye tree.  Now I know what those are (see yesterday's post).

I stopped at the grocery store on my way home and got home about 10 am.  Now the temperature was 85 degrees F, winds 6 mph from the SW.  I saw the coolest thing behind Olbrich gardens:  a mama green heron teaching her 3 babies to fly!   They had it pretty well figured out.  It was so cute.   I took a couple of pictures of the them.  I wished I'd brought the good camera.   Maybe I'll have to start taking it all the time.  

Now I'm at the O'Hare airport.  I'm going on vacation to a Health Getaway.   I'm told there are bike rentals so maybe I'll be biking this week but I think I'll be busy going to lectures and working out and eating good food and swimming at the beach.   back on July 2...

june 20 & 21

I didn't have time to post on the weekend.  Saturday was a glorious warm day.  Others may disagree with the "glorious" part, but after our long winter, I'm still loving the heat.   The temperature was 78 degrees F at 10:30 am (dewpoint 66 F, yes, I enjoy the humidity too!), winds 6 mph from the NW.  Here's the start of the bike path.

There always seems to be something in bloom.  Now the summer flowers are starting to bloom.  This is the prairie gardens across from the Atwood Community gardens.

After my work day at church I headed to the grocery store.  I love this route.  This is the Yahara bike path I take from Johnson street to Willy street.  Thank you city of Madison for building this route!   It tunnels under the major roads.  Here's E. Washington:

Here's my favorite reading spot near E. Main.

A turtle was swimming by a duck.  

When I headed home at 1:30 pm, it was 82 F, winds from the W at 8 mph.  I road along the lake.

Then yesterday, I did a repeat of Saturday's bike ride.   It didn't feel as warm because of clouds.  Temperature was 76 F at 9 am, winds 6 mph from the SE.  I like these light winds in summer.  My camera battery is dead and I can't find my charger, so there's no picture of the bike path. 

 At church someone mentioned seeing a flowering buckeye tree.  I asked what the heck is that and he said there is one on Johnson st. and it's the only flowering tree this time of year, and that's where the Ohio St. buckeye mascot comes from.   So I went to take a look and there it was.  I remembered I have a camera on my cell phone:

It pretty and tall and makes a lot of white flowers.  

After grocery shopping I headed home at about 2pm, temp was 81 F, winds 8 mph from the SE.  I rode along the lake again.  I looked for more buckeye trees and saw several at Olbrich gardens.  

Biking along Johns street, I came across the largest lawn ornament I've seen:

Almost home, riding up Major street I saw another buckeye tree.  They have big green leaves too.  So now I know what a buckeye tree is.

june 19

oops, we drove the you-know-what today.  went shopping on the west side. 

jun 18

ah, warm and humid.   I bathed in the warm air and sun on my bike ride while wearing my shorts and t-shirt.  I finally sweated during my workout.  Everyone else thought it was too humid.  ahhhh.   felt good.   I left about 4:15 pm, the temperature was 80 degrees F, winds 10 mph from the south.   Dewpoint 66 F.  yeah! 

  

I guess I won't show the picture of the dead animal in Starkweather Creek.  Housemate would probably object.  I think it was a sea turtle.  how sad!  They are so cool.

I stopped at a friend's house on the way to the gym to drop off our dinner.   Then stopped off after the gym to eat it.   Yum.  

I headed home about 9 pm.  Temperature was 76 F, winds 10 mph from the SSE.  It was starting to get dark and was very peaceful on the bike path.  I wondered where the birds and animals headed home to at night.  

June 17

Today I had 3 different places to go, with breaks in between so I got to spend a lot of time outside. The temperature was 72 F when I left at 1:30 pm. Winds were 5 mph from the north. The sun was just starting to poke out from the clouds. It was humid. It felt great, if a little cool. Here's the duck family at Starkweather creek.

Then I realized I forgot to take a picture of the bike path. Here it is from the Starkweather creek bridge:

After my haircut, I had some time to kill before my exercise class, so I stopped at a dock on the Yahara river near E. Main st. This was nice. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping, and I read some work stuff. Got a lot done actually.

Facing north:

The ducks rambled by

looking south:

then I headed off to a meeting, read some more work stuff before the meeting started, then headed home at 8 pm. The temperature was about 70 F then, winds calm. This rose bush (I think) at the Atwood community gardens was beautiful.

june 15

Summer! It was almost warm enough today. I like to feel like I'm bathing in the warm air when I'm wearing shorts and t-shirt. I was comfortable on the ride to exercise class at 3:30. Temperature was 79. yes! perfect. Winds from the south at 7 mph. Here's the start of the bike path.

I went to body power class and then yoga. It was air conditioned in the yoga studio so I got cold. So even though the temperature was still 76 F when I left at 6:15 pm (winds ESE at 9 mph), it wasn't quite warm enough to remove the chill. Right now I'm in my office, and my computer is running about 4 models at once (started about 7 hours ago), and heating up the office to about 85 degrees. That feels about right.

Egads, tomorrow I have 4 places to go, one right after the other, and the last two might be hard to get to by bike. Will I drive? It really is no fun to drive compared to biking. sigh....

june 14

I would have been depressed if I had to drive my car today.  It was a perfect day.  It was 70 degrees F, winds calm, when I left about 9:20 am.    Here's the ole' bike path:

After church, I went to a potluck.  I had my fruit salad in an insulated bag with a small ice pack to keep it cool.  no need for a car for that!  I returned home at 2 pm.  Temperature was 76 F, winds 4 mph.  What a perfect day!   saw some ducks,

and turtles:

You can tell I didn't have my good camera with me.    I vegged on the deck when I got home.  Took a slight work break to turn over the compost.  It's good to be home.  I'm really losing interest in business travel.

june 11

I'm still in Pasadena, and I'm not biking, but this was fun:  Today I walked by this lovely orange tree, and admired it and took its picture, and the owner came over to talk to me and it turns out his son lives in Wisconsin, and he gave me two oranges from the tree.  I am going to let them ripen a bit more before eating them.  

and here's a bird.  also nothing to do with biking.  perhaps I should start a barbiebirder blog...

june 6-12

I'm on travel this week so no biking.  But I'm walking about 3-4 miles per day.  I considered renting a bike but it's nice to walk.  I'm in Pasadena, CA, and the cars are very considerate of pedestrians.  It's shocking at first.

June 5

Another fabulous June day.  Temperature was 77 F at 4:30 pm!    Winds were 10 mph gusting to 18 from the WNW so somewhat of a headwind.  But that just prolonged my time outside which is good.  Unfortunately our workout was inside and it was too hard, blech.  I hate kettleball jerks.   I had to go down in weight after the first 30 or so and use a medicine ball.   Anyway back to biking, here's the start of the bike path:

I brought my new camera with me today.  I love this camera.  However, it is kind of heavy around my shoulder, even without the telephoto lens.   Cardinals are so pretty against the blue sky and green leaves:

The peregrine falcon is in his/her nest every day when I bike by, looking inwards.  I wonder if the babies have hatched.

I love these poppies.  I'm gonna get me some of these:

Temperature was still 75 on my way home, nice!  Winds dropped down to under 5 mph so I didn't get payback for the headwind I had on the way out.  oh well.

I'm off to LA for a week so no biking, but will be walking lots.  

june 4

a beautiful spring day, still a bit cool though.  It's been a cool spring.  The temperature was 70 degrees F at 3:30 pm when I left, winds about 5 mph from the west.  a perfect day!   Here's the start of the bike path

I did see some ducklings up Starkweather creek, but neither they nor their mom posed for me.  And I didn't have my good camera.

It was like snow by the Yahara river, from the dogwoods I assume:

On the way home I stopped at the co-op for groceries, then headed home by the lake.  Temperature was 69 F, winds 4 mph.   

It's fun to see people out playing together and enjoying the weather.

june 2 & 3

no biking today.  drove the car to my kayaking lesson--which kind of defeats the purpose of trying out this "silent sport".  In retrospect I could have ridden my bike though I have to find a safe route.  

tomorrow I have a bunch of stuff to do that also would be much easier in the car, things that are hard to carry on the bike.  so I think I won't be biking then either.

it's a shame, a real shame.  I see gas prices are going up again too.

june 1

June is the nicest month in Wisconsin.  Too bad I will be gone 2 out of the 4 weeks.  I'd better enjoy the two weeks I am here.  Today it was 74 degrees F at 4:30 pm, winds 10 mph from the NNE.  The start of the bike path:

I saw the peregrine falcon coming and going to my exercise class. 

He's got a purple and green band on his feet.  I heard they have 3 eggs in their nest.

Well, this is probably as good as I can do shooting these guys, without a tripod or a closer view.  It was fun.  

Let's see, on the way home, temperature was 72 F, winds 9 mph from the NE.  A nice day.