Sam

Just some more pictures of Sam that we thought that we would share.

Sam - the new E-trade baby

Yet More Spring

Today I did a group ride with the Southern Indiana Wheelmen (well, at least partially, as I did cut off early). It was a warm sunny day, one of those near perfect spring days for riding. We had a head wind going out, but of course that meant that I had a great tail wind when I turned back around, and my pace picked up by nearly 6 kph.

I did stop to take this picture of some white daffodils that I passed.

Indiana Spring

Here are some more photos of Indiana in spring. The weather around here keeps fluctuating between sunny, warm days and dreadfully dreary rainy ones.

A week with Sam

Grandma and Grandpa Stifler were down for the week, but some how we did not end up with any pictures of them with Sam.

But, since it has been awhile since we posted any pictures of Sam, here are some new ones.

Sam in his tux sweater for his Uncle Luke's wedding, knitted by his Grandma Sandy.

Great-Grandpa Bob and Great-Aunt Annie visited us this week to meet Sam.

Sam went Columbus with Mom and Dad for a library conference, and stayed overnight in a motel for first time, he loved having the king sized bed to himself.

Lastly, yesterday, John and Sandy came over and we all went up to Hidden Hill nursery for a kite flying festival.

An old Friend

I just found this video of Ben Oliver, who is now a mechanic with the Bissell Pro Cycling team. Ben went to high school with Dan and I, and worked at the bike shop in Cadillac for years.

Well, I took Luke's advice and went for a ride today and brought my camera. As you can see from the collage of pictures it was an amazing day. My ride kept getting interrupted because everything looked so good under the blue sky and in the afternoon sun that I couldn't resist the temptation to stop and snap some pictures. But it was my first road ride in ages and I think my legs appreciated the breaks! Riding on the road is so different from riding on the trainer. I set the resistance high enough on the trainer that I have to work hard to keep the cadence up around ninety or a hundred. That way it's a good workout even in half an hour. But even when I'm working hard the computer only reads about 20 kilometers per hour. On the road with the same effort it's more like 26 or 30 km/h. But hills! Wind! Flappy windbreakers! Stinky trucks! All those things I don't have to worry about on the verandah. But then again, there's nothing like a gently curving road, wind at your back, blue sky above, and the simple mechanics of the bicyle, one of humankind's greatest inventions. Oh, and I made some new friends too! I found a note the other day, written in my handwriting, that I don't remember writing. It was an address, so I looked it up on google and it turned out to be for a bagmaker in Tsukuba. I went to the shop today and they really seemed like great people. It's a family business. The father's been making bags for thirty years. His daughter was in Canada and met and fell in love with and married a Canadian man and they came back to Japan together a year and a half ago. He had been a shoemaker and has transferred his skills to bag making and so now the business is set to carry on another generation. The whole family was very nice and I stayed and talked for nearly an hour. I am looking forward to seeing them again, and to buying a new bag!