Spring has sprung

Spring is definitely in the air, and not just because the temperatures are finally going up.  The aromas are fantastic and the the trees are in bloom.  Drive down many a road in Redlands and the scent of orange blossoms is almost overwhelmingly sweet.  And not only are my orange trees blooming but so are my apples trees.  It's hard to believe that a little over 2 weeks ago, there was snow on the ground.... a rare event in Southern California, much less in April.  I've almost felt as if I live in Michigan again: warm temps one day and blustery cold the next.  It's been a bipolar spring.  I'll certainly miss the cool temps of winter, the green hills and the refreshing air.  But the brilliance of spring is hard to complain about.  Here's just a hint of the the  rich blossoms adorning my yard:

That's a load of garbage!

I'd never been to the dump before.  In fact, my vision was one of what I'd seen in movie and TV shows.  But it certainly was nothing like what I'd imagined: a huge pile of junk with old broken TVs, radios and bikes and with banana peels strewn all over the place and garbage divers looking for treasures.  In fact, I was blown away by the whole organized process of bringing junk to the dump.  The stations to drop off metal, wood, palm fronds, and green waste by huge dumpsters.  The massive bulldozers to plow the junk under the dirt.  I was also floored by the amount of junk we produce; and a little bit sickened at that.  Of course, we were adding to that heap of rubbish being entombed in the earth.  Here was the first load:

All 800+ pounds of it.  And that was just the first load.  But it sure looks a heck of a lot better behind the garage.  Unfortunately, there are more loads to come -- there's that spider infested shed in the garden that I have to tear down and which some rabid animal has made it's home.  But for the time being, I'm recycling even more.  Might as well try to make up for that little part of the earth that I'm helping to contaminate.

I blame my father.  The homemade white bread, wheat bread, rye bread, sweet rolls... And my mother, for that matter, with her homemade cookies, bars, coffee cake... and the list goes on.We didn't know what "store bought" was in our house.  Sure there were the occasional oreos or english muffins, but that was rare.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining.  But now, I love carbs.  I NEED carbs.  Ice cream?  No thanks.  Show me the bread.  I love bread most of all.  Bread with peanut butter.  Bread with butter.  Bread with honey or cinnamon.  French toast.  Grilled cheese.  Yum!  And then there's bagels (good bagels, Bagel Beanery bagels; we're not talking Sarah Lee here).  I would eat bread for breakfast, lunch, and dinner if I could.

Can I really live without bread?  Well, I guess I'm going to find out.  I'm on my 2nd day of 30 without bread.  I figure if I put it on my blog, I'll have more incentive to stick with it.  Already, I find myself thinking, "What the heck am I going to eat for lunch today instead???"  Well, I guess I'm going to find out because here goes the next 28 1/2 days....  (I'm not counting down or anything.)

Oscar Madness

It's the Oscars tonight, otherwise known as the Academy Awards.  Or is it the Grammys, or the Emmys, or the Golden Globes, or maybe the SAG Awards.  Could there possibly be any more?  Oh yes!  Then there's the Indie Spirit Awards, the Tony Awards, the Writers Guild Awards, the MTV Movie Awards and the Critics Choice Movie Awards.  And, last but not least, the Razzie Awards where at least someone is a little honest about the quality of work that comes out of Hollywood these days.  And I won't even start in on the film festivals.  It seems that every time I turn around there's another event where beautiful people hang out with all the other beautiful people and pat each other and themselves on the back for making yet another mediocre movie (or song) through which they earn a load of money and swindle the rest of us out of $10+ (or more if it's one of the new 3D movies) every time we set foot in the theater.  But to give them a little credit this year, they did come out with a few decent movies.  I saw The King's Speech, which was excellent.  And, while I can see why Inception has been considered a rather brilliant movie, I must say that I was rather brilliantly confused while I watched it.  And I still want to see The Fighter and Black Swan.  So, as you can probably already guess, I will not be watching the Oscars this year.  Part of this is because I'm working, and part because I really don't care.  Although, I do occasionally like to see a few of the beautiful dresses of the beautifully dressed; and somehow, I do still want to see a replay of Lady Gaga in the egg at the Grammy Awards... just out of curiosity.

And.... The Answer Was "NO!"

And the question was "How about a ride up Crafton?"  I must say that I got a pure look of horror from Matt.  He must still be suffering from PTSD after hearing me scream for 3 hours on Loch Leven. I can't imagine why?  But, it has, after all, been almost 7 months already.  Or, as Matt would say, it's "only" been 7 months.  Personally, I think it's because he's now commandered my Gary Fisher Super Fly 29er as his own.  While I was laid up, he pilfered parts for his own mountain bike (make that 3 bikes).  And now it's hooked up to a tag along.  But, PLEEEAASE?!?!?!  Can I?  I'm finding the road getting a little boring already.  I miss the nature, the birds, the fresh mountain air, green foliage and mountain flowers.  I guess I'm going to have to lace up those new trail shoes I bought and put a little more work and time into a mountain trail instead of just pedaling.  After my initial downfall trying to run which ended in knee pain, I'm trying to restart my running career with a little more smarts.  It's called running with a little walking mixed in (and usually by the end of my run, it finishes with a little more walking than running because lifting my leg becomes a problem).  No matter, marathon here I come; hopefully sooner rather than later (fingers crossed).  Maybe the New York Marathon in November, right Cathi?

Kitchen Transformation

From a Carriage House converted to 1970's kitchen.....

To "what were they thinking???" green and white tile...

To finally something all my own...

More on Bike Lanes

It seems like the thing to write about lately is bike lanes, or rather, the lack there of.  The funny thing is, as I'm back on my bike and also back to nearly being roadkill, I was considering the same thing.  Yes, I know, I wrote on this same subject last year, but the whole thing never ceases to annoy me.  Sure, I may not be the most patient driver in the world.  But I've certainly become more relaxed in the last couple of years, and my impatience is usually reserved for bad freeway drivers. And, if you haven't noticed, there are a lot of bad freeway drivers who also, I'm sure, drive badly on city streets. Anyway, in reference to the question, "How come Redlands has no bike lanes?", my question is "Why does Yucaipa have bike lanes and repaves its roads, yet Redlands can't seem to do either?"  Seriously, Yucaipa repaved a random road in a random neighborhood, that in reality was probably already in better shape than a lot of Redlands' roads.  Sigh.  But, I guess I'd rather live in Redlands than in Yucaipa, so I'll just have to deal with those unanswerable questions.  And bike lanes or no bike lanes, there are a lot of stupid drivers out there too.