July 22, 2008
Bicycle Commuting Diaries
First of all, I got whistled at yesterday morning!!!! I can’t decide if I’m more amazed that men still do this in the 21st century, or that they do it when a 42 year old woman bikes by. I mean, I realize that it still sometimes happens where several men are gathered together doing some macho thing-but this was a lone guy sitting on his porch with a cup of coffee in a residential area. And I’m an old mom. Maybe it was meant as charity ; ) But really, I didn’t appreciate it much.
Though, a few blocks later, I was passed by a young woman with a feather boa wrapped around her bike bar ( the new biking challenge is creating a whole new subculture) who shouted out “great skirt” as she sailed by me on the downhill to the pedestrian bridge. So maybe I was attracting more attention than I realize.
The downtown business partnership has issued a challenge to everyone who commutes downtown to bike for the whole month of August, log your miles on their website, and have a chance at fabulous prizes. I think it is totally unfair that, though I commute downtown, I am not eligible because I am not a new bicycle commuter-and I can’t enter their consolation contest for current commuters, because they did it by zip code-and my office is a block off the boundary.
Yet, I need to deal with the increased bicycle traffic and frequent lack of courtesy from inexperienced commuters-this morning I was simultaneously passed on the right and the left in the bike lane at a busy intersection by bikers who did not announce themselves and clearly didn’t want to be stuck behind an MWT (mom with trailer). Yeah, I know we are the bottom of the hierarchy in the biking community, but a) I need to drop my daughter at daycare and get to the office the same time as everyone else, b) unless you are a racer, I’m probably moving as fast as if not faster than you (when the three of us moved to single file at the other side of the intersection, I was in the middle)-the trailer only slows me a bit on the up hill c) don’t ever pass another biker at a busy intersection without announcing yourself. I can hear you, but my rearview is set at a height for cars, and I can’t tell what you are doing, what side you are coming on-or how aware you are of me.
Coming through downtown sans trailer, I was passed with less than a foot berth by a racer who went right through the red light. And no, he didn’t announce himself. If I had turned at the sound of the bike, I would likely have been knocked into the bus lane. I’m really hoping the increased cycling will create more public education for cyclists. Because frankly, they scare me more than cars somedays.
And I just learned that my path into downtown will be closed for the democratic national convention, which may force me back onto Park Avenue. Remember when I biked in on Park in the snow last December? Yeah, not looking forward to that. I did put a call in to the convention security company suggesting that they make accommodation for bicycle commuters coming from the northwest-since it is in their best interest to have more commuters on bikes than in cars. I await their response.
More about last weekend adventures in the yurt coming soon-as well as other updates. I did finally cut off the land line, so I don’t have connectivity at home until the VOIP/internet is up and running. It was easier than explaining to phone company what happened to my modem ; )
July 16, 2008
When Did THAT Happen?!!
Last week, I spent several days at the oil and gas conference-would love to blog about it, but really can’t. You can just use your imaginations: me, sitting at a luncheon with my bike helmet and Sierra Club backpack next to my chair, surrounded by Texas OilMEN, as a keynote speaker talks about the need to educate the public about the danger of environmentalists to national security in terms of demanding things like oh, due process for environmental impact statements. Yeah. To be fair, the speaker the day before announced his intention to spend a significant portion of his wealth, earned entirely from oil revenues, building wind farms-and he challenged everyone in the room to match his commitment. And everyone at my table had intelligent thoughtful commentary to add to the dialogue. And they all acknowledged that the problem is that there is this chasm between them and the intelligent thoughtful people on the other side of the issues. And that the chasm is perpetuated by professional politicians who benefit from partisanship.
Anyway, the conference included several late night parties, receptions, etc. After the first one, it was obvious the next morning that lbg was furious that I had not been home the night before. So, the second night, I determined that I would leave at 6pm no matter what (if your wondering about the connection-my organization provides energy assistance to low income households-energy companies feel it is a good fit for their companies to donate to energy assistance-thus I make it easy by being visible at their conference ; ) I also learn a lot about how complicated energy is, which I find fascinating. Perk.) jb planned to pick me up at the office, so I ran back down the mall (pausing briefly at the sight of an Amish couple sitting in the window at St@rbucks) and started unlocking my bike on the veranda of our building. Suddenly, lbg ran past me. I was startled-I usually meet them in the parking lot behind the building. Then she ran past me again. And again. And again. I hugged jb, and then it suddenly dawned on me. lbg was RUNNING up and down the patio. I said “jb, she’s RUNNING!” He smiled and said, “sure, she sees it every day, and she just figured it out.”
I love daycare. Of course, I would like a little less of it. But lbg learns so much from being surrounded by other kids of various ages on a daily basis. I would never want to take her out of that environment entirely.
For reference, when we were at Mt. Evans a couple of weeks ago, she staggered across the clearing as fast as she could to get to me. It wasn’t very fast:
July 14, 2008
Native Plant Master?
Saturday morning we had to get up EARLY to be up near James Peak by 8 am (90 minute drive) for my Native Plant Master Certification Course. BT (before toddler) I was always up early on Saturdays and never understood the concept of sleeping in on the weekends and wasting any of MY time. Yeah, I get it now. I am SO SO VERY TIRED these days.
Why I signed up to renew my certification this year, I don’t know. The classes are the next 3 weekends, with an exam at the end. The certification benefits me in no way and, though I enjoy it, it’s not on the short list of things that are important to me with limited personal time. But it’s important to jb-OMG, I just realized that we are driving up there 6 weekends, not 3, because his classes are in September!!!! –not the same location, but same time and long drive.
We go together and stay after the class. It’s incredibly beautiful and amazing plant diversity:
And lbg is very insistently patting the railroad tie next to her and telling me to sit:
We also got in some good trainspotting-lbg is already as crazy as jb and I are about trains, and knows the difference between a boxcar and a coal car:
This weekend, we drove back to Denver for the dance Saturday night, but we will stay the next two weekends. Probably visit jb’s cousin s, who lives near there in a beautiful SMALL house (as Rafe P0mer@nce recently said, we need Hollywood to make small houses sexy) on a lot of land. S and his wife are in their mid 40s, he and jb grew up together in Texas, and had their first baby almost a year ago. Natural childbirth, at home with midwives, 50 miles from the nearest hospital-and mother and baby did not travel in a car for the first 4 months-just long hikes in the mountains around their home. It’s overwhelming to think how incredibly different baby q’s entry into this world was from lbg’s, and it really underlines for me the trauma that lbg has experienced.
s is a painter and his wife is a dancer, and they are very committed to raising q in a lifestyle in balance with the earth surrounded by friends and community. I feel fortunate that a coincidence of circumstances brought jb and s, who both have lived all over the world, to Colorado at the same time, as they both became fathers for the first time. This is our only local family, and I hope q and lbg grow close over the years.
July 10, 2008
Is Today a Feast Day?
I have so many adventures bicycle commuting that I never have the time to share them all. Like the week that they were doing a fashion shoot on the bridge over the river and had to move their cameras every morning as I biked past the over the top models. Or when I almost got kicked off the bike trail by 30 or so moms with strollers in boot camp, doing standing squats at the command of a trainer as they pushed their strollers. Or when I ran into Obama’s entourage, blocking the street crossing.
But today. Wow. I almost literally ran over a priest, leading a processional, long gold robes, scepter, incense, singing in Spanish, eyes half closed in meditation. I saw a handful of people in front of the church, but there was a parked van blocking my view, and I had no idea as I was coming down hill that they were stepping into the street in front of the van.
It was a very weird moment, as I squeezed my very old brakes which don’t stop on a dime and looked right into the priest’s face from a distance of less than two feet, before I swung out and around him. And yes, as I was leaning forward on my mountain bike, he was eye level with a lot of cleavage. He handled it with grace.
Good thing I’m not one of the faithful. I might have thought that encounter meant something.
July 9, 2008
First Fireworks
* Edited-sorry, accidentally hit publish before I was done.
We don’t usually do fireworks-jb can’t handle the smell and noise-and, for me, nothing is the same as going to Navy Pier on the 4th-so we just go camping.
But I was very excited for lbg to experience the magic of fireworks that I did as a kid. B invited us to her neighborhood block party, and she lives in one of those neighborhoods that deadends into Sloan’s Lake. We had a fabulous view of the Edgewater fireworks! (Yes, for local people in the know, this was Thursday night, not the 4th.)
B’s neighbors were all very welcoming, and we (me-you all know jb would rather be out in the wilderness than meeting new people-”don’t you know enough people already?”) really enjoyed meeting new people. And, of course, I somehow identified all of the people from Chicago, and we celebrated Vrdolyak’s long overdue incarceration (yes, I’m from the 10th ward, and that’s where I learned all about racial politics).
One 50 something man asked a lot of questions about where lbg is from and what languages she speaks/understands. Now, I need to mention that I was anticipating the worst in terms of random inappropriate discussions with strangers about adoption-lord knows I have encountered plenty of that in my life about my hand differences. But thus far? Every time someone has become overly curious? They have a story. And I am really glad I let this man share his. It shook me to the core.
After we had chatted on and off for 30 minutes, in the way that conversations ebb and flow as you are all picnicking on blankets near each other, C finally said “I always want to know how the children are doing. Especially when they came from a different country and culture. I was 8 when my parents adopted me from an orphanage in Malta.” My head started spinning as it registered that he wasn’t talking about Malta Illinois (which I am familiar with, thus it came to mind first). He was adopted by a ranch family in the rural southwest in the 50s from an island in the Mediterranean! Can you even imagine what that kid went through? He spoke matter of factly, but clearly indicated that it was more than hard. And, reading between the lines, I think there were a lot of frustrated expectations. The adoptive family had a boy who died, and specifically requested one of similar age.
When I told him that lbg is starting Chinese school in September and we are going to China to visit in December, he said simply “bless you.” And he meant it. I felt very honored by his trust.
As we waited, and waited, for the fireworks to start, lbg pointed to a bat flying around the trees and said “burr” (meaning bird). I said, no, that’s a bat, and she repeared “bat” several times while watching it fly. I am so excited that my 2 year old already knows and appreciates bats!
She does not, however, appreciate fireworks. She clutched my neck and buried her face deeply when they started. When I tried to get her to look, she would only do so with her cheek pressed closely against mine. Ah, maybe next year.
July 7, 2008
The Neighborhood Conga Line
More neighbors seem to be jumping in on the D6 bike lane, and we are starting to chat at main artery where no one dares blow the long light. It’s interesting and kind of fun, seeing people who clearly aren’t bikers making the decision to park their car in this economy, but it’s turning the bike lane into a super highway. This morning, I attracted attention because two bikers who were previously riding single file with me, finally caught up with me at main artery after I took the hypotenuse around the lake. I do this mostly so I don’t need to hang out in the left turn lane at the busy intersection right before the entrance ramp to the interstate-and because I enjoy the blackbirds in the morning-but apparently it is quite a shortcut as well.
Several more posts in the queue but, um, no connectivity at home because my daughter urinated on the modem. Uh, yeah. Warm and vibrating. Why was she sitting on it in the first place? I don’t know. She was on my lap, and I got engrossed in my bloglines and, next thing I knew…
Anyway, pictures are on my computer, and I can’t find my flash drive (lbg also empties my desk drawers on a regular basis, and I frequently throw things back in haphazardly to get them off the floor). And we all know you don’t want to read my lengthy posts without pictures. So, it will happen. But it may take a while for annoying phone company (Yes, I still have that landline. Trouble is that, without television, there aren’t a lot of companies that will sell you just DSL service.) to fix the modem, since I can’t tell them that I know what’s wrong with it. Oddly, jb’s computer still has connectivity-so it may be just a coincidence of events?
July 2, 2008
I Passed?!!
Despite my daughter grabbing a fireplace poker less than a foot from the social worker while I was 8 feet away, the social worker is writing in her report to China that she highly recommends me for a second adoption. She said that she loves the way I redirect and avoid saying no-who knew? Apparently this is the latest parenting technique. I just learned from my first marriage that no one wins in a control battle, so I always defuse, move on.
This is huge, because, as I mentioned a few months ago, my agency is planning to ask the China Center on Adoption to make an exception on the length of marriage rule for me to adopt a child who has a hand or limb difference like me. They won’t ask until my 12 month report is filed in January but, conveniently, I am going to China for three weeks in December for a professional trip-so I definitely plan to visit CCAA with lbg, just to let them know how she is doing.
The only trouble is that jb thinks I’m insane to consider a second child after what I have gone through in the last 6 months. Did you know that sleep deprivation is an effective torture technique? Yeah. I’ve managed to take care of lbg and mostly take care of myself-but I was given, um, a lot of accomodation on the relationship and job fronts. My fantasy is that the next time around, I will be able to take FMLA. But three months still isn’t much…
June 30, 2008
Weekend Adventures
June 27, 2008
Gratuitous Picture and Random Things
This is from a first birthday party we went to for a friend a few weeks ago. Clearly, lbg wants a dragon of her own! Several of the mother’s at the party were Asian American, and some of them tested lbg on her Mandarin. It was hard to gauge her response, since this was her first baby birthday party and it was all sensory overload. Our host was sure lbg was comprehending her-some of the other mothers didn’t feel she understood them. Interestingly, two of the women are recent immigrants-in the last year or so-married American men teaching in China. They were bewildered when they met me. They had never heard of Americans adopting babies from China and had to grapple with the concept a bit.
I’ve been out at another conference, and now I am playing quick catch up before we go up to Indian Peaks for a weekend backpack. I do have a draft that I might have time to publish later, but thought I would follow up on a couple of things right now.
No news updates on the body that was found. Presumably, if it was a biker, that information would at least be in the grapevine by now. He was right by the confluence of the river and creek, a small class III in which people like to body surf-works as long as you don’t hit your head on a rock.
Also, the night before, there was a downtown bar fight that turned into a shootout-so maybe this is connected. We are still the frontier somedays.
Haven’t found the pin yet. Just to clarify for anyone who isn’t familiar with bike trailers. There is an elbow in the bar right before it connects to the wheel, thus the connection is perpendicular to the bike, and the bar doesn’t slide out easily, even when it isn’t pinned. There is also a safety strap-so if it does slide out, it just trails the bike-I don’t leave it behind anywhere. Not good, but, just so you know, lbg still stays connected to me. Today, it didn’t slide out. I’m stopping at REI this evening to get a new one.
And, anyone who knows me, knows that of course I followed up with Carlton after writing about him. I always hesitate, because some people think it’s weird or stalkerish-but, to me, the connections we share with other people along the way are precious-really, they are. How special is it when you share this experience of life with another person? I think of everyone I have connected with in my life as having shared part of this journey, and I like to think that, when our paths diverge, we can still check on each other from time to time, maybe as we would a distant relative.
Apparently, he feels the same, because I received a quick response. He and his wife have twins the same age as lbg and are getting resettled in their home in New Orleans. I won’t say more than that here.
