I rescued a small child this morning.  I was eating breakfast in the picnic pavilion by the Lake Harriet Bandstand, sitting next to a triple set of window-like apertures in the wall. 3 little girls were clambering around on the window ledges when the smallest one (about 4 years old) suddenly fell off right next to me. My grandmotherly reflexes sprang into action and I grabbed her by the scruff of her sweatshirt as she plummeted past me, stopping her before her head hit the concrete floor. The child was unfazed, probably not realizing how close she had just come to a concussion, and nobody else even noticed. So, okay, maybe not that heroic bystander rescue that many of us dream of performing. But I was inordinately pleased with myself, and genuinely surprised that I was able to react that fast with literally no conscious thought. 

... was full of unexpected drama. First, a closeup view of the millefoil chomper hilariously trying to maneuver around the ducky float. Then it churned back and forth right in front of the shade pavilion while I ate my breakfast sandwich. Which might have been irritating if it was an ongoing phenomenon but as the closest view I have ever gotten of this amazingly steampunk looking machine was actually quite entertaining.

Then, BLAMMO!  Out of nowhere, a huge cloudburst! Suddenly I had lots of company under the canopy, definitely glad that I got there shortly after opening time to grab the best table. The storm blew away as quickly as it came, after maybe 20 minutes of torrential rain. Fortunately I had my new ultra-totable bike bag with me in the shelter, and I happened to have a handy all-purpose cotton scarf in there that could be used to mop off my bike seat before I rode away. 

Nobody is wearing masks outdoors anymore. Which is probably fine in general. But this still makes me cringe. DON'T BREATHE INTO EACH OTHERS' FACES, PEOPLE! Have we learned nothing???

Last fall we started looking for a new bike for Richard that would be easier for him to board. His old beater has a mixte frame (half-way between a "men's" and "women's" frame) and he just can't lift his foot that high anymore. We were discouraged at how few options were out there. Typically, each bike shop had exactly ONE over-priced "cruiser" bike (with limited gearing) and 1 or 2 of the drop-bar bikes still anachronistically referred to as "women's" bikes.

Considering how many old, stiff baby boomers are out there, I find this simply mind-boggling. It takes a lot of flexibility to swing your leg over the back of a traditional "men's" bike. The lack of choices for people who can no longer do that is hard to comprehend. Sure, a lot of older people just give up on biking. But maybe if they could find bikes they could actually get onto, a lot of them wouldn't do that?

This spring we hit the bike shops again. Started at REI because I get a membership discount there and they did have one of the drop-frame Electra Townie bikes. But they didn't have the 21-speed model (contrary to what their inventory said) and the lack of bike knowledge exhibited by the well-meaning salesman was discouraging. So we headed back for The Hub, the shop where we had found a bike that might possibly do last fall. But things had changed. The Giant Sedona we were looking for was now out of stock, but they were now carrying THIS. So we bought it on the spot. Richard is thrilled.

It seems so long ago now (almost a week ago!), but I guess it's not too late to finish up my Fringe reports. I've discovered that I like looking back at the old ones when Fringe rolls around each year, so I might as well be complete. We finished up with a relaxing and satisfying Sunday. Richard saw 3 shows. I only did two, but got in 12 miles of biking (to the West Bank and back). Since I was biking, Richard and I traveled separately, which led to a mixup where both of us bought tickets to the same show. oops. Fortunately we got away with using the extra pair for the next show.

Macbeth: The Video Game Remix * * * 1/2
Theater Arlo (Tim Uren, Dawn Krosnowski, Duck Washington)

Thoroughly enjoyable, but not brilliant. Relied a little too heavily on half a dozen video-gamer in-jokes repeated over and over. The excellent comic acting made up for the rather pedestrian writing, but I was hoping for a little more cleverness. I did get a kick out of the idea that the fateful witches' prophecy that sets the plot of Macbeth in motion is just a cut-scene that is repeated over and over for every player that wanders by. But it would have been funnier if noob player Macbeth hadn't caught on so quickly that the witches said the same thing to everybody and there wasn't anything special about his destiny.

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The Friar and the Nurse * * * * *
Joking Apart Theater (Edwin Strout and Jean Wolff)

Possibly the best show I saw this year - well written, brilliantly acted and very emotionally affecting. I'm not sure why it was being sold as a "titillating comedy." There were some wonderful comic bits, but the overall story arc is only slightly less tragic than Romeo and Juliet's story going on in the background.

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I was done at this point, biked home and took a much needed shower. If the last show hadn't been such a success I might have tried for one more, but I figured why not go out on a high note? And Richard wanted to see Yarrrh! The Lusty, Busty Pirate Musical, which sounded kind of dumb to me. From his report, it was better than it sounded. Anyway, he enjoyed it. But I have no regrets. I saw just 15 shows this year, and that felt about right. I'm sure i would have seen more if we'd had Ultrapasses. But it's just as well. Trying to get the most out of an Ultrapass is pretty exhausting.

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I'm still not sure what's going on with my bike, but I "fixed" the problem by loosening up the brake a little and reseating the front wheel. The front brake is working acdeptably now, but it squeals. I should really take the bike in for a tuneup. I might as well take advantage of my lifetime free tuneups at Alt Bike and Board.

Where did that come from? This morning was damp and cold, and tomorrow looks to be cool and windy. But at this rare moment in Minnesota Spring it's pretty darn nice out. I spent way too long fixing my bike computer today - I think I'll give it a try. Maybe I'll leave a little present for the Lake Harriet elf.

ETA: The sun and temp were deceptive. I changed my mind after having my hat blown off a couple of times in 4 blocks. The elf can wait for his present.

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Memorial Day: had a lovely time with minnehahaK pedaling around Lakewood Cemetery. I do this pretty much every Memorial Day, but have never managed to make it to the chapel when it was open. This year, minnehaha remembered that it was the chapel's 100-year anniversary and made sure we got there in time to take a quick tour before it closed. OMG, it is stunning! It's a lovely building on the outside and it is on the Historic Register, but I had no idea what was inside! (Hint: think 10 MILLION ceramic tiles). We also had other adventures: visiting the Lake Harriet Elfenheim, Sonny's ice cream, and (most amazing of all) spontaneously deciding to clean the scary playhouse in DreamPark's backyard. This developed from the garage cleaning obsession - I needed someplace to stow umpteen cans of half-dried up paint while they completed the drying up process so they could be legally tossed in the garbage and minnehaha brilliantly suggested the playhouse, since it's up in the air and nobody ever goes there. I was relieved to find that nobody was living in the playhouse, not even raccoons. Not surprised to find all that old furniture or the dust-covered Ouija board. But I was a little nonplussed by the full set of bocce balls. Lots of old candles and matches, and a few more disreputable items I'd rather not think about. (Oh, ambertatge, what were you and your friends doing up here?)

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Garage cleaning continues - almost every weekend I haul out a full trash can of debris and several offerings for Metal Man. Missed last weekend, but there is a full can of trash out there that I intend to get to as soon as I post this. Not only that - I have finally worked my way back to the rusted old wood stove at the very back of the garage. I kind of hate to throw it away, but some of the moving parts have rusted to immovability so it is probably of no interest to anybody except scrap metal scavengers at this point. *sigh*

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Continuing to work on exercise program for SI joint and related musculature. It's slow and frustrating. I need to build up strength in back and core, but every time I do anything challenging enough to actually do that (e.g., an exercise class or ice skating) my back is sore for days. I had been planning to skate twice a week and do one or two Pilates classes, but that's way too much. It looks like the most I can handle at this point is two classes or skating sessions per week. On off days I try to walk or do a little light biking, but can't always fit it in. My skating classes started up again last Monday. I skated for an hour and actually did fairly well. Not exactly PROGRESS, but I was almost back to where I had been when classes stopped in March: front crossovers easy, left back crossover easy, right back crossover challenging but doable, RFO 3-turns passable but sloppy. Felt pretty good. But my back was sore for the next 3 days, so I didn't even try to repeat the Wednesday Pilates class that did me in the week before. By Thursday I felt pretty good, and tried a different core strengthening class called BOSU. I liked it a lot. Felt GREAT afterwards. Next day my back hurt again, and even more on Saturday. Today back has unclenched enough that I could do another class, but if I did that my back would be too sore for skating tomorrow. So I'm planning to compromise with an easy workout and swimming at the Blaisdell Y.

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Started deep cleaning of bedroom yesterday. Goal is to clean off the dresser so I can unearth and discard the enormous old tube-based tuner under all the clutter. It's been years since it worked well enough to be worth turning on. I managed to get down to the bare dresser top by yesterday evening, but I now have 3 boxes of little bottles, handkerchiefs, feather masks, travel toothbrushes, etc. etc. that need to be sorted. One of the last things I unearthed was a long-dried up bottle of Dr. Bronner's Magic Soap (Peppermint Castille), which segued nicely to the next item.

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Last night Richard and I watched an obscure documentary on Dr. Bronner himself ("Dr. Bronner's Magic Soapbox"). As anyone who has ever seen a bottle of the Magic Soap has long ago realized, the good doctor was pretty nuts. He was, however, a master soap maker from a family that had been manufacturing soap in Germany for 7 generations until the family business was destroyed by the Nazis (along with both of Dr. Bronner's parents). Young Emil had already emigrated to America and had been trying to get his parents to join him as the Nazis were coming to power but they wouldn't leave Germany and their family business. It's not clear if the slaughter of his family is what pushed him over the edge or if it was other family tragedies, but he descended into a kind of gentle madness based on an intense desire to found a world religion based on peace and organic aromatic soap products. Although he was hardly the model father, somehow his sons and grandsons stuck with the family business and they are still at it. It's a strange tale, balanced somewhere between inspirational and disturbing. It also made me remember what a remarkable substance that soap really is. I think it's time to buy another bottle.

I have the weekend to myself with the boys off at Convivial. My only two goals for the day were - get out the bike and take advantage of the lovely weather (done), read a few chapters of Moby Dick on my iTouch (done), and watch "Milk" so I can send it back to Netflix. The bike ride was lovely, except that I seem to have misplaced my bike computer. I'm pretty sure it didn't get stolen this time, as the bike was locked in the bike shed, but it's not there. Where on earth could it be? I might have taken it off and put it in my pocket or something when I went into a restaurant, but what pocket? It's been so long since I used the bike I can't even remember when it was. I suppose it's possible that it got knocked off during transport, but Richard has the van so I can't look. Anyway, since I didn't have an odometer I used Map My Ride to figure out the mileage: 11.3 miles. I'd estimated 12, so pretty close.

	North of the Greenway on the way to Cedar Lake Trail First nice day in weeks! Supposedly the temperature never made it to 50, but there was no wind to speak of and it really didn't feel cold.
	Cedar Lake Trail This is right where the trail branches - continue on to Hopkins or head on down the west side of Cedar Lake (which is what I did).
	Cedar Lake This is my favorite lake in the metro area. I should come here more often.
	The Point, looking across at Hidden Beach And this used to be my favorite place to swim, before the lake got clogged with milfoil. That was so long ago that this wasn't even a legal swimming beach at the time. Now it has a lifeguard stand and everything.
	End of season for the turtles The turtle fountain at the Rose Garden, drained but not yet encased in its winter chrysalis.

Day was off to a good start when I got up to find a nice clean kitchen despite the game party the night before, so I didn't have to clean up before making myself a delicious yet healthy birthday breakfast. My son gave me a perfect present (socks! I never get tired of nice socks) AND helped me clean the bathroom. My daughter called and we had a lovely chat while Richard drove to Hyland Park where we'd decided to have a little outing. We came  home and showered, then hopped on our bikes again for the short trip to King's Cafe for my birthday dinner. Then we came home and watched an episode of True Blood for a nice, um, romantic ending to the day.

Sorry about the huge white space in front of the pictures. I've been using the LJ gallery tool for posting pics to journal, and that's what it does. ( pictures behind cut )

I came home from work and it was still light out and I hadn't had any exercise since Monday so I decided to go for a quick bike ride: just once around the lake. I hopped on good ol' Comet and about halfway around Lake Harriet I realized that something was ... missing. About the time I got to the bandshell I realized what it was. IT WASN'T WINDY. This may be the first time this year that I have ridden around that lake without battling a gale force wind at some point. How strange. How nice. So I went around Lake Calhoun too. It was really fun.