Though I'd been anticipating this ride all week, and even paid f2tY $5 to take my bike to the shop to have a flat repaired (and the bike shop guys another $5 to fix it) by the time I got back from the gallery opening and wound down, it was nearly midnight—not so good for getting up at 5:30am to go on the sunrise ride.
But I woke up early, and since I couldn't get back to sleep, decided to go on the ride, bemoaning the fact that if I'd just been a teenier bit more on the ball, I could've been on time to the start.
early morning, along the river
But since I was late anyway, I stopped a moment and shot the sky, thinking it might make a nice wall hanging. It's out of focus, but certainly good enough for a ref. Naturally by the time I got to the start point, everyone had left. But it was a gorgeous morning, and I particularly enjoy the early part of the ride, where the road winds alongside the local river. —Then I got passed by some folks who asked if I'd seen the ride leader, which encouraged me; then I checked my phone and discovered it was just 7—way too early to go Jo-Anne's with my expiring-today coupons...so I just kept riding.
And, as luck would have it, the group was all gathered in front of the restaurant where they often stop for breakfast, and one other woman, like me, wanted to eat rather than just charge onto the next town.
trout lily
Even on a bike (never mind a car) wildflowers can be easy to miss, but in addition to the usual garden daffs and hyacinths, I spotted marsh marigolds, a few lingering bloodroots, and, on the way back, a great many yellow trout lilies, which I'd say are close to their peak. Also lovely were star magnolias and of course forsythia.
On the way home I shot a couple of houses I thought handsome. —I liked the green color scheme and fishscale texture underneath the eaves of this one.
I loved the color scheme, but unfortunately since I was shooting in a hurry the original image was underexposed; and despite a good deal of fiddling with color curves and whatnot this was the best I could do...
Eventually I made it to the craft store, and spent too much money on thread, lime green scissors, and archival callig pens. And spent much of the rest of the day napping. Ah well.
photos, file, 25apr09.
Unless otherwise noted, text, image and objects depicted therein copyright 1996--present sylvus tarn.
