A lovely morning ride.

Omaha and Kouryou-chan ride

It was a beautiful autumn day, the first Sunday in October, and it being the first Sunday of the month we did our monthly supply run for freezer meat and low-perishables and stuff. The warehouse we shop at is close to the Green River, which has one of the two longest bike paths in the area.

After a breakfast of home-made crepes, which came out great (and Kouryou-chan was impressed with my ability to flip them in the air), we loaded up the bikes and drove out for a quick ride. The weather was beautiful and we had a lovely time, riding North, then back, through some of the lovelier hidden paths behind the warehouse and small office districts. I have to wonder what the people who work there think of bicyclists going back and forth all day.

Omaha suggested we try the Seattle to Portland ride some year. I suggested she was crazy. We may be avid bicyclists, but we're city and mountain riders. Marathons are a whole 'nother beast.

Kouryou-chan balances

I Feel Like Exercising in Bad Polyester

Parcourse

There's a little park near the grocery warehouse where Omaha and I do monthly shopping that was obviously intended, once upon a time, as a "stopping" station for joggers and bicyclists, since that's just about the only way you can reach it, that has all sorts of little strength and balance exercises. I'm a little annoyed that someone destroyed station number six (that's the big gap between the two stations in the middle of the photograph above), because that was the push-up station.

Omaha and Kouryou-chan played on the balance beams, trying to do the exercise backward.

70s Art and Design, Female


70s Art and Design, Male

What I like most about this little park is the art style on the instructional placards. It's like canonical late 1970 design aesthetic: look at the hair, especially on the male figurine. And that typography, it's like something out of Saturn Nine or Moonraker. The lines on the pants are also telling.

Nutrition, Math, Geography: Epic Fail at the Grocery Store

Eating Sensibly

You know, I love to mock the silliness that is advertising, especially low-level advertising copy like this. Let's face it: if you're eating these "veggie snacks" in lieu of real vegetables, you're just not eating sensibly.

Math Error

And then you find one of these. I did the math: the price is also 25% higher. So it's not a bargain. This is an attempt to upsell you on a convenient method of blowing your portion control, and that's all it is.

Locally Grown

And finally, this sighting at the local Safeway. "Locally Grown" bananas? In Washington state? Really? I looked at the stickers on the bananas. I didn't know there was a town in Washington called "Guatemala." Or is that in Oregon? I'm not as familiar with our neighbor to the south.

We passed by an accident on the way home...

Yeowch

We passed by an accident on the way home. A small, dark-blue car had rear-ended an older red SUV at the corner of Southcenter Parkway and Strander Blvd. Nobody goes through there fast, it's one of the major choke-points between the shopping center and the freeway.

Major damage like that seems impossible. How much you want to bet either alcohol (at noon!?) or a cell phone was involved?

The evening winds down...

Ducks in a pond

The rest of the day was relatively quiet. We went home, relaxed for a bit, and then went out into the garden for the autumnal clean-up. There were still a lot of grape tomatoes left, and I harvested (and ate) quite a few. I picked the basil plants clean, ran those through the food processor, and made nine two-tablespoon-sized "ice" cubes (with enough olive oil to cover) for future cooking. I'll do the same with the oregano and sage later. I think I'm just going to tear out the lemonbalm; I can't remember the last time I did anything with it. We turned the compost and cleaned out the shed, and were generally very productive. Fallen Pegasus made a surprise appearance, but only for an hour or so. He had places to go on his way from point A to point B.

Lisa made an absolutely lovely beef and tomato soup, and afterward all four of us played several hands of Fluxx.

One thing I noticed in a second run to the grocery store for ice cream and bread: a lot of "ice cream" products no longer call themselves ice cream, but "frozen dairy dessert products." Does that bother you as much as it does me? There used to be lovely pumpkin-flavored ice cream available, but now it's all "pumpkin-flavored frozen dairy dessert product." That doesn't sound yummy.