Snow in June and Catching up with Baby Ducks

Cece met a new friend in the parking lot at the Alamdea Open Space and off they cycled!  They are still remodeling down there and Cece now sees what she thinks will be a beautiful pond and a walking and running track as well as enhanced parking!  Each time you are there, something else changes.  Today the entrance into the bosque was in an entirely different place!  Change occurs!

It was clear right away to Cece that her cleats had taken a beating yesterday given all that walking.  She kept popping out of her pedals!  Not Good! First thing on the agenda, new cleats. But the good news is that her back tire held and was fine for the entire ride of 21 miles! She had changed out her under seat bag and had gone to the bowels of her closet to find different shorts...so she was good to go.   No holes, no flats...no problems! Maybe she should design a T-Shirt with that new slogan!

Anyway, what Cece calls " beloved"  is the Bosque. She just loves to be there.  Today Cece and her new friend saw  lizards and a very interested coyote standing on the side of the pavement sniffing the air.  She wonders who is the coyote in her life right now!  She has some ideas!  : ) 

But the real reason that she travelled the bosque this am  was to check on a family of baby ducks she has been keeping her eyes on!  She first saw them there when they were just learning to swim and  still had their downy feathers.  They were very funny because they were not quite sure how to paddle under water and frequently ran across the water and then kerplunk...back into the water, they flopped.

During this first glance, they were from beak to butt, as long as Cece's index finger.Very small.  The mother duck was teaching them to swim and she tutored them to swim a zig- zag across the acequia...so back and forth they went.  When they  got a ways down,...the current became too strong for them and she honked and they swam back to her!

 Father was watching on this side in case of emergencies.

So today,  when the new friends were cycling south, they stopped and they did not see any baby ducks.  But when returning north (above) Cece asked if  she minded that they check again. The friend did not mind...so off they stopped.  Well, Cece looked south.  No birds... but when she looked north...she caught them swimming and shouted "Look!  There they are !" in evidently.... her New York Holler...because the ducks took cover!  At least some did!  LOL!

Can you see the baby ducks in the upper half of this  picture?  There are 2 visible, out of the 4.  Mother and the other 2 are hiding in the rushes on the right upper half of the picture.

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It was a wonderful morning ride with "No Holes, No flats, No problems!"  You  might wonder about the snow in June?  Well, the old cottonwoods are releasing their pods and fur and all along the sides of the bosque, it looks like snow has piled up!  Quite an amazing site for New Mexico in June!

There are No Donuts In Hell: Part 2

Cece has been climbing lately.  For a big girl on a bike , climbing is hard.  All the skinny girls pass her. She remembers  when Santa Clause , in female form., passed her singing jingle bells while going up hill in full suit and boots...and that really got her mad!

Even so, Cece has been climbing again.....and doing some difficult ones at that...but today she ventured forth with one of those skinny climbing girls and climbed hell's hill.  Why does she call it that? 

Well, there comes a time on the bike when  you meet the devil.  In any sport there is that moment.  In yoga it is when  your teacher tells you, ":Well go ahead and die then...."  in cycling it is when you are going uphill and you wonder if you go much slower whether you will just fall right over.  There is no song in your mind, only the burning of your in breath and the heaviness of your legs trying to turn over the peddles.  This is when you know you have met the devil.  You are tempted to stop...to give up...who cares...and you tell yourself many thoughts....you just want the pain to stop...so what are you going to do?  Will you quit or push through?

 And so Cece organized a ride through what she calls Hells Hill.She rode with her friend Stephanie who when she saw the hill said, AH!! My beloved hill."  See the difference?   It is the hill that approaches the Star Center in Rio Rancho entering  from Paseo Vulcan.  In the pic above she was the she devil a top that hill one year  and encouraged people upward...even one man wanted donuts and she growled,. "There are no donuts in hell!"

Well, just as they made it to the top of Hell's hill and began to come down, Cece started to have a series of difficulties that were almost beyond her control.  First her under seat bag tore a hole in her shorts and skin was exposed. and  each time she pedaled  her inner thigh skin pinched and she yelled,  "OWWWW!"  She quickly discovered that if she did not pedal she would not get pinched...but that only took her so far......so she yelled to Stephanie to pull over.  Cece thought she could take her socks off and put them in her upper inner thigh..,.here forth to be called the crotch area..... but when she discussed this  with  Stephanie, Stephanie suggested she use one of her arm warmers instead,.  Cece said,"You don't want your arm warmer in my crotch do you?"  Stephanie said "Well I do have a washing machine you know!"  What a friend! 

So, in the middle of the highway with all kinds of trucks and equipment drivers going by, Cece stuck her hand down her pants and adjusted the arm warmer into her crotch.  She adjusted and  adjusted it to get it just so...and commented that many passers by were looking....but what can you do ?  Just say "Oh Well."

Off they went..none the worse for wear.  The arm warmer was working perfectly!    Down a nice hill and then up a tricky one....and as Cece arrived on a flat section at last, she realized she had a back flat.  She yelled ahead to Stephanie and she came rolling back.  They tried various cartridges they had to pump the tire up and it carried them a bit farther, but suffice it to say that  the tire would  not hold air.

Stephanie rode ahead to get the car.  Cece asked if she wanted her keys so she could drive her SUV back (Steph has a little Audi) but Stephanie said no and took off.   Cece started walking up the last long hill...with her bike and in her cleats.  There is nothing quite like walking uphill in cleats...you are walking on your heels like a duck.  The sun was hot and the hill was long and Cece walked on! All of a sudden back came Stephanie asking for Cece's keys!  She had forgotten she had her mountain bike in the car too!  So off she went again.  Cece walked on. 

Just as Cece reached the top of the last long hill, Stephanie arrived in Cece's car.  They loaded up , and off they went back to the aquatic center in Rio Rancho, their home base for this ride.

Well, all was well in the long run and the two friends laughed at their unpredictable adventure  in the early morning!  They are already planning their next ride!

The Love Garden

 Today was the big event we have been cooking for!  Yun's dad's 80th birthday party!  Even though we have the big Wallow fire still burning strongly, the air quality today seemed surprisingly good although you can see the lingering smoke in the air in the picture below.

Yun's idea about the love garden was an idea that people did love and her dad was gifted with lavender, rosemary, a beautiful spreading poppy and some chocolate daisies, and many others. This picture is very early on at the party.

 Yun's dad cooked up some delicious eggs rolls and Chinese noodles and people brought in lots of food.

 Everyone agreed that Jamey's lasagne rocked the house!

At high noon, Yun toasted her dad with her friends and wished  him happy birthday in Chinese!  Everyone was happy!

It was a wonderful day with friend's sharing food and love!  What could be better?

Oddles of Noodles.... or ....Cooking with a Friend!

Cece and Yun met cycling.  Cece and Jamey met on the yoga mat and then discovered they both cycled...so it seemed good that Jamey and Cece should cook together for Yun's Dad's party even though  Yun and Jamey had not met yet.  Yun and Cece already knew that Jamey would be an instant friend!

So, the new friends  planned to make homemade sauce, a cranberry apple pie and then some lasagne.  But when Jamey arrived, she had on a beautiful white skirt.  Cece thought…,”hugh!  This is not going to go well while making sauce.”   She envisioned the beautiful skirt spattered with bubbling spots of sauce.  NOT.  Cece had a remedy!  She dug into her pot holder drawer…way down at the bottom and pulled out her ex-ex boyfriend’s apron that he had left behind.  Jamey put in on and was ready to roll!

Jamey flirted with the idea of writing a food blog called “Learning to cook at 45″ but Cece thinks, that Jamey may be underestimating her cooking skills.  She seemed to do very well in the kitchen!  It was Cece who made the errors…forgetting this, and forgetting that….all the while saying  “Don’t worry, it will not make much difference!”
Anyway…..they got the sauce a cookin’ and then made the pie….then they started cooking the lasagne noodles and Oh MY!  There were oodles of noodles!    They had noodles coming out of their  ears.  They looked at each other …and tried to figure out what to do with all these noodles….hmmmm….neither could think of a thing…except to take a picture!

They had a happy day cooking up a storm and they will have even a better day eating all the goodies they made.  Here is a pic of the apple cranberry pie that they made!

Apples and cranberries in!

Finished pie.

Voila!

The New Mexico Cyclist's Blessing: "I Hope the Air is Good For You!"

Cece received a call from her friend Catherine early this morning asking if she was going to ride with the team this morning.  Cece was not sure about whether the ride was on or not given the air quality from the Wallow Fire.  Since she had not heard back, she decided to go about her day...she had a lot of shopping and cooking to do to prepare for a cooking lesson this evening and a party tomorrow for Yun's dad's 80th birthday!

It turns out that the team was starting from the exact location that Cece and Jamey had started from on Thursday and Cece commented to Catherine that she thought the air quality was better in the Northeast heights although her asthma was still kicking up a bit from her Thursday ride.  Catherine was unsure whether they would ride or not.  Cece is thinking that because we have "the box" here in Albuquerque, that it effects the air quality even worse.  " The Albuquerque Box is a weather phenomenon where the lowest winds are moving in one direction and the higher level winds are moving in another. More specifically, in a perfect example of the Albuquerque Box, the high winds are from the south while the low winds are from the north."

As Cece, was saying goodbye to Catherine, she wished her the newly developed  New Mexico cyclist's blessing...."I hope the air is good for you!" 

The Wallow Fire and Cycling!

As you may or may not know, the Wallow Fire in Arizona is sending its ash and soot into the New Mexico air.  Just tonight, the fire  is only 1/2 mile from the New Mexico border.  Here is a YouTube video about it for those of you that are not in New Mexico!  There are air quality warnings abounding...and so Cece and her friends were careful in deciding whether to ride this morning or not.  They noticed that the air quality is best in the morning...by afternoon it is intolerable.

 So, the friends decided to ride....well a few did...and a few decided not to given the smokey air.  Cece has not given up on the Leg Burner...and today she did curse a lot !  So it ended up that only Cece and Jamey rode this am.  Here is a picture of Jamey taking a picture of Cece who is taking a picture of her!  Girls!

OK!  Here is what Jamey really looks like! 
Of course, Cece always has to take a picture at the top of the Piedra Lisa Trail head...because she is thrilled that she made it up.  And today was no different...except that when she looked out onto the city from her perch on the mountain precipice, this is what she saw.....

SMOKE!  See that ridge of dirty smoke that is hanging over the city?  Although the air quality seemed good in the Northeast Heights, evidently it was not sooo good.  Within an hour of finishing their ride, Cece started coughing!  Her asthma was kicking up!  Inhaler time.  Cece learned that just because she cannot see the particles, they are still in the air.  Tonight she is recovering quite well and wondering if she will ride again on Saturday or if she will put her bike up on the trainer?

Chinese Dumplings And the Leg Burner!

Ah!  The Sunday Morning Leg Burner!  The famous ride that always makes Cece curse....although this time she just moaned and sang Johnny Cash out loud... and then  she sang it in her mind after she could no longer talk because she was breathing so heavy!  But she digresses....
It started out to be a beautiful early morning .....

This ride for Cece is just a "get up the next hill" kind of ride...with "little spitters"as she calls them...short steep hills that kick her butt.  But the route is up, up and more up and just as you think you will die from that climb...another begins.  Cece and Stephanie were rambling through the neighborhoods between the ups and greeted people out for their early morning walk and told people how cute their little "leashed" dogs were. (Last week when they rode, Cece was chased by a mean little dog biting at her heels...of course she was going uphill at the time!).

They smelled the fragrant flowers that lined the rich property in the north east heights and noticed their beauty.  Stephanie stopped to take a pic and Cece was huffing and puffing and knew she needed momentum for the next devilish climb to Piedra Lisa Trail head...so she hissed to Stephanie, "I'm not stopping!" and up she went.  4 or 5 people passed her going up and she did, remarkably,  have enough breath to return their greetings.  WHEW! 

AND YES!  That is the top of the Sandia Mountains that you see in the background!  We rested, had a drink and took a few pics.....and down hill we flew!  On the way down, Cece said, "Yun lives right near here....we should stop in, her dad is in from China!"    Well,  Steph  and Cece were up higher than they realized and made a few false attempts to find Yun's house...but they finally found it and in they rolled.  It was still early.  Yun opened the door and was surprised and happy to see her two friends. "Well come on in" she giggled, "this is just like in China!  People just drop in!"   

As Yun opened the door, there was her dad sitting at her kitchen table.  "Guess what he's doing, she asked,   He is making dumplings!" In they clip clopped in their cleats, sweaty, and with their helmets still on. Clip clop they went over the tiled floors....up the steps to the kitchen,  hugging the dad and bowing a greeting.  In came the boys...more hugs and talk about making a silencer for a spit ball shooter...go figure.

And then,  seconds later the cooking lesson!  Cece washed her hands and sat right down and talked to Yun's Dad...He speaks no English and she no Chinese...so you can  imagine the conversation!  But talk they did imagining that the other understood their every word.  Some was demonstration, but much was talking as if the other understood...perhaps the universal cooking language!

 In case you do not know, folding dumplings is a precise art.  Cece sat and folded dumpling after dumpling and Stephanie and  Yun talked.  Cece was in the zone trying to perfect her folding.She did not even drink her coffee!  Every so often she would show the dumpling to Yun's father and he would comment...and Cece would smile and say that this took a lot of trying to get it right.  Finally Stephanie was ready to continue the ride, but Cece had not perfected the folding yet...even after about 50 dumplings.  So a few more and Yun pronounced that she had received her Level 1 certificate in dumpling folding which allowed her to teach others to fold dumplings!  Much giggling was heard around the kitchen table.  More hugs were to be had...and off they rode into the early morning!

Cece had had enough but Stephanie had planned to extend the  ride to include her beloved Tramway hill. Not Cece.  She is going home to put her body in a hot bath of Epsom salts!