The last 9 weeks

"These bladder wheeled bicycles are diabolical devices of the Demon of Darkness. They are contrivances to trap the feet of the unwary and skin the nose of the innocent. They are full of guile and deciept! When you think you have broken one to ride and subdued its wild and Satanic nature, behold it bucketh you off in the road and teareth a great hole in your pants. Look not upon the bike when it bloweth upon its wheels, for at last it bucketh like a bronco and hurteth like thunder. Who has skinned legs? Who has a bloody nose? Who has the ripped breeches? They that daly along with the bicycle!

from a sermon, Maryland, 1896.
As quoted from: A social History of the Bicycle, Robert A. Smith
found at Atomic Cycles

I've spent many weeks pondering this quote, since grabbing a faceful of L.A.'s finest asphalt.

Lucky for me, the LAFD was still fully staffed at the time.

And I was just dazed enough to make light of the whole experience. Actually, my thumb was the real victim, broken and in need of surgery, a couple pins and 6 weeks of immobilization...

A cast is a dignified accessory, like a pocket watch or kerchief. A real conversation starter.

In the meantime, the camera provided me a chance to disassociate from my broken body, temporarily at least. The Tour De France and a couple New Yorkers also filled my hours on the couch...


Oh, and a trip to Hawaii....and Oregon....




oh yeah, & Idaho....




on the way home, the window seat proved to be irresistible. So I reached across Heather who was seated in it to record this sequence:





Here's a funny story. After the cast finally came off, I found this lodged in my chin. A bit of roadway briefly sheltered in my face:


Last weekend, we needed to escape the smoke for at least a couple hours...


It seems we weren't the only ones...