45 years...

...My Mom & Dad celebrated their 45th Wedding Anniversary yesterday. In fact, they are still celebrating----at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. How about that? This also means a certain little redheaded girl in Boston will be celebrating her birthday soon. 44 Years. Ouch!
When I think of the many different lives I've experienced in my life I marvel at the fact that my parents have experienced so many challenges & triumphs, raised a family, and managed to grow together and love each other more and more through-out. They are inspiring!

Yesterday, I ran in the chilly New England air. I just was tired of riding in the basement. The trainer can be a blessing...but nothing beats getting outside. I wish I could run everyday, but my body can't take it. After a couple of weeks off though, it really felt like a treat. Especially after a trip to Peet's. They have a special blend out right now called, Columbia Caracol. It's a peaberry bean variety and I am drinking some right now as I type. Yum!

When I left the house the sun was out and the radiant heat felt good...even though, technically it was still freezing. By the time I finished though, the puddles were icing up, and the sun was setting. They salt and sand the roads here like crazy, so it wasn't like I was going to slip on the puddles---I just was amazed at how quickly the temps change when the sun goes down.

Mike and I snuggled in for the night and watched the documentary, "Super-size Me". If you like eating at McDonald's, don't watch it. I munched down my whole wheat pasta and broccoli dinner with gratitude. There are 85 McDonald's in the city of Manhattan alone. I could site all the horrifying details, but I don't want to offend anyone who loves eating fast-food. It's worth watching if you haven't already.

Well---it's another Monday. Happy Anniversary Sunny & Bob (Mom and Dad)---I am toasting you with a cup of Peet's finest...Have a wonderful day!

Snuggling up with The Scrapper!

Here's one girl who knows how to make the most of a chilly cold Saturday! Oh the things I learn from the small hound! Lots of covers and woolen blankets, a warm cup of tea (for me not Sydney), and a good book to read, and you're almost glad it's too cold for outdoor play. The library is right across the street from the post-office in Watertown Square, which reminds me, I went to the post-office to renew my passport the other day. It was funny.

The guys that work there were instructing me on "protocol", and all the things I need to have to renew for another 10 years of "dreamed about travel plans that become a reality". All was going well until we got to my name. "Maylah Taylah? Ah you joking? Fah wreel?" I couldn't help laughing along with them. Then more seriously, "ya know, it will be much easieah to just wrenew wit ya same name as a befo-ah". These guys were fun. I feel like a foreigner sometimes around here.

Well, we made it through the freezing day. After living in Marshall, it was a whole lot less of a shock to my system. I walked to work, but I was lucky enough to hitch a ride home with one of the guys I work with. Today, it got up to about 23 degrees and Mike went out for a ride (outside). He was dressed to the gills, and he came home and told me about how he got too hot. "See? Look..my socks are drenched!" I told him I got hot too...I was sweating even, riding my bike in the basement. He's a nut to be outside in this arctic air.

In any case---I'm snuggled up on the couch right now with Sydney, watching a dumb movie and writing to you. I hope you have a lovely Saturday...Sending a bunch of healing thoughts to my friend Bernie!

3 degrees, feels like minus 17!

We're getting a quick brush with some Arctic Canadian air---looks like it will only last a day, but it is cold out there. Funny thing is that I feel like saying, "Aw, this is nothing!'---like a true experienced Minnesotan. Only in Minnesota, my house was quite a bit warmer than this! There is ice frozen on the inside of my windows. You think I am joking, but I am not. And we live in a pretty nice flat---double panes and everything. Our floors are wood though and they feel like ice. The thermometer inside this morning is a balmy 48 degrees. My fingers freeze as I type! Wild, huh?

And before you say, "well turn on the darn heat, Joni---we're tired of your whining stories about how cold it is", you have to understand New England a bit. For example, the heat is radiant heat (like water bubbles up inside something and it works like a radiator in a car kind of), so it works slowly and pretty inefficiently. And the cost of heating your house is so astronomical, it's easier to just wear alot of clothes. New England has got to be the source for all those stories on the news about the high cost of heating your home. You could easily spend many hundreds of dollars (maybe thousands?)---close to what you spend in rent, for just keeping your home at 60 degrees. Oh well---it's just one day.

Our saving grace? The Hoffman's & The Lebish's (My Aunt, Uncle and Cousin's) gave us a luxurious down comforter when we got married. We top that with a quilt we received from my Mom's dear friend Pam (also for our wedding). Last night, as we snuggled in to bed...Mike looks over at me and smiles and says, "these covers RULE!"

Stay warm! Happy Friday!

Lost in Translation

Must of been my day to be lost yesterday. And my excursion to the airport was alot less fun than being lost in the woods, on foot, with the small hound. Sydney's nose only works when she is on foot. Last time I picked Mike up at Logan, I waited until he landed before I left. Since he had a bag checked, I figured the timing would be perfect. When I got to the pick-up area though, he lamented that he'd been waiting for 25 minutes.

Hoping to avoid this, I waited until his plane was about to land (I watched online) and left earlier. The result was that I got there too early. He was still waiting for his bag. Every airport I have ever been to has a way to circle the arrival gates. Well if Logan has one, they hide it from the general public and unless you are a local and already know the secret way, you can't circle. I ended up back on the Mass-pike, paying $3 to get on and when I finally could exit, I paid another buck. And there is no easy on/easy off ramp. I was seriously lost now.

I kept asking for directions and somehow ended up on Commonwealth Avenue (think Fenway Stadium). I asked a Taxi driver how to get to airport. He looked at my California plates and said there wasn't any easy way, I had to take alot of roads. (Like it would be too difficult from someone from California). All this time, Mike is calling me and I am crying that I am hopelessly lost. I find a gas station and ask where Storro Drive is. The "smoking man" coughed and said it was on the other side of the River. "How to I get there?" , "You just go over the bridge and make a soft right".

Well, you had to be in the middle lane. And it was straight...not right. I looped and swirled and cried for a bit. Finally I saw an airport sign and eventually made it to the airport. A little weary, and very frustrated. Sigh.

"Where's your luggage?" I asked a not-very-happy-husband. They lost it. It will hopefully be delivered tomorrow. Relieved we paid another $4 and drove home---all three Taylor's--together again!

The Nose Knows!

This morning the Scrapper and I left for a walk in the woods. It was "12 degrees, feels like 4 with the windchill". I had enough clothes to warm an army and the Scrapper had her fur coat---(she's growing hair on her tummy again). Mike is the woods expert ---he knows how to navigate. I usually go with him and leave the "how to not get lost" part in his hands.

I have gone with Mike just enough times to think I know where I am going. At the entrance (or bottom of the hill), the water streams were running. Hmm...it must just feel cold? Then, as we reached the top of the woods, the streams were frozen solid with a light snow dusting, and the wind was a gusting! Whew! Instead of the steady and constant blowing, like it did in Marshall, it would be calm and then BOOM! a gale would blow and the exposed areas of my face would freeze. It was beautiful---yet uncomfortably cold.

Sydney was fine though and she romped and chased squirrels and birds up out of the underbrush. I got lulled into the walk by listening to the leaves crunch on the frozen ground. I remembered how the hard frozen ground was something that amazed me last year in Minnesota. Wanting to steer clear of the gales, we ducked off the main trail and onto the smaller trails. Mike does this all the time and somehow is able to navigate his way back to the trailhead. After about 45 minutes though, I realized I was lost.

And 45 minutes in this weather is cold. I marveled at how in the midst of civilization I had managed to get lost in a small patch of woods. I was even thinking about back-tracking my way back to the main-trail, but Sydney had her nose to the ground and so I trusted she knew where she was. True to Taylor form, she knew. She followed her nose and got us out of the woods!

Hooray for the Scrapper! The nose knows! Mike comes home tonight---double hooray! Happy Sunday! Happy Birthday Spence!

Big Mig heads West!

I just dropped my most important asset off at Logan airport---with his bike. I asked him, "So are you going to miss me?" He said, "I'm not going to be gone long enough". Hmmm. Not the answer I wanted...so I continued with, "Are you going to miss the Scrapper?" He replied, "not going to be gone long enough." Hmmm again. "So are you coming back?" He grumbled...not buying into my game, "All my crap is here---I have to come back!"

This morning the temperature outside was 7 degrees...feels like 7 degrees. In other words---it is winter. There was ice on the inside of the windshield of the car---it's so moist here that there is condensation everywhere. But the good news was that the ride to and from the airport was smooth. The "Big Dig" incident (where the tunnel crumbled and killed a gal months and months ago) had made a fairly easy ride to the airport into a nightmare of zig zagging through the side streets of Boston. This is a confusing city for me and the road signs aren't always where you expect them to be. Think driving through Brussels and you'll know what I mean. (Although Brussels is easier). 8 months later and they finally have one lane open so you don't have to take all the confusing side streets. This morning the sign said, "I90 WB now open, squeeze left". It really said squeeze. Funny huh?

I smiled and paid my dough (it costs $5 each time we drive to and from the airport) and took that as a good sign. When I dropped Mike off and he said "Good-bye", he said "I'm going to miss you Sweetie---I was just messin' with you!" I took that as another good sign.

So you lucky California boys and girls--if you pass a tall blonde hunky guy on his bike in your area and you think, "Hey, that looked like Taylor!"---well, it is no illusion---it's the man himself...so stop and say "Hey!"

Exact Science

So at my company, we are known for delivering custom bicycles. Not just custom for fit---but custom for ride quality, materials used and aesthetics as well. This can translate to some interesting situations since our customers work directly with our shops and indirectly (over the phone and via fax/email) with us. For example, we were designing this gal a bike and she wanted it painted. She sent us a template for exactly how she wanted it. (The conversation between us and the customer, "Is this what you want?" "yes, this is what I want"...and she signed off on the final drawing.)

We took the drawing she made and produced a design which was spec'd exactly as she drew it. Once the bike was delivered she called us and said, verbatum, "If I'd known that you were going to produce a paint job based on my template/drawing, I would have sent you exactly what I wanted..."

We were left scratching our heads, (and re-doing her paint scheme "exactly" as she re-drew it.) It's interesting to me as I relate this experience to many arenas in my life. There's the assumptions (where you think you understand something based on your view of things), and then there's clarity, "this is exactly what I want/mean/have".

Mike and I have spent the last few days (weeks and months) focusing on the latter. The exact part. Much of this involves digging in and "knowing" what that is. Sometimes the end result isn't a tangible thing...but an experience or way of living. We have come to realize that while we know the intangible portion, we aren't exactly clear on the tangible. But we are getting closer and just the exercise of digging in has been a wonderful learning experience for us both.

It's also tiring at times (like now). Especially watching Mike pack his bike up in a box for his trip out West without me. Sometimes, even when you think you've mastered the differences between "this is who I am" and "this is what I do", there is this Exact Science element that needs to be constantly nourished and fed such that you are never done trying to figure it out.

How's that for some Sunday thoughts? Happy Birthday Raquel (tomorrow)!

Wintery Mix!

When I first heard this term I thought it was unique to Minnesota. Wintery Mix? What's up with that? Apparently what I'm learning in my travels across this land is that "Wintery Mix" would only be unique in the SF Bay Area. Sigh. Tomorrow we are having a "wintery mix". Great. I am now trying to distinguish the difference between, sleet, freezing rain, etc. All I know for sure is that I don't want to drive in any of them.

I am grumpy this week. Mike is heading to California on Wednesday for a training camp with his new team and I am staying here. I wish I was racing so I could take a vacation. Even worse is the day he leaves the forecasted high for Boston is 18 degrees. I'll be here freezing in my wintery mix and he'll be out riding his bike all day in Pajaro Dunes. It is my Christmas present to him---sigh. If I think about it that way it's alot easier to live with.

Thinking about Mike flying to California reminds me about last December when I flew to San Diego. I was seated next to this couple who immigrated from Poland. They were visiting their son who was in the services and was now settled in San Diego after he returned from his tour in Iraq. When they learned he was not coming home for the holidays they decided to go and see him. They had an amazing story about their immigration to the USA. She worked as a seamstress for Sax Fifth Avenue and he was a Philosopher and Photographer...making ends meet and making a better life for their children. In 23 years of marriage, this was their first time ever flying together. They were inspiring to me and reminded me about the so many opportunities available in the USA.

It's easy to forget sometimes how fortunate we are---it is a luxury to be able to complain about things like weather and vacations (or lack there of) as I sit here and type on my computer anticipating a "wintery mix". Enjoy your Saturday---and stay warm!

80+ miles over the weekend?!

After living in Minnesota last year, I learned the "mind-game" of seasonal sport changes. At first it was unheard of for me to imagine that I couldn't ride my bike everyday. But once the snow flew and it became very cold, I learned to love trail-running in Camden's winter wonderland so much that I never missed riding. Seriously. I still hated being cold, but I looked forward to my time with Sydney in Camden as much as any bike ride. After a week, I didn't miss the "saddle time".

So this year, it was much easier to hang up my two wheels and set my mind to a different outdoor activity. I enjoy running immensely, although if I do it everyday, even on a treated-running track, I manage to injure something. Last Friday I injured some kind of ligament such that I had to walk around in my running shoes or else walk on my tippy-toes. I knew I was hosed for running for a few days.

If you'd a told me that I would be riding over 80 miles in January in Boston over the weekend, I wouldn't believe you. But it's true. I think riding cured my running injury too...ah, yes, the "perfect" bicycle!

Yesterday was chilly but sunny and I rode for almost 4 hours! I can't believe it. Today we are back in the "drink", but since it is in or near 50 degrees, NO SNOW! I, for one, and happy about that!

Happy Monday!

January---feels like May!

Actually, it feels like May ought to feel since last May didn't feel quite as nice as it did yesterday. Can you believe 70 degrees on January 6th? I thought I hung up my two wheels on Christmas day, which in and of itself was fairly indulgent when you live this far North. I've been happily running for the last couple of weeks, but it was too nice a day to pass up an opportunity to go for a bike ride. It was "really" mild. Not just "mild for here". Fingerless gloves, no shoe covers, jersey and bike shorts mild.

Today will be almost 20 degrees cooler...and we're still forecasted for 50 degrees. Word on the street is that "we'll pay for this unseasonably warm weather at some point", but for now, even though the locals are actually wishing for snow, this California girl is making the most of being outside and on her bike! Today ought to be great since it is a Sunday (=less cars) as well as the Patriot's are playing (= even less cars).

I was reading the other day about a guy in San Francisco who was "saving a parking space" for a friend near Golden Gate Park who was killed doing so. They're calling it "Parking Rage" and apparently it is rampant in major metropolitan cities across the USA (Boston, NYC, LA). I so rarely ever drove (or even owned a car) when I lived in San Francisco that I guess the "parking situation" is something I over-looked. But "Parking Rage"? Pathetic.

I will attest to at least appreciating the feeling as I am usually over come with "bicycle-riders-auto-rage". On a mild mannered Saturday I was nearly clipped maybe 4 times by cars trying to speed up passed me to race me to the next red-light, or who had to cut me off and ride into the grass trying to make the freeway on-ramps. Most annoying was the obese (~300lbs at least) smoking woman who threw her "empty" McDonald's bag(s) at me as she yelled at me for making her miss a yellow light. She threw her cigarette butt at me when the light changed as her many chins jiggled with the effort. It felt surreal. It's bad all over though---not just here. I complained about rude motorists' everywhere but Minnesota---(but I lived in rural Minnesota where there just weren't that many motorists' for one thing, and the likelihood that you knew the driver personally was good for another.)

Well---here it is...January 7, 2007 and I am off for another ride outside. I can hardly believe it! Off to seize the Sunny Sunday!

It's like winter in San Francisco!

I am as concerned and worried about Global Warming as the next person. I put about 3 miles a week in my car, the heat remains at 55-59 in my house and I do my part to recycle, buy fair trade and the like. That said, I am not complaining, but rather rejoicing in the unseasonable mild temperatures we are experiencing here in the North East. The "mild" weather is the talk of the town here in Boston. Actually it just feels like a normal winter day in San Francisco. 60 degrees with overcast, damp streets, but no real precipitation.

Of course this dampness has kept allergies alive and kicking! Mold spores and the like. I don't think the folks around here are less susceptible to the allergies...they're just used to sneezing, coughing and itchy eyes to the point that it feels normal. Mike on the other hand sneezes all day long and clears his throat day and night. Even I have allergies here and I have never had them before. It must be the mold. Our house is about as mold free as possible (no carpets...wooden floors...no blowing air, heat or otherwise to filter)---but our workplace is another story. Sigh.

The last couple of days have been wonderful in that when I wake up in the morning my feet don't freeze (through my woolie boolie socks) when they touch the floor in the morning. Yesterday the Scrapper and I walked to and from work without gloves even. Wacky weather---but I am not complaining.

There's an older guy that the Scrap and I pass each morning on our way to work. He's a friendly outgoing guy with a real "Southy" accent. ("Gud Mownin'! Feh fawty yea's I lived hea"---think Good Will Hunting and you'll understand what I am saying). Every time we pass, He stops walking and in a real deep voice goes, "WOOOF!". He never really talks to me, only to Sydney. So he says, "Ahn't ya gownna say Gud Mownin'?" The last time this happened he broke into song, "Gud Mownin', Good Mownin...da da da dada..." So I sang with him "good morning good morning to you". (Think Singing in the Rain). It was funny.

The sun is peaking out through the overcast skies. It's supposed to be near 70 degrees today. Have a wonderful Saturday!

Happy 2007!

Ever since I can remember, I have managed to stay awake until the ball dropped in Time's Square on New Year's Eve. For most of my life, this meant staying awake until 9pm PST. Now that midnight=midnight, it's a bit more difficult and I didn't make it. I saw the New Year's celebration in Sydney, Australia at least.

We are getting drenched with rain here in Boston. All the snow is pretty much gone. I went for a run yesterday and half the track was covered in smashed down snow (ice). So I ran on the inside lane and hit the grassy parts on the icy half. Running in grass is much harder than I thought. Mike went for a long bike ride. There was too much ice on the road for me to feel safe. But I kinda like running these days anyway.

Mike and I are doing our annual "soul searching"---(i.e what goals do we hope to accomplish this year, and probably most significantly, where do we hope to live while we achieve these accomplishments? Ha!) Home may be where the heart is...or rather a state of mind. But I left my heart in San Francisco, and while I am happy (I am living with the love of my life---how could I not be?), I also feel these heart strings pulling me towards the Pacific Ocean, the Open Space of the West, the Redwoods, the sunshine and even the fog, and of course the mountains. (Note: I left out weather! )

Change is on our horizon---and we have no idea yet how this looks (the details)--it's kind of scary and exciting at the same time.

My friend Mary Ann was able to go home from the hospital for New Year's Eve. She's strong. She will likely be back on her bike sooner as opposed to later. Thanks for including her in your prayers. She is a beautiful person who contributes great energy wherever she goes.

Happy 2007!