FROY - First Ride of the Year

Research Park Originally uploaded by rfin.

My mountain bike's spent way too much time hanging in the garage. Yesterday, I got it down off the hooks and out on my first ride of 2005. Just a short lunch-hour ride but great to get back in the saddle and see some extended blue sky. We headed up Red Butte Canyon, met a couple of Connecticut tourists who were grousing a bit about the high altitude, found the trails up the mountainside were just too muddy to attempt, but still got a few pics to document the milestone and headed back to Friday afternoon's duties much more energized.

fenced
Originally uploaded by rfin.

on the fly
Originally uploaded by rfin.

jungian rabbit

Jungian Rabbit Originally uploaded by rfin.

"Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand." --The Skin Horse in The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams

If I heard the Velveteen Rabbit as a kid I don't remember. No matter, we acquired several versions as the kids progressed through the bedtime story years. I was glad to see that you can find the text online. It make a great picture book but it also works well as "radio" -- with your imagination supplying the images. If you haven't read this story lately or aren't familiar with it, check it out here.

p.s. Yes, Virginia there is a Flickr "Velveteen Rabbit" group.

mined in the gutter

mined in the gutter
Originally uploaded by rfin.

birds do it, conduit

birds do it, conduit
Originally uploaded by rfin.

You know it's a good morning when you awaken with energy, they're fresh eggs in fridge and enough time to scamble them, your wife gives you her million dollar smile on the way out the door, your daughter says thanks when you drop her off at school and you still make it to work on time.

You know it's a good day at work when you know what you're doing is making the world just a little bit better, and you're so much in the flow that you almost hate to take lunch, but you force yourself to do you noon hour swim, and the sun is shining at the natatorium and you have a friendly race with your buddy and you almost win.

You know it's a good afternoon when you go up on the roof to shoot some sunsets and see the conduit in a way you've never seen it before.

You know it's a good evening when your son's moving his car out of the driveway when you pull up, and it's his night to cook dinner and he's just sent his little brother out to buy some fresh fish, and you can sit down with everyone that's home and enjoy the disappearing ritual of the family dinner hour, and later when you're checking your blog you've got a nice note from your daughter who's away at college. Life just doesn't get much better than this.

puddled fence

puddled fence Originally uploaded by rfin.

Just before New Year's I got note of encouragement from a good friend, "May you write the entire year without stoppping."

It's true I have written something everyday. It may have been in the line of duty at work, or an e-mail on the weekend. But what do I have to show for it? Not all that much. Some quality. Not nearly the quantity that's well within reach.

Now if you count writing ones and zeros in the form of a digital picture, I have a bit more to show for the first month of 2005.

Still, I did more writing in January than December, and wanting to continue to make the trend my friend, here's hoping that I'll have even more to publish--both photos and words--in February.