~ rashes and lots of fun ~

I had a mostly perfect weekend. Here's a detailed synopsis of the mostly perfection...

On Friday, right after I got off work, Josh and Jennifer did some hill climbs on our road bikes. We rode up to the Crestline Ridge area and I got to practice going fast in my drop bars. I also saw my Dad's motorcycle up there and I spent a bit of time wondering where the Dad was, but I now believe that it was my uncle who had taken the motorcycle, as I have seen him wandering around up there on previous occasions. At any rate, it was a decent 'quickie' bike ride.

We had just enough time to shower and get our booties on over to a birthday party. Per my usual, I didn't bother to confirm the location of the party before leaving, and so I took advantage of my cellular phone to contact Elizabeth about where I ought to have been going. I hypothesize that Joshua really loves this aspect of my personality. What is nice is the non-judgementalness that I receive from Elizabeth when I contact her because I was irresponsible - - Elizabeth herself had not actually looked at the location of the party and had to get online and look it up - - so we both benefitted from my irresponsibleness. Anyway, I had a really good time at the party. Josh and I brought ingredients for calimotxos, and I took the opportunity to sit back and enjoy several. There was homemade guacamole and salsa available, and so I actually hung out right next to the food table for the duration of the party. Fortunately, most everyone that I was interested in talking to were also interested in standing adjacent to the food table. It worked out quite well - - the talking and the eating. Later, they brought out entree-style food items - - such as grilled fish and enchilladas with mole sauce (Laura and Tom made the mole and it was very yummy). Beyond the mole, I'm not entirely certain of who made what, but it was all delicious. I spent some time over by the grill area in awe of the cooking action - - they had two or three grills fired up and were doing all kinds of exciting things with dutch ovens. The experience really made me want a backyard of my very own.

On Saturday, I got up early to plan out the cable action on one of my current knitting projects. For some time, I've been wanting to make a modernly fashionable fisherman guernsey-style of sweater. I've taken a cotton/angora blend of yarn that I harvested from a $2.50 thrift store sweater and am fashioning it into something that I am calling "Inishfern" - - a nod to Alice Starmore. Though, I am hesitant to associate my Inishfern with the term guernsey or with Starmore, for fear of offending the traditionalists. I plan for Inishfern to be the polar opposite of traditional. The construction is Barbara Walker's top down raglan cardigan and I'm just at about the bustal region. I'm very pleased with how this project is coming along.

In another knitting digression, yesterday I harvested an XXXL sized thrift store sweater for a lovely cotton/wool blend of yarn. It is a fantastic red color and is the same weight as the cotton/angora for Inishfern, so I'm plotting a two-color ribbing with this new yarn. /end knitting digressions.

Back to Saturday morning...

Josh and I took advantage of the morning coolness to venture out on a road ride. We did the "Jennifer Loop" - - which is also known as the "Floating Feather Loop" - - a pleasant 32 miles. The ride's goal was to work on cadence. Josh and I would take turns leading - - during the higher cadence intervals, depending on the road's grade, I was leading us at 19-24 mph which I felt good about. We both consumed about four Gu's throughout the ride and I never felt overheated (thank you, windchill factor!) - - though, at one point when we were stopped at a traffic light, I was aware the it was pretty hot. I ended the ride feeling very healthy and physically fit. It was a great ride.

That afternoon, we wandered downtown and spectatored at the Twilight Criterium. There is a new course this year and I found it more pleasant for spectators than the previous course. We found a nice grassy knoll upon which to relax. We saw a bit of the kids race, which is always super entertaining. Then we saw the "4s and 5s" race - - several of Josh's coworkers and ex-coworkers were in this race and it was interesting watching them.

After that race, we took a bit of a siesta and splashed around in the pool where Josh lives. I have since developed a horrible rash either from an allergic reaction to the chlorine or to a fungus on the pool lounging chair. Either way, the vast majority of my person itches so badly that I want to scratch it off and I'm not finding my anti-itch cream very soothing. I am also treating a mild case of athlete's foot which is adding to the overal itchiness of my present.

After the siesta, we returned downtown to watch the men's pro race. I had wanted to see the women's pro race, but time did not allow for this. By the time that we returned, there were a lot of other spectators and we found a variety of locations from which to spectate. The final location was atop a parking garage which offered a good view of an exciting turn in the course as well as the finish line. Personally, I found the beginning of the race more interesting than the end - - as there was a three-person breakaway right at the beginning which was able to 'lap' the peloton in about five laps. In this breakaway, there were two Toyota-United racers, and the rest of that team got to the front of the peloton to slow it down (possibly facilitating the breakaway's 'lapping' of the peloton). After the race, we went to Gernika for some wine and beer.

My Sunday was also nice. Well, sorta nice. It was god-aweful hot and I spent the majority of the day feeling overheated and sluggish. Sundays are also my 'errand-days' so I spent most of the day on errands. But I rather enjoy doing errands - - makes me feel like a grown-up. One of my errands included going to a hardware store to buy some clamps. Now, finding what I am looking for at a hardware store is not my forte, and I was unable to locate a customer service representative, so I spent a good amount of time wandering around. Once I found the clamp section, I stood in front of them, pondering my MANY options, for some time. In case you are wondering, I needed a clamp for my new knitting yarn swift, as the clamp it was manufactured with is insufficent for my clamping requirements. I located an affordable clamp, purchased two just in case, and have since been successful at using my swift with a greatly improved camp system.

Posted by jennifer at 9:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)