red gas works
Mornings most of the week were taken up running errands, while accompanied by my youngest son. It's a nice time for talking. We'd go for long bike rides in the afternoons. The rides were ideal, for getting some exercise but letting my foot heal a little more.
On Monday, Oliver and I rode to Gas Works Park, an easy ten miler on bike paths with low stakes road travel here and there.
Tuesday, we did a fifteen miler. Our bottoms were pretty sore, but we decided to pedal the Burke Gilman Trail up to Ravenna Park, where we rode through the ravine to Green Lake where we circled the lake before Oliver rode at the mountain bike park a little (his bike's an old Specialized Stumpjumper). We were going to cut through the University of Washington campus to go home but instead decided to ride directly south to the Burke Gilman Trail. Lots of higher-stakes riding on roads to connect places, not my cup of tea. But it was okay, there were bike lanes. Oliver has to learn at some point. I'd rather have it be with me than anyone else.
The Burke Gilman Trail is a multiuse trail for pedestrians and bikers. People use it to commute and exercise. My oldest does a lot of his triathlon training on it, both running and biking. It's a fun place to take older children but you have to be careful because there are a lot of bike jocks who go fast. It's an enjoyable place for people watching, albeit at a fast pace (unless you're motivated to keep up with someone winsome).
This picture is from Gas Works Park, it's mainly about the colors.
Several years ago I found a circular polarizer in tall grass that happened to be the same diameter as the only lens I had for my Fuji at the time (what are the odds?). While I kept it (knowing the chances of it being found by its original owner were nil), I knew I'd hardly use it since years ago I came to a late understanding that I'd ruined much of my early wide angle photography with improper use of a circular polarizer so I gave up on them except for long exposure photography in water settings. Also, since my digital shooting is always done with an eye toward b/w conversion, I don't like muddling exposures with a filter.
However, for this bike ride I took the CPL for the heck of it. It did help with some pictures where the old machinery in Gas Works was reflecting afternoon light. But I kept screwing it on and unscrewing and taking it off and screwing it back on....when I couldn't decide if I wanted it for a particular picture. So I've decided I'm just better off without using one :-)
Wednesday, I spent most of the afternoon on my hands and knees, scrubbing moss off the knotty cedar of the back deck in preparation for re-staining it.
Finally, yesterday (Thursday), both of the boys and I hiked to a nice mountain lake. It was a good test for my foot (about the rockiest trail we could've chosen). It was a tiring mental exercise being so focused about placement of my "bad" foot, but I emerged unscathed, not worsening it. My oldest son Adam is training for a triathlon, so we let him run ahead. But even Oliver zoomed ahead of me. Adam ran all the way up the mountainside and then back down to us and repeated the last couple miles up. It's a little demoralizing for me when he does that but I do enjoy his company when we reunite. He probably did 17 miles of running/walking for the day and he chose to do it in running shoes. These days, trail runners treat a lot of long hikes as a walk in the park, it's crazy. The boys swam in the lake even though it was freezing cold. I thought about dipping my foot it the icy lake water but I was too tired to unlace my boots.
We explored off trail a little on easy sub-alpine terrain (animal paths). The boys had a snowball fight while I napped, and then we walked back down.
red gas works
Mornings most of the week were taken up running errands, while accompanied by my youngest son. It's a nice time for talking. We'd go for long bike rides in the afternoons. The rides were ideal, for getting some exercise but letting my foot heal a little more.
On Monday, Oliver and I rode to Gas Works Park, an easy ten miler on bike paths with low stakes road travel here and there.
Tuesday, we did a fifteen miler. Our bottoms were pretty sore, but we decided to pedal the Burke Gilman Trail up to Ravenna Park, where we rode through the ravine to Green Lake where we circled the lake before Oliver rode at the mountain bike park a little (his bike's an old Specialized Stumpjumper). We were going to cut through the University of Washington campus to go home but instead decided to ride directly south to the Burke Gilman Trail. Lots of higher-stakes riding on roads to connect places, not my cup of tea. But it was okay, there were bike lanes. Oliver has to learn at some point. I'd rather have it be with me than anyone else.
The Burke Gilman Trail is a multiuse trail for pedestrians and bikers. People use it to commute and exercise. My oldest does a lot of his triathlon training on it, both running and biking. It's a fun place to take older children but you have to be careful because there are a lot of bike jocks who go fast. It's an enjoyable place for people watching, albeit at a fast pace (unless you're motivated to keep up with someone winsome).
This picture is from Gas Works Park, it's mainly about the colors.
Several years ago I found a circular polarizer in tall grass that happened to be the same diameter as the only lens I had for my Fuji at the time (what are the odds?). While I kept it (knowing the chances of it being found by its original owner were nil), I knew I'd hardly use it since years ago I came to a late understanding that I'd ruined much of my early wide angle photography with improper use of a circular polarizer so I gave up on them except for long exposure photography in water settings. Also, since my digital shooting is always done with an eye toward b/w conversion, I don't like muddling exposures with a filter.
However, for this bike ride I took the CPL for the heck of it. It did help with some pictures where the old machinery in Gas Works was reflecting afternoon light. But I kept screwing it on and unscrewing and taking it off and screwing it back on....when I couldn't decide if I wanted it for a particular picture. So I've decided I'm just better off without using one :-)
Wednesday, I spent most of the afternoon on my hands and knees, scrubbing moss off the knotty cedar of the back deck in preparation for re-staining it.
Finally, yesterday (Thursday), both of the boys and I hiked to a nice mountain lake. It was a good test for my foot (about the rockiest trail we could've chosen). It was a tiring mental exercise being so focused about placement of my "bad" foot, but I emerged unscathed, not worsening it. My oldest son Adam is training for a triathlon, so we let him run ahead. But even Oliver zoomed ahead of me. Adam ran all the way up the mountainside and then back down to us and repeated the last couple miles up. It's a little demoralizing for me when he does that but I do enjoy his company when we reunite. He probably did 17 miles of running/walking for the day and he chose to do it in running shoes. These days, trail runners treat a lot of long hikes as a walk in the park, it's crazy. The boys swam in the lake even though it was freezing cold. I thought about dipping my foot it the icy lake water but I was too tired to unlace my boots.
We explored off trail a little on easy sub-alpine terrain (animal paths). The boys had a snowball fight while I napped, and then we walked back down.