Bicycle Race

The ground was wet and muddy at Spring Lake this morning as the sun emerged from the clouds giving us the impression, if not the reality of warmth this morning. I rained steadily in the night  and gusty winds were blowing away the rainclouds when we awoke.

We were joined on our walk this morning by Dana and Jim with Blake and Rudy. We made quite an entourage as we made our way around and amongst the cross country racers, running moms pushing strollers, birdwatchers looking for the rare and unusual (so we were told) crossbill in the treetops, and lots of families enjoying the outdoors and each other.

I chose the cyclist as he rode behind the a temporary fence because I liked his silhouette against the fluffy clouds, but the fact that he, and everybody else we saw, had to carry their bikes up the steep and very muddy path to the top of the levee made more interesting viewing than photographing. The poor cyclists with their bikes over their shoulders almost disappeared into the background of the muddy levee trail.They also had to ride around a complex series of zig-zags and circles in a field before blasting back up into the hills and parts unknown.

The extra photo I would call "Blipping the Twitchers"  if I could put a title on an extra. We were told that they had received notifications on their phones that crossbills could be spotted in the tops of the tall redwoods by the lake and they were advancing from all sides with binoculars, cameras with massive lenses and tripods.

Jim is making pizza dough today and we are due there in a few minutes. to assemble bake and eat them. Life goes on and we are very fortunate to have our wonderful family to share it with. They enrich us immeasurably. They will all begin to arrive next weekend for the annual Thanksgiving gathering, so to all my family this evening I say, 'vive la vie!'