synchronized swimming

After riding to work yesterday morning, soaking in the hot shower and then getting dressed, I decided my watch needed synchronization to the atomic clock in Greenwich, England. That was the first tick mark complete on my mental 'to do' list. It feels great to get off to a successful beginning on a beautiful Monday. Of course it IS Monday so there's a long road laid out before us...paddle paddle.

We're in the mirror of Autumn here in N. Nevada. Less the changing colors off the Fall and the everything else (temperature, smells of burning detritus, daylight hours, etc.) seems a perfectly reflected image. Along with the other myriad of happenings the water has started to flow through the canals along the roads and fields. This brings out two things: swimming ducks and fields being prepped for planting. Not all the ducks leave over the winter; maybe they do and other more northern ducks show up from the likes of Idaho and Manitoba, who knows. I'll miss the ducks. Sometimes the flock just sits there in the middle of the side road that I ride home everyday - not much traffic, no real worries. I foresee my much more urban, traffic-laden ride in my future and I'll miss the absolute crazy selection of animals I see everyday:

sheep
tons of horses
goats with stairs and ramps
peacocks
llamas and alpacas
osterich
ducks
one flock of geese
lots of cattle,
plus, all the dogs: the Stooges, Trey (the three-legged dog), Midge, Mop, Anthony and Jester, Shadow, Jackpot, Stan and Oliver, the Sandlot (too many in that lot to name!), Casper and his pal Casper II, the ever relaxed Ghost, and Bullet the Wonder Dog

(all names have been created to protect the innocent)

I made shitake mushroom and black olive risotto for dinner Sunday night. Risotto gives one a lot time to think while standing and massaging the doings in the pan. Dinner and (inner) conversation! I'm a perfect date.

My weekly recommendations include the new Kris Kristofferson CD; Good Night, and Good Luck; the New Yorker article on just how off topic those clunky frames in art galleries appear to be. At the National Gallery last month Christine commented on that problem...everyone steals all her grand ideas.

T