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My little outburst here helped me calm down

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  Anyone believe in angels? Not the LA Angels or guardian angels, but I’m talkin’ ‘bout the synchronicities and energies and feelings and collective unconsciousnesses that we perhaps float in. And that may affect us. Like I just had another random thought about this, which is this question: how is a belief in “angels” qualitatively different from a belief in “God” or a in collection of axioms and principles known as a religion? I suddenly felt that a blog post was necessary. I am sitting here in my downtown Cleveland, OH Airbnb awaiting the start of a 3-day intensive seminar on teaching Smart Cycling, the League of American Bicyclists course. If I pass (I flunked last year in Eugene, OR), I will be an LCI (League Cycling Instructor) and my power to influence will be enhanced, presumably. After practicing my assigned 8- and 4-minute oral presentations, and after reviewing the flash cards for proctoring the on-the-bike sessions and noticing that I was dangerously close to paralyti...
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A Trip to Troutdale

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From: The Department of Plot Twists Mentioned: The moon, a magic carpet ride, humans being good, the dose matters.  Last August, m y wife Carol and I had plans for a two-night stay at an Airbnb with a long day hike near Troutdale, just west of Portland followed by an evening outdoor concert. But Carol opted to stay home so she could be on-call for the birth of our 20 month old grand daughter’s brother. At the Salem, OR station, I hopped on an Amtrak with my bike and got off in Portland. I continued 15 miles east on the bike, with my 2 tickets to see Khruangbin the next night in my pocket. When I checked in at the Airbnb, the homeowner (I’ll call her Keltic*) showed me around her place. Mentioning in passing that I did have an available extra ticket, I hopped back on the bike to check out the venue (only a mile away) and grab some food.  I ended up on the south balcony of the Grand Lodge at Edgefield, surveying the crowd as they entered the Edgefield Great Lawn to se...
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Ghost Story (Australia vol. 1)

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  Discussed :   seasonal rearrangements, cultural contrasts, a strange big island, mass musical culture, family ghosts, werewolves. Carol and I get in the car with our friend Kristin’s boyfriend’s son’s girlfriend Nadia on Tuesday Feb. 21, 2023.   We are shuttled  50 miles to Portland, and pay Nadia $100.   We h ave the folding bike loaded into the cargo bay. We sit in the plane, get off and soon get on another, try to sleep. We walk off the plane 15 hours later, gathering our stuff and greeting my niece Anna on a bright sunny humid Thursday afternoon in Melbourne. It’s 6 months into the past or the future, and 80 degrees not 40.   Not taking it for granted, I accept this as a journey on a magic carpet, woven from ancient fossils we have taken to calling fuel. Adventure ensues.   We encounter all manner of animals and birds and plants that confirm the alchemy of the carpet.   We notice that the land is enchanted but the people are strangely ju...
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Maybe This Will be Fun to Read

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Discussed : sloth and torpor, things we do, survival, Koalas  I always strive to make what I write tasty, at least aromatic, in that there is something about it that draws one in.  Curiosity is what I am counting on, in the sense that I actually hope this gets read and that it offers something.  How can I describe what happens to allow this blog space to be empty for over 4 months?  There are excuses that have something to do with everyday activities and responsibilities, but they turn out to be pretty lame excuses when you dig a bit deeper.  I've put "writing" on my identity resume as a thing I do, so to actually not do it creates anxiety.  Amazing to think that at a radical (real) level, this is simply a manifestation of my innate laziness.  Amazing, I AM Lazy!! Instead of writing, I worry about not having written. Instead of writing, I wonder about what to write.  That's uncomfortably accurate.  And yet...this awareness is an opportunity t...
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Fresh Ideas

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  Been way too long.   Often, I feel anxious and worried about whatever (no shortage of topics and fears), but lately I’ve been more at ease and curiosity seems to have taken the place of anxiety.   That’s a very good thing.   So, in this post I’ll ramble, and hopefully you’ll be curious and read on.   I’ll keep it short.   Previous posts from me have generally had a “theme”, this time it is what it becomes.   In honor of his passing, a friend posted on Facebook today a YouTube of Ahmad Jamal playing in 1959.   Inspired, I read that shortly after his 92 nd birthday, Mr. Jamal told a New York Times interviewer that “whenever I sit down at the piano, I always come up with fresh ideas”.   Twenty-one  years hence may I say the same!   Trying to stay fresh, here we go. My wife Carol and I have “downsized” to a 983 sq. ft. house, but it’s got a large garage (400 sq. ft.).   Recently we  had hanging shelves installed in the...
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A very nice little story

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  The six of us were a bit chilled but sun soaked as we rode up to Karma Coffee Bar and Bakery in Dallas for warm-up and refueling. This was a late November Salem Bicycle Club ride, 37 miles out and back.   Someone spotted a truck parked out front, with a rear window decal featuring a combat-style weapon and the wordplay “OreGUNian”.   I facetiously suggested that we inquire as to the capacity of the magazine on that semi-automatic*. My imagined stereotype of the truck’s owner was that he voted hard right, and that he stereotyped us (bicyclists) as hippie hard-leftists.   We laughed.   Good down to 30 degrees After some good coffee and carb loading, we spent two hours replacing all our winter riding gear (seems like it sometimes), and pulled our machines out, ready to roll. One of us habitually locks the bike every time, especially since it’s a high-end custom (really a good policy for us all).  There are downsides to locking, and one we rarely consider i...
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The Kate Wolf Music Festival, 2022

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  Like perhaps thousands of other couples, in 1984 Carol and I included Kate Wolf’s song GiveYourself to Love in our wedding ceremony.   I listened regularly to several of her albums in the early ‘80’s, after first hearing her on Mike Flynn's syndicated radio show, The Folk Sampler, and we got to see her perform and briefly speak with her, in Lansing Michigan in 1985. She died of leukemia at age 44 in December of the next year. This was a monumental loss for many, and in 1996 a memorial concert was held in Sebastopol, CA.   It became an annual festival, moving north to Laytonville, CA in 2001.   Once we heard of it, after emerging from the haze of early child-rearing, we vowed to go.   Finally, we arranged to meet two of our best music buddies there for the 25 th annual (rescheduled from 2020), said to be the last one. We drove eight hours on the first day so that we would only have an hour’s drive the next day to the festival site. Having been advised by th...
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