Back to Church

last Sunday at the Chapel of Murphy Hanrehan...





- Bag ...have you communed?

Mid-Afternoon Commute

a baiku

new tar on roadway
smooth as baby's bottom, hot
as steaming diaper


~ it's hot ~


- THe Old Bag ...s l o w l y wilting....

Love/Hate

The Teacher's Conundrum

I love SUMMER! sun warm weather time no plans cleaning house rearranging furniture riding s i t t i n g sorting shopping not riding espresso cream gardens riding grilling weekend plans coming home phone calls yellow fruit kittehs fluffy things red sunglasses hearts actually, I hate hearts and flowers

I hate spring gray skies dirty snow schedules feeling trapped dust and pet hair routine not riding hectic piles shopping not riding office coffee Coffee-mate bare trees %#@$!! schedules cooking packing for the weekend leaving home phone calls gray wilted veggies boxelder bugs #@! fluffy things no sunglasses hearts I detest hearts and flowers

- The currently waaay satisfied Bag

New Brew

I picked these up purely because of their names. I can't say I picture Betty as a blond, and I'm not sure how she feels about being called "Sweaty"...after all, we women don't sweat, we glow.

- The and in this humidity, I'm definitely glowing Bag

HDL LOL??

Family health history is not necessarily on my side.

In spite of inheriting my mother's lanky proportions, I've inherited high cholesterol tendencies from both sides of my gene pool.

Thanks, Mom and Dad.

It hit me in my mid-30s. I'd been steadily surfing along for years with cholesterol levels somewhere in the 170s (I don't recall breakdowns being important then), until one summer my total weighed-in at 195. It wasn't too alarming considering the test had been done the day after I'd spent 8 hours at the Great Minnesota Get Together* noshing everything from deep-fried cheese curds to pork chops on a stick. It would be back to normal the following summer.

Except it wasn't. 206 that time.

Then 219.

It climbed steadily. Somewhere in the midst of the 230s, my doctor at the time asked could you exercise more? My life at the time included somewhere around 200 racing and training miles per week.

Could I exercise more?!? I looked at her squarely what! you a crazy woman?!? we'd just had the discussion about my "needing to maintain a healthy body weight" in the midst of my telling her I was eating everything under the sun because my life at the time included somewhere around 200 racing and training miles per week. I couldn't keep weight on. My grocery bills had doubled. My life was cycling, driving to cycling events, and logging my cycling.

Could you exercise more?

I tried hard not to give her my exasperated ER-DUH look.

NO. I can't. It's still my most satisfying answer to any question I've ever been asked.

Three years ago with life well back to normal, my cholesterol total topped out at 247. My current doctor wasn't worried, however. Taking into account my lifestyle and that my HDL was somewhere off the charts in the 80s, she explained ratios: ratio of HDL to LDL, ratio of HDL to total cholesterol. My ratios were low, a good thing, but it's still something I watch.

I was amused by test results the following summer, done three days after returning from a week-long bicycle tour along the coast of Michigan. 70-80 miles a day for six days returned a total cholesterol level of 217. It was an interesting aha: all I had to do was ride 450 miles a week.

Well.

That's a relief.

Somehow I missed last year's test...probably had breakfast before heading to the doctor and forgot to schedule a follow-up lab test. This morning, however, I got the results of my latest: 176. All my numbers are within acceptable ranges.

Clean livin'.

Well, or they got my results confused with someone else's.


- The skeptical Old Bag after all, it was a busy morning at the doctor's office....

*Minnesotans love their state fair...it's an odd thing

Is it a Commute?

when you go in
to get some work done
but you're not getting paid
because you don't work in the summers
but you're taking care of stuff
and you rode
but it's not like it's a ride
because if it were a ride, "going-in" would mean into a coffee shop for some joe and a scone
because you went in
to the place you work
but you didn't have to
yet you kinda did
so is that a commute?


- OB I thought I had the summer off....

Participating in the Giro

...er, the Gyros....




- The Baggie we won!

Intersection

straddling the edge pondering the unexplored steep narrow singletrack winding over rock beds across logs down into a bank of trees the climb begins someplace beneath the overgrowth I know the route that brought me here but unfamiliar intricate trails are demanding and even more amazing

- OB go that way!