Pumpkin photo shoot

At the request of my college friends back East, Sydney + Kara, I got some photos of pumpkin + me, not in action but you'll get the gist. Today, I was riding down Valencia Street on the way to school, the first of the 5 miles, and I heard, " JAN!" and who did I see but my honey waiting for a friend outside of Big Mouth Burger, though I had to remind him we're having hamburgers tonight for dinner. Lucky meeting, as I'd just had a thought as the blue sky was drifting away behind the clouds that I had no rain gear for Eli who is already skeptical of our rides. Art gallantly offered his coat, sweet guy huh? I had him snap the first photo. Later when I got to school I naively offered for Eli to ride with Leon/Naomi thinking he'd not want to but he did, and yes my feelings were hurt. After some back and forth we decided he'd ride part-way to Duboce Street Cafe, we'd meet, have a steamed milk/biscotti treat and then I'd scoop up the little guy. I beat the car by a good 6 minutes probably on the parking curve. Anyway, while enjoying our treat, we thought it'd be fun in the future for Naomi meet me at 15th/Valencia for me to take both boys home on the bike path while she has a student, something to work up to. p.s. the sky was blue the entire ride home though it is storming right now! These photos bring a smile to my face just looking at them, they're a bit ridiculous but boy is it fun! I just had to include the final photo for contrast of my and Eli's face.

Bike + Byrne

I've always loved the Talking Heads and was so pleased to get up-close-and-personal with David Byrne's Journal. He is so cool, taking his collapsible bike around the world with him on his year-long tour. I think I'm going to have to get his book Bicycle Diaries out of the library, keeps me motivated to get on Pumpkin as much as possible.

Last week I was able to ride her to Golden Gate Park, meet a friend for a walk, spend an hour at the Amish Quilt Exhibit at the de Young Museum, ride to school and home with Eva on the back. I was a bit neurotic taking Pumpkin to the Park as our friends had two bike stollen there on Saturday at the Sciene Museum bike rack. The guard tole them that someone walks up, sprays liquid nitrogen on the lock and ride away minutes later. I took both my locks that came with the bike, one weighing at least 7 lbs. With the locks and 56 lb girl in tow, I got plenty of a workout. Not realizing how exhausted I was when I got home, I promptly fell asleep on the sofa and was in bed for the night at 8:30 p.m.

Chocolate, Pumpkin, Bi-Rite therapy

Re-entry is always tough for me;I miss the holiday, sort of, I miss the children, really, I miss Virginia, why not, and then I come back sick, ready to clean/unpack alone. After my two-day marathon of house-readiness, really I mean it was not even at a functioning level, I was blue on Friday, not too bad but a fact. Things took a turn for the better when Naomi called and she came over for a quick cup of chocolate. This was not just hot chocolate but the most amazingly, creamy batch of goodness that she gave us for Christmas, Mariebelle from New York. I then hatched a plan all high on caffine that what I needed  was time on Pumpkin, even with a cold. How did I know? It all came together the minute I turned out of the garage on to Randall Street, even as a few rain drops started falling, I could not be stopped. After a nice grocery shop at an uncrowded Bi-Rite grocery, I rode home with contents to make beef stew in tow. Good bye blues.

child born of rain

Saturday before Eva's birthday I had to run some errands, there is nothing worse than running Saturday errands except running them in the rain; the parking, the poor driving, the sour attitudes. I got a sparkle in my eye when I pulled Pumpkin in to my vision of commuting around our part of the city. I pulled out my snow pants and found a raincoat and was ready to head off when Eva asked if she could join me. Why of course, no one loves rain more than my girl. The first rain storm of the year found her sitting down in the largest puddle on the playyard, wicking the water under her rain suit, leaving her wet up to her neck. Here are examples of my girl in rain one in Virginia at Graves Mt. Lodge and the other at friend's place in Novaro...(.the next time I looked out, she was naked on the tramplene, outlasting the three boys.)  We headed out in a torrent of drops, the pitter patter on the helmet sounded like that on a standing seam roof.  We took our time, stopping for lunch and a quick visit at a Holiday Bazaar of some Mission artistist - if I'd only had money. We returned home satisfied with our time out and about.

my obsession realized

when I get hot on a topic I'm hard to disuade. I'm so tired of being in my car all the time, it's the bain of my uban existance commuting across town to school. I look longingly at the parents who arrive with their children upon their bikes, for the  most part they have one child with the exception of Denis who first brought Etta and Oliver in a Dutch delivery bike with a big wooden boat-like structure all last year and up-graded this year to  a triple tandem. after cruising the city looking at family bike options, I decided that the cargo bike with some tweaking would be a welcomed addition in my life. I cornered Dave, a parent + bike shop owner, at stella/violet's party pumping him for info, read every blog covering the types of bikes, dragged my family to Marin to test ride the Xtracycle/Radish and finally to Santa Clara to tryout and home victorious with the sweetest bike ever, a Kona Ute. we've names her pumpkin due to the orange color. I had a fella at Freewheel Bikes help me design and install a handle bar to the back for a child to hold on to, feel comfortable with one passenger and hope to add another child some day to the spacious back. I have big dreams of riding to school the 4 + miles up and down SF hills (making children walk up!) but it'll take me a while to get there. Today we rode to ballet class in Noe with Eli riding next to me and Eva on the back, bringing home two bags of groceries. it is so liberating being out of the car. I heed the warnings of how dangerous this is, play it safe and slow and pray that we stay out of harms way. I'll let you know when I make it beyond Noe with passengers! will post photos soon too.