This and that, and some gratuitous photos....

I had it on my calendar to make today my announcement of my A to Z theme. Naturally, having written that down, I proceeded to not think of a theme. I have some ideas glimmering around the edge of my mind. I might focus on a character from a favorite book (surely I can find on for every letter of the alphabet--I have a lot of favorite books!). I'd like to do more with photos, but I already did the outdoor adventure theme last year, so that's out. A story every day for the month would be cool, but might be tough to pull off. I might even like to generate a random word for each letter of the alphabet, and create something--story, photo essay, book review--around that letter.

If I do any of those things--or come up with something else totally brilliant--you'll know when A to Z starts!  And if you want to steal any of those ideas, help yourself. Even if I end up doing the same one, the beauty of the human mind is that we would end up doing totally different things!

In other business: work continues on the edits for Death By Trombone, book 2 in the Pismawallops PTA murder series. Progress on the 3rd Ninja Librarian book has been less visible. Other ideas are percolating--I hope they don't shove Skunk Corners aside, because I know a lot of people want to see what happens next there!

I have also committed once again to ride the Chico Wildflower Century at the end of April. That means I'm back to serious training on my bike. And that gives me what I think I'll throw in for my gratuitous photos--shots of some of the places we rode during our training last year, and will be riding again before we're done. I am very fortunate to live in a place with an excess of beautiful places to ride, and plenty of hills to train on (yes, that is a positive thing--at least if I insist on riding centuries with 5 or 6 thousand feet of climbing!). Since I let the spouse handle the camera on these rides, the photos are his, not mine (copyright info embedded).

Golden Gate Bridge and San Francisco from the Marin Headlands. On a perfect day--they don't all look like this!

Me and the tule elk at Pt. Reyes National Seashore. The sun was setting, and we had miles to go--we finished that ride in the dark for sure, and it was cold!

Me with the beacon atop Mt. Diablo (3849'), in the East Bay. This beacon is maybe 30 miles inland, but high enough that it could be seen 100 miles out at sea, though it was meant for aviation. Built in 1928, it was shut down during WWII and since has been lit only once a year, to commemorate the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

Biking among the California Poppies can be pretty breath-taking.

Going north instead of east takes us into the redwood groves on Mt. Tamalpais.

And the big day--a typical rest-stop scene at the Wildflower Century. Well, typical except for the rain. Last year it rained, and instead of losing riders to heat exhaustion, they were in danger of losing some (me included) to hypothermia. The previous year, I had to stop a pour ice water over my head. Last year, I had to eat lunch in a super-heated room and still couldn't get warm!

The real appeal of a ride like this is the food. Not only do you get to stuff yourself at 4 rest stops plus lunch, but when you finish the ride, there's a dinner at the fairgrounds. With about 6 different ride-lengths, the event draws 4000 riders of all ages and abilities.

Just in case you live in northern California and this looks like your kind of insanity, I'm going to toss in a link to the Chico Velo Web page where you can sign up!

And one final picture, because I stumbled on it in my photo albums and it's just cool. A seaside Lego village, designed and built by my sons last year:

Waiting for the pirates to come, I suspect.

See you on Wednesday, for a book review!

©Rebecca M. Douglass, 2015