August 22, 2016

Red and yellow.

What Meade texted me from his bike ride:

IMG_2025

What I texted Meade from my walk:

IMG_1238

43 comments:

rhhardin said...

The first one is smooth sumac.

Paul said...

Have you quit riding your mountain bike? I believe you had a spill a while back, no?

traditionalguy said...

Golden and sunny woods beats the Purple Trees of Winter ante-Meade.

wild chicken said...

Fall's a common.

Tommy Duncan said...

Ann and Meade are experiencing a break from hot and humid weather. How do people survive in Florida and Arizona in the summer?

BTW, 150 miles northwest of the Althouse residence the aspen trees are starting to drop a few leaves. A sure sign that fall is coming soon.

Ann Althouse said...

"Have you quit riding your mountain bike? I believe you had a spill a while back, no?"

I still ride, but I can't do it anywhere nearly as well as Meade, and I like to walk (and listen to audiobooks when I'm alone walking), so there are many days when we're not together. We got together later.

Meade mountain bikes about 20 miles, about 10 times what I might want to do. We have a way to do it together, but I cannot keep up with the level where he would be on a normal day.

Carol said...

Goddam autocorrect.

David Begley said...

I did 13 miles on Sunday. Impressed with Meade.

mockturtle said...

Your photo has the better composition, Ann. But don't tell Meade that. ;-)

Heartless Aztec said...

Around Lake Mendota...

Known Unknown said...

CNN is now referring to those who question Clinton's health as "The New Birthers"

Of course, they use a question mark as if to say "hey, we're just asking the question, not planting a seed."


Ann Althouse said...

That's 20 miles of mountain bike trails... not just road bike paths. I can do 20 miles on the Capital City Bike path. But the off road paths are challenging, with lots of climbs and tricky things. I'm proud to do 2 miles of that and have done as much as 4 or 5, but it takes a lot of concentration and involvement. I like that, in that it's all-encompassing. I plan to get back to doing it more, but right now, I'm just interested in maintaining my ability to do it at all.

Ann Althouse said...

Meade, on the other hand, goes about it in more of a fitness-buff style. That's not me.

Rob said...

From the NYT story about the just-released Huma Abedin emails: "the sometimes awkward ties between the Clinton Foundation and the State Department." Yeah, sometimes awkward. That's the sound of the NYT throwing up a little in its mouth.

mockturtle said...

Why couldn't the NYT have been honest and said 'scandalous', not 'sometimes awkward'? They have lost ALL credibility.

David Begley said...

Rob and mock:

This election has made one thing clear. The NYT is a complete joke and might as well rename itself Pravda. Sad!

Sprezzatura said...

"That's 20 miles of mountain bike trails... not just road bike paths."

Nice save.

Even so, Meade would be the first to point out that not all mountain bike trails are created equally. OTOH, the dude is old, so any trail that doesn't end with an defibrillator is an accomplishment.

buwaya said...

What my people sound like - we had our own dialect of Spanish, and of course our own accent -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSC7D5ahyyU

And our own version of the prevalent musical form of the late Spanish Empire - the Habanera.
Original Spanish version, an original Filipino composition from 1890, of one of the most characteristic - classic - tunes of the country.
"Sampaguita" is one of the three or so theme tunes of the Philippines, though the song is in Tagalog or some other language now. This is accompanied by the Philippine version of the Spanish "rondalla" string band.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4A9AVyhfQo
Modern guitar instrumental.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XS-ad8dsM-E

Sprezzatura said...

I've hung out w/ Filipinos. I remember one in particular, she said her religion (Catholic) meant that we couldn't use condoms. Eventually she started asking what I'd think if she became pregnant. Is it bad to move on at that point?

buwaya said...

You should have married her.
You would be a happier man, or at least a busier one.

Sprezzatura said...

I remember another Filipino who was a staff member who twice asked if I wanted to stop by for a meal while her husband was at sea (Navy). And, she once asked if I wanted to hang at a casino (Indian/Native American type).

Anywho, that didn't seem like a good idea.

Folks got other ethnic backgrounds? I've crossed paths w/ more than Filipinos.

Sprezzatura said...

buwaya,

The staff member I just mentioned was more of a temptation. She really had something going on. Even now, it's visceral.

Paul said...

Good for you. Riding a mountain bike is taxing physically and requires a lot of bike handling skills. It's extremely rewarding and can become quite addictive.

I tend to categorize trails by elevation gained-lost and technical difficulty. A twenty mile trail can be a piece of cake or a death March depending.

buwaya said...

Spanish. Thats my main passport.
Spent some of my childhood in my grandpas village near Bilbao.
We were "chinitos" (diminutive of Chinese) to the locals.
You arent likely to have met any actual Spanish people in the US, there aren't many here.

buwaya said...

You should have married one or the other, Filipinas make excellent wives and mothers. Dont ignore them though.

Sprezzatura said...

buywaya,

Actual Chinese: definitely, a bunch. The Spanish version: not yet.

Sprezzatura said...

buwaya,

I don't doubt that the odds are better than average w/ Filipino gals. But, for any gal, it's a red flag when they start talking about tying you down w/ a kid or they're pursuing you even though they're married. [Btw, If it wasn't clear, that married one was insanely hot. Hot looking. And, exuded sexiness and passion. I still remember her and one other married staff member (very white) who wanted more than was right. Fortunately there are plenty of fish in the sea.]

buwaya said...

My neighborhood in Manila in a typical year- to the left, Spanish mestizos, behind, a tremendously wealthy Chinese, to our right, expat Americans, one over, more Chinese, one of which my first girlfriend (Jenny...), across right, Bicolanos, left of them, boarding house of Australian dive instructors (and the girls were beautiful...), across the way the Pakistani consul, younger son was my best pal, to their right Germans, with a lovely daughter.
Manila, in the right circles, is, or rather still was, in those days, extremely cosmopolitan.
Down the street would come the Manila style of open hansom cab, the horse-drawn calesa, which my grandma preferred for going to market, fertilized duck egg vendors (baluut!), rag and bone men in their carts, vendors of siopao (Chinese dumplings), and of course, iften on Saturday nights, the municipal brass band. It was an interesting place.
The kids spoke nearly every sentence in three languages concurrently, not usually the same three.

Sprezzatura said...

buwaya,

I once had a neighbor on Lake Washington (waterfront Seattle, aka Bill Gates' hood) who spent part of the year in the Philippines. I don't know if it's changed, but they said it was unbelievable how much further the dollar went there than it did in Seattle.

buwaya said...

That is still true.
You can live in style and comfort for far less than here. I could have retired there a decade ago but my wife would kill me, she cant stand the place. Just one thing - avoid Manila, these days its a pest-hole and the traffic is impossible.

Sprezzatura said...

Buwaya,

In a way it's cute when rich folks jabber about conserving dough by looking at places where dough will go further. OTOH, Cap Ferrat is so perfect. Absolutely perfect, imho. And, from the investment POV and appreciation, you end up further ahead anyway.

buwaya said...

And we very numerous kids played in the street, our little middle class UN, and went to the Pakistanis to watch the Three Stooges, which are effective in any language, and because the Pakis were the first to have a TV. And they gave us chupatis.
Its a lost world, a lot of that.
The economy and economic policy (which wasnt something I thought of at the time) drove most of the foreign expats away, and me too eventually. The old urban Manila changed and nearly everyone, if they didnt go abroad, would have gone to a much more boring suburb.

buwaya said...

Cap Ferrat?
BS. Go buy in Alaminos Pangasinan, by the gob-smacking beauty of the Hundred Islands. Stay in happiness till you die. You can't take it with you and you have no kids.

buwaya said...

I figure a rather nice bachelor place in Alaminos would go for, oh, $80K or so. Cost of living would be such that you'd feel rather wealthy with $2000/mo. net. Enjoy. Live the beach life.

Sprezzatura said...

Buwaya,

I haven't been there. But, for me part of the appeal of the nice parts of the Riviera is the proximity to stuff I'm used to, i.e. Europe. If I wasn't so used to the States, I'd be more comfortable in less familiar regions. E.g. lots of folks rave about Istanbul. And, I like it a lot, when I visit. But, after a bit it's out of my comfort zone (even before all the recent terrorists). Likewise, but in a different way, a couple days in Las Vegas is more than enough.

buwaya said...

They dont speak Tagalog, much, in Pangasinan, they speak Pangasinan, which I find rather odd and quite impenetrable. Almost as bad as Ilocano.
They do speak English fairly often.

buwaya said...

Another advantage of marrying a Filipina is that you will automatically acquire a very large extended family and constant social obligations. There will no longer be any hope of loneliness. And if she leaves you there will be a waiting list of her relatives to take her place.

Sprezzatura said...

At least I know how to pronounce "Tagalog." Still that's not as impressive as the fact that another gal taught me to read Korean. I didn't know what I was saying, but I could pronounce it. And, I know that any Asian characters that include a circle are guaranteed to be Korean. And, in my limited experience, no woman can make a better meal than a Korean woman making traditional Korean food, imho.

Sprezzatura said...

BTW, if things unfold as it seems they will, I hope that all cons will turn on the remaining Execs (not to mention the Ailes apologists) at Fox News who are implicated by Andrea Tantaros. Sure, WJC is a dog, but I'm not sure it'd be ideal if cons use that as an excuse for Fox News evilness.

http://thefederalist.com/2016/05/03/andrea-tantaros-on-feminists-donald-trump-and-indiana-primary/
It's gross to think about sleazy, geezer Ailes harassing her. Yuck!

Hagar said...

Fox News is evil because of executive sexual harassment misbehavior or because it airs news and opinions that are suppressed at the alphabet soup networks?

mockturtle said...

PB&J, 'sleazy geezer' has nice alliteration!

mockturtle said...

It would make a great name for an aging motorcycle gang. Here come the Sleazy Geezers.

Ann Althouse said...

"Nice save."

No. I. Said mountain biking the first time, but when David Begley came forward with his ability to bike 13 miles, I wanted to underline the difference.