Dentzel Stag at Glen Echo

When I returned to the Washington DC area, the most recurrent station of my youth, I was thrilled to find the painstaking restoration of the carousel at Glen Echo Park nearly complete.  I'd last seen it on my tenth birthday, in 1962, with seven friends and a hired teenage cowboy named Jimmy.

That was the year after the park opened to people of color.  Divinity student Lawrence Henry had lead a group of students in a series of peaceful protests around the DC area in the summer of 1960, including a sit-in on the carousel in Glen Echo, which led to their arrest. For ten weeks, the surrounding community joined with the students outside of Glen Echo to protest until the park owners opened the park without restrictions the following year. The students were convicted, but the conviction was overturned by a higher court.

I know my love of carousels dates back to this one at Glen Echo and to that awesome birthday celebration. I especially love Gustav Dentzel's menagerie carousels, with big-eared rabbits and ornate lions and long-legged ostriches and friendly giraffes. This leaping stag came from the Dentzel workshop in 1921, 20 years or so after art and sculpture student Daniel Carl Muller first created the model. The facial expressions varied among his deer carvings, but the pose and position were always the same: an outside row prancer. I love that Dentzel always used real antlers.

I found an old tollhouse

When I was last out rambling with the bike, near Route 7 in Ashburn, I followed a road posted as a dead end. I rode past a cluttered property with a crude sign about police dogs and trespassing, slowed when the road became gravel and turned parallel to the elevated highway. On the right, as I start downhill, this sprawl of a yellow house, and then a half-hung gate and a stone wall with a little house up against it. Beyond that, the bridge that had spanned Broad Run was demolished and unnavigable, three huge heaps of stone. Above it, on the elevated highway, cars zipped east at 60 miles an hour, some peeling off on the Route 28 ramp just beyond Broad Run. I was completely invisible to them, and they to me; they existed as noise for me.

The little stone house attracted me, although it was quite run down and not very photogenic. Still, it had a certain...attitude. I peered in windows. I found a tiny square swimming pool tucked against its walls in back. I strolled around the property, spring green bottomland spotted with dandelions. The creek was deep and brown and fast. The back of the yellow hacienda I'd passed overlooked a little pond with a filtration island on which two Canada geese were perched. They paid me no attention.

I established that there was no means of crossing the creek. The water was deep, the run as broad as its name. Further, there was no way to pass under the Route 7 bridge to the northern side, where I thought I might find my way to Algonkian Parkway. Indeed, I had to return whence I came, although ironically I would cross the stream just the other side of the Route 7 bridge an hour later.

Photo: Muriel Spetzman, 1953

I was curious, so I looked up the property. It turned out to have been the Broad Run Tollhouse, which not only collected tolls [until 1924] but sold moonshine for $2 a pint and $8 to $9 a gallon during Prohibition. Bridges had been  built there and washed away since colonial times. In 1809, a $41,450 state appropriation to build the twenty mile Leesburg Turnpike from Leesburg to Dranesville included the bridge and tollhouse. This sum, incidentally, was the largest state road appropriation to date. The stone bridge was constructed around 1820 out of huge stones from quarries in the Blue Ridge Mountains, and was was destroyed in 1972 by floodwaters from Hurricane Agnes.

1. Crystal Owens, "Activists look to save historic tollhouse", Loudoun Times, May 26, 2009.

2. Eugene Scheel (Waterford historian), "Mountains Full of Moonshiners", The History of Loudoun County

3. "The Broad Run Bridge", Broad Run Farms History, 06 November 2005

Warren Haynes, yeah

Breathe

I ran into this link on Facebook, "Namo'valokiteshvaraya Chanting," a Public Talk recorded Tuesday, April 12th, 2011 (just a few hours ago) at Sun Yat-Sen University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan. About chanting, listening, breathing, suffering, mindfulness, concentration, compassion.  The lecture, in English, picks up at 2:41, the music and chanting around 14:00 (length: about 35:00).

It led me to search the phrase "Namo'valokiteshvaraya" and somehow brought me direct to Dharma. The Breathing Sutra...

Anapanasati Sutta (Majjhima Nikaya 118) "Mindfulness of Breathing," Translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu

Mindfulness of in-&-out breath, when developed & pursued, is of great fruit, of great benefit. Mindfulness of in-&-out breathing, when developed & pursued, brings the four frames of reference to their culmination. The four frames of reference, when developed & pursued, bring the seven factors of awakening to their culmination. The seven factors of awakening, when developed & pursued, bring clear knowing & release to their culmination.

 This clearly will take some study. "Now how is mindfulness of in-&-out breathing developed & pursued so as to bring the four frames of reference to their culmination?"

[1] Breathing in long, he discerns that he is breathing in long; or breathing out long, he discerns that he is breathing out long. [2] Or breathing in short, he discerns that he is breathing in short; or breathing out short, he discerns that he is breathing out short. [3] He trains himself to breathe in sensitive to the entire body, and to breathe out sensitive to the entire body. [4] He trains himself to breathe in calming the bodily processes, and to breathe out calming the bodily processes. 

"[5] He trains himself to breathe in sensitive to rapture, and to breathe out sensitive to rapture. [6] He trains himself to breathe in sensitive to pleasure, and to breathe out sensitive to pleasure. [7] He trains himself to breathe in sensitive to mental processes, and to breathe out sensitive to mental processes. [8] He trains himself to breathe in calming mental processes, and to breathe out calming mental processes. 

"[9] He trains himself to breathe in sensitive to the mind, and to breathe out sensitive to the mind. [10] He trains himself to breathe in satisfying the mind, and to breathe out satisfying the mind. [11] He trains himself to breathe in steadying the mind, and to breathe out steadying the mind. [12] He trains himself to breathe in releasing the mind, and to breathe out releasing the mind. 

"[13] He trains himself to breathe in focusing on inconstancy, and to breathe out focusing on inconstancy. [14] He trains himself to breathe in focusing on dispassion [literally, fading], and to breathe out focusing on dispassion. [15] He trains himself to breathe in focusing on cessation, and to breathe out focusing on cessation. [16] He trains himself to breathe in focusing on relinquishment, and to breathe out focusing on relinquishment.

And that's enough for today, I think. Here's a version from a New York sangha.

Golden Lion Tamarin

LINKS

• Associação Mico-Leão-Dourado
• Metapopulation Management of Golden Lion Tamarins, in Tamarin Takes, Volume 10, 2010; Denise M. Rabaldi, Carlos R. Ruiz-Miranda, James M. Dietz 
• Severely endangered because their habitat has been fragmented into small, unconnected areas. About 1,500 golden lion tamarins live in the wild. [Golden Lion Tamarin Fact Sheet, National Zoo]
• GLTs and Zoos, Golden Lion Tamarin Conservation Program, National Zoo
• 2009 Golden Lion Tamarin Master Plan: Population Management Recommendations for the International Ex-situ Population of Golden Lion Tamarins (Leontopithecus rosalia), based on the International Studbook for Golden Lion Tamarins. 
• Wikipedia entry

Spring on the land like an itch.

April. Spring was on the land like an itch. The whole countryside seemed to be scratching itself awake - lazily, luxuriously, though occasionally scratching so hard its nails hit bone, that old cold calcium that lies beneath our tingles. Tiny frogs, raked into alertness, were being scratched from much and mud. Tiny buds as bright as blisters, were being scratched from hardwood. The trees themselves, as juiced on sap as Tanuki ever was on booze (although the trees had a great deal more dignity), were scratching long blue notes from the sky.

[Tom Robbins, Villa Incognito, p. 5]

Five Perspectives on Error

Notes from excellent article
by Maria Popova, from Brain Pickings:
5 Must-Read Books on Error & the Science of Being Wrong

Full article: http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2011/04/04/must-read-books-being-wrong/#ixzz1JD5aNoQC
1 Being wrong

However disorienting, difficult, or humbling our mistakes might be, it is ultimately wrongness, not rightness, that can teach us who we are.... 

To err is to wander, and wandering is the way we discover the world; and, lost in thought, it is also the way we discover ourselves. being right might be gratifying, but in the end it is static, a mere statement. Being wrong is hard and humbling, and sometime seven dangerous, but in the end it is a journey, and a story... 

Kathryn Schulz, Being Wrong: Adventures in the Margin of Error

2 Why we make mistakes

We don’t think our perception is economical; we think it’s perfect. When we look at something, we think we see everything. But we don’t. Same with memory: we might think we remember everything, especially commonly encountered things like the words to the National Anthem, or the details on the surface of a penny—but we don’t. Our brains are wired to give us the most bang for the buck; they strip out all sorts of stuff that seems unimportant at the time. But we don’t know what’s been stripped out. One of the consequences of this is that we tend to be overconfident about the things we think we do know. And overconfidence is a huge cause of human error. 

Joseph Hallinan, Why We Make Mistakes: How We Look Without Seeing, Forget Things in Seconds, and Are All Pretty Sure We Are Way Above Average

3 The invisible gorilla

Published 11 years after the original experiment, The Invisible Gorilla: And Other Ways Our Intuitions Deceive Us encapsulates Harvard researchers Christopher Chabris and Daniel Simons’ findings on the mechanisms behind this “inattentional blindness” and how they translate into fundamental human behavior.

4 Mistakes were made [but not by me]

President Reagan's phrase 'mistakes were made' became an infamous hallmark of diffusion of responsibility and the failure to own our mistakes, which inspired the title of social psychologists Carol Tavris and Elliot Aronson‘s excellent Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me): Why We Justify Foolish Beliefs, Bad Decisions, and Hurtful Acts — an ambitious quest to unravel the underpinnings of self-justification and, in the process, make us better human beings.  

As fallible human beings, all of us share the impulse to justify ourselves and avoid taking responsibility for any actions that turn out to be harmful, immoral or stupid. Most of us will never be in a position to make decisions affecting the lives and deaths of millions of people, but whether the consequences of our mistakes are trivial or tragic, on a small scale or a national canvas, most of us find it difficult, if not impossible, to say, ‘I was wrong; I made a terrible mistake.’ The higher the stakes — emotional, financial, moral — the greater the difficulty.

Tavris and Aronson examine the root cause of these self-righteous yet erroneous behaviors: Cognitive dissonance — the mental anguish that results from trying to reconcile two conflicting ideas, such as a belief we hold and a circumstantial fact that contradicts it. In our deep-seated need to see ourselves as honorable, competent and consistent, we often bend reality to confirm this self-perception, which in turn results in a domino effect of errors.

5 How we know what isn't so

Written 20 years ago, How We Know What Isn’t So: The Fallibility of Human Reason in Everyday Life by Cornell psychologist Thomas Gilovich is arguably the most important critique on the biases of human reason ever published. It’s as much a throughly researched investigation into the science of mind as it is a compelling — and increasingly timely — treatise on the importance of not letting superstition and sloppy thinking cloud our judgement on a cultural and sociopolitical level.

People do not hold questionable beliefs simply because they have not been exposed to the relevant evidence. Nor do people hold questionable beliefs simply because they are stupid or gullible. Quite the contrary. Evolution has given us powerful intellectual tools for processing vast amounts of information with accuracy and dispatch, and our questionable beliefs derive primarily from the misapplication or overutilization of generally valid and effective strategies for knowing. Just as we are subject to perceptual illusions in spite of, and largely because of, our extraordinary perceptual capacities, so too are many of our cognitive shortcomings closely related to, or even an unavoidable cost of, our greatest strengths.

No photos for two days!

All I can do is rectify that today. ;)

Here are two photos from Aprils past, old memories...

April 24, 2009, on the way home from a B-o-B ride

April 7, 2007, Meadowlark Gardens

The last CT session, take 2

Hautacam again today, but only for one hour's duration.  My average speed was 23, 6 mph more than yesterday's workout.  I started with a threshold power of 130 and kicked it up 5 every time I felt comfortable doing so, finishing at 155. 155 was my FTP before I got ill. I'm damn near back. Hurray for me!

Community Garden

I stopped by one of Reston's community gardens, the one on North Shore Drive, to see what was alive. A handful of gardeners were toiling to knock away winter and turn soil in the warm afternoon sun. 

I'd like to get a garden plot and raise plants for our little yard.

The Last Session, Take I

Some cyclists in my Computrainer sessions had reservations about the ERG video technology HPC installed, but seem to have accepted it as another means of training. I enjoy the videos. Hey, high-definition training! And I enjoy not being stressed by competing with other cyclists. I enjoy the system's performance cues. I feel exceptionally well used when I'm done with an ERG video workout.

Today, I'd heard we were to climb the Hautacam, which ERG released in September 2010. Here's the ERG description of the one hour and twenty-one minute climb :

The Hautacam is one of the Pyrenean climbs always used as a stage finish in the Tour de France. It isn't the longest, steepest, nor the hardest climb you'll find, but being a stage finish means the contenders to win the Tour decide to go "all in" with devastating and decisive attacks, pressed all the way to the top to gain time on all others. It's no different here when the gents from Southwest Bike Academy, the Cycleryand 9to5 Pro have a crack at it. They provide a thrilling "warm-up" for you in the river gorge leading into Argeles-Gazost, before engaging a competitive local group of hard-men on the lower slopes of this climb. They attack "SouthWest style", over and over again, until only one worthy opponent is left to contest the final sprint against two of our SouthWest heroes. This isn't a steady ride at threshold, it's action-packed and not for the faint of heart. 

I was almost late arriving in class, as I decided 5 minutes of quick chain maintenance would be worth 15 minutes of warm-up. I felt good about the challenge. But I felt a little queasy and didn't eat. I finally snagged a sample piece of  raisin bread next door at Great Harvest and munched it as I climbed into the saddle.

I kept reiterating the breathing mantra: 'Relax. Breathe. Do nothing extra.' I continue to be amazed at how regular and rhythmic my breathing is becoming in everyday circumstances, not just on the bike. It seems as if I haven't really been breathing properly since I picked up my first cigarette in 1970. I can feel it energizing me, too. I stand taller and straighter, my shoulders square. Amazing.

I brought my own music today. I pulled up a new age shuffle on my ipod, because I wanted to relax into the ride. I didn't need the jangle of rock today. I listened instead to Paul Winter, Enya, Tambourine Dream. And I put my feet to pedaling. I warmed up with full honest one minute one legged intervals, and spun some kinks out of the muscles.

My FTP was still set low, accommodating my illness of the last few weeks. After twenty minutes, I raised it 5 watts, and again twice more, finishing at 135. And I kept my feet spinning circles, no more than 5% mashing in all that time, unless I'm fooling myself. After seventeen minutes, a 3-minute reduction since last time, my breathing began to agree with my spinning. It got even better at about 50 minutes. And after that - well, mostly it was easy. I consumed two of the Gas-X strips I've found useful during hard exercise like this. I was surprisingly not thirsty, and had to remind myself to drink. I had no nutrition with me; it all seems to upset my stomach these days.

I feel great. I'm going to try it again tomorrow, starting with a Threshold Power of 130.

Exploring Breathing

My Computrainer sessions end tomorrow. I plan to spend the next few weeks outdoors, exploring breathing, and hills, on my performance rides. This is to see how I can use breathing to control feelings and improve performance.

Week 1
Use breathing as a way to control emotions:

• Noticing the rhythm
• Feeling the inspiration
• Relaxing any tension

Week 2
Experiment with different types of imagery around my breathing, in order to gather energy.

Week 3
Practice re-establishing an interrupted breathing rhythm, using breathing to relax into the effort again, using breathing to manage pain.

Relax, breathe, and do nothing extra.

Hey, here's a cheap way to improve my performance! Give up photography!

No, that's not the point, although it may be helpful for me to define my rides as training or touring mileage:

• On the touring rides, I run on the joy of what I am perceiving. 
• On the performance rides, I run on the joy of what I am doing. 

Note that's an unordered list, with no value or preference attached to either option, generally speaking.

In the latter case, I can my improve my focus with Ian Jackson's Breathplay, according to an article on breathing in UltraCycling.

The key is to simply breath. Relax, breathe, and do nothing extra.

I'm very interested in finding out more about breathing. Seems to me it's key to my performance, but I don't hear much about it from the racers, trainers, and triathletes. Probably second nature to practiced athletes. I'm just an old lady who smoked tobacco for three decades.

Ian Jackson is talking about it, though. Traditional training is a metabolic process, he explains. Most training focuses on the metabolic foundation that strength comes from stress and recovery, and no pain, no gain. This kind of training "zeroes in on stressing the body metabolism in specific patterns of base and sharpening training routines. And through all this effort, how we breathe is taken for granted." But instead of enhancing performance, "over-reliance on the metabolic method often results in stale burned-out performance." 

Well, I hadn't got good enough yet to get stale, that's not the point of the curve I'm on. In any case, his Breathplay concept turns breathing upside-down to become air-pushing instead of air sucking. And maybe that's what I've figured out how to do, been forced to learn how to do in order to cope with acid emanations over the last several months. Sounds like the same effect:

With BreathPlay training, you learn to boost your pedaling power through finesse rather than force, so that while your wattage output increases, your heart rate decreases. With well-developed BreathPlay skills, riding faster and stronger becomes easier.

Easier. That's the word that always gets my attention.

Looks like Jackson's recommending lots of visualization. That's good and easy. Marilyn Phillip's experience was interesting...

The most powerful experience by far was the one I related to you recently, of giving shape and color to the burning sensation in my thighs, then experimenting with changing the color and working with my outbreath to intensify the color or change the shape of the sensation. After a few minutes, I began to feel a warmth at the base of my spine, which progressed to a burning, and then a feeling of tingling (something like a very intense tickle) as it rose up my spine. I began to laugh, and the feeling of fatigue in my thighs was replaced by a surge of strength. I shifted up two gears and pedaled ferociously for several minutes.

Well, let's see what I can do with my own body observations and imagination. There are good clues here, but I'm not sure I want to invest in a program.

Relax, breathe, and do nothing extra.

That's it in a nutshell.

Economy of Peformance

This sounds like a good summary, from John Hughes at the UltraCycling.com website.

Economy of performance improves as a result of:

1. a higher percentage of slow-twitch muscle fibers;
2. low body mass;
3. low psychological stress;
4. light, aerodynamic equipment;
5. proper bike fit;
6. low frontal area;
7. eliminating energy-wasting movements;
8. efficiency off the bike.

Edmund Burke at Carmichael Training says cycling economy as important a factor as VO2 max and lactate threshold values "to determine fitness and efficiency of effort." He discusses pedaling mechanics, the value of the interval and tempo training such as we're assigned in our Computrainer sessions, and miscellaneous factors that affect economy:

Fighting the bicycle, holding the handlebars too tightly, using a lot of upper body energy while climbing and riding in an unaerodynamic position during time trials or break-a-ways will affect your economy. 

Cycling | Health progress report

My BMI is now in the middle of the normal range. My weight is somewhat stable about 5 pounds higher than I'd like it, and 19 pounds less than my highest weight in 2010.

My acid issues are somewhat managed, and, in the hellish first quarter in which they manifested, I was forced to learn more efficient breathing techniques and refine my pedal stroke such that I was bouncing or churning or mashing as little as I could. Therefore I'm riding fairly fast and strong in recovery. Generally, my gut continues to be sensitive. I take Prilosec at least once a day. I want to ask the doctor for something else, but feel I should give up coffee completely before doing so. I just dread the minor withdrawal, and I'll miss my morning café au lait. Spoiled child, and it's an old habit. I must remember by new mantra: HTFU.

I proved to myself in a Computrainer session yesterday, following Sunday and Monday rides, that I am well enough now to ride strong on consecutive days. I proved to myself on the Sunday and Monday rides that the experience I was having of synchronizing my spinning and breathing worked just as well outdoors, after about 40 minutes of warm-up. My associated goals will continue to include

• reducing this process to autonomic status, 
• reducing the warm-up duration before the synchronization kicks in, 
• increasing the duration of synchronized intervals. 

In addition, I plan to concentrate on developing a comfort level for climbing various kinds of hills, and begin to pick up my ride mileage, which I've tried to keep below 40 miles while my health has been tender.

The elephant in the room is nutrition. I'll get back to that. Oh, and stress management. Both key to my ... success.

Rambler Report: Lovettsville Loop

I'd lost the morning by the time business was taken care of, so I drove to the W&OD at Hamilton Station Road, near the portajohn, which was clean. An easy three mile spin into Purcellville on the W&OD Trail. This time of year, you get your first view of the mountains as you swing onto Hatcher Avenue. I was surprised to see a new roundabout at the intersection of Allder School Road and Hillsboro Road. The latter was a dream today: light traffic and a tailwind kept me spinning more than 20 mph on the gentle rollers.

I stopped to photograph a draft horse. This was the closest I'd ever been to one. I was eye level with his neck. His feet were quite literally as large as dinner plates. How strange to look up to a beast. I'm going to have to start carrying carrots on these ramblers, because this guy, too, like the ones yesterday, came up to the fence to visit.

I never noticed that I pass two cemeteries in Hillsboro: on the right on route 9 just before you turn on Mountain Road, and then just after the turn, by a church on the right. I'll have to check them out sometime. But I was enjoy the roll, and I always love Mountain Road. It's parallel to Harpers Ferry Road in West Virginia, just a mile away on the other side of the mountain. I was fast through this section again, rounding Irish Corner and headed toward Lovettsville in no time. I stopped at Lovettsville Pizza and Subs and ordered a caesar salad for lunch, eating it at the picnic table out front. Note to self: two pinball machines, NASCAR and Indiana Jones, look in pretty fair condition, fifty cents to play. Took the requisite bike shot du jour, chuckling to remember that Alyda is collecting these.

After Lovettsville, the ride got some hills. I took the Milltown Road option to Waterford. I'd forgotten that it offers steep rollers, two at 14%, and some fairly long ones, for this area. I think it crosses four streams. This was a long slow lap, and I was glad I was not trying to keep up with stronger riders. I only stopped once, to see what some buzzards were up to. They were nibbling on a deer carcass that looked like one of my friend Tony's écorché collages.

I stopped when I saw the Waterford Market was open; it's always closed on weekends, when I usually ride through this wonderful Quaker town. I felt immediately at home inside. The owner keeps sheep out back, which I've photographed before. And, in addition to general merchandise, the general store displayed sheepskins and wool socks. There was a spinning wheel, and two little runt lambs wearing diapers, which I failed to photograph successfully. I took a 6-ounce Coca Cola from an old cooler and drank it on the spot; it seemed appropriate.

Refreshed, I headed up hill from the Potomac valley, toward Paeonian Springs. The climb was not difficult, but the wind was blustery, and blew hard and cruel during the last mile to route 9, as if it were trying to knock me off course, even off the road. That had to be 25 mph or more. But in Paeonian Springs, I caught the W&OD for the short spin back to Hamilton, somewhat protected from the worst gusts.

And that was the loop, about 30 miles, on a bizarre afternoon in early April when the temperature climbed above 80 and the wind kept me cool.

• Flickr set (10 photos)
• My new dream home

Checking the Fauquier Spring

Spring has barely sprung in Fauquier County, Virginia, and it was an overcast day for a ride, with a biting wind coming off the mountains. I saw my shadow briefly and faintly at 4:15 p.m. There were few blossoms and newborn beasts yet, but the fields were greening and the horses were frisky. The mountains were blue shadows icing the rural landscape on the ride down Leeds Manor Road to Orlean. The nine miles of John Marshall Highway were almost as brutal as the last few washboard miles on Ramey Road, but elsewhere on this ride, the pavement was mostly smooth and easy, signs of a milder winter. I forgot that big hill when you first turn on to Leeds Manor Road! While I didn't fly up it, I was mostly able to keep my speed in the double digits. The Computrainer classes are paying off. I stopped quite a while in Orlean Cemetery on John Barton Payne Road, to rest and eat and drink.  I saw several handfuls of cyclists go by as I sat there. It's a pretty scene with views of the mountain, but a little hard to photograph. I noted a number of tombstone names I recognize from my bike excursions: Colvin, Hume, Rector. One of the Rectors had a hound on his stone, but I couldn't make out much more of the name and date. Flowers had been blown around the grounds in some recent storm, and I placed some on forgotten graves. My favorite part of the ride was making friends with two young horses I named Blaze and Star. We had quite a conversation. They were very amiable, considering I had nothing to feed them.

Letters of Note

Shaun Usher's Letters of Note blog attempts to gather and sort "correspondence deserving a wider audience". Do you have a submission? "Scans/photos where possible," he notes. "Fakes will be sneered at." Updated every weekday. Fascinating.

 Fan mail form reply by Ray Bradbury:

Recovery Log

Stardate 20110401, and no joke:

Following Friday's Computrainer session, I started to become ill from acid reflux. Although I managed it well and the symptoms were milder, the condition and attendant discomfort lasted across the weekend and even led me to play hooky from a strenuous CT session Tuesday, opting instead for the casual downtown loop on my bike. I felt sufficiently better yesterday to attend my CT session.

Session Description: Five 7.5 minute efforts consisting of 2.5 minute intervals, with 6 minutes easy riding between them. The intervals were to be at FTP, 110% of FTP, and 120% of FTP. A slight upgrade for the first half was matched by a slight downgrade in the second. I chose to work with a hypothetical base FTP of 130, 10 watts above my current ERG video FTP.

It didn't go well at first, but I kept refocusing my attention on my breathing, over and over again. What an airhead I am! Heh heh. And finally the breathing and pedaling synched somewhere in the 29^th minute, and I was flying again. 22 mph using only 109 watts. I was able to keep this up, on and off, for the rest of the session, although my legs began to grow tired at the end.

In consequence of these two experiences, I have narrowed my cycling goal for this summer. That is to be able to achieve that 'synch' state at will, outside as well as on the trainer, and maintain it for as many miles as possible.

Laura conjectured that over-reaching in the CT session on Friday might bear some responsibility for the acid attack across the weekend. I'd like to think not, but I guess I will find out tomorrow or so if the situation recurs. As for my own theory, well, forgive the old line, but I think it must have been something I ate. I need to log my intake so I can look back to identify triggers, as I have no memory for this kind of thing. Did I eat something not recommended Friday night because I was feeling so much better? Can't remember.

Eye on Comics

My brother Bruce would have loved this: 

When my last eyeglasses proved visually disappointing in consequence of poor crafting, my opthmalogist sent me to optician Paige Buscema in Leesburg. I studied the name on the business card for a long time, racking my brain to remember when in my life I had encountered it before. It was not until I saw a signed photo of Spiderman behind the cash register that it clicked. "Sal Buscema?" I asked. "The Marvel artist?" 

Yes, indeed, Sal Buscema is her father-in-law, and lives in the DC metro area. Sal had a ten year run with The Incredible Hulk, among many other Marvel assignments, and continues to ink for them to this day. His older brother John is famous for his work on The Silver Surfer.

Sal penciled this illustration for the first of the 2009 Spectacular Spider-girl series.

Cherry Blossoms Day 2011

I parked at Dawson and rode my bike through Georgetown and down the National Mall, then back along the waterfront to see the cherry blossoms, with a quick Hains Point lap to stretch my legs before crossing the river and taking the Mount Vernon Trail north.

I have several seasons of phenomenal cherry blossom photos. Today, I paid more attention to the people...

Arena Theatre

Photographed on bike ride today...

The Human Face of Natural Disaster

When earth and water attack in quick succession, swiping a mighty paw through coasts and towns, all the world shudders, sympathizes, wishes to help. This is no punishment drawn on oneself, but the swift act of natural forces beyond human control. This is just tragedy, and it grows a human face very quickly as we read the news from this island nation.

Reuters posted a story this morning about a kindergarten graduation that transpired yesterday in the fishing port of Kesennuma on map. These fifty six year old kids had been waiting for the bus to take them home from the hillside kindergarten, when the tsunami washed the town away. The kid who had been collected by private car was never seen again, although his mother is still searching for him. Four of the children have never seen their parents again. 

"A friend who played with you and ate snacks with you and practiced spelling with you and who sang on the stage with you in the school recital is not here today," principal Junichi Onodera said at the graduation. "You must forever remember that friend."

Reference:

Japan kindergarten remembers child who is "not here today" 

By  Paul Eckert

KESENNUMA, Japan | Mon Mar 28, 2011 5:54am EDT

Other stories from Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan:

• Family members reunited after 4 days struggling to survive, by Hidetoshi Sotooka | 2011/03/25

• Ships brought inland by tsunami damage Kesennuma City, by  Eiji Osato, | Thursday, March 24, 2011

In the Beginning, Lakota style

According to Cinnamon Moon, the Lakota have four superior mysteries of sixteen in total.  These are the first manifestationsof the Great Spirit, in the order in which they occurred. Wakan Tanka, the Great Spirit, the Creator, in whom [in which] the Self is a molecule. 

1. Wi, the Sun, representing personal power, but perhaps not as other cultures would perceive it. Wi manifested from pure spirit as Light and Life. Wi is a teacher, a sustainer, and was transformed by the Great Spirit into the sun, with the power to provide energy for the earth to produce the substance of life. Wi is the light. 
2. Skan is Motion, the action inherent in all things, and manifestation incarnate [meta-manifestation?]. In the act of creation, Skan set the stars and planets moving on their paths and released the winds to travel across the universe. Skan blew water onto the earth to create the oceans and seas. Skan enters the body with the spirit and sets in motion the breath and blood of new life. Skan's the dance. 
3. Maka! Mother Earth, birth and sustenance, and so takes the form of the earth.  Maka is the essence of feminine energy, both the source and substance of life, The Great Spirit took all the colors of light and, putting them together, created the sacred brown of Mother Earth. Maka is mama, and she makes her needs known. 
4. Inyan is the foundation, the Spirit of Equilibrium, who came as stone to support the earth, holding her together. (Lakotas say "Maka-say-elo" all things upon this earth are endless.) Inyan is a living force; all stones in your path are alive. The rock, the mountain, and all minerals are the material body of Inyan. Inyan Ska, the quartz crystal, lives and grows within the dark interior of the earth; carrying this stone, dark energy becomes clear. Inyan's grounded. 

Here's one account of the Lakota creation story. I must say, Mother Earth is a whiny broad.

Lakota creation myth Inyan - Rock - is shapeless and omnipresent, and his spirit is Wakan Tanka: the Great Mystery. Han, Darkness, also exists. Inyan longs to exercise his powers, or his compassion, so he creates another being - as part of himself in order to keep control of his powers. This being is Mother Earth, or Maka. But in doing so he sacrifices his blood, which becomes the waters, and he shrivels up and becomes hard, losing his power. The water cannot retain the power, and goes into the making of Skan, the sky. Maka, meanwhile, complains to Inyan that all is cold and dark, so he creates Anp, the red light. This is not enough for her, so he creates Wi, the sun. Maka now wants to be separate, not part of her creator. Inyan can only appeal to Skan, in his role as supreme judge. Skan rules that Maka must stay bound up with Inyan - which is why rocks are bound up with soil. In another version, Inyan loses all his power when he makes Maka, and she taunts him with his impotence, so that he appeals to Skan. Skan then banishes Han, Darkness, and creates Anp to light the world. When Maka complains that she is still cold, Skan creates Wi, the Sun. Maka now complains that she is too hot. Skan therefore orders Han and Anp to follow each other round the world, thus creating day and night. To the Lakota, the most significant thing is Inyan's self-sacrifice in making the world. It is interesting that the prime mover of the universe is motivated by a desire to interact, and has to create a dynamic deity to continue creation. Duality, represented by day and night, is considered essential to this creation. Skan, Father Sky, resembles Zeus, and even creates for himself a daughter, the beautiful Wohpe, patron of beauty, harmony and pleasure - very like the Greek Aphrodite, daughter of Zeus: harmony springs from judgement. This myth is also interesting in relation to scientific accounts of the beginnings of the universe - the Big Bang.

Links to explore

• The Lakota Pantheon, Elizabeth Bissette
• Lakota Sioux Creation Myth, another variation
• Wohpe, White Buffalo Maiden, HinTamaheca
• My favorite Sioux character, Inktomi
• Indian Legends link list for 5 Lakota stories

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The Second Happiness

...yesterday arose from my decision to visit Meadowlark Botanical Gardens to renew our annual family membership and see what was going on. Although it began sunny and became overcast, and a chill was in the air at 45 Fahrenheit degrees, it was a lovely outing. Everything smelled so good, and all kinds of little green things were waking up, some already turning blossoms to the sun. I was able to ignore the traffic noise from the Toll Road, and in places, I didn't have to. I strolled around the interior perimeter and found new delights I hadn't seen or that hadn't been there before.

This blossom surprised me, not that I have any idea about matters horticultural. But it looks like a summer flower. It was hanging with its face down; I had to hold it up to photograph it. A sign identified it as Helleborus X Kingston Cardinale. It's a hardy shade hybrid that I might like to add to my own garden. I love that dusky raspberry color. 

Hackberry sapling - Edgar Allan Poe

Apparently, Meadowlark has planted a grove of historic saplings high on a hill in the northern part of the park. I found nothing about it online.  (This program may be where the trees came from.) This is the Edgar Allan Poe sapling, a descendant of a hackberry (Ulmaceae; Celtis occidentalis, grows to 80 tall and 50' wide) in the Enchanted Gardens at the Edgar Allan Poe Museum in Richmond, Virginia.

All the birds must have been in a good mood. Certainly, they were quite tame, and several chose to interact with me to one degree or another. This mallard was fishing; I spotted him from way on top of a hill in the woods, and determined to get his photo. At first, I thought it was not to be, as the vantages I sought did not work, and at last I gave up and started to walk across the bridge under which he was fishing. But a robin caught my eye, so I stopped to see what he was up to. He seemed to hop just as I snapped, every time, and then flew off.

But the duck swam under the bridge to fish nearby. I think I know why they call them ducks! I have several tail-up photos of the little fellow. At last, he was done fishing.

As I rounded the swamp lagoon, a pair of swimming geese noticed me and decided to investigate. I hung my camera bag on a post and sat down quietly on a chair as the approached. They did not seem too disappointed when I explained that I had nothing to eat. The gander wandered off to peck at the pathway, while the goose preened on the bank just a few feet away from me. 

I decided to walk the spiral walk up the barrow. (Well, that's what I call it; allow me my fancy.) It's a clear hill with a spiral walk around it, and provides a lovely view of the ponds at the center of the Gardens. As I started round the spiral, a bright flash of color in a faraway magnolia aught my eye. The blessed bird sat high up, and didn't move while I changed to a telephoto lens. I wish I could have got it clearer than this, but I was very pleased to get it at all.

What garden could be complete without playspace? Three little girls amused themselves while their mothers (and I) fussed about with cameras. A seating area nearby provides twig tables and chairs for outdoor tea parties. The area has been furnished with lots of clever armatures for growing topiary across the summer.

There were sculptures I hadn't seen in the north area, too. This rhinoceros was splendid, and looked at home in a savannah-looking flower bed. I found no information on this handsome pair, either. Sandstone, wouldn't you say?

Another surprise! A pavilion has been constructed for the new Korean Bell Garden. Funded by the Korean American Cultural Committee (KACC) and the Republic of Korea, this million dollar Garden will consist of stone terracing and stairs, Korean trees, a meandering path with various reflection stations, and the highlight, the Bell Pavilion and Bell.  Last June marked the 60th anniversary of the end of the Korean War, and the garden commemorates that peace (Vienna Connection). "It will be the only garden of its type in a public garden in North America,” Garden manager Keith Tomlinson said, “It is so unique and horticulturally significant." This signature site will be a lot of fun to keep an eye on as it is developed. I can't wait to see the Bell.

 

Resources
NVRPA, Meadowlark Botanical Gardens (official site)

• list of gardens

My Flickr set for this post

Wikipedia, Meadowlark Botanical Gardens

BGCI, Meadowlark Botanical Gardens

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