Chainsaw Art

On our outing today we stop at the Pueblo Montano Trailhead area and took a walk around to view the chainsaw carving done by firefighter Joesph Mark Chavez after the fire of .. that killed so many big, beautiful cottonwoods. He used his chainsaw to make the sculpures and to remind people to be careful with fire. Unlike so much of the art work seen around Albuquerque that has cost the taxpayers untold amounts of money, these were done for free by someone that could see the beauty that the dead trees held even tho no one else could. Thank you Mr. Chavez.

Grand Canyon :: Desert View

On Friday (April 16th) Sue and Fred hiked another trail into the Canyon. They did a portion of the Hermit trail going 3 miles and 1400 feet down to Dripping Springs! Of course, it was 3 miles and 1400 feet back up! One of the lesser used trails, they saw only a dozen people while on the trail.

My legs were feeling okay, but I begged off that hike as the thought of having to ascend another 1400 feet left me weary just thinking about it! Instead, I walked nearly six miles along the South Rim Trail, which is paved in some spots and more or less level. Though not excessive, there were a few more people on the South Rim Trail than what Sue and Fred encountered. I did take some pictures, but they pale in comparison to what has already been posted.

Saturday was to be our last full day at the Canyon and we decided to be “tourists” driving east on Arizona Highway 64 from the Grand Canyon Village to Desert View, about 25-30 miles.

Aside from the Canyon itself, the main draw at Desert View is the Watch Tower, which is currently undergoing some renovations. I hadn't read anything about the Watch Tower so I didn't know what to expect – simply a building with several floors and stairs taking you up to viewing windows was about it. However, I was blown away by the architecture, the décor, the symbolism . As Sue said, “It spoke to me.”

Designed by architect Mary Jane Colter for the Fred Harvey Company, the Watch Tower is not a replica of any specific building but was intended to symbolize the many prehistoric Native American structures. The steel beams supporting the structure are hidden within the walls which are individually placed stones on the exterior and smooth adobe on the inside.

The interior artwork, under the supervision of Ms. Colter, was done by Fred Kabotie, a Hopi painter who was also a guide and musician at the Grand Canyon at the time (1930s). The artwork was designed to communicate the physical and spiritual origins of Hopi Life.

The Watch Tower at Desert View.

A portion of a large mural on the first floor, along with a chair and stool.

A portion of the ceiling and the 3rd level as seen from the 2nd level.

Just a few of the “hieroglyphs” decorating the interior walls (photo by Fred).

The exterior of the first floor stairway.

The stairways were wide enough for one person at a time.

Desert View is at the east end of the Grand Canyon. The Colorado River, wider and not as deep, is clearly visible from the Rim. I didn't notice it at the time, but I rather like how the stone pillar to the left somewhat mimics the shape of the Watch Tower.

Miss Mercian: Then and Now

One of the things I was very much looking forward to on my trip to New York last week, was visiting Justine of Midlife Cycling. Justine is a fascinating, generous and knowledgable person and we have lots to talk about outside the world of bicycles. But more pertinently to this blog, Justine is known for her small, exquisite collection of Mercians. And so I happily found myself in Astoria, Queens, in an apartment that was eerily similar to my own in its proportion of total living space to the space devoted to bikes. Nothing wrong with that at all.






When I firstwrote about Justine and her Mercianstwo years ago, she had three of them - all custom made and painted the same stunning shade of "flip-flop purple green" (more on this later). One of these is a geared roadbike, the second is a fixed gear, and the third a Miss Mercian step-through. Subsequently, Justine unexpectedly acquired a fourth Mercian secondhand - an earlier Miss Mercian model, from an era when the design was still a classic mixte with twin lateral stays. Knowing this, I was looking forward to seeing the two generations of Miss Mercians side by side, and excited when Justine offered me to test ride both bicycles and compare my impressions. While her diamond frame bikes are too big for me, the lower step-over of the Miss Mercian frames enables me to try them.






Through the quiet streets of Astoria, we rode to the Socrates Sculpture Park to photograph the bicycles along the East River. The park is small, but very pleasant, with a cobblestone path along the water and views of Roosevelt Island and passing boats in background. It was a cold and windy morning, but at least the sun was out, bathing the bicycles in a golden light.





This is Justine's current production Miss Mercian, named Helene. My understanding is that Mercian switched to this frame style for their Miss Mercian model, because they only use Reynolds tubing and Reynolds stopped making the tubes suitable for classic mixtes a few years ago. I will be honest that I am not a fan of "angled step-through" frames. But the lugwork, the colour scheme, and Justine's very personal build make this bicycle rather charming.






One of my photographic goals for this bicycle was to capture the flip flop purple green finish in action. The beauty of this colour is hard to describe, but basically it's as it sounds: Under some lighting conditions it looks purple, under others it looks green. Seeing the colours change takes my breath away. Above I captured it in a very purple state, though usually it looks like a much more subdued silverfish lilac.





And here you can see what happens when the colour flips to green.






Neat, huh?






Flip-flopping in the sunlight! I love this colour and might have used it for my own bike were it not so distinctly Justinish in my mind. It is certainly one of the most unique paint finishes available.





But all right, there is more to this bike than its paint colour. Like Justine's other custom Mercians, the frame is lugged and made of Reynolds 631 tubing.





Helene is set up with Porteur handlebars, inverse brake levers, bar-end shifters adapted as "thumbies," side pull brakes, pedals with classic toe cages, hammered fenders, rear rack, a Brooks saddle and a

Carradice saddlebag.





Justine rides this bicycle in her regular clothing - skirt, heels, the whole deal - and it is her fast, responsive commuter. The geometry, which Justine specified, is pretty tight and aggressive, and she likes it this way. For her this is an upright, but maneuverable and go-fast bike.






Justine lowered the saddle for me and switched out the pedals to platforms, so that I could comfortably ride the bike around the unfamiliar-to-me area. When I rode this bicycle, the geometry - not the frame style, but the angles and proportions - struck me as an exaggerated version of my Royal H. mixte. My positioning on the bike was very similar as well. Unfortunately the angled step-through frame and I did not get along when it came to mounting and dismounting the bike: I found the top tube too high for me to comfortably climb over and kept banging my knee. I was also a little uncomfortable with the amount of toe overlap, and between this and the high top tube I felt oddly trapped by the frame, as if everything was too tightly spaced. Of course this says more about the difference between my and Justine's geometry preferences than anything else, but I was a little nervous on this bike as I followed her up the winding bridge ramp to Roosevelt Island. I did not want to crash the bike or to knock it over while attempting to dismount. Thankfully, nothing of the sort happened and we had a nice ride with scenic water views. As we rode, I noticed that the frame flexed for me a bit more than I would have liked, which is odd because Justine describes it as stiff. The subjectivity of this sort of thing is amazing.






Stranger still, is that Justine describes her older Miss Mercian as more flexible than the current model, whereas I found it to be stiffer. How can this be? Are we simply associating different sensations with the terms stiff and flexible? It's a mystery.




The day did not warm up despite the sunshine, and even though I had donned every single pair of stockings I'd brought with me to New York (three pairs!) I was uncomfortably cold. Between this and having to be across town by early afternoon, our ride was not very long. Still, I feel that I got a fair sense of the difference between the two bicycles - although since both of these are custom bikes made for specific people, I am not sure how generalisable my impressions are to Miss Mercians at large.






Overall, I felt more comfortable on the older (1994) Miss Mercian - with its longer wheelbase, lower stand-over and greater toe clearance. I also preferred this bicycle's ride quality and handling, which to me felt a bit cushier and more stable. None of this necessarily has to do with the styles of the two frames; it is more about geometry really. Still, I lamented that Mercian no longer makes the classic twin stay mixte - it was oh so elegant.






Justine's 1994 Miss Mercian is named Vera, and the original owner ordered the frame in English Racing Green with gold lug outlines.






The Reynolds 531 frame was built for cantilever brakes, and eyelets for fenders and front and rear racks.





The cable routing is kind of interesting, integrating nicely with the twin lateral stays,





then "climbing" up the seat tube. I have never seen this kind of routing on a mixte before, but I think it works well.





One of the cool things Justine has got on this bicycle, is this green and gold crankset with built-in chain guard. I have never seen one like it before, and it certainly makes the bicycle stand out as her unique creation.





I tried the MKS Lambda pedals for the first time and liked them a lot, even though I did not think I would. They are grippy, and not as sharp as MKS touring pedals.






Justine set up the older Miss Mercian similarly to the newer one, but with a front rack in addition to the rear, a single instead of a double chainring, North Road handlebars instead of the Porteurs, and flat pedals. This bicycle is a little more upright and relaxed, and set up to carry more weight than its sportier room-mate.





Justine has been riding bicycles for decades as a messenger, racer, cyclotourist, commuter - you name it. And she has owned an untold number of bikes over this time (I believe the estimate she gave me was 60?... but no, that can't be right!) This makes it all the more fascinating, that all of her current bikes are from the same manufacturer. Is it the Reynolds 631 tubing Mercian uses that she finds so agreeable? The way they put together frames? Do their notions of optimal geometry agree with her own? Whatever the answer, Justine seems to know what she wants and she is happy with her choices.





Of course I am trying to convince her now that she also needs to add this bike to her Mercian collection, then let me test ride it extensively. Fingers crossed!



For the entire picture set, please see here. And I thank Justine profusely for allowing me to try her beautiful bikes!

Parisian morning: A stroll on the River Seine and a quick encounter with a Parisian stranger

It’s just been 2 weeks since I was in Paris and now it felt like forever. My life is fast-paced, mostly because of my work, so I try to squeeze in a lot of ‘me’ and ‘doing nothing much’ time into my schedule to recover, keep my sanity and put my feet firmly on the ground. Work can sometimes be overwhelming so a short or long trip in between to unwind and forget about corporate slavery is always welcome. I should not complain because this slavery has rewarded me the €€€.

So on our second day in Paris, we will be taking the free boat trip from the hotel but before doing so Bru and I would like to do a typical Parisian stroll along the River Seine, from Bastille to the Notre Dame Church area where we will have coffee.

Here’s some of the pictures we took during the stroll:

Bru and I. Bru does not like the sun. She avoids it more than I do =)

Playing the tourist here.

At the café around the corner of Notre Dame we had coffee. Our table was tactically located for people watching, which I never take any less anyway. We were sitting right on the corner street with a view to the Notre Dame Church.

While Bru was at the toilet freshening herself up, I briefly and awkwardly met a Parisian stranger.

French men by the way are generally not my type. I don’t know why. But they are a charming lot, and romantic and often tell a woman that she is beautiful. Something that the Dutch totally lack. A French man can woo a woman and sweep her off her feet, while the Dutch will never get the hint even if she says, ‘It would be nice if you surprise me tonight with some flowers, or a dinner perhaps.’ But the smooth talker French man has higher chances of taking a mistress on the side than the boring, loyal and reliable Dutch man.

Alright, there goes your stereotypes =). Haha.

Anyway, I was totally embarrassed, red-faced. In front of everyone, this Parisian man just came up to me and declared his admiration. I felt the ground swallowing me up. He even wanted to sit down but I told him that I am with someone. He got the hint and left me with quixotic phrases to mull over about. And I was puzzled like--Huh, what was that all about? These kinds of encounters rarely happen in the Netherlands you know. But I do not go out a lot as well sitting on cafe teracces...

Situations like these always reminds me the risks of a female travelling alone. I’ve had worse encounters with men in Spain and in Italy. But the French remains the ones with finesse. They know the complex art called ‘woman’.

I am a sucker for strategic cafe seating and people watching. Best spot near Notre Dame.

Bru and moi having morning coffee around the corner of Notre Dame Church.

More Paris stories soon! BISOUS.