Springfield :: Close Memorial Park

While in Springfield (Missouri), we visited the Botanical Gardens at Close Memorial Park. Many of the flowers were no longer in the “pretty” stage but it was a beautiful day nevertheless. There was one flower in particular that I thought was unusual. I neglected to take a picture of the nameplate so I can't tell you what it is...

It apparently goes through a metamorphosis – from a pod with a feather-like covering, unfolding to a beautiful, vibrant white flower.





And there was a visitor sitting atop one of the pods!

Tomatoes...Almost Ripe

This cluster of 'Oregon Spring' tomatoes is almost ripe.

In my garden, 'Oregon Spring' has not proven to be a vigorous variety. The plant seems to be slow-growing, and the fruits take forever to ripen.

Next year I will try something else.

Suggestions?

New Walk Way

Lee is putting in a new walk way by the hay shed. When we built the shed we found that that area was a big mud pit when we had one of our rare rains. We laid old pallets down then laid old plywood sheets on top. After 7 years the plywood decided to come apart. A couple of times Lee or I stepped on a rotten section and almost fell through the pallet underneath. The nails were so loose they didn't want to stay down and we and the dogs kept tripping on them. So the other day after the cold left and we had a couple of warm days we started mixing and pouring cement. This photos showes two sections done. The one in the center is now finished. As soon as it drys we will do the other and I will take a photo of it. It should be a lot nicer even if not as 'authentic' as the old boardwalk.

Swimming With The Manatees

Before Aric even came to stay for the week with us, we planned a trip to swim with the manatees with him. Nathan and I went last year and enjoyed the experience so much, we highly recommended it to Aric. This trip was with a much bigger group. We had less encounters with manatees and the water was cloudy, making it impossible to see the manatees. I decided to stay on the boat and take pictures and let the guys hang out with the manatees. It was still a great day even with those factors.



According to the information they gave us, this is the only place you can swim alongside the West Indian Manatee. In the winter, they estimate up to 700 manatees are in this area. During this time of the year that drops to 70. They are not sure why some migrate north and some stay put here in Florida. We encountered a mama and her baby. You are not allowed to touch babies until they reach a certain age/size but it is still neat to see them like we did last year. It is amazing how gentle the manatees are for their size. They are not intimidating at all to hang out with, beyond I would not want to be trapped underneath one!



I hope we can make this trip with all of our kids at some point. It is one of the neatest animal encounters that we've ever experienced!

Wild Aster

this wild aster came up right next to my horse trailer which I almost never use. It got no care and only watered when it rained which wasn't at all until recently. But it grew, and bloomed even with out any water. Wish all flowers were this tough.

Velodrome!

I have just returned to the US, but my last week in Austria was so eventful, that there will be a few days of post-processing. My final day in Vienna was especially action-packed. In addition to a full work schedule, many last-minute errands and a farewell dinner, I had a mini-cycling adventure with Jacqueline's owner, Wolfgang.

As the title of this post suggests, we went to the Velodrome! In case this is a new concept to some, a velodrome is an arena for fast-paced track cycling - i.e. cycling on a (fixed gear) trackbike, either for practice or to race. I know that some of you may be wondering what place this possibly has in my world of vintage loop-frame bicyces that weigh 50lbs. Well, I have always admitted my trackbike fantasies, however hopeless and laughable they may be. And trackbikes need not mean carbon fiber monstrosities! - The original pathracers were beautiful.

Wolfgang is living proof that love of the track and love of vintage bikes need not be at odds with one another: He collects 100-year-old bicycles, rides around town on a Dutch bike, and goes to the velodrome. In fact, he transports his trackbike to the velodrome on this unbelievable cargo bike, which he also uses for one of his projects, Heavy Pedals. The trackbike is a 1988 Chesini (Italian), of which Wolfgang has two(!) in his collection.

Before I describe our trip to the velodrome, I will backtrack and say that Wolfgang did me an enormous favour that day. I had been looking for a Large Format camera for some time, and finally found a good deal - on my last day in Vienna. I then realised that not only did I have less than an hour to make arrangements to pick up the camera before the store closed, but I had no plan of how I would actually get the camera home. To explain, a large format camera is so large, that it requires you to load an individual sheet of film into it for every shot. Okay, in the digital age that might mean nothing to my readers, so I will just say that it's huge, would not fit on Jacqueline, and could not be easily carried on public transport during rush hour.

Wolfgang to the rescue with his cargo bike! As you can see, the box with the camera is quite large... but the cargo bike's enormous platform swallows it right up. I am pretty sure there is enough room there to transport a modestly sized mobile home! Of course a few passer-bys stopped to watch as we loaded the camera onto the bike, and the camera shop owner took photos.

[image by Wolfgang Höfler]

We rode across town to drop the camera off at my flat (thanks so much again, Wolfgang!), and then on to the velodrome. Wolfgang cycles "vehicularly" and aggressively, so following him was quite a change from the kind of cycling I've been doing in Vienna. On the way to the velodrome, we raced a bit on the main alley through the Prater park, which was great fun. Jacqueline can go pretty fast, and so can Wolfgang's cargo bike. I arrived to the velodrome exhausted, though for Wolfgang this was apparently just a mild warm-up.

So... the Vienna Velodrome! Behold the awesome beauty of the Ferry Dusika Hallenstadion, Wien - the only velodrome in Austria. This is a view from the top rows of the spectators' seats. The green area in the middle is for track-and-field training, and has a rest area for cyclists on the middle-left (if you click to enlarge the picture, you can see the chairs and the bike racks). In front you can see the two staircase entrances from which the athletes and coaches emerge. The red inner track is for runners. And the outer wooden track is for cyclists.

This is difficult to capture in photos, but the cycling track is sloped sideways at a 45 degree angle. This is probably common knowledge to cyclists, but I had no idea, so seeing it was quite a shock. It was explained to me that the slope allows cyclists go at a faster speed.

Another novelty was this Derny motorized bicycle for motor-paced track cycling events. So exciting to see all of these things.

Wolfgang prepares for the track. I am extremely envious, but delighted to be in the green area taking pictures. I even brought a film camera with 1600 ISO film.

Here you can kind of see how steep the slope of the track is - see that cyclist in the background?

Wolfgang adding air to his tires.

And he is off!

There he goes around the track.

Oh how I wish I could do this too! But first things first: I can't even ride a fixed gear... or a diamond frame for that matter!

The track was not very crowded, because it was a warm evening. There a local team practicing, and a few stray individuals.

I took a couple of shots of the team members (with permission) after they got off the track, and was surprised to see how young some of them were.

And how female! This beautiful girl didn't even seem especially tired. Maybe there is hope for me after all? Though I would need to seriously get in shape first!

For now it was good just to see the Velodrome and to understand what track cycling involves. Would they permit an early 1900's pathracer on the track, I wonder?

Raise and Fly

First the balloon which is about 3 stories high when inflated is unrolled from the large bag it is kept in. Then several people hold the bottom open while cold air from a large fan is forced in. At the proper time a propane burner which is attached to the top of the basket that holds the balloonist under the balloon is used to heat the air in the balloon. As the balloon heats it raises until it standing straight up. The balloon crew holds it on the ground with ropes until it is told it can go by the balloon referees. In this photo you can see the baskets, called gondolas with people in them. Each balloon is piloted by a licensed balloon pilot. Most balloons are from the United States, but there are pilots and their balloons as crews that come from lots of other counties.